In a Wednesday article, creatively entitled “Cards payroll is going down”, the Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss describes a discussion with St. Louis Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and provides additional supporting detail on the status of the team’s finances apparently not directly sourced from DeWitt himself.
This is an area of increasing interest to fans, especially given an off-season of reduced spending on players.
As if they were DeWitt’s talking points, I have extracted the key bullets from the article without editorial comment in the areas of 2008 and 2009 payroll, roster implications, expense/revenue last year with this year’s forecast along with ticket sales information.
2008 payroll
- The 2008 season-opening player payroll total was $101.8 million, but included $26 million paid to players that didn’t contribute materially last season.
- (As another reference point, USA Today ranked the Cardinals at number 11 in MLB at the start of 2008 with an opening player budget of $99.6 million.)
- The club reasserts all 2008 in-season trades considered were not made were due to prospects demanded, not because of money limitations.
- The 2008 end-of-season payroll was over $110 million.
2009 payroll
- The team has committed an estimated $93.2 million to the 2009 opening-day roster. (link to P-D‘s player-by-player figures behind the total)
- Ownership forecasts the Cardinals will rank among the top 10 or 11 payrolls in MLB.
- DeWitt reiterated his commitment “to have a payroll commensurate with revenue”.
2009 roster
- The two-year/$18 million offer spurned by closer Brian Fuentes was heavily backloaded. The expense assumed would probably have driven a salary dump trade of either Ryan Ludwick or Rick Ankiel.
- Despite the uncertainty at second base, after eating the $4 million contract of Adam Kennedy, the club could not pursue free agent Orlando Hudson for financial reasons.
- Yet the recent signing of reliever Dennys Reyes is cited as an example of the club’s financial flexibility.
2008 expense/revenue
- Overall revenue in 2008 exceeded $200 million.
- Expenses exceeded $150 million.
- Operating profit was $23 to $25 million prior to servicing $17 million of stadium debt.
- DeWitt states that any “excess” money the past few years has been re-invested in the operation.
2009 expense/revenue
- The club is not assured of a 2009 operating profit beyond its ongoing debt service on the stadium.
- The Cardinals are “very sensitive” to attendance due to broadcast contracts that are much smaller than large-market clubs.
Ticket sales
- 2.7 million tickets have already been sold for the 2009 season.
- The club will not sell 3 million tickets prior to opening day for the first time in the four years since moving into the new ballpark.
- The worst-case scenario in which attendance only reaches 2.8 million in 2009 will be exceeded.
- Sales are down for all-inclusive and premium-seating areas typically bought by corporations and community groups.
- The club is projecting 3 million in attendance (which would be down 14% from the 3.43 million achieved in 2008).
All-Star Game impact
- The Cardinals will receive no direct revenue from the All-Star week activities.
- The 90 percent renewal rate among season-ticket holders to date is expected to grow to 92-93% based on fan interest in All-Star Game tickets.
OK, folks. There you have it. The Cliff’s Notes version of the Post-Dispatch article.
I am going to withhold my comments as I am interested in what you think. Does it make sense? Does the story hold together or is it just a shell game?
Does it matter what the team makes or spends as long as they are competitive? Should the owners have to disclose their finances in an attempt to maintain/restore the confidence of their fan base? How much profit is fair?
What do you think?
This may be more information than normal, but still artfully discreet in some areas. Revenues “exceeded $200MM”; by how much? Why is operating profit $24MM, not $50MM? What are dividends to owners? Not that we fans genuinely have need to know any of this.
Sure the story generally holds together through time.
Regarding 2008 unmade trades: there was a rumor the Braves wanted 6 years of Motte control for 2 months of Ohman. Now Motte is a serious contender to close some games, while no team has yet offered Ohman as much money as he wants. It seems inferrable that the Mo Administration likes deals that feel like solid value (low risk). No more Haren for Mulder deals, premised on undervaluing a prospect’s value in the long term and over-valuing a costly veteran for the short-term. Just be patient and make deals you understand and that make long-term sense.
