An errant tweet pre-announced a new MLB initiative. You can get in on the ground floor.
On Monday afternoon, the official St. Louis Cardinals twitter account posted the following:
“La Russa has been selected by commish Bud Selig to serve on a panel to discuss ways to improve game”
My immediate retort: “Is a new commish out of scope?”
Putting the humor aside, something appeared to be amiss when the tweet was removed by the Cardinals shortly after its posting. But by then, it had been re-tweeted by others, including MLB, and viewed by who knows how many.
Later in the afternoon, Maury Brown of bizofbaseball.com asked if anyone knew the reason for a noon Eastern time Tuesday conference call to be hosted by Selig. Brown said Selig “will make an announcement regarding on-field matters.” The MLB release goes on to say that other participants will be announced prior to Tuesday’s conference call.
I put two and two together, suggesting to Brown and the Twitterverse that the errant tweet and the announcement may be related.
The Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss subsequently confirmed my suspicions. The official announcement of the new initiative will be on Tuesday.
Who knows Selig’s motives for selecting the Cardinals long-time manager? Perhaps he is helping La Russa ease into his post-managing desire to somehow be involved “upstairs”. How about starting a campaign to have La Russa named to replace Bob Watson as MLB’s chief disciplinarian (officially vice president of rules and on-field operations) post-retirement? Think of the possibilities.
We don’t have to wait for Tuesday’s announcement. Let’s get started with a list we can forward on to La Russa with the things we would most like to see implemented to improve the game.
The only ground rules are that we need to stick to matters that have to do with the game as played between the lines. As a result, some of my pet peeves like the television blackouts and international draft are off limits, but others like instant reply and the designated hitter would seem to be ok.
So, Cardinal Nation, what do you think?
In other news:
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal believes the Boston Red Sox and free agent outfielder Mike Cameron are in serious discussions regarding a two-year contract.
Rosenthal states he is unsure whether Cameron would play in left field or center. Given Jacoby Ellsbury seems set in center and J.D. Drew is in right (when not dealing with owies), it seems this could be a ploy to either get Jason Bay back in house or to move on with a new left fielder. The Sox also recently picked up outfielder Jeremy Hermida from Florida and David Ortiz is locked in as the designated hitter.
Where would that leave Scott Boras and Matt Holliday?
Other Monday rumors have the Cardinals among teams interested in three non-tenders, starting pitcher Chien-Ming Wang (Yankees), reliever Matt Capps (Pirates) and second baseman Kelly Johnson (Braves).
Pretty good on the new commish suggestion , Brian. Got me laughing!
Well, the obvious are raising the mound 5 inches and getting rid of the DH.
A little less obvious is playing boatloads of doubleheaders so the World Series can take place in October along with – the team with the best season record has home field advantage and MLB can admit that the Mid-Summer Classic doesn’t many anything.
Since I’m on a rant — stamp out interleague play.
Is that what you are looking for ?
Great start, chief!
Whats the source of the 120 BB?
Re other news….
The Sox have signed Lackey, so are moving right along. I would take the implicit threat of signing Cameron seriously, if Boras/Holliday. They may be shut out of Boston and may need to grab the offer from the Cards, while it is still around. George Kissell would want Scott to do the right thing!!
I no sooner check MLBTradeRumors, but Cameron is now knocked down by the Sox. So they have added Lackey and Cameron within a few hours. Serious moola.
Its hard to see where Holliday lands within Boston. I doubt the Yankees will compete for him. If the Cards made a big offer of 8 years duration, Holliday may be coming back here to provide some protection.
I’m waiting to have that 120 comment validated before I comment. Cameron is the wrong player for Boston. They must think Bay is fragile.
Had to go to work for a while, on the way I heard it on the local ESPN station, don’t know if it was a local spot or the ESPN feed. It was 8/120. A little later somebody at work said they just heard on the same station that it was 8 years for between 14-16M per year. Now somebody on a stltoday comment board says that local radio host Adam Karaker says its 8/96. I just got home, didn’t hear a thing on ESPN radio on the way. Hopefully I won’t have to resign from the blog in disgrace.
I’m outfitting my lazy-boy with a flotation collar like the Apollo capsules in case I get blown out of the water. Could use a little help here BW.
On the topic, first and foremost there is the issue of confiscatory beer prices. This affects the game between the lines in any number of ways which I might expound upon later. Second is the issue of uniform pants that drag on the ground. Eight to ten inches of stirrup should be mandatory. Third is base coaches should stay in the box, or else eliminate the box, either/or. Fourth, If its a flagpole, and its in the field of play, then the visitor should be able to place an object of its choice in the field of play, like a keg behind second for example. There should be no terrain in center field of any park. Fences should be minimum 330 feet. Bats should be ash. No gold teeth. A maximum length of dreadlocks must be established as well as maximum number of strands. Those things behind the mound to get mud off cleats, come on, they don’t work and real baseball players use a tongue depresser anyway. Establish a maximum size for jumbotrons. Any manager exceeding a set waist size has to stay in the dugout. Go back to the umpire pointing to fair ground if its fair and to foul ground if its foul, no more both arms outstretched as if he’s saying, hell, I don’t know.
