It would be nice if the closer and bullpen issues were to fix itself, and we were in a position to focus on a role like LOOGY, or perhaps some sort of upgrade that provides a bat and the ability to play SS and 3B.    We'll just have to see what our needs are.

I don't begin to claim to know what we have available in our system, so I'll trust you.  I assume Miller is still hands off, and if he is, Martinez probably ought to be, too. 

If Pujols continues to suck it should be much less costly to resign him, but I worry at that point if we will have a short-haired Sampson, emasculated by the Cardinals refusal to renegotiate his contract a year or two back when he was still the long-haired Sampson, a fact that may appear humiliating in retrospect if a down year leads to no $300M/10 offers, or anything even close.

Last edited by Max (5/31/2011 9:44 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

"To rent a decent home you might pay $400-$600 a month."

Hitting my head with a shoe ...

Yeah but it isnt uncommon for a family of 4 to have to make it on $40,000 a year.  Supply and demand.


And I dont think your idea of a nice house is my idea of a nice house.  this is an area reality site http://psreal.com/ .  I dont have any neighbors that make 1/2mill.

Last edited by APRTW (6/01/2011 12:34 am)

forsberg_us wrote:

Gotcha.

Can't argue that there may be an outcry among some for a more established name Closer, but if Sanchez and Salas continue to have success, I'm not sure that will be a front office priority.

As it stands right now, I could see a push for a better lefty specialist. Miller has been really bad and the jury is still out on Tallet who may be too injury-prone to be important. I couldn't name any who might be available, but I wouldn't think a LOOGY would cost too much.

The other significant chits in the stable are in the minors. Last year Miller was a popular name. I'm sure it will be again this year along with Martinez, maybe Cox and maybe Swaggerty. If they really plan on re-signing Pujols, that's a temptation they need to resist. They'll need lots of inexpensive pieces and if those pieces are actually talented, they need to keep them in the system.

If you really want to resign Pujols cutting Loshe's 12 million and not resinging Carp would save you enough to bring Pujols back.  I know Loshe seems key but Mo might see this as a chance to ditch a contract that has been a pain in his ass.

"I am still really high on Salas.  I think he can be a guy you never really hear about but holds the pen together.  It is nice to see someone come in and throw strikes in the 9th inning.  Who was the last Cardinals closer who did that?"

Tom Henke? Bruce Sutter? Izzy had a few good years that we don't remember as well because he wasn't very good at the end.
I like Salas. I don't think his ceiling is as high as Sanchez's because Sanchez has shown 95 mph with a nasty breaking pitch, and Salas tends to top out around 92. I'm thinking that if neither one of them gets dealt, in a year or so you've got Salas in the eighth and Sanchez in the ninth, and that'll be a pretty formidable back of the bullpen.

"Basements are easier to cool and heat."

My basement is filled with crap. So is the attic. My wife saves every scrap of paper, momento and tchotchke that comes through the door.
On the plus side, I finally managed to relegate the infamous pink telephone table to the basement. I just can't have that nonsense being the first thing people see when they walk through the front door.

"I dont think you can ever have a bathroom of bedroom big enough."

Not with three females in the house. That's way too much estrogen for most guys.
One of my basketball buddies has two daughters, and he built himself a man-cave in the basement. Pool table, bar with a beer fridge, large screen TV, bar with a beer fridge, stereo surround sound, bar with a beer fridge, separate bathroom, bar with a a beer fridge ... Did I mention he has a bar with a beer fridge?

Our set up is similar to AP's.  We have a ranch and the basement is half finished.  Bob has his own bedroom downstairs along with his own bathroom.  There's also a pretty big family room which currently has an old big screen TV.  Someday I'll replace that TV with a comparable HD version and I may never leave that room.

The unfinished half of the basement is divided into 3 sections: one has all of the exercise equipment (Weight rack, elliptical), another section is where my wife does her scrapbooking and the third part is storage.  I maintain a pretty firm policy--if it isn't seasonal, and if it stays in a box for a year, then we obviously don't need it and it gets donated.

"I maintain a pretty firm policy--if it isn't seasonal, and if it stays in a box for a year, then we obviously don't need it and it gets donated."

Other than the telephone table, I've only had one martial triumph. When we got married, we lived in an apartment. Then we moved to a house in 1997, and then to our current house in 2003. Any box that made it from the apartment to the second house without being opened got taken to the dump.
My next project is getting the piece of crap piano out of the house. My wife sees it as another family heirloom. To me it's a box of wood that's falling apart. And none of us is musically-inclined. Zach plays the sax, but I think the primary reason he took up an instrument is to sneak up behind the cats and scare the crap out of them.

tkihshbt wrote:

Without starting a new thread and being on the subject of trades, I'm curious what Baltimore would want for Jeremy Guthrie, or if the Cardinals would even be interested in acquiring a starter and ditching their long infatuation with McClellan as a starter.

He's pretty cheap, isn't he? Probably the kind of guy the Orioles would want to hold on to. Think they'd part with Zach Britton, or would that require Moz to use the Jedi mind trick on Andy McPhail?

"Trade us you will, a young pitcher for Gerald Laird ..."

Geez-us, TK. I pull a jim dandy Yoda reference out of thin air and all I get is this flat line response about Jeremy Guthrie's arbitration prospects.
I'll bet you were the kid at birthday parties who told the other kids how the magician does all his tricks.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (6/01/2011 1:51 pm)

tkihshbt wrote:

Without starting a new thread and being on the subject of trades, I'm curious what Baltimore would want for Jeremy Guthrie, or if the Cardinals would even be interested in acquiring a starter and ditching their long infatuation with McClellan as a starter.

i think it's worth questioning whether we need another starter to win the division.  if we get so far as the playoffs, lohse, garcia, and carpenter look to be a solid rotation, particularly with our offense.

tkihshbt wrote:

It depends on McClellan and how Lynn fares. I'd be really, really tempted to see what the Mets want for Wright, but I doubt the Cardinals see third base as anything but David Freese's spot.

What's Wright's injury status? I recall reading something about a stress fracture in his back. That doesn't sound like something that will get better with some ointment and a couple of band-aids.

tkihshbt wrote:

It depends on McClellan and how Lynn fares. I'd be really, really tempted to see what the Mets want for Wright, but I doubt the Cardinals see third base as anything but David Freese's spot.

Watching highlights from yesterday, Carp's breaking pitches had some real knee-buckling snap to them.  Let's hope he finds whatever has been missing, because as Aaron Boone says, "his STUFF is FINE."