posted 15 minutes ago by bernie miklasz at the pressbox:
Kip Wells in the back end of the rotation...
Gary Bennett re-signed as backup catcher...
Eli Marrero signed to a minor-league deal.
i'll withhold judgment until i have a chance to do a little research and see the exact dollar amounts. i also want to see the rest of the cards' moves.
none of these players costs the cardinals a draft pick.
Update [2006-11-28 15:11:39 by lboros]: here's the 1st bit of good news: ken rosenthal says the cards got kennedy for 3 yrs / $10m, a decent enough deal for the club.
Update [2006-11-28 17:18:4 by lboros]: wells signed for one year, $4m. bennett will make $900K.
Update [2006-11-28 15:17:18 by lboros]: kennedy's ZIPS projection for 2007 is pretty flimsy: .277 / .335 / .370. last year's PECOTA numbers for kennedy project him to .267 / .326 / .385 . . . . if anybody has bill james' projection, please put it in the comments.
Update [2006-11-28 15:23:43 by lboros]: kennedy did not hit left-handers in 2006: .193 / .256 / .277 vs them last season (83 at-bats). that's well below his career performance vs lhp and probably just an aberration. vs right-handers last year, kennedy hit a robust .291 / .351 / .408; his career line vs right-handers is .287 / .338 / .417.
Update [2006-11-28 15:35:27 by lboros]: wells looks like this year's version of sidney ponson --- a groundball pitcher with a big body whose last good season was 2003. here's his career mark, vs jeff suppan's career mark when he signed with the cardinals:
| w-l | era | whip | k/9 | k/bb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suppan | 62-75 | 4.90 | 1.42 | 5.0 | 1.7 |
| wells | 57-74 | 4.46 | 1.49 | 6.6 | 1.6 |
Update [2006-11-28 16:7:51 by lboros]: scouting report on wells, from baseball prospectus: "wells doesn?t have an outstanding pitch, but he can get to the mid-90s with his sinking fastball, though his comfort zone is lower. He also has an average curve and average slider, but he lacks a change or split to keep hitters off-balance. When Wells keeps the ball down consistently, he can win." his comparables at baseball prospectus: #2 is jason schmidt, #3 is russ ortiz, and #20 is ernie broglio.
Update [2006-11-28 16:17:9 by lboros]: here's a scouting report from stats inc.: "Wells has the arsenal to be a very successful starting pitcher in the major leagues. He has a lively fastball that routinely is in the 91-93 MPH range and can be dialed up to 96 MPH when he needs a little something extra. Wells also has a hard slider with good late bite and a curveball that he throws at varying speeds, though he sometimes has a problem controlling it. His changeup is serviceable and would be even better if he didn't tend to overthrow it in tight situations. Wells is not the innings-eater type you look for in a potential No. 1 starter, as he tends to lose his effectiveness around the 100-pitch mark."
Update [2006-11-28 16:4:24 by lboros]: back to kennedy for a second --- his defense isn't so hot, according to various diff'nt systems. both chris dial's Zone Rating Plus and david pinto's PMR estimate that kennedy cost his team 6 runs in 2006. he fares better in chris davenport's system --- 11 runs better than the avg 2b. the most recent UZR rating i could find for kennedy dates to 2004; he was 2d best in the league at his position, saving an estimated 12 runs.