Holliday’s a goner! Cards might want to focus in a 2B with some pop via a trade and move Skip back to LF. Randy Wolf would be a nice addition to rotation.

The Cardinals need a clean-up hitter, if it is Holliday or not.
The cardinals need a left handed starting pitcher.
The cardinals need a centerfielder who can hit left-handed pitching and platoon with Colby.

learn to write your own stories roger instead of leaching off the other writers knowledge……

chone figgins anyone? not gonna solve all of the problems, but a good utility guy with great speed/baserunning abilities who could change the dynamic of the lineup at the top. and if the yankees let x nady go, pick him up to. that is, when holliday leaves of course.

Dkon: he’s the deputy sports editor and not a “writer” per se. As for this moving Skip to left and picking up a 2B with “pop”, that doesn’t address our need for a clean-up hitter to complement Jose Alberto and to hit in front of Luddy.

I don’t have any great suggestions, but will be anxiously waiting to see how everything unfolds throughout the hot stove season.

Doesn’t matter who they get LaRussa will find a way to screw it up. If Isringhausen doesn’t go on the shelf in ‘06 LaKnucklehead brings him in and Beltran’s shot would still be rattling around the upper deck of Shea. And they tore the darn place down. You want a decent power hitter in the last year of his contract. Guaranteed effort. Give ‘em Ankiel, Thurston and a draft pick.

Not sure how much it would take to bring in Figgins and DeRosa along with Smoltz, but it may be close to the number it takes to get Holliday. I like Holliday, but if we can’t get him the other 3 would be nice! Figgins at 3rd and as leadoff would be great. DeRosa at 2nd and Skip in the OF. Not to mentions, with DeRosa, Skip, and Chone we would have flexibility on who is playing where due to injuries. Other wish list players may be LHP Wolf or Bush. Obvioulsy I know we have a budget so we couldn’t get all of these.

Colby will be fine against lefthanded pitching. LaRussa protected him too much this year limiting his ABs. He will be fine and hold his own and then some. Wait and see.

according to the other ‘baseball genius’, si.com’s ben reiter and his top 50 free agent something or other, the only ‘best fits’ involving the cards are with joel pineiro and xavier nady. he’s got 4 players being good fits for the Yankees (surprise), Mets, Giants and Mariners. The Red Sox apparently have three, as do the Dodgers. Of those teams, most of the top 15 are going to the NY teams and the Red Sox.
Just for some perspective, he’s got rick ankiel at No. 42 and being a good fit with the cubs. one would think that you would have to watch and pay attention to baseball in order to write these types of things, but we do live in a world where failed/disgraced/apparently blind GM Steve Phillips got paid to tell people his moronic take on teams that he’d only watched once or twice prior to going on air.

Although I am not convinced Holliday will get a better deal outside of STL, I would be fine with starting the season with this lineup and rotation:

1. Schumaker, LF
2. Rasmus, CF
3. Pujols, 1B
4. Ludwick, RF
5. DeRosa, 2B
6. Freese, 3B
7. Molina, C
8. Ryan, SS
9. Pitcher

(Flip-flop Schu and Ryan and DeRo and Rasmus against lefties)

1. Wainwright
2. Carpenter
3. Washburn/Wolf/Davis
4. Lohse
5. Garcia

No doubt this team has the resources to nab DeRosa and a legit #3 starter right now. It is a matter of how long we are strung along with the bigger ticket guys like Holliday. Get DeRosa signed to a 3 year, $21M deal right now and use the remaining resources on a starter and a legit BP arm.

We could accomplish all of this by the time Boras exasperates everyone by adding another “mystery team” to the Holliday bidding by December 21. Offer the deal to Holliday, give him until the first week of December to accept, if he doesn’t, get the rest of these guys so we are not dumpster diving for Geoff Jenkins and Kris Benson in February.

Wainright, Carpenter, Lohse, Boggs, Smoltz, Garcia, and ????? would be my starters.
If Holliday doesn’t want to play here, forget him.
Sign DeRosa, it’s a risk, but if his wrist heals his power numbers before the trade would make him worth it. I’m hoping Ludwick will be better this year.
Freese at third - gotta be better than what we had, even if he is a rookie, and teach him, and all the players, how to adjust to pitchers.
Need a righty power reliever, left field and bench player.
We gotta be better without Ankiel, Thurston, Glaus, and Green.
Big Mac - don’t care about the ‘roids - he was the only one who didn’t outright lie - seems to have the right temperment, and was working on being at hitting guru on his own. I hope his “system” works - he’ll either be a flop, or the next great hitting genius.

