I guess we don't have to win the world series every year.

He isnt lying. They could... it would just not be good.

Age and upside.

If you think you're the team that can take the gains in contact that Heyward has made and combine it with the power stroke he showed in his first and third seasons, then you think Heyward can be a legitimate MVP player - a superlative defender who is also capable of a .900 OPS, 25 HRs and 20 SBs.

I absolutely believe there are teams out there that could manage that. I watch his swing as a rookie and there is so much ability in there. The problem is that he re-worked his swing completely right before the 2012 season and to his credit, it actually appeared to work. But you could see the beginnings of that cramped mess his swing has now become. Pitchers adjusted to it and he doubled down on the cramped mess rather than doing what he should have done which was to open himself up a bit more (go back towards where he was as a rookie). I think it would do wonders for syncing up his top/bottom halves. It would help him get his front foot down on time and go out to attack those pitches on the inner half. It would allow him to extend more on inside pitches and really drive balls instead of just getting sawed off and grounding out (or if he's lucky, fisting a humpback liner for a single).

So on one hand you can say that the only difference between Gordon and Heyward is age, but that's not entirely accurate - with that age and with his early career success comes so much untapped potential. Gordon is who he is - a player who's good years are going to be pretty similar to Heywards floor going forward. But with Heyward, there is talent there to be on Trout Light and there's still plenty of time to unlock it.

For the Cardinals, it's not worth that $100 million, IMO, because they don't teach an approach that will unlock his potential. There are teams and coaches that can though.

Didn't we run with something similar for a good chunk of last season?

Not that I recall. We did platoon Dyson/Orlando for Gordon for 6-8 weeks I believe. Fortunately Rios got hot about that time.

Just not sure relying in a career 4th outfielder and a few minor leaguers in fill in at the corners is a good idea but sounds like you beg to differ.

I have a feeling we're going to get some action this afternoon.

Mccullough on twitter kinda alluded to the fact he think we'll leave winter meetings without any major activity

It's been funny watching the nightly recap on MLBN. They're bored to tears. They're analyzing Asdrubal Cabrera signing. They openly thanked Arizona for saving their week. Meetings were a major dud thus far

I seem to remember Orlando playing for Rios when the Chicken Pox hit the team. I think it started out as a platoon of Orlando and Dyson and ended up with Orlando playing every day. I could be wrong.

That's because Jason Heyward is an indecisive shitheel.

None of the other OFers will engage until Heyward sets the market, the big money FAs are largely OFers this year so the other position players are cooling their heels with the OF market sorts itself out and most of the big players that needed pitching already got their or are prioritizing offense right now so they're not going hard on guys like Chen or Cueto.

Jason !@#$ing Heyward thinking he should be paid like a superstar has brought the entire market to a screeching halt.

@dgoold: Source: Heyward has made a decision. #cardinals were very aggressive but doesn't sound like he chose them. #cubs very much in play here.

Alex Gordon watch about to start.

@JonHeymanCBS: Doesn't sound like nats are optimistic on heyward. They made big try, but he didn't agree by deadline set with them.

These are the kinds of situations the Angels pop up with re: Heyward.

Heyward would be a damn disaster with Anaheim, IMO.

The marine layer there would kill his pop, it would get into his head and the guy will be Shane Victorino by August.

Bob Nightengale @BNightengale
The #Stlcards now have sights set on Alex Gordon and plan to aggressively pursue him now that they're out on Heyward.

Yep, which is why they'll do it. Is there a team with a worse track record of free agent signings than the Angels?

Harsh but fair grades from Rany
http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2015/...art-1.html?m=1

Looks like it's the Cubs that got Heyward. Now the real question is how much money. The market will be set.

Cubs get Heyward.

As I thought the loser of Heyward would do.

