Royce Ring? Seriously?

[predatorkj]

I am really confused by what I thought to be a very informed and knowledgeable Cardinal Nation. What are you expecting the Cardinals to do here??? How was the Glaus trade not a GREAT trade. Glaus had twice the season Rolen has had for the last 3 years.....and is a great HR threat besides Pujols.

The Cardinals are taking a risk on Khalil Greene, but if he brings his bat like he has shown potential, it will be a great pickup. The Cardinals have somewhat addressed the bullpen issues with Miller, and Royce Ring and at what they are paying him would be worth the trial. Plus, regardless of what the Cardinals are saying they want to do, they do still have a nice Perez/Motte situation to fall back on, since they lost out on the Fuentes deal. Not sure if Fuentes was worth the $9 mil or not, but he really didnt want to come to St. Louis anyways.

I figure the Cardinals are probably going to pull off one more deal---most likely for a 2B or a RP, as they are stacked up a bit in the OF. Would really like to see Ankiel, Mather, Rasmus, and either Ludwick or Schumaker to be the OFs. I really feel that Duncan, Schumaker, and Ludwick are all very expendable---and for those of you who are high on Ludwick--look at the guys stats when there is no Pujols in the lineup....they are absolutely awful. So, what happens when he does not consistently see fastballs right down the middle of the plate????

I think in reality the Cardinals have done a pretty decent job of keeping a core group of players and not depleting the farm and giving away money for the rest. Lohse was a great find, and for what he did last year, the Cardinals were definitely wise to resign him instead of trying to spend mega millions on some high profile SP. Yes, it would still be nice to land Peavy or Sheets, but at what cost---I for one dont want to deplete the farm to do so, or throw so much money at a SP that we lose out somewhere else---especially with the stockpile of Young Arms and Young OFs showing promise.

It will be interesting to see what kind of deal they can do, but my guess is with the 2 signings they have made for RP, picking up Khalil Greene to take over at SS, a deal for a 2B or maybe a semi set-up man/Closer to help Perez is probably the safe bet, letting go of one or 2 OFs and making room for Mather and Rasmus.

This is all IMO, but sometimes not doing anything can be just as good as doing something. And to be honest, the Cubs and Brewers have not had really a stellar offseason either---signing Milton Bradley and Aaron Miles in no way makes them any better than they were last year...and I dont see the Brewers being any more of a threat than they were last year either (which will be a FULL year w/o CC)


TK

Much to my dismay...the astros haven't really done a whole hell of a lot either.They cut Wigginton loose and I would much rather have him at 3rd than Blum.Sorry.Hampton was the only thing I feel was even close to a decent pickup.

Trust me...you guys aren't the only ones taking a kick to the nads this off season.

 

[thenumberonemetfan]

ah Royce Ring...brings back memories.Better pickup then you think sam.

 

[jcmint]

How do you get your point across though. Is boycotting the team you love hurt them or you. One would think with the best player is baseball you wanna surround him with the best players you can find. Pujols wont be this good forever. The owner needs to open the pocketbook up and sign/trade whoever makes the team better right now.

 

[Adamsince1981]

The Cardinals could make a trade for an infielder...but they've let more pitching go than they've picked up and they didn't have much to begin with. Also, there isn't much left out there.

 

[SINFULONE]

I am really confused by what I thought to be a very informed and knowledgeable Cardinal Nation. What are you expecting the Cardinals to do here??? How was the Glaus trade not a GREAT trade. Glaus had twice the season Rolen has had for the last 3 years.....and is a great HR threat besides Pujols.

The Cardinals are taking a risk on Khalil Greene, but if he brings his bat like he has shown potential, it will be a great pickup. The Cardinals have somewhat addressed the bullpen issues with Miller, and Royce Ring and at what they are paying him would be worth the trial. Plus, regardless of what the Cardinals are saying they want to do, they do still have a nice Perez/Motte situation to fall back on, since they lost out on the Fuentes deal. Not sure if Fuentes was worth the $9 mil or not, but he really didnt want to come to St. Louis anyways.

