The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

[royals19]

INTRODUCTION

"The Unholy Alliance"

While the St. Louis Cardinals basked in the the afterglow of their World Series victory, something sinister was aloof. While the baseball world seemed to be at peace, its outpost in the remote town of Milwaukee was not. The Brewers entered September with a clear edge in the division and, by all accounts, seemed destined for postseason gold. Then something happened; they suffered a Red Sox esque collapse and won a grand total of 4 games.

At the end of the season, the quaint people of Wisconsin were rioting, the papers calling for heads to roll and rumor has it the players were lobbying for change. Still, owner Mike Attanasio stood firm and did not yield to the demands of the masses.

One cold day in November, things changed forever. Attanasio was ordered to sell the Brewers following the release of "obscene" images to TMZ that gave both baseball and the Brewers a black eye. The Brewers were ruined... Baseball in Milwaukee was done.

Almost.

From the smoldering ashes, the most potent front office in baseball rose. After an early retirement as Commissioner, Bud Selig was appointed owner of his beloved Milwaukee Brewers once again to save baseball in Wisconsin. The collapse of the Brewers wasn't a concern... the ramifications of a baseball team going under was. Millions lost in revenue...T.V. ratings go down... America's pastime rides into the sunset.

But not on Bud's watch. He gutted the Brewers front office and brought in the best and brightest. He stole John Mozeliak from the Cardinals and ordered him to assemble the greatest baseball team since the "Big Red Machine" to dethrone the Cardinals.

Something didn't add up though. Teams as good as the Brewers don't win just 4 games in September for no apparent reason, a good guy like Mark Attanasio doesn't just become the poster boy from TMZ overnight, Bud Selig shouldn't have ridden his popularity back into an ownership job and John Mozeliak shouldn't have just left the Cardinals the day after winning the World Series.

Further complicating the plot was this ongoing dialouge between Mozeliak and Selig during the past season. Could this have been a plot? Was it a signal of a power struggle? Had the Bureaucracy of Baseball failed?

I don't know... They don't know...Nobody knows. All the baseball world knows is that
Nothing Was The Same.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

As the defending World Series champions, the Cardinals shouldn't have to worry about replacing their general manager. They should've been focused on upgrading center field and fixing shortstop. Nevermind that. What was done was done, they would have to replace John Mozeliak.

Despite the loss of Mozeliak, the Cardinals still posessed some great minds like Assistant GM Mike Girsch and head of player development Gary LaRocque. Finding a new GM wasn't as easy as it sounds when you've got some of baseball's best and brightest to choose from.

The Cardinals needed a leader. They needed someone who was good with metrics but was still able to stay in touch with their scout instincts. Most importantly, they needed someone to carry on the "Cardinal Way."

******

11/1/13

The big wigs of the Cardinals front office sat in the board room awaiting Bill DeWitt's decision on who would lead the Cardinals Organization. As the old money in the room puffed on cigars and studied Bill DeWitt's face, they figured it was as good as done that he'd bestow the honorable title of "Cardinals' GM" to one of Mozeliak's trustworthy aides.

But they were wrong.

"I want him." DeWitt declared as he pointed across the table to a young man drawing a picture on his legal pad.

Everyone stopped and looked. The members of the board glared at the young man, the other GM candidates stared blankly at him.

Suddenly the man looked up and counter-studied all of those studying him. Before finally replying in his southern drawl.

"Whatchall want?"

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Hey guys... glad to be back. I went off the grid for about a month so I could take in this year's Royals squad, play a little NBA 2K14 and get rested up for what will probably be another long season with the Cardinals. With OSFM not even a week old and the fact that I'm already sick of watching the Royals, I've decided that now is as good as any to christen a new year of "The Cardinal Way."

With Part 1 getting pretty lengthy, I'll just go ahead and summarize what happened last season in case you don't want to read a true classic.

Our Story So Far (updated 5/5/2014)

After the disastrous 2012 season in Boston, Scouting Director and Player Development guru Willie Singleton went in search of a new job. Following a somewhat awkward interview with John Mozeliak, Willie landed with the Cardinals as a Scouting Director.

While Willie got accustomed to the Cardinals organization, John Mozeliak engaged in some shady backwater discussions with an unknown figure that ultimately resulted in him leaving the Cardinals Organization at the end of the year.

On the field, the Cardinals were a mixed bag. Jon Jay showed star-like potential but was inconsistent, Daniel Descalso hit about .300, Carlos Beltran was hurt quite a bit and never really seemed to get going.

It was a great year for the Cardinals player development system as they saw Kolten Wong and Michael Wacha see success at the big league level. Absent from that list is top prospect Oscar Taveras who hit about .340 with nearly 40 home runs and over 100 RBIs in AAA without a callup.

