My 2007 Roster

by BigMac545 on Nov 7, 2006 1:17 PM EST

There are a lot of choices to make this year... like Larry and a few others im going to try my hand. Here are a few moves that I would make if I were Walt:

1.) Keep Jim Edmonds. Sign him to a two year 15 million dollar contract with some incentives. Even when hitting .260 Jimmy Baseball is the best CFer in the free agent pool. If healthy Jimmy is still gonna hit 25 HRs walk a 80-100 times and drive in 80-100 RBIs. All of that on top of his gold glove D... a bargin at 8 mil a season.

2.) This may not be possible but Walt needs to do all he can to trade Izzy and his 8.75 million contract. There are a lot of teams out there that need a closer. Cleveland (Kelly Shoppach?), Baltimore (Jay Gibbons?), Arizona (Craig Counsell), and Texas all could use a good Closer. The issue is clearly Izzy's health and how quickly he is going to come back from his latest surgery. If he can be ready for spring training I think we could and should move Izzy. For the sake of my roster make up here I would say trade Izzy to Balitmore for Jay Gibbons (5 M in 07) that saves us about 3.75 M in salary.

3.) Wainwright remains our closer. Leaving us with a starting rotation of just Carp and Reyes. To fill in the last three spots the Cards should sign Jason Schmidt (13 M), Jeff Weaver (5-6M), and Mark Mulder (5-6M). Yes, Mulder was horrible last year but he was hurt. A one year incentive laden contract makes a lot of sense, especally when you consider how good Mulder can be. If the real Mulder shows up next year we have Carp and two very very good number 2's in Mulder and Schmidt. That on top of a very good number 4 in Jeff Weaver and Reyes in the 5 spot.

3.) Trade Duncan to Pittsburgh for Mike Gonzalez. The time to trade Duncan is now. Gonzalez is one of the bests LHRP in baseball. This trade is a no brainer.

4.) Sign Mark Loretta to a one year 3-4M contract. Loretta is a solid player all around. Hit in the 2 hole in front of Pujols since he has good on-base skills.

These moves leave us with a team that looks something like this

C- Yadi - 600k
C- Bennett - 650k
1B- MVP - 15M
2B- Loretta - 4M
3B- Rolen - 12M
SS- Eck - 4.5M
LF- Gibbons - 5M
CF- Jimmy 7M
RF- Juan - 5M
OF- J- Rod - 400k
OF- Schumaker - 300k
INF- Miles - 800k
INF- Spiezio - 1.5M

SP- Carp - 7.8M
SP- Schmidt - 13M
SP- Mulder - 6M
SP- Weaver- 5M
SP- Reyes- 350k
CL- Wainwright - 350k
RP- Gonzalez - 500k
RP- Kinney - 350k
RP- Looper - 4.5M
RP- Johnson- 350k
RP- Thompson - 400k
RP- Flores/Hancock - 350k
(Rincon- 1.5M)

The total salary for this team is: 97.2 M. I know this is a little above what we have seen in the past but I don't think this number is too big. The owners hit the jackpot this year in the playoffs and will continue to profit by huge amounts with all the World Series shirts and hats and such. I don't think a 100M dollar budget is too much to ask for, but the question is is will ownership agree with me? If 97.2 is too much try to trade Looper for prospects and put Hancock in the pen. with Wainwright closing, Gonzalez and Kinney seting him up Looper has turned into a middle innings guy. 4.5 M is a lot of money for a middle innings reliever.

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Comments

I've seen a lot of...

trade Izzy comments on the board...

I wouldn't do that given his leadership role on the team and the fact he signed a below market contract to come here and he agreed to defer money to help out the owners, but, if the Cards were to trade him, there's no way anyone will take his entire contract or even a substantial part of it. The Cards on the hook. We might get a similarly overpriced player in return, or some low-grade prospects, but that's about it.

by guayzimi on Nov 7, 2006 1:28 PM EST reply actions

i agree...

lets all keep in mind that he DID get 33 saves. They may have bee n ugly saves, btu they were saves.
I dont like Loretta, if were going to spend 4 mil on a 2b, it might as well be Belly, Bellie's a better hitter

by Dttl89 on Nov 7, 2006 3:53 PM EST up reply actions

Nice Post

I think this is a very conservative (and alot more likely to be on point) look at the Cards in 07. I know it sounds stupid but I think the 2006 Cards are most like the 1996 version (i.e. a decent overhaul is required).

