As far as Pineiro goes himself, though, I guess it could be worse.  At least he's fairly aggressive on the mound.  Maybe he really did figure something out here under Duncan.  Maybe he'll be okay.  I'm hoping for the best here, but I'm having a hard time seeing how even the best case scenario really puts us in line for anything that exciting.  (Heaves a sigh)  Times like this make me wish I knew how to play the harmonica.  

In some small way, I am starting they don't hire a DePodesta/Antonetti type.   The new guy is being painted into a corner before he even takes the job.   I'm sure one of those guys would come in and start to try to make organizational changes, then be held accountable for the crap he didn't create before his changes have a chance to bloom (deja vu DePodesta?).

LB, just take a deep breath, get into the spirit of Rockie fever and enjoy the postseason.

Is it possible this pattern will continue for the Cardinals? Yes.  But is it too early to be so sure of that? Also yes.

The most important thing in baseball right now is that the RED SOX MUST BE ELIMINATED. All else pales in comparison. Turn your karma toward Cleveland and focus your energy.

Say we have a 5% chance of winning 94 games next year and a 45% chance of winning 84.  Do you take a player (Pineiro) that will increase your chances of the more realistic goal or do you wait for the slim chance you'll find someone out there that helps you increase your chance at 94 wins?  Remember, we are in the NL Central, where 84 wins puts you in contention (and a midseason trade may put you over the top).

The only way we get back up to a 94 win team is luck, or development of the farm system.  Unless we are doing something in the detriment of developing players, I can't get worked up about signing a player that actually gives us a better chance to win (even if they aren't helping us get back to 2004/05).

It's clear there's no real, long-term vision in the front office.  Maybe there will be very soon but I fear that the Mozeliak era has already begun and that we're simply looking at Jocketty-redux.

the Cardinals are in desperate need of some fresh blood. they need a guy in charge who can bring in quality players with the money they spend. not just marginaly talented players who are brought in to fill the holes that are there because the Cards can't, or won't keep their promises to the fans.

 I read some where, and I can't find it now, that Pineiro is Duncan easiest reclamation project because Pineiro'd bad habits were so esay to see. I wish I can find that to reference here.

 Now The Post article has said that the Cards are still looking for a top of the line starter. I suspect that this will be through trade. We will have to wait and see. Garland, Burrnet, and Willis are names that have been thrown around.

 If the Cards are talking to the Marlins I would hope that they would talk about Cabrera.

http://www.miamiherald.com/591/story/271186.html

How about Reyes, Molina, and just about anyone else for Miggy. Bat him 4th and put him in LF. Sign him long term and he takes over at third when Rolen's contract expires.

 One thing I have noticed here at VEB is the negativity. It is getting depressing to come here and read this stuff. I don't think it is realism it is just pessimism.

This team will compete for the division title next year!

Is it $13m plus incentives or $13 base?

I can't determine the contextual clues...my wife is going to have to send me to conjunction junction.

If Pineiro does become an average pitcher next year -- fantastic!  I'll be as happy as anyone about it and I'll root for him to succeed.  But that still wouldn't invalidate the point that this is a bad contract.  For an (extreme) analogy, imagine playing Russian Roulette with just a single empty chamber.  If you don't shoot yourself, does that mean it was a  good idea?  No.  Beating the odds doesn't change the fact that the odds were against you and hence you made a questionable decision.

I remain skeptical that Pineiro is going to turn himself around.  I would have liked to see one of our AA arms get a shot for a while.  I believe both Franklin Morales and Ubaldo Jimenez made the AA jump for the Rockies.  While we don't have pitching prospects of that caliber necessarily, we do have a few (Garcia, Boggs) that could probably be around replacement level at the major leagues in the very near future.  Pineiro is holding par in an organization that needs to improve.

http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2007/10/cards-sign-joel-pineiro/

"Baseball revenues are growing, and players are going to reap some of the windfall. This is just the first of many contracts that are going to drop some jaws this offseason."

Anyway regardless of if you beleive what he says it is worth reading his take on it.

42 NL pitchers threw enough innings this year to qualify for the ERA title.  That's not quite 3 pitchers per team.  Looper's 4.94 ranked #34.  With 16 teams in the NL, there are 32 #1 and #2  pitchers, by definition.  By that crude calculation even Looper is a #3 pitcher.  

Yeah, I know that Looper fell short of a number of pitchers who didn't have enough innings to qualify, of course.  I will grant that his performance rated lower.  I'd say, #4.   Looper's ERA of 4.94 was not that far from  that of Cardinal alums Jeff Suppan (4.62) and Matt Morris (4.89), but Looper cost half as much.  Looper's ERA was a bit better than another Cardinal alum, Wood Williams (5.27), better than the fading Dontrelle Willis (5.17 - I hope the Cardinals do NOT trade for this guy and thereby repeat their mistake in trading young talent for a declining Mulder), and better than the #3 pitcher for the 2007 NL Champion Rockies, Josh Fogg (4.94).  

So let's cut the criticism of Pineiro and Looper.  The Cardinals are lucky to have both at their price, as #3 and #4 in their rotation, to go along with Wellemeyer or whomever else emerges as the #5.  All the team needs to do to have a solid rotation is to get a true #2 pitcher to go with Wainwright at #1 (no way do they have enough to offer in trade to get a stronger #1, nor do they have enough left in their budget to grab one off the free agent list).  Then Carpenter and Mulder will be a bonus if they can contribute eventually.  

Keep in mind that the Cardinals gave 50 starts last year to Maroth, Thompson, and Wells.  Replacing their performance with solid players like Looper would have been enough to give the NL Central title to the Cardinals this year.  

So relax, the sky is not falling.  The rotation will be solid in 08 and, if Mulder or Carpenter can return to form, or if the Cards can pick up a #2 in July, the rotation will be very strong.

Not that that kind of statistic really means anything, but I sure would've thought it'd be the other way around.