This team is jammed full of complimentary players.  Carp is the only player that I consider to really excell at his role.  Idk what the team does to catch the cubs but they have alot of good pieces to make trades with. 

I dont like moving carp to first idea.  He can play second and in that position he is the best all around second baseman in the league.  I never really agreed with moving him off of that position.  Id trade wong, move carp to second and upgrade the corner infield spots by trade. 

Piscotty, holliday, grichuk and moss are all to good to block without giving it thought but not good enough to add the beef the middle of this lineup needs. 

Im affraid the team will hope moss returns to form after fully recovering from hip surgery and figure adams, moss and piscotty will be the answer at first.

Im affraid that they will count on the log jam in the outfield to provide a steady mis matching of production. 

Both things result in no real change and another lack luster offensive year.

Artie, I think you're right, but good grief would that be disappointing. Like AP said, the Cards are full of complementary players. They need more top-end talent.

I'm tired of the Cardinals sitting out on these Cuban players. Or a guy like Kang, who went to the Pirates because the poor Cardinals didn't want to take that risk on an unknown. One night at Ballpark Village pays Soler's entire salary. 

Also, the backup catcher thing...no more Tony effing Cruz. 

I think thereare some cases to be made.  Are the cards better off letting heyward go and signing Cespedes? In fairytale land they get both and solve all the problems.  Is holliday worth keeping at all?  Shoukd he be considered a platoon player?  What is the point of jon jay? 

Loyalty cant get in the way of solid decision this offseason.

tkihshbt wrote:

I'm tired of the Cardinals sitting out on these Cuban players. Or a guy like Kang, who went to the Pirates because the poor Cardinals didn't want to take that risk on an unknown. One night at Ballpark Village pays Soler's entire salary. 

Also, the backup catcher thing...no more Tony effing Cruz. 

If anyone remembers I was in favor of the cards signing Cespedes and Alexei Ramirez.  I know ramirez has been great but he was a far cry better then pre-peralta days.

APIAD wrote:

Im not sure but I think bronxton has an option (expensive im sure) that could be picked up. I think moss is under control for 2016 as well as Cishek.

Broxton has a club option for $9 million. Moss is arbitration eligible. My roster has Adams on it because he's a cheaper option and the Cardinals almost always go with a cheaper player. Cishek is arbitration eligible. He made $6.65 million last year. The Cardinals won't pay that for a setup guy.
 

APIAD wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Holliday is guaranteed to be here in 2016, unless they decide to release him. 

I was speaking in term of trading him. I think teams would still latch on to him and trading him may be easier then teaching him first or him grumbling about it.
 

I don't know who is going to trade for a 36-year-old (on opening day) defensively-challenged leftfielder who is coming off an injury-plagued season, after his numbers were already trending downward. This was one of the issues when they signed him to that contract - they knew they were going to overpay for a player whose skills were going to diminish during the length of the contract.
 

Remember, AP: Holliday has a full no-trade clause plus he's a 10/5 guy, which gives him full veto power over trades. And I don't see him wanting out. 

I'll go out on a limb: Lance Lynn is traded this winter. 

I'm okay with everything the Cardinals had this season. Wainright not being at the front of the rotation hurt bad during the playoffs. The glaring hole was at First Base to me. I'm not sold on Adams, and while I like Reynolds/Moss bringing a bat off the bench, the team is missing that feared batter. 

We need that guy. That "Paul Goldschmidt" over at 1st base.

OMG just looked at his contract, Arizona got him for such a deal.... 5 years 32 million, they signed him early, and it paid off huge. That's peanuts for a 1st baseman that is 28, hit .321, 182 hits, and 33 HRs.

I wonder what it'd take to get him, he's under control through 2017 (with a club option for 2018).




 

Good points on holliday, broxton and ceshik

tkihshbt wrote:

Remember, AP: Holliday has a full no-trade clause plus he's a 10/5 guy, which gives him full veto power over trades. And I don't see him wanting out. 

I'll go out on a limb: Lance Lynn is traded this winter. 

Id take them trading lynn and resigning lackey.
 

APIAD wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Remember, AP: Holliday has a full no-trade clause plus he's a 10/5 guy, which gives him full veto power over trades. And I don't see him wanting out. 

I'll go out on a limb: Lance Lynn is traded this winter. 

Id take them trading lynn and resigning lackey.
 

^^^^^This^^^^^

I agree with everyone who said the Cardinals are loaded with complimentary pieces.  They need someone who can step into this lineup and be the guy other teams have to plan around.

Some of the pieces either can't or won't be moved, but for the right return I'm not opposed to trading just about anyone.  Over the course of the last few seasons, the Cardinals have been reluctant to "trade high" on a few of their prospects out of fear they'd be trading away a superstar.  Players like Craig, Adams, Lynn, etc...  

I'd re-sign Heyward who, combined with Holliday makes up 2/3 of the outfield.  Peralta and Carpenter would be the only 2 infielders guaranteed to be on my 2016 roster.  I'd pick up Moss' option, if for no other reason than he might have some trade value.  If not, he can fill a role off the bench, but he can't be a starter.

Re-sign Lackey and pick up Garcia's option.  The rotation would then be Wainwright, Lackey, Wacha, Martinez and Garcia.  Lynn is freed up for a trade.

With that said, I'm shopping any of the following pieces this off-season: Grichuk, Piscotty, Adams, Wong, Moss, Lynn and Gonzales.  I'm looking for a significant upgrade at either 1B, 3B, CF or RF