Post-Dispatch baseball writers Joe Strauss, Derrick Goold and Rick Hummel will provide updates throughout baseball's winter meetings:
DALLAS -- Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. met with the agent for Albert Pujols for at least an hour this afternoon, and Mozeliak said they are expected to talk again tonight.
Mozeliak told local beat writers tonight that even after their discussion he does not have a sense of the momentum talks could take in the coming days.
"In this setting, things have the ability to move faster," Mozeliak said. "As I sit back, look and listen at things, it does seem you're going to see some market movement."
He cautioned not to read into the length of the chat with Dan Lozano, Pujols' agent, or the fact that they would talk again tonight.
Mozeliak did say he has spoken directly to Pujols.
The three-time MVP has said from the beginning of contract talks that he would play an active role in talking with teams during his free agency. Mozeliak said he has spoken to Pujols directly -- over the phone, not in person -- during this process. Mozeliak said the conversations with Pujols were more about "clarity and understanding."
The Cardinals are hyper-aware about tabling an offer that would then be shopped around to other bidders. That said, Mozeliak tonight clarified that they don't expect their offer or their presence in the bidding to exist in a vacuum.
"I don't think you can completely ignore what market factors are there," Mozeliak said. "We try to remain disciplined in what the value of a player (is that the team sets). You can't ignore the market value."
Some other things that Mozeliak discussed tonight, the first night of the winter meetings at the Hilton Anatole:
-- The Cardinals do not plan to go after starting pitching no matter what direction the talks with Pujols take. The preference would be to use Lance Lynn or Marc Rzepczynski as options in the rotation should the need arise.
-- Allen Craig, who is recovering from a surgery, is not a factor for second base or center field, Mozeliak said. He'll be a corner outfielder or first base as the Cardinals sort through the roster.
-- The lefty market is like the free agent market in general -- "thin," Mozeliak said. Beyond a conversation with J. C. Romero's agent, it's possible that the Cardinals look into trading for a lefty.
-- Octavio Dotel is generating interest from around the NL Central and the Cardinals remain in discussion with him and his agent. Mozeliak did says that "frankly" they haven't had detailed negotiations with him. The Cardinals have enough righty relievers on the roster right now to fill all their needs. But Mozeliak added that depth is ideal.
-- The Cardinals are in the market for a bullpen catcher. Jeff Murphy, who had the role, was not brought back.
-- Mozeliak described Skip Schumaker as a "super utility," and said he would seek out Schumaker's agent to discuss Schumaker's contract. Schumaker is eligible for arbitration this winter. Mozeliak said it's not impossible but it's unlikely that the roster would have room for both Schumaker and Ryan Theriot, who is also arbitration eligible.
-- Mozeliak repeated the Cardinals' comfort with Tyler Greene being the starting shortstop to open the year. He added the possibility of adding "a guy" that would provide competition and depth at the position.
Mozeliak said he hoped to have meetings tonight with agents and perhaps other teams.
"The night is young," he said.
-- Derrick Goold
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Epstein describes Cubs' 'priority'
DALLAS -- Hustling from a television appearance to the elevators, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein confirmed that he met with Albert Pujols' agent Dan Lozano today at the winter meetings but suggested that not everything is as it appears.
"He's also Rodrigo Lopez's agent, too," Epstein said before stepping on the elevator.
Lopez, 36, is a free agent starter who made 16 starts for the Cubs last season. He went 6-6 with a 4.42 ERA in 26 games overall for the Cubs in 2011.
When asked about the Cubs' reported interest in Pujols, Epstein declined to discuss a specific player but he did offer a general comment that gave a sense of the direction he plans to take the North Side and a sense of whether a long-term deal with a high-dollar player like Pujols or Prince Fielder would fit in his designs.
"We've been honest from Day 1 that the first priority is to build this thing the right way for the long haul," Epstein said. "The second priority is to do everything we can to make the 2012 team as competitive as possible. If there is a move that conflicts with those two priorities butting up against one another we're going to serve the first priority. There are no shortcuts. We're going to try and do this the right way. Take of that what you will. There are going to be rumors about every team."
