to get?

I’m very intrigued by this latest round of ‘we don’t have any money’ claims Mo is making. He says that there is less money than what people perceive there to be because we didn’t take into account raises.

Firstly, most of us on this site have taken into account raises in payroll matrix done. Secondly, if Rick Ankiel and/or Chris Duncan are getting THAT big of a raise, TRADE THEM (or release them in Duncan’s case). When you’ve got a cheaper alternative in both Colby Rasmus and Joe Mather already in the organization, dump the more costly players and then guess what…you have more money.

The Cardinals should have $15 M left to spend, even with the mythical raises all these players are getting. That should be more than enough to sign a starter. Think about how much more money they’d have if they hadn’t given Kyle Lohse a 4 year/$41 M deal!

 with “stupidly spending money” and/or “having the roster finished by Christmas”

We went into the offseason with 4 goals

1.) Improve the leftside of the bullpen
2.) Improve the Middle Infield
3.) Sign a starter (or two)
4.) Find a closer

1.) We have so far signed 3 potental Loogys. Sure they aren’t named brand loogys. But who uses a name brand loogy? Let them fight it out in spring training and keep the best one. If he fails you have more the other two standing by. There is a good chance that they will be better than Randy “Walk the basesloaded” Flores and Ron Villone.

2.) Improve the middle infield. Yes I know Green only has an OBP of .304. He also has a OPS+ of 94. Which is a huge improvement of Izturis’ 67 OPS+. This also raised that payroll number everyone is so worried about.

   To improve depth they signed Joe Thurston. Who is by no means the future at 2nd base but should be close to Major League ready and will at least provided insure if Kennedy turns into 07 Kennedy.

3.) Sign a starter. (or two) Hello Kyle Lohse. You remember him. Pitched well for us last year. Signed him to a 4 year deal worth over 40 million. I dont like the deal. I think we overpaid. I too would like us to sign another starter. But to say we are being cheap here isn’t quite fair. To me this falls under “stupidly spending money.” I hope Lohse proves me wrong.

4.) I’m kinda glad we didn’t sign Fuentes. I think Perez and or Motte can do the job. But they have said they wanted one. And have been unable to get one. So I guess you can complain about that if you really want to.

I think that it’s too early to attack the orgaization for their lack of activity this offseason. Here are a few points to be considered:

1) The Cardinals peaked at 14 games over .500 numerous times last season but were never able to overcome that mark. From July 20 to the end of the season, the Cards were 2 games under.
2) There were no moves made at the trade deadline. The Cardinals were 1 game over .500 after the trade deadline, and 11 games over before it.
3) Lots of payroll freed up this offseason. There is now money to pay some new players to help fix last year’s holes. The moves thus far include acquiring a potential MIF threat who is coming off of a career worst year, a 4/41 deal to what is by most accounts a league average pitcher, a potentially injured LOOGY, and various low hanging fruit type players. Arguably one of the Cards’ best relievers was not offered arbitration, along with last year’s 4th best starter. The club’s ace is still a question mark. That leaves the club minus a startng pitcher.
5) Several players on the team are arbitration eligible, which will eat up some salary. Some players are also due raises.
6) The economy is bad (duh). Contracts aren’t coming as fast as usual, so there are still a few big name free agents on the market.
7) It’s January 7th. There is plenty of time left for the Cardinals to sign Ben Sheets Derek Lowe some new players.

The first few points were intended just to reiterate the fact the the Cardinals should by no means be done this offseason. If they don’t sign or trade for someone else by the time the season starts, I’m going to be very unhappy. Too many players on the team are due to regress (especially in the rotation) to try to get by without spending any more money. However, I will wait before offering any final judgements on the organization’s performance.

I thought that the fanposts(ers) on here were too good to use the terms “low hanging fruit” and “DeWallet”. Being frustrated is one thing, hell, so is being negative. Is it too much to ask for originality when doing it though? Those kind of terms right there are enough to make me wanna break Bernie’s fingers. I really wish he would get back to being the quality columnist I remember from my youth.

we know that there’s at least 9M in the budget (Fuentes bid) so if that isn’t spent by ST, I’ll be disgruntled.

The angst among Cardinals fans is unreal. The team has maintained a very high level of performance, and also has one of the league’s highest payrolls. You are basically complaining over how they use the last 5% of their available budget (invest in current players vs. picking up free agents).

Lets all keep some perspective and hold fast, ok?

is that fans are like tlr, win now! current team is unlikely to win the central and will find wildcard sledding difficult. the season is long and it’s hard to enter with no/little hope. my suggestion beyond the improbability of a reasonable return for an outfielder is to try to sign uncle andy p. i’d have preferred uncle randy j, but next best for us is a short term deal with andy, as in 1 with option kind of deal that could net him 20m over the term. sheets, i’m afraid, is a pipedream.

… and plenty went wrong last year: Izzy went off the reservation, Carp never made it back, Mulder never made it back, Clement never made it back, and half the position players suffered significant injuries.

sure Luddy may regress some, but Ankiel, Glaus, and several pitchers will likely improve to cover the gap. then there’s Greene, the possible return of Dunc, plus Mather and Raz waiting in the wings if somebody stumbles.

with a decent bit of health, and some blessings from GOB, this team is already a contender. i’m not say i don’t watch to see more improvements, but this tar-and-feather campaign just has to stop. it’s crazy.