Let this be known right away, I am not a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan. I cannot stand the American League East, or the American League for that matter. So don't think I'm a homer. Since that is now known, I can finally type my story. Theo Epstein has an ok team in front of him, but he really needs to do something else. He needs to address about every part of his roster this offseason. Here's what the Red Sox need to do in order to keep pace with the Yankees next season. Some of these moves probably won't happen, but they can work. ANDRUW JONES: The Braves want to resign. Jones wants to stay a Brave. Does this mean this will happen? No. Could it? Yes. The Braves don't really have enough money to reisgn Jones after this season, and if Jones goes to Beantown, he could make a lot of money. Plus, the Braves could benefit a lot from a trade of Jones. They could trade Jones to Boston for Coco Crisp (to play left field and leadoff), Mike Lowell, Kason Gabbard and Manny Delcarmen. Now, you ask why trade a center fielder for a left fielder? Simple, the Braves need someone out in left that is good. Also, Crisp could be their leadoff man (or Edgar Renteria could take that spot). They just need to bump Marcus Giles from the leadoff spot. He's not comfortable there, and everyone knows it. This could also be beneficial because that will allow the Braves to sign Torii Hunter (if he's a free agent) to play center. Their lineup would get a big boost. Gabbard could be in the rotation for the Braves in the second half of next season (starting at Triple A) and all of 2008. Delcarmen could be out in the bullpen and help out their to bridge the gap to Bob Wickman. Lowell would be good for Chipper Jones. Jones and Lowell are getting up there in age and their play is starting to show it. If you platoon these two, their injuries could be done and both could impact the club. For the Red Sox, they get a great hitting center fielder whose bat has finally come alive in recent years. Jones is also a super defender and is a big boost over Coco Crisp and anyone else that they put out in center. BARRY ZITO: The Red Sox have an ok rotation. They'll have Josh Beckett (inconsistent), Curt Schilling (old and inconsistent), Jon Lester, Jon Papelbon, Matt Clement and Tim Wakefield. All of those pitchers are either young, old, consistent or a combonation of some. Thats not good enough to compete with the Yankees offense (they have a pitching staff other than Wang and Johnson?). They need to add a boost. That's where Zito comes in. Zito can fit in nicely in this rotation as the number one starter. That'll put these pitchers following Zito: Beckett, Schilling, Paplebon and Lester. This lets the pitchers know where they stand in relation to their peers so they can pitch better. If you're told you're the ace of the staff, that can mess with your head if you've never been one before. Schilling can't carry this staff anymore and Beckett is Beckett. Zito is needed to keep this rotation together. This also makes Wakefield and Clement expandable to trade off for some pitching help. They really don't have a closer, unless Keith Foulke or Craig Hansen and take the duty. Look at this bullpen: Foulke, Hansen, Mike Timlin and Julian Taverez. Is that threatening? Not really. They really need to add some people. They can look to teams that have a lot of youth coming up, that way they don't care if they give up some veterens. They could also look to signing Joe Borowski to help build a bridge, maybe even be the closer. Eric Gagne will be available, maybe they could go there. No matter what they do, they need to stock the bullpen along with adding Zito to help improve this offense. GARY SHEFFIELD & MARK LORETTA: Yes folks, Gary Sheffield. Sheffield is getting old, but based on the other night, the guy can still hit when healthy. To help keep him healthy, the Yankees moved Sheffield to first. Well, the Red Sox just traded off Lowell. Remember? The Red Sox really want to move Kevin Youkilis back to third, and thats why they traded Mike Lowell. This allows them to move Youkilis to third and sign Sheffield to play first. Look at that, their defense is almost completed. They just need to resign Loretta. They did have a middle infield combo coming up in Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia, but they traded Ramirez. This leaves Pedroia, who has and can play second and short. This is big. They can move him to short and keep Loretta to play second and their defense has taken a big leap. Also, their