The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

[Legionnaire]

Tanaka to Milwaukee would make for the most interesting storyline, I think.

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by Legionnaire

Tanaka to Milwaukee would make for the most interesting storyline, I think.

Quote: Originally Posted by k_mac

My vote's for Cleveland, because.. well, why not? Lol, those fans need something to be excited about. It'll make the AL Central pretty interesting.

Quote: Originally Posted by KBLover

Mariners gets my vote. They seem to love Japanese players there - I remember when Ichiro was there - big deal and was almost like a bridge between NPB and MLB. I could see Seattle bringing Tanaka and reviving that Ichiro-type mania all over again, could be the shot in the arm that franchise needs, and, like you said, a potential two-headed dragon at the top of the rotation in that park...nasty.

Excellent, I see that the discussion is really pointing towards one team haha.

SAVING SHORTSTOP
Offseason Part 1

So while we let the Tanaka sweepstakes marinate, Willie Singleton and the Cardinal's Brain Trust go to work on finishing up the winter meetings. First and foremost, our top priority was finding a shortstop.

I know, it sucks from a fan standpoint that J.J Hardy had to go back to the Orioles. I'll definitely miss his tape measure shots and how the fans booed him every time he stepped up to the plate because I handed him the #5... you know who's old number.



Well crap... Now that Hardy, a known connoisseur's of St. Louis clubs and Cherry Coca-Cola is gone, we need someone to organize the party... and let me tell you folks, it sure as hell wasn't gonna be Matt Carpenter.

Up until this point in the offseason, Willie Singleton had done jack squat and I would actually contend that we had gotten worse over the course of the Winter Meetings. I mean just look at the names that we lost:

Quote:

Chris Carpenter- Got the ring and joined the front office. J.J. Hardy-Wakes up back in Baltimore wondering what the hell happened. Rafael Furcal- Played out of his mind and capitalized on his value with a nice minor league contract with the Marlins. Fernando Salas- Disappeared to the Angels in exchange for "That One Guy Selected Before Mike Trout." Adron Chambers- After showing that he could in fact hit .230 in 400 ABs, he found himself in Huston smoking cigars with Jeff Luhnow. Carlos Beltran- Took a massive contract from the Yankees as part of their "Youth Movement."

That's 3 starters, a crucial bench piece and a decent bullpen arm not to mention one of our best starting pitchers from the past decade. I mean dang, we had to do something. So Willie went down to the hotel lobby and began hunting for a shortstop and ultimately stumbled upon this guy:



Juicin' Jhonny Peralta! Say it ain't so Willie... Say it ain't so! But wait... This is exactly the type of player that we need. Someone with decent range at the shortstop position, who can hit 20 or 30 bombs a year and already has a thuggish, almost goonish reputation in the league... This could actually work out. Now we got somebody to organize the after game parties and hit a few bombs while he's at it. I don't think it gets any better than this. He's not exactly the best "Jhonny/Johnny" on the party scene but with that type of talent and party organizing ability, Peralta truly is a complete package.

So Willie dialed up Jhonny's agent and pitched a quaint 53 million dollar deal to the man that would keep him in St. Louis for 4 years. When you start throwing that type of money around, its hard for anyone to not sign and ultimately, Juicin' Johnny Peralta found our offer too good to refuse.

[royals19]

RELIEVING THE RELIEVERS.
Offseason Part 2

Coming into the offseason, I really thought the bullpen was our biggest need. But the more I looked at some of the arms in our system, I don't think it's that big an issue. Jason Motte should be ready to start the year, Kevin Seigrist got better after more seasoning in AAA, Trevor Rosenthal should be ready to close this season... Overall, I think we're one good arm away from fixing this bullpen issue.



As you can tell, the bullpen market sucks eggs. A lot of these relievers are older and probably going to be on the decline in the next few years. It doesn't really make any sense for us to dip our toe into this market because we all know that high dollar deals for bullpen arms don't go very well usually.

To make matters worse, Edward Mujica who was last year's best reliever, won't be resigning with us. I'm sorry but no way are we paying 7 million annually for a closer when Trevor Rosenthal can be just as good... if not better.

We were already invested in signing J.P. Howell for 2 years. I hate giving a left-handed specialist a big time 2 year deal but it is what it is. We can't repeat our success if we don't have the capability to get left-handed hitters out.

So following that obvious signing, Willie dipped into the closer market.

Don't worry, we aren't replacing Trevor Rosenthal as closer because that'd be hella stupid. The closer market was slightly better than the reliever market. Joel Hanrahan missed all of last season with some sort of injury and we pounced right on him. With the market virtually stalled by the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes, we were throwing buckets of money left and right all the while completely unopposed.



And that's how we were able to sign Joel Hanrahan for a meager 857K. Had there actually been more teams, the market would have exploded on Hanrahan and he would've been seeing millions.

Willie also signed Jose Valverde to an undisclosed minor league deal with the intention of making him a reclamation project because we still think that he has the ability to pitch at a high level with the proper system and also because that dude is funny as all get out. We'll probably end up recapping his ascent back to the show in the pages of this year's thread so keep an eye out.




While signing Jhonny Peralta was fun and so was signing Howell, Valverde and Hanrahan, the best move of the offseason is just around the corner....

[beamerball811]

Like the franchise, both parts.

Would like to see Tanaka revive the Phillies, but it would also be cool to see the Cards face him several times a year against Milwaukee.

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by beamerball811

Like the franchise, both parts. Would like to see Tanaka revive the Phillies, but it would also be cool to see the Cards face him several times a year against Milwaukee.

