2007 St. Louis Cardinals

Wait a second, has it been established that Buehrle's option won't be picked up? That seems like a huge mistake by the White Sox, despite his bad season.

I'm pretty sure the Pale Hose will exercise both Dye and Buerhle's option, unless they share drinking water with Ozzie Guillen..

The Cards are a tough group to figure out right now, they have 1 god like player and 1 god like pitcher, a couple of good players, and tons and tons of mediocrity. it's going to be hard to sort out, and I for one think they'll probably lose the division next year if SOMEONE in that division actually builds a real team. or the Brewer's manage to play to their potentials.

The catching market out there is depressingly thin, though I suppose they could try to bring in Yadier's brother .. who might be able to agree to a low balled contract.

With the rest of the infield all pretty good defenders the Cards might one of the few teams that could risk Alfonso Soriano the 2B .... though i'd think they want a lefty power bat if thats what they can go for...

Gary Mathews is probably the biggest potential bust this off season , I doubt the Cards will sign him. Dave Roberts is a ok choice but again , he'd be just so agonizingly above average.

I think they REALLY should try to see if they can flip Juan Encarnacion for prospects or even money. and get a Frank Catallato or Dave Dellucci type and then go get a Dave Roberts type . that would probably work out better. and then grab another journeyman 2B and pick up Bengie if possible. and then add in more mediocarity to fill out their rotaiton... and again hope that Sir Albert + Sir Chris will lead the rest of the oh so slightly above average group to another playoff series loss.

Um, roto, you mean "best presumably steroid-free hitter of your generation." Right?

"Said scrappy player will then be foolishly called team's MVP by John Kruk despite presence of the best hitter of my generation at first base."

I just love these snarky comments.

Remember what happened to Ryan Madson? I'd make Wainwright the closer as well. Keep Blooper as a setup man... I guess. UGH.

Here's a crazy thought...there's a lot of teams that need a 3B...trade Rolen to the Angels for Figgins and E. Santana. Go after Soriano

Your mention of the "proven vets" for youngsters line got me thinking that STL could be a target for the Nats to trade Vidro to. Thoughts?

Makes plenty of sense, assuming Bowden eats most of the $16MM due to him for 2007-08.

*sigh* Why must you always crash my flights of fancy?

Worst. Contract. Ever.

they should trade isringhauen, hes going to have the same year next year

"Worst. Contract. Ever."

Close but I'd still go with an 8 year, $121 million contract for Mike Hampton. He made $14,475,185 in 2006.....my brain hurts.

my plan for the cardinals:
move encarcion to center and sign jose guillen to play right. Then sign Durham to play second. I hate to think of the defense with juan in center and ray at second, but it's worth it for the offense at that price. Sign lefty killer center-corner tweener to platoon with Duncan and spelll in center. Wilson at about a mill would be ideal.

Then keep wainwright in the pen. He can be a top set-up
man or a bad starter. Also sign a good lefty specilast
but don't spend any more money on the bullpen.

For the rotation to best to sign Suppan to hometown discount. Sign weaver for 4-5 million (he's poised for bounceback). Spend whatever it takes to get schmidt.

This team should be significant improvement over 2006 version.

I hear rincons carrear is probally over.

My thoughts on the 2007 roster...

I think that siging Dave Roberts would be a decent addition. I think the only way Edmonds is a Cardinal next year is if he goes off in the postseason, and it definitely could happen.

Assuming they don't keep him, I say we sign Roberts, move Encarnacion to CF, Duncan to RF, and put Roberts in LF. I would also stick Roberts at the top of the lineup, with Eckstein batting 2nd. That would set up situations of Roberts getting on base, stealing 2nd, and Eck bunting him over to 3rd for Pujols to drive in.

I would also sign Adam Kennedy to play 2nd. We don't need massive power from the position, just somebody that will hit .300, and he can do that. Heck, he even stole 16 bases this year, which would rank him 2nd on the Cards.

Lastly, the rotation. I think you move Wainwright into the rotation, sign Suppan for cheap, and sign one of the #2's that you listed above. Remember this when talking about keeping Wainwright in the pen: it's cheaper to find relief pitching than it is to find starting pitching.

Of course in a perfect world I would love to see us sign Soriano and Schmidt, but I think my suggestion makes much more sense.

That seems to take a lot of power away from the team cr24. It also doesn't seem to be a very good defensive plan.

This might be the year that walt revamps the out field. If the redbirds want to let Jimmy go than replacing him with a second tier outfielder like roberts doesn't make much sense. I see a serious move to try and aquire C. crawford in a Reyes deal, and playing center field is definately an option for him. if a deal can be made for juan, which is probably unlikely, he'll be gone, hopefully he could be replaced with trot nixon.

Add tony's beloved fourth outfieldier with some insurance for duncan and you have a productive, and hopefully very good defensive outield.