Our friend Josh Jones took his young son to see the Cardinals Caravan in Champaign, IL on Friday, January 14 and sent along these photos. Several of them were also from 2010 and I have updated that info below.
Our young reporter helps Kyle McClellan and Zack Cox sign
Fredbird meets his match
Bryan Anderson
Mitchell Boggs in 2010
Daniel Descalso in 2010
Steve Kline
Kerry Robinson
Lance Lynn last year
Matt Carpenter
McClellan and Cox
Colby Rasmus from 2010
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This is the kind of article liked by the oxymoron JumboShrimp.
Lots of red and kids. Good clean wholesome stuff.
Not a lot of wacko thoughts, though I suppose commenters can now have their say.
Even though RCW seems huge, Colby looks so small. Slap it LF, Colby. Make contact. And try to catch all the balls hit between Bergman and Holliday, good grief.
Bryan Anderson is still around. Keep competing, Bryan.
This is the kind of article liked by the oxymoron JumboShrimp.
Lots of red and kids. Good clean wholesome stuff.
Not a lot of wacko thoughts, though I suppose commenters can now have their say.
Even though RCW seems huge, Colby looks so small. Slap it LF, Colby. Make contact. And try to catch all the balls hit between Bergman and Holliday, good grief.
Bryan Anderson is still around. Keep competing, Bryan.
I don’t care how much money Steve Kline got from the Os, he is still red, not orange. Show us one of your digits, Steve!
The Caravan will be here tonight at 6 pm. Almost worth it to see Jay Randolph, who I am very very distantly related to. But not worth it at 32 degrees with several inches of snow on the ground. And I am having a bad hair day.
OK, here is a Colby shot from today….
Don’t recognize the boy. Last time I saw him he had a full beard and looked kind of scraggly.
Cards have signed IF Ramon Vazquez to minors deal with MLB spring camp invite. McClellan deal done, heading off arb. Pujols makes start of camp deadline.
I have been posting news all day from WWU for subscribers on the main site.
Vasquez sets up competition with Descalso & Greene for an IF bench role. My guess is one of the youngsters will lose out. Ramon plays all four IF positions, but 3B is the place he has the lowest FPCT.
Vasquez didn’t play last year, at least in MLB. Anyone know why?
He apparently was not good enough. Played in the minors for three orgs implies he was released twice.
Because he was worse than last years retreads and worse than last year minoleaguers in our system that got called up.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_1fdd7c62-20e0-11e0-82f1-00127992bc8b.html
I hope everyone here can interpret this carefully constructed article…………. do not underestimate the ” Agnostic ” comments relevance. Everything you needed to no about those negotiations has been revealed here……………………… two weeks into March, the leak will happen.
Get him to a damn barber RC. He needs a little Hollywood California………. not Hollowood Alabama
I was also in the room for Mo’s comments and have them on tape. He went out of his way to not even comment on BDW’s Arizona remarks. Clearly the Pujols camp’s reaction was to clarify the due date.
AP wants a contract………….Lozano wants AP in Agency…………DeWitt wants AP in FA………
AP has those numbers via Tony…………….. there won’t be a contract……….. it will be an interesting season. I’ve seen pitchers of Lohse’s shark bite Brian. Notice how it is getting a Popeye bulge… good for throwing……..bad for the elbow. He will be needing to make adjustments to his mechanics.
OF course even the start of ST is a little fuzzy. When players report or when they are required to report by the CBA (usually about a week later)
they’re 60 million apart…………” We’ve been notified”……….means Cards still haven’t made a formal offer….only leaked what the were thinking through TLR to AP…………… God is taking AP to FA.
Agents first Cardinal rule………..never give a number……….. they will talk about precedent and expectation………………… Mo/BD will talk about life and the hardships…………they want him to play out the year, come what may…………..
Lozano left BHS for a reason………. I’m guess most here don’t know who BHS is………….. his ass is on the line. Boras is kicking ass I think in part do to whats happening there……….Soriano has a fat contract with NY……….with opt outs every year????????????? Why does NY like that? Because Soriano doesn’t have a No Trade is why……….. that bears watching…………
Here’s what I found significant… Ground rules were set, no talking to the media. When talks began, we heard from multiple unnamed sources that they were ‘positive’. The DeWitt comments, about negotiations going past the oft-stated AP spring training deadline, were a bit outside the rules. Now the AP deadline has been re-asserted, not by AP or his agent, but by DEWITT’S AGENT, Mozielak. That’s the significant part of this report.
I’d bet numbers have been exchanged and they are far apart on dollars/years, or both. I see a Jeter/Yanks replay coming if things stay unresolved…
Albert needs to wait until about this time next year to get maximum dollars. If he signs now he is giving dollars away and I doubt he will do that. Like I have stated numerous times, the cardinals gave every bit of leverage away in regards to Albert and now are basically gonna have to pay gobs of moneys to sign him. well played Albert…..well played.
