He’s gonna end up in New York right?


If the cards aren’t interested which I’m guessing they aren’t, I wish they’d check in with puig

If anyone is going to the Yankees it's going to be Machado. If its Machado, Harper probably ends up in Philly. Other than Philly the only other player I see for Harper are the Dodgers with the Nationals, Cubs, and Cardinals seemingly taking themselves out.

Theres been rumblings of the White Sox being really interested but I cant imagine he would want to play there unless their offer was off the charts.

I’d guess it’s the Phillies but that’s kinda weird. I mean, I get they’re gonna pay the most but who knows

Why is it weird?

They now have a very good 1/2 hitter in Segura to pair with Hernandez, if they choose not to trade him. They moved Hoskins to first by dumping Santana in the deal which opens up a spot in the OF. Even with Harper they are probably still a player for someone like Pollock or Brantley. And if they don't sign a pitcher they have been linked to talks with the Giants for Bumgarner.

They already won 80 games with a pretty bad team overall so they could very quickly become legit.

Luxury tax calculations are based on AAV. So they can't really 'get creative' unless it's a flat-out 1 year, low AAV deal with a handshake agreement to blow it up the following season. Good luck getting Boras to agree to that.

I guess I just don't understand why they were so eager to pick up Hamels' option here when there are some 'bad contract' pitchers they might have been able to make a move on. Why not send out Heyward for Greinke? There has to be a path towards getting that done, right? Not a simple 1-1 but surely something.

Eh, whatev. He's going to Philly. We'll !@#$ this up when all other appearances suggest we should absolutely be in the running on this thing.

Chance mo is just slow playi........****

It would make sense to use all this powder they’ve kept dry but I’d imagine they kept it dry so the Dewitt’s could deposit it

I have no clue why they picked up Hamels' $20M. I figure they would have re-signed him had they declined and they already offset the extra salary by trading Smyly's $7M to the Rangers so I have to imagine Hamels option came up in those discussions. Pay $6M and get nothing or pay $7M and get something in return and there's still a PTBNL going in each direction that hasn't been settled yet.

Yep, they are eating Fowler’s money no matter what. If you have a shot at Harper you take it. It then REALLY makes the Goldy trade a steal because now you can negotiate an extension from a place of strength not desperation. It also undoubtedly makes you more attractive for him to stay.

As long as we are dreaming...

Carp
Harper
Goldy
Ozuna
Molina
DeJong
Bader
Wong

Bench Bats

Fowler
ONeill
Gyorko
Back up catcher

Theoretically I’d put Ozuna in the 2 hole, Harper in the 3 and goldy at 4

Mo is a sack of donkeycrap. Stop dreaming...

You would have lots of options for that first four for sure. I would definitely start with Harper at 2 or 3.

If Ozuna is healthy and bounces back at least offensively that would be a line up that could really do some damage.

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2018/12...ouis-cardinals

Nice article laying out all the reasons to go all in with Harper too.

Food for thought, we pay Goldy roughly the same for one year as we paid Greg Xxxing Holland!

In today’s dollars we paid McGwire 37m

We have plenty of flexibility to sign Harper. They are going to spend more money, the question is how wisely. Relief pitchers rarely pan out for big dollars, you are almost always paying for past history where often they were worked to death. You can dumpster dive for guys like Norris to fill in set up roles.

Too risky

your out the $50 million no matter what. See if you can get a AA prospect for him if you pay the $50 million for his salary. They got a one time payment of $50 million from MLB last season for the sale of software. Use it to remove this problem.