[Following is our response to HotStove.com's question: David Freese is the current favorite to win the third base job for the Cards this season. Are you comfortable with him manning the hot corner in 2010, or should the team have looked to the free agent market this offseason to fill that role?]

Adding Felipe Lopez certainly hedges the team’s bet at third base. As we noted a couple of weeks ago when discussing whether the team should sign him, he’s more apt as a third-base option than as insurance at shortstop. And given the pattern of David Freese’s offseason idiocy, third base is more in question than shortstop, even considering Brendan Ryan’s wrist injury. Freese projects to hit better (.340ish wOBA) than FeLo (.330ish) and has a reputation as a solid fielder, so, ceteris parabus in spring, he should get the nod. But the Cardinals should keep him on a short leash, both on and off the field, since they now have a reliable backup in Lopez. Compared to last year at this time, when the team entered the season with a trio of lesser lights — Joe Thurston, Brian Barden and a year-less-experienced Freese — the Cardinals are in a much better situation at the hot corner. And with Lopez, they likely won’t need to sacrifice prospects in midseason to shore up as they had to in 2009.

This entry was posted by Pip on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 11:10 pm and is filed under analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.