The Yankess lost in the first round of the playoffs, the Red Sox didn’t even make the playoffs, and the Mets had an epidemic of injuries and didn’t make it to the World Series in a year they were all but crowned the kings of the National League. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see quite a few movers and shakers in this off season. The Yankees, Mets, and BoSox will likely buy some high priced talent. The Cardinals will likely pull a few arms off the scrap heap for Dave Duncan to restore. The Kansas City Royals will spend little if any money, and none of it wisely. These are things we’ve all come to expect over the years. And, plenty of pundits will give you the inside scoop on what deals are on the horizon, who’s going where and for how much, and which players are staying put. Its all fascinating stuff. But, rather than jump into the middle of the pack, I’ve decided to give you 10 off-season moves that SHOULD but WON’T happen. Here they are:

1. Atlanta Braves re-sign Greg Madux and Tom Glavine - This would reunite the two long time Braves with John Smoltz (now back in the rotation) for what may be Maddux’s last year playing. Also, Glavine is a mere 10 wins away from 300 and he should reach that milestone as a Brave. ESPN is currently reporting that the Mets and Glavine are close to a two year, 25 million dollar contract extension so I feel pretty safe including this as a move that WONT happen.
2. Tony LaRussa retires, Jose Oquendo takes over- LaRussa came to St. Louis with one goal in mind… a championship. In fact, he was so emphatic about that goal that he chose to wear the number 10 as a reminder that he was brought in to lead the Cardinals to their 10th World Series title. With that out of the way, Tony could seize this opportunity to ride off into the sunset. This season was perhaps the most taxing of LaRusa since he joined the Cardinals. His team endured a pair of eight game losing streaks, and a seven game skid in the month of September. They finished with a mere 83 regular season wins and yet, LaRussa managed the team to its first championship in over 20 years. Jose Oquendo has long been dubbed as a future manager and is a fan favorite in St. Louis. Allow GM, Walt Jockety, and LaRussa to shape the team during the off-season, and have Tony hand over the reigns to Oquendo at the start of the regular season. It would be perfect. Instead, Oquendo is interviewing in San Diego this week for their managerial position.
3. ARod traded to the Cardinals - I know, I know, but remember, these are moves that won’t happen right? Arod needs out of New York no matter what his agent or the Yankees say. What better place for an under appreciated star than St. Louis? The fans here give standing ovations for sacrifice bunts! You can be sure ARod wouldn’t be booed for putting up the same type of numbers he did for the Yankees this year. The deal would make great sense for St. Louis as well, filling their need of a big bat to protect Albert Pujols. Now, whether the Yankees would take Rollen, or perhaps one of the Cardinals young pitching stars, Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright, in a package deal, I have no idea. Sure the Cardinals would have to give up value to get a player of Arod’s caliber but hey, the deal should happen.
4. The Chicago Cubs sign Barry Zitto and Jason Schmidt - Look, if the past two years have taught us nothing else, we should have learned that solid pitching gets you to the post season, and possibly the World Series. Last year’s NL representative, the Houston Astros, had the potent 1-2-3 punch of Clemens, Oswalt, and Pettitte. This year’s champs won on the arms of Carpenter, Suppan, and a resurrected Jeff Weaver. Pitching is key. The Chicago Cubs have been annually disappointed as their young up-and-comers, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, have never materialized into the stars they had hoped to see. Carlos Zambrano has been the lone bright spot in the Cubs’ rotation the past few years. Signing both Zito and Schmidt would cost more than a pretty penny but imagine a rotation of Zambrano, Zito, and Schmidt (possibly followed by Prior). That would be a force to be reckoned with. Its time the Cubs opened up their purse strings and made some impact moves for their loyal loser loving fans.
5. Roger Clemens re-signs with the Red Sox - The Sox are certainly going to make some noise this off season but no move they could make, would cause the stir of the Rocket returning to Fenway. Roger is perhaps the best pitcher of his time and should forever be identified with the Boston Red Sox. That’s just the way it should be…. even if it is for only half a year after the All Star Break. Can someone please make this one happen?
6. Daisuke Matsuzaka signed by anyone but a New York team - We all know George Steinbrenner and Omar Minaya have the money and the motivation to go out and buy the newest Japanese import (pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka), but wouldn’t it be nice to see someone other than a New York team win out on this one? I mean the Yankees bought Abreau at the trade deadline, and the Mets outbid everyone for Beltran a few years ago and Delgado last year. Can’t some highly talented free agent say “You know what, its not about money. I’ve always been a (insert small budget, small market team here) fan, and I want to sign with them.” Sure, in this case Matsuzaka doesn’t have much of a say in which team bids the most for the rights to negotiate with him but that’s not my point. I’d just like to see some team step up and unexpectedly snatch the prized pitcher away from the big money New York teams. (Prediction: the Yankees bid 35 million bucks and blow every other team out of the water on this one)
7. Barry Bonds retires - Every home run hitter in the game is already under intense suspicion because of the steroid erra in baseball. Let’s not have Mark McGwire on the Hall of Fame ballot, AND Barry breaking Hank Aaron’s all time home run mark in the same season how bout it? Barry could retire as a Giant (the only fans in the game who don’t hate him) and the game would be spared another season of will he or won’t he with Barry (will he break the record, will he get indicted, will he test positive). It would be nice if Barry quietly retired and let the game move on without him. However, since Barry’s ego is about the only thing bigger than his chemically enhanced arms (and head for that matter) this is about the least likely move on this list.
8. Ken Griffey Jr. traded to the Tigers - This one is simple. The Tigers need an impact bat. They had to rely on Sean Casey (!?!) this post season. Griffey needs to DH in the AL. The Kid’s swing is as sweet as it ever was but playing the field on a daily basis is something his body simply cannot do anymore. Also, Griffey needs to play on a contending team. I realize he desperately wanted to play for his home town Reds, but hasn’t he paid long enough for that mistake? Come on Cinci, set him free.
9. Soriano signs with the Oakland A’s - The A’s young pitching staff performed better than expected last year, as did the not quite done yet Frank Thomas. However, in the playoffs against the Tigers, it became abundantly clear that the A’s needed more offense. If the A’s can work something out with Thomas to bring him back for another year, placing Soriano in front of Thomas would provide them a New York-esque 1-2 punch in the heart of their order. Simply adding one more intimidating batter can revitalize the entire line up. Batters stop trying to press as hard to create runs and they also see more pitches to hit. Not to mention, Soriano would fit right in, in the young Oakland dugout.
10. Cardinals re-sign Jeff Weaver and Jeff Suppan - sure I’ve been mentioning the Cardinals a lot but hey, the team won the World Series and now has exactly one arm in their rotation (not to mention its my article and I’m a fan). They’re going to have to make some moves. These two guys pitched lights out in the post season and despite Walt Jockety’s well publicized policy of not over paying for October performances, the extra money from the World Series win as well as the new stadium should be put directly back into the team, namely in the persons of Suppan and Weaver. These guys might go on and do well with other teams paying them more, but they’ll be hard pressed to find someone who can continue to tune them the way Dave Duncan has. With a little bit of give on both sides, this move could happen. However, with Yankee money already piling up in front of Suppan, its highly doubtful he’ll be wearing the birds on the bat next season.

