Someone help me figure this out:

How can you be both a Chiefs and Cardinals fan?

Cardinals founded in 1882
Chiefs moved here in 1963

Royals were founded in 1969
Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995

Of my entire living family of hundreds of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and great-type of iterations of these (great-uncles, etc), 90% fans of the teams that have been in MO the longest, because we learned to be fans from our parents.

Pretty much this for me too. My dad's side is from SE MO, and its Cardinals, Cardinals, Cardinals with them and no room for much else sports-wise. My mom's side is from KC and Wichita so they're Chiefs and Jayhawks and maybe the Royals as a distant 3rd. So I ended up getting the best from both sides :D

Ozzie Smith.

No need to pet the idiot ass troll.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports that the Yankees are talking to the Cardinals about a trade for third baseman David Freese.

Freese will only get more expensive as he continues to go through the arbitration process and the Cardinals have the ability to move Matt Carpenter to third base and play Kolten Wong at second base, so it's no surprise to hear about the possibility of a trade. The 30-year-old is coming off a down year in which he hit .262/.340/.381 with nine homers and 60 RBI over 521 plate appearances, but he would be a solid backup plan for Alex Rodriguez

Yeah, I figured Cervelli as a legitimate backup to Yadi would probably be about what we'd be able to get for Freese.

May be better served to hold onto him and see if he bounces back. Moving Carpenter to 3b significantly diminishes his value, especially if (when) he doesn't have a .360 BABIP in 2014.

If we are only going to get Shumaker trade value, keep him for one more year as a pinch hitter and insurance in case Wong doesn't pan out.

cbssports.com is saying that JJ Hardy for Miller was offered to the Cardinals. Mo had the good sense to turn that down.

Took out the trash.

From the press conference today, Matheny gets a 3 year extension and Carp officially retires, but will remain with the team in some yet to be decided role.

Good, I think he will be great working with the pitching staff.

Pinging Hamas............

Matheny gets extension through 2017......

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colum...815eec556.html

The Cardinals made an obvious and natural move Wednesday, giving manager Mike Matheny a contract extension that runs through the end of the 2017 season.

GM John Mozeliak's decision to take a chance on Matheny instead of hiring an experienced big-league manager two years ago has worked out better than most anyone expected.

This wasn't a good hire by Mozeliak.

It was a great hire.

Matheny and the Cardinals are an ideal fit.

I think I'd take Matheny over someone who's greatest asset appears to be bilingual.

Oquendo?

I agree - I didn't want Jose either.

But I loved (and still love) Francona and Sandberg. I think either of those guys would've been great hires.

Rick Renteria.

I still can't believe the way the Cubs shit on Sandberg. There must be more to that that we don't know.

I don't practice Renteria.

---------------

Making it to the WS with a shaky in-game manager put the team in a bad sport WRT: his contract. I can live with it, but they need a better bench coach than Aldrete.

Matheny has proven to be a poor strategist w/ Aldrete, so if you're keeping Matheny for the benefits he possibly brings (chemistry and clubhouse, I'm guessing), what does Aldrete offer other than continuity? How often did it seem like the Cardinals were truly thinking a few steps ahead?

As much as I love what Epstein has been doing with building the Cubs farm system, in the short time he's been around, I think he follows the "Pioli family tree model" of hiring.

He quickly told Sandberg to **** off because he wanted a mlb experienced manager. Then he hired Sveum, who, iirc, only had minimal "experience" as a manager. And now he went out and hired a manager from the same tree that has jack shit for experience and brings his fluent spanish to the table... WOOOHOOO!!!

Well back to the drawing board, fellas. Profar and Andrus are off the table.

Time to call the Cubs again and see if Castro can be had.

Oh, and please, for the love of all things sacred, put a call in to Peralta's agent so we can get him signed to play SS or take over at 3b if we get a better option. Do something to build up some negotiating leverage with the rest of baseball please.

Given what we'd have to pay Andrus and give up for Profar, I just can't bring myself to be too bereft over this happening.

