The cardinals have no excuse not to make second base a priority.1.) They have lots of salary coming off the books and really haven’t spent much of it.2.) Adam Kenedy has been pulling this team down for two seasons now. 3.)Orlando Hudson is out their and would make more sense for the Cardinals than possibly any other team in baseball.4.) Between Perez, Motte and Mclellan we should be able to find a closer, if not give Trevor Hoffman five million to close for a year while our propects have another year of seasoning. 5.) If we aren’t looking for top tier pitchers we should be able to get an innings eater another five million, which would still allow us to get Hudson for 4-32 or 4-40 without expanding payroll.

Steve,

I could not disagree more. In fact, I see 2b as our lowest priority. Our #1 priority is PITCHING. Our 2B situation didn’t lose us games last year, our bullpen did.

A platoon of a guy like Nick Punto and Aaron Miles would get the job done at 2B. Adam Kennedy didn’t bring the team down last year at all, execpt maybe for his attitude.

Good news for Carpenter!

After nearly (?) catastrophic computer issues, the entry has been updated with more information and an additional quote from this afternoon’s briefing.

dg
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Don’t expect much to happen. Just the mere fact that Mo is alluding that Carpenter will be ready shows that they are going with the bargain basement route again. Greene is a low cost-low risk acquisition. He is only going to be here one year. If he has a bad year, they will let him walk. If he has a good year, they wont pay him market value, and they will let him walk.

Goold doesn’t say that the Cardinals no longer view 2B as a priority; it’s just a lower priority in light of the other needs they have and with the acquisition of Greene. The options for 2B in free agency are weaker than SS, which is why Orlando Hudson is apparently asking for the moon (if he was looking for 8 or 10 million, he’d be signed by now). That means a waiting game with a lot of suitors.

The Cardinals also just added $8.5 million to the salary books with Greene and Miller; they still have money to spend, but it’s not limitless. A good innings eater like Byrd or Garland probably will cost $8 or $9 million, at least. The $4 million for one year of Lohse last season was a big underpayment; the Silva and Suppan deals ($12 and $10.5 million) are closer to what the Cardinals will have to pay.

They have shown in the past you can get solid production, especially defensively, without having to pay a ton of money. I think they have that on their roster now.

Starting pitching wins playoff games. Carpenter is still a huge question mark. Remember this team still has an abundance of outfielders they can deal from either now or July if Carpenter isn’t healthy.

What is wrong with Miles at second base??? The guy shows up EVERY day, he has hit around .300, gives it his all, comes through in the clutch. Why don’t we just stick with Miles for a year or two while younger talent develops in the minors, and put the limited resources the Cardinals toward other needs.

Now that Molina has shown he can hit and they have KGreene at SS with his potential production a strong offensive 2B isn’t as necessary or needed. Kennedy if he is still around, Miles once he is re-signed, Ryan, TGreene, and Barden provide the pieces to take care of 2B and the bench.

I THANK MO did GREAT getting K.Greene!!!!! I have NO PROBLEM with Miles at 2nd IF we cant resign Lopez or TRADE for a better 2nd baseman. I would like to see us try to sign Jerry Hairston jr. He has speed @ plays 2nd,SS,3rd, @ all 3 outfield spots. I also would like to see us trade for J.J.Putz a lefthander that closes or sets up. I HATE we lost Springer @ Looper i HOPE that dont come back to BIT us!!!! I would not have a problem with Kyle McClellen or Brad Thompson starting. I thank Brad Thompson could win 12-15 games as a starter if he was left in the rotation. We do NEED 1 more top of the line starter to go with Wainwright,Loshe,new starter,Wellemyer,Thompson/McClellen/?? I HEARD the GOOD news Carpenter will be ready for spring training. I ALSO heard Carpenter @ Mulder would be back in July 08 to help win down the stretch that is why we didnt make trades for pitching. HOPE we learned from last year!!!!! We need 1 more IMPACT BAT.
A line up for 09 of Molina cat,Pujols 1st,Miles/?? 2nd,K.Greene SS,Glaus 3rd,Ludwick right,Ankiel/Rasmus center,new IMPACT bat,Adam Dunn,left!!! That would be 1 of the top 5 line ups in the majors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see K Greene as a slight upgrade from Izturis, depending.
Depends on Greene hitting like he has away from Petco and learning more patience from Cardinal coaching. If he does that, then he will more than make up on offense what he trails Izturis on defense.

It also depends on Izturis showing that he is not really coming back to 2004 form and the offense he showed in the second half last season is not the real Izturis. Because if he continues in ‘09 his 2nd half ‘08 production, then with his defense, he is more than Greene.

I agree with those who fear F.Lopez’ lazy attitude. I agree with picking up Hairston, if possible.

I agree with those who want to sign Hudson…he is a top flight producer on offense and defense. How many of those are available?

Hey Derrick, if you’re going to write a piece that involves health issues, you might want to brush up on your biology 101. Nerve cells/tissue cannot regenerate or re-grow - hence the reason paralysis is permanent.