Anything but a WS should be a disappointment for the Cubs

Weird thing is the Cubs don't really need much more hitting. Their starting pitching wasn't good enough in the playoffs. They're going to field one heck of an offense though.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cubs are believed to have gotten heyward for less than $200M. Apparently taking less to be at addison and clark. <a href="https://twitter.com/GDubCub">@GDubCub</a> 1st</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/675377910409220096">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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The Cubs needed hitting AND pitching. The Cubs are full of all or nothing hitters with very little contact hitters. Heyward fits the contact hitting bill but at ~$200M give or take a few dollars? **** that. They better work some magic and get this guy driving the ball.

I wonder now if they'll flip Soler and/or other pieces for a starting pitcher.

They've been shopping Soler for pitching all offseason. Heyward isn't a long term solution in CF. Soler will be gone in the near future.

Cards fans losing their minds on social media right now.

It's pretty ****ing funny.

Why? He's expensive. Many whined when Poo-holes left too. And that was a brilliant move

SOOOooooooo how about Cliff Lee?

If you are not viewing @BestFansStLouis you are missing a phenomenal meltdownROFL

LOL, yes those were some harsh grades.

Rany is still an entertaining writer. He's also the guy excoriated Dayton Moore for the Meyers/Shields/Davis trade and demanded that Moore be fired. He's also the guy who told us over and over that Johnny Giavotella and Kila Ka'aihue would be superstars if only that idiot Dayton Moore would give them a chance.

Rany knows a lot and writes a lot, but his evaluations and his opinions are worth about as much as Hootie's.

Don't forget his article how we should drop 125M on Carl Crawford, or all his annoying political articles. on his Twitter, about 1/2 his tweets are about Donald Trump. We don't care Rany.

maybe we should play kendrys at first and hos in left

Care to share any of the more priceless ones?

At least one photo of a Heyward jersey being burned, a lot of wishes of #22 taking a heater to the mandibles for a second time in his career, many, many, many references of Jason being a bundle of sticks and apparently being one who exchanges goods or currency between other merchants.

I'm always amazed at how people can get so attached to a player that has been on their favorite team for 1 whole season.

His Twitter is his outlet as a person, nothing wrong with that. If RanyontheRoyals had all that, I could see that being annoying. Has his blog changed and he's posting a bunch of non Royals stuff to his blog?

SMALL sampling of their goodness. Enjoy!
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/JasonHeyward">@JasonHeyward</a> I hope someone throws it at your face again you greedy piece of shit.</p>&mdash; clay jarrell (@cgjcards) <a href="https://twitter.com/cgjcards/status/675378809420578817">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For signing with the Cubs Jason Heyward I hope you get Lou Gehrigs</p>&mdash; Seth Patterson (@patterson_seth) <a href="https://twitter.com/patterson_seth/status/675381323578499072">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/JasonHeyward">@JasonHeyward</a> **** you trader! ****ing bundle of sticks!</p>&mdash; Justin (@ChefJustln) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChefJustln/status/675387136904835072">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/CBearsbulls">@CBearsbulls</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonHeyward">@JasonHeyward</a> not mad i said celebrate being a bundle of sticks. a northside douchebag. eat a dick</p>&mdash; Chip210 (@Chip_210) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chip_210/status/675381225230585856">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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#BestFansInBaseball

**** that noise. I would never hate the guy, but that team or the White Sox would be the 2 that if he ended up signing with I'd be a bit salty about.

as always, thank you, my good man!

ROFL

Seriously, what's the obsession by Cards fans with all dropping bundle of sticks as their go to to bash the guy?

Apparently STD Louis is a no homo safe space... ?

They are doing their best to buy one.

ROFL:clap:

Hows that usually work out? Miami got one, but otherwise...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When history looks back and asks what St. Louis was like, I hope Twitter is around so people can see <a href="https://twitter.com/BestFansStLouis">@BestFansStLouis</a>. Today is ... wow.</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/675396176678555649">December 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Has not worked for the Yankees in a long time that is for sure, or Dodgers.

Looks like the Cubs won't get Davis though.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...173631355.html

Who could pass up on free crab cakes. :rolleyes:

ROFL:clap:

BFIB, baby.

What I don't get was that the dude was a mercenary. It's not like Heyward was a 27(+4) year old Albert Pujols or some shit

Eh...that account is a bit of a troll account - the just go looking for pissed off Cards fans.

