Cardinals Notes: Boras Meeting, Holliday Alternatives
Joe Strauss from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses the Cardinals and their current situation with free agent Matt Holliday. Let's dive in:
- The Cardinals are pushing for a meeting with Scott Boras at the Winter Meetings to discuss whether or not they have a legitimate chance to bring Holliday back to St. Louis.
- If they were to retain Holliday, the club would be content to give David Freese his shot at third base and spend its leftover money on the rotation rather than infield help.
- Re-signing Mark DeRosa is one alternative to Holliday in left, although the Cardinals understandably aren't fans of DeRosa's current asking price of three years and roughly $24MM.
- The Cards had interest in bringing Chone Figgins aboard, prior to his agreement with the Mariners.
- St. Louis continues to say that they don't have leverage to make trades after parting with a number of top prospects, but Strauss mentions that some teams looking to shed salary could make sense. He names Dan Uggla, Kevin Millwood, and (if he's made available) Brandon Inge as some candidates, though the Marlins are asking a lot in return for Uggla.
- Strauss also mentions Adam Dunn, who's owed $12MM this season as a good fit, though the Nationals aren't intent on moving him. According to Strauss, several within the Cardinal organization were pushing for Dunn over Holliday last season before the deadline.
- If the Cards are able to sign Holliday, backloading the contract as they typically do with large deals won't be beneficial as the expensive years will coincide with those of Albert Pujols, if and when he, too, gets a new contract.
- Strauss names Vicente Padilla and Ben Sheets as possible free agent arms to target.
- Interesting note on the Cardinals from Strauss; they haven't made a trade at the Winter Meetings since 2003 when they acquired Adam Wainwright, Jason Marquis, and Ray King.
Whatever comes of Holliday, team president Bill DeWitt plans to be active this offseason. Strauss quotes him, "If we don't spend on Holliday, we will spend on other players."
Tim Lincecum Wins NL Cy Young Award
Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young award for the second straight season, edging out Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Lincecum, 25, went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA. He struck out a league-leading 261 batters, walking 68 in 225.1 innings. He made his second consecutive All-Star appearance and led the league in complete games and shutouts. According to WAR, Lincecum was the NL's best pitcher.
He'll be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two this offseason and the Giants will likely have to hand out a record-setting contract. Lincecum has said before that he's open to an extension.
Wainwright – who obtained the most first place votes - and Carpenter each receive $100K bonuses for their finishes in the Cy Young voting, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.
Odds & Ends: Chipper, Ordonez, Schultz
Links for Wednesday…
- Chipper Jones explained his stance toward retirement to Tim Gunter of 790 The Zone.
- Braves manager Bobby Cox was noncommittal on 2010, talking to Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- Amelia Rayno of the Detroit News notes that Magglio Ordonez's $15MM option for 2011 will vest with 1080 plate appearances between 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile Cot's Baseball Contracts reveals that 135 starts or 540 PAs in '10 will do the trick.
- ESPN's Buster Olney informed us yesterday about a potentially interesting free agent reliever named Mike Schultz. The former D'Backs minor leaguer has been tearing it up in Japan the last two years.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that a top five Cy Young finish for Adam Wainwright in 2010 or 2011 would cause his 2012 and 2013 options to vest. This year, his maximum bonus is $250K if he wins the award.
- Derrick Goold of the P-D has a discussion going about the Cardinals' third base plans for next year.
- Conor Glassey of Baseball America looks at next year's draft class, which is of course led by Bryce Harper.
- Murray Chass has posted several interesting columns since his website's inception. His latest on the Pirates is not one of them. It's a simplistic view of Neal Huntington's plan, with the Nyjer Morgan trade as Chass' main beef. And is he suggesting the organization would've been better off re-signing Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson instead of trading them? Plus, Chass uses the opinion of one anonymous "baseball official" in advancing the notion that the Pirates will have explaining to do to MLB regarding their revenue-sharing money. Wouldn't a consensus assessment of execs have been more useful?
- According to Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball, minor league attendance dropped by only 2.9% this year.
Odds And Ends: Giambi, Wainwright, Meche
Some more links for the morning…
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney believes NL teams should consider Jason Giambi next year if they're looking for a powerful, high OBP bat off the bench.
- Olney also hears from a scout who raves about Adam Wainwright. In case you're wondering, he won't become a free agent until after 2012 or 2013 (the Cards hold an option).
- Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports (via Twitter) that Gil Meche is likely done for the year. Like rotation-mate Brian Bannister, Meche has a tired shoulder. Makes sense for the team to play it safe if there's any doubt, in my opinion.
- Murray Chass points indirectly to this ESPN.com article and argues that some baseball writers rely too much on anonymous sources. Chass believes writers should pass information along to readers without giving too much play to individual biases.
- Joba Chamberlain and Rick Porcello top the list of young pitchers who won't have the luxury of resting their arms during the season's final month, as ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick shows.
Cardinals Inquired About Cano
According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cardinals called the Yankees to inquire about second baseman Robinson Cano. Goold says the Yankees asking price was an immediate deal breaker: Adam Wainwright. "The conversation did not last long," writes Goold.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman has expressed an unwillingness to part with Cano.
The Cardinals could potentially turn to infielder Brendan Ryan who is reportedly bulking up, Adam Kennedy who is trying to earn his job back, and a remote possibility: Skip Schumaker who played shortstop in college and has been taking groundballs in workout.
Olney’s Latest: Cardinals, Snell, Milledge, Maine, Fuentes
Buster Olney’s latest offering is packed full of links:
- Bernie Miklasz notes that the Cardinals have only three starting pitchers (Adam Wainwright, Todd Wellemeyer, and Joel Pineiro) locked up for next year (he’s not expecting Chris Carpenter to contribute in 2009), and no prospects waiting in the wings. His solution? Pry open owner Bill DeWitt’s wallet, "and please, no el cheapo deals for rehabbing pitchers, medically risky pitchers, broken-down pitchers."
- The Pirates have it a little bit tougher. According to pitching coach Jeff Andrews, it consists of Paul Maholm and "a blank sheet." Here’s one vote for adding Ian Snell, "on the verge of becoming the best right-handed pitcher to come from Delaware since World War I," according to DelwareBaseball.com, who sponsors his Baseball Reference page.
- According to GM Jim Bowden, the Nationals will explore ways to upgrade their defense for 2009, including the possibility of moving Lastings Milledge from center field back to a corner spot. Left fielder Elijah Dukes could move to center.
- Despite going through a difficult divorce, Padres’ owner John Moores is not planning on selling the team—which he bought because of his soon-to-be ex.
- The Mets seem to be rushing John Maine back from the DL in an attempt to keep their playoff hopes alive.
- Dave Krieger is amazed that the Rockies aren’t doing anything to try and keep free-agent closer Brian Fuentes.
Sarah Green writes for the Boston Metro and Umpbump.
Cards To Sign Wainwright Long-Term
I mentioned on Monday that Cards ace Adam Wainwright seemed a prime candidate for an extension. Today, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a contract is done, pending a physical. According to Goold:
The guaranteed part of the new contract is four years and expected to be worth around $15 million, and it will buy out Wainwright’s arbitration years, through 2011. The deal has an option that would cover the first two years of his free agency, sources said.
MLB.com’s Matthew Leach writes that Wainwright’s $448K renewal for ’08 will be overwritten and is one of the four guaranteed years of the deal. As such this would be in line with other young starter deals. And not all of the others got the third arb year guaranteed so Wainwright’s agent did well there.