So you'd rather give up a first rounder for Drew? Roll with Kozma?

I've not heard boo about the Cardinals going after Peralta.

Moe ****ed up the position when he didn't go after Escobar, Lowrie or even Hardy over the last 3 seasons when they could've been had cheap. Now the solution, whatever it may be, is going to hurt.

And one more option we had as leverage just dried up.

Sorry, but this sucks. It sucks pretty badly, IMO.

Screw that. Why would we give up prospects that will be used agaisnt us for at least 6 years for an underperforming bad attitude player?

No way this happens. Move on DJ.

No Matheny meltdown?

Escobar was a garbage ass, disrespectful mother****er and absolutely toxic in the clubhouse. He had a career year last year. Bemoaning Mozeliak for not pursuing him is revisionist history. We had enough Felipe Lopez-esque dickheads in the past.

I'm with you on the pursuit of Hardy. I've been banging that drum for two years. But the truth is that for all of Profar's perceived value, the Rangers decided to keep Andrus at short for the next eight years. That's not an insignificant statement, and they wanted a lot for either one, and Elvis would provide little-to-no surplus value with that contract.

You can plug that hole for a few years with a Peralta, Erick Aybar, or buy low on Assdribble Cabrera.

You would give up Miller for him?

Nyet.

In my defense, I wanted Escobar last offseason and I'd imagine it can be found in this thread. Escobar was a good player in Atlanta and a plus defender. We had Pete !@#$ing Kozma. Sorry, but that was a no-brainer to me. You may disagree, but this isn't revisionist history from me, I wanted the guy.

And I think I've made this point already in this thread (or the end of the last one) but what is the point in plugging the hole for a few years? We have literally nobody on the farm. Hell, the one guy that may have had a shot at making it, Peoples-Walls, just got moved to the OF along with Piscotty and Carson Kelly (or other legitimate prospect for the left side of the IF). Evidently the organization is just giving up on the IF altogether and is going to stockpile arms and OFers.

They appear to have no plan for the most important position on a major league diamond. It's just a complete mind-****.

You'd be giving up a lot relative to what you're getting if you gave them Lynn or Kelly for him.

Agree. Lynn or Kelly should be plenty for Hardy. That would still be a lopsided trade.

We have so many assets and so many needs. They can't plug every hole with an All-Star, and it's not just the Cardinals who are wanting for shortstop. It's a hard position to find. It'd be nice if they were better at finding one, but you don't always locate a 10 year solution at every position, even if you really want to.

The Red Sox did nothing but plug holes for years with marginal players at short after they traded Hanley for Beckett.

It's not ideal, but a two-three year fix may leave the team in better shape than what it would take to get a five-seven year fix.

I disagree. I think young stud pitching is the most valuable trade bait. It's hard to get. It's hard to develop. Injuries, head cases litter the road from the minors to the big show.

It seems cyclical to me. It's only recently that the SS role have increased in value. At the same time is seems that top flight SS talent has lessen in available numbers. Which would explain the first statement. How many great SS's are there in baseball?

40 man roster out. We are only protecting 36 players. They are thinking of picking up 4 players?