I have been reading fans responses to their teams situation for a ton of years and must say that many of the Cardinal fans who blog here are very astute baseball fans, unlike many other area’s where they blurt out anything visceral, without giving thought to the whole picture.

Peavy, Wainright, Lohse and Carpenter will take us to WS again.

Trade whatever it takes outside of our core: Albert, Molina, Ludwick, Wallace, Motte, Perez, and Rasmus.

All of you wanting Hudson need to think for a min. First, we have a 2B. Kennedy had a great second half. He was healthy and it showed. Second, things aren’t as easy as “sign a guy, trade a guy”. Kennedy makes 4 mil. To get Hudson, it is going to take around 6 mil or more, because EVERYONE else out there needing a 2B is looking at him. To trade Kennedy, we would have to pick up some of his salary, more than likely, half. So you people are saying to invest 8 million dollars into the 2B. DUMB! Kennedy hit .270, and was above avg defensively. One of his best years ever, actually. I say, with the way he played the end of last year, give him the shot. Use that extra money get the pitching help we NEED. Leave our outfield alone. It is easy to sit back and say, sign this guy and trade that guy, but the bottom line is it takes money to do both. Kennedy is not a bad player. You all are mad at him for wanting to play. The end of the year, he got more playing time and looked great. Let him be the full time 2B. Let Miles sub for SS and 2B, but there is absolutely NO reason to overspend here when there are so many other glaring needs. Same situation as Rolen last year, except, Kennedy is not near the problem he was, AND Kennedy actually hit the ball. BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE. Stay the course MO.

I agree with MOs assistant. If we could get Peavy to go with Wainwright,Loshe,Carpenter,@ Wellemyere we could win 2 or 3 years in a row!! With a line up of Molina,Pujols,2nd baseman,K.Greene,Glaus,Ludwick,Ankiel/Rasmus,new IMPACT bat,, that would be one of the top 5 line ups in the majors!!!!!!!!!!!
We need to sign or trade for a IMPACT BAT a good lefthanded reliever a 2nd baseman @ YES PEAVY!!!!!! GO CARDINALS 2009 WORLD CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is exactly what I mean. SD is asking for the moon for Peavy. You say don’t give up Core Players. HE IS A CORE PLAYER!!!!!!!!! They want core guys to repl him. That’s why he is still a Padre, and probably will be. People think you can just get something for nothing. That is not how it works. You are saying don’t trade the core players, but everything else is fair game. What happens when those core players get hurt. What are we suppose to repl them with. Peavy has not exactly been a model of good health either. The payroll would be sky high, and you all are wnating to deplete the farm system we have worked so hard to create after YEARS of having the worst in MLB. Again, some sense of sanity has to prevail. We have money, but it is not those big market team type of money. The Yankees depleted their farm system a few years back; How long has it been since they have smelled the WS, and they have a 200 mil payroll?

Why is it that people rationalize that Kennedy was “awful” last year, yet should be easy to dump on someone and still save all his salary to give to a big name 2nd Baseman.

Then other people rationalize that Kennedy was so good other teams will be clamoring for him in a trade situation - yet don’t want to keep him.

Twisted logic was never was so apparent. LOL

You can’t tell me that a pick list of 4 of the following would not interest the Padres:
Ankiel
Shumacker
Mather
Duncan
Glaus
Ryan
McClellan
Anderson
Boggs
Frese
If I was Towers, I’d pick Ankiel, Mather, Ryan and Boggs.
All 4 would be starters for them in 09 and they’d save a ton in salary which, let’s face it, is their objective.

Come on Dewitt, if you are not going to invest in the village then let’s invest in our future! Peavy would be a steal!

Jake Peavy to the Cardinals for PADRES pick any 5
Schumaker of
Mather of
Ankiel of
Jon Jay of
Nick Stavinona of
Daryl Jones of
B.Ryan ss
Boggs pitch
McClellan pitch
Clayton Mortenson pitch
Fernando Salas pitch
ANY 5 they would pick off this list would not dry up our farm system or our back ups incase of injury.
If i was the Padres i would take 1.Schumaker of,2,Jon Jay of,3,Kyle McClellan pitch,4,Mitch Boggs pitch,5,eather Fernando Salas or Clayton Mortenson both pitchers.

By the way you guys maybe right about keeping Adam Kennedy to compete for a starting job with Miles. Keeping Kennedy should make MO job easier. Now we have cut the major needs list to a top of the line starting pitcher,IMPACT bat,another lefthander in the bullpen,and a closer/set up man BEST if lefthanded. I still thank Perez @ Motte can close.

