I woud be happy to see Fielder in StL at the right price.  Without putting alot of thought into it 5y/100-125mill seem doable and fair when compared to Howard's contract.  If they could get Fielder for that the Cardinals would come out of the Pujols deal smelling like a rose and with a better contract.  My guess is that Fielder out preforms Pujols over the next 5 years.

"My guess is that Fielder out preforms Pujols over the next 5 years."

It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Pujols puts up in Anaheim. That's a better hitters park, but there's a lot of age and suck in that lineup.

The rest of what I assume are the starters:

Avg/HR/RBI/OBP/OPS

C- Ianetta .238/14/55/.370/.785 (with Colorado--.172/4/16/.321/.587 outside of Coors)
2B- Kendrick .285/18/63/.338/.802
SS- Aybar .279/10/59/.322/.743
3B- Trumbo .254/29/87/.291/.768
OF- Wells .218/25/66/.248/.660
OF- Bourjos .271/11/43/.327/.765
OF- Hunter .262/23/82/.336/.765
DH- Abreu .253/8/60/.353/.717

Yadi would have led the Angels in OPS last season, and Jon Jay's .768 would have tied for second. 

Yuck.

Last edited by forsberg_us (12/17/2011 8:45 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

Interesting move. I remember Latos had arm issues at the start of 2011.   Wasn't Alonso the Reds insurance policy for when Votto likely walked?  I guess they figure with Pujols and Fielders off the Cardinals and Brewers, they decided their time was now.

They couldn't go into the season with the rotation they were projected to have. Beyond Cueto, there weren't many guarantees. Arroyo probably isn't going to get better, Bailey is a terminal prospect and who knows what's going to happen with Chapman? They still need a closer, a contingency plan at third base and a leadoff hitter who doesn't strike out 200 times a year.

Someone should point this out to Danny, our friend from the Reds board.  He's already started a thread titled "Latos a RED.  World Series Bound"

Here are his projections for the Reds starters

M. Latos 21-2, 2.65 ERA, 215 Ks
J. Cueto 20-4, 2.87 ERA, 145 Ks
M. Leake 16-7, 3.33 ERA, 125 Ks
Bronson. 15-10 3.81 ERA
H Bailey 15-10 3.91 ERA

"Here are his projections for the Reds starters

M. Latos 21-2, 2.65 ERA, 215 Ks
J. Cueto 20-4, 2.87 ERA, 145 Ks
M. Leake 16-7, 3.33 ERA, 125 Ks
Bronson. 15-10 3.81 ERA
H Bailey 15-10 3.91 ERA"

This is Christmas Day for Danny. So why not predict Latos to post the fourth-highest winning percentage in the history of the game? It's really gonna suck for him when Alonso is the Padres' representative to the 2012 AS team.

artie_fufkin wrote:

MLBN reporting Texas submitted the highest bid for Darvish.

Rangers win Darvish rights with record bid

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AoDBJfua_UsM8bC6yMLKfO8RvLYF?slug=jp-passan_rangers_yu_darvish_winning_bid_121911

McCellan made 2.3 last year and will make more then that this year.  Payroll will have to be around 110mill.

APRTW wrote:

McCellan made 2.3 last year and will make more then that this year.  Payroll will have to be around 110mill.

Which just goes to verify something we have been arguing about for the past several years: that, assuming revenue has been relatively steady, the Cardinals had great payroll flexibility over the past several years, during a period when DeWitt emphasized it was important for the Cardinals to hold the line, and even contract the payroll at times. 

2011: 105,433,572
2010: 93,540,753
2009: 88,528,411
2008: 99,624,449
2007: 90,286,823
2006: 88,891,371

I believe TK even ridiculed my notion from about two years back that payroll could glide up toward $110 in the "next few years", and continue marching up toward $120.

APRTW wrote:

Anyone notice how effective Mike MacDougal was last year?  The Dodger signed him for a million.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/dodgers-sign-mike-macdougal.html

Asking Price Drops For Oswalt, Kuroda, Jackson



The asking prices for top free agent starters have dropped significantly, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. Roy Oswalt is said to be asking for $8MM, Hiroki Kuroda’s asking for $10-11MM and Edwin Jackson’s asking price has also dropped.

Oswalt and Kuroda seek one-year deals, while Jackson’s agent, Scott Boras, seeks a five-year deal. Each of the three starters is one of the top five players remaining on MLBTR’s list of Top 50 Free Agents. Last week MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explained which teams could be looking for starting pitching.

An $8MM investment Oswalt seems more than reasonable for a team in need of pitching help. Though the 34-year-old struggled with back issues in 2011, he finished the season with six strong September starts and a season ERA of 3.69 with 6.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. Similarly, a one-year deal in the $10-11MM range for Kuroda seems team-friendly. The right-hander posted a 3.07 ERA in 202 innings with 7.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9. Kuroda's less than a month away from his 37th birthday, but a one-year deal would protect teams' long-term interests.

If the Cardinals are interested in adding pitching there seems to be some out there.  I wouldnt think Loshe or Westbrook would be drawing interest with the free agent market as it is.

APRTW wrote:

Red sign Ludwick and the Phillies sign Pinerio.

I know it's getting crowded in the Cardinals' outfield, but I wouldn't have been bothered if they paid Ludwig $2.5m for 1 year.
Can't figure out why the Phils would sign Pineiro, or why he would sign with a team that already has the best rotation in the NL.

"It makes me wonder who was running the show while Walt was GM.  He isnt coming up with much original nowdays."

What they gave up for Latos is staggering. At least they held on to Mesoraco, who is going to be the best catcher that franchise has had since Johnny Bench, and the Cozart kid looked like the real deal until he got hurt last season. Marshall was a good pickup for their bullpen.

"bonuses that could be worth another $10MM."

Anything involving hitting Pujols in the ribs?

don.rob11 wrote:

don.rob11 wrote:

Darvish six-year deal with Rangers worth $60MM. Agents Don Nomura and Arn Tellem represent the 6'5" 25-year-old and negotiated for bonuses that could be worth another $10MM.

.......plus that little matter of the negotiating fee .

Strauss put this deal in pretty good perspective. Between the contract and the negotiation fee, the Rangers spent $111M on a pitcher who hasn't thrown a pitch in the major leagues. The Cardinals spent the exact same amount for 8 years of Pujols' services after he posted 3 seasons of finishing in the Top 3 of the MVP race.

I wish them well, and it wouldn't bother me a bit if the Rangers beat the Angels for the AL West, but the cost of some of these Asian players has become absurd.

One other note, presumably this takes Texas out of the running for Fielder. Where the hell is he going to end up?