St. Louis Cardinals Are Leaving Las Vegas Much As They Arrived

Life may spring eternal on a gaudy neon street, but the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings have come to a close.  And like a tight gambler, the Cardinals are leaving with just a little less than they came with, since losing Luis Perdomo in the Rule V draft was the only official activity that they did in the desert.

Due diligence is the term being thrown around now, and I'm sure the groundwork was set for some things to happen later on.  How much later, though, is going to be the kicker.  It seems to me that, save maybe a Fuentes signing (more on that in a bit,) nothing is likely to happen until the New Year. 

Which, as slow as some things have happened in this offseason, may not be as bad of a thing as we'd thought even a couple of weeks ago.

John Mozeliak has already checked the odds and placed his bet on Khalil Greene, which was probably the only real offensive hole, especially now that Adam Kennedy is coming back.  So he can completely focus on pitching and, if he does get Fuentes, a lot of that is solved as well.

I feel a little better about the Fuentes move when I read that the Cards are looking to get him into a two-year commitment (instead of three) and a contract that's less than $10 million-a-year.  I'm still not completely sold on it, but there's a muddy line between the things you want and the things you have to do.

If nothing else, though, this offseason has given us a little confidence in next year.  We're not to the point where we feel that no joker, no jack, no king can taking this loser and make it win.  The hand that the Cards have is a solid one.  I believe they need another arm in the rotation, but there shouldn't be many people predicting a last-place finish for them in 2009.  And that's better than we had reason to expect at this time last year.

I see where Joe Strauss writes that the Yanks may still turn to the Cards and Ankiel if the Mike Cameron thing falls through, which is possible since those talks have been off and on for a while.  I honestly think that Mozeliak must have some general idea for getting a young, cheap starter for one of the outfielders if he's going to spend so much on a closer.

Nowhere is far enough away for the Cardinals when it comes to Randy Flores.  Expect him to be non-tendered today.  It may be interesting to see what they do with Tyler Johnson, but I'd think they might keep him, assuming that the arbitration raise couldn't be that much since he hasn't pitched in over a year.