I like Luddy too but we know he was gone eventually. They gave up a good player but that is better than losing one of our prospects like Miller to get a rental SP. Maybe we should wait to see how Westbrook pitches before diving off the cliff?

No way we could keep running our 4 & 5 pitchers out there to give up 5 runs in 5 innings every stinking game.

A sweep and Pujols bashing again. me likee :clap:

It was the Pirates, and it was at home. When we can actually beat ANYBODY on the road again, perhaps I'll get excited.

The Indians offered Westbrook for free to anyone that was willing to take on his salary.

We traded Ludwick so we wouldn't have to pay for Westbrook.

In other words, we traded Ludwick for cash. Not for Jake Westbrook, but as a straight up salary dump.

Ownership just traded our GG caliber RFer and #5 hitter in the middle of a pennant race because they didn't want to pay for him.

That's a horseshit move. And if it is sold as a move that was necessary to re-sign Pujols, those assholes can suck my dick. They bought the ballclub for as much as they later sold the parking garages it came with for. They essentially got the Cardinals for free, and then got the city to chip in a bunch of money on a new stadium. Those guys could lose $100 million/season for the next 10 years, sell the club and still come out ahead.

It's a bullshit move by a skinflint ownership team and their stooge GM that couldn't get his rotation patched up without giving away the farm.

Oh yeah, and when they're paying $4 million for some washup 2b in 2 seasons (Blake DeWitt sounds about right) because they didn't peddle Ludwick in the offseason for a MI prospect, we'll get to hear about how they couldn't afford to re-sign Wainwright because they had to fill the hole at 2b.

It was a hideous allocation of resources.

Especially if the 'upside' is the privilege of giving Pujols $30 million/season in his decline years. Yippee.

Even if we gave up Miller for Oswalt (unlikely given what the Astros took back), we'd have him for at least the rest of this year and all of 2011.

This was a travesty. We owned Ludwick's rights through 2011. Either we keep him through 2011 and get type A compensation for him.

Instead, we trade him for a fringe #4 just so that we'll get his salary covered.

That's pathetic.

We could have easily traded Ottavino, Boggs, or Darryl Jones for Westbrook straight up.

If we wanted to trade Ludwick, I'm betting we could have sent him to any number of teams for a far better SP in the offseason.

And Darryl Jones probably would've had the Indians eating his salary still.

Ya think the Phillies might have had a use for a RH bat that plays a great RF after they let Werth walk in the offseason?

Nah.

Find me a single team in baseball that couldn't use a righthanded power hitter (probably the most difficult offensive presence in baseball right now) that plays excellent defense and is a proven hitter w/ RISP.

But I'm sure the best we could do was Jake MFing Westbrook.

This deal just blows my ****ing mind.