#Cardinals rethinking process after missing Randy Arozarena

To most casual observers, Randy Arozarena came out of nowhere to be the big breakout star of the postseason. The Rays outfielder, though, didn’t just show up at the start of the playoffs.

He arrived in Tampa Bay from the Cardinals in a nondescript January trade, a deal that now haunts the team.

“I will own that. That’s on me. You need to know your own players,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “We will revisit how we rank our own players and make sure that we don’t have something like this happen again.”

The Cardinals got quality left-handed pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore and catching prospect Edgardo Rodriguez for Arozarena, who tore up the playoffs, hitting .377 with 10 home runs and a 1.273 OPS in leading the Rays to the World Series. Making matters worse, the Cardinals are in need of outfielders, with Harrison Bader and Dexter Fowler both scuffling.

Arozarena, who missed the start of the season recovering from COVID-19, would look pretty good out there for them.

He was a pretty good prospect before his postseason explosion, with a career .844 OPS in parts of four minor league seasons and .289/.373/.471 slash line.