Something else, I’d like to see Kennedy play out the year….or see Grudzy here this year or next, or see what it would take to get Belliard back from the Nats

With no one like Uggla in our pipeline of 2Bs, I would love to take a shot at him, assuming we could deal from areas of strength in our farm system.

My second choice would be grooming Skip. Assuming he can continue hitting at last year’s level (not sure about that), then he would be a cheaper version of Brian Roberts, with a touch less power and who strikes out less. I guess how we handles it defensively would be the $64,000 question.

According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, Ray Durham hasn’t received a single offer this offseason and he’s considering retirement. Durham says there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll retire, but he’d like to play in 2009.

The Cardinals phoned to see if Durham would consider backing up Adam Kennedy, but other teams haven’t expressed interest.

I wonder if there’s a standing offer there from the Cardinals…in which case it would seem that this implies that there’s a 50/50 chance Ray Durham will be our backup 2B in 2009. Which, by the way, I’m okay with, assuming it’s on the cheap. Durham could actually hit second in our lineup — he had a .380 OBP last year.

If we signed Durham for 1 year for almost no money, how ridiculous would that Aaron Miles contract look for the Cubs?

I predict Kennedy has a nice year and gets an extension at a much lower rate in keeping with the good defense logic. Let’s say he performs at the level we expected all along with great defense. Mo then signs him for two years at $5 million and plugs the gap until Kozma comes along. Of course La Russa would still have to be around because he loves good defense. Better the devil you know…or else you might end up with Jabba back at 2B or Hector Luna.

Of course since everyone seems to be moving North, maybe he signs with the Cubbies.

BTW — is Eckstein still out there. Wouldn’t he be a great backup for this team at both 2B and SS?

Is a Type-A. When I look at the players that might be available to us at pick #19, I just can’t see that it is worth it to sign him now. Not even for free.

Kennedy is OK. Sub-par offense but very good defense. I don’t think Adam Kennedy is going to keep the Cardinals out of the World Series this year. Our starting pitching might.

Ride out the year, throw the remote at the TV occasionally, and look forward to the next trip round the Cardinals MI Merry-Go-Round.

keep hold of the reigns at 2B for this season. Then, let him walk if Schu is able to hold his own after taking grounders for a year. Then he becomes a stopgap for a year or two until Kozma or Greene is ready.

There is also Brian Barden who could surprise everyone. If he shows up that could makes things even easier. I’m also holding onto a little sliver of hope that Ryan could re-discover his offensive ability.

regressing into near worthlessness, but hopefully the prospect of playing for a new contract will motivate him to not suck. His average WAR over the last three years is just over .5, so I will be surprised if he manages to be as “good” as last year. I am prepared to put up with whatever combinations MO and Tony can come up with until we have a more solid pitching staff. Just make sure we have a decent defender there and look forward to ’09. No to O-dog and no to Uggla.

I just wish we could sign Looper and let him hit for Kennedy, but the GOB wouldn’t like that much.

that TLR values defense first players. If that is the case then why didn’t Kennedy, and Izturis, get more PT? Why did he try so hard to force Duncan into the lineup? Why does he delight in playing so many players out of position? The answer to all those questions is that he prefers offense.

I just can’t agree with you on this one. If Tony LaRussa called me up on my cell and told me so himself I still would believe it.

He had a good year last year between the Giants and the Brewers. Apparently he has not even been offered a contract yet. Seem cheap and some kind of Upgrade over what we currently have and last year he was pretty average with the glove.

We really don’t need to worry about 2B. Do you think it’s second base why we lost so many close games last year. No, it was pitching. We need to address pitching, pitching, pitching.

Astros may be pursuing Adam Dunn…

Pence
Berkman
Lee
Dunn
Tejada

thats a pretty scary 2-6…though Tejada may regress even more as he comes down off the juice

Phils’ Howard agrees on 3 years, $54M

to sign with Brewers.

