St. Louis Cardinals: 5 Realistic Trade Deadline Candidates
Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
4. Junichi Tazawa, RHP, Boston Red Sox
Making $2.25M in 2015, enters third year of arbitration in 2016
The Cardinals obviously prefer to operate with a 13-man pitching staff and a four-man bench, yet for much of the year they’ve lacked the bullpen depth to really make the expanded relief corps worth it. Pitchers like Mitch Harris, Miguel Socolovich, and Sam Tuivailala have been able to exceed expectations at times this season, but each has also had at least one instance when they’ve crumbled under pressure. It’s fine to give innings to those guys in the dog days of June and July, but it would be risky to rely on them in October.
One righthander who could boost the Cards’ relief corps would be Red Sox setup man Junichi Tazawa. Tazawa would fit in nicely with what the Cardinals’ bullpen does; his fastball, his primary pitch, has touched speeds as high as 95.6 MPH and has averaged 93.5 MPH this season. By adding another impact reliever like Tazawa, the Cards would be able to assemble an ultra-powerful bullpen on the level of the Kansas City Royals’, with Tazawa, Kevin Siegrist, Jordan Walden, and Trevor Rosenthal consistently throwing in the mid-to-high 90s. The addition of one more impact reliever like Tazawa would also give the Cardinals some extra protection in the event that Rosenthal’s recent burnout is prolonged or if Walden has any setbacks in his recovery from shoulder issues.
Middle relievers usually don’t command a massive return, but the Red Sox have a bit more leverage with Tazawa considering that he’s been one of the best setup men in the American League for the past several years and still has a year of arbitration left. There’s also the issue of any possible delusion the Sox may have about saving their season after breaking the bank to become a contender again this offseason. With the Red Sox having won 9 of their last 14 and GM Ben Cherington’s job at stake, he may be reluctant to deal key players, including impactful bullpen arms like Tazawa, until he’s entirely sure that his team’s out of it. He’s been willing to sell in prior years when Boston was in last place, though, so the Cardinals may want to put out a feeler on Tazawa.
Next: 3. Kelly Johnson