I have a question, so if the cards make the postseason, would they made additional money to help pay for the salaries? The deeper we go in the playoffs, the more money we make? It sounds dumb but idn ppl say its true and some ppl dont no…

Jeff Gordon says to extend DeRosa right now. In 21 games he is hitting .185 with an OBP of .247. Why the rush to sign him? Derosa is 34 years old and chances are his production is going to start dropping.

DeRosa is likely to have wrist surgery after the season. That will significantly decrease his market value. So I would wait on him and see if you can’t get him cheap.

The Cardinals will have to drastically rethink the total payroll situation by the time they go after Pujols. By all rights, even if he takes a ‘discount’ to play in St. Louis, he should get more than A-Rod. He is, after all, the best player in the game by a wide margin; maybe the best Cardinal player ever–understanding that that covers a lot of ground.

I think people are unscoring Ludwicks value to the team. He has more Hr and RBI than Holliday. At the end of the year, Holliday will get 18 million per and Ludwick will get 7-8 million per. I’d be happy with Derosa and Ludwick coming back and maybe reupping Pinerio and another quality pitcher. I want Holliday too, but I don’t see how they can afford Pujols and him. If they do, Wainwright will be gone 3 years down the road. Glad it’s not my job to figure this stuff out.

You can drop woeful welleye to the No Chance list. He should have to pay the Cards to wear the Birds on the Bat uniform

I thought the Lohse extension was out of character for the Cardinals at the time (especially in terms of contract length for a pitcher), and It’s obviously not paying off this year. The only way he could redeem himself would be to pitch well down the stretch, but based on recent performance, especially today (he had NOTHING), I hope they’re not counting on it. Guys, has P.J Walters figured something out down in Memphis? How do you account for his last three outings (last 3 starts: 20 IP, 10 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and a ridiculous 32 Ks)? Is it time to give him another shot, considering we’ll need a fifth starter next week and we’ll be playing poor teams? Rasmus looks helpless right now. Any chance they would send him out to play every day and regain his stroke and bring Stavinoha back up? Any chance of a waiver deal to bring another starter in (Garland?) If they offer Holliday and Piniero a combined $25 million and don’t sign either of them, doesn’t that free up that amount to spend on other free agents? Who might they go after if they fail to sign either of them?

I agree with Gordo. DeRosa is playing effectively now, with the wrist injury which leads me to believe that any offseason surgery will be somewhat minor and not require a grueling comeback or a total revamp of his swing. Get DeRo signed ASAP, then see what Holliday/Boras are asking for in the offseason. I get the feeling that Holliday isn’t interested in giving much of a discount. Cardinal fans are great and all, but he strikes me as a guy who wants to play meaningful games year in and year out and make as much money doing so. Boston and New York <–usually playing meaningful games. You lose Holliday, OK that sucks but you still have DeRosa and hopefully you’re still able to negotiate with Ludwick. The situation will be tricky though because you don’t want to damage your relationship with Luddy by blatantly putting him lower on your list of priorities. Hopefully the FO will continue to invest the unexpected revenue from ‘09 into the product on the field and really build a winner around Albert based on that perfect combination of home grown talent and free agent acquisitions.

If it were me, the pecking order would be 1-DeRosa, 2-Holliday, and 3-Piniero for the first three. Why? Holliday and Piniero are both going to be overpayed, like Bernie alluded to in Lohse’s 4-year/$41MM contract. So why overspend when a more economical player is available? Priorities aside, I hope all three of them are signed for reasonable deals… DeRosa for 3-years/$24MM, Holliday for 4-years/$50MM, and Piniero for 2-years/$15MM. With the dead weight of Glaus, Kennedy and Kahlil off the books… that should be workable.

RonB - Over 14 games in July, DeRosa hit 7 HR and drove in 11 runs with an OPS of .938!!!