Joe Straus, P-D, its $16M per.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/8BDAA64CC99AD8D98625768D00172D31?OpenDocument
Can we please outlaw the wave while we are at it, bb?
I’ll say this, 128 million is enough to do the job. That is encouraging. The variables;
1) Cameron in front of the Green Monster just isn’t sitting right. I’m wondering if they’re really done. What kind of year did Ellsbury have? If the Red Sox are planning a coup on Albert in 2011, they will just do a patch up at third this year, or at least short term. If we dominate the division with this signing, whats Albert going to complain about. If Holiday out preforms him at 16 million, can he ask for 25………… I wonder. BD is smart.
2) the yanks may feel less pressured to make a move. Thats not right.
3) That bid suggests to me that the Cards are buffering against Albert’s possible departure. I know Holiday could live with that agreement. Thats the problem. The Yankees will have to start at 140 now. It won’t help to go 6/120 I don’t think……..
4) This presses the market ahead at least 3 weeks in my opinion. The Yanks must now counter this week. Fun stuff. The no trade is actually a good sign. That means Scottie is signaling all party’s. He will get family pressure from Holiday if he threatens this deal on a promise from the yanks. This means, he risks being fired if someone back stabs him.
I give this a 1/3 chance. Not bad.
Great stuff BB.
Re WCBW’s point 3: we are going after a long term deal with Holliday, because this is what retaining him will require. The Cards gave up a lot to trade for him and consistent with this they will offer him a lot of cash for a lot of years to retain him. This does 2 things. It provides a better team to help with retaining Albert. However, if Albert still chooses to leave, then we have a stronger foundation for after his departure. It serves both possibilities, not just one.
4. The Yankees just won a championship. They do not need to take on another huge contract for Holliday. In New York, there are high state and city taxes. They would probably have to go 9 years and 180MM to even start a conversation with Holliday. And why would Holliday want to live near NYC? Does he want to party with Jeter? No.
1. DeWitt is bidding up Holliday, so the Red Sox do not want any part of it. They are falling back to a short deal on Cameron, who plays good D and is cheaper.
I would give the Cards signing Holliday an 80 percent chance. Holliday wants no trade protection. He mentioned the Rockies would not give him this. So fine, if this matters to Matt, he gets it. We need to get his John Hancock on a contract.
What other owner is going to outbid DeWitt? Now is the time for this other owner to step forward. Lets get this thing decided.
Its a funny thing with fans, its hard to satisfy them all, all the time. It used to be the Cards did not bid high on Latin American amateurs. Then they come out of nowhere to sign Wagner Mateo. This turned out unhappily, because of the unknown eye injury, but it was a strong move that did not seem to get a lot of applause at the time. Either people complain the team is not doing enough or doing too much.
The same thing maybe with Holliday. Fans want someone to help Pujols. But if the Cards make a competitive bid trying to win Holliday, then some will worry that its too many years and too much money. Normally DeWitt is insulted as too cheap, now he can be called too much of a high roller. Whatever he is, its wrong, to somebody.
Mo and DeWitt have to ignore the short-term opinions of fans and try to do what makes the most sense. If they want Matt Holliday, its simple, they have to outbid every other team, including the Yankees, and this means paying the piper. Few cheap bargains in free agency.
My good friend Ruben Amaro Jr told me a few weeks back to look for the Phils to make another big move……………………..Great Goodness………..Roy Halliday? I hate to take all of the credit but back in 87, when we were both with the Salem Angels, I taught Rub the ropes and now he is one of the most successful GM’s in the game……………..:) I kid, I kid. All jokes aside, Ruben has done some kind of job in his brief stint as GM of my favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils will be one tough cookie with Halladay in the house. Good job Rubert.
Man it sure does appear that Mo has worked some magic and has the Cards in a good position to at least make Matt Holliday squirm a little bit. It appears that both Holliday and Bay are trying to outlast one another to pull in the bigger bucks.
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RC, the step up from Lee to Halladay is not as great as it sounds plus the Phils give up prospects. To me, the big deal is getting a Halladay extension where Lee could walk after this season.
If this is what you are suggesting, I am curious under which scenarios you see Bay getting more money than Holliday because I can not envision it. Or perhaps you mean the last one to sign will be able to get his own price higher than it would have been. I can understand that.
