2010 Cardinals major and minor league schedules
December 3rd, 2009 • Category:
Johnson City Cardinals (SS), Memphis Redbirds (AAA), Palm Beach Cardinals (A-Adv), Peoria Chiefs (A), Springfield Cardinals (AA), St. Louis Cardinals, State College Spikes (SS) • Tagged as Batavia Muckdogs, Johnson City Cardinals, Memphis Redbirds, Palm Beach Cardinals, Quad Cities River Bandits, schedules, Springfield Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals
The title pretty much says it all – links to 2010 schedules for the St. Louis Cardinals and their top minor league affiliates.
Spent some time today working on a preliminary view of my spring travel plans, which include Florida and the first part of the 2010 major and minor league seasons.
In case some of you are equally industrious, I thought I would share the most important schedule links, which include the two top short-season clubs.
St. Louis Cardinals spring schedule
St. Louis Cardinals regular season schedule
Memphis Redbirds
Springfield Cardinals
Palm Beach Cardinals
Quad Cities River Bandits
Batavia Muckdogs
Johnson City Cardinals
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4711150
Cubs eat a million on miles. DeRosa on the horizon.
Might further Kennedy’s exit from Oakland…
Kennedy will find a home. He can play.
Fox was the best hitter in the minors last year when he was called up – a 1.336 OPS in a64 at bats. His .779 OPS in the majorsdwarfed Colby’s. I’m not sure what the cubs are getting to make this deal worthwhile for them.
that was supposed to read “164 at bats”
“He’s done his part,” DeWitt said of Pujols’ prolific consistency through his nine-year career. “We just need to sit down with him. I think a key part of it is the trust factor. I don’t think you can underestimate that.”
Pujols has repeatedly noted this year a need for assurance that the club will remain competitive. However, DeWitt noted the club’s commitment to Pujols will directly impact its ability to surround him with top talent.
This is truly rich……………….. when Pujols asked to sit down and talk in April/ May…….. the Cardinals just clammed up, because at that time they were still focused on down sizing…….. 5 grand slams later, they completely surprise him with the Holiday maneuver. Now they wanna apologize and hope he will start the process again. Trust is the issue? Heck, when did they loose that. This has a little more “elbow” than is obvious.
“We can pay Albert $95 million per year and give $5 million to the rest of the guys, but how good would we be? We’d have minor leaguers out there and Albert,” DeWitt said. “We can make it work. It’s just at what point does it become counterproductive at a competitive standpoint in terms of one player. That’s the balancing act. That’s not a set number.
“But we do know at a certain kind of range on an annual basis it gets beyond a rational decision. I’m hopeful. I think he understands.”
The 95 million isn’t a set number???????????? Now you see why BD doesn’t let Jr talk publicly……..watch……..he will disappear for another 6 months.
BD3′s speech means the Cards can afford both MH and AP. The $100M thing and the 20% thing means that the team wants to have $80M after AP to pay the rest of the team. It doesn’t mean that the team really believes it shouldn’t pay one guy over 20%. What matters is how much do you have left to pay everyone else. He said “won’t go much beyond $100M”, but this and but that. Right now, excluding AP and MH we’re probably looking at $55M (No DeRosa or Piniero). Say $17 for MH, makes about $72. That leaves $8M wiggle room for the rest of the team, getting to $80M, which is more than the non-Albert team made last year. AP gets $25M, at least in early years, more later. $105 isn’t'much beyond’ $100. If AP had to have $30 in early years, make it $106 or107 and reduce the wiggle room for the rest.
Of course, a cheaper than MH option would reduce the overall total to $100M if BDW getts cheap on us.
Not trying to convince the misguided unbelievers, just saying the numbers don’t rule it out.
DeWitt’s remarks are realistic.
The article says Pujols is expected to get well above $20MM/yr. The Cards are not going to spend beyond $100MM/yr on ML salaries is DeWitt’s message. (This ceiling is nothing new, just acknowledges the budget we live within which is abundantly well documented.)
The Cards would like to work out a deal this winter. Serious talks with Albert’s Hollywood agents have not begun yet. Ultimately its up to Albert and his agent to choose to negotiate with the Cards; the team cannot negotiate without them. If they do not choose to do this, the team will get the message.
