Sounds like Stanton’s headed to the Yankees. Better than the Cubs.

artie_fufkin wrote:

I have a feeling the backlash is going to be significant this time.

Backlash from who, for what?

The DeWitts are doing backflips today. They can say "See! He didn't want to come here!" In the meantime, they've done nothing to improve a third place team except sign a pitcher whose most notable accomplishment is eating a live reptile. They made no effort to sign a durable middle of the rotation starter, and they don't have a closer.

The offseason hasnt even really started yet.  No significant moves have really been made.  Im setting myself up for disappointment but i hope since the Cardinals put a valid effort on on stanton thatsee the need.  I hope they address the shortfalls in this roster in a meaningful way.  To me that is signing 2 above average bats.  A third baseman and an outfielder.  They also need to tighten up the bullpen.  That still puts alot of faith in an unproven rotation but im not sure how the fo can keep from blocking young arms and have a proven backup plan.  Might have to roll the dice on that one and patch it up as the season progresses.

Like fors, i know little of stanton and his personality.  My knee jerk reaction isnt great if he is basing his desire to play baseball off a cities nightlife.  Id get it if it was about money or being close to family but that hasnt been the case.  The only logical thing i can see is he wants to be on a team like the dodgers, cubs or yankees so he can leverage his opt out clause for more money like arod did.  Those teams might play that game, a team like the Cardinals likely wouldnt.

APIAD wrote:

The offseason hasnt even really started yet.  No significant moves have really been made.  Im setting myself up for disappointment but i hope since the Cardinals put a valid effort on on stanton thatsee the need.  I hope they address the shortfalls in this roster in a meaningful way.  To me that is signing 2 above average bats.  A third baseman and an outfielder.  They also need to tighten up the bullpen.  That still puts alot of faith in an unproven rotation but im not sure how the fo can keep from blocking young arms and have a proven backup plan.  Might have to roll the dice on that one and patch it up as the season progresses.

Like fors, i know little of stanton and his personality.  My knee jerk reaction isnt great if he is basing his desire to play baseball off a cities nightlife.  Id get it if it was about money or being close to family but that hasnt been the case.  The only logical thing i can see is he wants to be on a team like the dodgers, cubs or yankees so he can leverage his opt out clause for more money like arod did.  Those teams might play that game, a team like the Cardinals likely wouldnt.

 
I think if the Cardinals really wanted Stanton to come to St. Louis, he'd be coming here. Baseball players don't give two shits about nightlife. They play games at night, eat the spread and then go home. Stanton would have been a god in St. Louis. The Cardinals were never serious because just like Pujols and Price and every other top tier player they've feigned interest in since Holliday came here, their primary interest is money.

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

The offseason hasnt even really started yet.  No significant moves have really been made.  Im setting myself up for disappointment but i hope since the Cardinals put a valid effort on on stanton thatsee the need.  I hope they address the shortfalls in this roster in a meaningful way.  To me that is signing 2 above average bats.  A third baseman and an outfielder.  They also need to tighten up the bullpen.  That still puts alot of faith in an unproven rotation but im not sure how the fo can keep from blocking young arms and have a proven backup plan.  Might have to roll the dice on that one and patch it up as the season progresses.

Like fors, i know little of stanton and his personality.  My knee jerk reaction isnt great if he is basing his desire to play baseball off a cities nightlife.  Id get it if it was about money or being close to family but that hasnt been the case.  The only logical thing i can see is he wants to be on a team like the dodgers, cubs or yankees so he can leverage his opt out clause for more money like arod did.  Those teams might play that game, a team like the Cardinals likely wouldnt.

 
I think if the Cardinals really wanted Stanton to come to St. Louis, he'd be coming here. Baseball players don't give two shits about nightlife. They play games at night, eat the spread and then go home. Stanton would have been a god in St. Louis. The Cardinals were never serious because just like Pujols and Price and every other top tier player they've feigned interest in since Holliday came here, their primary interest is money.

I don’t have any reason to believe Buster Olney is a shill for the Cardinals and he claimed either last night or today that the Cardinals put together a cash and prospect package valued at over $300M. If that’s the case, they did what they reasonably could.

Stanton’s people met with the team, so I assume there was something more they could have offered, but if it was something like accelerating his opt out, I don’t blame them for saying no to that.

As far as Plan B, it isn’t obvious. I think they have to go the trade route because the FA Class isn’t great.

APIAD wrote:

If the package is accurate the Cardinals put forth the best.  Are you saying in meetings with statons people the cards and the giants sandbaged to scare with off.

 
I don't know what each team offered. But why are we giving the Cardinals any benefit of the doubt? At the end of the day, this is another instance of them supposedly being all in on a big time, big money player and walking away with nothing.
As far as the racial issues in St. Louis are concerned, I didn't hear about Ferguson and the resulting protests being a factor when they signed Fowler last year.

“But why are we giving the Cardinals any benefit of the doubt?“

I can only speak for myself, but by all reports the Cardinals put forth a trade offer acceptable to Miami. Ordinarily, that’s enough. In this case it wasn’t. I don’t know what else Stanton wanted, but San Francisco didn’t have it either.

Cardinals sign Luke Gregerson to 2 year, $11M deal.

Hopefully last year was an aberration. Gregerson was awful last year, but had been pretty good for several years before that.

forsberg_us wrote:

Cardinals sign Luke Gregerson to 2 year, $11M deal.

Hopefully last year was an aberration. Gregerson was awful last year, but had been pretty good for several years before that.

"Pretty good" seem like the right words.  I actually thought he had been better than what the stats quoted in the article at the Cards web page would indicate.

I just don't understand signings like this.  They must anticipate trading some of their guys who are on  the 40 man.

11 million dollars and a space on the roster.  Maybe he and Cecil are golfing buddies.
 

APIAD wrote:

Cubs are closing i on brandon marrow. Gregorson vs marrow....cubs win

In trying to recall Cecil's name,I just noticed that the Cards added Derian Gonzales to the 40 man roster.  I guess they were worried about a guy struggled a Palm Beach landing on someone else's 25 man for the season?
 

Sounds to me like another reason to ditch matheny

APIAD wrote:

"I’ve always watched them from afar,” Stanton said of the Cardinals when asked specifically about his talks with St. Louis. “We share the same Spring Training, so I’ve noticed how they go about their business. It’s winning first, culture, the fans and everything — it’s a great organization. We did have a good meeting, but I wanted to see my options [with] the teams that I initially chose.”

It's pretty clear that the Cards outbid everyone in what they offered the Marlins and, after reading Stanton's comments, I don't think he tried to squeeze additional sweeteners out of the Cards.