Albert used to say it wasn’t about the money, it was about winning. Haven’t heard him say that lately. Guess we will soon find out which it is…
Do you believe just having a winning record each year is what Albert had in mind? If I were Albert I would go to New York or Boston where I could have a better than average chance to win it all every year. He will never be surrounded with talent like that in St. Louis. Albert will make money anywhere he goes so why not try to win a World Series Title every year. One title in 10 years during your prime seems to be a little on the lite side of winning imo.
I don’t think so RC. In St.Louis baseball is king, and Albert is king of baseball, undisputed and unshared. That is not available to him in NY or Boston and is, IMO, more imortant to him than winning.
He does want to win too, of course, and pressures the team to be competitive, but he wants to stay where he is the royalist of the royal, the fans slobber, the press cow tows, civic leaders bow and scrape, teammates tremble at his approach, and the manager works for him.
BDW knows what he has to offer and knows that it is unavailable to Albert anywhere else. He gave up nothing when he let Albert become a 5/10 guy. It kinda sounds like the Albert camp is surprised to find that BDW knows Albert so well.
All of the comment have been in standard “contract protocols”………. Cards have not made a formal offer……….which actually means they are players. There are “many variables” here outside of team interests……………… If you’ve been reading, you will know what they are…………. Don’t forget, in the end, if Pujols gets Dewitt on the mat, and is pounding away with a 60 hr year, 160 rbi’s, and a playoff run………. BD is just going to sob to the public about the economy and ask their forgiveness for raising ticket prices 20% to offer Albert as an apology………………… that however is very unlikely. AP is a choke…………he will limp into Free agency, right into the negotiations between union and owners……… BD will be dangling Tony again, and a crying pillow, and some sympathy about what a tough 2011 it was for him……………….. from an owners standpoint, a good collusion is one you don’t have to pay off on………..they are learning.
I’d like for Albert to remain a Cardinal, but what happens, happens. If they can’t sign him before ST trade him and life will go on.
Me too, crdswmn, I’d like Albert to be a Card for life. But not at any price. I don’t think he or any player is worth $30M/year. Matt’s making $17M… is Albert TWICE as good or does he prodcue TWICE as much as Matt? Not hardly…
If we sign him for reasonable money, good. If we can’t sign him, and he walks as a free agent, then we get two high draft picks and have whatever the club budgeted for AP to pay other players… money enough to sign another impact guy and several complimentary pieces.
Either way… my loyalty is to the Cards… not Albert or any ONE player.
Those two picks will not be high picks HB, they will be a low round one pick most likely and a sandwich pick. There are very few impact players found down in those ranges.
Agree about the draft picks… but no matter, they’re rarely sure things anyway. The reall help to the team will be in the money budgeted for AP that could be spent elsewhere to bring in a great player and some complimentary pieces. For a team like the Cards, with more than one need, that might be best. Better than the old all the eggs in one basket approach.
HBT-well said.Agree.I want AP to stay a Cardinal…………………………………but if he wants Arod money then its time to start talking other options.
Time for that was last year.
CC-since the deadline hasn`t passed and none of us know what AP whats then why not wait and see what happens?So you think AP should have been traded before he got to 5 and 10 rights and Cards had more leverage? Interesting points.Although i think a reasonable deal will happen and AP will be a Card for life.
There is no real comparison to the Jeter situation here. Jeter wasn’t going to get near as much money as the Yankees were offering anywhere else. Pujols can probably get as much or more.
The Cardinals are gonna cost themselves even more money by waiting. They should go ahead and give the guy 30 mil a year and he would sign and it would be over. Dragging it out will only cause the Cardinals to have to outbid other clubs. Bad business.
Bingo.
My point about Jeter refers to negotiating positions being made public.
Is this Brian in this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIXV89Fqb6o
Yeah, that’s him on the far left.
Damn, I thought it was Kenny Rogers with his hair out of place!
Ouch. That hurts. No facelift required here.
Berkman looks good……..about 210/215……………..he is in shape. I can see from the very start that he is going to bond with Holiday……………he is also going to call sh-t on the AP jog to first.
Cardinals have not tendered a formal offer………. that is the message……..should be fun. It also appears AP is confident in his position…………his agent……..no pissing him off, no trade demands.
If Colby will take the 2 spot………he can strike gold………………that “is ‘ where its hidden.
What happens if Berkman does call him out? Might just get benched by Tony! More likely to call Yadi out first. A little less risky.
