brian daubach has homered and the cardinals lead 3-0 in the top of the 4th vs. washington.
add'l thought re the nats: responding to the a.m. post about junior spivey, some folks in the comments thread started cooking up a trade idea that would bring 2b jose vidro to the cardinals. theory being that dc has to shed one of its two high-paid 2bmen (vidro or alfonso soriano) at some point. they do need pitchers -- workhorse esteban loiaiza left via free-agency, and brian lawrence (offseason acquisition from sd) is out for three months -- but i just can't see the cardinals taking on vidro's contract, which pays $7m this year, $7.5m next and $8.5 in 2008. and i'd be shocked if they made a play for the overrated soriano, who will be paid $10m this season and then hit the free-agent market.
i have heard faint rumblings, though, that the cards may be lodging inquiries about another player who was mentioned in that comments thread: miguel cabrera. he's definitely on the block -- as first rumored about 10 days ago (see the bottom of this post), later amplified by halos heaven and again today by mlbtraderumors.com -- but the cardinals have never been mentioned as players in that sweepstakes. and may not be. all i have heard -- and this is coming from down in jupiter -- is that the cardinals are looking into it. which means, presumably, that walter has had contact with the marlins to express interest and get an asking price. i am told that stl may explore a three-way deal, if that's what it takes to assemble the right package for florida.
let's not get too carried away -- even if all the foregoing it true, the cards would still have to be considered a longshot to acquire cabrera. there are simply too many other teams who can proffer better prospect packages. but walter has surprised us before. . . . and if cabrera really is available (it sure sounds like he is), is it that big a stretch to believe that the cardinals would inquire? it's the least we would expect, right?
the only real question is whether florida might be receptive to what walter proposes. and we'll find that out soon enough.