SB Nation User Blog: cardsphan04

great stuff from strauss today! Go read!

cardsphan04 — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:43:49 -0000

I normally don't like to link stuff from the st. louis post dispatch cause I know it is on the left hand side down a bit but I really encourage all to go check out strauss chat today. It will really make you smile, atleast for me it did. He discusses some great stuff. Here's a teaser....Wallace could go far and there might be some interest in a short stop that enjoys Coors! Either way the chat got me pumped and is making me look forward to the offseason.

http://www.stltoday.com/discussions/sports/joe-strauss-live/LD090108461/all

Go cards!...oh and someone listed earlier that looper would be a type B free agent, I think that is incorrect, if you look at the website I think it list him as nothing and lohse as a type A.

Recent interview with Dave Duncan, John Abbamondi, and whom Rosenthal says we are scounting.

cardsphan04 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:52:32 -0000

Seeing as I work nights at the the hospital, I usually catch the interviews on the early morning shows, and then the ones sometimes after the games with Mike shannon half drunk at his restaurant talking about the good old times. Anyways I just wanted to share some stuff I have heard in the past 24 hours. With that being said it is 4:50 in the morning central time.

Interview with Dave Duncan on the morning grind.
The interview at first seemed like dave was just going to have a normal mundane response to questions but he perked up quickly once Carpenter came too topic. Jimmy "the Cat" Hayes asked him whom he though he would see first, Carp or Wagonmaker? His response was Carp. When Jim pushed further and asked if it would be 3 rehab outings dave responded with "If that", basically implying that after a rehab outing on friday he thinks Carp has a very good shot at rejoining the team. After Dave hung up all the guys were in agreeement that Dave thinks Carp will be here soon.
The other intresting thing was that he supported the idea of bullpen help. At first he started talking about how his bullpen has also helped win alot of games and people don't seem to talk about that but when asked if a arm would be welcomed he responded with a round about yes.

Interview with John Abbamandi, cardinals assistant GM following tuesday nights loss,
The main thing that I took away from this was the following, when asked about the current situation and trades and so forth this was basically said by john. "we want to make the best move for the team and we don't want to do anything in response to what the brewers and cubs have done but you have to understand something. Fans keep pushing for us to make a deal but if we showed you some of the offer sheets that we are getting for trades you guys would slam the door shut on them too" (those weren't his exact words, Im just paraphrasing). Basically it sounds like team are asking for way too much. Whether this is true or not we will never really know but think of it this way. Would you really give up Jess Todd and probably another prospect for Eddie Guardado. I know I wouldn't! Erik over at future redbirds shares this view so make sure to jump over there and see what he voiced. Oh, warning there's bad news about colby over there also.

www.futureredbirds.net

Dane perry has some advice for the cards on his wish list,
Cardinals

"Although the Cardinals could use an adequate offensive shortstop, the real need is pitching. Consider the problems ... Mark Mulder is back on the DL, Chris Carpenter is coming off a rough rehab outing, and Adam Wainwright won't be back until next month. Oh, and the St. Louis bullpen leads the majors in blown saves, and ranks sixth in the 16-team NL in relief pitches thrown. So effectiveness and perhaps fatigue are both concerns going forward. What the Cardinals really need is an elite, shutdown closer (Huston Street?), but those are hard to come by. If nothing else, they could use another right-handed arm in the pen."

I thought we needed help on the left side of the bullpen?

Lastly, I don't know if this has been mentioned yet or not but in Ken Rosenthals lates piece he had this too say,
"The Cardinals, whose bullpen has become almost a nightly issue, had two scouts in Baltimore on Tuesday night, presumably to watch Orioles closer George Sherrill. The Orioles want either a shortstop or outfielder for Sherrill, but the Cardinals don't have a shortstop who is close to the majors, and they're not going to trade Colby Rasmus for a reliever . "

Maybe we could package a couple other prospects or something, anyways go cards!

A youth movement is great, but money is power.

cardsphan04 — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:59:49 -0000

Even though the cards are still treading water or are atleast doing better than I think most of us expected I like to look towards the future. I praise the work the boys do over at Future redbirds and other sites such as project prospect and so forth. With all that being said, I did some research and seek the communities thoughts and opinions on next year. I Have been looking forward to this coming off season for a couple years now, it could be the ultimate infusion of youth with alot of money to spend. I ventured over to cots contracts to see whom would be leaving along with what money the team would be recouping to spend. Please take into consideration these are just rough numbers I was tossing around while sitting in a lecture hall class for 6 hours today, and also I don't know how to make a roster Matrix. Anyways...

