Little Slide Rooter

I suppose this was the best case scenerio. At 5 mil/year, I suppose he should be pretty tradeable if the situation arrises. I would have been a bit happier if theyd either given him a 1 year deal or no deal at all and gone with Fuld or Colvin until a better option arose mid season or next off season, but what can you do.

I dont see how this NYE is dissapointing at all. I dont expect anything to happen, and more than likely, nothing will happen. You cant really be disspointed if you dont expect anything.

This will definitely make the Cards the NL Central favs, at least for the 2010 Season. Not the run away favs, but the favs. However, this deal coupled with Pujols next deal could prove costly once guys like Molina, Ludwick, Carpenter, and Wainwright are due up for contracts and they're left deasting on scraps, much like the Cubs are now. And whatever Pujols says, while he'll give the Cards a disount, I cant see the players union allowing him to take too much of a pay cut.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091222&content_id=7847014&vkey=affililiate&fext=.jsp&c_id=

Yeah, Davis had a solid season last year, but again, would sam Fuld be able to post similar numbers if givn the chance, and if not, would Davis be enough of an upgrade to give up anything of value?

Dont bet on it. Whoever signs Chapman will likely be paying ace money, which we dont have, and if we did, I wouldnt recomend spending it on such a raw commodity.

I was following the MLBTR live chat yesterday, and they basically stomped all over any kind of rumor involving Ellsbury being traded anywhere.

Id be satisfied with trading for DeJesus to play CF and sign Church as a 4th outfielder and call it an offseason.

Yeah pretty much. I'm not buying into the media's Met Hype anymore. They were hyped last year to be in the playoffs and maybe win the WS. I remember Olney and some of the other ESPN analysts calling the Mets bullpen unbelievable and the best in the Majors hands down. I understand they had injuries but even if they were healthy, i doubt they would've even reached the playoffs. Very similar story to another NL team that was supposed to run off with their division and maybe win the world series, only they were hit with injuries and inconsistancy when they were healthy.

While Kenny Williams is digging through everyone elses dumpster, we may as well dig through his.

Theres really no need for Old Man Contreres. We already have a ton of potential #5 starters, and with money tight, why spend on something we have no use for?

If only Theo Epstein were a moron.

Milton Bradley. Sorry, I couldnt resist.

Looking over this guys minor league numbers, I think wed do just as well to give one of our own the opportunity, Fuld or Colvin.

I agree. With the heart of the order hitters, OPS is important, but with a leadoff man, Ill take a high avg and OBP, especially if they can steal bases like Ellsbury. However, I dont know if Id be willing to give up Vitters+1 of Jax or Cash. Maybe Vitters+Lee, considering the similar aged midle infield talent we have on the farm, and throw in another mid level prospect or major league ready guy like Colvin, Marshall, Shark, Fontenot etc.

I dont know, if we could afford Valverde, Id love to have him, but other than that, I dont know how much BP change is needed. Marmol is the closer, and Grabow and Guzman should make up the 7th and 8th inning. Other than that, between Gray, Stevens, Gaub, Caridad, Berg, Parisi, and Marshall or Samardjzia, whoever isnt in the rotation should be able to finish up the pen. Sure, if a solid vet falls into our lap for cheap, go for it, but I dont feel its a need at this point.

OMG! Are you proposing that a RH batter face RH pitching? Radical thinking like that will get you into trouble. :-)) When that RH batter has a long history of difficulty with RH pitching, I wouldnt propose it, unless Rudy J can work some kind of magic with Reed. Last year he seemed to be doing a bit better vs. righties, but not enough to be an every day guy. IM just saying give Fuld the chance at the job because its not like there are a lot of options out there. I see Byrd as a .260 guy with an OPS in the low-mid .700s and about 10-12 HRs, and hes the best option available.

I dont care if everyone on earth, or at least the board disagrees with me, but considering the options, I really think the best one is to re sign Reed Johnson for cheap and platoon him with Sam Fuld. That way, you have your leadoff man and you have a great defensive center fielder. I really dont think Scott Podsednik can do anything with the bat that Fuld can, and Fulds a much better fielder. That way, the lineup looks something like 1. Fuld/Johnson 2. Theriot 3. Lee 4. Ramirez 5. Soriano 6. Soto 7. Fukudome 8. Baker 9. P If anything becomes available in the Summer, go for it, but at this point, the pickens are very, very slim, unless of course theres a hidden Bay/Holliday fund that nobody knows about.

