My prediction: We sign Robert for a total of $65 mil. Yours?

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Right and not only did they not significantly improve via the international draft this year, pretty sure they can't sign anyone next year.

[pioneer98]

That's why this is so baffling. If there was ever a time to overpay, this was it. And I'm not sure that going like $5 million above the White Sox or something would have even been a big overpay.

[Tim]

Seems to me we will never get what really happened, but I have to echo others... This is baffling. Now was the time to commit to a splash.

[MrCrowesGarden]

So is this the move that gets people to feel the same way about ownership that I do?

[Famous Mortimer]

Straws, camel's backs, and so on.

From the P-D:

“I don’t know yet if we are the bridesmaid,” Mozeliak said. “People are like, ‘You’re flushed with cash. Roll the dice.’ That’s a lot of money. That money might be redeployed elsewhere now. It will.”

How many times are the only journalists they pay attention to going to let them get away with saying this?

[pioneer98]

So is this the move that gets people to feel the same way about ownership that I do?

This is the worst one IMO. You can sort of justify not signing Heyward to some extent, and maybe Price to a lesser extent. But this one was a young player that would fill a gaping hole in their minor league system since their draft is toast this year. At some point they have to win one of these bidding battles whether it is for a guy like this or an MLB free agent. You can't miss out on every guy you want to sign and be competitive forever.

[salukifan2]

Here is another nugget of sad truth.

The PD and other cardinal honks in the StL media have been playing up the big splash that the team made in the intl market this season, and to the average fan it would appear they did. However, to people like us who pay close attention it's easy to see how this "splash" wasn't really a splash at all.

Machado was the best prospect we signed and he is a borderline top 10intl prospect. Most the guys we signed were in the high tens and twenties.

You know who made a slash? The braves, Padres, and the [expletive] Reds. Had we signed Gurriel Jr or Robert we would have indeed made a big splash. But nope we made an average splash. What the cards did this signing period pales in comparison to what the Dodgers, Cubs, Bosox, Rangers, blue jays and others routinely do in intl signing

We signed low hanging fruit, again.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

So is this the move that gets people to feel the same way about ownership that I do?

This is the worst one IMO. You can sort of justify not signing Heyward to some extent, and maybe Price to a lesser extent. But this one was a young player that would fill a gaping hole in their minor league system since their draft is toast this year. At some point they have to win one of these bidding battles whether it is for a guy like this or an MLB free agent. You can't miss out on every guy you want to sign and be competitive forever.

Agreed. I'm not 100% sure how MCG feels about ownership, but I think it's something along the lines of 'they should spend more money'. I certainly don't begrudge people with that point of view, but I'm also not one to say they should spend money just to spend it.

I still view everything the same way in that sense. In order to sign someone or spend money, the following questions need to be answered correctly: Is there a need? Is the contract/player going to be an asset/liability? In this particular case, I think the answer is there is obviously a need for high end talent in the minors. And, the jury is still out on how that contract works out for the White Sox and would have worked out for the Cardinals. It's entirely possible that Robert flames out and is worth nothing or negative value at the MLB level. And, it's entirely possible that he's worth 30+ wins over the course of his contract. But, given the Cardinals position of being flush with cash, low on high end talent, sans draft picks this year, sans the international draft next year, and stuck with a team full of mediocre players, it made oh so much sense to splurge on Robert.

So, yeah, it is irritating that they didn't sign him when the only known reason is money. Of course, they're probably not going to say, well, we think he's going to have troubl ewith pitch recognition at the major league level and won't be able to hit the curveball, greatly hindering his value. And, if that's what they think, okay fine. But, there's absolutely no reason to think they saw anything other than a solid to great ballplayer; hence the offer.

[Johnconrad]

The bidding was rigged to favor the Cardinals... and they STILL failed to get the job done.

[Johnconrad]

I can't believe we didn't sign either Gurriel Jr or Robert.

Team won't commit to a rebuild or to winning now. Looking forward to being an aimlesss wandering 80-85 win team for years to come.

With #22 in the dugout, that win total seems optimistic.

You're not calculating on burning out 2-3 more of his trusted relief pitchers in the next 3 years.