TUESDAY: Furcal told Strauss, "I'd want to play for St. Louis," adding that he still needs to sit down with his agent Paul Kinzer and talk business.
MONDAY: The Cardinals hope to explore a new contract with shortstop Rafael Furcal by month's end, GM John Mozeliak told Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mozeliak acknowledged that making it work financially is a challenge, but a Furcal contract is on his to-do list for September. A shorter term is preferable for the team, and that's expected for Furcal since he's missed so much time due to injuries over the last few years.
Furcal, 34 in October, is hitting .228/.278/.390 in 134 plate appearances since the Cardinals acquired him at the trade deadline. Mozeliak has bigger fish to fry in potential free agents Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, and Chris Carpenter, so signing Furcal quickly and affordably makes sense. Technically Furcal faces a $12MM club option with a $1.3MM buyout. That'll be declined, but a one-year deal for $4MM plus incentives seems reasonable.
Tyler Greene, who somehow leads the team in steals despite only getting a couple cups of coffee in the bigs this season, is a SS option. He has been underwhelming in previous appearances, but they need to give him a real audition when rosters expand before throwing money at Furcal.
He doesn’t drink coffee.
more of a chai guy?
more of a chai guy?
He doesn’t drink coffee.
Why is eveyone so obsessed with Tyler Greene?
You can’t steal first and that seems to be his only value to the team. From someone who has watched his play at 3 levels, I think it is pretty safe to call him a bust and move on! He can’t even catch a routine pop-up, where Furcal is still a top defensive shortstop w/ occasional power. 4mill + isn’t going to be the deciding factor in the Pujols negotiations. Keep Raffy and try to get whatever value you can out of the bust that is Tyler Greene in a trade if you can.
I readily admit that Greene is probably not the answer at SS. But Ryan Jackson will be Memphis’ SS next year, so it’s time to decide whether Greene is in the plans for the big league club or not… and he hasn’t had enough of an audition yet to determine that for sure, in my opinion.
There’s nothing left to play for this year, just give him some PT.
I agree that there is nothing left to play for this season but I’ve seen enough of Greene. I live in the Springfield area and am a season ticket holder there, so I’ve seen Jackson play a lot and personally believe from what I’ve seen that Jackson if everything works out could be somewhat similar to Furcal with more power and a lesser/sometimes wilder throwing arm.
Tyler Greene has raked in the minors. He has shown spurts of potential at the MLB level too. He could be a good player. He just needs to relax and use his talents. When he plays with the Cardinals he always looks so nervous and pressured. If he relaxes and plays hard he’s a 15 homer, 30 steals guy. He could probably hit around .270 also. His defense and arm could be plus tools, he just makes to many mental errors. Even if he isn’t our starting shortstop, he could be a good versatile bench player.
As I Previously stated you can’t steal first and Tyler doesn’t hit well enough to even be considered a versatile bench bat. 30 Steals I could see if he can find a way to hide when we need someone to be sent back to AAA, but to predict 15 homers is atrociously high, think more in the 3-7 range if he’s lucky. I agree that he makes numerous mental errors but some of his errors are just a symptom of his lack of defensive skills. If he could hit like you think he can, why hasn’t he shown it yet? Is it lack of Playing time? Or just lack of skills?
http://www.fangraphs.com/community/index.php/plugging-the-cardinals-ss-hole/
Interesting article but I think it is trash to be honest. Its cool to think about but like he said in the article it will never happen. I think you have a better chance of Craig ending up at second base next season rather than Pujols at SS. What would have been a little more interesting is if he maybe mentioned the whole infields WAR and moved Pujols to third Berkman to first and keeping Furcal and maybe Greene/Shumaker/Craig at second and see the differences there. IN my opinion it is much easier to find a first basemen or outfielder who can contribute rather than a 3rd basemen.
Furcal doesn’t need incentives. He just needs to remain healthy.
What about an incentive to remain healthy?
IF YOU SIGN HIM -75 GAMES ONLY VERY GOOD PLAYER BUT…………..
With Descalso as a backup, I’m not worried.