Monitoring some of the squabble over on the Scout.com message board over the St. Louis Cardinals letting players go like utility infielder Aaron Miles, reliever Russ Springer, starter Braden Looper and even closer Jason Isringhausen seems an extension of the grilling general manager John Mozeilak has received at the Winter Warm-up fan fest this weekend.
Like so many of the off-season concerns expressed recently, they aren’t new. Yet over time, the facts seem to support the view that the Cardinals have done a pretty good job of letting players leave before they hit bottom.
The jury will be out for some time as to the wisdom of any of the recent departures including Miles’ case, the one that currently seems to be most anger-causing.
In the meantime, I thought I would put together a Cardinals “Let ‘em Go” Team from this decade, just to remind us all that the guys in charge of the team generally do seem to know what they are doing.
To qualify for this team, the Cardinals player had to leave St. Louis as a free agent since 2000 and sign a subsequent contract with a new organization. In some cases, the Cardinals may have been in the bidding, but at some point, another club bested their offer. Other times, St. Louis may never have made a serious bid for the player to return. In selecting players, strong preference was given to players that turned out to be overpaid and underperforming in their new locales.
With the late addition of first baseman John Mabry, I was able to build a full lineup, including five starting pitchers and a reliever throwing from each side. Given the middle infield churn in recent years, it wasn’t surprising that five of them are on the team. Outfield was the biggest challenge to fill, but ultimately, three examples could be found.
While most of these moves occurred on the watch of former GM Walt Jocketty, Mozeliak was previously his top assistant and seems to have adopted a similar stance in such matters.
I’ve been around long enough to remember each one of the situations listed below and recall at least some considerable segment of the Cardinal Nation complaining about the team’s loss every single time. Yet the reality is that it is a necessary part of the game.
| In StL | New tm | New team $ | Comp pks | Results | |
| Starters | |||||
| Matt Morris | 1997-05 | SF + | 3 yrs/$27M | Perez | Went 20-30 with a 5 ERA in 2+ years before abruptly retiring. |
| Furnish | |||||
| Woody Williams | 2001-04 | SD + | 1 yr/$3.5M | Went 29-32 with 4.66 ERA for 3 years before retiring at 40. | |
| Jeff Weaver | 2006 | SEA + | 1 yr/$8.3M | Went 7-13 with 6.20 ERA for ’07 Mariners. Now in minors. | |
| Jeff Suppan | 2004-06 | MIL | 4 yrs/$42M | Mortensen | 22-22 with 4.78 ERA in 2 years; 15 ERA in one playoff game. |
| Kopp | |||||
| Jason Marquis | 2004-06 | CHC + | 3 yrs/$21M | More of same with CHC; booted from rotation & traded to COL. | |
| Relievers | |||||
| Julian Tavarez | 2004-05 | BOS + | 2 yrs/$6.7M | Left off BOS ’06 playoff roster, now a journeyman free agent. | |
| Steve Kline | 2001-04 | BAL + | 2 yrs/$5.5M | Unpopular in BAL after wishing he’d stayed in StL. | |
| Catcher | |||||
| Mike Matheny | 2000-04 | SF | 3 yrs/$10.5M | Herron | Due to concussions, played in just 181 games before retiring. |
| Infield | |||||
| John Mabry | 2004-05* | CHC + | 1 y/$1.075M | Hit .205 for ’06 Cubs, got 34 ABs with COL in ’07 and retired. | |
| Fernando Vina | 2000-03 | DET | 2 yrs/$6M | Hit .226 in 115 ABs for DET in ’04. Later comeback failed. | |
| Craig Paquette | 1999-01 | DET | 2 yrs/$5M | DET got 280 ABs at a .189 rate before he retired. | |
| Tony Womack | 2004 | NYY | 2 yrs/$4M | Lasted 108 gms in the Bronx. 28 more G in ’06 & was done. | |
| David Eckstein | 2005-07 | TOR + | 1 yr/$4.5M | Already on 3rd team since StL. Signed w/SD for $850K for ’09. | |
| Edgar Renteria | 1999-04 | BOS + | 4 yrs/$40M | Rasmus | BOS paid $11M to get ATL to take him. On 4th team since StL. |
| McCormick | |||||
| Abraham Nunez | 2005 | PHI + | 2 yrs/$3.35M | Hamilton | Batted .221 next two years in PHI. Trying to get back to MLB. |
| Outfield | |||||
| Reggie Sanders | 2004-05 | KC | 2 yrs/$10M | Only 408 ABs in KC due to knee and hamstrings, then retired. | |
| So Taguchi | 2002-07 | PHI + | 1 yr/$900K | .220 avg in just 91 ABs for ’08 world champs. Now a Cub. | |
| Eric Davis | 1999-00 | SF | 1 yr/$1.5M | Batted .205 in 156 ABs for ’01 Giants before hanging them up. |
+ denotes having played with multiple clubs since leaving the Cardinals
* third and final stint with St. Louis
In many cases, the big savings was in money not spent. Matt Morris (pictured – $27 million) and Edgar Renteria ($40 million) are good examples of this.
