What do you think the Cards will do this offseason?

… i have no idea what they’re going to do. i’d expect that they sign a LOOGY and at least one FA SP. i think that one of Iz2/Lopez will be back, but i’m not sure which. i could see either Grudz or Renteria back as well (if there’s no hard feelings), but doubtful that both would be. i think they’ll try to trade an OFer or two, but it will be difficult to get much back. i still don’t think Schumaker’s value is very high, and Duncan and Barton have something to prove before anybody will offer up anything valuable for them. i think it’d take more than Mather to get Zobrist (or whoever), so possible Mather + Ottovino or something. i think at least one of Ankiel/Ludwick gets extended.

that’s about it.

I think the front office knows this.

Ankiel
Duncan?
Ludwick
Schumaker
Barton
Mather
Rasmus

That’s just too many bats for four spots. Personally, I’d like to see an outfield of Ludwick, Ankiel, and Rasmus with Barton as the backup…but realistically, I’m not sure it wouldn’t be better to trade one of those guys to help in other areas.

It’ll be interesting to see what the market is like for a guy like Skip. He’s in his late 20s and offers a pretty mixed skill set (i.e. good defense, above average speed, inability to hit lefties). I think it would be interesting to see if Mo can convince some silly GM out there looking for a starting OF’er that Skip is highly valuable because of his high BA and plus defense.

Nobody is untouchable for the right offer (including Rasmus and Ludwick) because we’re dealing from a position of strength. There’s nothing wrong with having a surplus, but I think if we deal one or two of those guys we probably STILL have a surplus.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Barton get shipped to somewhere where he’ll play more. I think he’s got a bright future, but he doesn’t fit here. Surely other GMs have noticed, too. I think he has value.

I’d take both of them and platoon them at short. Both have posted respectable lines for bottom of the order spots and their glove work is at least adequate. Good bats that go with good gloves at short are rare and really expensive.

Ankiel’s and Duncan’s injury status probably prevent a trade. Ludwick and Rasmus probably won’t be available except at a premium price (and are therefore unlikly to be traded). I am not sure how much value Mather has. That leaves Schumaker and Barton as the most likely to be traded.

Then again, we might not really have that much of a surplus of OFers. I think Rasmus is headed for another year of AAA and Duncan is likely done. That leaves Ankiel, Ludwick, a Mather/ Shumaker platoon and a AAAA backup in Mather.

I am thinking that Renteria’s option will not be picked up. I think the Cards sign him to a 2 year deal. I think they splurge on a real LOOGY and get Ohman.

I also think that they try to trade Ankiel. He just seems like the most likely to be moved considering his contract status. If only they could get a 2B for him.

He would be the perfect LOOGY for the cards, i wouldn’t mind a Lowe at the 2-3/20-36 deal, throw in a schu, motte, and craig for michael young then we got a playoff team

We have to trade our surplus of Outfielders and our best trading partner has to be the Braves. They are so bad it is unbelievable. Here is their production by position.

LF – .262/.340/.363/.702 with 6 HR’s
CF – .288/.357/.396/.753 with 8 HR’s
RF – .226/.288/.345/.632 with 11 HR’s

Now what do you say we want from them? Kelly Johnson our 2B of the future. This is his first season of Arbitration. He posted .277/.345/.429/.774 line this year. He tends to be a streaky hitter though.

Now what do we give them for him? 3 Players… two of this group Mather, Ankiel, Schumaker, Duncan, and Barton. Than they also have to take Kennedy’s final year of his contract.

So this will give us a starting 2B we can start everyday and need 1 less MIFer. Now at the SS position I think they should give a 1 year/$5 mil contract to Renteria. He is type A free agent but I just can’t see Detroit taking the chance to offer him arbitration. Than as the utility sign either Miles or Lopez. Just one not both.

So lets see where we stand.