I figure the Cardinals are probably going to pull off one more deal---most likely for a 2B or a RP, as they are stacked up a bit in the OF. Would really like to see Ankiel, Mather, Rasmus, and either Ludwick or Schumaker to be the OFs. I really feel that Duncan, Schumaker, and Ludwick are all very expendable---and for those of you who are high on Ludwick--look at the guys stats when there is no Pujols in the lineup....they are absolutely awful. So, what happens when he does not consistently see fastballs right down the middle of the plate????

I think in reality the Cardinals have done a pretty decent job of keeping a core group of players and not depleting the farm and giving away money for the rest. Lohse was a great find, and for what he did last year, the Cardinals were definitely wise to resign him instead of trying to spend mega millions on some high profile SP. Yes, it would still be nice to land Peavy or Sheets, but at what cost---I for one dont want to deplete the farm to do so, or throw so much money at a SP that we lose out somewhere else---especially with the stockpile of Young Arms and Young OFs showing promise.

It will be interesting to see what kind of deal they can do, but my guess is with the 2 signings they have made for RP, picking up Khalil Greene to take over at SS, a deal for a 2B or maybe a semi set-up man/Closer to help Perez is probably the safe bet, letting go of one or 2 OFs and making room for Mather and Rasmus.

This is all IMO, but sometimes not doing anything can be just as good as doing something. And to be honest, the Cubs and Brewers have not had really a stellar offseason either---signing Milton Bradley and Aaron Miles in no way makes them any better than they were last year...and I dont see the Brewers being any more of a threat than they were last year either (which will be a FULL year w/o CC)


TK

because we don't see eye to eye doesn't make us uninformed... Glaus was the biggest thing JM has done for the team and honestly it wasn't anything major. To me, Glaus is not responsible for putting a significant amount of wins on the board for us over Rolen. I feel what was gained in his extra power we also lost a bit on the defensive end.

I was never saying Glaus was a bad deal... I was saying JM has not done anything powerful in 2 years to help us win. Lohse signing was good, yes I agree... but everytime we have a chance to land a gamebreaker it seems he does just enough to show he was in the running.. i.e. Matt Holiday and Brian Fuentes. I don't think our bullpen is improved as much as you think.
We lost:
Randy Flores
Izzy
Springer
Valone
We brought in:
Ring
Miller

I dont see how we really improved there.

You say not doing anything can be just as good as doing something. Yes, I agree with this in theory, but not when the our biggest competition is adding all-stars to their already much better roster. Bradley was an all-star so I am not sure how his bat doesn't help them, as you say. Brewers young studs will only get better...

and Aaron Miles is a bigger loss to us than you think

Glaus played outstanding defense last year, at least you can count on him in the lineup almost every day, unlike Rolen, who missed a bunch of games yet again.Not sure what they ranked offensivly off the top of my head, but the offense was way better with Glaus than Rolen in '06 and '07.

Don't know why you're so bummed over losing Isringhausen, Flores, and Volone, they were horrible.Really, the whole bullpen sucked balls the entire season and were responsible for blowing numerous games.Springer was one of the few that were reliable, but as a whole the bullpen killed this team last year, and a major overhaul is needed.Not too impressed with Miller and Ring either, but they can't be any worse than what they had before.As much as you and others here apparently dislike Mozeliak, he did find Lohse off the scrap heap in March, so there is still time to find someone else out there.Holliday isn't the same player away from Coors Field, I'm glad they didn't give up half the minor league system to get him anyway.

Scrubs, Cubs, aka Choke Artists, etc. whatever they call themselves now lost an All-Star closer, and signed a volatile Bradley who will just blow up again just like always.I wonder what he hit away from that hitter friendly park he played in last year?I don't see how they are any better.You are aware that the Brewers are losing Sabathia and Sheets, right?