“Cards not a player in Burnett bidding”

“Outfielder for pitcher is likely”

The latter includes notes that indicate Ludwick might not be so available for trade after all (not sure I buy that), Burnett is supposedly not a target, Kennedy will remain with the Cardinals because they won’t eat any of his contract.

All or none of those statements could prove to be true by the end of this week.

Isn’t this fun?

Peavy is due $52m between now and the end of 2012. If you add in his $22m option for 2013, that’s a total of 4 years, $74m. Even if they were to exercise the $4m buyout of the 2013 option, that’s 3 years at $56m, or about $18m-19m per.

Burnett’s price tag is apparently hovering around the 4 years, $60m range. For a team that is keeping an eye on dollars like the Cardinals, that $4m is a big deal. $4m is the next 2008 Kyle Lohse, if you choose to look at it that way.

As for Peavy, in response to a direct question about whether trading Greene affects the ability to keep Peavy, DePodesta responds:

“Paul DePodesta said…

William,

Very simply, yes.

We never wanted to be in a position to HAVE to move Jake Peavy, and now we’re not. We will still continue to explore opportunities, as we always do. Our hope is that any other deals we make this winter are pure baseball deals.
December 5, 2008 10:20 AM ”

Being that they’ve reportedly asked for the sun, moon, AND the stars for Peavy – I would be surprised if he’s moved.

But at the same time, if the Cubs want to overpay for Peavy, they’re going to do it anyway. If there’s one thing I’d prefer that Mo stay away from, it’s making reactionary deals that are harmful long term, just to block the Cubs from doing something. Worry about your own team, not what someone else is doing.

The Cardinals are going to wind up paying Adam Kennedy’s salary this season whether he plays for St Louis or another team. The only question is whether he will be a huge cancer in the clubhouse if he remains with the Birds.

And what about that potential Cubs starting rotation? Apparently the Cubs are the only suitor for Peavy now. Hopefully the Padres keep him, but I don’t see it.

I do realize that Kennedy is still on the team, that was a slip, but I also know the D’Backs were wanting him as well. Too bad we couldn’t ship him off for one of their relief pitchers

No worry, I’m sure they will be resigning Izzy to be the closer again soon. I actually don’t think that is a bad thing either believe it or not. What would be nice would be if he would embrace the role of mentor instead of pouting about not being the ‘guy’.

For the record, Kennedy is under contract for 2009. They do not have to resign him, he is already on the team. They will likely not be able to trade him, because his contract is essentially dead weight.

Supposedly (and Paul DePodesta has said as much on his blog), the Khalil Greene deal may allow the Padres enough flexibility to keep Peavy. My hunch is that the Cardinals took this into account when dealing for Greene.

I’m still keeping a wait and see attitude.

But at the same time, I am seeing headlines from other sources saying the Cardinals are serious players for Burnett, who has already been offered a 4 year $60M contract + I think an option year.

Smoke screen? Why the conflicting reports?

So, if the Cardinals don’t pursue Peavy and he goes to the Cubs who include Josh Vitters as their centerpiece, then the Cubs rotation looks like Peavy, Harden, Zambrano, Dempster, Lily compared to Wainwright, Lohse, Wellemeyer, Piniero, and ? To me that seems like comparing apples and oranges. It sounds like the optimism (propaganda) that Carpenter will be pitching is already starting to build. Sorry if I’m not buying into it, but everyone I listened to at the end of last year associated with the Cardinals all said that they should prepare for the 2009 season like Carpenter wouldn’t pitch.

Signing Burnett to a huge long term contract if that is what they are planning doesn’t sit well with me either. If we’re going that route, then give me someone more durable. Since we’re bidding against the Yankess, RedSox, Braves, etc anyway, I’d be shocked to see Burnett anywhere near signing with the Cardinals anyway.

I still think that Lowe is a very good fit. Still don’t see how we couldn’t put together a package for Peavy that didn’t include Rasmus. I guess Greene was our big offseason signing. Still hope they aren’t serious about resigning Kennedy and they get someone like Hudson instead. Kennedy doesn’t even want to be here and you know Tony won’t play him every day.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see and trust the management to put a good team on the field. Right now an awful lot is riding on Rasmus.

I doubt the Cardinals will resign Greene next year. If he doesn’t do well they won’t want him, if he does well, then he will want an even bigger contract than he already turned down with the Padres.

If we can sign a 2B that can lead off, then Greene might be a nice stop gap. Just wish we had some minor league prospects at the middle infield positions.

I wouldn’t have minded seeing the Cards go after Orlando Cabrerra though. I do like Greene and hope he works out, just think he strikes out too much and we have enough of those guys already. I’d take a nice contact gap hitter over a power guy. Hopefully the Padres are picking up some of Greene’s contract too.

