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Nice David Freese story in the LA Times.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-hernandez-20181008-story.html
Dean Kiekhefer was outrighted again, this time by Oakland, so will again become a free agent. In the last two years, the LHR bounced from the #STLCards to the Mariners to the Reds to the As. He can still induce ground balls and get lefties out, so probably isn't done at age 29.
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) October 15, 2018
Sherriff signs minor league deal with Tampa Bay
https://www.draysbay.com/2018/10/16/17985146/tampa-bay-rays-sign-lhp-ryan-sherriff-minor-league-deal
Big Mac is returning to private life, from where TLR lured him to join #stlcards staff as hitting coach almost exactly nine years ago. https://t.co/MI9LCPyRkp
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) October 23, 2018
Mark McGwire's decision this week to leave MLB and return to his family reminded me of his reverse move nine years ago, joining the #stlcards as hitting coach. @Dustin_Mattison reminisces about Big Mac's raucous coming out party. https://t.co/E4HeGnvSH7 pic.twitter.com/ApLQl9dSGL
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) October 25, 2018
Former #STLCards closer Trevor Rosenthal is the 1st free agent signing of the 2018 winter as the Washington #Nats are finalizing a deal to have him anchor their bullpen
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 31, 2018
Wow. I would have loved to have Rosenthal back. He’s younger than any of the bullpen arms out there except maybe Kelvin Herrera and when he’s right, he’s just a touch below elite. His K rate was getting into the elite territory prior to his injury last year.
Rosenthal’s $15 million vesting option is as much or more as I would have expected him to get if had been a FA before his surgery. To get his $15 million in 2020 Rosenthal doesn’t even have to pitch well – just staying healthy should get him 50 appearances and the option vests.
2 years and $22 million may end up being a huge steal xonpared to what a bunch of other relievers are going to get on this market.
It will depend on whether Rosey can still throw the heater like he did before the surgery. His success depends on the fastball, as his command of secondary pitches is not good. He is a bit like Jason Motte in that way. Motte lost just enough off his fastball, that he was not the same pitcher after TJ surgery. I think Rosenthal has a good chance to end up the same way.
But we will just have to see. The Cardinals bullpen is so bad, that you almost have to take a shot at about any warm body that has a chance to be better, so taking a flyer on him would have been understandable had management done so. However, I will go 60/40 on Rosey, with the 60 being he will end up being more like the post-TJ Motte than the prime version.
David Eckstein's big brother Rick was @memphisredbirds hitting coach in 2007 before becoming the Nationals' big-league hitting coach. Just named to that job with Pittsburgh. https://t.co/p0lXJnf4kD
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) November 7, 2018
Rick Ankiel required UCL repair, not a full Tommy John. However, he will be out until mid-season. He has been working out in Jupiter and the Cards remain interested.
Matt Holliday, a Boras client, has the intention to play in 2019 #Rockies
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 7, 2018
Ex-#stlcards SS Diaz moves again. https://t.co/opDxZZazhS
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) November 17, 2018
Peter Bourjos returns to Angels on a minors deal.
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/11/16/angels-bring-back-peter-bourjos-on-minor-league-deal/
You mean this trade or when the Cards got J.B. Woodman for him? (The former prospect who is now out of work, BTW.) Perhaps Diaz is valued more by some fans than MLB teams do.
I’m actually kind of surprised the Cardinals didn’t sign Diaz to a long term extension after his one successful season here. We have a bad habit of doing that with young unproven players. I guess we dodged the bullet this time.
They also did not do an early extension with Tommy Pham, which was a concern of his.
Which players did it go badly with? I can think of many good examples. Even Allen Craig they turned into a plus.
This is a really good article about new Orioles’ GM Mike Elias, but the scene-stealer is John Stuper, who is clearly much more than a college baseball coach.
Craig was a very bad extension when it was signed. The Red Sox bailed us out.
Jaime Garcia was a bad extension.
The jury is still out on CMart, Wong, and DeJong.
I have always preferred going year to year with young players but that is just me.
My recollection is different. I cannot prove it since the fine folks at CBS nuked the Scout board, but I am pretty sure that the Craig deal was very positively received at the time. Only later, when his performance waned, was there a problem. The fact the Cards were able to move the contract suggests Boston did not consider it a bad deal, either. Time changed that view, of course.
Granted, Garcia was hurt a lot earlier, but if his contract was so bad, then why did the Cards exercise both the $11.5 MM option for 2016 and then the $12 million option for 2017? (He was traded before the latter season.)
You left out Piscotty, whose deal was another good one for the team. They also did deals earlier with Wainwright, Molina and Carpenter, among others.
All of these deals were not bad contracts. The team simply avoided the arbitration headaches and maybe locked the player down another year or two beyond. None of these deals were for enough money that it kept the franchise from doing what else it needed to do. For example, Garcia’s base deal was four years, $26.5 million (plus the options).
I guess it depends on how you define good contract or bad contract. If it is strictly defined as “did the Cardinals find a way to get out of the deal” then you might get one answer, however, if it is defined by player production then you would probably get another.
Did Craig produce after signing the extension? No. His career plummeted.
Did Garcia? Not much. He was hurt most of the time and I have no idea why the Cardinals exercised his options. I wouldn’t have.
Did Piscotty? No, he didn’t produce in St. Louis after signing but he did have a nice year in Oakland.
How about Wong? He has had some bright moments but also a lot of not so bright moments.My point is that I there is a psychological element here that is ignored because it can’t be quantified. A lot of young players tend to get complacent once they have their financial security, however, if they are forced to prove themselves year to year there will be a greater sense of urgency.
If Wong was going year to year he might be more willing to play through some of his injuries or might be less willing to pop off and say something foolish like he is prone to do.
The Cardinals are so desperate to claim that their farm system has produced a bounty of cornerstone players they sign them prematurely then have to find a way to offload them. Instead, we should have the young guys prove themselves repeatedly and then decide to sign them long term a year or two before their arbitration ends.
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