Written by Joe Messineo at No Coast Bias
The St. Louis Cardinals and their fans love the way the team is run. “Next man up,” they love to say, and they always seem to get away with it. Nearly every year, some Cardinals newcomer steps up and supplies the production that the Cardinals were supposed to lose to free agency or injuries.
So there’s a temptation, then, to think that the Cardinals should let free agent OF Jason Heyward walk. He’s bound to make a ton of money this offseason, with big-market teams like the New York Yankees likely to get in on the bidding for him. Maybe the Cardinals can afford to lose their young star outfielder. Maybe they can yet again find a guy to step up and take the place of a missing superstar.
We appreciate the Cardinals magic, but we’re relieved to hear that they’re going to make a push to re-sign Heyward. Because other than blind faith, there’s not a lot of reasons to think that the Cardinals can replace his production.
Jason Heyward is Really, Really Good
Cardinals fans love Heyward, and they probably don’t need us to tell them this, but hey: this Heyward guy is unreal. He’s just 26 years old (very young for a free agent) and he does just about everything well. His .293 batting average was the best among Cardinals everyday players, and he’s a fast and athletic defender, too. He even steals bases (he netted 23 of them in 2015).
Heyward is a truly exceptional athlete, and he’s expected to only get better as he enters his prime years as a ballplayer. He’ll net a long-term contract this offseason, but that’s okay: since Heyward is so young, a long-term deal isn’t nearly as risky. Giving a seven-year deal to a player who is, say, 30 years old can be rough because the player is likely to be an overpaid albatross in the final years of the deal. Heyward, by contract, would be 33 in the final year of a seven-year deal.
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