As a Brewers fan I’m not that enthused. Like many people I watch pitchers perform with the Cards and then not do as well elsewhere. Like many people I wonder if its the Duncan influence or effect. I see Suppan pitch and then MLB network runs the Cards playoff run to a title and watch the Suppan games and to me he looks the same. I watched Looper last year and he was disciplined and pretty consistent but not all that impressive.

Am I wrong about Soup? Do Cards fans watch him now and see a difference in his pitching? Do you think that Loop will be about the same?

My personal bias doesn’t like soft tossers much, but when the season is underway will Cards fans be worried when Soup, Loop or Bush are on the schedule?

Just saw this and have to say i’m pretty surprised. We’re eating his entire $4 million he is owed this year. whoa!

the .380 OBP he put up last year would look mighty fine in front of Pujols.

There is no way that Kennedy would have been released unless Mo had some trade or some signing up his sleeve. Is he thinking Hudson or trading for Uggla/Kinsler?

have made Jeff Weaver a similar offer to what he got from the Dodgers (500K if he makes the club as a reliever) to compete for the 5th starter spot in case Carp isn’t healthy? I do recall people wanting to re-sign Weaver after the ’06 season until Boras marked up the price by 125%.

He pitched well late in ‘06, so why couldn’t he be serviceable again under Duncan? I still believe that some of the youth should be used, but for 500K, that would have been a decent insurance policy in case the youth proves to be not ready to perform.

Couldn’t we have traded Kennedy somewhere and eaten only 3.5 million of his contract and used the remaining 500K to sign a player like Weaver, and then also ended up with an average prospect?

That’s $1 Mil more than Adam Kennedy is worth. Seems like a steal to me for the Angels.

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090210&content_id=3816686&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp

Agree to split the difference before the hearing per SI’s John Heyman. $2.825 for next year.

1) He doesn’t have huge splits
2) He’ll be reasonably cheap, especially if you consider how much miles is going to make
3) He’s not hold back any promising players. Bunch of AAAA players, below average prospects, and an outfielder are the current 2B options.

I have a feeling that we aren’t going to sign him unless he’s still there when and if they get desperate.

If we had just signed Looper and Durham I’d feel pretty good about the team going into the season. It’s pretty sad this isn’t the vision of the organization, it’s really not much costly than their current approach.

link
How does the player to be named later work (this is for the Greene trade w/ the Padres)? The article says that “San Diego will choose from a list of three players, two of them pitchers”. Is that correct? Who determines that list? Any ideas as to who’s on the list? Is it players not on the 40 man? I apologize if my ignorance is blinding, I just don’t know how it works!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/02/isringhausen-co.html

Right now the Cards have six spots open on the 40 man roster. Looking at other clubs, the Mets are the next lowest with only 37 spots taken on the 40. The White Sox have 38, and five clubs have used 39. All the others are using the full 40 man roster.

As to using the six spots, one spot will be used for Glaus’ fill in, another is being reserved for Colby and a third is probably set for a Thurston to platoon at 2B. That will still leave 3 spots on the 40 man roster. Don’t know where I was going with this comment. Need to start the season soon so I don’t spend any more Saturday nights counting 40 man rosters.

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090215&content_id=3832290&vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

wants to be ready for season/his insurance doesn’t cover WBC, good news I suppose

Bad news Miguel Cairo signed with the Phillies. Bummer

Oil Can Boyd wants back in.

Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd has long felt the game of baseball was taken away from him far too soon. He was 31 years old when he threw his last pitch for the Texas Rangers in 1991. But now, at age 49, Boyd believes his shoulder is stronger than ever. He says his velocity is up in the low 90s and the 12-6 curveball and changeup have returned. He wants a chance to show a major league team he can still pitch. “I have nothing to lose, and all a major league team has to lose is 15 minutes,” said Boyd. “Give me 15 minutes and I’ll show I can still pitch. That’s all I want.”

