Every year at this time, I receive the autograph details for the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up. The fan event is always held over Martin Luther King weekend, this time from Saturday, January 14 through Monday, January 16.
In my annual just-for-fun endeavor, I look at rising and falling autograph prices from year to year. These are set by someone within the Cardinals hierarchy, and offer at least some estimation of the expected supply and demand for the autographs.
In addition, the list of those signing for free includes over 40 names of former, current and aspiring Cardinals. Also included for the second consecutive year are a trio of former Negro Leagues players, DeMorris Smith, Jesse Rogers and Sam Taylor.
As always, the proceeds go to charity, Cardinals Care, so the needy are the true winners. Autograph tickets will go on sale online at cardinals.com at 9 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21. There is a limit of three tickets per player except for Lance Berkman and David Freese at one each.
Those two vaulted up to the top prices, replacing Albert Pujols. Also at the top of the pecking order are Matt Holliday at $75, down from last year and Yadier Molina, returned to his $75 from two years ago.
| Top dogs | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary |
| Lance Berkman | $100 | $40 | The new top dog – at least in autograph pricing. | |||
| David Freese | $75 | $5 | free | A 15-fold jump. What did he do last year, again? | ||
| Matt Holliday | $75 | $100 | $100 | I wonder if he can be motivated by signature prices? | ||
| Yadier Molina | $75 | $90 | $75 | $100 | $90 | One-year price increase rollback. How about a new contract? |
The signatures of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are considered equals as Tony La Russa’s price is up following his retirement. His replacement, Mike Matheny, sees an expected increase, but still seems a good bargain. Allen Craig and Jason Motte move right on up.
| Middle of the pack | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary |
| Adam Wainwright | $50 | $45 | $50 | $60 | $80 | A big test for his right elbow coming up. |
| Chris Carpenter | $50 | $40 | $50 | $60 | $75 | He was a real bargain last year. Won’t sign for Nyjer. |
| Tony La Russa | $40 | $30 | $30 | $30 | $30 | Retiring increases his price? It’ll be worse in five years, then. |
| Mike Matheny | $30 | $10 | $10 | New responsibilities are more than three times greater. | ||
| Allen Craig | $30 | $5 | free | No word on whether or not Torty can hold a Sharpie. | ||
| Rafael Furcal | $30 | Let’s keep him healthy at all costs. Bubble wrap is cheap. | ||||
| Jaime Garcia | $25 | $15 | free | Financial security and a price bump. | ||
| Jason Motte | $25 | $5 | $5 | $10 | Not officially named most expensive reliever autograph. | |
| Jon Jay | $20 | $10 | Put him on the left end of the table, please. |
Shelby Miller and Matt Adams make their first for-fee appearances, with the prospects being shown as much love as several long-time starting pitchers.
| Bargains | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary |
| Skip Schumaker | $15 | $10 | $25 | $30 | $5 | No confirmation he will also be the utility signer for others. |
| Lance Lynn | $15 | For $15, he had better make the team! | ||||
| Daniel Descalso | $10 | free | free | Least expensive projected starting position player by far. | ||
| Shelby Miller | $10 | free | Same price as Westbrook and double Lohse? Hmmm. | |||
| Jake Westbrook | $10 | $10 | Heard his slot is up for trade, but requires $5 up front. | |||
| Marc Rzepczynski | $10 | Fewer tickets sold due to longer signing time per customer. | ||||
| Fernando Salas | $10 | Hoping he won’t be bumped from the program. | ||||
| Kyle McClellan | $5 | $5 | $5 | $10 | Consistency is good. | |
| Kyle Lohse | $5 | $5 | $15 | $25 | So what? He still has his $41 million and we don’t. | |
| Mitchell Boggs | $5 | $5 | free | Only signing if not sent to Memphis between now and then. | ||
| Matt Adams | $5 | May as well start taking it all in – except the buffet. | ||||
| Tony Cruz | $5 | Quiet guy seems on verge of a major league job. | ||||
| Tyler Greene | $5 | free | free | It’s now or never… | ||
| J.C. Romero | $5 | Laps the rest of the pen in sheer veteranness. |
The ranks of the Cardinals Hall of Famers are halved, down two this year, with Bruce Sutter and Lou Brock apparently not signing. Bob Gibson is again staying away and those hoping for an Ozzie Smith return look to be disappointed.
