Even though the cards are still treading water or are atleast doing better than I think most of us expected I like to look towards the future.  I praise the work the boys do over at Future redbirds and other sites such as project prospect and so forth.  With all that being said, I did some research and seek the communities thoughts and opinions on next year.  I Have been looking forward to this coming off season for a couple years now, it could be the ultimate infusion of youth with alot of money to spend.  I ventured over to cots contracts to see whom would be leaving along with what money the team would be recouping to spend.  Please take into consideration these are just rough numbers I was tossing around while sitting in a lecture hall class for 6 hours today, and also I don't know how to make a roster Matrix.  Anyways...

Leaving/signed to 1 year deal (the salaries are either what they earned this year or a option that could \be declined)
Izzy-8 mill
Randy Flores-1 mill
Looper-5.5
Mulder-11 million with a 1.5 buyout
Clement-8.75 mill with a 0.25 buyout
Izturis-2.85 mill
Springer-3.5
Instant breakfast-6.5 mill
Lohse-4.25 mill
Welly-1 mill
Miles-1.4 mill
Spizio-2.3 mill
Larue-1 mill
Edmonds 2 mill.

These players above are guys whom probably wont be back or will need to be resigned.  Personally I hope all of em are gone.  The total ads up to roughly around 55 million.  That's 55 million off the book!  Good Lord! And to think I didn't even include some of the kids that we don't know what to do with...i.e. Tyler Johnson, Josh  kinney, wonderbrad...etc....  I just did the above to show what would be leaving.  It doesn't mean we will have 55 mill to spend on free agents.

The following guys have significant guranteed money for next year (the money is the contract for 09')
Albert-16 mill
Glaus-11.25 mill
Kennedy-4 mill
Yadi-3.25 mill
Carp-14 mill
Wagonmaker-2.6mill
Pinero- 7.5 mill
Franklin- 2.5 mill

So this group of core players is making around 61 million for the 09 season.  This doesn't include the outfield as ankiel will be arbritation elgible, Ludwig will need a new contract, and skip,barton, and Duncan will all need to be settled for small amounts. *( A wrench gets thrown into the outfield for next year but I will talk about that at the bottom). 

Anyways so lets say the cards are going to try and hit that 110 mill payroll.  The core takes away 61 mill.  So we need to fill the rest of the roster with around 50 mill.  This is what i was looking at including the core. For the youngster i just went with 0.5 mill cause I figured there would be somewhat of a raise in their price for next year.
Bullpen
Franklin-2.5
Kyle Mc.-0.5 mill
Parisi-0.5 mill
Perez-0.5 mill
Motte-0.5 mill
Villone-1 mill

Rotation
Carp-14 mill
Wagonmaker-2.6mill
Pinero- 7.5 mill
Welly- 5 mill ( I don't know his status so i could be way off, but if he continues to pitch well I think the cards will sign him, I am just guessing an amount).
J. Garcia-0.5 mill

Infield
Albert-16 mill
Glaus-11.25 mill
Kennedy-4 mill
Ryan-0.5
Yadi-3.25 mill

outfield
Ankiel- 7 mill
Ludwig-2.5 mill
Skip-0.5 mill
Barton-0.5
Duncan-0.5

The total after all this is right around 81 million.  So now what we know, is that mo is basically going to have around 29 million to get a veteran Loogy, 2 infielders, and a back up for yadi which could just be Anderson if he continues to impress.  So put yourself in the place of Mo.  What do you do?  Do you go after Furcal/ Cabrera?  Do you toss welly to the side and go for another pitcher?  Do you try to add a more veteran presence to the outfield?  What do you do with guys like T.J., Kinney, wonderbrad, reyes, etc...  Let me know people!!!!  You got a good chunk of cash!

*Lastly, the wrench,  as I did this, i kept looking at the outfield and realized that Rasmus should be here.  I know he is playing bad right now but unless he continues to struggle all year, he should be in the outfield next year for opening day.  Larussa is not going to keep 6 outfielders, so does this mean we should really expect Duncan to go at some point this year.  The signs would point to yes.

I appreciate your time for reading this and voicing your opinion.  Again these are all just rough numbers and estimates for next year.  Let me know If I am way off.