I’m not comforable with Ludwick as the cleanup guy. While he does have pop and can go on some nice stretches at the plate, he just doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers, including Kip Wells.
He’s a good 5-6 guy, maybe even a 2 in some situations, but not an everyday 4. Now, if he had been around for 4-5 years and provided some consistant power/production to prove that he is a legitimate threat everytime he steps to the plate then it would be a different story. I like Luddy as a player and all, but I just don’t buy him as a true cleanup threat.

Bob: that lineup will not win a championship. Isn’t that for what we’re shooting?

Cardinals should forget about Holliday and try to get Xady from the Yankees, if he is available. This should be their first priority. Holliday will command to much money.

with the money saved on Xady, sign Smoltz and DeRosa. Then try to get a few off the bench guys for left and right handed pinch hitting roles and utility players

Wheeler: “I can’t envision the team giving Joel Pineiro a long-term contract based on one strong season..” Sorry Kevin, but what the heck do you think they did for Kyle Lohse? He flukes one good season in 8 or 9 and Mo hands him a long term deal for over $10 million per. One of the many mistakes from our neophyte GM. Raping the farm system for a day of pleasure being another. Dumping Aaron Miles in favor of Joe Thurston. Gregerson and Worrell for Khalil Greene. Perez and Todd for DeRosa. The vast overpayment for Holliday, knowing full well they had a snowballs chance in hell of signing him. Not protecting Perdomo (and no it wasn’t to protect Scherer, they still had roster space). Not resigning Springer. Wasting money signing 4 minor league Loogy’s which never worked out for the team and they were forced to sign Reyes during spring training. Lucky he was still available. The Wagner Mateo fiasco. He even erred signing Trever Miller and then had to adjust the deal after finding out he had a bad arm. Let’s review: NO due diligence on Miller, Greene and Mateo at all; Greatly overpays on all his trades; Trading away the future for 3 month rentals; Not resigning valuable role players; Overpaying on free agent signings; Taking one of the strongest farm systems and making it one of the weakest. NOT A GREAT TRACK RECORD!!! Oh wait, he did get a defensively challenged Lugo for Duncan(addition by subtraction), albeit he pissed off our most valuable coach; Dave Duncan, in doing so. I guess you could say going behind Dave’s back was a bad move too. What is Mo actually good at?

I would sign DeROSA and Smoltz. I would also look into signing Bryan Giles of the Padres, he is a type B free agent. Holliday and Bay are going to demand too much money.

You know, I have a gut feeling that Ankiel will have a much better year in 2010 and wouldn’t be opposed to bringing him back if the price isn’t too high. Of course I would rather have Holliday, but an Ankiel-Rasmus-Ludwick outfield would be outstanding defensively. Ankiel’s offense never came around this year after his full-speed head bashing incident with the wall.

If Holliday doesn’t come back, sign Ankiel for left, DeRosa as an everyday everywhere player, let Freese have his shot at third, get the next Duncan reclamation project to fill out the rotation, and get a setup/closer type all for about the same price.

Bat Pujols second behind Schumaker, and before Ludwig, DeRosa, Rasmus, Molina and (fill in the blank). Bat the pitcher eigth, and Ryan ninth.

–or– bat McGwire clean-up.

Roy Halliday?

“Dumping Aaron Miles in favor of Joe Thurston.”

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Aaron Miles was given $5 million for the Cubs to hit .195.

“Gregerson and Worrell for Khalil Greene. Perez and Todd for DeRosa. The vast overpayment for Holliday, knowing full well they had a snowballs chance in hell of signing him.”

Perez and Todd are overrated; Brett Wallace is overrated. Find something else to complain about.

“The Wagner Mateo fiasco.”

Not his fault.

“He even erred signing Trever Miller and then had to adjust the deal after finding out he had a bad arm.”

He got Miller for less money and one less year, which was insurance in case Miller got hurt.

“Greatly overpays on all his trades; Trading away the future for 3 month rentals; Not resigning valuable role players;”

The future? The future was a bunch of middle relievers and a future DH? LOLOLOLOLOLOL

“Taking one of the strongest farm systems and making it one of the weakest.”

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

“What is Mo actually good at?”

Assembling teams that have won 86 and 91 games.

Sign DeRosa now before he winds up back in the Cubs’ line-up where he will go back to burning the Cards like he helped Chicago do in 2008. Learn from Chicago’s mistake! This guy is a leader on the field and in the clubhouse. Letting him get away could be the biggest mistake of the off-season.

You know what sucks about this whole discussion the most, and it isn’t really even mentioned? That the whole economics of baseball are so completely screwed up that a team like the Cardinals has no shot at landing the best players. And most of the rest of baseball is right there with them. Without revenue sharing and a hard salary cap a season like 2006 isn’t going to happen very often. With the exception of a few teams, no one can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on salaries and STILL make money. It’s a joke.