Well, I’m sure many of you are going to have feedback on this one so don’t be afraid to leave a comment telling me why I’m wrong. If you’d rather, you can email me at info(at)fanforhire.com. And, in case any of these moves that SHOULD but WON’T happen, actually end up being made… you heard it here first.

I don’t know what else to say folks. The Cardinals are World Series Champs!

WOOOOHOOO! No body pinch me, I don’t want to wake up!

I also just discovered a brand new baseball blog. The address is eMeLBe.com (get it M-L-B.com … clever right?). Anyway, it loooks to be pretty cool and I definitely like the author’s take on Gary Sheffield’s latest temper tantrum.

Anyway, I will eventually blog again but for now, I figured you might as well catch some cool new sites that I found.

I dont quite know how I missed this but mlb.com has a ton of blogs over at mlblogs.com.

My favorite Cardinals mlblogs are:
You’re Not a Golfer
Its in the Cards
and you can even read Cardinals Outfielder John Rodriquez’s take on the games!

Hey, remember that guy Carlos Beltran? You know, the guy who hit like 24 home runs against us in the post season two years ago? Yeah, the guy who made $25 million off his amazing post-season performance. Yeah, him. Well, in case you need a refresher… DON’T PITCH TO HIM! Yes I realize that he now has Carlos Delgado batting behind him. But for the love of everything sacred don’t pitch him middle in. He’s gonna hit it out of the flipping park. Don’t believe me? Fine. Go ahead… try it. What’s that? He hit a 2 run bomb to break open a scoreless game? Yeah, that seems about right. If you need me I’ll be in the corner…

Several sources are reporting that Ronnie Belliard will be traded to the Cardinals if he comes through the Indians’ game healthy. No word yet on who the Cards will be giving up, but there is also talk about the Cardinals also getting reliever Guillermo Motta. However, since the Indians are reportedly still in negotiations with other clubs about the pitcher, that would probably be a seperate deal if that happens at all.