| Hall of Famers | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary |
| Red Schoendienst | $75 | $75 | $75 | $75 | $60 | Still one of the greatest. |
| Whitey Herzog | $75 | $60 | $60 | $40 | $50 | Hall election and retired number. |
The roster of past Cardinals heroes signing for a small fee is down quite a bit, though Mike Shannon is a nice addition.
| Ex-Cards players | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary |
| Mike Shannon | $10 | Working and signing both. | ||||
| Jack Clark | $5 | $5 | $5 | $10 | Should have talked to Albert about not leaving. | |
| Ray Lankford | $5 | $10 | $10 | Many have fond memories of the ’90s. |
The article would not be complete without noting those former Cardinals who signed in past years, but are not a part of the 2012 event – for a couple of different reasons, no doubt.
| Not signing | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary | |
| Bruce Sutter | $75 | $100 | Engine #42 parked this year. | |||
| Lou Brock | $75 | $100 | Announced as appearing, but apparently not signing. | |||
| Bob Gibson | $125 | 3nd consecutive year away for the Hall of Famer. | ||||
| Vince Coleman | $25 | $10 | Maybe he was swiping peoples’ Sharpies? | |||
| Brian Jordan | $15 | Appears on Hall of Fame ballot for first time. | ||||
| Fernando Vina | $10 | Came and went quickly. | ||||
| Steve Kline | $5 | Was in rare form at TLR roast last year. Very rare. | ||||
| The departed | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | Commentary | |
| Albert Pujols | $175 | $175 | $175 | $175 | Just imagine the lines if Dee Dee would sign… | |
| Colby Rasmus | $30 | $25 | $30 | $30 | Luhnow autographs will not be passed out instead. | |
| Ryan Theriot | $10 | Rumor that he kept dropping pen last year untrue. | ||||
| Ryan Franklin | $5 | $10 | $10 | $10 | The prices predicted the end was coming. | |
| Trever Miller | $5 | $5 | $5 | It was past Miller Time. | ||
| Brian Tallet | $5 | We hardly knew ye, but knew ye too well. |
Finally, here are those who will be signing for free. There are some nice names, so don’t think you have to drop big money to snare good autographs. For example, signatures of past stars like John Tudor, the Benes brothers and Wally Moon plus future Cardinals like Zack Cox can be had at no charge.
| Matt Carpenter | Andy Benes | Jim Donohue | Tom Lawless | Kerry Robinson | Sam Taylor |
| Zack Cox | Glenn Brummer | Chris Duncan | John Mabry | Jesse Rogers | John Tudor |
| Brandon Dickson | Danny Cox | Cal Eldred | T.J. Mathews | Ray Sadecki | Lee Thomas |
| Mark Hamilton | Mike Crudale | Neil Fiala | Ed Mickelson | Ted Savage | Mike Tyson |
| Pete Kozma | Boots Day | Phil Gagliano | Wally Moon | Jason Simontacchi | Bill Virdon |
| Shane Robinson | Ken Dayley | Rex Hudler | Tom Pagnozzi | DeMorris Smith | Ray Washburn |
| Alan Benes | Chuck Diering | Mike Jorgensen | Ken Reitz | Bob Sykes |
The 16th Annual Winter Warm-Up, a three-day event, will take place on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend; Saturday, Sunday and Monday, January 14-16, 2012. Three-day event passes are $40 for adults and $10 for children 5-15 years of age, same prices as last year.
For full WWU information, including signing schedules and ticket ordering, follow this link.
January 5 update: Three late additions have been made to the autograph group – Lou Brock and Carlos Beltran at $75 each and Brian Jordan at $5.
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I have two of the above autographs already (for free) Thanks RC.
I wouldn’t mind getting Carp’s and Waino’s, but I am not going to WWU.
There is a certain person on that list for whom I wouldn’t walk out my front door to get his autograph.
I was hoping Big Mac would be signing.
There are few bargains among free agents, with the possible exception of JC Romero because he got released 3 times during just one season.
Unfortunately being honored as Executive of the year does not guarantee repeating as Executive of the new year (2012).
Carlos Beltran is represented by Albert’s agent and will not provide a salary discount. There are rumors Mo asked about Fielder, who will want a mega deal, and Coco Crisp. Can we replace our 13th rounder from 1999 with our 7th round pick from the same year?
Not easy, being Executive of the Year.
I could accept cheap one year deals for Ankiel or Ludwick, but lets just say no, on Juan Pierre.
Ankiel bats left, which we don’t need, Ludwick is a Been There Done That, and how in the heck did Juan Pierre get in the discussion?
Braun has an excuse, defense(?) to the positive test. A prescription?
Even if he is taking a prescription for a “private medical issue” is MLB going to reverse a suspension if the reason for the reversal is never allowed to be made public? What I am saying is, baseball fans or the public will think there is something fishy going on when the NL MVP is allowed to play after a positive test and the prescription or medical issue is kept in the dark.
I am not saying that a player doesnt deserve privacy when dealing with a medical issue. But I just don’t see another way out.
KBB-lets see now………………Ryan Braun MVP………………..Brewer…………………….Selig……….Former owner of Brewers……………………private medical issue………………………..get ready to smell the stink because Braun will get out of this …………………………………………I smell Buds behind the scenes meddling…………………………………….Can baseball have the current MVP suspended………………not happening.Its not about baseball…………………..its about public perception and fan trust……………………………..I think i just had a Westy moment or a 60`s flashback.
Would taking prescription meds for a medical issue be an out for Braun, if he did not disclose it when the test was done? My understanding is that the policy is zero tolerance, so if Braun ingested it voluntarily ( i.e. it wasn’t given to him without his knowledge) even if it was a legal prescription, he would still be in violation. I may be totally wrong on this, and I would appreciate a correction if someone would provide it.
He’s not the first to have that kind of explanation after testing positive, but maybe his case is better. I readily admit that I am not following every development in this case with anticipation.
I am not particularly enthralled with it either, but the legal issues interest me.
So if you have Chronic Pujols Fatigue Syndrome and No Interest In Braun Syndrome, is there something that does excite you or are you in the Bah Humbug Christmas mood?
Mostly just doing countdowns of the year and top prospects. Plenty of busy work.
So, Rangers win posting/negotiating bid with the Nippon Ham Fighters for the sum of $51.7 million.
They let Wilson go to the division rivals for a (4 year?) 77 million contract?
I know Darvish is supposed to have a sub 2 ERA, but how does that make sense? Did they let Wilson go because they knew they were going to focus on Darvish?
Also, Question, are the bids blind? Or can the teams keep upping the bids?
51 million can buy a lot of talent on a yearly payroll, do they have to pay that in a lump sum?
Is it in Yen or $?
Did the Rangers know that the Angels were going to sign Pujols and wanted to make as big of a splash? The reports say that they have been watching Darvish for awhile now.
Darvish is six years younger than Wilson if I recall correctly. Yes, the bidding is blind – unless someone peeks!
It’s $. It’s about 4 billion yen.
Yikes. A beer would cost 700 Yen.
Reminds me of my first trip to Tokyo some years back. A group of us were walking back to the hotel after dinner when one man suddenly took off down a relatively-quiet connecting street. Turns out he knew the location of the nearest vending machine to the hotel that sold beer. He had a pocketful of 100 yen coins and noted the vend price was something like 1/20th of what the hotel charged.
Okay, if the last two posts didn’t get the discussion going…
let me just say Hah!