Just wait Cards fans. Boston, both NY teams, and possibly an LA or CHI team, are going to throw a US Treasury at Pujols, and there won’t be a damn thing we will be able to do to stop it. I want more than anything for Pujols to finish a Cardinal, but he is going to get $30 mil/year from someone…and it will be real tough to put a competitive team on the field if AP is making 1/4 of the total payroll on this team. I hate to say it, but we are screwed.

Holliday and Piniero are gone. Signs are pointing to someone overpaying DeRosa as well. Sign Smoltz. Let him start as long as he is productive and slowly shift him into a long relief role. Let Garcia and Hawksworth fill out the starting rotation (and fill in when there are inevitable injuries).
Pick up Coco Crisp or (preferably)Mike Cameron to bolster the outfield. Let the prospects fight it out to fill in other roster spots.
Everything is good enough except for the bullpen. Find someone with shut down stuff for the 7th and 8th inning. Franklin will be fine. It is all about mojo and momentum come October. We have the pieces to compete…

Snayke is RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!I think Mo did a GREAT JOB in 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worrell was out hurt all year. Khalil Greene, i was happy when Mo traded for Greene. It is NOT Mos fault that Greene had problems this year that NO ONE knew was comming!!!!!!!! I do think letting Perdomo get away was a mistake BUT NO ONE is perfect!!!!!!!!! As for getting Matt Holliday for the 3 players Mo gave up,,I WAS for it then and now & it DID get us to the playoffs. Mo cant help that we were out played by the Dodgers. That is on the players.I would HOPE Mo would do it again if he had a chance in 2010. Samething for DeRosa,Lugo & Smoltz!!!!!!!!!!!! The minor league teams job is to develope players to help the Cardinals win. They did that!!!!!! They gave us Molina,Pujols,Schumaker,Ryan,Rasmus who are good EVERYDAY players for us. Then they gave us players that other teams wanted so we could get Holliday,DeRosa,Wainwright,Lugo to go with the other players and make the CARDINALS a WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD JOB Mo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Just for the Record, it 2008 i did NOT like the lack of moves at the trade dead line. I wanted Mo fired for NOT making there moves in 2008 to try to get us to the playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mo learned from his 2008 mistakes.

Public clamor for Jason Bay? uhhh.. who the heck is saying that?

Yeah we need a $200 million payroll too. We’re a long way from the Yankees level of talent. Look how good Philadelphia was and they could barely take the Yankees to 6 games.

See Orlando Hudson, as a possible second base solution that would look good in the Cardinal infield, and right behind Schumaker in the second spot, with a Mark DeRosa hitting around the 5th or 6th spot. By increasing the OPS of the gentleman hitting in front of Albert, it allows for less opportunities for the opposition to pitch around…Piniero deserves a 2/22 type of contract with a huge incentive laden back option…cause he could get to 15-17 wins with another performance like last year…

Someone suggested trading two free agents & a not tradable draft pick for a power hitter, nice.
Someone else suggested a seven-man starting rotation, maybe TLR will try it.
Brian Giles had even worse of a 2009 than Khalil Greene had of a 2008.
Not all prospects are worthless unproven lottery tickets: part of every MLB roster is made up of them.

Let Mo do his job. We are all Cardinal fans, quit trashing each other.

Sign DeRosa, Nady, Wolf/Smoltz, and R. Soriano. I’d take my chances with these additions.
Not sure how much money Soriano would command, but he’d be a heck of a power arm to add the pen. Having a heatlthy DeRosa and Nady would give the offense two solid bats. Adding a relaible veteran arm to the rotation is a must. I’d settle on either Wolf or Smoltz.

just upgrading the lost ABs of Ankiel, Duncan, Thurston, etc should provide decent punch. Holliday didn’t win the Division, the pitching staff did. Save the money from Holliday and keep Pineiro and upgrade bullpen.

Nice posts….looking forward to Mark McGwire.
Ryan Franklin, Kyle McClellan, and Todd Wellemeyer…all were huge disappointments big time.
Trever Miller…keep that dude.
Let’s have more day games……..
Let McGwire sign as a coach/player…….
Have 2 wild card teams vs just one…….
Cut the regular season down to 150 games (won’t ever be done, though)….then the play-offs begin earlier and with the 2 wild card teams playing the best of three to advance….and drop that “All Star Game winner gets home field advantage in the World Series” BS……

First, sign Smoltz. Overpay a little if needed. His experience to starters and closers is immeasurable.

Second, come to a decision on Holliday at the earliest time, one way or another. Depending on the outcome - adjust.

Thirdly, add a righty power arm in the bullpen.

Fourthly, pursue Orlando Cabrera. Nice average, base path speed and slick fielding. Potential lead off hitter.