Joe Strauss has an article today, Two Costly. Its pretty good. Strauss seems to be entrusted by the team to convey its messages.
By now, the Cards must know its unlikely they are going to get Holliday back. It would not be right to announce this, so there is some middle ground of talking about alternatives and fallbacks.
Its been a strange 2009. Albert told the team he wanted to play for a winner, so the team jumped through hoops to land Holliday and DeRosa. They get to the playoffs and as fate would have it, Albert and DeRosa need operations, Carpenter grooves a homer, Holliday loses a fly ball in the twilight, then Padilla blows them away, and its over.
For added fun, the Cards work for years to land a top Latin amateur, and do so, then there is the bad news that he has an eye injury.
Albert has a tough agent and the agent is not calling Mo every day begging for a long-term deal. The Cards and Albert could do a deal this afternoon, if Albert OK’d it. Holliday is not going to return for 2010, because another team will pay him milllions more than the Cards.
Its not easy being DeWitt or Mo. They have to shoulder non-easy business decisions.
It was a good idea to pick up Holliday for 2009, while the Cards still have Pujols. With better luck, the Cards could have progressed further in the playoffs.
The good news is the Show will go on. The team will adjust and make tradeoffs, and field the best squad available for next season.
Jumbo, your third sentence is a very important point to always keep in mind…
Here is a quote from Mo in the Strauss article:
“There is a way to make it work where you may not be that far above 40 percent (of payroll). ”
25+17=42 If Mo doesn’t mean the Cards would do that, what does he mean? IIRC he said he would make one best offer to MH and leave it at that. The question I have is the timing, will he go ahead and get it on the table now. He would have to attach a short time limit on accetance, so as to make other moves if its rejected. I see no way to wait, and still be able to get pieces in place for 2010. Boras will not like that but will not want to get Lohsed again. If MH cares to return, the money will be good enough. If not, we can move on.
Jumbo said “By now, the Cards must know its unlikely they are going to get Holliday back. It would not be right to announce this, so there is some middle ground of talking about alternatives and fallbacks. ”
Anyone who viewed the Holliday situation realistically knew that the cards were never going to sign Matt. John Conlee said it best…………………….
http://popup.lala.com/popup/432627043556012026
Jumbo said “Its been a strange 2009. Albert told the team he wanted to play for a winner, so the team jumped through hoops to land Holliday and DeRosa. They get to the playoffs and as fate would have it, Albert and DeRosa need operations, Carpenter grooves a homer, Holliday loses a fly ball in the twilight, then Padilla blows them away, and its over. ”
Mo is a smart man, I hope, so he had to know that there would little or no chance that Matt would sign with the cardinals. So he walked into the trade with Oakland, playing for the World Series title in 2009, most likely knowing that it was a last hurrah with Albert.
Why, you ask? Because with Alberts 10th year coming up(full no trade clause) and Alberts desire to be the highest paid player(because this would acknowledge his greatness) the club was gonna have to trade him sometime this year IMO or get two picks for him when he leaves. My guess is the cards keep Albert too long and get the picks because it would take huge gazonga’s down south to make the deal.
Jumbo said “Albert has a tough agent and the agent is not calling Mo every day begging for a long-term deal. The Cards and Albert could do a deal this afternoon, if Albert OK’d it. Holliday is not going to return for 2010, because another team will pay him milllions more than the Cards. ”
Like I said, If Albert wouldn’t sign an extension this offseason I would trade him for someones farm, then sign Holliday. Tough situation to be in but it would be the best thing for the cardinals for the next 5 years. The closer Albert gets to free agency the less likely the cards will sign him. If you don’t buy that you need to play the John Conlee song again, this time listening to the words.
Jumbo said “Its not easy being DeWitt or Mo. They have to shoulder non-easy business decisions.”
This is the mother of all non easy business decisions. Money vs a successful team in the future…………..what do you choose? I guess Mo chooses money for this next two years and then rebuilds from scratch.
Jumbo said “It was a good idea to pick up Holliday for 2009, while the Cards still have Pujols. With better luck, the Cards could have progressed further in the playoffs. ”
I think it was a risky gamble that looking back on will hurt for a while but at the time was probably the best way to go.
