No Mo deals. . . yet
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak has returned to St. Louis after what appeared to be a fruitless excursion to Las Vegas for the winter meetings. But, no doubt, considerable groundwork was laid for future transactions _ and it seems you’ve got more help to offer him:
Q: Commish, everyone talks about Anderson being a great prospect. Do you really see that? I don’t see where he would bring that much
Also, do you think the Cardinals want to run the risk that Ankiel will fizzle out like he did with pitching? I would not be willing to assume Rick Ankiel is the real thing and am willing to part with him to fill a real need. I would respect your view.
Thanks Rick,
JC
A: Anderson can hit. But his defense is not yet believed to be top-drawer if the other team is looking for a defensive catcher. Your question about Ankiel is legitimate but I think his commitment to _ and interest in _ outfielding is greater than it was to pitching. I would prefer not to deal him yet.
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Q: Why are we trading Ankiel? Who is going to take his place? Schumaker? He can’t even hit lefthanders.
How many prototype right fielders are there in baseball like Ankiel. Try and sign him to a 3- or 4- year deal. If you can’t, so be it. I don’t think he has reached his full potential yet either. He’s a 35 home run, 100 RBI guy with speed and defense, too! Who else in baseball fits that bill?
Spend the money on Fuentes and then have a few bucks left for a 4th or 5th starter
Save Ankiel and trade Schumaker this winter or Duncan this spring for more young, developing pitching!
tpatton
A: Your point about Schumaker not hitting lefthanders is well taken. He batted .168 against them but Ankiel had only a .224 mark. I, too, want to see more of Ankiel this year although Schumaker provides a service, too. Not many OFs hit .300 and play the defense he does at all three positions. Duncan might be tradeable this spring if teams see that he is healthy.
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Q: Mr. Hummel, thank you for your time. What do you think of the idea of signing Ben Sheets as a closer? Before you rush to judge, think back to all the great closers who started out as injury-prone starters. Heck, we’ve really enjoyed recent success with one, Izzy. Recently, baseball’s best closers have been starters. Papelbon, Gagne among others. I just wonder if Sheets and his agent have taken the time to really evaluate what is best for his client. Besides Texas, no one has even taken a sniff at him. Why? Because he can’t stay healthy, yet he wants to make big bucks. I assume at the stage of his career, he has to be tired of being hurt every single year. He’d be a great pitcher, if he could stay healthy. He might get 2yrs/20 million, but many experts have wondered out loud if arbitration would have been his best option. We all know what Fuentes can do. What we don’t
know is if he can consistently produce year in and year out. I’d rather spend the same money or even a little more on someone who can be dominant than someone who we might need to replace in-season like Fuentes in 07. The Cardinals can’t outspend the big markets, but they can out-think and work harder to accomplish the same results. Sometimes a little imagination can go a long way in baseball.
Brian
A: I wouldn’t reject your theory out of hand, Brian, but I think the Cardinals are gun-shy about signing pitchers with any history of injury in light of Carpenter, Mulder, Clement. I think Sheets would be a great closer. But would he stay healthy enough?
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Q: First, I’m a fan of both Ankiel and Ludwick and always will be regardless of what uniform they wear, but realistically I think their value in the market may never be higher than right now, as they both could have issues staying healthy, and think our chances of signing Rick after this year are below 50%.
What could you get for them now that would help the team best, in your opinion.
Thanks,
ps Don’t trade Wallace.
JD
A: JD, I don’t think Wallace is going anywhere, except to St. Louis at the end of next season. Ludwick and Ankiel each probably would net a starting pitcher in the realm of a potential 14-to-15-game winner. A deal like that could even be made next spring when teams, including the Cardinals, see that Ankiel and Duncan have recovered from their surgeries. If they haven’t, the Cardinals wouldn’t have quite as much outfield depth as it seems.
(11 votes, average: 4.64 out of 5)
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Mr. Hummel;
Now that the Brewers and the Angels have thrown their lines out for Fuentes who do you think will land Fuentes in the boat? Thank you sir.
