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Berkman Plans To Play In 2012, Prefers St. Louis

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | August 24, 2011 at 7:37pm CDT

Lance Berkman recently suggested that he’ll be prepared to walk away from the game after the season if he doesn’t see contract offers he likes as a free agent. But he said today that he intends to play in 2012 and that the Cardinals would be his “first choice,” according to Matthew Leach of MLB.com.

"I'm sure I'll play next year somewhere," he said. "Hopefully it will be here [in St. Louis], but part of that is not up to me.”

Berkman explained that St. Louis appeals to him because the Cardinals have a “great group of guys” and aren’t rebuilding. The 35-year-old signed a one-year, $8MM deal with the Cards last offseason. He has a .291/.404/.576 line with 29 home runs this year and projects as a Type A free agent, according to our latest rankings.

Last week Berkman told Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he'd prefer to land in one of "three or four" destinations. The Astros, who traded Berkman to the Yankees last summer, wouldn't be a fit for him anymore.

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St. Louis Cardinals Lance Berkman

Astros To Keep Wandy Rodriguez
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AL East Notes: Red Sox, Yankees, Maddon
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35 Comments

  1. gunsnascar

    14 years ago

    Berkman has played so well this year that he deserves a 2-3 year 16-24 mil deal hopefully with the cubs as their new 1st baseman next year.

    Reply
    • wickedkevin

      14 years ago

      With the no-trade of Pena, I doubt it. 

      Reply
      • gunsnascar

        14 years ago

        pena’s contract expires in 6 weeks

        Reply
        • wickedkevin

          14 years ago

          Yeah…I know….I’m saying since they DID NOT trade him, even though his contract is expiring in 6 weeks, it looks like they want to resign him.

          Reply
          • timmytwoshoezzz

            14 years ago

            “It looks like they want to resign him”

            Who is they?  The Cubs don’t even have a GM.  Your theory has absolutely no basis.

            Reply
          • Crucisnh

            14 years ago

            I don’t see why the Cubs would want to re-sign Pena.  You’d think that they want an upgrade.  Oh, sure, perhaps they don’t want to get into the Pujols or Fielders high stakes game.  But if Berkman hits FA, why wouldn’t they give him a shot?  One would think that he’d give them better production than Pena at this point.

            Reply
    • SpaldingBalls 2

      14 years ago

      No way he gets that little. He’s very similar, career wise, to where Paul Konerko was last year (not saying Konerko has had as good a career as Berkman, Berkman’s had the far superior career). Should get a similar deal.

      Reply
    • The_BiRDS

      14 years ago

      He said he wants to be in STL because they are not rebuilding, meaning “closer to a world series” than the cubs. He is getting old and wants to play for a contender, not the cubs.

      Reply
    • Jeff D

      14 years ago

      The cubs are rebuilding and he doesn’t want that

      Reply
  2. gunsnascar

    14 years ago

    pena’s contract expires in 6 weeks……………..echo

    Reply
  3. Knuffy

    14 years ago

    It is amazing that this killer bee wants to play in St. Louis again. He prove that he still can play in right field and he prove that he can still hit the ball. Lets sign him up for 2 year, 16 million contract.

    Reply
  4. start_wearing_purple

    14 years ago

    Assuming Pujols stays and gets $30M a year, can the Cards afford Berkman? Even if they backload Pujols’s contract?

    Reply
    • stl_cards16

      14 years ago

      I believe you are the only one assuming Pujols gets 30MM a year. While he still ended up having a good year, he proved that he is human. I’ll be surprised if he tops 7 years at 25 a year.

      Reply
      • start_wearing_purple

        14 years ago

        Yeah, just an assumption and probably a bad one more because of the state of the FA first baseman market. Still even at $25M a year can the Cards afford to also add Berkman?

        Reply
        • stl_cards16

          14 years ago

          Depends how they fill out the rest of the roster.  To me, if Albert is going to stay, it’s better off just to offer Berkman arbitration and take the picks if he is looking for a multi-year deal.  If he accepts, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have him on a one year deal playing right again. 