I'm sorry, but this is pretty useless. What you would need to do is calculate marginal payroll (actual payroll minus league minimum times 25) over marginal wins (actual wins minus how many games a replacement level team would win [depending on the definition, usually between 30-50 games... probably on the higher side of that now that BP has adjusted their silly idea of replacement level fielding.]). And for what it's worth, the last few studies I've seen done like that had the Cubs in last or next to last. Without doing all the math, that formula would seem to put all the big payroll teams near the bottom and all of the low payroll teams toward the top. Small payroll teams that win an average or above number of games games ARE more efficient, though, so what is your point? In a system such as baseball free agency, each additional dollar you spend buys you a smaller incremental improvement. There are a lot of reasons why this is the case, but the biggest driver is the non-linear pay increases received at the top of the talent pyramid. If you have the worst third baseman in MLB history on your roster, he will make the minimum salary. If you improve your third baseman up to standard replacement level...you pay $0 incremental money because that guy will still make the minimum salary. You can most likely find some cheap guy to man the position at somewhere around halfway between replacement and average for very little above minimum salary. But...if you want to find a guy who will reliably give you league average performance, you're going to start to pay several million a year. And it starts to go up radically from there. Aramis is going to cost you a lot of money. If you want ARod-level performance...you have to pay ARod type money. There's an optimal point in there somewhere to get marginal performance per marginal dollar invested, which probably falls just below league average salary. Which is why the only way to beat the system and win championships as a small market team is to grow your own players from within and pay non-free agent wages. Another thing to take into account is where the players come from. With the Cubs and Mets, for instance the did it with a lot of trades and aquisitions. Sure, both hve had some solid home growns, but for the most part it has been through aquisitions. Same with the Yankees and Red Sox, only they had more home grown talent as well. Then, looking at the Phillies, they got very lucky with home grown talent in Rollins, Howard, Utley, and Hamels, as well as getting Werth and Victorino for very cheap. I know a GM has to lock these guys up, but it make the GMs job a lot easier when you have guys like that coming through your system. And then theres the Cardinals. Yeah, they have and have had some good players come through since the McGwire era ended, such as Edmonds, Rolen, Wainwright, Carpenter, Walker, etc, but if you take Albert Pujols out of any of those Cardinals teams, what do they look like? Do they even mke the playoffs in 2005, 2006, or 2009? Pujols was extreme luck. He was a 13th round pick who came to the how in 2001 and has owned the league ever since. Assuming he was never a Cardinals, what does every 2000's Cardinals team look like?

It's hard not to ignore him though. This board loves to pile on stupid arguments. It seems as though more and more threads end up that way these days.

Nah Dext, think I'll be here. Just like the demise of Rita, anxious to see how the next episode turns out. WTF is this? Are you serious? You can remain an ignorant, win-loving Luddite for all I care. However, you just spoiled one of my favorite TV shows that I've been to busy to catch all the way up this season. *I'm sorry if this is inappropriate. If I hadnt watched The Soup the other night, Id have no idea what any of this even meant.

In hind site, that sure looks like a sweet deal considering what we ended up with.

While I am by no means going to defend Hendry, Lou should not be getting a free pass here. Lous the one who felt that the team needed to be restructured after the 2008 playoffs. Lous the one who made the off the field problems with Bradley way too public.

LOL yes, just before back-to-back division winning seasons. He has built teams that can win 83-85 games for most of his tenure on the plus side. i guess we should just hope the rest of the division sucks forever instead of getting rid of a moron who's running this team into the ground at a quick pace. This offseason has been horrible thus far. Let's also not forget that Hendry has had one of the highest payrolls in the NL and usually can only muster ~85 wins with it. That to me is more damning. When you have one of the highest payrolls in the NL, I fully expect an above average team. The fact of the matter is, Hendry just happened to be GM when the Trib finally decided they wanted to spend money on the team. When you have that kind of payroll, its hard not to put a wining team together.

What really drives me nut is the people who say give Jim Hendry credit for 2007-2008. JIm Hendry made 3 great aquisitions, Lee, Ramirez, and Harden all through trade. Other than that, the only thing Hendry did was be present when the Trib finally decided that they wanted to spend money. Once that happened, he acted like a kid high on Fun DIp with a Toys R Us gift card. Soriano is Exhibit A. Its not like Hendry did anything special to get him. He grossly overbid for the guy. Yeah, he was the best thing that the pre 2007 FA class had, but that wasnt a particularly strong FA class. Take Jim Hendry and put him on a small payroll team like the Royals and Pirates, and they probably look worse than they do now.