With infield almost set, Cardinals set out for pitching help.
In the end, it’s all about pitching and GM John Mozeliak is setting out to do something about the Cardinals’ staff this week in Las Vegas. Needed: A potential closer, a lefthanded reliever (could be the same) and another starter. Here are some of your ideas and a couple of mine:
Q: Commish, what do you thank about Peavy to the Cubs @ the impact it would have on the Cardinals??? What do you think the Cardinals would have to give up to get Peavy??? What would you like to see the Cards do about Peavy???
Bryan C.
A: Bryan, I don’t think the Cardinals have enough to get Peavy unless they throw Rasmus into the deal and that kind of defeats the purpose of building from within. The Cubs surely would be improved with Peavy, but like Harden, he has had health issues.
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Q: What if we put Greene as 2nd and move Glaus over at shortstop? I believe with only 1 year under his belt, Wallace is ready for the majors. He is right now killing the ball in the AFL like he did in college and in the minors. On the pitching staff, I wonder how much it will cost STL for BJ Ryan?
Paul
A: Paul, I don’t think the Cardinals want to tinker with their defense that much to shuffle infielders around.. They can wait another year for Wallace and/or Freese to be ready at third when Glaus will be a free agent. Ryan would be attractive but haven’t heard the Blue Jays were anxious to move him unless they figure he’s a payroll luxury. .
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Q: Commish, I’m on board with moving an OF for the right SP or closer. Putz or Street are interesting trade possibilities at closer, but too risky to justify trading Ludwick or Ankiel. If we’re going to take a chance on a risky closer, I’d rather sign Wood. As for SPs, I’m not sure who’s available. Any insight you can offer as to some possible trade targets?. Some free agent SPs also intrigue me, such as Oliver Perez and Ben Sheets, depending on how the market turns out. On another note, I’m glad to hear the Cardinals aren’t leaning towards trading Ludwick for Kelly Johnson. I like Johnson, but not for Ludwick’s bat. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.
- Dan
A: Thanks, Dan. Perez and Randy Wolf are the top lefthanded starting pitchers as free agents (other than Sabathia) and the Cardinals haven’t had a lefthanded starter since before Mulder got hurt. I would lean toward signing a lefthander. As for trades, we’ll know what the market might be in a couple of trades. I, too, would not like to see Ludwick dealt.
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Q: Mr, Hummel, even I have given up hope of acquiring Peavy, but the Cards and Mariners would seem to have mutual interest. The M’s could use a DH (Chris Duncan?) and an everyday LF (Ankiel?) Putz, for a $5 millon, one-year rental (plus a $1 million buyout for ‘10) would be fair-priced interim closer until Perez is ready.
But I’m more intrigued by LH Jarrod Washburn and his $10 million salary. His overall numbers don’t look spectacular (5-14, 4.69) but when you examine his day-game ERA, the lousy numbers he had in his home park and pitching in the AL, he looks like he could be a decent and solid lefty. And he doesn’t look like a guy who’d be asking for $20 at season’s end. Any thoughts on that happening?
Thanks and best wishes,
Elliott.
A: Elliott, Washburn had some appeal to me last year but that $10 million is a daunting number for his recent production (22-43 last three seasons), unless the Mariners want to pay sone of it. Putz worries me a bit because the M’s took him out of the closer’s role but if his arm is all right, I’m game. I don’t think I’d move Ankiel in such a deal and Duncan’s trade value won’t be as high now as it might be this spring if he shows he is healthy. Under the right circumstances, Putz might be the one.
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Q: Mr Hummel, thank you for addressing our questions. You are a fantastic writer. I was wondering, why are the Cardinals thinking of keeping Kennedy around after he asked for a trade? And second, do you think the Cards could pull off a trade for Juan Uribe of the White Sox? I’ve always liked him and he’s shown that if he gets 450 at bats or more, he’ll hit 20+ home runs. We could use that kind of bat. Evven though I like the trade bringing Greene to STL, I don’t think its enough of an improvment ,like Mo said.
Steve
A: Thank you, Steve. Uribe actually is a free agent and the Cardinals already have Kennedy signed for $4 million at that position, with Miles to get a nice contract, too. They don’t want to have to pay part of Kennedy’s salary to trade him and then sign somebody else, also. Kennedy and skipper La Russa can reach some sort of detente, I think.
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Q: Rick, you mention that the economy is awful right now. Did I miss something? Didn’t MLB make record profits and attendance once again? Didn’t the Cardinal organization make a whole lot of money? Did season ticket sales plummet this off-season? What in the world does that have to do with anything here? I see it as just one more reason to justify not trying to sign any high-dollar impact players. I don’t mean to suggest they act like the Yanks or Sox. We are just taking about one pitcher like Peavy or Burnett or one bat.