If you’ve ever rubbed up against AP……….it would seem unwise to try and take his meat when you thought he wasn’t looking……………. I’m suggesting he does that on the plane……………..
to no one particular………………..
on the plane…………..
Wont change a thing no matter where he does it .
Yea, Albert does what Albert wants. Lance will have his tail in the chair in those meeting every day and will be wondering why Albert is never in there. He will then know what everybody else knows, Albert is good enough to be allowed to do what he wants, when he wants, and do it how he wants to do it. When you are a stud you don’t have to sit at the field all day waiting on the game.
Both of you are removing the competitive dynamic…….these guys will feed off each other. If they start making kills, they start feeding the kids…………who don’t need AP’s carcass any longer. Someone is betting on it………I believe its Tony.
I’d be interested to know how season ticket sales are going so far. I wonder if some are holding back waiting to see if Pujols is signed? Smart fans will know that if he isn’t signed by the deadline, 2011 will likely be his last year with the Cards.
That would have been a good q for BDW Jr, but he was in about an hour ago. Will look for someone else to ask. May or may not get a straight answer, though…
My gut is that if it had any impact at all, it would be positive on this year. Probably no way to know for sure.
If it was me, I wouldn’t waste my money on season tickets if I knew Pujols was playing his last year. I would think it would affect his and the team’s performance in a negative way. But I think differently that most fans I imagine.
Crdswmn-i would hope most fans would be CARDS FANS.Fans of the team.
They could be just as good fans sitting home watching the games on TV.
Crdswmn-could be true.Then ticket sales could increase because fans want the see AP in the Cards uniform before he possibly leaves.
True , it could go either way. I said I think differently. I would be angry at the Cards not signing him (unless it were revealed he asked for a ridiculous amount of money), I would be sad and it would affect my enjoyment of the game. If I am going to be angry and/or sad I would rather do it for free.
“He’s the consummate professional and I think he’ll do what he always does, and that’s be a great player,” DeWitt said when asked about the potential of his first baseman reaching the season unsigned beyond 2011.
“You deal with the situation as it develops. I don’t know what else to say,” DeWitt said.
DeWitt acknowledged that the club faces both a talent drain and a hit to its brand should Pujols exit via free agency next winter.
“You can’t go out and find a player to replace him,” DeWitt said about 90 minutes after Pujols’ addressed media. “You can’t say if he leaves I’ll get this person or that player. Obviously, you deal with the hand you’re dealt. We’ll make every effort to be competitive every single year like we’ve done from Day One. So I don’t know. He’s an iconic player. We value that highly.”
Were you their for these juicy tidbits Brian…………………. Lozano had a guard dog out huh?
I didn’t see any of Pujols’ handlers in the room with BDW Jr. He seemed sincere, but was obviously careful in his remarks.
DeWitt suggested that the gag order on contract negotiations was necessary to avoid a play-by-play in the media that created “false hope” or sought to pit the two sides irreparably against each other./////??????????
What in heavens name could the media say……….that would pit AP /BD against each other????
I’m loving this………..I’m sorry………….. the Cardinals have made no formal offer…. it is not in their best interest……………. that offer would be refused of course………but they would have to wear it all year…………………that also being a bench mark in December for everyone else. The contest here is getting to the season without jeopardizing this years revenues…………..
Contract negotiations dont normally work like that (at least they dont have to). Any offer now is given an expiration date. If Pujols and CO. dont take it, the team is not obligated to honor that number at a later date.
That isn’t even close to what I was suggesting……….. The Cardinals define the market with their offer………..that is what a “market” is……………… an official offer isn’t binding…….its just on paper, both sides having a copy………… in this case to be leaked, inviting criticism of DeWallet, or underlining the greed of Pujols……….or advertising to everyone, the likely outcome of said negotiations………… Lozano isn’t worried about BD……….he knows what he is about……….he has to destabilize the collusion………….. he’s working on it…………….BD is just trying to destabilize the AP/ Lozano relationship……………
Like any good businessman, DeWitt is preparing profitable alternatives……..he’s been at it for a year. Its not about baseball…………………
Westy-and you know this how? Guessing? Crystal Ball? Tarot cards? LSD? Loco weed? Fess up Westy.What`s the scoop?
The composer writes a waltz………………the conductor rehearse the piece…………
the dance master calls for a waltz………… the conductor signals the orchestra to open their book to the correct page…………… they begin playing……….. the dancers on the floor, smiling and laughing begin the circle…………………..
What might you assume they were doing………….???????????? This is not a trick question………
unless you are wearing a loincloth and holding a large bone club………………perhaps……..
I’ve heard theories that “primitive man” , on seeing what might be termed modern ritual, would recognize said ritual and partake within the context of their understanding………….. watch you toes ladies……….
Westy-just say no.
WC please don’t stop.