Now if only Garcia can comeback halfway decent maybe we can parlay him into something useful.

That's not a great deal, but it's not a terrible one either. Peralta has always been a surprisingly good defender, and his bat profiles very well in the 6 or 7 hole.

I can definitely live with that. Saved the draft pick, likely to get another one, and the upgrade between Peralta and Kozma offensively is bigger than going from Freese to Evan Longoria.

Will signing Peralta cost us a pick?

No. Peralta did not receive a QO. And since first round draft picks provide, on average, 4 WAR over the course of their careers, that's an additional savings of $20-28 million over the opportunity cost of signing Drew.

Have to wonder if Taveras is still in the Cardinals plans. I would think he would at minimum be an insurance policy against Craig being injured again. I wouldn't think Tavaras' ankle problems would carry over to the next year unless he needs surgery.

He is, but he's also a very young player who has some maturity issues, hasn't seen a ton of AAA pitching, and is coming off a significant injury, for which he had surgery.

Keeping him in Memphis past the Super Two deadline is not the worst thing in the world. Barring injury, he'll contribute next year.

In addition to what Hamas mentioned the savings in not losing the draft pick extend to keeping pool money and the extra flexibility that gives them. Lot of factors driving his price up but not a ton more money than I expected him to be getting in this market so I'm okay with it.

Cards sign Peralta to a 4 year deal worth $13 mil/yr. Avoid giving up a first round pick and any of our young pitching and should give us a WAR of 3 over four years. Not perfect but I'll take it.

Best we could do in this market. Look at where Mo went first in trades and what it would have cost us....

Hardy for one year = Miller
Aryba for one or two years = Miller
Tulo and his huge contract= Miller/Kelly/Craig/Seigriest
Profar/Andrus = Miller/Adams
Drew = Lose 1st round pick

If we use last years $116 payroll number, even with our arb raises and the due increase in our existing contracts we have $35 million left before we reach that number this year.

Peralta doesn't cost us a draft pick or our prized cost controlled talent. We have the cash to overpay at what the market demands. I don't think he can play SS longer than 2 years. At least it gives us 2 years to figure out a long term solution.

I'm fine with Peralta as well. His bat seemed to improve last season.

PED does that.

The Burjoles move means Taveras starts in AAA. Mo will save the cost controlled year.

We are the best team in the NL. We don't need to push Taveras.

But, we are going to have to move someone next year. We have a glut of RF in 2015 that are going to need playing time.

Read a chat on STL today with the beat reporter that said Craig told the Cardinals he is more comfortable in RF and would like to play there if at all possible.

Next steps:

1) Add Jeff Baker to the bench to provide a solid platoon partner for Wong/Carpenter/Adams as well as a great bat off the bench against late-inning situational lefties. This name is unfamiliar to most, but look him up. In almost 900 career plate appearances against lefties, he's proven to essentially be Allen Craig with more power. This guy is a perfect solution to our lefty concerns and he's so far under the radar that he should come cheap. I've been banging this drum since August - the guy is a perfect fit. He's played 2b, 3b, 1b and some outfield.

2) Add Michael Morse to the bench to provide all-purpose power to the bench as well as someone capable of playing IF and OF (has played major league innings at 3b, SS, 1b and OF)

3) Trade Jay for a C or 3b prospect.

At that point you have a bench of:

Morse
Baker
Descalso
Robinson
Cruz

That gives you power, speed, defense, positional flexibility and a couple of guys that could even start for prolonged periods of time in the event of injury. If he could swing that, the Cardinals would have an outstanding bench.

Even after the Peralta signing, their team payroll appears to be about $15 million below last season's. That's plenty of money to get Baker and Morse on 2 year deals (that shouldn't hamstring us when the young kids are no longer cost controlled and are looking at their arb years).

He was not tied to PED's in 2013, it was 2012.

I think it's pretty obvious jay is the odd man out.