-- Derrick Goold
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Roenicke: It took a while to get over NLCS loss
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke admitted Monday it took him a while to put aside his team's loss in six games to the Cardinals in the National League championship series.
"We played three good games and three poor games," said Roenicke. "It's not easy to just get over that the day after. It's not easy to get over a week after.
"I'm certainly over it now. I'm very happy with the season we had. Ninety-six wins was fantastic. Winning the (Central) Division was great.
"I thought we played a great series against the (Arizona) Diamondbacks. And it's not that I thought we played terrible against the Cardinals. I thought we played well and, all of a sudden, we wouldn't play well.
"Once you get into the playoffs, things have to go right. And they didn't go right for us. St. Louis played well and things went right for them."
Talking about La Russa's retirement after the season, Roenicke said he hadn't seen it coming.
"No idea," said Roenicke. "It surprised me. After I looked at it, I understand.
"But it surprised me because he was into it and their team was playing great. When that happens, it doesn't cross my mind at all that this may be his last year. I figured that as hard as he worked at it and the way his club was playing at the end that he'd do it again. But he'd already made up his mind before that."
-- Rick Hummel
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Dusty Baker on La Russa, Pujols
With the exception of just one season, 2007, when Dusty Baker was doing television gigs between being fired by the Chicago Cubs and being hired by the Cincinnati Reds, Baker has managed against recently retired Cardinals manager Tony La Russa since 1993.
For the record, Baker, counting his time in San Francisco, was 100-103 against La Russa, who was with both Oakland and the Cardinals. But that doesn't count the three-game sweep by the Reds against the Cardinals in May when La Russa was sidelined by shingles and wasn't even on hand in Ohio. So, in games played by their teams when both were officially the managers, they would be dead even at 103 wins.
And now the rivalry appears to be over.
"It will be a little strange, I think," said Baker on Monday at baseball's winter meetings. "We had a long conversation (Baker called La Russa) after they won the World Series.
"I just told him that I was going to miss him, doing battle against him. It's going to be a little different but I've got a pretty good relationship going with Mike Matheny, too, and that's going to be a little different, not knowing how he's going to manage."
Asked about his head-to-heads, some heated, with La Russa, Baker said, "That's OK. It's all good. I like battles. That's what makes the game fun. You hope they don't turn into physical battles, but at some point, sometimes they do."
Baker and Detroit's Jim Leyland, who has managed for 20 seasons, are the grizzled managers now, in their respective leagues.
"As you see, life goes on," Baker said. "The veteran guys are dropping out every year. The year before it was Joe Torre and Bobby Cox. And last year it was Tony.
"They're telling me I'm one of the elder statesmen and I didn't realize that," said the 62-year-old Baker.
"I thought it was because of my gray hair but it's because the two guys who are left are Jim and myself."
Baker's team could benefit from either the Cardinals' Albert Pujols or Milwaukee's Prince Fielder -- or both -- signing with teams outside the National League Central Division. Baker would take it one step farther.
"I wouldn't mind if they signed in the American League,
said Baker, smiling. "I love watching American League games."
-- Rick Hummel
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Loria on Marlins adding a mega-contract
DALLAS -- Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria would not directly address his team's interest in three-time MVP Albert Pujols this afternoon, choosing instead to infer the club's interest and allude to the opportunity the Marlins had to land high-caliber and high-dollar players.
"We'll see," Loria said, walking out of the press conference the club held to introduce closer Heath Bell as their first of at least two new additions this week.
"We're going to talk some more," said Loria, who met this afternoon with Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano. "I never stop thinking and looking for things to be better. It's not that there are no limits, but there are opportunities that we want to pursue."