Player Position B/T DOB
PITCHERS
John Axford RHP R/R 4/01/1983
Keith Butler RHP R/R 1/30/1989
Randy Choate LHP L/L 9/05/1975
Eric Fornataro RHP R/R 1/02/1988
Sam Freeman LHP R/L 6/24/1987
Jaime Garcia LHP L/L 7/08/1986
Joe Kelly RHP R/R 6/09/1988
Lance Lynn RHP R/R 5/12/1987
Tyler Lyons LHP S/L 2/21/1988
Seth Maness RHP R/R 10/14/1988
Carlos Martinez RHP R/R 9/21/1991
Shelby Miller RHP R/R 10/10/1990
Jason Motte RHP R/R 6/22/1982
Jorge Rondon RHP R/R 2/16/1988
Trevor Rosenthal RHP R/R 5/29/1990
Fernando Salas RHP R/R 5/30/1985
Kevin Siegrist LHP L/L 7/20/1989
Michael Wacha RHP R/R 7/01/1991
Adam Wainwright RHP R/R 8/30/1981
CATCHERS
Tony Cruz C R/R 8/18/1986
Yadier Molina C R/R 7/13/1982
Audry Perez C R/R 12/23/1988
INFIELDERS
Matt Adams 1B L/R 8/31/1988
Matt Carpenter IF L/R 11/26/1985
Allen Craig 1B R/R 7/18/1984
Daniel Descalso 2B L/R 10/19/1986
David Freese 3B R/R 4/28/1983
Greg Garcia SS L/R 8/08/1989
Pete Kozma SS R/R 4/11/1988
Kolten Wong 2B L/R 10/10/1990
OUTFIELDERS
Joey Butler OF R/R 3/12/1986
Matt Holliday LF R/R 1/15/1980
Jon Jay CF L/L 3/15/1985
Mike O’Neill LF L/L 2/12/1988
Shane Robinson OF R/R 10/30/1984
Oscar Taveras OF L/L 6/19/1992

They could just be trying to unclog the pipe somewhat by making prospects with middling upside eligible for the Rule 5 draft next month, and to perhaps snag a Rule 5 eligible player that they have an eye on.

@Ken_Rosenthal: Source: #Rangers remain open to trading Andrus or Profar in right deal. So, talks with #STLCards or for #Rays' Price still possible.

1. Profar
1B. Andrus

I can't believe that unless they think they're getting too much value for the player

My only thought is that they still need pitching in the worst way. I bet they prefer to trade Andrus just because of his contract but I would prefer a cost controlled SS for years (Profar), even if it means giving up a little more.

We keep saying that, but do they really?

Darvish
Holland
Martin Perez

That's a pretty good 1-3 so you're really looking at 4 and 5 for them. So even setting aside what they have at the positions, is it worth trading a premier middle-infielder for a 4th/5th starter? No, not really. The value added to the team at that point isn't significant enough.

But beyond that, the Rangers are in pretty good shape at 4 and 5 anyway. Ogando and Harrison are the likely candidates. Ogando's been a nice starter at several points throughout his career and can likely be counted on for about 180 innings and an ERA in the 4.3 range. Matt Harrison went 32-20 in 2011-2012 before having some injury issues in 2013. He's a #3 starter on a lot of teams and would be a 4 in Texas.

Then you have Colby Lewis and Neftali Feliz as #6 and #7 options in case Harrison isn't healthy, though most accounts suggest he should be fine. Colby Lewis has become a very nice pitcher, another potential #3 that would be slotted as a 4/5 in Texas. Feliz has ace stuff, though he has to recover from TJ surgery (and not get moved into the bullpen).

The Rangers don't really need starting pitching as bad as we think they do.

They're really not that great of a trade partner when it gets down to it. Unless we're willing to trade them Taveras (I'm not), I don't see them moving either of those guys. When they had a surplus of IFers, perhaps they'd have been willing to take the best offer they could get. At that time, Miller may have been worth doing.

Now, however, they don't. They don't have Cano signed (and they won't get him; Jay Z isn't sending Cano to the Rangers) and they don't have a desperate need for SP.

The dream is dead, folks. Prepare for the path of least resistance: Stephen Drew.

Updated MLB Talk Rumors:

LA radio station is saying that a Freese to Anaheim deal is almost certain to happen. Rumor is that we could get back Aybar in return. He's not a jawdropper but it'd be an upgrade at SS. Would love to add Lynn and get Bourjos as well as a fourth OF to spell Craig and Taveras.

Lance Lynn is the statistical equivalent of Matt Garza and the clear superior to Edwin Jackson.

Jackson got $50 million on the open market last year, Garza will likely get $70 and cost somebody a first round draft pick.

And you folks want to trade Lynn, who's value on the market is well established by similar players, for a '4th OFer'.