As I said at the Birdhouse, I don’t care how much profit the owners make as long as the team is competitive. Why should I care if the owners “pocket” 1% or 50% of their proceeds, if the team is competitive.
I will point out the numbers above indicate the team expects 14% decrease in attendance but have budgeted only an 8% cut in opening “payroll”. As we have posted before, the Cardinals are far from being the only team to decrease opening “payroll” from 2008.
Oquendo–
Right. We want the owners to make lots of money. The more they make, the more they will feel like they can invest in developing new players and signing existing ones and free agents. I think DeWitt is probably being straight. The ownership group made a modest profit in 2008 and expects to break even or run slightly ahead of that after debt service this year. This feels right to me. It now looks like Mo has made some pretty smart decisions. Not trading Motte to the Braves for half a season of Ohman? Seems like a cruel joke now, doesn’t it? The Holliday deal never looked like a great bargain either. A lot of fans have overreacted to the non-pursuit of free agents this winter it seems.
While the rumored Motte-Ohman trade is just one small footnote to the much bigger picture here, I feel I have to comment again about it. This may sound a bit like it is coming from WC, but I find it a most interesting proposal to have been leaked. Because of the absurdity of this one example, many seem to have drawn the conclusion that EVERY possible trade was equally lopsided.
I am sorry, but I didn’t buy it then and I don’t buy it now. I firmly believe that ownership made a conscious cost-benefit decision not to spend any more money on the 2008 club. So be it, but I do not accept the supposition that the farm system had to be decimated to acquire two months of help.
The Ft. Lauderdale part of Wednesday’s split-doubleheader against the Orioles has been canceled due to wet grounds. That was the one to have been covered by Orioles radio. I don’t have an update on the Jupiter game, scheduled to be shown on Fox Sports Midwest and MLB.TV. (As a reminder, here is the link to the spring broadcast schedule.)
What bugs me most about how the Cardinals handle their PR is that they usually don’t seem to tell the whole truth. Atleast, that is my perception.
Clearly, the economy is a valid reason for financial retreat but it can also be used convienently as an excuse. Maybe, it is both. I never get the feeling that Cardinal fans are getting the whole truth from either DeWitt or Mozeliak.
If they were worried about attendance and that restricted their ability to pursue FAs, why didn’t they say so about three months ago? Most Cardinal fans could connect those dots. Instead, they wait until halfway through ST to state their case. That seems disingenous to me.
As to Motte for Ohman, I believe that is what the Braves wanted and that would be a stupid deal. However, I also agree with Brian that there were probably other deals that could have been made to help the 2008 team compete down the stretch. The fact that the team did nothing helped fuel the discontent that plagues the front office to this day.
mikeD, I agree with much of what you said. In their defense, I did want to point out that this is at least the second time DeWitt Jr. came out this winter (remember the “dry powder” talk?). Also DeWitt the third spoke earlier in the winter about the economy’s impact. At that time, they probably had an idea about sales from season renewals, but since single-game tickets just recently went on sale, they now have more hard data.
To me, this wasn’t as much new news as additional depth surrounding an ongoing theme.
mikeD, despite what I wrote about the guy in another thread, they did pick up Felipe Lopez and he hit very well during his time as a Cardinal.
As for the “whole truth” this is not a courtroom. I don’t feel entitled to know everything they are planning or everything they attempt.
I do also believe their stance a couple of months ago was different than it was back in September. There sure was plenty of angst on the message boards over their stance.
I don’t think the scrapheap acquisition of Lopez should be counted as a serious attempt. Every year, they seem to bring in the Russell Branyan and Miguel Cairo unemployed journeyman types. Most of the time, they don’t contribute, which is why they were dropped by their former teams in the first place.
I was thinking more of the past when they traded for guys like Will Clark, Woody Williams, Chuck Finley, Larry Walker, Jeff Weaver, even Joel Pineiro and the like, players who had a better chance of making a difference.
