The Cardinals can no longer be in the business of trading prospects for short-term commitments when they have not shown the stomach for significant long-term contracts or the wherewithal to recognize which ones they should be actively avoiding to begin with.

If the Cardinals make that deal, they'll be crying poor the same as the Indians in 2 years when he's a FA.

They've shot their wad the last 2 years. With Gallen, Kelly and Weaver as notable defections in deals that have done little but make them more expensive and inflexible, not to mention asinine 'thank you' contracts for slugs like Carpenter, they simply do not have the organizational depth or long-term flexibility to make moves like that anymore. They can't go after Arenado for the same reason.

Maybe they did in 2016, but they don't anymore. They aren't a 'power team' that can show up and be on the other side of the 'small market/big market' power dynamic. Not with this level of commitment from ownership anyway.

Now they need to be actively seeking 'baseball deals' where they see what it would take to pry a lefty with power and solid contact skills who can be an RBI bat for them in LF - namely Eddie Rosario. And not because the Twins don't want to pay for the guy, but because they have depth and a need that we may be able to address from our depth.

They've exhausted any market advantages they may have had with wrong-headed moves over the last 3-4 seasons. Now they have to do it the hard way - they have to be smarter than their opponents.

Personally I don't believe Mozeliak is up for the task.
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We can't afford to give him up. Unfortunately the crap deals we have given out basically have us hoping guys like Bader, ONeill, etc. figure out MLB and make a leap. Mo should have been fired for the Carp extension alone...it was that stupid.
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Moe's already leaked to the local media that the Carpenter extension was Girsch's baby.

Gotta love that one. Girsch almost certainly can't wipe his own ass without Mozeliak's say-so and Moe has the local scribes out there throwing his hand-picked stooge under the bus for arguably the dumbest thing I've ever seen a baseball team do.

And it's funnier because of how predictable it was. Girsch's promotion was so obviously designed to give Mozeliak a fall-guy that it's hard to believe he took the job to begin with. He HAD to know that his sole purpose was to get fired if the Cardinals missed the playoffs last year (and probably to get fired if they miss them this season). Bottom line is that the instant someone needs to be held accountable, presuming they've already dismissed a minor league hitting coordinator or two, Girsch is the one that's gonna get to visit The Turk.
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The extensions for Carpenter and Molina have been hindering, for sure. Even the Goldschmidt extension seems questionable.

It’s from Nightingale, so it probably is bullshit, but he says the Dodgers and Indians are talking about Lindor, with Lux and May going back to Cleveland.

^ would be a huge coup for the Indians. Lux in that park (which is so good for lefty power) would be dynamite.
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Holy crap, that would be a huge haul for the Indians. And if offered, they kinda have to pull the trigger. Then start the bidding on Kluber and maybe even Clevinger.

But the ALC is winnable and May is good. Dude's stuff was absolutely filthy several times I saw him pitch. If Lux could give them performance similar to, say, Jorge Polanco (which is a fairly reasonable possiblity) and May can be along the lines of, I dunno, Joey Luchessi....doesn't that give them a reasonable shot at 85+ wins?

Obviously they'd need Ramirez to be closer to the player he was in '18 (and the latter half of '19) and they'd need Mercado and Naquin to take a bit of a step forward. They also have Franmil Reyes and Jake Bauers who both have 3 win potential (though I'm really struggling to figure out why Bauers isn't working; I liked that guy quite a bit).

They could make that deal, get Kluber flipped for another top 100 prospect or solid young veteran (wonder if they could get the Yankees to bite on a Frazier deal) and still be frisky in that division. But much younger and much cheaper. Would the Cole deal make them less likely or MORE likely to deal a toolsy kid like Florial who may simply never make it at all?
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Wacha to the Mets

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/...ael-wacha.html


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Yeah, it’s a must-make deal if it’s really there. I’d try to move Kluber and hang on to Clevinger if I were them and making a deal. Or move one of Civale/Plutko/etc. for a young position player who can help them now.

I think Lux’s floor in Cleveland is something like what Polanco did last year (.295/.339/.444), and I think he’d OBP and SLG higher than that.

Something like .300/.360/.525 wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
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As a rook?

Gonna be hard pressed to talk me into those kinds of numbers for dudes getting their first prolonged look at big league pitching. Especially when you have PCL squads with a .900 OPS as a team. PCL numbers mean precisely jack and shit right now. About all you can do is ignore AAA figures outright and see how an .890 OPS in AA would project to the big leagues. Gotta believe you'll see more of a decrease than to a mere .885.
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If they don’t change the ball, yeah. The PCL was using the MLB ball. Believe he OPSed 1100 or close to it at AAA, right?
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Rendon to the Angels for 7/245.
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Same as always. Big spenders going to spend. :-)
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Why wouldn't making a play for Arenado make sense?
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Same problem.

It'll cost them a mint and Arenado has an opt-out in 2 seasons. Then you also combine that with the possibility of reduced production from Arenado away from Coors and you have a recipe for a real bad outcome.

Again - they had a chance to make a deal like that 2 or 3 years ago but at this point they've burned too much organizational capital and budget room to do it.

They're past the idea that they can 'fix' this team with any single move. The window closed on them, IMO. Now they need to actually build their way out of this. You can't do that if you keep trading away all your best prospects to get short terms guys on big money contracts.
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Yeah, I get that.

But man, I dunno that they can develop what they need to develop. Who was the last legit bat that they developed that turned anything substantial? Craig?
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Morosi saying Cards are in on Ryu
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