People - you need to calm the !@#$ down about Lance Lynn. The kid's an extremely valuable player that can get swings and misses with his fastball; there aren't a lot of pitchers with that skill-set, most require their breaking ball. When he's on, he adds a tumbling action to it that has guys hammering pitches into the dirt. Lance Lynn's a legitimate fastball pitcher with plus heat - those don't grow on trees. No, he's not an ace, he's not a legit #2 but for most teams he's absolutely a competent #3 starting pitcher with upside.

Quit trying to give him away. It's fueled by emotion and little else. Look at the market and recognize that guys like him are pretty hard to find. We've just become spoiled by the fact that we have obscene arms like Miller, Martinez and now Wacha on the staff.

5 years ago we'd have held onto Lance Lynn like grim death. A mere 3 years ago we were forced to trade a gold glove and silver slugger winning right fielder to acquire Jake Westbrook, who we then gave $27 million to because we needed a reliable innings eater.

Stop pissing on Lance Lynn - he's a good player and a hell of a lot more valuable than a friggen 4th OFer.

The Cardinals like Peter Bourjos and "he could be the guy" if a David-Freese-to-the-Angels trade is worked out, according to the Orange County Register's Jeff Fletcher.

Bourjos would then compete with Jon Jay for the team's starting center field job in spring training, with the loser taking over fourth outfielder duties. The move would improve both St. Louis' team defense and speed. While the Cardinals are stacked with third base candidates -- rendering Freese expandable -- the Angels are not. Grant Green is their current projected starter with Luis Jimenez as a backup option. They simply must bring in another hot corner option.

I would think OT would be 4th OF initially and they would try to trade Jay if they make this trade?

I'm cool with that.

Bourjos for Freese makes a lot of sense for both sides and Bourjos could maybe give Jay the kick in the ass he needed when Rasmus was around to make him stay focused and at his best.

That's a win/win deal, IMO.

As for OT being the 4th OFer, Moe's smarter than that. You don't burn service time on a premier prospect so he can be a bench hitter, especially not if you already have a credible option in Jay and/or Robinson.

That's way way too much potential value you've exhausted just to have a guy take a dozen ABs in April. Besides, Taveras struggled a little in Memphis and had some attitude issues. I think they'll start him in AAA and have him earn his way up.

Strangely enough, I could almost see Piscotty making it as a bench hitter before Taveras. It's counter-intuitive, but that will sometimes happen with guys that are seen as good, but not exceptional organizational assets.

A lot of Oscar's maturity issues were in Low A. Temper tantrums in the field and such.

I'm just not as high on Bourjos as other people. Steamer projects him as a 2.6 WAR player w/ 500 ABs, whereas Jay projects to 3.2 over 650. Jay has a better offensive track record, so Freese is a little much for Bourjos when Robinson can give us 90% of his defense.

When he was like 18. I pretty damn immature at 18.
A 4th outfielder is about all we are going to get for him before we have to pay him the $4 Million on Dec. 2nd. I'm okay with Bourjos.

I just don't see how we can bring Freese back as anything but a bench bat and insurance. The Cardinals, fans and Freese just need to move on. It's in everyone's best interests.

Who is wanting that trade?

Most fans I see advocating for a Lynn trade are for Hardy/Andrus level.

Lynn may get $75 million some day but he will still piss down his leg when things go bad for him.

Lynn's biggest problem is he is zipping along and then anywhere from the 4th-6th inning he implodes. He's useless after that.

Lynn is a 3rd to 4th starter who consistently pisses down his leg in the biggest moments. DJ, he's really no different than Jon Jay, and we know how you feel about him. If you look at both of their WAR, they're valuable players, but the course of three consecutive postseasons has revealed them as the type of player that shrinks from the moment time and again.

Lynn was a boss in his first post-season.

Last post-season he was gassed.

This post-season I still don't get the animosity. His Pirates start was lousy, to be sure. But he was stellar in relief against the Dodgers and really, his start against them was solid as well. It got nasty on him there in the 5th, but he recovered and was actually looking pretty good in the 6th before his defense hurt him and I believe Matheny pulled him too soon.

