Luvofthegame
09-10-2006, 11:16 PM
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/10/2006
Last summer, the Cardinals played a 100-win season under the "Red Means Go" marketing slogan. It fell to pitcher Jeff Suppan last week to summarize this year's campaign -- "a different team playing a different season."
And a team likely looking toward a very different future.
Poised for their sixth postseason appearance since 2000, the Cardinals are entering their final weeks before an anticipated overhaul to their starting rotation, their defensive core and perhaps the way they apportion payroll.
The Cardinals retain only center fielder Jim Edmonds, closer Jason Isringhausen and first baseman Albert Pujols from their 2002 opening-day roster. In addition to the three, starting pitchers Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis and catcher Yadier Molina, outfielder So Taguchi and third baseman Scott Rolen are all who remain from the 2004 World Series club.
Mulder, Marquis, starting pitcher Jeff Weaver, second baseman Ronnie Belliard, outfielder Preston Wilson, catcher Gary Bennett and utility player Scott Spiezio are eligible for free agency in November. (Wilson's contract includes a three-year option that the club will decline.)
What lies ahead, maintains general manager Walt Jocketty, is "a team that could look dramatically different next year because the rotation is probably going to be considerably different."
How that rotation is built remains to be seen, but the free-agent market is expected to include a few big names, including San Francisco's Jason Schmidt and Oakland's Barry Zito.
The Cardinals opened the season with a payroll barely below their $90.42 million endpoint to 2005. Trades, minor league promotions and bonuses will push it to about $98 million. As for next season, Jocketty says, "I'd be very surprised if payroll fell."
"I would expect we'll build a team that will win next year," he added. "I believe we'll have the flexibility to do so."
The Cardinals hope to find more speed for a team that has become uncomfortably reliant on home runs. They also will search for consistent pitching that typically stabilizes a season rather than subjects it to twin eight-game losing streaks.
"When guys are pitching and playing well, the coaching or the managing involves tweaking, fine tuning and complimenting. You're not involved with major adjustments," manager Tony La Russa said. "Our club has struggled more this year. There's been more involved with getting the club right."
La Russa's contract runs through 2007, while his coaching staff comes up for renewal after the current season. La Russa traditionally maintains he manages at the whim of ownership and the front office. Regardless of his contract status, he says he would walk away rather than endure a toxic situation.
General partner Bill DeWitt Jr. and Jocketty maintain strong support for La Russa, whose tenure with the Cardinals is third among active managers only to Bobby Cox in Atlanta and Bruce Bochy in San Diego. Familiarity, however, has not smoothed every edge.
"At some point in the near future, the fans and the media are going to want to see someone new and fresh," La Russa said. "The fact that we've been successful has prolonged our tenure with the Cardinals. And it's true the things I'm closer to would be my relationship with the players and the trust of ownership and the front office. But there's another side."
Added La Russa: "Whether it's this year, next year or the year after that -- at some point, enough's enough."
Jocketty's contract also runs through 2007. Like La Russa, he expects to fulfill its terms. Unlike La Russa, he readily embraces the approaching makeover.
"Our payroll allows you to allocate significant money for superstar players," Jocketty said. "If you have the budget of Milwaukee or somebody else, you can't afford to do that. But we have that luxury while having room to surround them with solid players. If you're starting a club, a lot of people would like to start with Pujols, Rolen and Carpenter."
Edmonds ($12 million), Marquis ($5.15 million), Mulder ($7.75 million) and Suppan ($4 million) command a total of $28.9 million this season. Minus the $3 million buyout it would pay Edmonds if it declines his option, the club would have about $26 million to fill the vacancies. The Cardinals are increasingly unlikely to assume Edmonds' $10 million option for 2007, an issue complicated by the Gold Glove outfielder's ongoing struggle with post-concussion syndrome, according to club sources.
"The only thing I'm aware of is that there are fewer commitments and there's a chunk of money that's available to make some decisions next year," La Russa said. "But beyond that I spend absolutely zero amount of time on what that means right now. Everything is involved in playing out the season."
Jocketty's job is to play two moves ahead of the field.
The Cardinals have employed Tony Womack, Mark Grudzielanek and Aaron Miles as their opening-day second basemen the last three years. Without an obvious heir in the minor league system, the club must decide whether to retain the double-play combination of David Eckstein and Miles, attempt to re-sign Belliard, or plumb the market for players such as Mark Loretta, Adam Kennedy and Mark De Rosa.
