P.6 Ludwick to SD; Westbrook and Pads prospect to STL

[Joe Shlabotnik]

From today forward I will damn near guarantee that Jay won't match what Ludwick has been. What Jay is doing is completely unsustainable on every level.

I hope you don't plan on honoring your guarantee.

It's not like Jay has to hit .400 -just .275 or .280 with an .800-.850 OPS. I think its doable for the rest of the season. And he's one of the few Cardinals with his head screwed on right now.

[Cronos]

As also has been stated, it seems to me that this move reeks of desperation.

That Mo and the Cards brass were willing to move Ludwick for Westbrook and a future long relief guy says that they must not have been too happy with what they saw in Hawksworth and Suppan either, definitely says that they expect Penny is finished for 2010, and also makes one wonder about their view of the future (ie, we have to win now, who cares what it takes to get more pitching) and their thoughts on their chances of signing Pujols long-term.

[Fan_In_NY]

From today forward I will damn near guarantee that Jay won't match what Ludwick has been. What Jay is doing is completely unsustainable on every level.

I hope you don't plan on honoring your guarantee.

It's not like Jay has to hit .400 -just .275 or .280 with an .800-.850 OPS. I think its doable for the rest of the season. And he's one of the few Cardinals with his head screwed on right now.

And he will cost $7.5M less than Ludwick next season.

[Magneto2.0]

As also has been stated, it seems to me that this move reeks of desperation.

That Mo and the Cards brass were willing to move Ludwick for Westbrook and a future long relief guy says that they must not have been too happy with what they saw in Hawksworth and Suppan either, definitely says that they expect Penny is finished for 2010, and also makes one wonder about their view of the future (ie, we have to win now, who cares what it takes to get more pitching) and their thoughts on their chances of signing Pujols long-term.

Not sure how this move indicates anything about what they feel about the future. But I agree with the first part.

[Jmodene]

Strauss just tweeted that this makes the Cardinals the first contending team in MLB history to lower payroll in the middle of a tough pennant race.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

He doesn't have to maintain a .446 BABIP to match Ludwick's production.

I know that. What I'm saying is that expecting Jay, a guy with a career .799 OPS, to match Ludwick's production is pretty absurd. If you normalize his BABIP based on his LD% his numbers look awfully different. His LD% would be in the top 25 worst in baseball, with almost all the players worse than his being power hitters that rely on fly balls leaving the park.

[G. Keenan]

Wow.

Like everyone else has already pointed out, if there isn't a MI coming along with this in some way, then this...just sucks.

Westbrook will be fine, but why in the world did it take Ludwick?

Even if we were to steal Drew or Johnson for A Miles, Mo still has a failing grade on this trade.

No way, that would make Mo GM for life.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

From today forward I will damn near guarantee that Jay won't match what Ludwick has been. What Jay is doing is completely unsustainable on every level.

I hope you don't plan on honoring your guarantee.

It's not like Jay has to hit .400 -just .275 or .280 with an .800-.850 OPS. I think its doable for the rest of the season. And he's one of the few Cardinals with his head screwed on right now.

I just don't know why anyone would expect a hitter with a career .799 MiLB OPS to do that.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

Strauss just tweeted that this makes the Cardinals the first contending team in MLB history to lower payroll in the middle of a tough pennant race.

Yep, sounds like Strauss.

[Faceman]

As also has been stated, it seems to me that this move reeks of desperation.

That Mo and the Cards brass were willing to move Ludwick for Westbrook and a future long relief guy says that they must not have been too happy with what they saw in Hawksworth and Suppan either, definitely says that they expect Penny is finished for 2010, and also makes one wonder about their view of the future (ie, we have to win now, who cares what it takes to get more pitching) and their thoughts on their chances of signing Pujols long-term.

Desperation? Why? Because they know they are using Ludwick's salary next year to help fund AP's extension? Sounds like planning, not desperation.

If you don't like the fact that Ludwick only scored Westbrook and a marginal prospect, that is fine, I won't disagree. I would say though that we may overvalue Ludwick a little.

I think you are right on - they see what we all do, that Suppan and Hawk at 4 and 5 is not a great bet to get us to the postseason.

The "who cares what we have to do" - that makes no sense, if we did have to win now, we'd have traded Miller for Oswalt.