Sorry StubbyClap that would be nice but is unrealistic for Holliday and probably Pineiro! I would do back flips for those contracts if the cards could make it work.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of figures the Cards ownership is raking in per home game? I could be way off, but based on a sellout and what the average amount of money forked out per fan is, advertisements and tv revenue, I’m guessing at least 5 million. Its time for them to stop taking complete advantage of Cardinal nation and keep a lot of talent out there on the field. I know they will get Holliday because he is why Pujols will re-sign. Don’t let those schiesters make you think that they don’t have the money to keep DeRosa and Piniero, too.

How much more do we have to watch of Thurston? He is just brutal in all facets of the game.

Stubby, nice try on Holliday for 4 years and $50 mill and Pineiro 2 years and $15mill! Don’t know what you’re smokin’ today! Boras would laugh that offer right out of the room for Holiday and why would Pineiro take less than Lohse after outpitching him all year? And Chewie, not sure if we’re watching the same guy when you say DeRosa is playing effectively right now. He’s 4 for his last 36 (.111) with a lot of K’s. I’m sure the wrist is a problem, and I love the guy as a player, but certainly wouldn’t commit huge dollars and years to a guy who will be 35 years old and coming off wrist surgery when next season starts. Seems like he’s the kind of guy we would offer arbitration to since other teams may be reluctant to commit long-term to him also for the same reasons. Get him for one year at a reasonable price, let him prove his age and the wrist aren’t issues and he could be a free agent next winter.

Let’s focus on the year in front of us. It is playing out nicely.

DeRosa: $5m 1yr and option for 1 more, banged up and old, unless he comes cheap.
Holliday: Thanks but no thanks. To much $$$$. Use that money to lock Pujols for life.
Lugo: He’s free till after next year, so a good time for him to settle in play for a future contract here.

Goodbye: Greene, Glaus, Wellemeyer, and (these two hurt to say) LaRue and Ankiel). Time for rookie catcher to earn his diggs along side of Yadi.

Pineiro: Make a good reasonably offer, he seems to be fitting in well here.

And with all the money left over,…BUY A PITCHER! This years FA market looks good for pitchers.

This years rookies got alot of playing time and good looks from the FO, so it is play or trade them time come the off season. Why worry on who hits behind Pujols, worry more on who hits in front of him.

And the other thing,…I guess we’ll be on “Tony Watch” come off season too, is he going to stay or go based on what the FO does? Because I feel pretty sure they’ll tend to tread where Tony leads them or start looking beyond the Tony/Duncan era.

As for now,…enjoy the season and pray what they have is enough for a WS run.

Joepa, you are right on. Let the year play itself out and lets see who performs well over the course of the whole year. DeRosa is a good example right now. I am aware how well he hit over a 14 game span in July, and that he has hit seven HR in his short tenure with the Cards, but his .185 over all batting average in his time as a Cardinal is concerning. Let the season play itself out. I would hope for the best in that all these pending free agents play so well the rest of the year that we would want them all, but I don’t think that will happen. I think things will be much clearer come the end of September or October (if we are in the playoffs) who we will covet and who we won’t.

I think its unfortuante that Holliday is going to chase top dollar. You know Boras is going to be ruthless, and if that is what he about then so be it. Giving Holliday an astronomical contract now would be silly, and I do not see us giving him the $$$ he wants and keeping other core players we need. Hopefully, Holliday will understand that his numbers are directly related to St. Louis atmosphere and he decides to give us a reasonable discount. Otherwise he is gone.
In terms of Khalil Greene, I think we should resign him on the cheap. I know this sounds crazy, but think about what Zack Grienke went through with the Royals. Their loyalty to him will keep in KC forever….we know Greene has talent, and I think extending that support to him may be what he needs. He will produce again, and I would like to see it done in a Cardinal uniform.
Someone will give Pineiro stupid money…I don’t seen him in Cardinal Red next year…
It would also be nice to see Ank resign.

dont the Cards have something like 24 mil coming off the books? (glaus 12, Greene 6.X, Kennedy 4)
plus payroll was down about 10 mil coming into the year so theoretically we COULD have around 32 mil to spend?