Projecting rookie Chris Duncan as next season's primary left fielder also frees money should the Cardinals make a push for Torii Hunter, considered the top free agent center fielder.
Regardless, Jocketty says this winter's priority will remain a front-line starter to place behind ace Chris Carpenter.
"We try to find top-of-the-rotation starters every year," Jocketty said. "But they are hard to find. That's why this season we addressed the offense. There just weren't that many pitchers out there we considered an upgrade."
Mulder, 29, is set to undergo surgery to repair his frayed left rotator cuff Tuesday. Barring complications, Mulder could resume throwing in December and be available in spring training, according to the player's agent, Gregg Clifton.
Club officials insist it is premature to say if there will be interest in re-signing Mulder to an incentive-laden, one-year deal similar to what Matt Morris received after his shoulder surgery in 2004.
"I think it's too early for me to have an opinion," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "For me, it would have to be something where you didn't think there was a health risk involved."
With Carpenter and rookie Anthony Reyes the only starters signed or under control beyond this season, Jocketty, La Russa and Duncan face numerous questions, some of them overlapping.
Duncan concedes it's possible both Reyes and Adam Wainwright will be found in the opening-day rotation next season. Jocketty recently described the arrangement as "something that we certainly anticipate." Shortly after Jocketty declared Reyes and Wainwright off limits for trade, DeWitt referred to the continued practice of trading young talent for veterans as "suicide."
Still, debate exists over whether a contender's rotation is the right place for more than one developing arm.
"I can envision one or both guys in the rotation next season, but absolutely it concerns me," Duncan said. "Ideally you prefer to develop one starter at a time. To develop two and to compete at the level we've come to expect will be a difficult thing to accomplish."
Added Jocketty: "I think it depends on whether we acquire other starters through trade or free agency if somebody like Wainwright remains in the bullpen or becomes a starter."
La Russa and Duncan have protected Reyes this season, consistently lifting him from starts after six innings or less.
"Another year of experience has benefited him," Duncan said. "I think he has a better understanding of himself as a pitcher and how he can be effective at the major league level."
Duncan notes Wainwright's success this summer against lefthanded hitters may make him more suited for the closer role than the more experienced Braden Looper, who will earn $4.5 million in the second installment of a three-year, $13.5 million contract.
"I think the thing you have to do is look at the personnel you have and how to put that together and build your best staff," Duncan said. "Any acquisition you make might play into that. I think the better answer is if we need a starter and don't have one, then he would certainly be the guy who would get first consideration."
Starting Reyes and Wainwright would represent a potential financial boon. Projecting 40 percent of the rotation for less than $1 million would allow Jocketty to pursue the most attractive talent in a limited free agent pool or take on salary in a trade. "In previous years we've had more of our payroll tied up. Next year we'll have more flexibility," Jocketty said.
The number of available power arms among the upcoming free agent class is limited. Schmidt is the most obvious within a market that may also include Zito, Mike Mussina, Mark Buehrle, Tom Glavine, Adam Eaton, John Thomson and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
The Cardinals bullpen has been a positive whenever the rotation has provided innings. Of this year's group, only Isringhausen, Randy Flores and Brad Thompson were part of the group that led the major leagues last season in relief ERA. Additional turnover looms. Jocketty typically devotes resources to filling needs within the rotation and among his position players before focusing on the bullpen. The approach backfired in 2003 but has worked the last several years.
"You expect to rebuild your bullpen from year to year -- for a lot of different reasons," Duncan said.
How deep the reconstruction goes depends on Isringhausen's prognosis. Club sources say the 34-year-old is virtually certain to require a second hip surgery shortly after the season.
A 2004 procedure performed by team orthopedic Dr. George Paletta removed part of the labrum, creating a partial bone-on-bone condition that requires periodic injections of lubricant.
While the club may harbor interest in a one-year offer for Mulder and perhaps a discounted bid for Suppan, frustration with Marquis makes it unlikely the relationship will continue.
Duncan barely hides his frustration with a pitcher who has alternately teased and infuriated him, prompting the pitching coach recently to wash his hands of the matter. "I think it's the personal responsibility of the pitcher. I've gone through the checklist too many times to see if there is anything that I should be doing. And from a coaching standpoint I can't do anymore," Duncan said.
"I can't throw it for him. I can't think out there for him during the game. I can't control the game. Only he can do that."