The Marlins have already committed more than $130 million on free agents this season. Their payroll has skyrocketed from $57 million for the 25-man roster last season to about $75 million guaranteed for 2012 on eight players. The eighth is shortstop Jose Reyes, who has a six-year, $106 million deal ready to be finalized with the team. Loria did not confirm Reyes' signing when he spoke to the media for about 15 minutes this afternoon in a hallway at the Hilton Anatole. He did say that Reyes was interested in the city, the team and "the opportunity" that the Marlins offered him.
Asked if it said something about where his team was headed with its new ballpark and new culture that Pujols would agree to even visit with him and other execs in Miami, Loria deflected the question.
"I don’t want to talk about Albert," Loria said. "That’s not the purpose of today. This is Heath’s day."
It is not clear if the Marlins used this afternoon's meeting with Lozano to increase their offer to Pujols. Miami's initial offer -- which was made during Pujols' visit to Miami in November -- was for nine years, and according to a baseball source had a less annual average value than the Cardinals' extension offer made in January. That offer averaged $22 million per season.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations between Pujols' agent and an interested team said they expect to have resolution within the next couple days.
Loria would not commit to being able to add another franchise-level player to the Marlins' payroll.
He and GM Larry Beinfest did not directly address questions about the possibility of doubling the team's payroll from 2011 as they enter their new ballpark in Miami proper.
"We'll see what happens," Beinfest said. "It's very different for us. (We can) be aggressive. ... When we talk to free agents it's a different day for us."
Loria would only say that the Marlins' aren't done shopping.
"One big hitter? You mean the baseball hitter -- player?" Loria said. "I don't know about that. There's a possibility of another player or two that we're looking at."
-- Derrick Goold
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Marlins meet with Team Pujols
DALLAS -- Led by owner Jeffrey Loria, the Miami Marlins front office just concluded a meeting with the agent for Albert Pujols, Dan Lozano, and his staff.
The Marlins confirmed the meeting to reporters.
Loria and general manager Larry Beinfest were in the group that visited Lozano at the room that he has set up at the Hilton Anatole, the host of this year's winter meeting. The meeting lasted between 30 and 45 minutes.
The Marlins have been the most aggressive team in baseball this winter. Within the hour the team will announce the signing of closer Heath Bell. Late Sunday night they completed a six-year, $106-million deal for shortstop Jose Reyes, the reigning batting champ in the National League. Despite already spending more than $130 million in free agents the Marlins plan to pursue Pujols. They tabled a nine-year deal in November during Pujols visit to Miami to meet with team executives and see the new Miami ballpark.
According to FOXSports.com, the Chicago Cubs also met with Lozano earlier today. The Cardinals are scheduled to talk with Lozano this afternoon.
Lozano also represents shortstop Jimmy Rollins. According to sources familiar with the wishes of Rollins, 33, the former league MVP wants to secure a five-year deal this winter.
-- Derrick Goold
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DeWitt at meetings: 'You don't replace an Albert Pujols'
DALLAS -- In many ways the Cardinals are better positioned now for life without Albert Pujols than they could have imagined at the beginning of spring training when the club failed to reach an extension with the three-time MVP.
As the Cardinals prepare for a meeting this afternoon with Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano, they have better depth with Lance Berkman set to play first and Allen Craig ready to take over right field.
That doesn't mean they are a better team, chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. cautioned.
"You don't replace an Albert Pujols," DeWitt said this morning at the Hilton Anatole, site of the annual winter meetings. "Sure we have depth, but we're a far better club with Albert than without him."
DeWitt attended the Hall of Fame announcement this morning that Ron Santo, the Cubs third baseman and longtime broadcaster, had been inducted into Cooperstown. DeWitt sits on the committee that voted Santo in after years of him falling just short.
Afterward, DeWitt spent about 15 minutes with reporters discussing where the team stands with Pujols, the free agent first baseman.
"Obviously we're going to make every effort to sign Albert and we hope we can make it happen," DeWitt said. "This week seems to be the week that a lot of these things develop. We should know where we stand and if we don't have a firm answer.
"We've done a great job in retaining our own players over the years, who either have either been approaching free agency or have become free agents," DeWitt continued. "We think that St. Louis is a great place to play and playing on a world championship contending team is very desirable. Obviously we're making every effort to re-sign Albert and hopefully we can make it happen."