The Padres are trying to dump salary over the long term, so they wouldn’t be interested either Ankiel or Glaus.
Wainwright
Wellemayer
Ludwick
Rasmus
Perez
Wallace
Anderson
Todd
Kozma
This is a list of the players that the San Diego GM is going to mention if the Cardinals ask about Peavy. It would probably take at least 2 of them to get Peavy. Probably 3 if one of them isn’t Wainwright or Ludwick. Peavy is San Diego’s best player and he is signed long term to a below market contract. San Diego is not going to give him away Like they did Greene. Look at what they asked Atlanta for. It will take something similiar from us to land Peavy.

Sailor Jay, I totally agree with you. The Padres will want too much from us for Peavy. Why do some of you guys want us to sell out the farm and break the bank for a top tier SP? When we could sign a FA pitcher whom would allow us to have our cake and eat it too? We could sign one of the following: Oliver Perez, Randy Wolfe, Rodrigo Lopez or yes even Randy Johnson or Jamie Moyer and still have the farm AND all of our core players. Some of you guys to me are lacking pure common sense when it comes to what would be BEST for our ballclub. Now I would LOVE to see Jake Peavy in Cardinal Red or even C.C. Sabathia. But let’s be rational about it folks. Just look up north to the north siders (Cubs) and see what they are starting to face. Cubs CEO Crane Kenney said that the team’s 2009 payroll exceeds $140M. Essentially, the Cubs are trying their best to buy a championship no matter what the cost is. And eventially they will have to go on a fire sale. Do you want that to happen to the Cards? Besides, IF we were to land Peavy, how then are we supposed to be able to re-sign Albert Pujols to a contract extention after the 2010 season? I know that the club has a 2011 $16M option with a $5M buyout. However, I for one wouldn’t want to see contract extention negotiations to drag into the 2011 season. Bottom Line: We didn’t sell out the farm nor did we break any banks to win the WS in 2006. What would be so bad about trying to field a very similar team as that one for 2009? I for one am not one bit worried about the Cubs nor the Brewers. They WILL choke!!!

Racing to catch my flight here (boarding has started), but I wanted to get back to Jacob about his excellent point — Biology 101 indeed. The word “regenerating” could have been in quotes as that was the description provided for the test and the results the Cardinals received. It should have been better explained for the reasons you mention. The word was used not in a physical sense but in the sense that it was re-firing, etc. I regret the phrasing. Thanks for pointing that out.

dg
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DG,
You weren’t actually that far wrong with the regenerating term. Is it used a lot in a sort of non-literal way in the medical community. For example, I had nerves in my lower back burned to decrease back pain, but instead of being permanent, it lasted only a few months and the docs said the nerves “regenerated.” I think it is probably more correct to say that they healed. Clearly, if there is a return of nerve function it is because the nerve wasn’t technically dead. But, the docs couldn’t really explain why they weren’t dead after being burned. Thus, the use of this rather ambiguous term. Perhaps they mean that nerve function was regenerated, rather than the nerve itself.

The statement that Mo has made in regard to focusing on upgrading the back end of rotation and adding another starting pitcher is intriguing. The low hanging fruit I figure Mo will target will be a guy like Trevor Hoffman for a one year deal and an option for a 2nd for reasonable money. Then I think he will be looking to pluck Oliver Perez to add to the rotation. These moves may appear to be a hole lot less than say a Burnette and a K-ROD, but the lower fruit will hang just fine. On the other side of the Orchard where the fruit hangs high, it could be that Mo is looking to see if the wind of change blows any of that fruit into Mo’s basket. Could that wind of change be a guy like say…A.J. Burnette who happens to have grown up a Cardinal fan might take a little less to play for his favorite child hood team. The fact that Mo has stated that obtaining a 2nd Basemen is no longer a high priority leads me to believe that there is something in the air that has been picked up on Mo’s radar. For now he is watching the big blimps and tracking their course. But when those big blimps are identified with their new teams it could be there may be one left tracking toward the gateway Arch on the banks of the Misssissippi. Mo’s Patience and Opportunity may be just the guidance system that brings a big blimp to St. Louis. I don’t care what the reports are on Carpenter, he is a question mark that cannot be counted on until he takes the ball every five days for the entire “09″ season. If the Cards are going to “STAY” in contention ALL YEAR and not fade in September they need to go after pitching. MO KNOWS. It’s going to be very interesting to see where all the fruit goes.

Unfortunately, I believe that Chris Carpenter’s pitching career is about over. Too many surgeries, too much scar tissue, and now a nerve problem. Any of which will certainly resurface once he begins to pitch competitively. The Cardinals shouldn’t expect anything from Chris in 2009 or beyond. When they recently signed him to a long term contract I knew it would come back to bite this team. Now we’re on the hook for double digit millions for the next 3 years. This is a problem for an organization that refuses to spend despite a new stadium, higher ticket prices, and a profitable merchandising business.

No need to apologize, DG.

Peripheral nerves regenerate … literally. In fact, they are capable of regenerating over relatively long distances.

Nerves in the brain and spinal cord are another story. They regenerate in fish and amphibians but not in mammals. Hence the “long-term” paralytic state of persons with spinal cord injuries.