Leaving/signed to 1 year deal (the salaries are either what they earned this year or a option that could \be declined)
Izzy-8 mill
Randy Flores-1 mill
Looper-5.5
Mulder-11 million with a 1.5 buyout
Clement-8.75 mill with a 0.25 buyout
Izturis-2.85 mill
Springer-3.5
Instant breakfast-6.5 mill
Lohse-4.25 mill
Welly-1 mill
Miles-1.4 mill
Spizio-2.3 mill
Larue-1 mill
Edmonds 2 mill.

These players above are guys whom probably wont be back or will need to be resigned. Personally I hope all of em are gone. The total ads up to roughly around 55 million. That's 55 million off the book! Good Lord! And to think I didn't even include some of the kids that we don't know what to do with...i.e. Tyler Johnson, Josh kinney, wonderbrad...etc.... I just did the above to show what would be leaving. It doesn't mean we will have 55 mill to spend on free agents.

The following guys have significant guranteed money for next year (the money is the contract for 09')
Albert-16 mill
Glaus-11.25 mill
Kennedy-4 mill
Yadi-3.25 mill
Carp-14 mill
Wagonmaker-2.6mill
Pinero- 7.5 mill
Franklin- 2.5 mill

So this group of core players is making around 61 million for the 09 season. This doesn't include the outfield as ankiel will be arbritation elgible, Ludwig will need a new contract, and skip,barton, and Duncan will all need to be settled for small amounts. *( A wrench gets thrown into the outfield for next year but I will talk about that at the bottom).

Anyways so lets say the cards are going to try and hit that 110 mill payroll. The core takes away 61 mill. So we need to fill the rest of the roster with around 50 mill. This is what i was looking at including the core. For the youngster i just went with 0.5 mill cause I figured there would be somewhat of a raise in their price for next year.
Bullpen
Franklin-2.5
Kyle Mc.-0.5 mill
Parisi-0.5 mill
Perez-0.5 mill
Motte-0.5 mill
Villone-1 mill

Rotation
Carp-14 mill
Wagonmaker-2.6mill
Pinero- 7.5 mill
Welly- 5 mill ( I don't know his status so i could be way off, but if he continues to pitch well I think the cards will sign him, I am just guessing an amount).
J. Garcia-0.5 mill

Infield
Albert-16 mill
Glaus-11.25 mill
Kennedy-4 mill
Ryan-0.5
Yadi-3.25 mill

outfield
Ankiel- 7 mill
Ludwig-2.5 mill
Skip-0.5 mill
Barton-0.5
Duncan-0.5

The total after all this is right around 81 million. So now what we know, is that mo is basically going to have around 29 million to get a veteran Loogy, 2 infielders, and a back up for yadi which could just be Anderson if he continues to impress. So put yourself in the place of Mo. What do you do? Do you go after Furcal/ Cabrera? Do you toss welly to the side and go for another pitcher? Do you try to add a more veteran presence to the outfield? What do you do with guys like T.J., Kinney, wonderbrad, reyes, etc... Let me know people!!!! You got a good chunk of cash!

*Lastly, the wrench, as I did this, i kept looking at the outfield and realized that Rasmus should be here. I know he is playing bad right now but unless he continues to struggle all year, he should be in the outfield next year for opening day. Larussa is not going to keep 6 outfielders, so does this mean we should really expect Duncan to go at some point this year. The signs would point to yes.

I appreciate your time for reading this and voicing your opinion. Again these are all just rough numbers and estimates for next year. Let me know If I am way off.

some questions befor midnight..please help?

cardsphan04 — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:15:57 -0000

This probably does not deserve a diary so larry if you want to delete this after i get an answer that is fine.

