WTF? We have all these 3B/1B talent in the minors and this is what you lock up?

The #Cardinals appear to have worked out an agreement with Matt Carpenter, whose guaranteed deal expires at the end of this season, according to a source, working for confirmation. https://t.co/sooNxzOJhF

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 10, 2019

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Of course it is.

It wouldn't be the Cardinals if they weren't putting stupid PR bullshit ahead of making the club better.

"HEY! Look at all these awesome young corner IF prospects we have! Let's acquire a 1b, extend him long-term, move our existing 1b over to 3b where he isn't actually very good and then extend HIM long-term!!!!"

Fucking brilliant. This team is so goddamn stupid.
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Does a two-year extension actually block any of the Cardinals key guys?

I mean, maybe at the end of that period, Gorman is ready for a late season call, but those guys all look 3 years out to me.
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Matt Carpenter gets $39 million for ‘20 and ‘21 combined and another $18.5m for ‘22 if he gets 1,100 plate appearances over the first two years, per source.

— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) April 10, 2019

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Doesn't start until next year and if Gorman forces his way to AA this year, he's a strong run through AAA in the 2nd half of 2020 away from being ready to take over in 2021. And if Carpenter's option vests for 2022 he's blocked for 2 seasons.

I'd have assumed 2022 as his likely ETA as well, but you don't have to squint too terribly much to see him ready sooner than that. And even if 2022 IS when he's ready, Carpenter will either play well enough to amass those 1100 plate appearances or he won't and the $40 million you gave him for those 2 seasons just gets tossed onto the big flaming pile of wasted money all up and down this roster.

Moreover, it's kinda folly to project runways on guys who are doing things that historically aren't done at Gorman's age. Granted, there's still plenty of reasons he could fail, but guys with that kind of upward trajectory tend to move faster than we would expect/project. Pujols was terrorizing A ball one year, starting opening day the next. Soto didn't even take that long. Acuna went from strong talent to #1 guy in baseball in the span of about 12 weeks.

Truly 'precocious' talents do weird shit sometimes and what we've done here is ensure that Gorman can't. We had an option for 2020 that we could've picked up and had a much clearer picture for 2021.
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The mother****er has been on a steady decline for years. :-)

Edit: I guess he did put up a 2.8 WAA last season but I still hate this.
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What's next? We acquire Albert Pujols at the trade deadline?
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Was a not difficult to obtain vesting option for age 36 really needed?
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Of course.

Defensively limited guys in their mid-late 30s are flying off the shelves. You can't get one of those dude's to sign a deal for less than $20 million/yr these days.

The best part? I mean the absolute best part.

Say it with me now. Mozeliak signed someone to a contract and what does that mean?

You guessed it: No Trade Clause.

Never change, Moe. Never change.
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Couldn't sign Harper to a 10 year deal because they'd have to pay him into his 30's but...…………….


Eyeroll
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Right?

Can't give Harper $25 million for his age 37 season (which will be TEN YEARS FROM NOW), but we can give it's 2021 equivalent to Matt Carpenter for HIS age 37 season and as a bonus get absolutely nothing but decline years for the privilege.

The guy on my Cardinals board used the exact right phrase (one that I will forever be attempting to work into meetings at least once) - it was a remarkable display of aggressive stupidity.
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Better hope the NL gets the DH.
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Fucking retarded.
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Oh. I was assuming this year was part of the contract. Yikes, didn’t look closely.

Very Mozeliak-ish move. And that’s not a complement.
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Mozeliak treats elite players like Rachel Phelps and good ones like George Steinbrenner.
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