THE OUTFIELD
Offseason Part 3

Thanks for following dude!

Entering the closing days of the Winter Meetings, we had fixed 2 of our key needs but Center Field still remained. At this point, it wouldn't have been that disappointing if we walked away from the Winter Meetings without a center fielder. I suppose another year of Jon Jay out there wouldn't be that bad... But then again, I'm not sure if I can deal with him deciding whether or not to be a star...

So where were we? Ahh... Yes. So when we originally came to the winter meetings, Willie Singleton got in contact with Scott Boras and offered Jacoby Ellsbury a slim 2 year 22 million dollar deal. There was very little expectation that he was going to sign and it was more of a due diligence type of thing. Ain't no way the best player on the whole market is going to take that type of low ball offer. He's gonna want 20 years, 400 million and a ridiculous season ticket package.



Further compounding the situation was the fact that the Brewers hopped into the bidding and offered him a 4 year 72 million dollar deal. It made little sense because they already had Braun, Gomez and the rising Khris Davis in left but you can't deny that they would've easily had the most dynamic outfield in baseball.

Later on in the meetings, with no news from Boras, Willie got in contact with a few general managers and began his search for a center fielder. Ultimately, it boiled down to a package to get Peter Bourjos from the Angelsand a package to get Adam Eaton from the Diamondbacks. There were questions about Bourjos' bat that ultimately led us towards Eaton because we're trying to add offense to this team while not subtracting defense. Eaton hit .300 on the dime last season while starting for Arizona. The kid also had 37 stolen bases. The only problem with bringing in Eaton was that he was too good of a center fielder. Ultimately, we want Oscar Taveras to start in Center and by putting Eaton in center, it creates a log jam. We have Stephen Piscotty in AAA, Craig Romo has tremendous upside in Center Field and our system is loaded with toolsy outfielders. Creating a log jam with Eaton was the last thing we wanted to do.

However, Willie wasn't sure how much longer he could deal with Jon Jay's polarizing play and that's why he sat here on the phone with Kevin Towers ready to pull the trigger on a deal that would send Eaton to St. Louis. Right as the deal was about to go through, he got another call. This time, from Scott Boras himself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boras

I don't know what in Sam Hill is the matter with him but Ells has decide to accept your offer of 22 million over 2 years.

Ha! It worked! We lowballed the heck out of virtual Jacoby Ellsbury and it paid off. The fact that he also elected to take our lowball offer over the Brewers lavish offer makes this signing even more sweet. The signing reunites Willie Singleton with the player that helped make him big. Singleton scouted and developed Ellsbury during his days with the Red Sox. Without the success of Ellsbury, it's unlikely that Willie would even be in this position.

[CameRoN0407]

So either way you ended up with Ellsbury, great signing! I still hate him very much though.

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by CameRoN0407

So either way you ended up with Ellsbury, great signing! I still hate him very much though.

Haha I had a feeling you might say that. I wasn't really anticipating signing Ellsbury... especially after the Brewers offered him bank to go up there and become part of the best outfield in baseball. I'm glad that we have him though because it finally gets me a good lead-off hitter, a base stealing threat and an awesome defender. His value to our team is going to be extraordinary.

THE REST OF THE MARKET
Offseason part 4

While the hometown Cardinals reloaded with an impressive free agent class, the rest of the league was busy at work as well. As soon as the Ellsbury signing went down, the market suddenly became flooded with max money offers to a variety of great players.

Now before we get to a full blown recap of the rest of the league's additions, let's take one last look for organizational purposes of what the hometown Cardinals came away with:

Quote:

Cardinals 2013-2014 Free Agent Class Jacoby Ellsbury J.P. Howell Joel Hanrahan Jose Valverde Jhonny Peralta

Is it a coincidence that all of our players names begin with J? Probably not but we'll save that for another day. Obviously bringing in 5 new players in one offseason is quite a bit but these are all player types that we need. We could've rolled with Taveras in center and then done something in right be we needed to add another impact player one way or another. We had to address short and the postseasons gods know that we had to do something about our bullpen this offseason.



Rise of the Mariners

Quote:

The Mariners backed up the dump truck and drowned Robinson Cano in money to bring him to the rainy city of Seattle. The good news for Mariners fans is that this is probably the best they've been since the days of Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. The bad news however remains that they have to compete with the Angels, Rangers and Athletics. I'm sorry but Robinson Cano won't win you a title by himself.

Yankees give finger to everybody; Say no to rebuild

Quote:

I don't like this any more than the next guy. The Yankees once again pulled money out of thin air and basically retooled their squad. They had an opportunity to begin the youth movement but instead decided to throw money at Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Brian Roberts and stall the youth movement another year. They could be good this year but they need all of these older guys to remain healthy. We'll see if the Bronx Bombers fly this season or fall apart midflight.

A little Milwaukee Money

Quote:

If the Brewers could **** us off even more, they went out and tried to match us blow for blow. The Brewers signed Tim Hudson, Josh Johnson, Kendrys Morales and Brian Wilson. Instead of going for actual talent, the Brewers for whatever reason brought in the biggest thugs on the market. All they're missing is A-Rod and they'll be easily the most goonish team in the league. I have a feeling they're going to be a pesky team that wont go away. What should've been a 3 team race between us, the Pirates and the Reds has suddenly developed into a mess similar to what we see in the AL East in terms of competitiveness.

[lilbiggio]

Congrats on the Jacoby steal in the Winter Meetings. That's going to be a fun table setter for you.


So we got 4 teams clearly putting their name in the pot for the division crown. Are the Cubs out of it already prior to the first day of the season? Sucks to be them.