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St. Louis Cardinals have solved their catching dilemma. What will be their next move?

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Major League Baseball’s offseason does not always open at a breakneck pace, but once things get rolling, its momentum can be difficult to arrest.

Before the St. Louis Cardinals officially announce their free agent contract with Willson Contreras and hold an introductory press conference — both are likely to happen before the end of the week — the market is moving on. The question is no longer what they’ll do, but instead what they’ll do next.

There was no way to avoid coming out of the winter with a new starting catcher, given both their obvious need and their repeated public pronouncements. In some ways, the addition of Contreras most strongly recalls not another free agent signing, but a trade — that for Marcell Ozuna in December of 2017.

In that instance as well as this, the well-established club need and the inability to work around challenges in trades for alternatives meant taking decisive next steps for a next option. In 2017, though, there was no doubt that the club unanimously preferred Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich as moving Marlins; this winter, that split around Contreras is much less pronounced.

Some important decision makers in the organization came away from meetings with Contreras impressed not only with his comportment but also with his commitment to improving the defensive aspects of his game in which he doesn’t quite measure up. A player who is 30 years old is not necessarily a player who’s an entirely finished product, and the Cardinals believe his willingness to work and the proven success of their infrastructure will bridge any potentially important gaps.

And, if nothing else, the Cardinals can be assured they won’t have to swallow hard and watch piles of cash win a Cy Young Award for another team within a five year span.

Outside of the catching market, most of the rumors chasing the Cardinals around the lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt were related to the shortstop market, with persistent and conveniently-timed intimations that Dansby Swanson, formerly of Atlanta, was in their sights.

Those explorations, though, represented a contingency. A trade with Oakland which necessitated moving out a middle infielder — Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the A’s didn’t come off an ask which included Brendan Donovan — would’ve created a spot, and also would’ve far more powder dry than was needed to light the Contreras candle.

Another potential target to whom the Cardinals had long-standing connections — Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida — came off the market within hours of being posted by the Orix Buffaloes. Many of those in San Diego believed he would come in short of the five-year, $85 million contract the Cubs signed with a slightly younger, bigger, and better power hitter in Seiya Suzuki.

Instead, Yoshida got $5 million more, and with Boston’s posting fee, is an investment in excess of $100 million. The Cardinals absolutely could — comfortably — absorb such an expenditure, but perhaps not inside the structure of their preferred growth model, which president of baseball operations John Mozeliak conceded this week is soon to be stress tested.

Former Cardinal Peralta

Absent Yoshida — and with Contreras now ticketed for the middle of the lineup — the next stop for the Cardinals would logically be the free agency middle shelf on which they have so often shopped, to their peril.

Former Cardinals pitching farmhand David Peralta, who blossomed into a Silver Slugger in Arizona as a lefty outfielder but struggled for Tampa down the stretch last season, would match the description of a potential target. So too could Tyler Naquin, who in large part would represent roughly the equivalent of a return engagement with Corey Dickerson with the potential for more pop.

Still, with few appealing free agent options, it’s difficult to look at the surplus of right-handed pitchers floating in and around the 40-man roster and not see the makings of a potential deal. With at least nine righties currently ticketed for the Major League bullpen — “some of those guys think they’re starters,” an official quipped — arbitraging some of that human inventory to fill holes elsewhere might have some appeal.

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras heads back to the dugout during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022. Before the St. Louis Cardinals officially announce their free agent contract with Contreras and hold an introductory press conference — both are likely to happen before the end of the week — the market is moving on. The question is no longer what the Redbirds will do, but instead what they’ll do next.

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras heads back to the dugout during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022. Before the St. Louis Cardinals officially announce their free agent contract with Contreras and hold an introductory press conference — both are likely to happen before the end of the week — the market is moving on. The question is no longer what the Redbirds will do, but instead what they’ll do next.

Never enough pitching?

The Cardinals have largely balked at that suggestion, to the extent it’s possible “you can never have enough pitching” is emblazoned on a banner in a high-traffic hallway at Busch Stadium. Indeed, the possibility remains they could add even more arms in free agency, trying to scratch lottery tickets like those they’ve already purchased in free agent Guillermo Zuniga and Rule 5 pick Wilking Rodríguez.

Natural attrition and the inevitability of injuries will make that log jam, to some degree, moot. Pitching is bad for the body — and pitchers break — so shipping those out who are already in represents challenges while simultaneously perhaps acting as the resource from which the Cardinals could most easily and freely spend.

They are not done. There will be something that happens next. A trade with Oakland might’ve set a clear path. An unprecedented free agent signing does not, and as momentum builds, the 32nd story war room has broken up and headed for home. Work awaits.

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