Would you want to take Jocketty's job?

by lefty fan on Jun 29, 2007 3:40 PM EDT Comment 8 comments

Even the most optimistic Cardinal fan would have to admit that this season might be over. Our boys have fought hard at times this year, but barring a miracle even greater than the 2006 WS run, we are done. With this thought in mind, I started to sketch our 2008 payroll/roster. This exercise didn't exactly fill me with confidence.

I'm making 2 assumptions:

There are no trades to dump salary or fill holes
Salaries from Cot's contracts are acurate

Cot's contracts admits there info is not always 100% correct so if you see any discrepancies, please point them out. The Cardinals have 10 players under contract for '08 totaling $71.8M! Here is the list of those player's and their salaries:

Under contract in '08
Pujols $16.0M
Rolen $12.0M
Carpenter $10.5M
Edmonds $8.0M
Mulder $6.5M (at least)
Encarnacion $6.5M
Looper $5.5M
Kennedy $3.5M
Spezio $2.3M
Flores $1.0M

These additional players are still under the Cards control via an option or arbitration:
Izzy $8.0M option
Taguchi $1.1M option
Molina- arbitration
Wainwright- arb
Duncan- arb
Maroth- arb
Thompson- arb
Reyes- arb
Miles- arb
Johnson- arb
Welleymeyer- arb
Ryan- arb
Kinney- arb

Let's say the arbitration guys are going to average around $0.75M each (Maroth will make alot more). If they keep Izzy, drop So, and tender contracts to the arbitration guys, that would put the payroll around $88M.

Let's make 1 final assumption: Bill Dewitt will budget for a $100M payroll in 2008. That leaves around $12M to upgrade and fill out the roster. We only need an impact shortstop and centerfielder!

My conclusion is that Walt and/or his successor will have some tough decisions to make. Should Izzy go? Can we get anyone to take Rolen or Edmonds or do they have anything in the tank? We can count on Mulder, Looper, and Reyes/Wellemeyer to start right? Wait 'til next year, ha! More like wait 'til 2009. We better hope Rasmus, Ankiel, and Ryan are the real thing!

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Well Good research, however

I don't think we can get rid of Edmmonds like that because he wants to end his career here and he's still good when healthy.

I think I would try pull off something where we send off Encarnacion for Austin Kearns type of deal. We can throw in mid level prospect and payoff some of his salary. I would sign Wainwright to a longterm deal 5 years 4 million a year type deal. IZZY is a different story I think ?I would resign him probably. I would also try to sign Molina to a 5 year deal too. 3 million a year or something along those lines. For short I would try to trade for Felipe Lopez or B.J. Upton (can still play short!) For Anthony Reyes and possibly Skip too

What Would Walt Jocketty Do? WWWJD Man!

by kyle man on Jun 29, 2007 4:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Would Jocketty do? He's what I would do.

I would trade Juan E for a lukewarm cup of coffee. I would keep Jimmy Baseball because a. I like him and I'm a fan and can suggest stupid things and b. to teach the guy that's coming up after him. I don't know what's up with Scott R, but who could we get that's better? He's still a gold glove 3rd basemen. I think David Eckstein gets to take his fragile back elsewhere. They won't sign him. I still think Kennedy can do it. He's having a horrible year, but you don't accumulate 1000 hits by having nothing. They have too much invested in Ankiel to move him. They have to bring him up just to see if he really has it. I think he does.

Big Balding Birds Fan!

by Big Balding Birds Fan on Jun 30, 2007 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What would Jocketty do? Here's what I would do.

Big Balding Birds Fan!

by Big Balding Birds Fan on Jun 30, 2007 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

if they could move edmonds and juan e

that would be great. duncan could play left, so could play center , ankiel could play rf. with spez ,ludwick and maybe a decent 4th type outfield additiom. but most likley edmonds will be back. which if he is heathly i want to see edmonds in a cardinals uniform.

also maybe somebody would take kennedy. which is most likley very hopeful thinking

HURRY BACK CARP AND MULDER

by LaRussa4President on Jun 29, 2007 7:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Gooch playing center fulltime

are you freakin kiddin me?! Ankiel in right? No we need to get talent in return not replacing talent with gooch and ricky! Come on now BRINGBACKWILSON that is foolish! We would have the worst record in baseball!

What Would Walt Jocketty Do? WWWJD Man!

by kyle man on Jun 29, 2007 8:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would

Trade Juan for whatever I could get in prospects. Salery dump.
Fire Tony / Duncan and look for an expert stats guys and a biomechanical engineer to take their place. Probably approach the guy that writes the breakdowns for pitchers to see if he is interested. Basically look for a hardcore numbers guy and not a "baseball" guy.
If looper is strong until the deadline, trade him.
Pick up Izzy's option
Ink Molina and Wainwright to multi-year deals.

Ask Tony to play Ryan over Kennedy and Reyes over Wellemeyer so we can see what we have for next year.

by DriverZn on Jun 29, 2007 10:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice analysis

The elephant(s) in the room are Rolen and Jed. They present a two-fold problem given their age, performance and contracts.

They are "un-moveable" in a practical sense.
They force role players into premeire slots in the line-up for which they were not signed. Enc, Skip, So and others are fine role players - just not top shelf.

This team was built around the MV3. A $100M dollar budget cannot afford failure with MV2 contracts nor spend around it. We can shuffle role players on a daily basis but it's like reaaranging deck chairs on the titanic.

I love both these guys but waiting them out - for the return of 04 or the contract to end - might be painful.

by Hinkster on Jun 30, 2007 8:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You're right on with Rolen and Edmonds

Our current configuartion of "studs and scrubs" as I have seen it mentioned before only works if Pulojs, Edmonds, Rolen, Carpenter, and Izzy are true studs. Unfortunately, 3/5ths of those guys have given us scrub-like performance and that's why this team has little chance this season and why I don't think 2008 will be much better.

by lefty fan on Jun 30, 2007 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs