Harper could be another Pujols - the next team pays big bucks for him and ends up with little more than a steadily declining money pit.

And if he ends up going to either of those fuckball teams, especially the Giants, I'll be rooting for him to do exactly that.
[Reply]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...phia-phillies/
[Reply]

Or Philadelphia. :-)
[Reply]

Bill DeWitt is a crook and John Mozeliak is a pussy.

Fucking Cardinals. Jesus Christ.
[Reply]

I don’t know.... 13 years with no trade? Evidently 30 other teams are passing on those numbers. Can’t just shit on the Cardinals without getting it all those other teams too.
————————————————-

Manager Gabe Kapler heard the big news from fans in the stands during the Philadelphia Phillies spring training game. His team appears to have won the Bryce Harper sweepstakes, finalizing a 13-year, $330 million deal with the free-agent outfielder, league sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Thursday.

Harper's deal includes a no-trade clause and has no opt-outs, league sources told ESPN, indicating that he is committed to the Phillies for possibly the rest of his career.
[Reply]

Sure I can.

A) Any owner that wasn't effectively gifted his team and hasn't had it paid for free and clear for 25 years isn't in the same boat as the Cardinals. Debt service matters, I'll acknowledge that. What's DeWitt's excuse when he sold the !@#$ing parking garages that came gratis for 80% of what the team cost?

B) Any team that can't count on 35,000/gm to come out to watch a product even when it's demonstratively lousy isn't in the same boat as the Cardinals. Risk matters and DeWitt has none with the ballpark and the team this ingrained into the culture of the city.

C) Any team that doesn't have it's own bar district that is doing damage to the rest of the downtown scene while continuing to line the owners pockets isn't in the same boat as the Cardinals. That's a cash register that's come at the expense of the rest of downtown but far be it for DeWitt to put some of that money back into the ballclub.

D) Any team who doesn't go from a potential WC team to a genuine contender with the addition of a desperately needed LH bat who they could add to the lineup to replace one of the 2-3 worst regulars in baseball last year is not in the same boat as the Cardinals.

Now I am aware that this probably doesn't pare the list down to zero - there are other teams that goddamn well should've made this move and have no excuse to have sat on the sidelines. But I do not root for those teams and thus give zero fucks about them.

Bill Dewitt, the billionaire owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, who has sat on a decade of year over year record profits, who's team is sitting on literal billions of positive equity and who presently has the worst RFer in baseball playing at the top of a RH heavy lineup and has spent several seasons now looking up at their chief rival, has not one single motherfucking excuse at all for not pursuing Bryce Harper.

No, I'm not going to hold every team in baseball as accountable as the Cardinals. Apart from just being equal parts cheap and stupid over the last several years (previously stupid, now cheap), they have no reason not to have made this move.
[Reply]

If he took 13/330 with no opt outs, he would have taken 10/300.

Instead, the Cardinals end up giving that money to the Cecils and Gregersons of the world.
[Reply]

I agree with you on the Dewitt comments and financial state of the Cardinals. Your spot on.

I would have been happy with a 13 year/$330 million contract. I just posted 3 posts above that I advocated $350 million if that’s what it took. That said.....I understand from a state of baseball, risk/reward perspective why they didn’t pull the trigger.
[Reply]

I'm not sure he would've. He wanted the 'record guarantee' and i think the only way he was getting that was to spread it out over 13 years and agree to no opt-outs.

With Stanton sitting at $325, I think it Harper and Boras wanted to be able to break the record. I can't speak to why - it's only gonna last as long as it takes Trout to re-negotiate or hit FA, if it even lasts that long.

The Cardinals should've given it to him. If baseball's revenues continue up and the players get the luxury tax increased (they will), even a 5% increase annually is conservative and 13 years down the road that money will be nominal; maybe 10% of the Cardinals payroll for a player who will have, with reasonable health, settled into franchise icon status.

It's just absurdly chickenshit.
[Reply]

its obvious to me that Harper and or Boras wanted to break the record contract number.
[Reply]

Listened to a couple of podcasts that said Gammons was in camp and he’s reporting that his “feel” after talking with the Cardinals is that Carlos is out till the first of July.

Just ticks me off. You just never know if a player just phones it in once they get paid. The dude grew up literally dirt poor. Seems like he would do the off season workouts to keep his shoulder and arm in the best shape as possible. What a waste. :-)
[Reply]

Went to the game today. Sat in row 9 behind home plate. Perfect spot to see the movement on pitches.

Flaherty was sooo dominant today. No one got even close to understanding what was coming or when they guessed right, couldnt square it up. The movement on his slider is really amazing from this viewpoint.

Hicks came out throwing 103 on a windy and cold day. His 88 mph slider also have great movement. And he is now throwing it for a strike. If he can throw that slider for a strike, he will be the best closer in baseball soon.

Reyes looked rough, it was his first time pitching in about a year so that's to be expected.

Fowler looked lost on every pitch of every AB besides one pitch. Was not even close to looking like a professional hitter. He was a carbon copy of the player who was 2nd worst MLB player last year. He also misplayed a ball in the outfield very badly.



[Reply]

Hicks is for sure locked in as the closer? Do you expect Shildt to mix and match a bit or stick with a guy?

Trying to decide how many auction $$ to try throwing at Hicks...
[Reply]

no, they haven’t announced a closer. But..... if he can throw that 88 mph slider for a strike on 3-2 counts like he did today, it’s going to happen. Moving Martinez to the bullpen may be the fly in the ointment.
[Reply]

We’ll see what happens, but Shildt has made it clear he’s okay determining his closer by matchup. Hicks has the biggest upside but Miller and Martinez (and Reyes?) will probably gets looks at points during the year.
[Reply]