Aaron Miles: Cardinals “let somebody go maybe they shouldn’t have”
TOWER GROVE — As one of a sweeping series of moves the Chicago Cubs made this morning as possible prelude to reviving a Jake Peavy deal, the Cubs’ signing of infielder Aaron Miles dredged up a familiar refrain, heard before from former Cardinals like him.
“I’m excited to be a Cubbie,” Miles told Chicago Cub beat writers on a conference call this afternoon. “Being a Cardinal was great and that part is over now. Now I’m ready to be a Cubbie and play the game the right way and show St. Louis that they let somebody go that maybe they shouldn’t have.”
Recent history, Jim Edmonds notwithstanding, may be on Miles’ side.
The switch-hitting Miles, the real gem of the long-ago Larry Bigbie/Ray King trade with Colorado, finalized a two-year deal with the Cubs on Wednesday, a deal reportedly worth $4.9 million over the two seasons. That link to the Sun-Times gives a rundown of the moves the Cubs have made, are in the process of making and now could make as a result of Wednesday’s activity. (There’s another former-Cardinal element involved as dealing Jason Marquis would open up cash and a spot in the rotation for Peavy.) Of local interest is Miles’ reaction to being non-tendered by the St. Louis Cardinals for a second consecutive season and what his absence from the Cardinals’ bench means to a team that — to put it mildly — is now seriously lacking in known depth at the middle infield positions.
Just a few months removed from his trade request, Adam Kennedy wakes up to 2009 as the clear starter at second. There isn’t an obvious challenger in sight.
The Cardinals were reluctant to pay Miles, who hit a career-high .317 this past season, the salary of a starter when they weren’t convinced he would be the starter. There was also some internal debate about how to weigh is batting average-driven offense against alternatives. Each of the previous three seasons he’s started the year on the bench and won more and more playing time — so much so that he’s finished recent seasons as the de facto starter at second. He even leapfrogged Ronnie Belliard for some starts in the 2006 World Series, and under duress he became a legit backup at shortstop.
Miles’ versatality was essential to manager Tony La Russa’s handling of the bench and his constantly shifting lineups. Miles saved the Cardinals from David Eckstein’s injuries, Cesar Izturis’ initial offensive struggles and the entire Kennedy Saga. Heck, he even pitched mopup. That was a novelty that now is a fitting metaphor. In case of emergency, break glass, call Miles. He was the club’s Minute Man — ready to play wherever, whenever at a moment’s notice.
Miles was an insurance policy. How much is that worth?
There is a benefit to having a player like Miles around. Now there isn’t one readily apparent.
“I figured I had a place over there,” Miles said in the conference call.
Miles’ former place is now up for grabs with current in-house candidates being Brendan Ryan, Brian Barden, newly added Joe Thurston, and 40-man rookie Tyler Greene. All four are more proficient at shortstop than Miles, but not one has shown the offensive consistency at the major-league level that Miles had as a Cardinal.
This is technically the third consecutive year that the Cardinals had non-tendered Miles, as they planned to do so after the 2006 season and worked a deal before having to announce the non-tendering. Last year, they non-tendered Miles to avoid arbitration and the infielder was lured back by La Russa’s pledge to him, a $1.4-million salary and the knowledge that he would be a utility player to start the season and end the year with the playing time of a regular. That’s how it always went.
The Cubs swooped in with an offer that pays him like a regular, may ultimately offer him the playing time of a regular (pride of Salmen High Mike Fontenot is the other option at second), and now sets in motion the gears that could spin Peavy to Wrigley.
Miles told reporters that the Cardinals did enter the bidding, eventually.
But, to Miles, their interest had already been telegraphed and received. He now sounds like a handful of other free agent infielders the Cardinals have not brought back in recent years.
“St. Louis jumped in the last day,” Miles said in the conference call. “I pretty much had already said my good-bye to them in my head. The thought of playing for the Cubs is exciting and I’m pumped up about it.”
* * *
More remarks by Miles during his conference call:
– “I figured I had a place over there (in St. Louis). In the end, they non-tendered me two years in a row. (The interest in) me being there wasn’t as big as it was before.”
– “I was feeling maybe I wasn’t wanted by everybody (with the Cardinals). In the end they made an effort for me, but I felt (better about) the Cubs.”
– “The non-tendering of me two years in a row kind of made you feel like you’re not wanted as much. There was a little bit of that in my head.”
Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Miles always hustled…even when others stopped trying. He was a constant positive on a team that seems to have fewer and fewer positives, and adds more and more negatives - Khalil Greene and Trevor Miller come to mind. We’ve quickly moving our way towards a solid hold on second division status. It looks like stupidity rules…I feel bad for the season ticket holders.
This is just ‘No Moves Mo’ being ‘No Moves Mo’(Mozeliak). ‘No Moves’ and ‘Not Now Luhnow’ are a gruesome twosome to strike fear and horror into the souls of Cardinal fans for the New Year. After a year plus as GM the only noticeable moves that ‘No Moves Mo’ has made is that he got myriad of new suits so he can look like a big time GM. I say bring back Walt Jocketty. Walt had imagination, was pragmatic and could PULL THE TRIGGER on a deal. The bottom line is Jocketty had many successful trades and ‘No Moves Mo’ has had ZERO! ‘No Moves Mo’ is afraid on his own shadow and has to consult too many people to make something happen. He should be in the ticket booth selling tickets.
I think ‘No Moves’ and ‘Not Now’ Luhnow have missed their true callings in life…they should have gone into show business. ‘No Moves’ would be perfect for the part of Don Quixote in the play ‘Man of La Mancha’. ‘Not Now’ Luhnow can play the part of Don Quixote’s trusted squire Sancho Panza. Quixote is the mad knight who sees windmills as 4 armed giant monsters that he attacks. To save DeWitt money they can both sing ‘The Impossible Dream’ during the 7th inning stretch. They have both have been following their own Impossible Dream thinking Carpenter and Wainwright (don’t forget Mulder and Clement) were coming back quickly as starting pitchers and would be at their October 2006 optimum effectiveness.
