Being a Cardinal “made my career happen,” says Aaron Miles
TOWER GROVE — In a few days, newly-minted Chicago Cubs infielder Aaron Miles will have a reunion of sorts at a charity event with the manager that made him a millionaire. He expects the worst.
“I just talked to him, and Tony said,” Miles said, pausing for effect, “that he’s really going to give it to me.”
Miles, fresh from signing a two-year, $4.9-million deal with the Cubs, will attend an Animal Rescue Foundation benefit in California later this week as a guest of Tony — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, that is, the foundation’s creator. When Miles called La Russa to tell him he had decided to take the more lucrative offer and more lucrative opportunity with the Cubs, the manager understood and then offered a warning. Miles’ defection to the North Side was not going to go without ridicule at the ARF function. Oh, this won’t be Jim Edmonds Revisited. This all so So Taguchi. The humor will be on purpose.
Miles will welcome a shared laugh.
“I beat myself up for a good day or two (before calling La Russa), and I didn’t really feel good about signing elsewhere until even then,” Miles said Friday morning. “Understanding that in the end it was more money, and it seems like the same opportunity — a chance to start at second base, be a good utility guy. What I did in St. Louis — spot starter, quasi-starter, coming off the bench. I’ll be doing the same job, playing as much and maybe even playing more.
“But it was still the toughest decision I’ve had to make because St. Louis was the greatest experience I’ve ever had in baseball,” Miles concluded. “Being with the Cardinals made my career happen. I started in Colorado, but I made a name for myself in St. Louis.”
Former Cardinals utility infielder Aaron Miles handles the pivot during the 2006 World Series. (Source: Getty Images)
After catching wind of how some of his comments to Chicago baseball writers this week played in the message boards and radio studios of St. Louis and keenly aware of the David Eckstein Debacle of last winter, Miles called me on Friday morning to offer some farewell thoughts. Those included his views on how he became the latest in a parade of infielders to leave. Miles had carved out quite a niche with the Cardinals — a utility infielder who played almost as much as a regular and regularly won the starting job at second base despite the Cardinals’ best efforts to put somebody else in the position. Roll call: Junior Spivey. Ronnie Belliard. Adam Kennedy. Felipe Lopez.
Through all of it, Miles remained a favorite of La Russa’s … remains a favorite.
On KSLG/1380 this past Friday, La Russa repeated to baseball writer Joe Strauss an admission he made late last season: Miles earned more playing time than he got. Columnist Bernie Miklasz, whose show had La Russa as a guest, quoted from that interview in this morning’s paper, capturing La Russa’s opinion on Miles’ departure: “We took a big hit with Miles.” Miles set career highs in 2008 across his hitting line, batting .317, slugging .398 and reaching base with a .355 on-base percentage. More telling than his .300 average, Miles personified an essential piece of La Russa’s lineup — a movable beast, so to speak, and more correctly an insurance policy at multiple positions. Shortstop injured? Start Miles. Second baseman struggling? Start Miles.
Utility fielder released? Good thing there’s Miles around.
La Russa was not alone in his fondness for Miles as a scrapper and person. La Russa’s view of Miles as a player, however, was not universally shared by the Cardinals’ brain trust, specifically not at the price of a starter. And certainly not landlocked like they are now with Kennedy under contract for 2009.
“St. Louis was the best time I could have had playing baseball, and it’s the best time I’ve had in my career playing baseball,” Miles said. “I really felt like I had a part of the team there, and that I was a part of the family. I loved playing for Tony La Russa. I understand the finances of it. I know what they have to consider. I know why they non-tendered me each year. I really considered taking less money to go back, even though I knew I wouldn’t be guaranteed to play a lot. It felt like there was always a move to bring in somebody besides me.
“And that’s the business, that’s the game, so it didn’t bother me,” Miles concluded. “But to be non-tendered again, that made me feel so expendable.”
Said his agent: “As excited as he is for the opportunity with the Cubs, he was very melancholy about leaving St. Louis.”
The Cubs pursuit of Miles intensified the weekend after Christmas, and the entire deal hinged around the Cubs being able to deal second baseman/super utility fielder Mark DeRosa. When they completed that swap with Cleveland, they made their offer to Miles formal. The Cardinals entered at the 11th hour, and Miles said the offer was both a surprise and a complication. He spent many hours laboring over the decision. Miles said the offer from the Cardinals was a two-year deal and that the difference between it and the Cubs’ offer could have been $1 million. Several sources described the Cardinals’ offer as worth a total of around $4.3 million, or $600,000 less guaranteed than the Cubs’ contract.
Though neither side is saying it, that seems like the kind of deal that could have been offered and agreed to before the non-tender day. The Cardinals, however, had more moving pieces — namely Kennedy — in play.
Aaron Miles, shown here in the July game he drove in five runs against Pittsburgh, didn't get as much playing time as he deserved, Tony La Russa said. (Source: USAToday)
This was, technically, the third consecutive year that the Cardinals non-tendered Miles, but this was different. For the first time the non-tender notice did not come with an offer, Miles said. In seasons past the Cardinals non-tendered Miles to avoid arbitration with the switch-hitter. A few sources estimated the salary he could get through arbitration at approximately $2.5 million, though there are scenarios where arbitration — which by rule is immune to the market and economic conditions — could set a salary above that estimate.
Eight teams had shown interest in Miles leading up to the Cardinals becoming the ninth on the day he signed with the Cubs, his agent said. Of those eight teams, the two best opportunities for playing time were with the Cardinals (where he knew he had the track record of winning at-bats) and the Cubs (who were going to clear a spot for him in the lineup). He may play multiple positions for the Cubs, but he’ll get those at-bats.
He was, after all, a .392 hitter during days games in 2008, and .321 during the day since 2006.
As he stewed over his decision, Miles’ decision broke along simple lines: Stick with the team that made him the player who was now drawing interest in a soft market or go to the team that showed the most interest in signing him.
“It was a tough choice, no question,” Miles said. “But it felt like I was really wanted more by the Cubs. I may only have one crack at making this kind of money in this game. I spent nine years in the minors and now I’ve got six years in the big leagues. I’ve clawed for every inch I can get, and … my earning potential is very, very, very short in this game. I like the security of the deal and that I’m playing for a team that has a chance to win the World Series. I could say the same thing about the Cardinals. I was going to be a Cub because I didn’t have an offer from the Cardinals. When I got one, it made things tougher because of what I was a part of there. The Cardinals made me as a player.
“In the end, I know I went with the team that wanted me more,” he concluded. “I’m sure of that.”
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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. 
He went to the team he thinks has a better chance this season. That’s all. The rest is just lip service in hopes that he won’t get booed when he plays in St. Louis. From what I’ve read, he’s not even getting a starting role on the Cubs.