          If Albert leaves, then I wouldn’t mind having Berkman on a 2/22 deal playing first base.  I don’t think it would be a smart choice to sign Berkman to a multi-year deal and expect him to play the outfield.  Too risky IMO.

          Reply
      • jb226 2

        14 years ago

        I honestly don’t think his year this year has hurt his value very much.  A bit, perhaps, but not a lot.

        What is going to hurt his value and why I think he’ll ultimately stay with the Cardinals is the lack of teams that seem to be willing and able to pursue him for the kind of dollars he will command.  The Cubs are pretty much the only team that can make it interesting at this point and it’s not clear they have any intentions to.

        Reply
      • The_BiRDS

        14 years ago

        Albert should have took the 10 year 22.5 million per offer at the beginning of the year.. 

        Reply
        • gunsnascar

          14 years ago

          That is chicken feed compared to what he will get this winter, so keep dreaming. The cards will be giving him a 8 yr 240 mil contract atleast this winter if they want to keep him. Why give STL another huge hometown discount when he is now a big philanthropist in his home land (and I will tell you what philanthropist means because you are a cards fan it is a person that donates tons of cash to help people improve their way of life).

          Reply
  5. 2ndedition

    14 years ago

    If Albert doesn’t get his legendary 30/100/300 he won’t get 30. He won’t get 30 in StL anyway. But my guess is they work it out and he’s a life long Cardinal. Carpenter gets an extension. Berkman gets his deal also. All other bets are off.

    Reply
  6. Matthew Conlon

    14 years ago

    you guys are all idiots berkman is a washed up bum anyone who gives him more than a 1 year deal for about 6 millilon is nuts

    Reply
    • stl_cards16

      14 years ago

      That’s exactly what I said when the Cardinals signed him this past off season. Berkman was the best 8 mil the Cardinals spent this year.

      Reply
    • The_BiRDS

      14 years ago

      that was the best off season pick up of the decade.. he played like a 20 million dollar player this year

      Reply
  7. JohnS

    14 years ago

    Pujols is not getting 30 Million a year by the Cardinals…. nowhere close.

    Reply
  8. alxn

    14 years ago

    I wonder if him constantly talking about potentially retiring to the media will hurt him this off-season

    Reply
  9. unvme7

    14 years ago

    Sheesh, you dont walk away from the game because you dont like the offers you receive in free agency, you walk away because you cant play anymore and lost the fire and passion for the game.  I cant stand Berkman..

    Reply
    • Crucisnh

      14 years ago

      Apparently he needs to feed his fire and passion with dollar bills.  😉

      Reply
  10. Cobby Box

    14 years ago

    Huh, just checking on Berkman’s numbers for this year, but how often is a guy’s average (.291) higher than his BABIP (.288)?

    Reply
    • Lunchbox45

      14 years ago

      not that uncommon for a player who has hit a lot of HR’s

      Reply
      • Crucisnh

        14 years ago

        Can you explain that please?

        Reply
        • MilwaukeeBravesFan

          14 years ago

          BABIP doesn’t count home runs because they’re not in play, so they would drag it down just like a strikeout would.

          Reply
          • Crucisnh

            14 years ago

            I won’t claim to be an expert on these newer baseball stats, but why should HR’s not count positively for BABIP?  I mean, yea, it’s not “in play”, but it’s still a hit.  There’s something that feels wrong about this.

            Reply
            • Lunchbox45

              14 years ago

              because BABip measures luck.. It measures how many times a player has put a ball in play and at what rate he gets out.. A homerun is an outlier, because no opposing defensive player can make a play on it, therefore it is not counted..

              Jose Bautista, AVG .315  BABip .315

              Reply
  11. The_BiRDS

    14 years ago

    Had the Cardinals trade for Bell this year we would be in this.. the only problem the Cards have, other than TRL managing the team and having complete control, is the bullpin and the 20 walk off wins from opposing teams. 

    Reply

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