In game 4 of the WS the guy put up a WHIP right at 1 and had a solid K rate. He was coasting in the 6th inning of that game as well and was out of that damn inning until Pedroia hit a great pitchers pitch and fisted it into the OF. Matheny had him IBB Ortiz (foolishly) and then ****ed him over when he brought in Maness to give up that HR.

Lynn actually pitched a good game but he got victimized by a flare single and shitty managing.

I think we get a lot of confirmation bias when people analyze Lance Lynn.

Lynn also came in and effectively salted away Game 6 of the WS. He was decent enough in the first PS...as a reliever.

He gave up a walkoff HR to Werth in Game 4 of the NLDS last year as well.

The problems with Lynn have always been the same: he's going to pick an inning to implode, and he's going to go through a six week to two month stretch where he pitches like Kip Wells.

He is a solid 3, which is valuable. He has the stuff to be even better. He isn't Carp or Wainright in his make up on the mound, but few consistently have that edge. I think he is a chip for bargaining for sure, but we should expect strong value in return.

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that the Cardinals and Angels are still working on a trade, "likely involving David Freese and Peter Bourjos."

Fletcher notes, though, that "some more pieces need to be involved." He was the one that reported Thursday that the Cards wouldn't trade Freese for Bourjos straight up, so the Angels will likely have to throw in a prospect or two to make the trade work. St. Louis is unwilling to part with their young pitching for Erick Aybar, so it appears that the trade would be limited to Freese and Bourjos, plus whatever secondary pieces can be agreed upon.

Are the Angels assuming that Pujols' ability to produce has something to do with some type of synergy with Freese being across the diamond and vice versa?

Why would they want Freese?

So they can alternate Trumbo and Pujols at first and DH.

I don't understand why the Cardinals wouldn't float Kelly+Freese for Aybar and Bourjos.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 45s
#Angels getting Salas along with Freese from #STLCards. Freese and Salas for Bourjos and Grichuk.

Grichuk was drafted a pick before Trout, a former first rounder. The OF just turned 22 and hit 22 HR in AA ball last year so he has some pop. I like the trade.

Here's something I found about Grichuk from last February:

http://www.monkeywithahalo.com/prosp...l-grichuk.html

Salas...ROFL...what the ****?

It needed to happen, but trading Freese still makes a part of me sad.

Grichuk's numbers and that scouting report speak to his pop, but the report on his plate discipline and his average and BB% are troublesome. Hopefully, that is fixed with reps.

Interesting that we are stocking up on LD-hitting COF types.

Piscotty, Taveras, Holliday, Jay, Bourjos, and Robinson all look to see OF time in 2014.

Anaheim is to the Cardinals as the Chiefs are to the 49ers - a big red ****ing garbage dump.

Cardinals Continue Being Smart, Acquire Peter Bourjos

by Dave Cameron - November 22, 2013

In the World Series, broadcasts from both TBS and Fox kept telling us how good of a center fielder Jon Jay was. In between plaudits, Jon Jay would inevitably get a poor jump, take a bad route, or just drop an easily catchable ball, sometimes all in the same game. It became something of a running joke, as Jay appeared to be a defensive disaster in the postseason, even while the networks kept insisting that he was terrific with the glove.

Well, the Cardinals clearly weren’t swayed by the rhetoric, and today, they’ve acquired Peter Bourjos from the Angels to be their new center fielder. And now TBS and Fox can properly say that the Cardinals have one of the best defensive center fielders on the planet, because Peter Bourjos is what Jon Jay was supposed to be.

Since 2010, here are the top 5 center fielders in UZR/150 among players who have spent at least 2,000 innings in center field.

Peter Bourjos, +20.2
Carlos Gomez, +18.2
Jacoby Ellsbury, +13.7
Michael Bourn, +9.9
Denard Span, +9.5

Defensive numbers have larger error bars than offensive numbers, but those error bars simply mean we’re asking if Bourjos is the best defensive outfielder in baseball or if he’s merely just very good. With a sample of 2,600 innings, you absolutely have to regress those numbers when projecting future defensive contributions, but even at a 50% regression, Bourjos would still rate as one of the very best defensive center fielders in baseball.