I am tired of hearing from ‘No Moves’ spew out babble instead of definite answers to a questions.
I’m surprised so many people are getting this worked up about Aaron Miles, and I can’t believe Miles is running his mouth like he’s relevant. I mean, really? People look at his BA and think he can hit, but that’s why BA doesn’t tell you much. The difference between Miles hitting .317 last year or hitting .269 was 18 hits…or 3 a month. Surely they can replace that.
Miles doesn’t walk and he doesn’t steal bases. He’s a utility infielder who can play exactly one position - despite TLR putting him at SS where he doesn’t belong. This guy is replacement-level talent, and if the Cubs want to pay him $5M over the next two years - almost $3M of that in 2010 - good for them. That’s a waste of money. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not real happy with this offseason, and Mo is starting to look like he can’t pull the trigger on anything of consequence. Rolen for Glaus doesn’t tell us much because that was such a no-brainer my dog would have made that deal.
I can understand being torqued off over losing out on Fuentes, or the fact that they don’t seem to be going harder after quality starting pitching. Would anyone really be surprised if Matt Morris shows up in camp as a non-roster invitee and ends up as the fifth starter? But don’t waste your energy getting mad about Miles. He’s an occasionally useful but extremely replaceable spare part, and you don’t overpay for guys like that.
It’s days like today where I wonder how St. Louis got a reputation for having the smartest fans in baseball. A 32-year old middle-infielder was not retained and the “fans” here are acting like they just lost all hope of winning in 2009.
Are you serious? Aaron Miles is a huge loss? Why? What are you going to miss? All the singles, the below average defense at any position not second? How about the slumps he went through when LaRussa overexposed him.
Miles was/is a fine player. He does what he does, but let’s not rewrite the record books here. He is a utility player. In the Cardinals market, they can’t afford a 2-year $4.9 million contract for a bench player. It’s not smart economics. Why pay someone on the downside of their career (players peaks usually stop early 30s) when you have cheaper alternatives who can do the job. Sure Ryan, Barden et. all have flaws, but they will be cheaper and will provide the Cards with more financially flexibility.
Just because Miles played hard, got dirty and “hustled” — which is code for not being talented — doesn’t make him an All-Star. Just like someone else said, these same “best fans” were crying last year when Taguchi left and Ludwick, Skip and the others sure made up for his “loss.”
Stop bashing Mo just because its the chic thing to do. This team has a plan. In the market of St. Louis, you can’t win without a plan. Give it time.
I would agree with Aaron Miles 100%. You non-tender a player twice who was willing and able to be a utility player, end up as a starting second baseman, hit over .300 and even pitch a few innings. What employee would want to stay with a management that acted towards them like apparently the Cardinals did with Miles? None. Management should also know with the way they’ve presented themselves, from promising an “aggressive and creative approach” to this passive and stingy approach is making Cardinal fans feel more like Aaron Miles does.
Sad, very sad. Miles is a winner. We need to replace more like him with 100 plus strikeout artists.
Sounds like Edgar.
The thing I liked about Miles, besides his go-to attitude and flexibility, was that he was a clutch player in a team desperate for clutch players. Miles could usually be depended upon in the clutch to get the hit that bridged to one of the big guys or extended the inning or moved a man over. There is a lot more to hitting than BA, but there’s also value in just getting a hit to move a man into scoring position, something, you may recall, that the Cards had a great deal of trouble with last year. If I had a dime for every time the Cards left a man on 2B or 3B, I’d be as rich as DeWitt. Miles is a loss and he’s illustrative of a disturbing trend in the way the Cards treat their FA’s. Worse, the direction things are moving in this offseason is disturbing. I think Mo has a different definition of the word “aggressive” than the rest of the world.
Aaron Miles will be a GREAT GREAT SUPERSUB for the Cubs just like he was for the Cardinals. The CARDINALS are NOT as good now as they were when the season ended!!!!!! We got K.GREENE for short,GREAT MOVE!!!! Then lost MILES,Springer,Looper,Lopez. Other than Ben Sheets,Oliver Perez,@Derrick Lowe is there any better pitchers on the free agent market than Looper @ Springer that we ALREADY HAD?????? The Rumor out of BALTIMORE is the Cubs will trade Jason Marquee to the Rockies then TRADE for ORIOLES 2nd baseman BRIAN ROBERTS @ LEFTHANDER closer George SHERRILL then sign Milton Bradley. The CARDINALS could USE ROBERTS @ SHERRILL but we WILL FINISH 2nd in that trade to!!!!!!!!!!!
MO. How about REALLY REALLY TRY to trade some of the minor league prospects to the Os for BRIAN ROBERTS @ GEORGE SHERRILL !!!!!!!!!!! 2009 is the CARDINALS LAST chance at the World Series till 2011 or 2012. After the 2009 season We LOSE as FREE AGENTS Glaus,Greene,Ankiel,Kennedy,LaRue,Pineiro,Wellemyer,Franklin, @ not sure who else!!!! That would give us our leadoff man/2nd baseman Roberts @ lefthander that can close or set up in Sherrill!!!!! Trade say some combonation of Adam Kennedy,Skip Schumaker,B.Ryan,David Freese,Nick Stavinoha,Clayton Mortensen,Mitch Boggs,Blake Hawksworth,Fernando Salas,Nich Webber. Give us our LAST CHANCE in 2009 to win the wourld series BEFORE you turn the 2010 ST LOUIS CARDINALS into the AAA Memphis RED BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!