For the fourth straight year, we’re taking some time in that time between the end of the season and the winter meetings to discuss each player that made an appearance on the St. Louis roster this season. Whether they played almost every day or never actually got into a game, they get covered in this series. All stats are exclusively their time in St. Louis. Just think of this as them stopping by Mike Matheny‘s office for a quick evaluation before heading home for the winter.
Player: Cody Stanley
Season stats: 9 games, 10 PA, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 3 K, .400/.400/.500, 143 OPS+, 0.0 bWAR
Hero/Goat: Hero 1
Overall grade: B-
Positives: Made his major league debut, which is always the goal….got a hit in his first major league at bat….his double was a key moment in a game against the Nationals, a two-out hit that eventually led to Brandon Moss‘s walk-off homer….had seven homers in 270 Memphis at bats.
Negatives: Was suspended for the second time in his career for using a performance-enhancing substance, which meant an 80-game suspension….hit just .241 for the Redbirds this season….struck out in 30% of his major league plate appearances.
Overview: For some reason, even after two suspensions, Cody Stanley is still on the 40-man roster for the St. Louis Cardinals. I know catching depth is atrocious in this organization, but isn’t that going a little too far? Stanley’s not shown that he’s this massive talent that is worth keeping around because otherwise someone else will get him. He had a good year in Springfield in 2014, but that was AA and it hasn’t completely translated to AAA, much less the majors. He’ll also turn 27 right before Christmas, so it’s not like he’s young with a lot of upside. He should be hitting his prime right now, except that he’ll be sitting out about half of next season because of the suspension.
Perhaps there is some legal reason they can’t cut him. The club wound up designating Xavier Scruggs to get Travis Tartamella up after Stanley was popped instead of dropping Stanley. I don’t know if the union has it in the CBA that you can’t be released if you are suspended, but I don’t think that’s the case. Remember, the Yankees at least seriously considered waiving Alex Rodriguez through his whole mess. I would think that if that wasn’t an option, it wouldn’t have been talked about so much. So why Stanley is still around, I don’t know.
Outlook: Given the hoops they have gone through to keep him on the 40-man, it would seem that Stanley will still be in the organization next season. He will obviously spend his non-suspension time in Memphis and, at best, get a callup in September. I would think the Cardinals would have a short leash with him, but honestly I’d have thought it was already used up and it hasn’t been, so it’s hard to know exactly what the club is going to do here.
