Lohse/Cardinals Deal Official

Post Dispatch says it's a done deal:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/ACFA084AAA7A730B8625740B006B79E6?OpenDocument

You do realize that in 2007, Lohse vs the NL Central: 11 starts, 70.6 IP, 21 ER, 2.68 ERA.

Yeah, REAL great for the NL Central.

the noly positive i see from this is maybe now reyes wont be in the rotation. he couldnt be worse than reyes thats for sure. u know the cardinals used to be good.

This is a good signing (if at 1/$4-5m).

Lohse would have made a nice insurance policy for teams going with lots of youngsters or fragile arms in their rotation.

If the Cards aren't contending I'd put money on Lohse being flipped at the trade deadline to a desperate team.

Joe Strauss says that Lohse will be signed for just over $4 m/1 year.

Also another tidbit: The Indians will not allow the Cardinals to keep Brian Barton unless he makes the roster.

1 year and 4 mil sounds ok i guess. and barton isnt going anywhere. he has looked very good in spring training. 13 man team looks like pujols, kennedy, izturis, glaus, molina, ankiel, duncan, ludwick, schumaker, miles, larue, barton, and somebody else. maybe gonzalez or maybe brendan ryan. barton isnt a lock but i would be shocked if he doesnt make the team. they can send gonzalez or ryan to the minors.

This just strikes me as really weird... Tim, whats the deal here anyway? How do guys like Jason Marquis and Jeff Suppan get huge, multi-year deals from teams just one year ago and now Lohse (who is not only younger than both of them but arguably better too) barely gets a 1 year deal at half the cost of Suppan?

Have major league teams completely changed the way they view marginal free agent pitchers in just one year???

ok don i will respond to that. tim writes them, others discuss them. lohse is not that good. suppan got his contract for what he did in the playoffs way more than what he did in the regular season. he was big time in the playoffs. and marquis, like ive been telling everyone in the recent video mailbag post, should never have gotten that kind of contract.

It really sucks to see Mo panicking like this. When people start getting healthy, Lohse is at best the 8th or 9th best SP the Cards have

Soriano, Ramirez, and Lee, time to tee off.

"When people start getting healthy, Lohse is at best the 8th or 9th best SP the Cards have"

I totally disagree. He could end up being your 2nd best guy this year! Mulder may not be good ever again, Carp is a question mark, but I think we can safely say he is better. But other than Carp and Wainwright, this guy could be as good as any of the rest of the guys on your roster. Good signing for the money.

If this is for 4-5MM I think it means that the Mariners got screwed in the Silva signing. 44 extra million for a pitcher that is only a little bit better doesn't make sence to me. Lohse has more upside too. I say the Cardinals keep him untill the trade deadline and ship him away. Kyle Lohse: great signing! Carlos Silva: terrible signing!

I can't believe that I'm arguing with with cards fan that they made a good signing...when I'm a cubs fan. Aren't we supposed to be taking the opposite positions here? Here is to both being open minded!

ok ill respond to a couple more then its bedtime. i was being sarcastic about the silva signing. that had to be the worst signing of the offseason. its right up there with last years pierre, matthews, and marquis contracts. yes that is funny aduncaroo. given how bad the cards will probably be this year i have to be open minded and given the cubs history, even with a good team you better be as well. the cards will be back in form by 09 so the cubs better take advantage of this year. barring injury i cant see how they dont at least win the division.

Here's my supposition as to why teams spent like they were printing money last year: Didn't the latest revenue deal become final last year, giving each team extra money to burn (and many did just that)?

Plus, in this era of statistical emphasis where most if not all clubs have a numbers guy on payroll, I'm sure there's a voice of reason telling the salivating GMs that guys like Lohse, Weaver, etc. just aren't that good...and showing them numbers to prove it.

As for Reyes, the Cardinals said they wanted to have him spend '07 in AAA, but injuries forced them down an alternate path. I'm sure they'll take advantage of that option this year, barring Reyes WINNING a spot.

I agree, Devlsh. I think this is a reach of a deal to grab a pitcher out of the bargain basement in hopes of appeasing some fans, when the reality is that this is just going to piss them off even more, which I love. Go Cubbies!

http://bsidesports.blogspot.com

The Cubs are a big market team. The Cardinals... not so much.

The back-loaded contracts won't matter much, especially if the new owner is Mark Cuban. (Yes, there is hope. I'm a Cubs fan, remember?)

cardsfan,

Since when have the Cubs done anything to please their fans? People in Cubdom have wished for years that the Cubs would go after Type A Free Agents, and ownership refused. Come on, people outside of Wrigleyville talk like the Cubs are leasing the future on the here and now when that just isn't the case. It's just as you said, the market is nuts right now, and you have to be willing to shell out the big bucks in order to sign the free agents that are going to put you over the hump. Give me a break, to say that the free agent signings over the past three years have been a result of the fans is just stupid.

http://bsidesports.blogspot.com

Cardsfan05, perhaps you should take a moment and read my entire comment?

I just have to say it, even though it doesn't have anything to do with this. The Yankees are a bunch of jerks. Billy Crystal has too much class to play on their team.

Duncan said today, "I was trying to knock the ball out of his mitt" when he went in with high spikes. Sounds like A-Rod's knock at the first baseman's glove in game 7 of that ALCS. What a bunch of babies.

Posted by: TheGrinch | March 13, 2008 at 10:49 PM

if your gonna talk about a baseball team with the highest class it's the yankees, if you have read about it, billy crystal birthday wish was to play on the yankees, it's not like the yankees begged him to play, its just sad to see when people talk bad about the yankees, then you know for sure they are haters, at least you could have found a topic that had to do something with the yanks.

Hummm, Lohse is rather unwanted as a whole and has to settle for “only” 4.25M… Yeah, this games issues are sometimes like neon signs covering the Moon…

But, Kyle did pitch LgAvg-ish as a whole over 200-ish Innings, and really faired well against the NL-C. Cards got themselves a good deal having him fall in their laps like this. Little lost with a good possibility of LgAvg-ish 200IP ~ cant beat that off the scrapheaps at a bargain (for the game)

Why does everyone think Dave Duncan is a magician who can fix any pitcher?

ROFL @ "A fine signing..."