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Poor-poor-Albert-La-Russa-says-Pujols-8216-i;_ylt=AiyI5IoROmlePOyY1y30OxkHU84F?urn=mlb-wp28681
I will say it a million times, I hope AP breaks every regular season record, but never again sees the playoffs let alone the World Series.
Sorry, chronic Pujols fatigue has set in here.
On that subject, for me, Schadenfreude alleviates the fatigue.
Are the Birds in discussion with Crisp and Beltran? Or do ya’ll think it will be one or the other? I mean we have Jay and (hopefully a fully healthy Craig) back. I guess they could platoon? But we also have Schu that can fill-in in the outfield.
Wouldn`t mind seeing Coco Crisp return to Stlouis.He adds some speed and defense and switch hitting ability plus he`s younger than Beltran.I just think Crisp would be a better signing.Thanks my opinion.Should cost less than Beltran.
See blog post below. Negatory on Crisp.
Saw this reader comment on a fangraphs article.
“Crisp would move Jay to RF to start the season and to a 4th OF spot when Craig comes back. Jay should get an okay amount of playing time in that role.
Beltran in center would be ugly, and Beltran in right would block Craig.
Crisp is a better fit and will come cheaper than Beltran.”
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/who-will-play-center-in-st-louis/
…signed Crisp’s agent….
It looks like Beltran can’t do much defensively since the knee injury, even though he’s bounced back at the plate.
Sounds like Berkman.
But the point is Beltran can do nothing but play RF and pinch hit. So, other than the first month, it would have to be a platoon in RF. Does that make us better than just having Craig out there? Yes, because Carlos is a good switch hitter, and we’d be better with either him or Craig on the bench every day than without. Is it worth the money, though. Or should the money be spent elsewhere? 2B, pitching?
The other possibility is looking at Beltran as more of a longer term thing, and Berkman as a this year is it thing. Then its a one year platoon with Craig moving to first after that.
But hell, Lance could outlast Carlos for all we know, so that sucks.
And besides, there is Adams coming along to replace Lance eventually, hopefully, with Craig staying in RF.
And consider the chance that Furcal/Freese/Berkman/Craig all go all year without DL time. Not. And our whole rotation holds together all year. Not.
Maybe it would be best to go with what we have and retain the flexibility and money to address whatever emerges as the greatest need.
Is Beltran really unable to play CF? Or is he just unable to do it every day? (Berkman could never play CF, so it isn’t quite the same.)
I just don`t see the wisdom in paying Beltran big dollars so he can only play RF and the Cards are hoping he can have another healthy year at 35.Crisp is 3 years younger and should be cheaper and brings good defense and SPEED.Something everybody was whining about last season.
You do know that Crisp missed most of 2009 and 2010 due to injuries, right? Not sure which of them is a bigger risk in that dimension.
Brian- I am aware of that Brian.IMOZ Crisp offers more ways to affect a game.Baserunning,hitting,Defense vs Beltran hitting power.
He has no power. Nada. Zippo. We need some kind of offensive production in the wake of the loss of Pujols. Plus his OBP is sub par so his speed is irrelevant if he can’t get on base.
The idea is that we need a solid RH hitting bench OF. Crisp is a switch hitter but has not been particularly strong against lefties.
New blog post.
http://redbirdrants.com/2011/12/20/can-we-get-an-impact-bat-and-world-series-dvd-set-winner/
Nice article. I like the analysis comparing the three choices.
The thing I’m not really clear on about the whole ‘need a replacement bat’ thing is this: would we be talking about it at all if Craig were healthy to start the season?
Or would we be willing to see if Craig in there everyday provided enough bat to compensate for Albert’s production? And if so, then we are really talking about making up for it at the beginning and perhaps insuring ourselves if Craig has continuing problems. Beltran would expensive overkill for that purpose IMO.
