Eckstein, Mozeliak meet to mend fences
ST. LOUIS — Granting San Diego second baseman David Eckstein his wish, St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak met with the fan favorite Saturday to discuss, face to face as Eckstein hoped, the decisions, misreads and lack of communication that led to the infielder’s departure after 2007.
“We sat down, had a great discussion and everything is good,” Eckstein said shortly after leaving his meeting with Mozeliak. “Everything is talked out. Absolutely, I have a better understanding.”
Eckstein, in town with his current team for this weekend’s three-game series, revealed Friday how he still harbored some animosity and, most of all, frustration over not returning to the Cardinals when his contract lapsed in 2007. Eckstein told reporters Friday that he hoped to talk to the “only one person that I want to talk to, and I haven’t talked to yet.” He wanted to hear directly from Mozeliak, was had just become the Cardinals GM entering that 2007-08 offseason, about why an agreement couldn’t be reached.
Eckstein said his perception was the Cardinals were misled by a report in a New York paper about his seeking a four-year, $36-million deal. The Mets, at the time, were playing their own games, courting Eckstein with dinner in Connecticut while also working out a deal with Luis Castillo. At the time, the Cardinals took note of the reported price Eckstein was allegedly seeking, but their interest wasn’t derailed by it.
They had another concern.
Though neither side would acknowledge it at the time, the Cardinals tabled a three-year, $21-million extension to Eckstein during spring training of 2007. When negotiations couldn’t be completed by the end of spring training, both sides pushed off the decision until after the season. Eckstein then played in 117 games because of injury and committed 20 errors at shortstop. He hit a career-high .309, but he would later acknowledge that health was a concern for all of the interested teams.
The Cardinals were unsure how to gracefully rewrite the extension offer to a lower dollar figure and less term without seeming like they were insulting Eckstein. They sought Eckstein’s agents guidance. Eckstein’s agent expressed his client’s wish to “stay in St. Louis.”
That description, Mozeliak has said, never came with contract parameters.
Back in 2007, both sides acknowledged a lack of communication between them before Eckstein signed a deal with Toronto. Mozeliak and Eckstein’s agent talked a few days after Eckstein had signed just to clear the air instead of exchanging volleys through the media. On Saturday, Eckstein had his chance to hear it straight from Mozeliak and ask his questions about whether or not the Cardinals truly wanted him back or were stringing along the decision for p.r. purposes.
Mozeliak contacted Eckstein’s agent before signing Cesar Izturis, and while some corners of the organization felt it was time to move in a different direction from Eckstein, Mozeliak advocated his return for 2008.
Eckstein and his wife, Ashley, met with Mozeliak at Busch Stadium for about an hour Saturday.
“We definitely talked everything out,” Eckstein said. “I’m very happy with the conversation, and happier with my understanding of how things happened. The best thing about it is that I understand all of this was professional, it was part of the business, but I feel now none of this was personal. It isn’t going to change the personal relationship.”
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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. 
I can understand Eckstein not wanting to leave STL. Bottom line here is, David should have had this talk with Mozeliak BEFORE venting to the media. I still love him though.
People can criticize Mo for a lot of things, but he seems to standup for things like a man. The fact that he did a chat with the fans and takes a beating but it doesnt bother him is good.
On that note, when is his next chat? I think that after a year, he might here a sweeter tune from this previously disgruntled fan base.
Thank God the 3-year $21 million contract extension didn’t get done. We’d still be on the hook for that salary this year and next. I liked Eckstein, but not for that money. Plus, Brendan Ryan is putting up the same stats, and playing better defensively, for less than 1/10 of that.
Now take a good reread of this Moral Tale named David Eckstein. This is a man without whom STL would have one less World Series championship. Period.
Then tell me again how Holliday is going to stay in St. Louis after this season for yeoman’s wages merely because we love him so much. …Because he’ll be treated so well by a grateful front office.
Uh. Yeah. Right.
The best deals are the ones never signed.
@Dwight Wannabe:
3/21 isn’t “yeoman’s wages” nor is anybody expecting Holliday to sign for that. For a player of Eckstein’s caliber, 3/21 is the kind of contract that looked stupid when Mulder, Edmonds, and (to some degree) Carpenter signed after already hitting their prime.
Thank God Mo had the brains not to buy into the hype and reward past performance with future dollars. As jpv pointed out above, Brendan Ryan is giving better performance for way less money right now.
I really like Eckstein, and I really appreciate what Mozeliak has done for the team, so I guess “good luck” to both of these Baseball stars is in order. I’d really like to be mad at someone because Eck is gone, but it seems we’ve got his clone at shortstop.
It’s times like this that I wish Eck did what McGwire did and negotiate his contract minus an agent. Eck really wanted to stay here. Coming back years later and talking to Mo about this is all the more proof he wanted to stay in STL & could have easily cut a deal by talking to Mo himself.