We probably wont need ank if we go with Ras, holliday, Ludwick and Stavy/farm guy

Is there really no way we could sign Holliday, DeRosa and some pitcher with that?

or am I way off somewhere

Joel has been fantastic this year…
but I dont trust the guy at all.

The only times he has pitched well for us has been when he was heading into FA after the year. I dont know if thats a legit concern or not but I remember how bad he was last year and how fickle pitching is. Id be very careful before I pay an inflated price for him
I would think there will be some good scrap heap pitchers in FA that would sign for less and we wouldnt have to comit to them for 3-5 years or whatever he is going to want.

The Cardinals should look into trading Pujols…that way, the ownership saves a lot of money and Cardinals could be #1 on the best prospect list.

I know your joking Wally but that wasn’t very funny! I think trading AP would require a MLB wide trade in which almost everyone’s top prospect came to STL! Actually that was pretty funny considering that is the only logical way I see that working out! Since it is unrealistic we will talk about things that maybe more realistic. JealousBlues the Cards actually have 27 million coming off the books. If you consider 15-20 million for Holliday. 5-8 million for DeRosa. Ludwick will be in arbitration again and will be awarded around 5-8 million. Well, where is the money left to sign a pitcher? We are possibly loosing 2 pitchers to FA and most people don’t believe we have 2 pitchers ready to start in the majors so we must sign at least one. Again there is 5-10 million to get a decent pitcher. Even if you took the lowest number from each giving a discount your over 27 million! The Cards maybe willing to increase payroll or the league increase payroll but that is unlikely. I think Luddy is getting lost in all of the talk and we need to realize that 5-8 million will come off the books just to keep him. We will gain compensation picks for Holliday and DeRosa if they leave via FA however, if we loose Luddy we get nothing in return!!! The season still has quite a bit left in it so lets see whats going to happen then we can revisit this arguement from a more knowledgable standpoint.

I would rather see the Cards let Holliday go as he will not be worth the price tag and use the savings to sign a John Lackey type starter. Holliday is medicre in the field and his numbers are the same as Ludwicks but at twice the price. When Ludwick is playing well you don’t need Holliday to protect Pujols. There’s no point in talking young players coming up because TLR won’t play them anyhow. Does Duncan 1 for 31/Ankiel over Rasmus sound familiar. Cards 06 lineup was worse than this yr and they won. pitching, pitching and pitching

DumpTLR has it right in that none of any of this dicussion matters if the LaRussa/Duncan team are stilling managing the Cardinals. As for Derosa; outside of leadership and some decent defense; what has he really done?
RonB - Over 14 games in July, DeRosa hit 7 HR and drove in 11 runs with an OPS of .938!!! RonB; I like the info, but it doesn’t say he drove in 11 runs; he drove in 4 runs and hit seven homers. Has he hit many two/three run homers? He really isn’t hitting with runners on base. He isn’t clutch and that was why they got him. Take the draft choices; play Freeze. Aren’t the real money players suppose to be five tool players. Holliday shows only three. Hit for average, hit for some power, runs bases average; plays average at best defensive LF; doesn’t throw well. Holliday is another mancrush by LaRussa. Take care of Ludwick. Wait on Pinerio; he always does well in contract year and stinks the next; low contract at best for one year; keep him motivated. Let Holliday walk if he demands the franchise; take the draft choices and let Luhnow get better players than Wallace, Peterson, and Mortenson. Ankiel is good when healthy, but this may be the time to let him go and maybe get a draft pick. LaRue is very good backup for exactly that; why not keep him unless you want T.Cruz up here. Let Kahlil, Glaus, Wellemeyer go; can’t even get draft choices for them, maybe Glaus? Cardinals have money, but dang, some of their personnel decisions for LaRussa mancrushes are killers. Always taking someone else’s broken down vet. Holliday first unbroken player Cardinals have traded for in years. Love the blog…

Guys if you’ve kept up , you’d know Ras has lost 18/20 lbs-and in the dog days of Aug. any smart manager - let alone one of the best (with less.. ever) knows that. You want to mess up his head for life just keep throwing him out there. We pay these guys to do what they’re good at…but yack away …smart..guys.