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/10/2006
Last summer, the Cardinals played a 100-win season under the "Red Means Go" marketing slogan. It fell to pitcher Jeff Suppan last week to summarize this year's campaign -- "a different team playing a different season."
And a team likely looking toward a very different future.
Poised for their sixth postseason appearance since 2000, the Cardinals are entering their final weeks before an anticipated overhaul to their starting rotation, their defensive core and perhaps the way they apportion payroll.
The Cardinals retain only center fielder Jim Edmonds, closer Jason Isringhausen and first baseman Albert Pujols from their 2002 opening-day roster. In addition to the three, starting pitchers Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis and catcher Yadier Molina, outfielder So Taguchi and third baseman Scott Rolen are all who remain from the 2004 World Series club.
Mulder, Marquis, starting pitcher Jeff Weaver, second baseman Ronnie Belliard, outfielder Preston Wilson, catcher Gary Bennett and utility player Scott Spiezio are eligible for free agency in November. (Wilson's contract includes a three-year option that the club will decline.)
What lies ahead, maintains general manager Walt Jocketty, is "a team that could look dramatically different next year because the rotation is probably going to be considerably different."
How that rotation is built remains to be seen, but the free-agent market is expected to include a few big names, including San Francisco's Jason Schmidt and Oakland's Barry Zito.
The Cardinals opened the season with a payroll barely below their $90.42 million endpoint to 2005. Trades, minor league promotions and bonuses will push it to about $98 million. As for next season, Jocketty says, "I'd be very surprised if payroll fell."
"I would expect we'll build a team that will win next year," he added. "I believe we'll have the flexibility to do so."
The Cardinals hope to find more speed for a team that has become uncomfortably reliant on home runs. They also will search for consistent pitching that typically stabilizes a season rather than subjects it to twin eight-game losing streaks.
"When guys are pitching and playing well, the coaching or the managing involves tweaking, fine tuning and complimenting. You're not involved with major adjustments," manager Tony La Russa said. "Our club has struggled more this year. There's been more involved with getting the club right."
La Russa's contract runs through 2007, while his coaching staff comes up for renewal after the current season. La Russa traditionally maintains he manages at the whim of ownership and the front office. Regardless of his contract status, he says he would walk away rather than endure a toxic situation.
General partner Bill DeWitt Jr. and Jocketty maintain strong support for La Russa, whose tenure with the Cardinals is third among active managers only to Bobby Cox in Atlanta and Bruce Bochy in San Diego. Familiarity, however, has not smoothed every edge.
"At some point in the near future, the fans and the media are going to want to see someone new and fresh," La Russa said. "The fact that we've been successful has prolonged our tenure with the Cardinals. And it's true the things I'm closer to would be my relationship with the players and the trust of ownership and the front office. But there's another side."
Added La Russa: "Whether it's this year, next year or the year after that -- at some point, enough's enough."
Jocketty's contract also runs through 2007. Like La Russa, he expects to fulfill its terms. Unlike La Russa, he readily embraces the approaching makeover.
"Our payroll allows you to allocate significant money for superstar players," Jocketty said. "If you have the budget of Milwaukee or somebody else, you can't afford to do that. But we have that luxury while having room to surround them with solid players. If you're starting a club, a lot of people would like to start with Pujols, Rolen and Carpenter."
Edmonds ($12 million), Marquis ($5.15 million), Mulder ($7.75 million) and Suppan ($4 million) command a total of $28.9 million this season. Minus the $3 million buyout it would pay Edmonds if it declines his option, the club would have about $26 million to fill the vacancies. The Cardinals are increasingly unlikely to assume Edmonds' $10 million option for 2007, an issue complicated by the Gold Glove outfielder's ongoing struggle with post-concussion syndrome, according to club sources.
"The only thing I'm aware of is that there are fewer commitments and there's a chunk of money that's available to make some decisions next year," La Russa said. "But beyond that I spend absolutely zero amount of time on what that means right now. Everything is involved in playing out the season."
Jocketty's job is to play two moves ahead of the field.
The Cardinals have employed Tony Womack, Mark Grudzielanek and Aaron Miles as their opening-day second basemen the last three years. Without an obvious heir in the minor league system, the club must decide whether to retain the double-play combination of David Eckstein and Miles, attempt to re-sign Belliard, or plumb the market for players such as Mark Loretta, Adam Kennedy and Mark De Rosa.