And given what we know about Bourjos’ skills — his speed, his baserunning, and the fact that the Angels pushed Mike Trout to left field because they preferred Bourjos in center — we shouldn’t regress Bourjos back towards a league average mean. We know enough about Bourjos-like players to know that these types of athletes are usually good defenders, and we shouldn’t be surprised that one of the fastest players in the game also rates as one of the most valuable in the field. You don’t want to count on Bourjos maintaining a +20 pace in CF, but a +10 projection isn’t crazy at all.

And when you field like Bourjos does, you can be a pretty terrific player even if you aren’t an amazing hitter. But unlike some other defensive specialists, Bourjos is not a total zero at the plate. For his career, he’s a .251/.306/.398 hitter while playing in a pitcher friendly ballpark, so that grades out to a 96 wRC+. And that’s just what he does at the plate. He’s also one of the game’s best baserunners, so for his career, Bourjos has actually been an above average offensive player, grading out at +4 runs over 1,136 plate appearances. Put him in the #8 spot in an NL line-up where he’ll get walked a decent amount in front of the pitcher, and he could even be more deadly, especially if he regularly steals his way into scoring position.

Add average offense to elite defense and baserunning and Bourjos grades out as a +3 to +4 WAR player over a full season, depending on how aggressive you are with his fielding projection. Steamer gives him a very conservative +5 defensive rating, and still sees him as a +3 WAR player, so it’s reasonable to call that something close to his floor. Well, his healthy floor anyway.

That’s the big rub with Bourjos: health. There’s a reason he’s only racked up 1,136 plate appearances over four seasons, despite being highly productive when on the field. He missed most of the 2013 season with a broken wrist, and it wasn’t the first time his wrists have given him problems. He’s also had some hamstring issues, and we’ve never seen his body hold up under the weight of a full season as a big league regular. To some degree, health is a skill, and it’s one Bourjos hasn’t yet shown, though at the same time, there’s not much reason to believe that Bourjos is fragile for having gotten beaned in the wrist by an errant fastball.

So the Cardinals will take a chance on Bourjos’ health for the chance to get a pretty terrific center fielder, and one that they control for the next three seasons. Bourjos is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter, and his lack of playing time should keep his price reasonable, so the Cardinals should have a productive player making basically peanuts for the next few seasons. This move also allows Jay to slide over to right field, replacing Carlos Beltran, until Oscar Taveras proves that he’s ready for regular action. While Jay is not a great center fielder, he should be a defensive asset in right field, and the Cardinals outfield defense will go from one of the worst in the game to one of the best.

To get Bourjos, the Cardinals sent Anaheim third baseman David Freese and reliever Fernando Salas. Salas is basically nothing, so this can be seen as essentially a Freese for Bourjos swap from the Cardinals perspective. And it’s hard not to love that exchange for St. Louis. Freese has value and is a decent buy-low candidate for the Angels, but his offensive performances have always been heavily driven by BABIP, and his defense went from okay to terrible last year. Even if you expect a nice rebound season, Freese still projects as an inferior player to Bourjos, he has one less year of team control, and will be more expensive in his final two seasons of arbitration. Oh, he’s also older, and not exactly the picture of durability himself.

It’s hard to see any area where Freese is better than Bourjos. This trade will be sold as speed-and-defense for power, but Bourjos actually has a higher career Isolated Slugging mark than Freese does. This is an average hitting elite defender for a slightly above average hitting meh defender, only the meh defender costs more and is closer to the end of his career.

Moves like this are why the Cardinals are one of the best run organizations in baseball. They get younger, cut costs, setup their team for the future, and get the better player in return. Oh, and they got the Angels to throw in a prospect, even if not a very good one, just for the fun. The Indians spent $48 million to buy this skillset in an aging Michael Bourn last winter, but the Cardinals figured out how to turn an aging third baseman coming off a bad year into a nearly free version of the same thing.

