405z06

I think I read that the Cards had $30M come off the books (Beltran, C Carpenter, Furcal). They have money if they want to spend. I guess they preferred to keep all the young pitching. Maybe they move one in another move. I dunno.

I'm not big on Peralta, but from the Cards FO perspective, it's only money and don't have to give up young pitchers. And there is no loss of draft pick w/ signing Peralta

I remember watching Freese in the post-season and thinking his bat speed was really bad. If he got a fastball, he would foul it off down the 1B line. And questionable pitch recognition. Totally guessing, and mostly guessing wrong. And when he would actually guess right on a fastball, didn't have the bat speed to do anything with it. He obviously has a track record of some success, and even as poor his 2013 was, he still had an OBP of .340 and an above average OPS+. Has anyone seen an explanation from him in regards to his 2013 struggles? I've seen fan speculation about a back injury, etc, but haven't seen anything from the horse's mouth.

That's the understatement of the year

Yeah, Freese is gonna go 300/30/100. This is a team where Albert Freaking Pujols goes from hitting like GOD with the Cardinals to hitting .258, and where Josh Hamilton, who once hit .359 in a season and hit 43 HR in another, turns into garbage.

Meh, It's not a bad deal for either team. Grichuk is not some type of uber-prospect from what i gather.. He can't take a walk to save his life, and his upside might be a 4th OF who can PH vs lefties. Thinking he's some trade-chip that was wasted that could have gotten David Price or another ace is clueless. Petey was the Angels 4th OFer. He was traded for a starting 3B, which was needed. They both have one really good year mixed in with some meh years and a bunch of injury-riddles years. It's kinda a wash, IMO. It makes sense for both sides, which is why, of course, they actually completed the deal.

That math is a little fuzzy. I feel silly even responding because the idea of trading Trout is ridiculous. As is the idea of the Cardinals trading Miller AND Wacha AND Rosenthal AND Martinez. But counting the number of games each player plays ignores that the SP's go 6-8 innings in each game, where as the position player only gets to bat 1/9th of the time. A great SP is just as valuable to a team overall as a great position player.

Hey, let's trade a CF coming off an injury-riddled season to the Cardinals for SP whose Wins total are deceptive. speaking of Jimmy, is he (aside from Trout) the best player the Angels have ever produced? I think he is criminally underated. He was really, really good as an Angel and more or less a GOD with STL. A Gold Glove CF who can OPS 1.000? So sick.

Yeah, it was pretty dumb. Not quite as dumb as suggesting that the Angels trade Trout, but still pretty dumb

The Cardinals already have two 1B better than Trumbo, I can't see a match there at all. If it's just Freese coming from STL, I don't imagine it would cost a whole lot. I think their plan is to move Matt Carp back to 3rd and give prospect Wong the 2nd base gig. Freese will be eligible for arb again this year and should fetch between $4-4.5M, and that's too pricey for a guy you don't see as a starter. If the trade get's bigger, than you could possibly see an Aybar and Bourjos for Freese + Lynn or Kelly. I have never seen the potential for the Angels to get one of the elite young arm like Miller, Martinez, or Wacha.

smart teams dont spend 3/36 on on 39 year old closer. I'd bet on the Phillies signing him, but they have Papelbon, so I say Angels go 4/52. Gotta make sure we win 82-86 games next year.

2014 Is the last year before the Astros start getting everyone's atthention. Good luck to us.

Like you mentioned, I would be worried about the salary cap. Plus, how many unrestricted free agents are there on the Angels after 2014? Unless we tag Trout a Franchise Player, I dont know how we can absorb the cap hit.

Jesus, of all of the teams in baseball, there is literally no one less likely to get Price than the Angles. I mean, they could buy him when/if he reaches FA.

Um, I don't know how to tell you this, but that was sarcasm.

Im totally sure that the folks at CardinalsWin could see the Angels trading Trout for Lance Lynn and Pete Kozma and 3 players to be named later, too.

Report: Dodger may trade OF'er because they have too many AngelsWin: Let's trade them an OF'er

No, it's still an albatross. The argument that it might not be assumes that you get the expected production for the first few years of the contract, which obv hasn't happened with Albert.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything that the Angels would offer could net Shelby Miller. Is Aybar better than Kozma? Definitely. Is Bourjous better than Jay? Well, defensively, yes. Offensively, no. So at the end of the day the Cards would be upgrading from a good defensive SS with a horrible bat to a good defensive SS with a better, but still worse than league average, bat. Then they get a CF who helps defensively relative to what they had, but hurts them from an offensive perspective. And for that they have to give Shelby Miller AND Manness? And it costs them $8M more a year.

I think it's reasonable to expect the Cards to trade some young arms this off-season in looking to upgrade CF, SS and 3B. Unfortunately for the Angles, the only real attractive player to fit any of those needs for young stud pitching would be Trout, and that obv ain't gonna happen. Both Borjesus and Aybar might be attractive, but the Angels wouldn't be getting Miller, Wacha, Rosenthal, Martinez. Think possibly Lynn or Kelly. But I think the Cards will go big. The Rockies GM said they they won't trade Tulo, but would they pass up Adams, Miller, + B+ prospect?

The Cardinals look down and out in this series, but if they could find a way to come back it would f**king epic. Crush the hearts and dreams of the Fenway faithful, whose tears would be so yummy and delicious.

There is no arb -> auto draft-pick anymore. It's a qualifying offer and that will be around $14.1M this year. I guess it could happen, but I don't see the Brewers offering that at all coming off a year where he didnt play a single game.

Yeah, that's where these tweets are coming from, tea party boogeyman, not 15 year olds being stupid and immature. God I hate liberals and their projections.

St Louis never supports their baseball team. They should move that franchise to New Orleans.

Not even close. Trumbo has a career OBP under .300. Mac had a career OBP 100 points higher, and never had a season under .300, even in the years his batting average was .187 (2001) and .201 (1991). Trumbo is really like Rob Deer.