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Also, Michael Tacuhman was non-tendered today.
34 year-old, with a .756 OPS and 1.9 WAR, which is 3.6 WAR more than Jordan Walker this past season. He made $2 million last year.
Of course, the Cardinals being the Cardinals, they will think that is too exorbitant a price to pay to upgrade RF.
LACard, if he was right handed I’d be in full agreement.
I still DON’T think this team has to be as awful as we are expecting. Package of Donnie + pieces for a proven RHSP or RHH OFer is obviously a major key for 2026-2030.
These things need to happen, hopefully at the winter meetings, so they can start plugging holes.
1) Arenado traded to open up $12M in 26 (1.25WAR expectation)
2) Gray traded to open up $20M (around 2.2 WAR)
3) Wouldn’t be a huge package back, but would Contreras want to go play with his lil brother? I listened to a joint Podcast yesterday with the Cards normal guy and the Brewers guy, and the boys up north could make the 18M work.
4) Get VERY lucky and “win” a top 5 pick in the June draft, meaning then they know they won’t get a top 10 in the 2027 draft so they might as well try and be decent in 2026 to put butts in the seats.
5) Trade Jojo and Noot, even if they are trying for a 81-81 record, they aren’t legit contenders for #12. So get what you can out of them before 2/12/26.Walker in RF sounds like the Cardinals.
Start him, until they are ready to move on from another 1st round pick.Walker in RF sounds like the Cardinals.
Yes, even though the collapse of the Cardinals as an organization began when they inserted Walker in RF rather than installing a cheap free agent in RF.
The past regime would inflict Walker on us until he starts getting expensive. No idea what The Bloomster will do.
All it takes is an occasional moonshot, LA. Everything else about baseball goes out the window when pasty faced wonks are ruling the roost.
So, if a AA guy progresses one season at a time, he will be debuting in 2028, which is when you believe the next window of contention will begin.
So, what good does a pre-arb guy do us, that will use half his eligibility before we are serious again?
I mentioned investing in AAA and pre-arb players, not AA.
If the AAA players aren’t ready to contribute by 2028 then that means we have invested in the wrong players. That isn’t a timing issue, that is a player evaluation issue.
If pre-arb players are currently too old to be investing in that I guess that means we should be trading Burly, Libby, Herrera, and Winn now, which means our competitive window will be sometime in the 2030’s. That sounds like a tough sell for the fan base.
If you like your arb guys in 2028, extend them. If you don’t, flip them. As you said, who is left to pay by 28′?
A clean slate should equal AAV any players extended. The goal is big expensive arb classes coming. Backloading extensions when unnecessary complicates future budgets.
Getting Pozo back in the fold, is that writing on the wall that Crooks might be used to bring back some talent that isn’t at catcher or middle infield?
Several teams are looking for long term catching additions…
Rays, Padres, White Sox and Tigers are the ones that come up when you google “what teams need catching help in 2026”. All have assets the Cards could use, a RH RF sure wouldn’t be awful.
It’d be a Xmas miracle to get Edward Cabrera without Donnie, but Donnie is already being traded for Gavin Williams.Crooks, Noot and Church enough to get Cabrera or am I way to light? Add Jojo maybe?
If you want to use player’s values to determine the best trade chip, Herrera would be the guy with the most.
Fitts to our rotations. Clarke to crowded Peoria rotation. It keeps loking like we’ll have a piggyback rotation, especially at the lower levels.
Fitts was number 11 prospect in Red Sox system in 2024 and seems quite Andre Pallante-ish. Had 11 starts for RedSox last season.
Clarke is very Liam Doyle-ish. That is what 20 million dollars will get you.Drew Pomeranz at 1/2-3M should be on the radar. Especially after JoJo brings back a better than expected package.
If they are completely out, flip him, if CB fixes the rotation and adds a RFer and LFer they might not be.
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