Oquendo, I sometime lurk over at the Birdhouse, although I don’t think I even need to read what will be written over there by a few of the regulars.
By the way, thank you for the nice comments about me over there a few days ago.
Dizzy, the words “whole truth” are misleading. I guess what I want is for them to be straight with fans. For example, after they said they would be agressive, they could have said that ticket sales are down (due to the economy) and, as a result, we (Cardinals) will have to readjust our off-season plans. It is no longer prudent for us (Cardinals) to be spending money on free agency.
I guess my perception is that fans are not getting the story from the Cardinals and have to figure out what is going on from the team’s behavior. In my mind, it would be easier (and wiser) to just comunicate with the fans in a straightforward manner.
One more thing, the Cardinals stated that they made Funetes a compteitive offer. In the Strauss article (today), we find out that it was aheavily back-loaded contract. Not once did the team describe the offer as such when they were pursuing him or after they failed to sign him. That is the “straight” talk I am referring to with the FO.
mikeD–
Yeah, sometimes they play things a little close to the vest. But lookit. The Cardinals Baseball Club is a private company. They are under no obligation to disclose their financials just because the fans would like to see them. I also think Mo is as straight as he can be, though not always as forthcoming as everyone would like. But he doesn’t call the shots, Dewitt does. Sometimes DeWitt changes his mind.
Also, Fuentes never wanted to come to St. Louis. Frankly, I’m glad, given Motte, Perez and Kinney, that he didn’t.
There is a tightrope that the management has to walk. This year it was very tight. They need to encourage fans to buy tickets and to reassure everyone that we will try and compete this year. If they don’t then they run the risk of fans reacting negatively toward the stated philosophy. We also have to consider that they don’t want to reveal to the entire league what their economic constraints are. Maybe they can drive the price up for another team to sign someone we had no interest in signing. the teams that spent big early this off-season probably overspent.
Good points, cfit. Unfortunately for the Cardinals’ timing, they were one of the earliest big spenders with Lohse. Nothing that can be done about it now, of course…
This continual theme of the Cards being disingenuous bugs me to death. Whether it be financials, injuries, contract offers, or player/mgmt disagreement it seems to be a constant.
This will most likely get uglier next year. Attendance may stay high but I think sponsorships are going to tank. The only saving grace is that the Cards have the chips to go young and cheap next year. If they’d had to do that 2-3 years ago we’d have been a last place team.
yes, but after a hot start they had been playing below .500 ball for a good stretch before Lopez joined the team (if my memory is correct).
CC, you put your last post in the wrong thread (not that there is a proper thread)!
This is to comment on Brian’s comment (#9).
Freebie signings (of free agents or releasees) like Felipe Lopez or Preston Wilson or Todd Wellemeyer or Ryan Ludwick can work out great. Just because some other team for its internal reasons chooses to release a guy does not imply he is without potential value. There is really only upside potential, given the low cost of acquisition.
Regarding the trade for Larry Walker. Larry is a distinguished player, respected by moi. However, the Rockies were happy to shift $9MM of salary to the Cards and invested $1MM in an elite prospect, Dexter Fowler, stud switch-hitting CF. Because of bonus, Fowler lasted until the 14th round of the draft (though within the top 10 high school jocks of his year group), ergo he could have been signed by the Cards, had they wanted. In the long run, the Rockies could make out very well from getting rid of Walker, both financially and in terms of talent (6 years of Fowler vs. 1.5 of aging Larry Wallker).
Chuck Finley was a couple of months for 6 years control over Coco Crisp. A few months of reliever Christensen cost 6 years of control over SS Jack Wilson.
Weaver was awful with the Angels, bad with the Cards initially until he somehow pitched solidly for 6 weeks, and has been awful since leaving town.
