I honestly feel that the gap between us and Chicago is big, and everyone sees it. Stanton by himself wasn't going to get us competitive with them, and he knew that. The Yankees? They'll spend whatever it takes. The Dodgers are already solid. The Cubs are very good now, with Stanton, they are serious winners... The Cardinals? Well we might get to 90 wins with him. Maybe catch a wildcard? Unless we had other moves made though, we don't look like a hot ticket team you want to jump on... It's a bummer, or it isn't depending on where you are. The thing that's beginning to really stink though is we are constantly making big offers that do not turn into players coming here. Price, Pujols, Heyward, Stanton... That trend sucks, and Stanton hit a new low for us where we offered enough, but the player was like ".... uhhhh no". To be fair though, he was upfront about where he wanted to play from the start, and Miami started shopping him to teams he didn't mention. He met with them, handled it well, and then came back and said, "No thank you". In the end, Miami did exactly what he told them they'd be doing at the start... Welcome to a no trade clause.

Guess i should have just read ahead and said i agree with alz

Winter meetings update:
I'll save you five minutes and from reading a bad Hunter S. Thompson wordplay in the headline:
- The Cardinals continue to be as desperate for offense as a nerd with acne trying to get a date for the prom.
- Much like their fans base whenever he was summoned into a game last year, the Cardinals are saying "Oh no" to bringing back Oh.
- DeJong is going to be on TV.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/fear-and-longing-in-the-lobby-cards-lure-fish-machado/article_2ffc0f43-c53b-5bfc-a5a5-4aea9ac403ed.htm

Last edited by artie_fufkin (12/12/2017 2:56 pm)

Rumor is that the asking price for Ozuna is 2 of Alcantara, Flaherty or Hudson and 1 of Piscotty or Grichuk.

forsberg_us wrote:

Rumor is that the asking price for Ozuna is 2 of Alcantara, Flaherty or Hudson and 1 of Piscotty or Grichuk.

How about piscotty and grichuk and one of the other.

In reality id do it.  Idk enough about the 3 prospects to judge.  Piscotty and grichuk are no big deal.  Both need to go. 

An outfield of fowler, ozuna and pham wouldnt be bad.  I just hope 2017 is close to repeatable for ozuna.

When you start looking at the stats 2017 aside and ozuna isnt much to get excited about.

APIAD wrote:

When you start looking at the stats 2017 aside and ozuna isnt much to get excited about.

They were rejected by the only truly impactful bat on the market who made sense (JD Martinez is an impact bat, but he's a DH, so I never considered him as an option).  That leaves them scouring the league for guys who fill secondary roles.  Ozuna fits that description.  He'd be a nice addition, but they'd have to make a second move to truly upgrade the lineup.

As far as what they might give up, the only name that gives me a little pause is Flaherty.  Hudson was decent last season, but not so good that I'd be concerned they traded a future Cy Young candidate.  My recollection of his stuff is that he's mostly a 2-pitch pitcher meaning his future may be more likely in the bullpen than in the rotation.  

 "He'd be a nice addition, but they'd have to make a second move to truly upgrade the lineup."

Now go get a corner infielder who can hit third or cleanup and we're talking.

It sounds like whatever the deal with Miami is, it must not have included Piscotty because the latest story is that the Cardinals are trying to move Piscotty to Oakland.

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

When you start looking at the stats 2017 aside and ozuna isnt much to get excited about.

They were rejected by the only truly impactful bat on the market who made sense (JD Martinez is an impact bat, but he's a DH, so I never considered him as an option).  That leaves them scouring the league for guys who fill secondary roles.  Ozuna fits that description.  He'd be a nice addition, but they'd have to make a second move to truly upgrade the lineup.

As far as what they might give up, the only name that gives me a little pause is Flaherty.  Hudson was decent last season, but not so good that I'd be concerned they traded a future Cy Young candidate.  My recollection of his stuff is that he's mostly a 2-pitch pitcher meaning his future may be more likely in the bullpen than in the rotation.  

I also have reservations about giving up Hudson but, as I wrote before, I think Flaherty is further along than the other two and I'm convinced the Cards are going to need someone for the rotation in addition to Reyes at some point this (2018) season.  Alcantara may have the most upside but he's not close to being there.  A lot can happen.
 

Last edited by Mags (12/13/2017 3:55 pm)

Now hearing it’s Alcantara, either Flaherty or Hudson, either Jose Martinez or Bader and a lower level player.

forsberg_us wrote:

Mags wrote:

Based upon last year's performance, Ozuna looks like a good acquisition.  But one thing causes me concern.  It's one thing for Ozuna to be hitting in a lineup with Yelich and Stanton.  It's another thing to do the same thing in a line-up with Yadier Molina batting 5ht or 6th and an aging Dexter Fowler, or even worse, a Matt Carpenter batting 3d or 5th.
 

Which is why they still need another bat.

Let’s pretend for a moment they could get Hosmer or Longoria. The every 8 would be pretty good. Maybe not great, but a heck of a lot better than last season.

Don't you think there would be a big difference between Longoria and Hosmer?