Looks like Izzy is going to be ready for he start of the season, so Wainwright is going to move into the rotation. Could have predicted that with the signing of Springer last week.
At this time, the rotation is:
Carpenter
Reyes
Wells
Wainwright
They are talking with the Dodgers right now about a trade for Penny. Seems LA has spent lots of money and would like to unload a contract or 2. The Dodgers actually came to the Cards with the offer.
There is speculation that Mulder is going to stay, altho he has been fielding some offers. The 3 teams 'in the running' were Texas, DBacks and Cards. Texas may not have a spot to keep for him and the DBacks don't like to make incentive conracts. He would not be ready until around July, which the Cards are prepared to wait for him. He is getting married this weekend, and the word is he wants a deal before he goes on his honeymoon.
Weaver has been getting no love from other teams, so very likely he will return for a 1-year deal with incentives and maybe a team option.
Walt is very interested in Seattle's Joel Pineiro, who was just non-tendered by the M's.
We have also non-tendered Sosa and retatin the right to speak with him as well.
Opening day could look like this:
Carpenter
Penny
Wells
Weaver
Wainwight
If Mulder signs, he will be ready to go into full rotation end of July. If the Penny trade doesn't happen, then I would assume we will try to pick up Pineiro then Sosa.
The Cards have non-tendered Rick Ankiel. The reason is, they want to keep him but not at what he was getting paid before. They want to give him a minor league contract to try him out. You will recall they turned him into a hitter and he had 21 home runs and 75 RBIs in 85 games in the minors in 2005 and was expected to take a starting outfield spot in 2006, when he tore his patellar tendon in a spring training game in Feb. He's a lefty and a tremendous athlete and Tony still wants to keep him to see if he can make it. If the Cardinals bring Ankiel back on a Minor League deal, they would avoid the difficulty of passing him through waivers if and when he does not make the big-league club; something that has been an issue the past two springs.
Long being a franchise that likes to 'keep it in the family,' the Cards are checking into the health of Jayson Werth. The grandson of former Cardinal shortstop "Ducky" Schofield missed 2006 with a wrist injury. Werth last played for the Dodgers, appearing in 190 games over 2 years (2004-05) hitting 25 homers and batting in 109 in that time. He hit .286 with 2 homers and a double in 14 at bats in the 2004 NLDS when the Cards beat the Dodgers in 4 games. He will be 27 during the 07 season.
Encarnacion underwent surgery on his left wrist last week, but the club does not expect the procedure to be a hindrance in Spring Training. Encarnacion had been bothered by soreness in the wrist during the latter part of the 2006 season and in the playoffs. He has been dangled as trade bait, and may end up a Dodger is the Penny trade goes thru.
Aaron Miles re-upped for a second year in a Cardinals uniform. Miles will receive a reported $1 million, a nice boost from his pre-arbitration-eligibility $350,000 in 2006. Miles played second base and shortstop in '06, starting at second for a portion of the year and also backing up David Eckstein at short. He'll likely back up Eckstein and new signee Adam Kennedy in '07.
The Cardinals also offered contracts to reserve outfielder So Taguchi and left-handed reliever Randy Flores.
2 other free agent possibilities are Tony Armas Jr. and Tomo Ohka. Other players the Cards have inquired about are former Met and Devil Ray Victor Zambrano and Braves reliever Chris Reitsma.
Relievers Adam Wainwright, Brad Thompson and Looper will report to Jupiter, Fla., for spring training and begin a starter's regimen. Wainwright has 135 starts in 137 minor-league appearances and his future is as a starter. Thompson worked through the minors as a starter.
Resign Weaver, and Mulder, and just keep Looper in the pen for christ sakes.
How do you Cards fans feel about having Wainwright as a full time starter next year? Obviously you all know how much of a stud he was as a closer in the playoffs, he ended my Mets season haha. So you think he'll still be at the same level throughout 6-7 innings?
Dunno.
Well see how he does.
Id prefer to resign Weaver, sign a guy like Toma Ohka, resign Mulder, keep Wainwright the closer.
But Dave Duncan wants him to be a starter, so whatever Dave Duncan wants, after this postseason, he should get.