For other ex-Cards, the savings came in the form of negatives avoided as the player’s results on the field dropped off badly upon leaving St. Louis. For example, among the starting pitchers, only Jason Marquis had an above-.500 record after leaving the Cards and he was recently booted out of the Cubs rotation before being shipped to pitching purgatory, otherwise known as Colorado. The Cubs also paid the Rox $875,000 to take him.
Other benefits were gained down the line in players received via compensatory draft picks. For example, the reason Chris Perez is the favorite to become the Cardinals closer is because the team received a supplemental pick when Morris signed with the San Francisco Giants. Even better is top prospect Colby Rasmus, selected with Boston’s first-round pick in 2005 forfeited when the Sox signed Renteria.
Finally, some gains were achieved in roster savings such as when popular outfield reserve So Taguchi departed, making room for a younger, more talented player such as Skip Schumaker.
Not all the divorces were amicable, as several of the departing players grumbled about having been left in limbo by the organization. In other words, their feelings were hurt over not being told their services were no longer required as the club evaluated alternatives.
Still, with the full benefit of hindsight, when looking at the end results is there a single player on this list that the Cardinals should have kept?
So rather than complain about Miles and the other 2008 Cardinals that are gone for 2009, at least wait until next season is over to pass judgment.
This is pretty interesting. Is there much selectivity involved, or is this pretty much everyone let go during the period?
Brian, can you get Derrick Goold to link to this so those numskulls over at the PD Cards Talk Forum will have a clue. The only blemishes on the record I can remember are Jim Edmonds (though there was significant opportunity cost as well as monetary cost to keeping him; I would have passed.) and (so far) Anthony Kennedy (though there again, he needed a new pitching coach and change of scenery anyway). Renteria was pretty good for one year with Boston, and then tanked. You could also say Troy Percival was worth keeping (opportunity cost again rears its head). We will no doubt say the same thing about Russ Springer next year.
There are only 25 slots for these guys…
It particularly looks good if they get compensation picks. Oh well.
RedC, sure there is selectivity involved. As I stated in the article, I picked the worst cases on purpose. Having said that, let’s not lose sight of the fact that I could so easily find 18 of them in this decade alone. (I also included a few low salary cases like Mabry, Taguchi and Davis so I could field a complete team. My contention is that they probably would have taken a roster spot in place of a more skilled player.)
On the other hand, let’s start thinking about the number of players the Cards let leave as free agents this decade that have done BETTER after they left. I bet you can’t get to nine, let alone 18. (But if anyone can come up with some valid names, list them here and I will consider doing a companion article.)
(I purposely did not include trades in this work as the focus is free agency. Reyes and Edmonds don’t count as they were traded. Therefore, some value was guaranteed in return. Yes, they let Percival go and they received the pick they used on Lance Lynn as compensation! Your memory about Renteria in Boston is faulty. He only played there one year before Theo the Genius had to pay the Braves $11 million to take the three years remaining on his contract. When you have pockets as deep as Boston, mistakes like that can be more easily bought away.)
Regarding your Cards Talk request, why is Derrick needed to post a link there? Why not post the link yourself?
(As an aside, I used to post there, but due to the sheer volume of people expressing their opinions with different levels of knowledge, it is too much a free-for-all for my tastes. Still, I am confident there are also many very good posters there who should be able to weigh two sides of an issue. I prefer the Scout.com boards myself, but hey, I’m biased! There are other good Cardinals-themed boards, too, each with a different personality. I’ve considered writing about that, but concluded that there’s no way to do it without angering a lot of people! When all is said and done, it is about personal preference.)
Nutlaw, don’t get me started again on the issue of the Cardinals leaving comp picks on the table!
Dontcha’ think all this excitement over the farm system would be moderated quite a bit if Perez and Rasmus were in other organizations? Kopp and Mortensen also have potential.
why is Derrick needed to post a link there?
My comment was somewhat facetious. Also, I have no interest in registering there, which would imply I believe anyone on that board would listen to my opinions. They are their own special asylum and I shall not intrude with reality.
I do find them entertaining, though…
Reyes, for all intents, was simply cut, as we got virtually nothing for him. We did get Freese for Edmonds, though, who may turn out to be a pretty decent player.
Gotcha Red. Since I don’t know you well yet and don’t frequent CT, I thought maybe you had taken it upon yourself to try the impossible task of bringing the opinions of the extreme more toward the middle. Glad you’re smarter than that. You’d just end up with a flat head!
What about Bo Hart and Stubby Clapp?
The problem is this article makes too much sense for the ones that need to read it.
This should be required reading for anyone who has complaints about the FO