I expect DeWitt got fed up with a focus on short-termism and on veterans, because over time this is expensive. He probably realized the Cards cannot outspend their adversaries with veterans, so needed to improve scouting and development. And the Cards may be less frantic in future to sacrifice the future for a short-term gain. If you keep your homegrown talent, then in a few years, you have fewer of the holes in your roster than are hurting you in the short-run. The Cards may take a more patient, long-term perspective than in the past about stretch drive trades.
The Phillies gave up some talent and obtained Blanton, who is a pretty good pitcher. Blanton helped put the Phils over the top. So arguments can be made for short-termism. But the Phils have a big payroll too. The Cards may need to chart a different course for themselves.
You all are covering the angles of this subject pretty well. I for one am glad Fuentes didn’t sign with the Redbirds, too much money even with a heavily backloaded contract and too much risk that he would be worth the bucks.
Too bad they overspent on Lhose but that’s the way it goes sometimes, I think he will be a good return for at least two of the years and maybe more. The last 2 years have been overspent on Carpenter but so far he is looking good for this year (cross fingers).
Khalil Greene seems like a great player to get defensively and possibly very complimentary in the batting lineup , I think he’s gonna do well hitting 6 or 7 for St. Louis
So even tho the payroll is going down I can’t complain given the rough times everywhere economically and feel this team, if healthy , will be very competitive in 2009.
I was bummed last season with all the blown saves and hoped that a closer would have been traded for at the deadline, but they did get Lopez , granted noone knew he would hit as well as he did. The flip side is Felipe’s defense isn’t all that good and he was a “low hanging fruit” pick up.
But it did seem weird that he, Miles and Kennedy were all let go or little interest shown in re-signing any of them.
I hadn’t noticed Brian’s post number nine until Jumbo brought it up. I have to say I don’t see a whole lot of difference between Felipe and any of those guys except maybe Larry Walker. Even Walker brought with him some huge question marks, with his back. He had only played 38 games into August.
Clark was ready to retire, Pineiro had been sent to AAA, Weaver was horrible with the Angels, Woody Williams was scuffling with the Padres, posting a 4.97 ERA and Finley was 4-11 with the Indians. To me, Lopez fits right in about the middle of that group as a guy who was not playing well but had enjoyed earlier success.
Curious, a team as secretive and private as the Cardinals, make a formal (low ball at the time)”back loaded” contract offer public, by letting Strauss take a peak!!! Ya think!!
The offer to Fuentes was in keeping with this winter’s market value given his performance and seniority. Its the price that has to be paid to land him. The Cards had a brutal bullpen in 2008 and were willing to pick up the price tag, despite its loftiness. But neither they nor the Angels wanted to bid up Fuentes higher. The salary money was good and comparable between the two teams, so Fuentes had to choose between them on other grounds. Fuentes is rep’d by the same agent as Pujols, so the Cards are not going to be playing games in their offers to Fuentes.
Money is part of personnel decisions and it gives fans another factor to second-guess. Fans also get optimisic about rookies and are ready to entrust them with ML duties. The Cards understand that ML closer is a tough gig and that they can improve their chances by having the depth of both rookies and an established vet like Fuentes. This creates the odd situation in which notorious miser DeWitt gets criticized for bidding too much for Fuentes.
Just to be clear, I didn’t want Fuentes either. What I am addressing is that, at the time, the Cardinals stated that they made Fuentes a competitive offer. Yesterday, we learned that it was a heavily backloaded offer. “Competitive” and “heavily backloaded” seem like terms that are in conflict.
Salaries under multi-year contracts are often structured to increase through time (at least for players during their prime years). This was true of the free agent contracts for Juan Encarnacion, Joel Pineiro, David Eckstein. Yet these men chose to sign with the Cards, because the Cards were the high-bidders for their services. Three examples of how competitive contracts can be backloaded.
