Present Cards success is based on Pujols, a lucky draft pick at 13, and several other drafted players with rather uneventful paths to the bigs.  There are also several scrap--heap players (cast offs, unsigned FAs, waiver wire wonders, injury reclamation projects, etc.) playing major roles.  Certainly I'd list Wellemeyer, Lohse, Ludwick, and Iz2 as qualifying heroes on the current team, maybe Ankiel, with Carp probably qualified as an all-time scrap-heap all-star.  Question is who would be on the Cards all-time scrap-heap all-star team?

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Well it's june now and the draft has got a grip on most folk’s attention, i.e., on ESPN and all that they (MLB) are trying to make it.  For Mo though, no trading draft picks for current players is allowed, so the focus is no doubt  moving to the trade deadline, which is just starting to loom on the horizon.  In light of the fact that many VEBs live outside of St. Louis and follow other teams as well as the Cards, thought it might be interesting to do what Mo has to do:  look at every other MLB team and evaluate if some deal might be done that would benefit the cards.  benefit is a loaded word, of course, with a meaning that depends on the time frame the benefit kicks in.  so, a challenge to community to pick a team and the best, most likely trade Mo could swing-and why.  This may be a little premature, but when you consider the magnitude of the task, never too soon  to look at what the front office  must be doing continually.  I'll volunteer a proposal for a mutually beneficial cards-marlins swap to get started.

The marlins situation is deteriorating in the standings and they have several potential salary problems looming.  they have indicated publicly that they can't afford to/aren't willing to sign any more long-term at this point (hanley is done).  i'm not buying this line completely, but i do believe some are likely to be left out (and this is in part their way of soliciting proposals).  of these, uggla is clearly the guy that would benefit the cards the most at first glance (note: he is basically the ludwick of their team though, bats right and has trouble with lefties and is having a career year slugging).  that combined with the competition for him that is likely to unfold, i'd prefer to discus hermida (pretty much same service time as uggla).  

where is the weak link from the marlins perspective?  conventional wisdom (i.e., other blogs and columns) says on the mound, i.e., number one starter is hendrikson.  others have more potential (e.g., olsen), but they aren't there yet.  so, this is a fair appraisal.  they have guys who can hit and some who can field too, but don't have one in every spot, center field being one place.  if they feel maybin is ready, then that may cover the problem, but neither ross or amezaga is cutting it (they signed jones after all).  cantu and helms  at the corner is also not encouraging from a productivity perspective.  in fact, contrary to the conventional wisdom, they need some bats.  for example, no marlin regular has a ba >.300.   if they are serious about contending now and for the next few years (debatable i agree), what they really need are major league players they can use to remain competitive and can afford for a few years until new stadium revenues kick-in.  i suspect most VEBers would go after uggla pretty aggresively, but so may many other teams and it may cost the cards too much.  what i would do, therefore, is offer a package for hermida, with the idea that we include (actually insist) that they accept at least one outfielder.  hermida is a  young and steadily improving player who hits lefties.  luwick/duncan (hopefully recovers)-ankiel-hermida would be our outfield for the rest of the year, with mather as the new spiezio for now.   rasmus is likely (high probability) to be our center fielder of the future more so than rick, who we may not be able to retain (unfortunately) based real concern for the boras factor.  hence, this swap seems a good deal for both.

hermida = reyes, barton,  thompson

saving the mi problem for others 

as we approach the draft (check out erik's work at FRB) i thought some  might be interested in a bit of financial information now available at:  http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/33/07mlb_The-Business-Of-Baseball_Rank.html

the short of it is those on the money making side of the cards operation appear to be doing a pretty good job.  at $194M in revenues, they are 8th (cubs are 5th at  $214M) vs. 21st ranked tv market.  nonetheless, cards are estimated to be the 6th most valuable franchise in baseball ($484M; cubs are 5th here too).  the cards, however, are in the upper (bad) half of all teams in terms of debt burden, as are many teams that financed their own stadiums (51% vs 0% for the cubs).   

i have not looked up payrolls, but i suspect the cards and other teams with high debt/equity ratios do have difficulty allocating the same fraction of revenue to payroll or draft/free-agent signings.  overall, mo and jeff have their work cut out for them, if they intend to contend with the higher net revenue teams like the cubs.  it will be interesting to see how they go in the draft.  i suspect they are actually one of the teams that would like to see slot limits more uniformly applied.  hence the age-old question remains: where should they spend their money tomorrow, major league roster or the draft/free agent process with an eye toward a cost effective future?