Elite shortstops were available — all the billionaire owners had to do was give them money.
But the Cardinals’ owners didn’t. They bypassed on the likes of Trea Turner (meanwhile, the team that had just won the National League pennant added him). Part of the Cardinals’ decision was their confidence in shortstop Tommy Edman in the present. Another aspect was the Cardinals’ confidence in future. Namely, Masyn Winn.
“I think he's a modern shortstop,” John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, said Saturday during Winter Warm-up. “He runs, he's got pop and an extremely elite arm.