St. Louis Cardinal Tidbits

While there's still not much going on in the realm of St. Louis Cardinal news, there were a couple of interesting things that came about yesterday.

First off, the Cardinals have backed away from buying the Memphis Redbirds, their AAA affiliate. The economic conditions made them skittish about taking on that kind of debt commitment, which, in my mind, gives some insight to the payroll discussion that's been going on this offseason. 

Things have changed drastically in that regard since the end of the season, so it's not surprising that this offseason has been different than so many others.

Secondly, the Braves signed Derek Lowe. This is really only tangentially related to the Cardinals, because they were never strongly linked to Lowe, though some people thought he'd be a good fit in St. Louis. No, what got me was his steep price, $12 million a year.

This makes me wonder what it means for Ben Sheets, who really is the last big name on the market. Will this mean he'll come in for less than that? The Cards could still spend about $10 million if the payroll calculations are correct. If he'd go for $20 million over two years, I think the Cards really should jump on that. 

If everything broke right, imagine a rotation of Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Ben Sheets, Kyle Lohse, and Todd Wellemeyer. Talk about having a chance every night on the mound! 

If John Mozeliak wants to move an outfielder, he could trade one in spring training for a close-to-ready top pitching prospect who could fill in if Carpenter or Sheets goes down.

The downside to the Lowe signing is that the Mets didn't get him, which means they are still looking for pitching and can afford to pay top prices if they want. They probably won't go long on Sheets, but they could spend more than the Cards could offer.

Lastly, the Padres signed Mark Prior to a minor-league contract. While I advocated for him last year, I wasn't necessarily interested in the Cards going after him now.  There were some that thought the mysterious "starter converting to reliever" that Tony La Russa and company were targeting was Prior.  If so, they'll have to look elsewhere.

Derrick Goold is having fun with polls over at Bird Land. Today's is on the closer position, so if you want, go register your opinion.