C – Molina
1B – Pujols
2b – Johnson
SS – Renteria
3B – Glaus
CF – Rasmus
RF – Ludwick
LF – Schumaker or Ankiel

Back-ups:
C – LaRue
2b/SS – Miles or Lopez
3b/2b/SS – Ryan or Freese
OF – Mather,Barton, and Duncan (2 of them)

Now on to pitching

Starting Rotation:

Carp
Wainwright
Welley
Pinero
FA – Lowe/Garland/Burnett

Pen:
Perez
Franklin
Springer
Motte
Tyler Johnson
Kinney
FA Lefty – Will Ohman 2 year/$5 million

I think the most important and realistic move will be acquiring Kelly Johnson for OFers. It stabilizes 2B for us so we don’t need to have 4 MIFer’s. An incentive laden deal would be good idea to get Edgar. I am not sure how much he has left in the tank with his line of .270/.320/.378/.698 for the season. He does shore up a hole vs lefties though. He put up a .342/.427/.518/.945 against them this season in 114 AB’s.

i think the one thing we can learn from this year is that rotational depth is a necessity. So we’ve got Carp, Wain, and Well for sure. Resign Looper if it’s a team friendly deal. Then we find our 5 guy. I don’t like Garland so much. He seems like a vanilla pitcher that would require LOTS of years. Carlos Silva redux? Throw the money at an ace, get denied, then sign 3 guy. Piniero is still alive as far as I know, so at least see if he can eat some innings. Boggs? like it. McClellan? Let’s try it out in the rotation. He can always go back. With the Cardinals aggressiveness in promoting pitchers recently could we see Clayton Mortensen sometime next year in a bullpen role? Jess Todd? Amaury Marti?

(I never doubt the mysterious powers of Marti. If Motte can convert to pitching, Marti can do it. With no arms.)

or the GM in Seattle. Until we know that it is impossible to guess.

Like Pujols, and Tony, the guy has deserved to have a job for him here in STL until HE decides he’s done, and not before.

Then, priorities should be bullpen and a starter. I would like to see an improvement in MI, however the pitching has to be set as a higher priority in my opinion.

I would like to see Duncan brought back on as long a deal as he’ll sign. I’d like to go after Fuentes, trade for Mahay, or find a comparable, proven lefty veteran who will consistently do what is asked. I won’t dream of KRod and I wouldn’t want Valverde even though he seems to have caught fire lately. In the meantime, sign Looper back on a Marquis-to-the-cubbies deal of 3yr/21-24 million, or even do a 2yr/19mil Jim Edmonds contract. That would be WW/Carp/Looper/Welley with Thompson, Boggs, Piniero, and maybe McClellan/Todd putting some starts together.

Take the draft picks with Lohse, and realize that you stole one from Armando Montelango’s “Flip This..” page and flip that pitcher into two serviceable draft picks to bolster the farm.

With whatever’s left over, you could make a play on a MI, but I foresee a Miles/Lopez/Ryan/and Barden team fielding up the middle, with an outside shot at Izy2 coming back (since TLR is set to be or MGR next year).

If we can make a decent trade from our OF surplus/RHP prospects, I’d like to see a MI of high quality with team control for a few years, but I don’t see the cardinals doing much to fuss with the system that finally has earned some sorts of passing grades.

All my humble opinions, and I expect I’m wrong somewhere.

I know he’s on a hot streak right now, but I know we would be even in the wild card if his stats were going on our team instead of Looper or another mediocre starter. We’re gonna give up a pick if we sign him at this point. What do you think Moz and the boys turned down for him? cuz that trade woulda countered the Harden, Sabathia trades perfectly!!

Starting 8
Schumaker, Ludwick, Ankiel – Albert, Glauss, Molina, Polanco, Renteria

Bench
LaRue, Miles, Lopez, Duncan, Mather

Rotation
Carpenter, Wainwright, Halladay, Garland/Lowe, Wellemeyer

Bull Pen
Biemel/Affeldt, Ohman/Affeldt, Springer, Franklin, McCllelan, Perez, Lyon