To an agent, what may matter is the Net Present Value of the cash stream over the entire duration of the contract. If the NPV is the same, an agent might not care if the first year of a contract is $2MM and the second year $3MM versus $2.4MM for each of the two years. Both teams and agents should pay attention to NPV, though they may tweak the allocation of money by year to suit the particular preferences of a given team or player.
I can understand the Cards wanting Fuentes. If Perez goes down with foot or shoulder, the Cards might start to worry about largely relying on the rookie Motte as closer. If they were to trade an OF this spring, it might be for an established closer, because it could turn out to be unfair to heap too much responsibillity on Jason.
The volume of your misdirection Jumbo startles even me. I’ve decided that you can’t possible work for the organization, but you are in fact just some “masked crusader” who blankets every little exposure of Cardinal devilry with mounds of self serving propaganda. You are smart Jumbo, but in the end, all for naught.
You might say that they Cards had a dead offer in the water, (so what) but using it at this time, with all its frailty’s, breaking their own rules, just to prove sincerity in their frail cash strapped dealings, where none was really required, whats that about Jumbo? Thats a rhetorical question for other readers, so please don’t bury it again.
The Cards claim to have bid on K-Rod, the reliever. I expect this is literally true, but meaningless, because they may have been bidding to hurry along defining the marketplace for other closers or to serve MLB’s legal positions by acting as an underbidder.
It is certainly true that I do not work for the organization. In general, I am somewhat more favorably disposed toward player’s rights (including their agents and the players union) than Mr. Walton. I am also a little more respectful of DeWitt, Mo, TLR, Jumping Jeff, democracy, apple pie, and capitalism than WCBW.
Luddy put one over the left field fence in the first inning today of Kazmir for a quick 3-0 lead. I suspect Mr. DeWitt is pretty unhappy about that. It’s going to make WC’s prediction that Luddy will be cut much more difficult for the cheapskate owner. Sarcasm off.
Please do not lose track of the whereabouts of the sarcasm ON button.
Common Jum, why did Mo show Strauss an offer sheet on Fuentes at this time?
I have not read about it, but maybe Strauss recently asked Mo to see the offer? Or maybe Mo is proactively wanting to communicate via Strauss that the team made a serious offer on Fuentes? Either way, it seems uninteresting. I already knew the Cards made a serious offer to Fuentes. It was abundantly reported. TLR opened up to some reporter about how much he respected Fuentes as part of wooing him, then Fuentes stood us up. Same agent as Albert, so the Cards are unlikely to misrepresent their dealings with this agent.
That’s gotta be the first time I ever saw anybody call Jumbo common. He’s a pretty rare species.
If you read with a little more attention to detail Dizzy, you would see that the Ludwick move, now dead I would say because of yesterdays announcement, was just a possible option that I liked, and still do. I am disappointed about yesterdays announcement, yet happy that Luddy found an acorn today. They’re tasty. ( Ignore back on.)
If you like the option of cutting loose a ballplayer whose salary is only a little above the league average and who produced like Luddy did last year, I am eternally grateful that you are not the guy making such a decision. His contract is also controlled by the team for the next two seasons past this one.
Don’t you think Minnesota wishes they had offered David Ortiz arbitration a few years ago instead of non-tendering him. Can you give me one example of a team making such a move that worked out well for them?
I simply don’t understand your dislike for Ludwick. You’ve hinted in the past that you have contact with some of the Cardinal players. Is it something personal with the guy?
By the way, WC, you can ignore my posts if you wish. After all, it’s a free country. Keep in mind, though, that I tend to respond to comments that I think are goofy and your suggestion that the Cardinals should simply release Ryan Luck this spring is about as goofy a suggestion that has been made on this blog.
