Mulder down to two teams?

According to the Star-Telegram in Dallas:
Indications are that Mulder is deciding between the Rangers and his previous team, the St. Louis Cardinals, on a two-year deal.
I like this.  Walt & Company can patch together a rotation until Mulder gets back and then could have their #2 at a nice discount.  Probably something like $5 million [...]

Walt is still doing something

From the Dallas Morning News:
[Mark Mulder's agent Greg] Clifton said the Indians and Cardinals have stepped up their interest lately, with back-and-forth proposals and plenty of dialogue. Clifton has also sent Arizona a counterproposal and as of Wednesday was waiting to hear back from them. Mulder, 29, is on his honeymoon, but he checks in with [...]

From the hitting close to home department…

 The Denver Post says:
The Cardinals, Rangers and Brewers have explored deals for Barmes, with Milwaukee offering center fielder Brady Clark.
Even with top prospect Troy Tulowitzki expected to start at shortstop, Colorado isn’t motivated to move Barmes. The Rockies have interest in Clark, but his salary is problematic – they would like the Brewers to eat [...]

Another one bites the dust

Batista is apparently going to be a Mariner, so now what’s left for the Cardinals?  Tomo Ohka.
Not very convincing as a #2, is he?  That’s who the Cards are talking to now.  Other alternatives:

Suppan – still probably too pricey.  The Pirates (gasp!) may outbid everyone for him.
Weaver – reportedly wants four years, Cards haven’t talked [...]

Cards’ Rule 5 Draft

The Cardinals did not select the next Hector Luna in the Rule 5 draft this morning, but they did more two selections in the minor-league portion of the draft.
AAA Phase
They selected Catcher Omar Falcon from Pittsburgh.  He hit .264 in 58 games with 7 HRs and 28 RBIs.  He was a third round pick by [...]

Here’s your laugh for today…

According to a story on the San Jose Mercury News’ Web site, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa approached Bonds’ agent on Wednesday night and requested a meeting with the currently unemployed outfielder and owner of 734 career home runs.”I want to talk to your guy,” La Russa reportedly told Jeff Borris outside a steakhouse at [...]

Schmidt to LA… where’s our #2 now???

3 years, almost 16 million per year according to Rosenthal.  Is he worth it?  I’d have to say yes.  Should the Cards have went there?  I think the answer is no.  What now?  Will Walt try to pry Miguel Batista away from the Royals’ grasp simply because he’s the best (affordable) option left out there?
The question [...]

The return of “Crazy TLR” and other info

“We’ve always liked going to camp and stretching out pitchers,” La Russa said. … “I think the plan would be to have as many of those relievers come into camp extending their innings and their pitches, and I’m including Braden, Brad and Adam.”
Wow, let’s not get that desperate, OK. There is money to spend and [...]

Free agent pitching

After ranking the free agent starters still available by their VORPs (from MLB.com and Baseballprospectus.com) I came up with a nicely ordered list of FA pitchers, but WordPress ate my table and I’m not going to reproduce it again.
Quickly looking at the list, the top 5 available SPs are Zito, Schmidt, Clemens, Pettitte, and (gasp) Suppan.  [...]

Welcome back old friend

You’d think I’d talk about the signings of Adam Kennedy and Kip Wells before I’d talk about Eli Marrero, but you’d be wrong.  After all, I predicted that Kennedy would be back (and was only off by $666K/yr on the amount) and Wells is just the kind of low-risk high-reward signing that Jocketty specializes in, [...]