The Cardinals started out slow and hobbled into the All Star Break. Once the Cardinals got rolling in the weeks immediately following, they went on a tear and absolutely dominated the National League and somehow got into the playoffs as the Central Division Champions.

Behind deadline acquisition J.J. Hardy and rookie Michael Wacha, the St. Louis Cardinals defied expectations and ultimately won the World Series.

And that's where we'll pick up here in season 2...

To catch up on last season, go to the following link:

The Cardinal Way- Crops, Clydesdales and Championships

[AC]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Haha... nice...

With John Mozeliak leaving us hanging basically, new General Manager Willie Singleton was forced to undergo some on the job training. Ain't nothing like sending a brand spankin' new GM to the Winter Meetings without any experience right? Regardless, we were expecting our agenda to get done this offseason.

Heading into the Winter Meetings, we had some items that we absolutely had to address.

Center Field

The Bullpen

Shortstop

Last season, these were arguably our biggest weaknesses. Jon Jay was extremely inconsistent in CF, the bullpen was awful outside of Edward Mujica and as a result of the switch across games, J.J. Hardy finds himself playing not for the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals but back with the Orioles as part of some sort of bad dream sequence.

So ahem, when Willie reached the Winter Meetings, here's the free agent crop he had to work with.



Hmmm.... almost a week into the offseason and no offers to any one? Somethings fishy here... we'll get to that in a minute.

First off, the first player we noticed on the board was Jacoby Ellsbury. Obviously being the top Center Fielder he's going to be on the list for us but he wasn't our number one choice. He's a player that we've had a ton of interest in in the past and we nearly traded for him last season at the deadline before opting to go with J.J. Hardy.

Our plan was to do our due diligence on Ellsbury and then move on and explore trade options because there was no way Ellsbury was going to take anything less than a 6 year $100M+ deal and offering up long term deals isn't something we're necessarily keen on.

More than anything though, we needed to look at the bullpen and fix it. I was hoping there was going to be a gem out there that we could throw a couple stacks at...


...And I couldn't have been more wrong. You'll see that we decided to throw a little money towards J.P. Howell to try and get that left handed specialist that we really lacked last season. While I'm thinking about it, last season, we were loaded with left handed arms but the only problem was that they couldn't actually get left handed hitters out at a good clip.

Willie Singleton therefore decided to throw a 3 year deal at Howell worth 20 million before deciding that a deal of such magnitude was a little too cool for Howell's parade and settled on a 2 year deal worth about 8 millionish.

All that was left to do was sit back and watch the market blow up before going on the prowl for our Shortstop and Center Fielder.

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

Two or three days into the Winter Meetings the news was the same on the market:

No News

Willie sat there in his room and chuckled. "Where do 29 other teams run off to?"

Apparently, Willie hadn't gotten the memo, you see a new import was all the craze at the Winter Meetings this season. While Willie Singleton dipped his toe in the Free Agent water by offering Howell a deal, all the other teams were throwing millions and perhaps billions of dollars at the most valuable player to come out of Japan in years.

No.... Not Yu Darvish... We're talking better... 'betterer.'



We're talking Masahiro Tanaka. A 25 year old ace with cool octane from the right side alongside a wipeout split piece that'll fool even the most seasoned MLB players. You know him right? Best thing since sliced bread? Best pitcher oversees? Supposed to get Mike Trout money?

... Alright, this isn't going anywhere so I'll just go ahead and cut to the chase.

Where the hell do we send Tanaka? Sure we could send him to New York and just be typical and call it good. But talents like this don't hit the market every year...




Masahiro Tanaka Sweepstakes
Rules and Stipulations

These types of things get really outta hand really fast if you don't do them right so I've decided to come up with a few stipulations that any potential bidder must meet.

Rule #1- Teams must be in need of a starting pitcher

Indians
Mariners
Rangers
Phillies
Brewers
Yankees
Angels
Astros

Rule #2- Teams must be able to offer a 20 million dollar contract and have at least 30 million in the bank.

Indians
Mariners
Phillies
Brewers
New York

So following that final stipulation here's the teams left:

Indians- He would be that superstar that Cleveland desperately needs to compete and draw fans.

Mariners- Joining King Felix would make Seattle the clear favorite in the west.

Phillies- The Phillies need Tanaka the most so that they can save the remnants of their empire.

Brewers- John Mozeliak would love to have Tanaka to lead his solid starting staff and to stir our grits.

New York- Pretty cool how this worked out with New York among the finalists


I'll leave this open for a few days so that everyone can have their say in where he goes. I was thinking Milwaukee would be interesting because we'd be going against him all the time and he be a good part of the rivalry but I could also see Philly as a close second.

[KBLover]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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.

[k_mac]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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.

[Legionnaire]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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

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.

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:

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]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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.

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]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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

[royals19]

Re: The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

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:

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

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

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

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.