If Rasmus plays like we think he should then things might work themselves out with the lineup. I just think that is asking a lot for a rookie to come up and be asked to lead off while at the same time learning to adjust to the adjustments of major league pitching. I guess you can put Shoemaker to lead off, Rasmus 2nd and Ludwick can play left. Ankiel then becomes the 4th outfielder. So Pujols bats 3rd between Rasmus and Ludwick, Glaus 5th, and then choose between Greene and Molina for 6th and 7th. Whoever plays 2nd becomes #9 or in Cardinal terminology the second lead off batter. That does not look bad if Rasmus is playing well, and if you pick up someone at 2B that can bat leadoff then you can always put Shoeman 9th.

If Rasmus doesn’t bat well though, then we are in trouble as we really don’t have a #2 hitter. Greene can’t be that guy in my mind, although Tony will likely want to bat him there due to his power. Ankiel doesn’t make a good 2 hitter, Shoemaker can’t do it since he doesn’t have power and then we wouldn’t have a leadoff batter anyway, since we’re assuming Rasmus is struggling.

I see that the Braves are still busy signing Vazquez (nice move in my opinion) and now offering Burnett a 5 year $80M contract or something like that. I’d still rather have Peavy and his $63M or whatever it is. Wolf seems to be on the Yankess radar, so his price likely just shot up. Seems like some movement might start happening soon. Always fun to see what transpires

Would you rather Mo had shelled out $9.5m per for Renteria, who could arguably wind up being worse than Greene?

Re: Miller, the fact that they took the time to delay the signing because of what they found in the physical, and Miller’s insistence that it is not an issue makes me have to believe that the shoulder won’t be a problem. I could be proved very wrong once the season starts, but the Cards have been burned on this enough times to know what they should be looking for and not to leap if they think there’s even the slightest chance of an issue.

Oh, and I’m not sure if you’ve seen this either:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/03/padres-cardinals-agree-deal-will-send-greene-st-lo/?padres

Deal is rumored to be for two minor league relievers. We shall see…

Here is one for you,

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081203&content_id=3701061&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb

Miller, 35, appeared to have signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Cardinals several weeks ago, but, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Redbirds’ team doctor discovered what he believes is a tear in the labrum in Miller’s left shoulder. Despite the appearance of a tear, Miller has continued to work out during the offseason with no apparent troubles.

Even us common folk get a raise every year, but if the company isn’t making money then something has to change, and that could be getting rid of underperforming employees. Maybe that is the key, the Cardinals organization isn’t losing money, so what do they care about winning, they already won in the new stadium and they can just rake in the profits for now, that’s what business is all about anyway, why should the Cardinals be any different. Raise ticket prices and just keep pace with your existing contracts. Makes sense to me as long as the fans turn out in droves every season.

Oakland had a payroll last season less than half of the Cardinals’. My point was being spend-thrifty, making smart signings, and developing players from within. Let’s just say that re: Holliday, the A’s had a little wiggle room.

The NL Central was arguably the toughest division in the NL last season, as evidenced by what I would call four strong teams. Everyone wants to latch onto the Cards finishing fourth, but fail to acknowledge that they were only a half-game out of third, and only four out of the Wild Card. That’s better than “middle of the pack” to me.

The Royals? C’mon Kirk, you’re going off the deep end now.

When Carpenter is being paid 10-15% of the team’s overall payroll, you can’t just “write it off as a bad investment.” It has been, to date, a bad investment, but they still have to pay that salary. Just like they still had to pay Spiezio, and Clement, and Encarnacion, et al last season.

They *have* increased payroll every season since the new ballpark opened. ~$2m from 2006 to 2007, and $9m+ from ’07 to ’08. Last I’ve heard, they project to be around $105m this season. They *are* increasing payroll.

Re: magic, I found this post over at STLToday to be of interest and note:
http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=588808

What many people fail to realize (and I’m certainly not accusing you Kirk, but making a generalization), is that payroll inherently goes up each season, if you’re spending at all. Each long-term contract they’ve signed increases on a yearly basis. Guys like Ludwick, Ankiel, and Wellemeyer – while still cheap comparatively – will get large percentage raises, perhaps to the tune of around $10m in increases just for those three. Raises in contracts for Carp, Pineiro, and Lohse (nevermind whether they were smart signings or not, they now have to be paid) equal another $10m in increases. Taking X amount off of the payroll each season in free agents, etc does not always equal X amount available to spend. And like it or not, the Cards are going to fall in line with a lot of other teams with the ‘economy is bad’ line. It’s just a fact of life around the MLB right now.

Finally, again, I don’t think you’re giving this division enough credit. Milwaukee will be in the race again, Houston as well. It won’t be a cake-walk – but I think the Cards can compete.

And for crying out loud, will everyone stop trying to make McClellan a starter!?!?!!?!!