Dear Mr. Hummel,
Since this was brought up in a recent Q&A about Schumaker, I thought I’d ask your opinion. Is it just me, or does it seem like the Cardinals, as a team, have more trouble hitting left-handed pitching than other teams? I believe Ankiel had hit pretty well against lefties in the minors and in the majors when he came up toward the end of 2007, but he had considerably more trouble this year and then, of course, there is Schumaker and his troubles. Again, it seemed to get worse this year, though that was probably just because they faced more major league lefties this year, their first full year in the bigs. Is there anything that MacRae can do to help these players overcome this problem? Thank you.
Am I am crazy or does anyone else ever wonder if Ankiel will ever pitch again in some capacity?
WHY did we not put Luis Perdomo on the 40 man roster when we had at least 3 spots open on the roster???? ALL that ground work that MO laid at the GM meeting setting up for a big winter meetings of dealing!!!! ALL we got was we have changed direction @ a hole lot of we wanted him but were out bid @ we were trying to trade for him BUT someone got him!!!!!!!!!!! AND OOOOO YEA, BUT WE LAID ALOT OF GROUND WORK FOR SOME MOVES LATER ON!!!!!!! Now Brian Fuentes price has gone up to almost out of reason,we wont trade for B.J.Ryan. Well i BET we bring back IZZY!!!!! What are your feelings on how the meetings went for the Cardinals @ there fans?????
Mr. Hummel,
After reading Mr. Strauss’s article this morning, do you think it is reasonable for the Cardinals to believe that they can sign either of the top two remaining closer options on the board while maintaining the desire for offering a deal under $10M/year? It seems as though the Rodriguez deal @ 3 yr/$37M and Wood deal @ 2 yr/$20M sets that offer as too low. Why would Fuentes accept such an offer?
Thanks for any ideas you might have, and thank you for all of the time you put in for us.
I don’t understand why there is such a desire to sign Fuentes. We have a closer that is younger, throws harder, and has been somewhat tested last year with decent results. Perez works cheap and Fuentes will drain resources that could be used to pick up at least two or three players we need more. I would argue that we were on the right track signing left handed relievers, not closers but guys we really need in earlier innings. We shouldn’t rely on Trevor Miller too much, his shoulder could become an issue. The ten million we would spend for Fuentes should buy at least an additional lefty plus a starter like Looper. My question, do you think the cards got sidetracked by the winter meetings fever? Is Fuentes or another closer really that necessary in lieu of Perez and Motte? Thanks Mr. Hummel
Dear Mr. Hummel,
I read that Arthur Rhodes is signing a 2-yr.,$4 million contract with the Reds. I had also read that Rhodes preferred to sign with the Cardinals, but was waiting for Mo to offer a little more (don’t know if it was years or money) and bring his offer closer to what the Reds offered. What the heck happened there? The Cardinals had originally offered Trevor Miller 2 yrs and $4 million, so it was clearly a doable contract. Did they not want to offer Rhodes 2 years because of his age? Or has the decision to go after a bona fide closer changed the landscape so that they no longer wanted to sign Rhodes? Just wondering why Mo was outbid yet again, especially since it seemed like an offer the Cards could have matched. Thank you for your time!
Lynda
Once again, the Cards look elsewhere for a closer. Not since Todd Worrell’s last full season as a closer in ‘89 have we had a home growm closer. 20 SEASONS! Why can’t they just make a guy a closer from inside the orginization. Other teams do it and it seems to work out. They even take retreads and make them closers, which of course we get. Isn’t that what Oakland did with Izzie??? Do this: Motte-set up. Perez-closer!! Done deal, and think off all the money that will save the Dewitts. That bulldozer and grass seed cost alot of money at ballpark village
Sorry to comment twice, but I’m upset about the payroll discrepancy in baseball. In your opinion, is it time for some kind of salary cap? Thanks Mr. Hummel.
Rick - this morning’s paper says the Cards didn’t offer a contract to Miles but did offer one to Duncan. I don’t understand this.
Miles did everything and more the Cards asked of him last year (and the year before that) and Duncan was either ineffective or hurt last year (and the year before that).
When are the Cards going to award Miles with a 1- or 2-year contract to show their appreciation for his talents and contributions that he has made to this team?
In addition, we seem to have a lot more lefthand-hitting outfielders (although “hitting” might be too generous of a term to apply to Duncan) than we do infielders.
Can you explain how the Cards arrived at these two decisions?
hr