The Cardinals made their first round of Spring Training cuts on Sunday sending highly touted minor leaugers Shelby Miller and Zach Cox to minor league camp along with 7 of their comrades.
There’s nothing particularly surprising here but if you’re looking for a topic of conversation, which I am, it’s the optioning of Zach Cox. With the brittle ankles of David Freese, the third base spot is as open as ever and the Cardinals have elected to keep that competition among Freese, Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig.
This somewhat illustrates the perils of major league contracts to draftees. The Cardinals have now used their first option year (they’ll get three total) on Cox to send him back to the minors. It’s still not a bad contract — Cox should move quickly — but it does come with a slightly higher risk and forces that developmental time line.
For the time being the Cardinals seem to have Matt Carpenter ahead of Cox on the depth chart. While that doesn’t make him the better long term prospect, it does lend credence to the idea that he’s more polished and prepared for the majors at this point.
Original Story:
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