The Angels needed a third baseman, I guess, but they traded a good player for a worse player who costs more. Anaheim keeps spinning their wheels, while the Cardinals keep marching on towards sustained excellence. Some things really do stay the same.
<!-- m -->
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/cardi...peter-bourjos/

So Bourjos and a a decent prospect for Salas and Freese? Sounds pretty good to me.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Lot of reporting left to do, but was planning to put Grichuk No. 2 on Angels list. Initially looks like he'll move to No. 10 on Cards list.</p>&mdash; JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) <a href="https://twitter.com/jjcoop36/statuses/403976444986273792">November 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There's a fair amount of info out there on Grichuk.


http://www.scoutingbook.com/players/p2615

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...-update/page/5

http://www.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2013/

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...rticleid=17934

Looks like MLB has slotted him in at 11 for the Cards, right behind James Ramsey.

This is a great deal. It also makes you wonder if Grichuk wasn't included in the deal specifically to make a Taveras/Profar trade more doable.

I'm still terrified of making that trade, to be honest. But the Cards have been on Grichuk for awhile (scouted him in 2009 for the supplemental draft, even did a pre-draft workout at Busch with him) and maybe they see him as a legitimate option for 2015 and beyond in RF.

I really don't want to trade Taveras. At all.

Can Grichuk play LF? It seems we are getting a glut of RF but not a lot of CF or LF.

Anybody that can play RF can play LF.

So yes. He played some everywhere last year and won a minor league gold glove for his efforts.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...vkey=news_milb

This is a no-bullshit, legitimate prospect, IMO.

Good find, DJ

This could also mean Taveras in RF, Craig at 1B, leaving Adams as a trade chip for SS such as Andrus or Hardy?

The only way Hardy is traded is if someone overpays and that wont happen.

I doubt the Rangers have a use for Adams at this point.

And Adams for Hardy would be an absolute reaming.

I think this means Taveras isn't on the big club next year until July at the earliest. This isn't an organization that rushes its prospects into starting roles - it never has been. Craig, Carpenter, Wacha, Adams, Jay, even Molina, Miller and others - they've all had a month or more as a major league apprenticeship.

The Cardinals don't give rookies starting jobs. Pujols is the last guy I remember that went to camp and flat took a starting gig away from someone. Everyone else either builds towards it the season before or earns it as the season progresses.

I've always liked the way the Cardinals handle the young guys in that regard.

Supposedly did but the Angels insisted on Miller for Aybar.

I know but what if he would have stayed and sucked like he did last year? At least now he can still live in 2011 Cardinals lore. Fans will still love the guy for 2011 and the 2012/2013 bad season memories will fade away.

I hope he turns it around in LA.

He was great in 2012. Freese's biggest issue was his inability to stay healthy, which caused him to age in dog years. He's going to go somewhere where he can still play every day, so he has a chance to make a little bank before it's all done. He handled his demotion really well last year. I hope the guy stays healthy and hits another 100 HR, but I highly doubt that happens.

I disagree with your assesment of Freese's performance in 2012 but whatever, doesn't matter.

Freese was responsible for one of any Cardinal fans best memories evah. One of the best WS baseball games evah. I still can't believe what I saw. I'd love to meet him someday and thank him.

Jerry Crasnick ‏@jcrasnick 2m
Free agent Jhonny Peralta closing in on a deal with #STLcards, source confirms.

****.

Peralta is Dominican for "plays when the **** he wants to".

Dude wants 5/$75. We can't be that ****ing stupid.

Cano wants $300 million. Do you think either are getting anywhere near that?

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 36s
A team that offered $52M for 4 yrs for peralta was told they're not even in game. will be fascinating how high it goes.


WOW

I'm hearing also that trade demands for young SS were ridiculously highly, everyone was asking for Miller, Wacha, Rosenthal, etc. I'd rather overpay a FA than part with a few of them. And at least he can hit.