Considerable uncertainty surrounds the Brewers, who don't yet know whether Ryan Braun will miss 50 games after a positive test for a banned substance. Here are the latest links from the NL Central, which will look much different than it did a year ago whether or not Braun plays a full season in 2012…
- Braun is on his way to Brewers camp and doesn’t know whether he’ll face a 50-game suspension yet, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. A decision is expected today or tomorrow.
- Brewers camp is looking different this year, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes. There are more distractions than the Brewers would like, as Braun's possible suspension looms and the club moves on without Prince Fielder.
- Agent Melvin Roman recently met with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak to discuss an extension for Yadier Molina, Derrick Goold and Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. The most recent round of discussions took place in the past two days and went well, the Post-Dispatch reports. Roman said Tuesday that the sides won't discuss an extension after Opening Day.
- Coco Crisp said the Cardinals offered him a multiyear deal this offseason, Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group tweets. The outfielder eventually signed a two-year, $14MM contract with the Athletics.
- The Pirates nearly signed Chris Gimenez earlier this month, the catcher told Bill Chastain of MLB.com. The Rays signed Gimenez soon after the Mariners released him.
wonder why Crisp didn’t choose the Cards over Oakland? Far better chance of winning.. Money maybe?
Probably money.
I am speculating, but my guess is that Crisp was the Cardinals’ budget-conscious OF addition if they re-signed Albert, so they didn’t offer Coco much $$$ (certainly not 2yrs/$14 like the A’s).
As we know, Albert didn’t re-sign, so that freed up the money to sign Beltran instead of Coco; they may have even pulled the offer to Coco after Albert departed, the tweet merely says there was an offer and does not specifically say Coco declined it.
No insider info here, just proposing a plausible scenario.
I would tend to agree. My guess is they were offering less money to Crisp or at most similar money but very early in the off-season before the market had developed. Once Pujols was gone and Beltran was signed, there was little need for Crisp (even with all the injury risks in the outfield, they’ve got 4 starting-quality outfielders for 3 spots (Jay, Craig, Holliday and Beltran). Adding Crisp would mean fewer at bats for a bat with more power (most likely, unless he’s taking innings away from Jon Jay only)
Crisp is a nice player, but I’m also glad that they have Beltran instead. Beltran adds a bit more pop and while I haven’t watched him regularly for the last few years, I would assume he could probably at least play some innings in CF still, even if he’s old enough and beat up enough to not really be a great everyday CF option.
There is an injury issue with beltran it seems for sure and crisp over the last couple of years, but a huge park would let crisp be the perfect player he is and for fans who have never seen him on a day to day basis.. he is much better than just his stats show..
His lack of huge power would be even less at a place like St louis, but the way he can hit the gaps would allow him to run wild and there are very few people in the game who play CF as well as he does.. He gets some of the best reads off of the bat of anyone have seen in my nearly 50 years of watching the game and his speed allows him to run down balls in the gaps many never dream of.
Now am biased as well towards him.. His win at all costs mentality made me a fan of his during his time with Boston and remain one of his still.
I am so glad he didn’t pick the Cardinals, they needed someone with power
Well either way for Braun, win or lose, we still booze.
I wonder what will happen if Aoki exceeds expectations. If he’s having a monster year do you really bench him?
I would believe that would all depend on how Gamel is doing and if Hart could move to first if Gamel is underperforming. Does Aoki have the arm for right?
Obviously winning isn’t a priority for Coco.
I am pretty sure he said he was only interested in west coast teams.
there’s no way cards came close to 7/ season.
if it was close it was a bad decision on his part..
but i’ll take 14 million to play for the A’s over 8 million to play for the cards any day.
I’m sure this is the case. There’s no way the Cardinals would offer Crisp 7M a year late in the off-season and not be willing to throw in 3M more for Oswalt. They don’t really have a need at either OF or SP, but Oswalt at SP is more of a help for this roster than Crisp at any OF position. I’d imagine the Crisp offer was early in the off-season and much less lucrative (at least in AAV) than the A’s offer.
so we agree… winning isn’t a priority…
As opposed to 95% of players in the league who wouldn’t turn down multi millions to sign for a contender. Especially players who haven’t made that much so far.
so whats your point really?
im simply saying he could have played for the cards (a contender) but he chose to play for the a’s (not a contender) because he got more money.
so he’d rather get a pay day than win a championship.
im not saying i necessarily disagree or that other players dont do the same thing, but i am saying, for coco crisp, winning is not a priority.
He already has rings, that’s why winning isn’t a priority any more
He already has rings, that’s why winning isn’t a priority any more
Chris Gimenez was a better fit for the Pirates with his career .171 batting average.
Because he is jewish, Braun gets favorable treatment.
really now…
agreed