Here’s a bit of "pure speculation" from Buster Olney: he wonders if the Cardinals have scaled back their payroll going forward.
Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III recently sounded reluctant to lower payroll, saying it would lead to a "spiral" he’d rather avoid.
The Cards have been patient on the free agent market so far, but the Mark Teixeira saga slowed everything down, so they could be more active soon. Now that they seem to have pulled their offer to Brian Fuentes, the Cardinals’ next steps will be telling.
Olney’s sources tell him that some teams have scaled back spending by as much as $20MM for next year and more may do the same as they project their revenues in the weakened economy.