I think Loretta is on the downside and I would eat serious money to offload Encarnacion (if he's not playing center) and Looper. These guys are dead weight IMHO. Good idea on the Gonzalez trade but I just feel that we have a pretty strong bullpen going forward and I think the rest of the baseball world will tend to think Duncan's activity was a blip (given his Sept/Oct performance).

I don't think we could realistically deal Izzy anytime before mid-year. As I've said before, I am very anti-Schmidt. My feel from watching him several times in person is that he has followed a Matty Mo progression from electric stuff to "needing to spot it." I don't pay big bucks to that kind of guy.

by Lawless on Nov 7, 2006 6:54 PM EST reply actions

Izzy

I just think it will be hard to find a trade suitor for a 34 year old closer coming off of an injury, who struggled a lot when he was healthy and is owed almost 10 million, unless we are willing to eat a lot of his salary. Boston is the first name that comes to mind, because they dclined an option on Foulke today.

by gopher100 on Nov 7, 2006 9:35 PM EST reply actions

Gonzalez walk rate worries me. It's been around

4.5/9 for two years now. He's got good stuff (and honestly I haven't seen him all that much) but I sense control issues. How much longer till he is arb-elligible?

Acquire Jason Schmidt!

by azruavatar on Nov 7, 2006 9:42 PM EST reply actions

Gonzalez

I love the idea of trading for gonzalez to use in a setup/closer role. The only problem with this is that Dave Littlefield is tough to work with. If you look back to Craig Wilson earlier this year, he turned away from the Cardinals offers and traded Wilson for a bag of potato chips (also known as Shawn Chacon) when he could have had a better value for him by trading with the Cards. It'll be tough to convince him to trade within the division, but if the price is right, i would do it. Depending on how Rincon's rehab goes, I wouldn't be surprised if Walt picks up a setup lefthander like J.C. Romero. I don't think Flores is a very good option, and we have to hope Tyler Johnson replicates his postseason success. Romero had an ugly ERA this year (6.70), but lefties only hit .202 against him compared to lefties hitting .268 against Flores. Romero should be a cheap buy and could be very useful to this pen.

by Bullet Bob Gibson on Nov 7, 2006 10:37 PM EST reply actions

how's weaver at 5?

he got 8+ from the Halos last year and his agent is that Boras shitbag

It happened on a Sunday afternoon, August 22, 1982.

by Glenn Brummer stole home on Nov 8, 2006 2:24 AM EST reply actions

can't we just say that

Boras is a reportedly difficult agent? Do we really need to resort to juevenile name calling like that?

Also, if you were a player, wouldn't you want an agent to go out and fight for you and try and get you the best contract.

Weaver is probably at 5 b/c he went 8-14 with a 5.76 ERA.

Acquire Jason Schmidt!

by azruavatar on Nov 8, 2006 2:47 AM EST up reply actions

If memory serves

The Cardinals have always been comfortable working with Boras. He's Ankiel's agent and the Cards organization has bent over backwards for Rick over the past few years.

by liam on Nov 8, 2006 4:14 AM EST up reply actions

Weaver

had a good post season but don't forget he was horrible in the regular season. Weaver regained his stuff and his mental health under Dave Duncan and the Cardinals. Look for Weaver to stay with the Cardinals for one year try to build a whole solid season next year around what he did here in the post season then go out and get huge Jason Schmidt type money in the FA market next year. At least that would be the smart thing for him to do. He isn't going to get that 8 million dollars again this year with the HORRIBLE regular season he had.

by BigMac545 on Nov 8, 2006 11:22 AM EST up reply actions

It was an off season

nearly every pitcher has an off season...give the guy a break...I have a little brother who is ten years younger than me...and i know if i had to try to compete with him for my job...I'd be off my game, especially if the fans were calling for me to be sent down to AAA, traded, or released.
I think he'll have a nice bounce back season, and i think the cards could use his nice bounce back season

by Dttl89 on Nov 8, 2006 3:39 PM EST up reply actions