I like your attitude Jumbo. The first reason is not likely, second reason plausible. Strauss has been critical at times of Cardinal front office. I can see Mo telling Strauss that he want to get this message on finances out, and that he wants to show the people their good and honest intentions. I can see Joe explaining why many people are skeptical concerning issues that have concerned us all. I can see Mo offering to show Joe the only damn offer sheet he sent out, maybe by request. The Number was public record, 18 million, so nothing much to say except , holy sh-t, is this thing back loaded. How extreme can you back load a 3 yr 18 million dollar deal? The point here has nothing to do with Fuentes. It has everything to do with the future of Albert Pujols. The Cardinal formula for payroll has now been announced. You do the math. Albert said he did not want to play with an underpowered team. Whats the message here. Over a 10 year extension, how many good players would have to be let go, just to stay within the cardinal formula. In two years Lohse, Waino, Carp’s etc, back loaded contracts all start to mature. Even with serious deferments, he isn’t going to except an agreement to represent a non-competitive team. Whats been established is the separation of DeWitts personal fortune from baseball operations. It says that payroll is completely dependent on the attendance of the generous cardinal fans, and that we will do the book keeping. This happened in California with the 49ers. Can you spell loser. DeWitt has the balls to stand up and say that last years non move had nothing to do with Money. At the break, Tony said we need help, Albert said we need help. This team is no better than that team and you know it. I will say this again, in my opinion, DeWitt is carrying out a business strategy that doesn’t include Pujols, except on his terms. Thats what yesterday was about. To be honest, I hate being affiliated with a loser. I’m losing money. Secretly, I would rather trade Pujols, take the prospects and spend next years 85million dollar payroll, twice as much as the Rays, on kids with a future. We don’t need a 25million dollar a year symbol, (that never sees a pitch), baseball poster boy.
WC, this Pujols idea is almost as goofy as your Ludwick idea.
By the way, it was a TWO year, $18M deal. That makes your comments questioning the Fuentes offer a close third.
WC, you do a lot of thinking. There seems like some energy going on, at your end, trying to figure some things out. Also, you are not afraid to be opinionated, based on your reasoning, which can be a laudable human trait. That said, as a generality, I would caution that you may have a tendency to do a lot of interpretation on the basis of limited information and this can send your thoughts in some unexpected directions, to some who know the Cards better than you do.
No offense, but I am not going to “do the math”, because that is what Mo and colleagues get paid to do. They get paid the number crunching scut work for Mr. Walton, Mr. Dizzy, and the rest of us fans. (Hopefully they do it better than those knuckleheads at AIG and do not get paid too many millions.)
I have no idea what you are talking about in terms revealing the Cardinals pay formulas. You can probably look up lots of contract info at Cots. For players who are not post-prime and nearing retirement (like Edmonds on his last 2 year deal), I cannot imagine escalating salaries for outyears are uncommon around baseball. They should be a common and prudent business practice. There is no need to get perturbed about them.
Albert Pujols will command varsity money for his next contract. For the Cards to hope to re-sign their marquee player, they are going to need to be careful in their other spending. If the Cards were offering massive contracts to other players, this would suggest they are conceding on Pujols. They do not seem to be doing so. What you may regard as cheap, I might regard as sensible.
I would suggest just relaxing and enjoying the baseball season and not spreading conjectured fears via the Internet. There is enough difficult and truly bad news in the world, we do not need to depress other fans who might like some refuge provided by baseball.
The Cardinals have some serious lumber on their side for 2009. If Adam Kennedy could
hit a grand slam off Zambrano, Carlos may hide in the locker room instead of pitching to Ankiel and Duncan. Channel some positive thoughts.
WC, I’m never quite sure why you believe that ditching their best players will help the Cardinals make money. These are the guys bringing fans to the stadium, and thus dollars into the organization. Rebuilding teams don’t generate a heck of a lot of revenue.
Thanks Jumbo, I needed that!
