First, I'm not going to try and justify the Izturis signing. Just not going to do it. All I can really say is that his salary is meaningless and the other options would still have resulted with an offensive hole at SS. Agreed? Eck, Everett, Izturis, Uribe... none would have impacted this club offensively, defensively is different, but three of them are solid defenders, and two of them weren't readily available to us (Uribe and Everett).Fat, maybe you can help me see the internal consistency of moves where we are willing to pay market rates for low-impact veterans like a deficient shortstop and a good but luxury middle reliever because we want to compete every year, but not on a borderline hall of fame outfielder hoping for a bounceback year, because we need to free up payroll and/or get younger. I freely admit I may be missing the big-picture plan here, sometimes I look at the puzzle pieces and for the life of me I can't imagine how they fit together even though I'm looking right at the jigs that go together, and maybe that's happening here.
Second, you want consistency, but it's almost like it has to be one way or the other. Why does moving Edmonds hurt us this season? Why aren't we going to turn the salary saved into an impact player, whether that's acquired through FA or trade? After all, it's not even Christmas yet. Little happened at the Winter Meetings, and as we're seeing now, teams are starting to show an increased willingness to move players now that the market is more defined.
Why isn't the Edmonds trade an effort to stock up the system to allow us to make a move for someone like Bedard shortly? Why doesn't it allow us to move on Silva now instead of settling for Colon? Why doesn't it allow us to trade for or sign an impact OF'er?
I just don't see how Edmonds was going to provide much for this club next season besides some sentimental value to fans. It won't hurt ticket sales. Fans still come for Albert. Even if Edmonds bounces back to a 100 OPS season that's production which is easily replacable, and quite possibly replacable from within.
It seems like a lot of you are simply unwiling to see any of these moves in a reasonable light (not necessarily you, Steve). You see Pineiro as trash instead of as a cheapish 4th/5th starter who's a 3rd/4th starting until Carpenter gets healthy. You see Springer as indicative of the old-boy-network that loves veterans instead of the impact RP who had an era+ of 200 and who signed for less than many lesser RP's are getting. You see Taguchi and Miles as payroll dumps instead of as part of the youth movement you coveted when you wanted Antonetti as your GM. You see the Eckstein arbitration as an inexcusable mistake for Mo instead of as a way to avoid being forced to pay a MI'er worth $4 million the $8 million he'll win in arb.
All I can really say is wait and see.
Now, about Freese. He'll start in AA, and if he hits well, could easily wind up in AAA at midseason next year. This is a guy that COULD be ready for the majors in '09. That's not too shabby. His bat is clearly what we wanted here, as the only things that have held him down in MiLB rankings is his questionable glove and his age. I personally don't care much about age, and most reports are suggesting that his defense has improved to where he's a strong candidate to stay at 3rd in the majors. He's right there with Craig and Hamilton as our only two infield power hitting options coming up through the system. He's a good though not great pickup, and I think that we'll be pleased with how this trade works out. He isn't a A+ ball pitcher. He's a guy that could move very rapidly if he continues to hit, and the Cards have a very aggressive promotion strategy.