I’m down. Can we schedule his throwing session right after mulder’s and right before Izzy’s?

Here is the list

Alex Cora (34)
Craig Counsell (39)
Bobby Crosby (30)
Adam Everett (33)
Chris Gomez (39)
Alex Gonzalez (32) – $6MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Khalil Greene (30)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34)
John McDonald (35)
Marco Scutaro (34)
Miguel Tejada (36)
Omar Vizquel (43)
Jack Wilson (32) – $8.4MM club option with a $600K buyout

That’s the list of available FA shortstops in 2009. Now, if Khalil Greene is very good in 2009, then i assume he is our main target of this list. But if he has a bad 2009 season. That list is VERY weak in depth. What would we possible do to fill our SS hole? Get one from the farm? Trade?

Just curious.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/02/mlb-to-lend-a-h.html

Now, I could honestly give a crap about the Twins business, but the concept of the MLB allowing this, could this work for Cabrera/Hudson? I mean, that would solve a lot of our problems, but it has a drawback. A team like the Yankees could sign these guys without being held back (even though they probably gave up all their draft picks), but a team like the RedSox or mets also could sign without penalty. Opinions?

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that Tyler Johnson (shoulder) “will be held out of workouts for the next week and perhaps longer.”
Johnson missed all of last season following shoulder surgery. “It’s tough for him, but we think it’s just inflammation,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He knows he has to be 100 percent to help us.”

If he is invited to camp he’s making the big league club, I really don’t trust the Cards to remain objective concerning Izzy.

accidentally clicked on an old SI story about a-rod and this caught my eye.

If anything, the 31-year-old Rodriguez works too hard, crams too many bits of information into his head. He even studies videotape shot from centerfield cameras to see if he can decode patterns in catchers’ signal sequences with a runner on second base.

“I can’t help that I’m a bright person,” he said last month. “I know that’s not a great quote to give, but I can’t pretend to play dumb and stupid.”

And, yes, on the other side of the SI page — a picture of A-Rod encaptioned “Young and Stupid”. Apparently, A-Rod grew up a lot between 2003 and 2006. Or perhaps his “pretending” is getting better.

Since there is now (maybe?) the possibility for a sign-and-trade deal in baseball, what do you guys think about Juan Cruz? This eliminates giving up our coveted 1st-round pick. Although we would have to trade a prospect in the process, it would seemingly be much less than the value of a 1st rounder (otherwise, what’s the point).

For some reason this idea just occurred to me. He’s pretty expendable here and seems like a reasonable fit for the padres who are looking for cheap MLB ready talent. I could see him being one of the players based on the perspective of both ends.

to the backs for hudson

http://tinyurl.com/dgboyb has the lulz

Way to keep him in camp, management! :)

anybody else think that the odds of us making a trade are getting better and better everyday we get closer to the season? the list as i see it:

twins –
1) obviously have young pitching that we would love to have
2) would still like to add a 3B and are balking at crede’s price tag
3) however, they also seem to be willing to go into the season with a platoon of their younger 3B’s

giants – pretty much the same situation as the twins
1) they have young pitching which they seem semi-willing to part with
2) they are need of corner infielders
3) also in on crede but can’t agree on numbers

dodgers –
1) still looking for a power hitting OF
2) have both young MI’s and young pitching
3) appears pretty likely that they will sign manny sooner or later

braves –
1) still looking for a left-handed power-hitting OF
2) they have young MI’s that they seem willing to part with (although without lillibridge it seems less likely)
3) they missed out on ken griffey jr but still seem willing to explore older free agent LH OF’s before a trade

all of those teams seem to be good trade partners for us and i hope Mo is keeping the lines of communication open. i want to get to the games already so we can see what kind of value our chips have.

he predicted that the Rays would be the best team in the AL last season

4 years and 40 million

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/02/orioles-brian-r.html

I guess we should hope that Schu does well at 2B.

nuff said.