The Commish is right, although for some reason I have faith Freese will be OK at 3B with a decent veteran backup. I don’t think DeRosa is coming back as an OF-first/utility infield guy when he can be a starter at 2B elsewhere (Chicago). Pitching is a priority for making the playoffs and the Cardinals need a legit No. 3 starter and another decent bullpen pitcher. Save for one season, Lohse is a No. 4 starter at best and if he’s the best the team has for the No. 3 slot, well, that’s a sad state of affairs to compliment Carp and Waino. Personally, I’d like to see a rotation of Carp, Waino, Wolf, Lohse and a battle of Smoltz and Garcia for the No. 5 spot. Lets stay away from the scrap heap hopefuls while we have Carp, Waino and Pujols in their prime, shall we? There is a time and place for that, and now is not the time.

DeWitt needs to “loosen” the purse strings! Cmon, with the new stadium and the costs associated with it, you can’t tell me he cant allow MO to sign Lackey and either Holliday or Bay. I’ve been a Cardinal Fan for so long and one thing I’m tired of seeing is other teams being aggressive at the Winter Meetings. We could have easily pulled the trade that landed Lee at the deadline. Cmon Mr.DeWitt, if were gonna hunt down the Yankee’s lets add another front line pitcher and secure some key positions like LF and give DeRosa the $$ he needs to stay and play 3B.
Lackey,Carp,Wainright, then let Garcia,Piniero and others battle it out for the 4th/5th spots.

I say we trade for 2B Dan Uggla and move Skip back to left.

resign John Smoltz ( under the understanding he could have a good chance of being a reliever, especially if Boggs or one of the other young starter possibilites looks good )

sign Ben Sheets or Brad Penny

sign a great closer / The market is filled with them.

Bryan Giles and Roy Halliday

The only way you resign Smoltz is if he is willing to be the closer. Then move Franklin into the setup roll. Smoltz is no longer capable of pitching every fifth day for an entire season. If you resign DeRosa you better plan on playing him everyday. He won’t sign with a club to be a bench player. Having said that where do you play him? Third base? What about Freese then? Second base makes the most sense. Schu goes back to 4th outfielder or becomes your platoon guy. You sign Holliday at all costs. If in 2 yrs you dont have the money to resign Pujols then you make a blockbuster trade. The number one priority should be signing a frontline pitcher.

The media experts did not miss a thing here. That being said, my preference is that I’d like to see the Cards get John Lackey. Sign DeRosa and Smoltz and get Soriano to help beef up the bullpen. Smoltz could be the number 5 guy in the rotation or if he faulters, Garcia could swap with him. Bring up Freese and Craig if they merit it and see where they fit into the mix. If a guy can play and be a good contributer things always have a way of working themselves out. Bottom line is if we can pitch, perhaps we won’t need to score as many runs. So shore the holes up that will at least keep the integrity of the ship in tact so that it can manuever. You can always add a gun on the deck later.

I think we have the outfield pieces in place even if Holliday leaves. DeRosa in left field would work if they are dead set on giving Freese a chance at 3rd. Sign DeRosa, lets not make the same mistake the Cubs did by letting him go. I just dont understand why Hawksworth is not a starter. Young power starters within the organization doesnt come along every day. I think bullpen pieces are easier to get than bonifide starters for the price that he is right now. Bring Smoltz back to fill in the bullpen or start in the event that Hawksworth or Garcia falters. If we are not going to be major players in free agency then we have to give these kids a chance and quit buying broken parts. Dunc is great at this but it doesnt lend for long term stability in the pitching staff.

Bat Pujols 4th, then you have your cleanup hitter. Finding the 3rd hitter would prove easier than a cleanup I think. A .300 avg, doubles power guy could bat #3, DeRosa? Orlando Hudson? Even Skip or Colby if they manage to hit lefties consistently.
Colby is mister 5 tool guy, maybe he can do it.
How’s this-
2B- Skip
SS- Ryan
CF- Rasmus
1B- Pujols
RF- Ludwick
LF- DeRosa, Nady, others (Obviously DeRosa and Skip should switch positions in this case)
3B- Freese
Pitcher
C- Molina (if Skip isn’t going to steal, then it doesn’t matter having Molina on base ahead of him. Plus, Molina would have less opportunities for GIDP batting after the pitcher, assuming sacrifices)

Or this-

LF- Skip (L)
SS- Ryan (R)
2B- O. Hudson (S)
1B- Pujols (R)
RF- Ludwick (R)
CF- Rasmus (L)
3B- Freese (R, I think)
Pitcher
C- Molina (R)

Pretty balanced, and only takes signing O Hudson, money left for pitching and a bench

Hey Snayke; lacking from your comments was anything intelligent. Try again with…oh I don’t know..maybe facts. LOLOLOLOLOLO…..that’s real sophisticated stuff. I’m sure that goes over well in the trailer park, but not here.