Man, you guys are a couple of Gloomy Gus’s. I would think that if a real MH offer doesn’t hit the table as soon as DeRo and Joel reject, then RC’s scenario gets more likely. The main problem with it is what do they do all Winter waiting on an Albert deal to happen or not. Not much I presume.
I’m a glass half empty kind of guy Bling so it is in my nature to look at things from the ass end.
Brian, am I right that the player has 7 days to either accept or reject the arbitration offer? If so then we have about a week, according to your timeline Bling, to hear and offer from the cards to Matt, and then hope that Matt accepts that offer. Now I know the optimist in you tells you that Matt will jump on that offer because he wants to play with Albert in front of the worlds greatest fans………………..but do you really believe Matt and Boras would jump at an offer that quickly? Heck, I hope you are right, but my gut tells me that is fairytale thinking. If the cards lay out that offer then some other team will trump that almost the minute it is put out there. And then the game is on for Scottie as he will start playing everyone against each other jacking up the contract value.
They can’t trade Albert, it would hurt them the next two years in terms of ticket sales is my guess. They should trade him if they don’t believe Albert will sign for some discounted figure, but they won’t. Unfortunately I see this ending badly for the cardinals fans no matter how you shake it out. Albert will play two more years in St. Louis and will be gone, leaving behind a shell of a team for the fans to watch in the years to come. Pure speculation on my part but it is what I believe.
Yes, the deadline for the 23 offered players to accept their arbitration offers is midnight Monday the 7th.
Thanks for doing the Jumbo duty RC. I almost lost my breakfast. General information;
During the meetings, the Cardinals will make an offer. It has nothing to do with the Arbitration deadline. The market for Holiday will never be stronger, he will wait , as will the team that intends to pay him in an attempt to control the market them selfs.
Albert said they he wasn’t going to be talking about an extension at this point……….
that means that all of the Cardinal talk has a purpose. Any contract Albert signs will have heavy deferments, and he has said he has no problem with that. That being said, you must decide to the best of your ability, what the Cardinals are doing with this conjecture right now.
Some questions raised. Do you know the answers?
The team made an attempt to sideline Albert pre-2009 with the offer of elbow surgery. If that scenario played out, where would we be now? Don’t forget the insurance money coming in. This would have perfectly covered the transition to a younger team. In weeks that followed the nerve transposition came the Matt H signing failure. Was that the first alternative to a strategy or part of a move that would eventually soften an Albert departure. Did they try it later anyway, with the mid-season trade?
Pujols agent took over the elbow play, with joyful and yet embarrassing results……. for the Cards.
Albert is waiting now for no trade status, just because it avoids inconvenience. DeWitt knows the Cardinal brand name is in jeopardy…….the sole selling point for the village. They are playing hard at something. Can you guess what?
At this point, they will float a time sensitive offer to Holiday at around 6/100……..There is no danger in that. Even is he took it, that would put them back on course to soften the Albert departure. All the dialog is mere posturing………….as I have pointed out many times.
It’s posturing with a purpose, Westy. To brake up the unworkable timing that Boras wants. The Cards will get nowhere with Albert until they do something meaningful to establish their commiment to compete. Expensive rentals were not enough. But their hands are tied until they know if they are spending a bunch on Matt or not. So they are laying out the plan, then make the MH offer, probably Teusday, with a short fuse so they can get on with it. It is the absolute essence of the whole thing that what happens this winter has to be publicly percieved as the requested proof of a commitment to winning. Then, at some point next season, we will wake up one morning to either hear of Albert’s new contract, or hear the details of the Cards impressive offer, which would mean there will be no deal and Albert goes on the block, having been positioned as the bad guy.
Thats a realistic appraisal BB. It hardly approaches the loss of trust issues I think. No way Albert is traded at this point. That kills the season ticket promotions. If Carp were to break down in April/May, thats a whole new ball game. Its actually the Cardinal responsiveness to that type of scenario that troubles Albert. With record attendance in 08, the Cardinals made no moves. That is a lingering memory for Tony/Albert.
No trips to South Bend or Fort Wayne for QC? Well, that’s a bummer.