I agree that management must sign at least one of their priority free agents as quickly as possible so they can focus on the others. If that player is DeRosa or Pineiro (are either of them worth big bucks?) then they should be able to go all out to sign Holliday. If they can’t sign Holliday, throw the other names in a hat, minus Greene and Glaus of course, and pick a couple. Glad I am a fan and not one of those responsible for putting a team on the field. Free agency sure takes all the fun out of baseball, doesn’t it?

Sorry guys…the old bonehead was thinking about todays whipping and I forgot to say…RESIGN LUDWICK! The rest can follow.

IMO I don’t think Holliday will get signed. Too many teams will be chasing him which will drag out the process. If I’m the Cards I set a short time frame and then chase after Jason Bay if it looks like a Holliday bidding war will take a while. In the end, even with Bay who earlier this year was lights out better than Holliday, the Cards still win because Holliday or Bay gives Albert big time MLB experienced protection. Bottom line, Mo will not have forever to wait while the rest of the FA’s are signed and he’s still in a bidding war for Holliday.

The whole resigning/free agent scenario and staying within a competitive budget is a game all by itself. Should be interesting to see how it develops; especially with Boras being a factor. Whatever is done before the 2010 season begins had better be with the mindset of wrapping up Pujols BEFORE he becomes a FA. As for Holliday, like most everyone, I’d like to see him back wearing the Birds on Bat. However, if he hits the open market, I have serious doubts as to that happening unless Holliday himself tells Boras he wants to play in St. Louis and not go to the highest bidder (where Boras makes out best with his percentage of the mega contract). The New Yorks, LAs, Chicagos plus Boston all have boatloads more cash than the Cards can give him and still field a roster truly worthy of championship contention, which is why the game is played and why we pay for tickets to see the Cardinals play. I like to see the most money spent on great pitching, and Pujols, of course.

I completely agree with Bernie. This has just as much to do with balancing their finances as it does getting a successful product on the field. After holding enough money back to pay the raises for Pujols beyond 2010, then Wainwright, Molina & possibly Carpenter past 2011, if the Cardinals are able to re-sign Holliday, the rest of the holes created by free agency will need to be filled by minor-leaguers at base salaries.

Joel Pineiro has pitched well down the stretch, but so did Kyle Lohse last season, and look at the 4yr/41M contract the Cardinals paid him thinking if they didn’t sign it quick that Lohse would get more in free agency. Pineiro, DeRosa, Miller, Ankiel, LaRue, & Wellemeyer will have to be replaced by Boggs, Freese, Garcia, Jay, Anderson, & Walters. The success of the St. Louis Cardinals, even with the trades, still owes a big thanks to the way kids like Colby Rasmus & Brendan Ryan have stepped up.

Let everyone go but Pujols. Pay him $100 million a year. He will pitch and never give up a hit, so no fielders needed. He will only hit homers, so no need for base runners. There is an easy solution.

Another brilliant posting by goold. You’ve got to be kidding saying ‘Piniero and others are backburnered’ due to need. Yes, we’d all like to have Holliday back, but at what cost? This team has 2 major league level starting pitchers. 2 out of 5. That’s not good. I don’t want them to bring back Pinhead, and they won’t, thank God. But there has to be an effort to acquire pitching with free agent dollars. As good as Holliday is, you could fill more holes in the roster using the money he will command to get a real #3 and #4 starter. God knows they can’t trade for other help, being as they shipped out the farm system for the wrong Holliday on the market, Derosa who can’t hit .300 to save his life.
Once they miss the playoffs this year, it will be interesting to see if all the short-sighted knuckleheads in this town still think it was so urgent to get Derosa and Holliday here.
No offense in the NL can compensate for Pinhead, Lohse, Boggs, Wellemeyer…

Having 27m coming off the books should go a long way toward Holliday ($16m), DeRosa ($8m), and MAYBE a raise of ($3m more than his current salary to Piniero since he is already part of this year’s budget)…

