Like signing Johnson or Sheets or Smoltz that pisses people off. His off season so far has been very good. We got an above average SS and a solid LOOGY. We didn’t blow our money on Fuentes and our bullpen got better interninally. We could have a great offseason if we sign an ace starter, or traded for one.

I think it is clear he is working on a pretty tight budget this off-season. I sure hope he has another move up his sleeve, but I am also grateful for all the non-moves. Also working on a budget gives a lot less room for error. The lower the payroll, the more negative impact for a poor contract.

Dont get me wrong. I loved AM, I wanted to keep him. But MO has preached the “patience” since day one. Lohse and Glause turned out to be huge. Not to mentioned we got the better end of the Edmonds trade also. I feel between now and spring training. WE will add a pitcher and another named utility guy. Mo hasnt done anything to warrant people to be upset at all. well he did let Taguchi go, but thats only me.

He has done an okay job this offseason so far. The problem is that his strategy is erratic. Lately it has been “let’s be patient,” but at first it was “lets sign a 30 year old guy with a career ERA+ of 97 to a 4/$41 deal with a no trade clause.” This contract looks worse by the day, especially when the Mets’ offer to Lowe is reportedly 3/$36.

You can’t sign Lohse to that contract as soon as the season ends and then preach patience to the fanbase. That said, I’m happy with the recent non-moves (Miles, Fuentes).

since Mr. DeWitt is more than likely the one calling all the shots. Mo is only working with the budget that DeWitt has given him…and it looks like there is not a lot of money that is going in to filling some of the holes we have.

Not to go into a full on rant…..but I think Mr. DeWitt has decided to take the team in a different direction. I think he is going to try and go the route that the Royals/Twins/Pirates have taken for awhile now. Build from with-in and take your best shot at competing against the big market teams that has the luxury of spending money to fill their holes. Let’s just hope we have better results than those teams have.

it was a boon to this team but it wasnt some genius master stroke.

Joel got hurt and we had to sign someone, it was complete luck that Loshe was still available and no one really wanted him. This deal was completely pulled out of MO’s ass, it doesnt happen often (I cant think of when something similars happened before, though im sure it has), and I sure as hell wouldnt count on deals like this in the future.

Loshe was a rare gift and we should consider ourselves lucky for that, not count on it.

in the hot stove fanpost? That’s what the hot stove fanpost is for. If there’s some new insight, let’s have a new fanpost. If not, put it in the hot stove fanpost.

We simply do not need a new fanpost every time someone has a 3 line comment to include.

The Cardinals were an 86 win team last year with the mid-range priced, mediocre talent that some are decrying. Yes, they over-achieved; but that is what they accomplished. Honestly, they still had a chance to be a 90 win team as late as the trading deadline. Then, injuries and over-exposure started to catch up to the team, and they just couldn’t continue it. They also probably lost a little hitch in their giddy-up when the Cubs and Brewers made such significant additions at the trade deadline, and then the Carpenter “addition” yielded to yet another setback. Frankly, the Cards competetiveness last year was beyond my wildest imagination.

Mr. DeWitt has made no apologies for the fact that he wants to build this team primarily from within the organization. They are finally starting to devote serious resources to scouting in Latin America and Asia (something that was unbelievably left out of their organizational direction until now). Their drafting inadequacies are well understood by everyone here, and that is not the type of thing that is turned around quickly. While the pipeline is starting to fill up now, we are still waiting to see what the likes of Rasmus, Perez, Motte, McClellan, and Wallace are going to consistently provide at the major league level. Otherwise, the system has been producing primarily AAAA players (Joe Mather, Skip Schumaker, Mitchell Boggs, et al) that have more value to the Cards than to any other team.

Since the Cards have started this organizational shift (or, more likely, the reason they started this shift), the FA market has gotten absurd. No. 4 starters now make the same money as Albert Pujols. Hell, a pitcher like Fuentes was looking to make more money than Pujols. Teams like the Angels, Yankees, Cubs, and Mets are trying to buy all other teams out of competition; and to some extent they are succeeding. Despite the ever-mentioned 3.2 million fans that the Cards draw, too much of their revenue is generated from that source to be able to compete with the top 3 TV markets in the country from a spending perspective.

The Cards have had a fair amount of payroll come off of the books this year, so they should have had some payroll to spend this offseason. Then, the economy took a dump, Carpenter’s condition has handcuffed the team, the Pineiro signing has turned out to be awful, and the team’s greatest strength from which to deal is a glut of middle-of-the-road OFs in a market that is flooded with more proven options in the OF. Mozeliak doesn’t want to block prospects like Rasmus, Motte, and Perez; so he can’t justify paying a Fuentes for 3 years at closer’s money. They have Lohse, Wainwright, and Carpenter tied up to significant money in the starting rotation; and they have no prospects to fill in the end of the rotation. They have no prospects to fill the LOOGY spot since Garcia got hurt and Johnson flamed out, and Perez and Motte could have used at least one year as understudies to become ready for the closer’s position.

So, what’s the good news? Other than the closer’s role, there are still pretty good options for the Cards to fill out the starting rotation and the LOOGY role. After filling the giant hole that was at SS, and supplying one LOOGY already, that should put the Cards at nearly the same competition level as last year. The Cubs have probably gotten better, but I think Mozeliak has to be judged on how he decides to fill these three holes that remain on this team.

goold quoting miles that mo entered the miles of cash sweepstakes with a 2 year offer over 4 million. this pushes me to the side of “wtf is he up to”.

The only reason they’re starting Kennedy is, one – he wouldn’t be traded for much talent and two, his contract. I think that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve seen the Cardinals pull in a long time. Also, they should’ve gotten Springer back. He wouldn’t be nearly as expensive as some other relievers out there, and he both played well and liked it here. I was very upset when they didn’t want him back, and I’m still irked about it.

according to hummel, mo has final say over the questions he answers i his chats. bad for wasting the space with those kinds of questions and bad for jacking up the antagonism.