I'll remind everyone, if you have a concern about how things are moderated...please send me a private message (or the involved mods).
I'll do you the courtesy of explaining my thoughts here:
Personally, I loathe baseball and see no reason to have a baseball thread. I'd just as soon see the Cardinals lose every game. But its an off-hockey topic that holds interest for a lot of board regulars. I do not want the hockey conversation to get tainted with this heresy, so I stickied the thread. Any other posts on baseball won't be found in the body of the forum. Seems like a win/win to me. Everyone knows which thread to avoid if you don't want to see it.
Edit:
I am sad we had to change the name of the thread, though.
Last edited by 2 Minute Minor: 04-20-2011 at 12:17 AM.
Damn people here sure are touchy about the C*r*i*a*s.
Kind of reminds me of when I was interviewing for a job a long time ago and my future boss asked me if was a Cubs fan. I told him that I hope the Cubs lose every single game.
I think Motte has that "eff you" attitude needed of a closer.
I agree with that, but I prefer Boggs' stuff.
I watch most Cardinals games on MLB.tv, but living in the UK and not reading STLtoday I am in a bit of a vacuum when it comes to overall opinion on the team and management.
I think that TLR has handled the entire Franklin situation very, very badly. He perfectly summed that up by putting him in to clean up another pitchers mess the other night against the Reds.
Obviously Franklin shouldn't be the closer, but there is now talk about whether Franklin can be effective in any role and that is a situation that was avoidable.
How do you guys feel about Pujols's future with the club?
I know it is talked about alot but the comments made by the ESPN crew during the game Sunday night got me thinking about what happens to this team if he does leave.
How do you guys feel about Pujols's future with the club?
I know it is talked about alot but the comments made by the ESPN crew during the game Sunday night got me thinking about what happens to this team if he does leave.
They need to resign him, they can't really afford to lose the best player in the game for nothing. That said, if he is sticking by his deadline and refusing to talk deal then I'd have to question his desire to remain in the city.
I understand that he wants to be the best paid 1B, and he has a lot of importance on his place in history. Part of that is team success, and if it means paying Albert $26m (at least) a year then how competitive can the Cards be? The payroll has just up to nearly $110m this year (from something like $95m), if that is sustainable then it is certainly possible to build a winning team around Pujols and Holliday.
Honestly though? Unless he has the desire to remain in St. Louis then other teams can offer a better package. The fact is that the Cubs have the money, they have a stadium that certainly wouldn't hurt his individual numbers and he would have the chance to be the key in ending their drought. That is more attractive from a financial and "place in history" viewpoint.
Angels maybe? I don't think the Rangers could afford him. Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox have their first baseman, and Pujols isn't going to want to be a DH or move to the outfield.
How do you guys feel about Pujols's future with the club?
I know it is talked about alot but the comments made by the ESPN crew during the game Sunday night got me thinking about what happens to this team if he does leave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crackout
They need to resign him, they can't really afford to lose the best player in the game for nothing. That said, if he is sticking by his deadline and refusing to talk deal then I'd have to question his desire to remain in the city.
I understand that he wants to be the best paid 1B, and he has a lot of importance on his place in history. Part of that is team success, and if it means paying Albert $26m (at least) a year then how competitive can the Cards be? The payroll has just up to nearly $110m this year (from something like $95m), if that is sustainable then it is certainly possible to build a winning team around Pujols and Holliday.
Honestly though? Unless he has the desire to remain in St. Louis then other teams can offer a better package. The fact is that the Cubs have the money, they have a stadium that certainly wouldn't hurt his individual numbers and he would have the chance to be the key in ending their drought. That is more attractive from a financial and "place in history" viewpoint.
Angels maybe? I don't think the Rangers could afford him. Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox have their first baseman, and Pujols isn't going to want to be a DH or move to the outfield.
I think what the Cardinals are going to have to do is take a similar path to a lot of NHL teams... Pay a handful of players big money and fill out the rest of the roster with cost controlled homegrown talent. I question whether or not the Cardinals farm system is strong enough for this, but it has certainly become better in recent years. Build around players like Pujols, Wainwright, Holliday, Molina, Rasmus, and fill in the rest of the roster with cheap players(Skip Schumaker, Nick Punto, etc.) and/or cost controlled players(Rasmus, Freese, Jay, Craig, Garcia, etc.).
I think the Cardinals should take a lesson from the mid-nineties Blues and the way they handled the Brett Hull situation, it wasn't the franchise's proudest moment. If this current Cardinals ownership/management team lets Pujols walk, it WILL be their defining moment.
With all that being said, 10 years @ 300 million, come on Albert, don't be a greedy d-bag.
I think what the Cardinals are going to have to do is take a similar path to a lot of NHL teams... Pay a handful of players big money and fill out the rest of the roster with cost controlled homegrown talent. I question whether or not the Cardinals farm system is strong enough for this, but it has certainly become better in recent years. Build around players like Pujols, Wainwright, Holliday, Molina, Rasmus, and fill in the rest of the roster with cheap players(Skip Schumaker, Nick Punto, etc.) and/or cost controlled players(Rasmus, Freese, Jay, Craig, Garcia, etc.).
I think the Cardinals should take a lesson from the mid-nineties Blues and the way they handled the Brett Hull situation, it wasn't the franchise's proudest moment. If this current Cardinals ownership/management team lets Pujols walk, it WILL be their defining moment.
With all that being said, 10 years @ 300 million, come on Albert, don't be a greedy d-bag.
To be fair, there was only really one direction for the farm system to go. While it has got better, it would be a stretch to even call it middle-of-the-pack in relation to the other MLB teams.
I agree that having a few top players and then padding out the rest of the roster with cheap/cost-controlled players.
When it comes down to the Pujols deal, I do wonder how much of an impact La Russa has on it. I think the Cardinals should be looking in another direction come next season (Oquendo), but TLR and Pujols are very close. Pujols hinted a couple of seasons back that a decision to remain in St. Louis could be affected by whether or no La Russa is manager.
Im still not a believer that he is asking for 10-years 300 mil I think he is looking for something more like 8-years 27 mil annually. I honestly still believe he is a cardinal for life. I think the cards will pay him and will be forced to use lots of low pay players. I'm interested to see what guys like zach cox and shelby Miller can do in the minors this season.
I think DeWitt should pay Pujols almost as much as he wants because Pujols is going to turn right around and give away millions of dollars in grants and money for foundations.
I say pay the man cuz it's going to go back into the community. Wherever he spends his money will enjoy a mini-infusion of relief cash.
The guy pretty much earned them a new stadium ala Brett Hull. It's silly not to reward the best player you've had in a long time, and one of the best in the history of your sport. Not paying him just means watching him make millions, upon millions, upon millions of dollars for another franchise by winning championships for them. Even if he's dominating the payroll for the Cards he's still the one bringing in the majority of that cash with his career.
As for Ryan Franklin I just don't see a place for him on this team. He's still struggling being put in a setup or middle relief role. He just doesn't have it.
He misses his spots, his velocity is down. The guy is what, 38?
Sometimes you have to know when to fold them..that goes for TLR too..
Too many positions to fill for me to ever take football drafting seriously. Oh man that one guy that's anything but a quarterback might have a 4% impact on the team!
Pujols is starting to look at little sharper this week. He went 3-for-3 with a walk against the Marlins last week, but even then, didn't look too good in doing so. Has looked better over the past couple of days. García pitching tonight in the rubber game against the Cubs; with any luck he can continue his start to the season!
Hopefully TLR recovers from the shingles and gets full vision back in his eye.