Nut, I to play to win. I don’t have baseball cards. I loved the nameless RedSox. I love players that can respond to each other, create rallies, respond to great defensive plays with great defensive plays. An example, David Ortiz was mentioned here. I’m very familiar with large Poppy. Watched him play many times. Gave him a ride to the Park one day if I remember correctly. He had a hole in his swing that you could drive a truck through. Down and in, or breaking pitch on his shoe. Pitchers humiliated him. He goes to the Sox where all the machismo begins to make sense, the team chemistry with Manny and Pedro and the Boston fans, what a great and beautiful thing. They plugged that hole with all that added self esteem and what was a weakness became a strength. The rest is history. When I see Albert constantly being pitched around or teams exploiting his frustrations because it is the obvious tactic, it really bothers me. He reminds of the Mustang pony that got ridden across the desert till his heart broke. I just want to see the guy play. I don’t care who he plays with. Let him out with his kind. Its a beautiful thing…………………….
You guys have no idea who BD is. I have a very good idea. He is a Billionaire egotist that judges his success with a bank statement. He is semi-retired for good reason,with nothing better to do than fooling around with the baseball business. Look around you at the teams that hover forever in mediocrity. They are many. The Cards are just a few steps from being there. If he keeps preparing to sign Albert, by clearing salary, and then doesn’t. Watch out. That would be a brilliant business play, all Albert’s agents fault.
Here is how I look at Albert’s next contract. Its up to DeWitt and Albert. Is it up to Shrimp? Of course not. Nothing for me to worry about. If the fates are kind, in 2012, Albert will be playing MLB. Albert will have the earned legal right to decide where he chooses to play. The Cards will make a fair offer. Then its 100 percent up to Albert about what to do.
Every off season, lots of free agents make such decisions. Its routine. Just like they schedule 162 games a year and 3 outs conclude a half-inning. Yawn.
If Albert wants to play with the Red Sox like Renteria did, I would say, thanks for your wonderful years Albert and best of luck. Or if Albert decides to say, I would say, thats great, thanks Albert and best of luck. But there is no reason to get stressed out about it, one way or the other, because it will be Albert’s choice and I will wish him well, whatever he decides.
Pedro Martinez walked out on Boston. He could have cared less about Boston’s “great and beautiful” atmosphere that so chokes up WCBSW. Boston booted Edgar out of town after just one year, the Braves got rid of him, the Tigers, and now he is with the awful Giants. TLR liked Edgar, but Edgar is gone. Its just the nature of the game. Guys move on, if they choose. Its their right. Its just the way of life. Time does not stand still.
The Cards have some fantastic hitters for 2009: Pujols, Ankiel, Ludwick, Duncan, Glaus, Greene, with help from Molina, Skip, Mather. They are going to put a lot of runs on the board. Its good to enjoy life, in the here and now of 2009, not be fearful and emotional about the future and about things beyond the control of fans and indeed beyond the control of the Cardinals.
At a Cardinals web site, its off-key to suggest Pujols be traded to Boston, while saluting its “great and wonderful” atmosphere, with “Manny and Pedro.”
In reality, the Red Sox got so disgusted with Manny’s unreliable attitude, they traded him, despite Manny being a great hitter. Pedro chose to leave for extra money from the Mets. Another popular Red Sock, Johnny Damon, dumped Boston for the Yanks. Players make their own choices. Life rolls on. Boston kept winning after Pedro and Damon left. The game is bigger than individuals.
At a high pinnacle of fame, Mark McGwire chose not to leave St Louis for top dollar. Consistent with this, after he injured a knee and no longer felt he could be the same hitter, McGwire just retired, giving up millions of dollars which he was entitled to collect had he stayed active. McGwire thought this was just the honest thing to do, instead of being a millionaire welfare bum.
Throw another log on the fire before you turn in Jumbo. Noticed that the Cards talked a little about Ludwick’s problems in the paper this morning. (Yawn) Thank god! Pray that Tony leaves Ankiel in the two slot, but then Duncan is probably back today. Good night. Thanks again. zzzzzzzzzBzzzezzzazztzzz Czzzuzzzbzzz’s
I have happy feelings to keep me warm, WCBs. I dont see the need to trade Pujols. I am not panicked about Ankiel or Ludwick or Duncan. I am confident the Cards will excel in 2009. Moneybags DeWitt, Mo, and Tony are going to bring home another winner.