A vast majority of fanbases have a bunch of idiots. The vast majority of fans today are frustrated but not insane. And there's a sizeable sub-set that sees this as a bullet dodged.

Time will tell if they're right.

Heyward's agent is also Alex Gordon's agent.

Thing is, what do Cardinals fans have to be frustrated about? Are two World Series titles in ten years not enough?

If Gordon does the Prison Douche plan and signs with the Cardinals, the Royals fan base will light up like Hiroshima on social media.

I'd be surprised if St. Louis threw a bunch of money at him. This is the team that let Pujols go. Gordon, while I love the guy and would love to have him back, will be 32 and coming off two seasons in a row with significant injuries. Doesn't seem like a Cardinal move to throw money at someone in that scenario.

It's a spoiled fanbase, to be sure.

They're not going to be real fired up about the next 5 years, but the bottom line is that the Cubs front office has simply outperformed the Cardinals over the last 5 years and those advantages are now being leveraged by Chicago to put a fair amount of space between the two organizations.

If the Cards front office is as smart as they believe themselves to be, they'll need to re-load and catch up. Or hope to get to October healthier/hotter and pay them back for 2015.

But just as Royals fans will be frustrated by losing Gordon (and were at losing Zobrist), Cards fans aren't excited about losing a very good player. It's to be expected (and some people are just stupid, including some that chose to root for the Cardinals).

Mozeliak worships gritty guys who excel at run prevention.

Gordon's right in his wheelhouse.

It's not the move I'd make for the reasons you've cited, but it's almost certainly the move the Cardinals will make.

He's posted a couple of political articles, including this one about how the GOP lost his support, which of course pisses PB off. But maybe 3 total out of 100s of blog posts.

Wrong place for that.

This doesn't make me feel better. I came up with a perfectly rational case for Gordon not going to St. Louis. I'm going to pretend I didn't read your post and go merrily about my day.

He only had 1 injury - last year - when he missed 1/4 of the season and no playoff games. Not sure what you're referring to.

He fits STL like a glove. They'll have to outbid SF of course.

Cardinal fans going hard at Heyward on Twitter. Everything from death wishes to "I hope you get Ebola." Some people take sports too seriously.

Oh, and if Gordon signs with the Tardinals, he's dead to me. Dead.

it sucks that the teams appearing to tout gordo the hardest reside in the inferior league. Sucks for him to have to resort to a lesser version of baseball. Poor guy.

:(

Fair enough, but a 3 out of 100- the lady doth protest too much, methinks!

You belong as a Cards fan :)

Might be referencing the wrist injury that he played through last year...

So glad you took me off ignore so you can continue to follow me in each thread and respond to my threads one by one. :') Keep it coming Mike.

Is Matt Holliday going to play 1B or RF?

Because Gordon has been resistant to moving to the right side of the diamond in the past, according to my friend with the team.

Hard to see him agreeing to play RF now, when he wouldn't agree to switch to RF when he was on the verge of busting out of baseball.

1B.

DaWolf is correct. I was referencing the wrist surgery and then the more recent groin muscle injury. Signs that a 32 outfielder is starting to break down? It has to be considered when you're talking about spending $100M.

Do it GMDM
@royalsreview: Crasnick says Alex Gordon is line for a 5 year $75-80 million offer elsewhere.

@jcrasnick: #Royals have talked to #Rockies about CarGo, Blackmon and Dickerson in their search for an outfielder. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14...utfield-market

5/75 or 80!? What are we waiting for? Re-sign him already

I'm guessing it is the "5" that will have GMDM walking away from that deal. I get the sense the Royals will not go that many years with Gordon...

@FlannyMLB: #Royals have cast a wide net in search for OF: Linked to Bruce, Frazier, Ozuna, CarGo, Blackmon, Dickerson, Parra, Span, etc.

Yeah, if Gordon ends up with a 5/80 offer as his top one, I think KC can match/keep him.

I think he will get a lot more than that, though.

5 for 90 is what I think it will take. That is also very doable for the Royals as well.