We touched on the Cards need for starting pitching help yesterday. Now let’s discuss the hole they have at shortstop. Let’s examine the options:
- The incumbent is David Eckstein. But “The Pest” may have fleeced himself by saying that he wants Julio Lugo/Rafael Furcal money. Lugo fleeced the Red Sox last winter for $36M over 4 years, and Furcal received $39M over 3 years from the Dodgers the previous year. If anyone gives that kind of money to Eckstein, a 32 year old with no power, they should be relieved of their duties immediately. And according to Joe Strauss, it is “widely believed within the organization” that the Cardinals will not offer Eckstein arbitration, let alone get fleeced into a long term deal.
- Struass names Miguel Tejada as a possibility, but I just don’t see why any team would want to acquire Tejada to play shortstop. Plus, the Mitchell Report possibility looms.
- Then there’s Jack Wilson, whom the Cardinals could probably acquire via trade relatively cheap due to Wilson’s prior fleecing of the Pirates. The career .269 hitter is due nearly $14M over the next two seasons. Wilson’s defense would be welcome in St. Louis, though. Eckstein made 20 errors in 117 games last year.
- The in house option is Brendan Ryan. Ryan, a 7th round pick in 2003, is a promising 25 year old who showed promise last year in the big leagues, hitting .289 with a .347 OBP in 180 at bats. He also had 4 homeruns, which is 2 shy of Eckstein’s total over the last two years. The downside is Ryan’s defense. The youngster committed 10 errors in 67 games last year.
Putting on my GM hat here, I’d consider offering Eckstein arbitration. But if he declines, I would give the job to Ryan and try to sign a veteran defensive minded backup like Cesar Izturis to mentor Ryan and start maybe once or twice a week. The Cards should see what they have in Ryan. Thoughts?
Filed under: Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals
Whats the deal with the Cards as of late, seems to me were trying to pickup constantly those who we have already had on our team, such as Jack Wilson who we traded to the pirates for Chirstensen who we then turned around and traded him to the Giants… Then theres Haren, who we trade along with Kiko and another who name eludes me right now for Mark Mulder.
Atleast to me, i’d pursue Jack Wilson, as a GM that is, we take the salary hit, but in turn get a good player. We could even do a ‘player to be named’ which we could back out of later and take a cash hit since the cards seem to be reasonable atleast on these terms, then we keep our prospects so we don’t trade for them back again, heh.
The only problem is I think the cards are getting nearsighted again, the problem with this is it still does not fix our starting pitchers issue to where the cards can play comfortably til Carpenter comes back, but we are still unsure if he’s 100% after the all-star break.
Just my thoughts,
Mikael.