Cardinals Rumors

Odds & Ends: Betemit, Greene, Sano, Draft

By Mike Axisa | June 12, 2009 at 8:30pm CDT

How do you guys feel about interleague play? I understand the problems in creates in terms of the unbalanced schedule, but the fan in me still loves it. Anyway, here's some evening links as rivalry weekend kicks off…

Wilson Betemit has been outrighted to Triple-A according to Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune. Betemit had been designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Gordon Beckham last week.
Khalil Greene has returned to St. Louis not to play, but to "have his status re-evaluated" according to Derrick Goold. The Cards have been looking for middle infield help, and most recently have been connected to Miguel Tejada.
Tyler Kepner notes that prospect Miguel Angel Sano will work out for the Yankees at their Dominican academy next Thursday. Here's the money quote from Sano's agent Rob Plummer: "I would say he has a Hanley Ramirez body and the possible upside of an Albert Pujols-type bat." Oh, is that all?
Maury Brown notes that this week's amateur draft shattered MLB.com's traffic records.
MLB.com's Todd Willis reports that the Rangers have signed six draft picks including Ruben Sierra Jr.
The Blue Jays inked a nostalgic draft pick of their own, agreeing to terms with Tony Fernandez's son Jonathan according to Erika Gilbert.

Heyman On Penny, Ackley, Milledge

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 12, 2009 at 1:20pm CDT

SI.com's Jon Heyman places Marco Scutaro and David Ortiz atop his lists of over and underperforming players. In the same article, he provides some trade rumors:

The Phillies, Mets and Cardinals are among the teams "in" on the Brad Penny discussions.
Philadelphia would still like to acquire a premium pitcher; they're "aiming higher" than Penny.
Dustin Ackley is apparently seeking "Mark Teixeira money." No, he's not looking for $180MM, but he'd like a deal worth $9.5MM, like the one Teixiera received out of college.
And there's word of trade talks involving Lastings Milledge.

Odds And Ends: Indians, Ryan, Red Sox

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 11, 2009 at 12:20pm CDT

Cardinals Interested In Miguel Tejada

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 11, 2009 at 10:58am CDT

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cardinals "expanded their search for an additional hitter to include" Miguel Tejada. Since Troy Glaus is out for a while and Khalil Greene is still rehabbing, Tejada could fit on the left side of their infield and provide some offense.

So far he's leading the league with a .355 batting average to go along with an OPS of .899. Though some see Tejada as a third baseman, he has never actually player third in the major leagues. He makes $13MM this year before becoming a free agent after the season.

ESPN.com's Buster Olney weighs in, saying he doesn't think the Astros, or any team owned by Drayton McLane would deal a key player to a division rival.

Draft Day 2 Roundup: Mets, Indians, Red Sox

By Eddie Schmid | June 10, 2009 at 9:09pm CDT

Writers are rolling in the draft recaps. Let's see if we can't keep up with a few:

The Mets took a majority of pitchers and outfielders, says MLB.com's Tim Britton.
The Angels' second day was highlighted with University of Washington QB Jake Locker, says MLB's Lyle Spencer.
The Dodgers snagged Jeremy Wise, Big 12 player of the year and one of three catchers in their draft, according to David Ely at MLB.com.
20 of the Indians' 30 draft choices were pitchers this year, notes Anthony Castrovince.
The Red Sox took mostly pitchers, but struck an even balance between high school and college talent, note Joe McDonald and Daniel Barbarisi at the Providence Journal.
According to Wayne Staats at MLB.com, Pirates GM Neal Huntington says 21 of the 30 players drafted have asked for six figures.
B.J. Rains recaps the Cardinals' second draft day, which erred on the side of college talent after a few high-upside prep school picks on day one.
The Marlins aimed to restock their pitching, says David Villaveciencio at MLB.com.
ESPN's tireless Keith Law recaps Day 2 for a few teams, including the Pirates and A's (subscription req'd).

Cardinals Chairman “Open” To Deals

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 9, 2009 at 10:13am CDT

According to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said the Cardinals are "open" to making trades, but won't deal just for the sake of making a change. Since many teams are still trying to contend, some big names are not yet available.

