Cardinals Make a Big Move

As reported on earlier, the sudden and tragic death of Oscar Taveras hit everyone in the baseball community hard as a young man with loads of talent and promise was taken way too soon...

But after taking time to mourn and grieve this lost, we have to also remember that baseball is also a business, so it wasn't all too surprise that with Taveras gone, a hole was left in the outfield to fill. As someone who checks out rumors and reports almost on the daily, I hadn't heard one word about a possible trade or free agent signing. My initial thoughts were that the Cardinals would do like they normally do, and fill in from within. With the likes of Randal Grichuk, who played in the majors this past year, as well as promising minor league talent Stephen Piscotty waiting for his time at Triple-A, it seemed sure that these two would probably battle it out come spring training to see who would get the spot.

However, Cards GM John Mozeliak quickly quelled that assumption, by going out last week and making a pretty big trade in getting outfielder Jason Heyward and relief pitcher Josh Walden for Shelby Miller and a minor leaguer. Focusing just on Heyward, the Cardinals filled their need for an established starting right fielder who has plenty of upside. As you'll see in the video below, Heyward is masterful defensively in the outfield. Good speed, range, and instincts helped him to lead the league in Defensive Runs Save this past season. His hitting has quite lived up to what people projected him to be at, with his power numbers dwindling the past three seasons, from 27 to 14 to 11 in his homerun numbers, but at just 25 years old, he still hasn't even hit the prime of his career, so the upside here is tremendous. Used primarily as the Braves leadoff hitter last season, Heyward put up a line of .271 BA 11HR, 58RBI and 20 SB.

With Matt Carpenter already have established himself as a solid leadoff hitter for the Cardinals, the question becomes where to bat Heyward in the order. In my opinion, this is how I would have the batting order look come Opening Day 2015

1. Matt Carpenter. 2. Kolten Wong. 3. Matt Holliday. 4. Matt Adams. 5. Yadier Molina. 6. Jason Heyward. 7. Jhonny Peralta. 8. Jon Jay. 9. Pitcher's spot

If you're not familiar with Heyward, be sure to check on the video below. Best of luck to Heyward in the upcoming season.