Mark,
A: Mark, you probably should keep in mind that the season ticket orders and most of the ticket-buying for last season occurred early in the year, before the economy went in the dumper. And I assure you, season-ticket sales will be down everywhere, except for the new New York parks, this winter.
(9 votes, average: 4.78 out of 5)
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In consideration that both Kennedy and Greene will be Free agents next year, what do you think about the Cardinals trading some of their surplus OF talent(not Ludwick or Rasmus) for a blocked middle infield prospect? There seem to be several such as Brandon Wood(LAA),Reid Brignac(TB), Elvis Andrus(Tex)and Chris Nelson(Col), who seem to be blocked by already established players and often being squeezed by better younger prospects coming up behind. I ask this because the Cardinals best prospects, Kozma and Vasquez look to be at least 2 0r 3 years away from the bigs.
Sailor Jay - The one I think we should trade for is Jason Donald from the Phillies organization. Check out these stats:
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=31145
Commish,
Interesting news today about The Tribune company going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. . .they own the Cubs if I am not mistaken. My understanding is that they will require a judge to approve a sale and any increase in costs(salaries). Any incite on this?
The Cubs (and Wrigley Field) are NOT part of the bankruptcy filing. You can see the document itself at the New York Times site — there are three pages of Tribune Company businesses that are named in the Chapter 11 filing, and the Cubs are not among them.
Since Mozeliak seems to be content with Adam Kennedy as the starting 2B next year, opting to save money at the position instead of spending more on high-priced free agents like Orlando Hudson, what does that mean for the lineup? Where do you think Kennedy would hit? 9th, where we put our lightest-hitting position player last year? Does that mean if Rasmus makes the team out of ST that he hits leadoff? I would think he’d be much better off as the ideal #2 hitter with power and speed (plus a lefty). What does La Russa and the front office think about Kennedy leading off? In 2008, in lead-off at-bats, Kennedy hit .295 (23-78) and had a OBP of .412 or higher from June-October. He at least seems like a lead-off candidate that could move the power hitters (especially Ludwick and Ankiel) into more RBI situations. What are your thoughts?
Once again, thank you for your input. This is a great forum and your insight is much appreciated!
I do not know why the Cardinals are not attempting to sign Lopez in that he hit well, ran well and played satisfactory defense. They really need to trade Duncan and Kennedy for something of value.
Dear Mr. Hummel,
I’m so pleased that you have kept up this daily blog–I look forward to reading it every day. Thank you for giving us fans some of your time every day.
A couple of questions. First, you mentioned in one of your answers above that Miles would get “a nice contract” for next year. Do you have inside information to that effect? Will he be non-tendered first, as they did last year? If so, do you believe there is any danger of him going to another team?
Second, I recall that there were a couple of attempts to bring about detente with TLR and Rolen, which, as we all know, failed miserably. Do you believe that it will really be possible for Kennedy to extricate himself from Tony’s doghouse? It doesn’t seem like Kennedy is as hostile toward Tony as Rolen was, so that should help, but I’m just wondering what you believe Tony’s attitude toward Kennedy is. I can see how it might be hard to play Kennedy every day if Miles hits over .300 again next year.
Thank you very much.
Dear Mr. Hummel,
How serious do you think Mo is about picking up a FA closer or trading for one? If he doesn’t find a closer, what do you think Plan B is–sign Izzy to an incentive-laden deal as a bridge to Perez/Motte or let Perez and Motte compete for the closer role in spring training?
How likely do you think it is that the Cards will decide to negotiate a deal to bring Springer back? Is that door shut, in your opinion, or is there a possibility that he could still be in the mix? Ditto for Looper–are the Cards still considering him as a FA option or have they closed the door on him with a view toward looking elsewhere?
Thank you for sharing your insight.
Lynda
I really hope the birds sign fuentez. He fills the need for another lefty in the pin and our closer spot. Rick, do you think izzy could be an effective set up man or is he done? I hope he isn’t done, I’ve enjoyed watching him pitch for the birds and I’m kinda in his favor considering i grew up 35 min. from his hometown of brighton. Also, do you feel the cards need to add a lead off man considering skip was terrible against left handed pitching last year? Don’t get me wrong i like skip alot but dude was god awful against left handers last year. Thanks rick, you are one of, if not, the best writers i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Thank you.
Commish,
There has been a lot of talk about having all three starting outfield spots as potentially being lefthanded hitters if we were to trade Ludwick for a starting pitcher. To me, I believe we should trade whichever outfielder (probably Ludwick or Ankiel) could land us the best pitcher. What a lot of people seem to be losing site of is that all of our infield positions are right handed hitters except for Kennedy (who will probably give up some at-bats to Miles vs. lefties anyway). Thus if we had all three outfield spots hitting left-handed, that would still only make for at most a 4/4 split among position players. That doesn’t seem all bad to me. What are your thoughts?