My youngest brother lives in Phiily and he called me yesterday out of the blue and proposed a wager, a case of cheese steak against a case of toasted ravioli, that the Phills would have a better record than the Cards. I took it. Not long after, I heard about the Halliday deal, and fired off a strongly worded e-mail, touching on the virtues of forthrightness. Later, when I caught a sniff of the Holliday offer, I called him back and doubled down. I expect to be hearing from him any time now.
There is no way the Phils make this deal unless they are able to extend Holliday IMO. The jump from the American League to the National League should turn Roy into a monster. Roy has been superior to Cliff in every way while they were both in the AL. Lets see what kind of numbers Roy puts up next year in the NL before you judge them as equals.
I don’t necessarily see Jason Bay getting more total money than Matt Holliday, but I can see where if Matt were to sign earlier than does Jason that some clubs may bid against each other and this could make for Jason getting more money than he would have otherwise.
But I will say this, it sure doesn’t appear that anyone wants Matt but the Cardinals. I see Jason’s name almost every day with a couple of teams but the only team Matt is associated with is the Cards.
Bling, go ahead and start saving your money. The Phils lineup is far superior to the Cards and I’m just not sure that the Cards pitching staff if that superior either. No way the Cards have a better record than will the Phighting Phils.
RC, why do you think Bay is getting so much more interest around MLB than Holliday?
RC, Phills schmills. We will crush them. Our lineup, without all the dead spots that we had all last year will be a runs machine. Mo will stay away from the versatile veteran .220 guy that Tony would have in there all the time, guys who can play, will play. The psych ward is shuttered and out of business. The golden boys are gone. Big Mac is back. Wainey is pissed. Brendan will emerge, Colby will walk into Roger Dean with a cape on, and the sun will never set on the cardinal nation.
Go ahead Brian, Jumbo could probably use the excersize.
Well my opinion on Holliday is that Boras wants from 6 up to an 8 year deal, whereas Bay has mostly 4 year offers, with one 5 year deal someone wrote.
Holliday, while the best of the lot this year is not worth an 8 year deal so most teams would rather take the lessor player(Bay) for less years than more talented player(Holliday) for too many years. For 4 or 5 years I take Holliday all day over Bay but if given the contract differences of up to 4 years longer for Holliday, I have to pass on him. He’s not 4 years at 16 mil a year better than Bay. Those last 4 years Matt will probably be as overpaid as Andru Jones or Gary Mathews Jr.
Its interesting that Brett Wallace is tied to the Halladay trade. The BJ’s would be getting some guy (prospect?) MIchael Taylor from Philly, and would send him to Oakland for Wallace. I think there had been some talk in Oakland about Wallace’s defensive ability. I would be interested to know how highly this Taylor is thought of as a hint as to what the A’s thought of Wallace.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Bosox took a look at Glaus.
RC, why do you think Bay is getting so much more interest around MLB than Holliday?
Everyone in the league knows the big dog has left scent on Holiday. Remember last year when the Reds Sox were ready to announce MT at 160. The Cards won’t go any higher. The Yanks now know their price. Boston isn’t really threatening yet after the Cameron deal. Lackey may not be the monster they paid for. …………………………….Yankees know one more long term mega deal could takes them out of the Pujols sweepstakes.
The biggest factor of all is the opt out. Look at the market in 2012 and you may find answers. Boras may be thinking of himself and the chance of a hostage deal like his failed A-Rod maneuver.
I’m not sure we will see contract details on this one….unless he signs. The Yanks are in perfect position here for a number of reasons. Clearing payroll, getting rid of old horses etc.
On a positive. If Holiday is here for 8yrs. Albert and Matt should find a rhythm. Obvious solution is Holiday 3rd and playing baseball up front. Get a third baseman with a stick to guard Pujols in the 5th spot and we crush the division.
Jason Bay doesn’t want to be a Met. He is hating his agent at this point. I’m glad Cliff Lee has left the NL……………………..where are the Angels and the Dodgers in all this?
Great comedy relief BB………………..
I wonder if you have a point about Troy? Lets not forget that Bays agent is sitting at home, and Boras is in constant contact with the Yankees as they toy with the Damon contract.
I like the structure of the Holliday offer as it appears in the press. It is a significant offer but doesn’t price out of the Pujols game by either committing too much money or pricing Holliday so high that comparatively Pujols has to be paid a ridiculous sum..
That said, Mo must not be feeling too good today upon getting schooled by the Phillies GM on how to get an extension before you make the trade!
I noticed BW has edited out the part of his previous post about him having a theory on why there has been a lot of interest in Bay and not much in Matt.
Westy, whatever comedy you may be referring to is nothing next to that whole ‘zero chance’ routine of yours. That was classic.
If Albert is the second highest paid player on the team next year, then what?
Say what! I’m sorry bb. I’ve just been seeing a lot of humor in your posts, not about the serious stuff.
I believe your up on all the new developments. I knew that offer was to good to be true. I’m backing off my 1/3 revision down to 1/10 now. Well above 0. It does appear that the Cardinals didn’t waste any time leaking they’re real offer. Yankees will take him for 6/120.