WCBS wrote,
“I’m very familiar with large Poppy. Watched him play many times. Gave him a ride to the Park one day if I remember correctly”
I think I’ve got this figured out. You are a Japanese guy that lives on the west coast and gave somebody wearing an authentic Red Sox cap to a game, thinking it was possibly Big Papi, just like in the commercial.
As for any hole in his swing, A) he moved to Boston for his age 27 season, which is historically the age at which a player reaches his full value and B) he moved to a great hitting environment.
You can try to spin it any way you want but the Twins made a horrible mistake in cutting loose a guy that signed with the Red Sox for $1,250,000.
Diz: Uncanny how you can figure out what is going on.
It seemed revealing WCBS offered a ride to what he percieved to be a large Poppy. His car must be like the Bates Motel for poppies.
Well, I could be wrong about him being of Japanese descent. Perhaps he is actually an Afghani living on the west coast and part of an opium smuggling ring out here. If so, you better start being nice to him.
Yes, clearly English is not the first language in this case. I must redouble my efforts to be on my best behavior in terms of bolstering international understanding and amity.
On the other hand, since he has me on “Ignore” I can say virtually anything I want and get away with it. Hey WC, your grandmother wears combat boots!
At least at the Birdhouse there is an ignore feature. WCBs loves agents, hates teams, likes prize loon Hugo Chavez; despises DeWitt and professes to know all sorts of inside dirt about him; and is often plumb hard to understand. Maybe he mistook DeWitt for big Poppy, gave him a lift, then got mad when DeWitt refused to sign an autograph as David Ortiz?
The more I think about this, the more I think I’m right about the Afghani idea. Many of those guys are taxi drivers. It’s quite possible WC actually did give Big Papi a ride in his taxi (probably in Las Vegas) and he’s probably also had fares that include DeWitt and Ludwick. Perhaps the latter two “stiffed” him on tips and that’s what he has against them. Luddy did attend UNLV, didn’t he?
Insults aren’t very becoming, guys.
In regard to actual points made, WC, I’m also not sure why you insist that there is no one in the lineup to protect/support Pujols. The Cardinals did end up with the second highest OPS in the NL last year, significantly ahead of the third place Phillies.
By all accounts, I don’t see how their lineup is any weaker this season. Sure, Glaus is hurt for a while, but there are some promising young guys making their way up, and the combo of Greene/Schumaker is a tremendous offensive upgrade at middle infield.
Nutlaw, you’re right about the insults and I apologize. The problem I have with WC is that he makes irrational (IMP statements cloaked in riddles and then has refused to answer my questions about them.
I love to discuss the Cardinals. I don’t enjoy reading comments that are made to simply create a reaction, especially when that poster makes no attempt to back up his position. We don’t need to be told dozens of times that the Cardinals will cut Albert Pujols loose or that Luddy will likely be cut to save $3M.
maury brown @ the biz of baseball has an article up about end of year payrolls. nice read. surprised to see the cards ranked 8th over the last 10 years averaged.
would expect an owner who is being called cheap on nearly every site you go to, would be in the bottom 8 teams. must be new math.
I find those most vocal are often irrational, with heavy doses of emotion and name-calling but shortness in facts.
In the big picture: the Cardinals have won more World Series than any team save the Yankees, who we disqualify as unfairly advantaged, the bums. The Birds are located beside the Arch. Lots of brick homes and normalcy. In essence, the epicenter of baseball, the US, and all that is sane and good and happy, within a troubled world. Accordingly, Dizzy and Shrimp each have a sober responsibility as custodians of a storied franchise to uphold its hallowed reputation and stand for the right and good and sane. When we encounter suggestions Luddy will be released, Pujols traded to Beantown to makeup for loss of Ruth, or doubts about Ankiel or Duncan, we must be true to ourselves.