"I'm not certain a market's developed for any of the players who would help us," DeWitt said.

The Cardinals can afford to take on payroll, something many teams are reluctant to do. This means players like Matt Holliday are options if they become available. Holliday makes $13.5MM this season and any team trading for him would have to give up quality prospects as well. For now, and until the A's stop winning, it's a moot point. The A's aren't talking trades.

Odds & Ends: Draft, Cardinals, Mets

By Eddie Schmid | June 8, 2009 at 8:01pm CDT

A dosage of mostly vague, speculative links to calm the nerves before tomorrow's draft:

Derrick Goold at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gives part 2 of his rundown of potential picks for the Cardinals.
Nick Cafardo at the Boston Globe talked to one former scouting director who says the Nats should think "long and hard" before selecting Stephen Strasburg.
The Phillies have to wait until the 75th pick for their first draft selection, and David Gurian-Peck at MLB.com says they're leaning toward a high school player.
Dan Connolly at the Baltimore Sun dishes on the Orioles' draft options at pick no. 5. President Andy MacPhail says he's not afraid to dole out a large bonus.
Mark Bowman at MLB.com talked to Braves head of scouting Roy Clark and speculates the Braves will pursue pitching with the seventh pick.
Paul Hoynes at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer relays the opinion of Indians director of amateur scouting Brad Grant that the MLB draft needs a medical combine.
Matthew Cerrone at MetsBlog is fielding questions for an exclusive interview with Mets skipper Jerry Manuel.

D’Backs Claim Blaine Boyer Off Waivers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 8, 2009 at 4:30pm CDT

According to the Arizona Republic the D'Backs claimed pitcher Blaine Boyer off waivers from the Cardinals, who designated him for assignment last week. The 27-year-old had a 4.41 ERA in 15 appearances with the Cards. It's been a hectic year for Boyer, who was traded from Atlanta to St. Louis back in April.

Odds And Ends: Huff, Ackley, Strasburg

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 8, 2009 at 2:21pm CDT

Some more links to pass along…

Steve Melewski of MASN.com reports that Orioles president Andy MacPhail is "open" to talking with Aubrey Huff about a possible extension. Huff, a free agent at the end of the year, has been the subject of many trade rumors.
ESPN.com's Rob Neyer agrees with a suggestion Howard made on this site yesterday: Jon Rauch would be a good fit for the Rays.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cards GM John Mozeliak was among those watching as two college hitters worked out at Busch Stadium this morning. Josh Phegley and A.J. Pollock took some swings in front of the Cardinals' scouting staff.
As Ian Browne of MLB.com points out, the Red Sox have drafted well in recent years even when they haven't had early selections.
MLB.com's Jim Street writes that it would be shocking for the Mariners to pick someone other than Dustin Ackley.
As ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick reports, Angels scouting director Eddie Bane is amazed by Scott Boras because he intimidates, but "never says a price."
Tim Keown of ESPN the Magazine passes along one scout's thoughts on Stephen Strasburg: "He'd be a front-of-the-rotation guy for almost every team right now."

The Cardinals And The Economy

By Howard Megdal | June 7, 2009 at 9:41pm CDT

The Cardinals are one of the surprise stories of the baseball season so far. Even after losing three straight by a combined score of 28-7, St. Louis is just two games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central.

But based on this item in a new column by Scott Miller of CBSSportsLine.com, the Cardinals better hope Tyler Greene is the answer at shortstop and Brad Thompson is able to fill in for Kyle Lohse.

"3. Tony La Russa, Twitter settle dispute: Too bad, too. Because had La Russa won the suit he wound up withdrawing, it probably was going to be the only way St. Louis could secure the money to add another bat to its lineup this summer."

It's an interesting piece less talked about in trade circles. Plenty of teams are assumed to be willing to dump salary once they fall out of the race, with an imperative to do so sooner in this difficult economic climate.

It may be, however, that many of the teams in a position to contend may not be adding salary, due to that very same economy.

In a season when even the Yankees claim they can't add salary, it will be fascinating to see if the glut of players expected to hit the market between now and July 31 fetch huge packages of prospects, if the few teams that can add payroll are bidding against themselves.

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