Paul DeJong receives support from St. Louis Cardinals front office

Paul DeJong received support from St. Louis Cardinals front office, with there a real chance he’s the Opening Day shortstop.

All offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals have been connected to free-agent shortstops, especially Trevor Story. After Paul DeJong’s struggles, such a move felt possible, if not likely, but that thought has cooled in recent weeks.

The main reason for that? The Cardinals front office has publicly backed DeJong a LOT in recent days, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak telling reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch): “I feel like Paul DeJong is not getting a fair shake with what he’s done. No one is arguing that he did not get untracked this year. But I think it’s a bit unfair not to have some optimism for his future based on the past.”

Could this be a smokescreen? Sure. Front offices all try to gain leverage for future negotiations at any chance they get. But there is a realistic chance that the Cardinals potentially punt on a historically great free-agent shortstop class in favor of DeJong.

Let’s first ask: why? Look at the asking prices for each player. They are all likely to land multi-year contracts worth at least $25+ million (perhaps with the exception of Javier Baez) and with Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt already on the books, such a deal could prove difficult to make. It would also limit what they can do in free agency, with the team also eyeing pitching (both starting pitchers and relievers).

But there is a very real chance that DeJong is the Cardinals’ Opening Day shortstop, which would be … underwhelming. He hit a mediocre .197/.284/.390 with 19 home runs this season and while he is only 28 and signed cheaply through 2024, upgrading over DeJong should prove relatively easy.

Perhaps Tommy Edman slides over to shortstop when Nolan Gorman is called up this season. But the chances of Story, or any other top shortstop ending up in St. Louis, appear to be fading.