I doubt Wellemeyer will be back, and with the extra money coming off the books, I can’t see why the organization would be so stretched that it can’t afford to pay Holliday, Piniero, DeRosa, AND Ludwick a raise. Who else is getting a raise???? Anyone know??? You can’t say Ludwick is too high at $7m with possibly 2 straight years (projected numbers of course) of over 100 RBI, 25 HR, and playing great defense! I don’t know the details of everyone’s contracts, but the organization is seeing the proof of how a good team adds fans in the seats, which translates into more money, and possible playoff revenue as well.

The recent trades were made to make a run a championship… this year. And Bernie and Gordo hit nail on the head that this is a one year squad due to budget constraints. We can’t keep everyone. The question of who we can sign actually will be decided more by the roster flexibility of the FO and TLR than the $$$$. DeWitt will want around a 100 mil budget and this will be the static part of the equation. So unless this increases, that budget simply can’t support our current core (Pujols, Carp, Waino, etc..) plus Holliday, DeRosa, etc.. AND still have room to sign veteran replacements for additional holes. At best, if the budget is to keep Pujols long term then the budget will support one more big budget player and one more mid budget player long term…. and that only works if they make hard decisions like letting others (Ankiel/Piniero/etc..) walk unless they come cheap, potentially trading Ludwick for more reasonably priced gambles before Pujols big $$$, and filling in the rest holes with inexpensive options like Rasmus (CF), Ryan (SS) and Schu (2B) have offered this year and extending that opportunity to other positions like 3B to Freese, RF and 4th OF to Schu/Craig/Mather/Jones/others, 4th and/or 5th starter to Garcia/Boggs/McClellan/Hawksworth, and the commitment to the continued development and playing time for future options like Jones, Kozma, etc.. So badly do they want Holliday, DeRosa, etc? Just as important, how willing and confident are they to embrace flexibility elsewhere? Tough questions. So like others said before, enjoy the ride this year….because the next years are too hard predict.

Do NOT TRADE Ryan LUDWICK!!!!!!!!
GOT to Sign Matt Holliday,Mark DeRosa,Jason LaRue. Sign Joel Pinerio,Trever Miller,Rick Ankiel in that order IF the money is right,if not let them go. Do NOT sign Todd Wellemyer,Troy Glaus or Khalil Greene.
Cardinals can get the 4th & 5th starting pitcher from a group of- Blake Hawksworth,Jaime Garcia,Mitch Boggs,Trey Hearne,Lance Lynn.
They also look to have some good lefthanders in the minors that could take Millers place.

Cardinals 2010 opening day starting 8
Molina
Pujols
Schumaker
Ryan
DeRosa
Ludwick
Rasmus
Holliday
Starting rotation 2010 Wainwright,Carpenter,Lohse, 4th & 5th spots to be deturmonded.

If I were the GM, I’d give Pineiro top billing right along with Holliday and DeRosa. And I’d look more than twice at Ankiel’s all-out glove and attitude, and a hopefully unanxious Greene.

Wild and crazy idea—Why don’t the Cards increase payroll? They can afford it. Don’t believe their sad story. There is no reason not to be able to do this.

These writers are kidding aren’t they? When they say sign Ankiel I have big worries. The guy is injury prone, strikes out a lot, and recently seems to be lost when playing center field. If the Cards can sign him for about 1.5 Million that would be fine, otherwise it’s a waste of money. Until Holliday hits over 40 homers a season he’s not worth Albert money.

Holliday - A must, we gave up too much for him to walk
Trevor Miller - used against lefties he’s one of the best.
DeRosa - adds infield options and if Freese is ready Shoe can be an OF’er
LaRue - shouldn’t take much, but he’d have to agree to get a haircut
Piniero - if he stays in the same $$ range. He owes us a year.
Ainkel - Time’s up
Wellemeyer - You’re kidding right

We gain money from Glaus, Greene, Kennedy, Aink, and Wellemeyer totaling almost 30 mil. We should be able to get all the top 5 done. Didn’t DeWitt say we put excess money over about 3.3 mil fans into payroll lol

If the Cards want to keep LaRussa, then the priority must be to sign Holliday.