All kidding aside Westy, now that the Yanks back door ‘interest’ has caused the Cards to up their offer, the Yanks will do a disapearing act, and let the Cards have him. The idea being to handcuff us when they roll up to Alberts house with truck loads of cash. They have basically pulled a ‘Boras’ on Boras. Trust me, they aren’t taking his calls anymore.
For the record, the new competition committee includes four managers (La Russa, Jim Leyland, Mike Scioscia and Joe Torre), four current or former general managers (John Schuerholz, Andy MacPhail, Mark Shapiro and Terry Ryan), four representatives from ownership (Paul Beeston, Chuck Armstrong, Bill DeWitt and Dave Montgomery) as well as MLB executive Frank Robinson and journalist George Will.
Selig said his concern is speed of the game. How about they return the commercial breaks between half-innings to 60 seconds like they used to be instead of 90? That would knock off between eight and nine minutes right there. Fat chance…
No union rep, current players, or even former players who aren’t in the game anymore. Chalk up another idiotic move by Bud.
Five years at 80 million puts everyone back in the game. Whose option is it on the 3yrs? Who was thoughtful enough to clarify the confusion over the 8/130? Was it Boras? Lets see, no……………he is in contact with the Sox the Yanks the Angels every day. No need to do a press release. Was it the Cards…………..yikes Mo, what if the Yankees don’t out bid us? What if they except the Parity in their division, now without Halladay, who was good for xx wins against them all by himself. Seattle beefing up, making a wild card selection from the AL west less probable. Maybe Boston tries to pitch their way into the playoff in 2010 and saves resources for the Albert sweepstakes.
In addition to that CC, nothing other than old white men with the exception of Frank Robinson, who is an old black man. No women, no Latinos, no minorities of any kind except Frank. Sounds like a cross-section of owners.
You have it all wrong Westy. The Yanks want the Cards to sign MH. The Cards want to sign MH to make Albert happy. Albert re-ups, even with the Yanks interference, because he’s a homer and a stand up guy. Then Mo hangs out the For Sale sign and hopes and prays MH opts out, or gets struck by lightning.
Brian, I doubt the players union would load up on old white geezers on their committees. As to the wave, I sit in the front row of the upper deck so I ignore it. Rally towels definatly affect the game on the field, having directly caused the N.L. to be represented by a bunch of chumps in the WS.
Here’s a tweeter from Buster Olney of ESPN, a righteous chap who would never lie:
Official with knowledge of the Yankees’ thinking said there is “not a chance” the team bids for Holliday or Bay this winter.
about 4 hours ago from web
Buster_ESPN
Buster Olney
This comment found on the stltoday site sounds impressive, but hopefully some of you wonks on the blog can talk about it a bit, thanks in advance.
fangraphs calculates Holliday to have been worth 20 WAR over the past three seasons, which was worth $86.8 million over that span.
If he could manage that the next three years (and not allowed to opt out!!) he’d only have to be worth $43.2M over the last five years of the deal to break even.
I’ll quit now so as not to break Westy’s record of consecutive posts, or was that Jumbo?
“In addition to that CC, nothing other than old white men with the exception of Frank Robinson, who is an old black man. No women, no Latinos, no minorities of any kind except Frank.”
Good points Brian. I am not one for adding diversity for the sake of diversity but if you want the game to appeal to a large cross section of the country than you need to have views from a large cross section. If I felt confident that this group was going to reach out to a wide group via town halls or something I’d be less concerned but I dont see this group doing that either.
I do believe LaRussa is part Hispanic though (maybe that answers your question in the article why he was selected.)
The Maryland Heights Police Department released the report to the Post-Dispatch in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Wow……………………… The Post can really bring the news………………. Cardinal Pr people are really scrambling to clear up any misinformation on their apparently confusing information to Post writers on the Holiday contract.. Bernie’s current opus makes him quite a player.
The more I think about this group, the more I believe it is doomed to failure. The issue that is getting the most ink is the future of the designated hitter. The resolution process is simple, even if resolving it is not. The owners have to agree, then the players have to agree. Why is a committee needed for that?
What does it accomplish other than waste time? Will NL owners be more likely to support the DH if TLR and the others come out in favor? Conversely, will AL owners be willing to give up the DH advantage just because some NL guys don’t want it?
Most importantly of all, nothing happens unless the Players Union agrees and they aren’t even included in the committee! In the past, they have been pro-DH because it prolongs veterans’ careers. If the recommendation is to eliminate the DH, the players would probably need to be bought out with other concessions in the next CBA negotiations.
Selig made it very clear that this effort is his “baby”. As such, it could be one final element of his legacy.
Article discussing the lack of diversity on the panel — http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/17/SPOH1B5VQO.DTL