So much for not wanting to spend much on the second base position huh? I think not signing Grudz in the offseason turned out to be a mistake that we’re trying to remedy now. Belliard is batting .289 with 44 RBI in 93 games for the Indians this year which should be an upgrade over Miles and Luna. I’d still like to see another trade (or two) that nets us a legit outfielder or starting pitcher but the options are dwindling. I’d be VERY interested in making a serious offer for Erik Bedard of Baltimore or possible Jason Schmidt out of San Fran but if Jockety is serious about not trading Reyes or Wainwright we might not have the chips to get either of those guys. I’ve got a hunch that we’ll pull off something surprising that hasn’t been reported on any of these rumor mills. Lets just say I won’t be far from a TV or computer until the deadline passes.

In other news: JRod looks to have merely sprained his ankle which is good news for the Cards. That sure looked ugly when he went down.

UPDATE: It appears that Hector Luna is the player we’re trading to the Indians. To this I say HOORAY! If you’ve read the blog for a while you’ll know that I have never been a big fan of Luna. Even though Belliard is going to be a free agent at the end of the year I love this trade. Keep ‘em coming Jockety!

The Boss has bought himself a few more players it appears. Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle have been traded from the Phillies for two minor league prospects, a draft pick and reliever Matt Smith. This is basically a contract dump for the Phils who are ridding themselves of Abreu, who is due roughly $37 million and Lidle who is making $3.3 million this year. The Yankees are getting another power bat and a mediocre pitcher. The Yanks have been looking for offense since the injuries to Matsui and Sheffield.

This seems to be quite the deal for the Yankees who get to hang on to their prized prospect Phillip Hughes. Hughes was pretty much the only other bargaining chip the Yankees had aside from cash and it had seemed as though Cashman and Steinbrenner weren’t being able to simply buy the players on their deadline wish list. However, the Phils apparently decided this was the best deal they’d get with the trade deadline fast approaching.

Abreu is yet one more bat that the Cardinals have lost out on in their attempt to bolster their lineup. Jockety has repeatedly proclaimed that he would not trade either of the promising young pitchers, Reyes and Wainwright, that come up in most trade discussions. I’m all for not needlessly mortgaging the future but I think its obvious that some sort of move needs to be made. Lets hope Walt pulls off another late July miracle trade.

And I don’t want to talk about it…

There’s no bright side to this one. If there is I don’t care. The Cardinals lost…to the Cubs… again.

ToonRefugee.com summed it up pretty well:

or maybe you prefer this:

Look I don’t know what it is but we have got to get our act together in Chicago. Now I realize its only been two games, but its the CUBS!

Not to mention the fact that Marquis’ little Jeckyll and Hyde performance has continued for another week. Marquis lasted only 3 and 2/3rds today giving up 6 runs (only three earned). Not quite the 8 inning shut out performance we saw in LA.

One of these players has given up only 7 earned runs over his last 5 games lasting 27 and 2/3rds innings. The other has given up 39 earned runs over 5 games while lasting 26 and 2/3rds innings. Can you tell which is which? Neither can the Cardinals. All I’m saying is that at this point if Marquis doesn’t end up on the DL for “demon possession” I’ll consider it a moral victory.

Oh and before you start, yes I take full responsibility for Johnny Mabes’ home run today. I talked about how much I liked him on the CubsCast and look what happens. A quick program note: please make sure all torches are properly lit and pitchforks sharpened before joining the angry mob, thanks.

We’ve got Reyes and Carp going for the next two games. Lets hope our kid and ace can restore order to the baseball universe.

I don’t however take any blame for the recent spat of errors the Cards have been making. They are uncharacteristic of this ball club and they’ve been costing us. Basically I think we look like a team that could use a few days off.

P.S. Here’s a link to that CubsCast interview: Enjoy!

And unfortunately not to the Cardinals. Apparently the Brewers are sending a package of Lee, Nelson Cruz, and the proverbial player to be named later to the Texas Rangers for Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, and Laynce Nix. On the surface it looks like a pretty decent deal for both teams. Personally I’d rather be on Texas’ end than the Brewers but with Lee getting ready to bolt in the offseason they didn’t have a whole lot of choices. I just wish the Cards could have put together an offer to bring Lee to St. Louis.

The deal also no doubt increases the trade value of Alfonso Soriano. I’d expect all the teams who missed out on Lee to jam the Washington Nationals’ phone lines this morning. I figure a team with a loaded farm system, such as the Angles, will end up blinking first and giving the Nationals their outlandish asking price. Soriano’s been on fire lately and he’d be a great addition to any team. We’ll keep an eye on all the trades as they happen so check back often.