Finally some good Cardinals gossip, courtesy of Joe Strauss of StLToday.com.
The Cardinals main goal at the upcoming winter meetings will be to obtain a starting pitcher or two. In part because of ace Chris Carpenter’s health, St. Louis’ starting rotation was atrocious in 2007, going 48-72 with a miserable 5.04 era. Their 2008 rotation, as currently situated, is shaky with Adam Wainwright, Mark Mulder, Braden Looper, Joel Pineiro and Anthony Reyes as to top 5 (Carpenter will probably miss the first half). So news that new GM John Mozeliak will be pursuing a new starter shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
So who are they after? Despite interest in Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse (no offers have been made), Mozeliak seems to want to avoid the awful starting pitching free agent market and hints that the Cards will pursue trades instead. Struass mentions names like Dontrelle Willis and Johan Santana. But more likely are cheaper alternatives (dollars wise). Dan Haren (reunited in St. Louis?), Chris Capuano and Cliff Lee jump to mind. The Cardinals may be willing to put young arms Anthony Reyes, Tyler Johnson and Brad Thompson on the table.
Filed under: St. Louis Cardinals
I think the Cards should stick with some low cost pitching help. They don’t need a Silva or Loshe long-term, they just need to get get/stay healthy in the rotation, with Mulder and Carpenter.
Mulder sucks and will suck forever. They need help in the short and long term.
The cards are in big need of rotation help for the up and coming season. Even if we could get Loshe or Silva for that matter it would be mid-long term which most players are persuing now-a-days… However if we could get one or the other for say 2-3years it would be beneficial to the Cards. Also the cards could take a risk on another starter who was injured, say Freddy Garcia, like we did with Percival.. Get a starter cheap, let them stay for awhile and try to get a discount on the pitcher when there contract is up. All in all the cards need a minimum of one starter for next season, but would be much more comfortable with two since the cards seem to be plagued with injuries as of late.
Even with that said, trading still seems to be the best option, since all the free agents have only been okay and never great. We have a couple of good/decent prospects up and coming excluding Rasmus and Anderson that we could trade away. Not to mention Rolen but he would be more of a salary dump. Can’t wait for Edmonds to retire, he was great for us, but as of late everyone can agree since his new contract, he’s got little to nothing to show for it other than a stellar glove, which wasn’t all that great in ‘07.
[...] Shortstop Rumors: Tejada, Wilson? Posted on November 28, 2007 by McFleece We touched on the Cards need for starting pitching help yesterday. Now let’s discuss the hole they have at shortstop. Let’s examine [...]