“I haven’t seen him (Helsley) throw much, but the times I have, he has an explosive fastball,” said Alex Reyes, who knows a thing or two about explosiveness. “He’s able to use that down and up in the zone. His arm is huge. His delivery is also very compact and, like, smooth. Just watch him throw, you see the ball explode out of his hand. He’s going to be great.”

For these reasons, Mozeliak mentioned Helsley again when asked the familiar question last weekend. But he mentioned a hard-throwing lefty first.

“If I had to guess, I might put it all on Cabrera,” Mozeliak said. “Power lefthand arm. Could be very exciting, and someone who makes a real contribution this year.”

The Cardinals continue to monitor the free-agent market to see if an opportunity presents itself to acquire a proven reliever on a team-friendly deal.

One of the Cardinals’ smartest moves last season was picking up Bud Norris for practically peanuts, and there are a lot of Norris-types without contracts at the moment.