GatewayRedbirds.com

Agreed with 1 and 3 completely--dunno about #2, he's replaceable, the Cardinals really wouldn't miss a beat if he were unloaded for some AAA filler.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

Strauss, btw, says the Cardinals are willing to pretty much give him away in order to free up some money to sign a starting pitcher.

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I'm kinda over Oswalt. I still would prefer we send KMac somewhere else, but I'd be fine with Lynn as a long term starting option if need be, and Shelby right behind him if we need another, or maybe Scrabble. Eitherway, I think we have plenty of good in-house options.

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But you're making the exact same assertion in the opposite direction! Do you know they have more than $5M left in the piggy bank? Do you know what the costs to the team and ownership would be financially if they spend more than $5M more? Why are you criticizing others for admitting they are speculating, but speculating yourself?

I'm not sure what you want from me? I speculate that the team has a budget of $110M this year to spend on players. They've chosen to not exceed that budget for Oswalt. If McClellan were gone, it'd be possible to sign Oswalt without exceeding that budget. You're speculating they have more. So what's your point?
If they trade McClellan and sign Oswalt?

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We have some usable options. Oswalt has steadily been an approximately 4 WAR per 200 inning pitcher even during his decline. If Carpenter's nerve problems impact his pitching and Wainwright doesn't have a better first year back than most TJ survivors do, that probably puts Oswalt as a better per-inning starter than anyone currently on the roster.

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No, that would prove nothing. If, as I noted above, they add eight million in payroll during the year--or, if in your scenario above, they dump KMac, sign Oswalt, but then during the year add an additional $2.5M in payroll obligation, equaling the KMac money they dumped--it would prove that the Cardinals did in fact have the money to sign Oswalt regardless of KMac but just refused to do so.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

Oswalt is probably at the same point as Carp in terms of conditioning, so he wouldn't be ready at the start of the season anyway. I was really on board for getting Oswalt, but as we progress, I've been pretty happy with how the staff has been coming together and Lynn looking good, I'd prefer to just hold onto the money to have at midseason if we end up with a glaring hole (like maybe Berkman's or Beltran's knees go, or Freese's ankle, etc.)

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This is true. Maybe that's what they're thinking.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

Given how Ottavino and Sanchez did today, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to jettison McClellan.

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"You have to be concerned about the future, but you also have to be more concerned about the present. If you have to give up two or three young kids - who may not be able to play for several years - to get help for your team now, you have to do it." - Bing Devine, 1999

"They call baseball a game because it's too screwed up to be a business." - Jim Bouton, 1971.

"Big deal. Anyone can win games when the other team doesn't score any runs." - Curt Flood to Bob Gibson, circa 1968

Ottavino is terrible.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011