Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRedChief
We couldnt resign Hamels and extend Waino. I'd rather have Waino.
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Why not?
Berkman, Westbrook and Lohse come off the books at 12, 8.5 and 12 respectively, so there's 32.5 million and Wainwright's already on the books for $9 million.
The cost of Wainwright, Hamels, Lynn and Craig isn't going to much more than the cost of Wainwright, Berkman, Lohse and Westbrook. We'll also be getting McClellan's disastrous $2.5 million off the books to boot. Frankly, we have an option year on Waino anyway - if we have to write his extension in a manner that has it take effect in 2014 (after Carps deal expires), so be it.
Ownership can't let the team atrophy after letting Pujols walk and Carpenter doesn't have more than another season left in him anyway. If all they do is extend Waino in the offseason and re-sign Lohse (who is the exact sort of expensive mediocrity that dooms teams with mid-market payrolls), they're moving laterally in a big big way. That's unacceptable for an ownership group that has reaped far more revenue than it could've ever dreamed.
They need to make a stronger commitment, IMO. They made the smart baseball decision to let Pujols walk - now they need to re-invest the Pujols money into the team. Making an aggressive play on a 28 yr old star left-hander (a commodity this team hasn't had since Carlton) is hardly asking too much.