Ronny Cedeno is, technically, a Major League Baseball player. The internet confirms this matter to be a fact, and it also tells me that Cedeno plays a position many refer to as shortstop. That’s where Cedeno managed to catch the Cardinals’ eye, as Rafael Furcal is old and broken, Pete Kozma is certainly no future solution, and Daniel Descalso had his share of problems trying to hold down the position in the interim while Furcal was hurt in 2012. The Cardinals have added Cedeno on a one-year deal worth $1.15 million so that he can spell Furcal in the likely event that the veteran shortstop incurs yet another time consuming physical ailment.
Moves like this don’t warrant a whole lot of attention, as they can’t possibly be all that good or bad given the contract length and amount. Cedeno is a simply terrible hitter; he’s the owner of a career .247/.290/.357 line, and he’s only been worth 1.9 WAR over the course of eight seasons and nearly 2,500 PA according to FanGraphs. That’s completely abysmal, but at least he can handle shortstop defensively. Given that the rest of the Cardinal lineup figures to be quite potent, it’s not too big of a deal if one or two positions don’t yield positive offensive results. As we saw last summer, it may be better just to have someone out there who can field a grounder and get the job done.
So while Cedeno’s signing is little more than a complimentary move, it does confirm that the Cardinal middle infield will indeed be disgusting for at least one more season unless Matt Carpenter can make the transition to second or Honus Wagner returns from the dead and signs a developmental deal. With Furcal, Descalso, Cedeno, and Kozma in the mix, we’re sure to be lamenting the bottom half of the order even as the other six spots are mashing. Hey, we’re getting kind of greedy now. Get used to it!