Projecting rookie Chris Duncan as next season's primary left fielder also frees money should the Cardinals make a push for Torii Hunter, considered the top free agent center fielder.
Regardless, Jocketty says this winter's priority will remain a front-line starter to place behind ace Chris Carpenter.
"We try to find top-of-the-rotation starters every year," Jocketty said. "But they are hard to find. That's why this season we addressed the offense. There just weren't that many pitchers out there we considered an upgrade."
Mulder, 29, is set to undergo surgery to repair his frayed left rotator cuff Tuesday. Barring complications, Mulder could resume throwing in December and be available in spring training, according to the player's agent, Gregg Clifton.
Club officials insist it is premature to say if there will be interest in re-signing Mulder to an incentive-laden, one-year deal similar to what Matt Morris received after his shoulder surgery in 2004.
"I think it's too early for me to have an opinion," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "For me, it would have to be something where you didn't think there was a health risk involved."
With Carpenter and rookie Anthony Reyes the only starters signed or under control beyond this season, Jocketty, La Russa and Duncan face numerous questions, some of them overlapping.
Duncan concedes it's possible both Reyes and Adam Wainwright will be found in the opening-day rotation next season. Jocketty recently described the arrangement as "something that we certainly anticipate." Shortly after Jocketty declared Reyes and Wainwright off limits for trade, DeWitt referred to the continued practice of trading young talent for veterans as "suicide."
Still, debate exists over whether a contender's rotation is the right place for more than one developing arm.
"I can envision one or both guys in the rotation next season, but absolutely it concerns me," Duncan said. "Ideally you prefer to develop one starter at a time. To develop two and to compete at the level we've come to expect will be a difficult thing to accomplish."
Added Jocketty: "I think it depends on whether we acquire other starters through trade or free agency if somebody like Wainwright remains in the bullpen or becomes a starter."
La Russa and Duncan have protected Reyes this season, consistently lifting him from starts after six innings or less.
"Another year of experience has benefited him," Duncan said. "I think he has a better understanding of himself as a pitcher and how he can be effective at the major league level."
Duncan notes Wainwright's success this summer against lefthanded hitters may make him more suited for the closer role than the more experienced Braden Looper, who will earn $4.5 million in the second installment of a three-year, $13.5 million contract.
"I think the thing you have to do is look at the personnel you have and how to put that together and build your best staff," Duncan said. "Any acquisition you make might play into that. I think the better answer is if we need a starter and don't have one, then he would certainly be the guy who would get first consideration."
Starting Reyes and Wainwright would represent a potential financial boon. Projecting 40 percent of the rotation for less than $1 million would allow Jocketty to pursue the most attractive talent in a limited free agent pool or take on salary in a trade. "In previous years we've had more of our payroll tied up. Next year we'll have more flexibility," Jocketty said.
The number of available power arms among the upcoming free agent class is limited. Schmidt is the most obvious within a market that may also include Zito, Mike Mussina, Mark Buehrle, Tom Glavine, Adam Eaton, John Thomson and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
The Cardinals bullpen has been a positive whenever the rotation has provided innings. Of this year's group, only Isringhausen, Randy Flores and Brad Thompson were part of the group that led the major leagues last season in relief ERA. Additional turnover looms. Jocketty typically devotes resources to filling needs within the rotation and among his position players before focusing on the bullpen. The approach backfired in 2003 but has worked the last several years.
"You expect to rebuild your bullpen from year to year -- for a lot of different reasons," Duncan said.
How deep the reconstruction goes depends on Isringhausen's prognosis. Club sources say the 34-year-old is virtually certain to require a second hip surgery shortly after the season.
A 2004 procedure performed by team orthopedic Dr. George Paletta removed part of the labrum, creating a partial bone-on-bone condition that requires periodic injections of lubricant.
While the club may harbor interest in a one-year offer for Mulder and perhaps a discounted bid for Suppan, frustration with Marquis makes it unlikely the relationship will continue.
Duncan barely hides his frustration with a pitcher who has alternately teased and infuriated him, prompting the pitching coach recently to wash his hands of the matter. "I think it's the personal responsibility of the pitcher. I've gone through the checklist too many times to see if there is anything that I should be doing. And from a coaching standpoint I can't do anymore," Duncan said.
"I can't throw it for him. I can't think out there for him during the game. I can't control the game. Only he can do that."