they usually are move effective when they throw softer thus more movement.

Talk the Yankees into signing Sheets, soaking up the loss of that draft pick, and in return picking up Sheets at a reasonable cost. Imagine this scenario.

-Yankees sign Sheets, two years at $7M per, and a club-optional third year
-Cardinals trade with Yankees, sending them a minor leaguer (Anderson perhaps) to make up for the draft pick
-Brewers get stuck with a (4th?) round pick

Cards win. Sheets wins. Yanks win. Brewers are screwed. Good plan?

Smoltz pitched 28 innings last year. Hudson pitched 142. Hudson will come back mid season but now they also have Lowe and Kawakami to bolster their rotation.

But we should gobble up Sheets before someone else deos.

the guy was asking for 5/95 a few months ago & ended up getting 4/60. good for him, bad for the ATL. it would have been horrible for the Cardinals. anyone who thinks the Cards were cheap or stupid for not trying to match or outbid the Braves on this one has no idea what they are talking about.

headed to StL in that deal.

Kennedy career OPS: .717
Young career road OPS: .727

Kennedy career UZR/150 at 2B: 9.9
Young career UZR/150 at 2B/SS: -3.3/-12

Plus Young’s below average UZR/150 number at 2B was compiled when he was a much younger and better player. He wouldn’t be much, if any, of an upgrade over AK if the money was even. His value is almost entirely derived from his gaudy numbers in Arlington (best hitters’ park in baseball in 2008) of: .322/.369/.480/.850

He’s a declining hitter and a poor SS. Would he be better at second? Perhaps…let’s take a look.

From a off-the-top-of-the-head POV, he’s probably only going to get worse offensively because his numbers are plummeting like a stone. Maybe an AL-NL switch would give him a boost, but maybe not. Kennedy was an ace fielder last season and worse with the bat than Young…so I’m guessing this would be a marginal upgrade at best.

Let’s look at WIns Above Replacement totals from last year to be sure:
Young-1.7
Kennedy-1.7

Based on this, it would seem that trading Young would be a sideways move from a WAR perspective. Would Young have better numbers switching to the weaker league? Possibly…but then again he plays in an offensive paradise and Busch is a neutral-to-pitchers park.

Now, lets think about salaries here. Kennedy will make 4 million next year, while Young (thanks to a batshit contract extension that was negotiated with several years left on the previous deal) will make 16 million next year and will make that for 4 years after that too. To make it cost effective, Texas will have to eat a frighteningly tremendous chunk of that contract. PLUS the Cards will probably have to throw in another couple of pieces.

So…no on Young is the logical step.

I seriously doubt that Sheets will sign for under $12M and I also doubt that Looper will sign for under around $7. That would be a solid rotation if we could get them both though.

But other than Sheets, who’s going to be a better fit than Looper? I also don’t think we’re begging for him quite yet (see the Ben Sheets petition)