Hot-Stove

Unfortunately, the free agent market looks bleak, and after the trades for Matt Holliday and Mark Derosa, the Cardinals farm system has little to offer and even less that we should consider trading. David Freese should be our starting every day third baseman out of Spring Training and Jaime Garcia should fill the 4 or 5 spot, maybe alongside another left-handed free agent starter, though I'd be just fine with Mitchell Boggs. Blake Hawksworth will get a look for a rotation spot, but will at least assuredly be retained as a reliever for the 7th or 8th, presuming Jason Motte has not improved his control.

So, when there are few free agents to spend on, and we have few trade chips that can be moved, and fewer that should be moved, how can we improve the team and best serve the interests of the franchise? Clearly, we should not spend money that is available just to spend. Jermaine Dye is not a sound investment. Billy Wagner could be a solid investment, but only if he is not a Type A free agent that would require us to hand over a first round draft pick. We should make a more than reasonable run at Matt Holliday, but not pay Mark Teixeira money, please. After that, do this: save the money for Pujols.

Some things will have to happen for the Cardinals to retain Pujols when he is a free agent after the next two years. One will require the Cardinals to increase their payroll well above the current approximately $100 million that is spent each year. If Pujols is going to justly require $30 million per year, $60 million more is not enough to fill out the other 24 spots. In hindsight for some, but consistent with my previous posts, trading Brett Wallace may not have been the best idea, not to mention a couple other players that are less noteworthy. We should clearly try to win now while we have Pujols, but at what cost? Wallace could have spent some important time in the minors and been ready to step in when Pujols leaves. I say when because I think I'm being reasonable.

Save the money, find some way to increase revenue and the payroll, extend Pujols' contract, and invest in young players. Aside from Holliday and Billy Wagner, the free agent bin is barren. Doug Davis could be an attractive acquisition. Otherwise, let David Freese and Allen Craig get some at-bats.

Closer: Most importantly, do not re-sign Piniero! Although we took him from Boston and gave him the opportunity to start, he was not even decent until he was spectacular last year. We handed him a 2-year, 14 million dollar contract in an interesting economic environment and it turned out ok after all. But we cannot pay Piniero a 3-4 year bloated contract for what he did last year, because he will assuredly not have a repeat until, possibly, his next contract year.