Cardinals Rumors

Cards, Ludwick Working To Avoid Arb

By | February 15, 2009 at 6:45pm CDT

Ryan Ludwick is set to fly to Phoenix on Monday afternoon in preparation for his Tuesday arbitration hearing. But he is still hopeful, according to MLB.com’s Matthew Leach, that a deal can be reached.

The Cardinals settled on a last minute agreement with fellow outfielder Rick Ankiel on Thursday. Ludwick is hoping for a similar push, but his gap is fairly large. He requested $4.25MM and the Cards made a $2.8MM bid back when arbitration figures were due.

"That’s exactly why I came down," Ludwick said. "And that’s why I say I’m optimistic. To see where they were and how his whole deal went down, I think that’s what leads to optimism on my side. Thinking, hey, they got his done, so hopefully we can get mine done before I have to leave on Monday. It would be nice."

Cardinals Aren’t Talking To Ohman

By | February 15, 2009 at 5:29pm CDT

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold, the Cardinals are not currently engaged in discussions with lefty reliever Will Ohman.

Ohman supposedly has four offers on the table, and there was some speculation that an NL Central team might be involved. If Goold is correct, an offer didn’t come from St. Louis. That leaves the Astros, Cubs, Pirates, Brewers and Reds as possible suitors.

The Mets, Phillies and Dodgers have already denied having serious interest. The A’s are known to be looking for some left-handed bullpen help, but reportedly have their sights on Dennys Reyes.

Odds and Ends: Dunn, Schumaker, Abreu

By Tim Dierkes | February 13, 2009 at 12:07pm CDT

Links for Friday…

The Blue Jays signed pitcher Dirk Hayhurst to a minor league deal; they’d released him to make room for Matt Bush.
Alex Speier of WEEI has quotes from John Smoltz about his departure from Atlanta. Smoltz leaving the Braves was the biggest surprise of the offseason for me.
ESPN’s Jayson Stark surveyed 15 baseball sages for all kinds of opinions on the best and worst of the offseason (which is not officially over yet).
Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post has more from the Adam Dunn press conference.
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sees Skip Schumaker as the Cardinals outfielder most vulnerable to a trade.
ESPN’s Keith Law weighs in on the Bobby Abreu signing.
Kevin Goldstein’s Top 100 Prospects list is up over at Baseball Prospectus.
Scott Moore cleared waivers; he’ll remain in the Orioles organization.
My definition of a fantasy baseball sleeper, over at RotoAuthority.
Shoutout: MLBTR had over 9,800 pageviews from Puerto Rico this month.

Odds and Ends: Dunn, Byrd, Epstein

By Tim Dierkes | February 12, 2009 at 3:30pm CDT

Links for Thursday…

RotoAuthority ranks the outfielders for fantasy baseball.
All kinds of interesting comments from former Phillies GM Pat Gillick, including his thoughts on Pat Burrell and Milton Bradley.
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch weighs in on the Cardinals’ second base situation.
ESPN’s Keith Law evaluates the Nationals’ Adam Dunn signing. He considers it "$20 million for a few meaningless wins over the next two years."
Evan Brunell of Fire Brand of the American League interviewed free agent hurler Paul Byrd.
Rob Bradford of WEEI has quotes from Theo Epstein about trading young players.
Shoutout to our readers in the United Kingdom, who account for 11,000 of MLBTR’s pageviews this month.

Cardinals Sign Rick Ankiel At Midpoint

By Tim Dierkes | February 12, 2009 at 12:59pm CDT

According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Rick Ankiel and the Cardinals settled at $2.825MM for ’09 (the midpoint of their submissions). The hearing had been scheduled for today.

Ryan Ludwick’s hearing is set for Tuesday, if they can’t reach an agreement beforehand.

Cardinals Hope To Avoid Arb With Ludwick

By | February 10, 2009 at 6:42pm CDT

According to MLB.com’s Matthew Leach, the Cardinals hold "some sliver of hope" that an arbitration hearing can be avoided with outfielder Ryan Ludwick.

Ludwick asked for $4.25MM and the Cardinals countered with a $2.8MM bid back when figures were due. That gap is obviously going to be tough to overcome, but the Red Birds do have some time. Ludwick’s hearing won’t take place until Tuesday, February 17.

The 30-year-old exploded last season, finising with a line of .299/.375/.591, including 37 home runs and 113 RBI.

Thursday Hearing For Ankiel, Cardinals

By Tim Dierkes | February 10, 2009 at 3:30pm CDT

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals and Rick Ankiel have a Thursday arbitration hearing scheduled. If the hearing takes place, the arbitrators will decide whether Ankiel earns $3.3MM or $2.35MM in ’09.

Ankiel, a Scott Boras client, is eligible for free agency after the season. He could be midseason trade bait if Colby Rasmus comes on strong.

Durham Turns Down Offer From Nationals

By Tim Dierkes | February 10, 2009 at 8:32am CDT

According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, free agent second baseman Ray Durham turned down a minor league offer from the Nationals potentially worth $850K plus incentives. Durham would require more than that, and is 50-50 on retirement. The offer from Washington was Durham’s first of the offseason.

A note from Crasnick regarding the Cardinals:

The Cardinals, who expressed interest in Durham earlier this winter, released second baseman Adam Kennedy on Monday. But early indications are that St. Louis plans to fill the void from within. If general manager John Mozeliak does pursue a free agent, Orlando Hudson would probably rank ahead of Durham on the priority list.

Durham, 37, authored a strong .380 OBP in 426 plate appearances last year.

Cardinals Second Baseman: Who’ll It Be?

By | February 9, 2009 at 7:28pm CDT

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz doesn’t believe the Cardinals will fill their second base vacancy via free agency, but rather will look for the solution in-house.

[GM John] Mozeliak and management want to do what they can to give MLB opportunities to members of the heralded player-development system, and this was a chance to do so.

Miklasz lists Brendan Ryan, Brian Barden, Joe Thurston, Tyler Greene, Jarrett Hoffpauir and Skip Schumaker as candidates to take the job. Ryan has the most experience as a Cardinals infielder, but he hit just .244/.307/.289 in 197 at-bats last season.

Schumaker is a solid hitter, but will have to prove this spring that he can play the infield. As Miklasz writes, "It’s a big leap of faith to assume that Schumaker can convert from the OF to 2B. It would be much easier, the other way around."

Cardinals Release Adam Kennedy

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | February 9, 2009 at 12:42pm CDT

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals have released Adam Kennedy. They’ll still be responsible for his $4MM salary. The move was "apparently made at the strong urging of manager Tony La Russa," who didn’t want Kennedy to be his starting second baseman.

Skip Schumaker has been working out at second base, and could play there if the Cards don’t add anyone to replace Kennedy. Strauss mentions Brendan Ryan and a few others as possible competitors for the job.

This is good news for Orlando Hudson, who has another possible bidder for his services.

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