1) how can I find out who has been offered arbitration?
2)Does arbitration have to be offered by midnight tonight?
3)I keep reading in hardcores post that the cards only have a 11 million to spend, I thought Dewitt said the payroll could go up to 115 mill, and the latest roster matrix said 99.3 million was used.

and.. most importantly
4) Is there anyway for me to read viva or any of the links on my cell phone. I have free internet and can look at espn but can't go to vivaelbirdos's. It's like the page is to big. I have a good phone (samsung something or other), but with free agency starting tommorow I want to be able to stay up to date while I am in class. Any Suggestions Would help!?

Yankees..Rolen..Dark horse?

cardsphan04 — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:32:48 -0000

According to a recent post over at MLB trade rumors, the yankees best canidate could be Rolen. It goes into some detail as why and to be honest it really does make sense for them. I would really support moving Rolen. I love the guy and he is a great person (met him at spring training) but I am a big supporter of building for 09' and we need to dump the salary. Thoughts?

Poll

What do you do with Rolen?

Trade him to the Yankees (or anyone) to help build the system?

62 votes

Keep him and hope he returns to form?

32 votes

Trade him in a package for a stud?

25 votes

Buy him a tractor and let him drive it around Busch stadium listening to theme from the dukes of hazard?

16 votes

135 votes | Poll has closed

Roesnthal thinks Antonetti might bail....

cardsphan04 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:29:46 -0000

I hope it's not true but he does make some good points. I really don't want to see anyone else running this show.

Rosenthal wrote:
Antonetti: In or out?

White Sox assistant general manager Rick Hahn has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Cardinals' GM position. The question now is whether Indians assistant GM Chris Antonetti will do the same.

Antonetti is the Cardinals' top choice, but the Indians are trying to keep him, according to major-league sources. One way to do it would be to pay Antonetti like a GM. Another would be to assure Antonetti that he eventually would succeed Mark Shapiro, who could move up to club president.

The Cardinals are telling candidates that they would operate with full autonomy, but the reality might be quite different. Manager Tony La Russa and some of the team's top baseball executives are under contract for at least two years. The rise of Jeff Luhnow, vice-president of amateur scouting and player development, led to the departure of GM Walt Jocketty.

If Antonetti rejects the Cardinals, it would increase the chances of interim GM John Mozeliak being named to the position on a more permanent basis. Mozeliak, who was assistant GM under Jocketty, already has working relationships with La Russa and Luhnow.

Looking ahead...question?

cardsphan04 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:10:11 -0000

I was looking at the cardinals current position overall in the standings and noticed that I believe we are currently 10th in the draft. Which is a pretty good position. I don't know the last time we drafted this high. Now I know the draft is a long ways away but who are the hot prospects to be up for the draft next year? Just wondering? I mean we don't have anything else to do. So I was hoping someone could shed some light. Furtheremore, Does anyone know when the baseaball america prospect book comes out? Rasmus appears to be on the cover. Don't know if this link will show it or not. anyways...

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/601-3135462-1452946?ie=UTF8&asin=193239119 3

Who is everyones top 5 in the system?

Allen Craig...future 3rd base?

cardsphan04 — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:03:42 -0000

I was just wondering what everyone thought about this guy and what his future may hold. Every day I check the updates at Future Redbirds and this guy continues to impress. He is always hitting and now his average at high A is up to .317... He seems like he has some power to with 15 homers. i really don't know much about him though, drafted? or his past? Erik or azruavatar ....maybe you guys could shed some light. i looked him up in my baseball prospects guide and found him no where. Not even ranked in our top 30 prospects and from what I can tell I think this guy might be better than Skip who was ranked liked 29th. Anyways here is his info...

http://firstinning.com/players/Allen-Craig-a

What do we do with Bryan Anderson?

cardsphan04 — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:52:41 -0000

I have been contemplating on the possiblities for this cardinal minor leaguer and was hoping for some insight on him. After reading what i could find on him in Future Redbirds and other sources it is obvious that he is quickly becoming one of the cardinals top 5 prospects and one of the top 100 in the minors. I think Erik just recently said that he was up to 38th in the minors via pecota. The problem with all of this is that Anderson's primary position is catcher. I recently have been reading that the cardinals are trying to lock up Yadi, which I agree with. I mean the man has a canon for an arm. He deserves to recieve a long term contract. So in light of that, what do we do with Anderson? He is currently in Double AA and is easily making a case to be moved up. His top comparisons are Mauer and McCann. I am excited and think this could be a top prospect trading chip. Could solve some problems. Thoughts?