Not seeing the importance of signing DeRosa who is 34 and hitting a buck eighty-five. The performance of our 4 and 5 starters in the second half makes keeping a reliable 3rd starter my priority. I hope we sign Pineiro, give Freese the shot at third, and go after Holliday. I think giving up our 2006 first round pick and our 2008 minor league pitcher of the year for DeRosa will be looked at as a failed trade when next year’s roster is set.

Assuming they will accept deals condusive to the Cards, you sign Holliday, Miller, Pinero, DeRosa and Ankiel in that order to protect your assets and provide options for next year. Holliday is the bat the TLR / Pujols crave. Miller is an invaluable lefty. Pinero would solidify the top 4 starters with a groundball vet that TLR covets. Ankiel would provide an alternative should outfield injuries strike next year or become trade bait at some point.

That said, no way any of them sign deals advantageous to the Cards FO. Holliday is raking, is represented by Boras, and has consistently shown that he understands this is a business. This might be his last big contract opportunity. The cost will be high. Miller got the run around last year when he thought he signed a bigger deal with us only to have MO renegotiate after the medical tests. Why would he cut a break in return? Unless we throw 2 or 3 mil+ per year his way, he will walk. And the FO historically has been reluctant to commit that type of money in the pen. Pinero might be the most attainable. He is having a good year, but his overall track record plus the FA pitching list this offseason along with the tough baseball economy should keep his value down. It is in both parties best interest to keep him in STL. DeRosa’s cost will be higher than his current contract given his career highs this year. That means 3B type money, but 3B eliminates Freese as a cost contained option. I would let him walk and take the picks. And Ankiel will likely not want to be a spare OF.. he will want and will get a starting gig somewhere not called STL. Given those issues, we would be lucky to sign 2 of the above total. And for my money, I hope its Holliday (high end talent) and Pinero (you can never have too much pitching).

Signing Piniero would be a mistake.He is a classic case of a player in a contract year.Kyle Lohse is a prime example,I wouldn’t be surprised to see him spend more time on the DL than off until 2012 when it’s time for another contract run.Carl Pavano,AJ Burnett,JD Drew,are among the many players that seem to only be there for the money.

It seems like the only must is Holliday. #1) We gave up more than the two picks that will come back if we lose him, so certainly the FO has to save face. #2) His signing gives Pujols, TLR and the fans confidence in ownership. #3) It also buys the FO a long term fallback in case Pujols deal can’t be worked out so that they still have a prime age marquee guy. It covers all their bases despite the high cost (and don’t kid yourself… he will cost more than he appears to be worth, but the above reasons will justify it). The rest of the free agents all have significant flaws and can potentially be replaced internally or with cheaper FA aquisitions. While DeRosa, Miller, etc.. would be nice to have they don’t seem as critical as Holliday. So the priority should be #1) Holliday, #2) Holliday, #3) Holliday, and then everyone else….

When are they going to consistently start winning? I know there is plenty of time left, but when you have a lineup with the hitter’s we got and get shut out twice in 4 day’s, jeeeze. Something is missing.

I know Holliday is a good hitter, but his outfield play isn’t that good so far. If your going to pay a guy big bucks shouldn’t you get the total package?

Hard to take people seriously when they dont even mention Ludwick on their lists of players to be extended. Yes there is a year remaining but it is never too early to extend a solid performer. But I have a spare $.02 so:

1) Holliday but not because he’s the only option to hit behind AP - putting Lud there EVERY DAY would be good. (Oh and having wallace at #5 in the order would have also been nice but…)

However he won’t be getting other offers in excess of what he is making now, unless I am completely misjudging the economy and the owners mind set on using the economy to their advantage. So no rush to judgement and heaven forbid no arbitration - he will likely take it at 18M a year minimum.

