Cardinals Could Acquire Highly Intriguing Slugger From Angels After Strong Season

St. Louis could further bolster a strong group

Scott Neville | Jan 29, 2024

Cardinals Could Acquire Highly Intriguing Slugger From Angels After Strong Season /

In this story:

The St. Louis Cardinals have a young core of position players and entered the offseason with the idea of improving the pitching staff as much as possible following a last-place finish in the National League Central last season.

While Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak should remain focused on pitching, it would not hurt to add an intriguing player after a dominant showing a season ago.

The Los Angeles Angels designated outfielder/first baseman Trey Cabbage for assignment on Saturday.

The 26-year-old with arguably the best name in professional baseball should have league-wide interest and could be a perfect depth option for St. Louis.

Cabbage hit .306 with 58 extra-base hits including 30 home runs, 89 RBIs and a .975 OPS in 107 games for Triple-A Salt Lake last season. He also stole 32 bases in 35 attempts.

His impressive Triple-A campaign warranted a big-league debut, which was not nearly as fruitful. Cabbage hit .208 (11-for-53) with a .553 OPS in a brief 22-game stint.

Strikeouts played a huge part in the Angels' willingness to lose Cabbage -- though they likely are hoping he can pass through waivers.

The rookie posted a 49% strikeout rate during his short big-league career and a more damning 34% strikeout rate across a much larger sample size at the Triple-A level across 418 at-bats.

That said, Cabbage is more than deserving of an opportunity to land a 40-man roster spot and St. Louis should be in the mix.

A simple waiver claim could get him in the organization free of cost -- or the Cardinals could trade a low-level asset to ensure they land him.

Cabbage in all likelihood will not determine who wins the World Series next season but he could be a strong addition to an already impressive outfield group.

More MLB: Cardinals Could Jump Into Bidding War For Hurler To Bolster Bullpen

Published Jan 29, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu