3 Players Who Won't Be on the Cardinals Roster Next Season

The St. Louis Cardinals had a successful 2020 season, finishing second in the NL Central at 30-28 before falling 2-1 to the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Round. Like any other team, the Cardinals head into the offseason with some important roster decisions to make.

It may be time for the Cardinals to shake things up and the first step in doing that is looking at the current roster and deciding who needs to stay and who needs to go. Taking that into account, here are three players who won't be on the Cardinals roster next season.

1. Brad Miller, IF

Brad Miller outplayed expectations this season, hitting 7 home runs and driving in 25 RBI while playing almost every day for the Cardinals. He was signed during spring training to be a utility man and now enters free agency looking to go to a team he feels he will be able to find a starting spot. Bringing Miller back would be more of a want than a need for the Cardinals as he doesn't fill the current holes on the roster. He will likely be offered more money by a team that needs infield help, and it's in the Cardinals best interest to not get in a bidding war over the veteran.

2. Harrison Bader, OF

Harrison Bader has become known as a great defensive outfielder for the Cardinals, but he continues to struggle at the plate. For a player with as much speed as he has, Bader hasn't posted a batting average over .264 in his career. The Cardinals are have a lot of depth in their outfield and just saw top prospect Dylan Carlson come up to the big leagues this season and contribute by driving in 16 runs over 35 games played. Bader is only 26 years old and could bring a lot of value to teams looking to get younger or fill out their outfield positions. The Cardinals' best move is to trade Bader for some pitching now while his value is still high and bank on developing Carlson into a starting outfielder for years to come.

3. Daniel Ponce de Leon, P

Daniel Ponce de Leon is a name that could be floated out there this offseason as a possible trade candidate. The 28-year-old pitcher has been used as the longman out of the bullpen and an occasional starter for the Cardinals, but has never had a clearly defined role on the team over the course of an entire season. He enters the 2021 season with one year left under club control. Other teams may view Ponce de Leon as a player that would bolster their starting rotation and the Cardinals would be smart to capitalize on the value he has now and bring back players that they feel fit their team better overall.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.