Hot tip from azruavatar: Count the outfielders on the Cardinals' minor league rosters.
The Cardinals added to their 40-man roster on Monday by claiming 22-year-old outfielder Rafael Ortega off waivers. Ortega was placed on waivers by the Rangers on Dec. 30 after he was designated for assignment.
Memphis: Oscar Taveras, Mike O'Neill, Thomas Pham, Stephen Piscotty, James Ramsey.
Springfield: Randal Grichuk, Starlin Rodriguez, Jonathan Rodriguez, David Popkins, Adam Melker, Rafael Ortega?
Palm Beach: Charlie Tilson, Anthony Garcia—
And so on. For a team that doesn't know what it's going to do with Shane Robinson, it seems like a lot of bodies.
Ortega is interesting if you like speedy little guys, and strangely young for a waiver claim—he made his MLB debut back in 2012, and signed with the Rockies in 2008, as a 17-year-old.
But he's also a reminder of just how little we know about the Cardinals' motivations and ideas at the edges of the roster. For two years or so we follow the minor leagues secure in the knowledge that someone once told us Ryan Jackson was a better defender than Pete Kozma, and then one report from Goold later we're told that the Cardinals like Kozma better now, and have for just long enough to explain their weird confidence in him down the stretch in 2012.
We've followed behind the Cardinals' minor leaguers for years, and we've picked up just enough scraps to draw our own conclusions about sleeper prospects and pet projects, but our information is old, and it's entirely possible that John Mozeliak, for some dumb reason, doesn't like Thomas Pham as much as I do. I guess we'll see what he likes about Rafael Ortega.