DeWitt will attend the meeting this afternoon with Lozano.
The Cardinals' chairman allowed that winning the World Series did give the team a revenue boost, but he said it is "not a game-changer" when it comes to increasing payroll. The revenue from the World Series, he said, is shared with all of the other teams and it does represent a one-year bounce. His point was that revenue from this World Series would not change how the team could pursue a multi-year deal for a player because the revenue is not going to be repeated.
(Aside: In the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, more of the revenue from the playoffs will be going to the individual teams. The Cardinals maxed out their home games this October one year too early to benefit from the new structure.)
DeWitt said the team envisions a $110 million payroll for 2012.
He said that would be a slight bump from this past year's payroll, and it does represent the stretch the payroll would make to accommodate Pujols.
He agreed that the money the Cardinals have to spend on shortstop could shift if the team is unable to sign Pujols.
DeWitt declined to disclose where talks stand with Pujols, citing the agreement between the team and the player to keep such things "confidential." A key issue in the Cardinals' pursuit of Pujols is if or how they've altered the offer they made in January. That offer was worth $198 million over nine years, though it included the 2011 season. When Pujols' deadline for a deal arrived at spring training, it's not clear if the Cardinals also removed the offer or if it was outright rejected by Team Pujols. DeWitt declined to specify, saying only that it was clear "we couldn't come to an agreement before the deadline."
DeWitt also declined to say whether the team has modified its offer or put it back on the table now with the first year being 2012.
"We're not discussing what we offered or if we've made a subsequent offer and if we have what it is," DeWitt said. "We're just not getting in those discussions publicly. ... They're just continuing discussions. We've had meaningful discussions."
DeWitt repeated the team's hope to leave Dallas with a sense of their place in the Pujols market and whether they have traction for a deal.
Both sides hope to have resolution before Christmas.
"Hope" has been the word DeWitt has used repeatedly through this process. He suggested Monday morning that he "hoped" the team would have signed Pujols already -- "two years ago, and again this year," he said -- and he suggested that he is "hopeful" that they can come to an agreement in the near future.
"These things aren't easy when you're talking a player of this magnitude," DeWitt said. "I never use the word optimism. I always use the word hopeful."
-- Derrick Goold
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Dotel draws interest from Milwaukee
DALLAS -- Reliever Octavio Dotel, who has expressed interest in returning to the Cardinals, is also being courted by their NL Central rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. ESPN Desportes reported this morning that the Brewers had reached out to Dotel about joining their bullpen.
The Cardinals have approached Dotel, 38, about a return, but they have done so with an eye on alleviating the crowded right side of the bullpen. The Cardinals are interested in bringing the righty back on a short-term deal, mostly likely with one year guaranteed. Dotel's agent said last week that his client is interested in returning to the Cardinals.
Other teams with reported interest are the Tigers and Mets.
The Brewers' interest in Dotel is noteworthy because of the odd power the veteran righty has shown to muzzle MVP Ryan Braun. Including the National League championship series this past October, Dotel has held Braun to two hits in 11 at-bats. The other nine at-bats have all been strikeouts.
-- Derrick Goold
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Marlins to arrive today
DALLAS -- The Marlins’ front office, led by owner Jeffery Loria, is expected to arrive at the winter meetings around noon today.
They’ve been the most active this winter, and they may very well be the last team to arrive.
At 2:30 p.m., new Marlins closer Heath Bell was to be introduced at a press conference here at the Hilton Anatole. But many of the questions will be about the Jose Reyes signing on Sunday and if the team will still go after Albert Pujols or leave the Cardinals without a competitor in the race to sign the free-agent first baseman.
Stay tuned for updates from Dallas throughout the day.
Derrick Goold has more on the Marlins' spending spree in his Bird Land Blog.
Also today, Joe Strauss will be taking questions in a special Winter Meetings chat. Get your questions in early.
