Posted by Nicolai on 7/11/2009, 11:39 am, in reply to "Re: brett, brian, others"
yeah, i hear you. the thing is, jocketty did all of those things and it sunk the cardinals for '07/'08. it's the same story as the cubs, the yankees (last year, and i think two years from now) - too many top-level signings for a year or two of a player in their prime and then the player passes their prime and the team epic fails (see: edmonds extension).
derosa had 50 rbis already at the time of the deal, and mozeliak traded two righty relievers to get him - derosa not only could bandaid our hole at 3rd, but also in left (ankiel/duncan), so he's a more versatile acquisition than, say, matt holliday (please god, no). again, the wrist thing happened AFTER the deal, so it's not mo's fault.
if you're talking a big acquisition the last couple of years (like a holliday or whoever), that person is probably asking for rasmus in the deal. and by hanging onto rasmus INSTEAD of making the deal... well, you see. i'm glad he's on our team for the next five years, and not a 30-something year-old outfielder making 10 mil-plus a year.
ownership/management said in '07 that they were going to take a new approach for a couple of years and let the young talent develop, not just use it as trade chips. now they've got a surplus (although with the PTBNL they've traded away 4 righty relievers this year, so the surplus is nearly gone)... they do have a lot of outfielders, but they were a lot more attractive last year. jay, robinson and others aren't tearing the cover off the like they were last year and no one really wants them anyway, as they're skip schumaker OF clones. they're toss-in players. so do we have a lot of skilled young OF's? yes. do we have a lot of skilled young OF's that are trade chips? probably not. the only minor-league OF you build a deal around is daryl jones, at this point.
point of all this is, this is the first year (now, with carp fully healthy) that we have a team that could be built for the playoffs. i think mozeliak knows that, and i think he'll make a significant trade before july 31. but in terms of signing... we're never going to be the team that signs a sabathia-type free agent and gives them too many years and dollars. and that, while occasionally frustrating, i'm glad for.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread