As for Holliday, well my personal opinion is that he will go where the riches take him. Brian’s right (as if there was any doubt) in that if Boston doesn’t sign Bay they will most assuridly go after Matt, which in turn could bring the Yankees into the bidding just to keep him out of Boston. The Angels of course will be a major player. Grab a butterfly net because there’s going to be a lot of money flying around. Translation: he’s gone, but hopefully not until after he’s given us another world series victory. *Note: Bay has turned down a sizeable contract from the Red Sox, which can only mean he’s not happy there or he’s trying to up the ante.

Chris there is a difference in Lohse and Pineiro. Joel has been at a higher level before and this year he was convinced to trust his more effective pitches more often. Same talent, but trusting a different philosophy. Lohse has always been a #5 starter who had one great year in 2008 and cashed in on it quickly. It’s really unfair to judge his performance this season based on his plethora of unfortunate injuries. He could very well come back next year and be an excellent 4th starter. Pineiro on the other hand, thanks to Duncan’s master plan for him, has turned himself into a legitimate # 2 starter. Having said that, he wouldn’t be the first player to overachieve in their contract year and then fall flat on their faces the very next season. So you’re right in that he’s probably a gamble and that he’s probably priced himself out of St.Louis, however, you can never have too much quality starting pitching. After all, what do you think has gotten us this far this season. Our small-o ffense (with the acception of Albert of course) has kept too many well pitched games close this year. Even if Joel doesn’t reach this year’s numbers I’m sure that Carp, Waino, Pinata and Lohse would again be a formidable rotation; with the 5th starter being one of Smoltz, Jaime Garcia, Hawksworth or Boggs. My money’s on Jaime ‘El Torodore’ Garcia.

Thanks for the support Nut, but you know, we just might not end up with any of them.

Seeing Holliday walk would be pretty crushing at this point, however.

If the PCL finals go a full five games, the Memphis players would not reach St. Louis until the final road trip starting 9/21. At that point, only 12 regular season games will remain. May as well keep the call up list very short as few will get a chance to play. With DeRosa still hurting, Freese could be one of them.

Joe is a flexible player with a lot of skills. He can play LF, RF, 1B, even a little CF. He can do all these things already. Its fine to give him added training and familiarity at 3B. This can only add to his repertoire and not do him any harm. Whether he could develop enough skill for the position probably remains to be seen. If his bat recovers, Mather should return to the majors, in some capacity. Its going to be the restoration of his prior strength and hitting ability that is going to matter.

David Freese is in a good situation. Two years of AAA experience, fine hitting. If he has overcome his foot injury from last winter’s accident, he should be ready to compete at a ML level next season.

If the Red Sox can’t re-sign Jason Bay, they should not be counted out, either. As we all know, they have no issue burning money on bad contracts and had a big offer on Teixeira pulled out from under them last winter by Boras. (Bay is not a Boras client.)

In other words, we all agree that Holliday is priority one. If the Cards sign two of the three, sheer dollars point to DeRosa, not Pineiro being the second.

Mather was playing third Friday night for Springfield and unfortunately made two errors, including one on the final play. It may be a signal that he will be tried there again in spring training in 2010. That also can help explain what seemed initially to be an odd decision to leave a hitter with over 130 career MLB at-bats in Double-A. After all, there are five players already on the Memphis roster that can play third base (Freese, Craig, Solano, Barden, T Greene).

Speaking of Craig at third, some of us have questioned whether his defense there was MLB-quality for a long time. Given he may have the best bat on his team, but is no better than the second-best third baseman on the roster (and perhaps even lower), it only makes sense for Craig to gain more experience playing elsewhere.

I am hoping both Mather and Craig play winter ball somewhere.

The Cards seem to have given up hope regarding Allen Craig at 3B. He has been re-assigned to LF, though could also serve at 1B.

In my books this would be a huge gamble akin to resigning Mulder. He’s older with a significant injury. Cut him loose. Let Freese and Craig battle it out for 3b next spring. Please don’t bring up Craig’s defense. We were perfectly willing to let a non-thirdbaseman like Joe Mather play there last year. Thurston and Khalil Greene aren’t thirdbasemen, but we stuck them on the field. Save the money for DeRosa and ante it up for Pineiro or Holliday.

At this point, we fans do not know what Holliday, Scottie B. and the Cards will decide. If and when something is decided, it will be announced, and then it will be known to us. For the time being, its good to leave the thinking to the parties involved, be relaxed, and enjoy the 2009 winning season.

It is only natural that there will be a great deal of Holliday speculation. Many bloggers and reporters are going to speculate about the future of pending free agents. Its just the nature of the way things are now. To wish otherwise will engender disappointment.

MLB and the players union may not be unhappy with rampant speculation. Soap operas can make money.

With all the present political distractions, BD’s position may deteriorate instead of becoming more fluid.

Right there, inserting likely numbers for Holliday and Piniero with the known numbers for the others, BD could afford that, and not really be much out of line with the clubs payroll history.

Brendan and Colby are cheap. Then the issues would be how much does it cost to re-up Albert and how structured (key), and how much do Ludwig and Skip cost, do they stay or do they go, and which of our AAA third basemen gets first shot.