Winter Meeting Wrapup

The Cardinal contingent has left Indianapolis, headed back to theoretically warmer climes (St. Louis is supposed to be 41 today, Indy 34) and with a couple of new pitchers.  However, there’s no thaw in the relations between them and Scott Boras in regard to the outfielder that is at the top of the list.

There’s been a lot of discussion going on about Boras and his tactics.  Of course, we as Cardinal fans know all about them, but usually from the perspective of the outside looking in.  Sure, Kyle Lohse was a Boras client, but he wasn’t the guy for an offseason.  Matt Holliday is, and so now we are seeing the Boras bells and whistles.

Except they are coming off as tired cliches, aren’t they?  Viva El Birdos hit on this yesterday and I couldn’t agree more.  With the big market teams looking like they are not necessarily willing to be in the mix for Holliday, Boras is left with using his normal devices but on a different theater and finding out they don’t necessarily transfer.

I read a column from Bernie Mikalsz on this topic yesterday, but darned if I can find it now on the Post-Dispatch site.  Basically, though, it boils down to how the market can’t be all that great for Holliday if you are having to try to guilt ownership–St. Louis ownership, especially–into overspending for the guy.

When you start saying things like, “Oh, they can afford it, they just have to want to,” it’s not exactly a position of strength.  On Twitter, I likened it to when I went to buy my house years ago.  They told me I was qualified for X amount of monthly payment.  Sure, I could have paid X.  I wouldn’t have been able to have food in that house or actually light it, but I technically could have made the payment.

I mean, when you are even taking shots at Whitey Herzog’s comments , it seems to me that there’s a whiff of desperation there.  If the big boys aren’t playing, you’ve got to adjust your game and I’m not sure Boras is doing that.

If New York (either team) or Boston were really that interested, I think you’d hear the comments of “multiple offers” and “lots on the table”, things like that, instead of the almost single-minded focus of taking Bill DeWitt to task.  So either Holliday really wants to play in St. Louis, will sign for anything, and Boras is just trying to get that “anything” up, or there’s really not the market they expected out of him.

So let Boras set the pace .  He just might find himself with an outfielder and nobody to play him.  I mean, his touch with reality is a little iffy anyway, since he thinks Rick Ankiel should get a three-year deal with big money.

The Cardinals actually participated in the Rule V draft yesterday, snatching Ben Jukich from Cincinnati .  He’s a lefty with middling numbers, but they don’t expect him to be a specialist.  Which is good, because they already have two of those on staff.  Just a rough sketch means the pitching staff looks like this right now, assuming a 12 man staff.  (As we know, that may not be a valid assumption, at least part of the year.)

Starters: Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, Brad Penny, Jaime Garcia
Closer: Ryan FranklinLOOGYs: Trever Miller, Dennys Reyes
Others: Jason Motte, Blake Hawksworth, Jukich, Kyle McClellan

That’d be my guess, at least.  However, that leaves out Mitchell Boggs, who has a good chance of making the club.  It could be that, if the Cards are able to sign another starter, a couple of these younger arms are sent out in another deal.  Something to keep an eye on, anyway.

Hope you all have a good weekend and maybe there will be some news early next week!