The main reason he is so high on my list is because what he does affects ankiel and how much chump change is left for others. With matt signed rick goes to the “TY and bye” list while without matt, rick may well be the best option to fill out the OF for 2010.

2) Ludwick - again yes there is another year but this is a well above average run producer who will do even better if we follow my #3 below.

3) Find TLR’s replacement - go to Jose or someone else you like but it is past time he moved on again on his way to the Hall.

4) Dave Duncan (this should probably be #1 actually as I think on it): Personally I’d sign him to a 10 year deal as VP in charge of Pitching and ask him to handle pitching coach duties until he finds a suitable replacement.

5) Joel Piniero - assuming DD thinks his work this year is the real deal and not just an anomaly; I’d leave this to my new VP for pitching to decide.

6) Trevor Miller or a similar LH RP - again let the new VP decide.

7) DeRosa - But with the caveat that he never be put at 2B and that we wait the results of surgery before deciding. (The view that he may be cheaper due to the injury is a good one but more important is the fear that he might be unable to perform as well next year after surgery.) Although I would offer arbitration to him regardless of his injury status I think.

Rick Hummel - Ball…….take Piniero off the list at #2. What’s he doin there? Forget about that guy.

Derrick Gould - Home Run…….good job pointing out Holliday & DeRosa both need to be signed and that Piniero is way on backburner, and probably not in discussion at all. You got it!

Jeff Gordon - Triple…….Could of had a homer but your concentration was a tad off in thinking about Piniero. Good job pointing out the money saved on Lugo next year, and the importance of DeRosa as a safety valve. I think a 3 yr deal is still reasonable for his age and what he brings to the team.

Bernie M - Strike…………the Cards GOT to sign both DeRosa & Holliday. They still got what? 22 million in salary relief next yr w/ the departures of Glaus, K Greene, and Kennedy? There’s enough money.

Kevin Wheeler - Double………could of had a triple but you slipped and fell on Piniero. But I liked how you pointed out the relief in salary next year plus that the Cards can sign the 2 or 3 players they really want.

I just don’t see any way we are gonna be able to keep DeRosa. If we use 5yrs–$75 mil. as a starting point with Holliday–and that number could easily go higher. We then need to find two starting pitchers, a lefty reliever, and give Luds and Skip a substantial raise. All while hoping to make a competitive offer to Albert in the near future. While I suppose we could go with two younger arms in the rotation, that doesn’t strike me as something LaDunc would like. Coupled with the fact that Freese has a chance to be good at 3rd–he will definitely be cheap. It seems to me that DeRosa probably files in behind Pineiro in priority. There is a chance Pineiro hits it big though, and we cannot hang with the market. I think I’d prefer Derosa, but the circumstances point to Pineiro.

BillP - Strike 3 and you are outta there. No doubt it has bypassed your hater-filled eyes that piniero has been one of the better pitchers in the game this season? Of course there is time for him to revert (hope not) and he shouldn’t get big bucks (just as lohse shouldn’t have gotten the big bucks) but he absolutely has to be on the short list of FA’s to consider for re-signing. Because carp and adam and 3 equal to or lesser than lohse won’t cut it IMO.

Oh and for the grammar challenged among us, it is “should have” and not “should of”

Unless some of you are talking about re-signing everyone to a bunch of 1 year contracts, then you are forgetting that some of the cash freed up this off-season will have to be held back in order to get the long-term deal on Albert Pujols, and the following year to extend Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, & Chris Carpenter.

Hey Mike, just have fun with the post. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I don’t hate Piniero, but DeRosa and Holliday are the 2 guys the Cards HAVE to sign. The Cards have young guys that have to move up, like Boggs, Hawksworth, PJ Walters. Someone from the farm system will probably emerge next year. Piniero’s career path tells me to stay away from him. And if the Cards do want to sign a starting pitcher, there will probably be better alternatives on the market. Piniero should definitely be at the bottom of the list, just like Derrick Goold mentions above.

What about Holliday for 4 years/$72MM?, is that reasonable do you think?