The St. Louis Cardinals claimed 3B Bryan Ramos off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles, and his particular fit on the roster is one that feels like a strained one at best. Ramos primarily plays 3B but has played a little bit of 2nd base and left field as well. That situation feels like bringing in a low-risk-high-reward opportunity in spring to see if they can capture lightning in a bottle. Ramos is out of options, so if he doesn’t make the roster out of camp, he would likely find himself back on waivers, where the Cardinals would be more than happy to have him at AAA and remain Cardinal property. If he is claimed, however, it costs them nothing to bring him in and give him a chance, and they lose out on nothing if he isn’t able to show anything of substance in camp and another MLB team claims him afterwards.
Jeff Jones, writer for the Belleville News Democrat, who will be our guest on the podcast this coming week, tweeted after Ramos was claimed that Randal Grichuk was still a name that was on the table for the Cardinals. However, if Grichuk can find a last-minute opportunity with a contender, he would likely select that option over the Cardinals. Which would mean if St. Louis were to add their proposed right-handed bat, they might have to add it through the trade market.
So, I did some research and looked across the league to see if I could identify some targets that are potentially blocked at the big league level that would benefit from the opportunity that exists in the Cardinals outfield currently. So, here are 5 right-handed bats who would have a clear path to playing time in St. Louis:
5. TOR Davis Schneider INF/OF
Davis Schneider famously hit a lead-off home run off of Blake Snell in this past year’s World Series and is known for being a positive clubhouse presence and a capable option against LHP. The added flexibility of playing 2B/3B and LF/RF could also be useful as the Cardinals will likely want to rotate players to different positons to see who might stick long term.
Much to my surprise, Schneider is a menace against RHP and is still above league average against LHP. The Blue Jays have a glut of postion players at the big league level and ESPN wrote an article recently that the Blue Jays and Cardinals should come together on a trade that would send LHP JoJo Romero to Toronto in exchange for Davis Schneider. This exact framework is a deal I have been talking about for over a month since Bloom started publicly talking about the desire to add a RHB and the Jays, after missing out on several key free agent bullpen pieces could still benefit from a leverage reliever like Romero and could use their excess piece in Schneider to acomplish a need-for-need style trade.
4. CIN Rece Hinds OF
At 6’3 215 lbs Rece Hinds is built like a tank and in his limited opportunities has displayed some impressive raw power for the Cincinnati Reds. However, with Noelvi Marte, TJ Freidle, and JJ Bleday/Dane Meyers roaming the outfield and bringing in Eugenio Suarez to DH it appears Cincy doesnt have much room on their roster for Hinds.
Posting a .302/.359/.563 slash for a .922 OPS and 139 wRC+ last season not to mention the 24 HR and 83 RBI its hard to say that Hinds has anything left to prove at AAA and in a season centered around development it would be easy to justify a player like Hinds striking out 30% of the time if it meant 25+ HR production for a Cardinals offense that is starved for power production.
3. ATH Colby Thomas OF
Slightly undersized at 5’10 190 lbs Colby Thomas is a prototypical power/speed outfielder and is super athletic (no pun intended) who will likely find playing time hard to come by with an everyday outfield of Soderstrom, Clarke, and Butler for the “Sacramento” A’s. Thomas was one of their top prospects mid season last year before earning his big league call up. Thomas has the ability to play CF, which I know some of our readers who are more pessimistic on the future of Victor Scott II, would be something that would be of value to them, especially.
Big raw right handed power with some swing decision elements to clean up but for a young hitter this is something that is very common in todays game and with the advancements the Cardinals are making in their player development process at both the big league and minor league level then adding a talent like Thomas would make all the sense in the world who might have fringe All-Star 20/20 upside when its all said and done.
2. HOU Zach Dezenzo 1B/OF
At 6’5 220 lbs Dezenzo looks the part when he steps off the bus at the stadium. Featuring big time raw power from the right side highlighted by a max EV of 112.2 MPH in 2024. The Astros have a long list of veteran options at corner postions between Christian Walker at 1B, Carlos Correa and Isaac Parades at 3B, Jose Altuve and Cam Smith in the corner outfield spots and the return of Yordan Alvarez takes away the DH. Dezenzo would benefit from a change of scenery where his path to play time is much better in St. Louis.
Take the rate stats with a grain of salt as the sample size is very small but the ability to impact the baseball and produce loud contact is there along with the above average arm and not shown, but measured, is also above average sprint speed. Dezenzo could capable handle LF and would be a nice balance option to all the LHH on the roster.
1. SFG Luis Matos OF
At just 5’11 and 207 lbs Luis Matos has a very average size build but his ability to make consistent hard contact and avoid striking out are two things that seem to be growing in demand in MLB. Matos displays average sprint speed and isnt the greatest defender but has one of the strongest measured throwing arms from the outfield in baseball at 92.6 MPH putting him in the 95th percentile of players in baseball. Matos also doesn’t walk, much like Yohel Pozo but more athletic, with 593 MLB PA to his name Matos continues to struggle cracking everyday consistent AB’s for San Francisco and with Heliot Ramos, Harrison Bader, and Jung-Ho Lee blocking his path it might be best for the Giants to try and get something for him before he runs out of value.
Perhaps strattling that AAAA line a full season of “runway” (everyone drink) could give a more clear indication of whether or not Matos will every amount to anything more than such a role. The Cardinals could both benefit from and afford to give that opportunity to any of these players listed above, though with Matos, he more than most has had the most extensive opportunity to show what he can do at the big league level.
This list would indicate there is plenty of upside to be had from teams who have players stuck behind another wave of talent currently entrenched for their respective teams. Can Chaim Bloom and the Front Office pry one of these high upside right handed bats away and give the Cardinals a little more balance as they march in 2026 with a lot of opportunity available all over the diamond? Time will tell and Chaim has accomplished everything he said he was going to this offseason. Perhaps he has one last impact move up his sleeve.
-Thanks for reading
