No can sit here with a straight face and say they want Ellsbury if they are five percent worried about anyone else's injury history.

You have been high on Drew all year. Giving up a draft pick to get Drew is a tough one to swallow. Those draft picks are what allow us to compete with the BILLION TV contracts of the Yankees, LA etc. hard to part with. But when I think of Kozma starting next year...:shake:

I didn't really think Drew would get that qualifying offer. That changes things.

Lots or rumors/Blogs/talk that the Yankees have already made a large offer to Beltran. I'd hate to give up our extra draft pick for Drew.

Why do you think they are hellbent on signing Drew? It's one possibility of many, but probably among the least likely. There's a better chance of them flipping some pitching to the Angels for Erick Aybar than there is them signing Drew.

Yeah I don't get the Drew thoughts. He's gonna cost enough that it could hinder you from potentially keeping some young talent you've developed.

If that's the case, we need a player who's a hell of a lot better than Drew.

He's really not. The team is going to clear close to $50 million off the rolls if they decline arb w/ Axford.

I don't see the Cardinals/Mo/Matheny going into the season without a veteran reliever in the bullpen.

We are not loaded with cash. Everyone gets a raise. We don't benefit any more than other clubs. We have raises coming. But, we do have the money to sign a top ten FA or pick up a high $ contract in a trade. Just one $15-$17 million for 5-6 years pick up.

The Cardinals had $116 million in contracts this year and currently have $75-ish million committed next year to the following players

Holliday
Jay
Freese
Kozma
Wong
Carpenter
Adams
Descalso
Molina

Wainwright
Wacha
Miller
Lynn
Kelly
Martinez
Choate
Rosenthal
Motte
Garcia
Siegrist
Maness

And that's not counting several fringe pitching arms that would make the league minimum.

The Cardinals have a ton of payroll flexibility.

The last thing the Cardinals need to do is turn into the Oklahoma City Thunder and ruin their chances at building a dynasty because ownership ends up bullshitting the fans into a need to save money.

This year, sure.


I was talking the latter part of his deal.

By the time that is going down Garcia and Holliday will be off the books. That's $25+ per year

This year. It's those later years of contracts that doom teams.
Come on man, the Cardinals are not cheap. They spend money. We have a top ten payroll with a shitty TV/Cable contract. They have done a good job generating money without a gigantic TV contract.

Wonder what the absolute least the Rockies would take for Tulo

Wainwright, Craig, and Molina are the only two players on this team with contracts that run past 2016.