Wainwright actually came up through the minors as a starter and was thrown into the closer role. So, it's less of a full-fledged switch than if he had never been a starter. He's got the stuff to be nasty. But, I don't know if he can rely solely on the curveball for seven innings. He hasn't really had to dip into his arsenal much as a closer.
Jeff Suppan signs with the Brewers.
4 years, 42 million.
Good, god almighty. Hes making more next year than Chris Carpenter.
Are the Brewers, NUTS!?!?
Whatever.
Pray that Weaver resigns I guess.....
No...just desperate.Are the Brewers, NUTS!?!?
Look, I'll say the same thing I said in the Cards forum...
Soup was great for us; an amazing bargain we rode to a Ring. He went for the money... good for him. Not a thing in the world wrong with going with the paycheck. At the same time, he showed no loyalty to the club, so they showed no loyalty to him - its a 2-way street. As all our recent pitching prospects have shown (Morris, Williams, Kline, etc) marginal pitchers who pitch well for Duncan become marginal pitchers again when they leave Duncan.
He has gone to a team that can't even make Sheets, who I think could be an elite pitcher, into a .500 pitcher. The last 3 years, Sheets has an ERA about 3.35, 8 complete games, and is 28-30. Suppan, on the other hand, is a career 4.60 pitcher, finished 16-9, 16-10, 12-7 the last 3 years on arguably the best offense over that time. The Brew Crew return one batter who hit over .300, finishing 2nd from the bottom in average. They were last in hits, 2nd to last in runs scored, 2nd in strike outs, and this was WITH the stats of the one superstar they traded away - Carlos Lee.
Would I love to have had Soup back? yes. Am I sorry he's gone? yes. Am I going to chuckle when he is flirting with .500 and ing about run support? yes. Suppan was signed not because of what he does in the reg season, but because he was money in the post season. Can't be money if your team can't get there.
Cardinals agree to one-year contract with LHP Flores
ST. LOUIS (TICKER) -- The world champion St. Louis Cardinals on Friday signed Randy Flores to a two-year contract, thus avoiding arbitration with the lefthanded reliever.
No financial terms were released.
Flores has pitched in 124 games for the Cardinals over the last three seasons, including a career-high 65 in his first full season in 2006.
The 31-year-old was 1-1 with a 5.62 ERA in 41 2/3 innings last season but pitched magnificently in the postseason, picking up a win and two holds in 5 2/3 scoreless innings over seven outings.
Over five major league seasons, Flores is 5-4 with a 4.92 ERA and two saves in 152 games with Colorado, Texas and the Cardinals.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=st&type=lgns
Sweet.
Flores was great, especially in the playoffs.
He was overlooked as a hero in game 7 in the NLCS.
He came in and struck David Wright the OUT.
Is a very solid lefty.
Bullpen is busting at the seams.
Would be nice to trade some of the excess in for a starter or outfielder.
If Suppan is even decent next year the Brewers might actually have a nice rotation with Suppan, Capuano, and Sheets.
St. Louis gets 2009 All-Star game
January 16, 2007
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Busch Stadium in St. Louis will host baseball's All-Star game in 2009.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement Monday night at the 49th annual dinner hosted by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
"There can't be a better baseball town in America," Selig said.
The decision, which was expected, gives St. Louis its first baseball All-Star game since 1966. The old Busch Stadium hosted the Midsummer Classic that year.
The new Busch Stadium opened last April, across the street from the site of the old Busch, and the Cardinals went on to win the World Series in their first season in their new ballpark.
Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said the 2009 All-Star game will help the team put the finishing touches on its new $365 million stadium. The team expects groundbreaking this summer on a "ballpark village," featuring shops and restaurants in the adjacent lot where the old Busch Stadium sat.
"It really is a big deal for the Cardinals and St. Louis," DeWitt said. "It's been a long time for the city. This will cap off our new park and by 2009 the ballpark village will be in great shape."
The 2007 All-Star game is scheduled for July 10 in San Francisco and the 2008 event is likely to be played at New York's Yankee Stadium, which is slated to be in its final season.
Back in October, during the NL championship series, Selig said it was very likely that St. Louis would be granted the 2009 showcase.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns
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