Well, for me, I am just not as confident in Craig’s offense (yet) as others are. I don’t see him coming close to Pujols’ production even without the down time from injury. Couple that with Berkman not likely to match his 2011 numbers (imo) and Holliday being a toss up depending on how he responds to not batting behind Pujols anymore, and I see a net loss of offense from the 2011 team that is significant. Even the return of Waino is not a sure thing to balance out this net loss of offense. My pessimism may be unfounded, but it is the way I feel.
Persuasive. I’d add that Yadi likely won’t have another career offensive year.
On the other side, which part of Albert’s production would you think Craig unlikely to approach? His OPS was the same, RBI rate higher, HR rate lower.
All of it.
We’ll have to compare their lines at the end of the season.
The HR rate for sure. I am not comparing Craig only with the 2011 Pujols though. Had Pujols returned, it is likely he would have put up better numbers than 2011 which I still see as an aberration due to other factors. Obviously, as time went on, the gap would close and eventually Craig would likely pass Albert up, but that scenario isn’t going to happen now.
And yes, I forgot to mention Yadi as well. His 2011 was an aberration too imo.
What if Beltran were signed to play RF long term and Craig was traded for an equally promising 2B?
Trades are certainly a possibility, though I’d rather see them move pitching instead of Craig.
I saw on MLBTR where Roy Oswalt is looking for a one year deal. It would be nice to trade Westbrook or Lohse if we could get Roy for a year. I wouldn’t want him for longer because of the back issues.
Could be a nice interim step, but of course, the question is always how the money fits together.
On a one year deal, he is going to have a lot of suitors, including the Yankees and the BoSox, so the money will be the decider. Not likely to happen, but a nice thought anyway.
The bigger money issue is what does it cost to unload Lohse or Westbrook.
And besides, why go out of your way to move a guy who went 14-8 3.39 ERA less than a hit per inning, less than a homer per game, 2 BB per 9 IP (Lohse).
And Westbrook went 12-9.
If we got that from our 4 and 5 starters this year we’d be hard to beat.
Yeah, the idea of trading a healthy Lohse right now makes little sense to me.
Nutlaw, if we traded Lohse, there would be a reason for doing so. First, because he had a good year, he has more trade value and its good to sell high. Second, we would open up a rotation slot for an innings eater, such as re-signing Jackson.
I’d hate to see Craig go too. Especially without seeing what he could do will a full season of playing time. (Well, almost a full season) (hopefully) (or will his D now be compromised after the knee injury/surgery)
Moving a very promising cost controlled potential everyday big bat would really go against what the front office seems to have in mind. But Rasmus is gone, arguably because of the chance to get what was needed to win it all in 2011, so Craig could be this year’s human sacrifice.
They’ve shoved Craig in at 2B before. Once healthy, I could see it happening again.
Different “they’s” this year…
If we needed Craig’s bat at 2B last year, we may need it more in 2012.
Rhetorical question: Which would be the better leadoff hitter?
A) .400 OBP, no speed
B) .300 OBP, very good speed
Neither.
If neither is better, that means they are equal, in your view. Interesting.
No, it means I would not put either one in as leadoff hitter. They are equal only in the sense that they would not work at leadoff.
I agree.
We would disagree with those thinking Crisp would be useful as a leadoff.
Furcal would be out, too.
C)
C) .316 OBP, 4 stolen bases speed.
That’s a crappy choice Brian, but it did get us to the WS, I’ll give you that.
Depends on who is next in the order.
Plus we still don’t know how aggressive Matheny will be.
There will be a lot to discuss and analyze this season when we guess and second guess his moves. Fun!
Lastly. IMHO, its not as sexy as bib bat O, but I think good, niegh great starting pitching and stellar d will take us farther, that’s why id like to see us pick up another 1, 2 or 3 starter and send Westbrook to another team. I know our offense (1st in NL) won it for us last year, and it took some timely hits (some that will be indelible marks in the history books) but man, if I have to go through another season of nerve wracking games like that I may have to get tums by the case
Three late autograph additions have been appended onto the main article above.