offense has as well. We have one more move, then I'll show you the updated lineup. GEOFF JENKINS: Yes folks, Jenkins. Sure, he's not great anymore, but neither is Trot Nixon. Thaats why I'm letting Nixon go and I'm trading two Single A players to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jenkins. Jenkins, en turn, will play in a platoon with Wily Mo Pena and Manny Ramirez. Pena is good enough to play everyday, but he needs to be kept fresh. With this platoon, he'll play about 100 games (three out of five games he plays) and Jenkins would play about 62 games in right. Then, he'd also be used to give Ramirez a day off. Meaning, he'd play about 20 games in left. He could also be used in the DH spot as well, once in a while. Ok, so here's the new lineup that I would put out there everyday: SS Pedoria RF Pena/Jenkins DH David Ortiz LF Ramirez CF Jones C Jason Varitek 1B Sheffield 3B Youkilis 2B Loretta Thats a pretty good looking lineup right there. Speed and on-base percentage at the top, then comes a very good power supply with the 2-5. Then comes some good hitters with the 6-8. Then, it's your second leadoff man in the ninth spot to get it back to the top of the lineup. Now, that sounds like a very productive offseason. What do you think?
There are some moves the Cardinals need to make for next year. I'll give you a rundown in a second. First off, lets remember not to long ago the Cardinals had an over $90 million payroll. What did that bring? A World Series appearence. What has this $85 million dollar payroll bring? Disaster. There are teams that have upped their payrolls past the Cardinals. Now, the Cardinals can say they don't want to spend to much. However, whats too much? When Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter make over $31 million (for good reason), I think you know that you have to up the payroll. After all, those three make more than a third of the payroll. So here's what the Cardinals need to do: First off, the Cardinals need to up their budget to $100 million. Now, remember that's their budget, not their payroll. You need some flexability, and this is how you start it. Now, you set your sites on a few goals. First and foremost, limit your spending to your own possible free agent players. You don't want to spend too much, but you don't want to spend too little. So, here's what I would do. I would resign Ronnie Belliard to a two year contract worth $6 million, with a club option for a third year worth $4.5 million. Next, trade Ricardo Rincon for a minor league player, outside of the league. This frees up spots for Tyler Johnson and Randy Flores to be the full-time lefties out of the pen. Next comes the tricky part: Jim Edmonds. I would deny his option. Then, try to sign him to a one year deal worth $1 million. If he denys, fine. If he accepts, great. Either way, this saves $6-7 million. After this, I would resign Jeff Suppan, who has probably been the number two pitchers the past three years. I would definently resign Preston Wilson. This gives the Cardinals a lot of insurance. If they can't sign a big time outfielder, at least they have a fall back plan. Now, the expensive part: Mark Mulder. I would definently try to work out a deal with Mulder. Sure, he's been a little inconsistent, but everyone knows the capability this guy has. I would try to sign him to a five year contract worth between $48 and $55 million dollars. Why so high? The money we would get back on Mulder and the money we save on Edmonds would cover the first year of the contract, and it still gives us $2-3 million to play with.....along with $13.5 million dollars. Ah ha, think of that. Sounds bad, but when you break it down, it's huge. We have about $28 million to spend in the offseason. We have an open outfield spot for a big time signee and a set rotation (Carpenter, Mulder, Suppan, Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright). Also, look at the bullpen: Flores, Johnson, Brad Thompson, Josh Hancock, Jorge Sosa, Braden Looper and Jason Isringhausen. Plus, after a big offseason signee of an outfielder, we can add a few arms to the bullpen, if we want. Now, lets move on to the free agent market. Now, the free agent market is going to be a huge part of the Cardinals offseason. On the shopping list is: a backup catcher, a utility infielder, a big outfield bat and maybe some bullpen pitchers. First target: outfield. The Cardinals outfield (assuming Edmonds resigns) will be pretty crowded. The following are the names of the outfielders on the roster (* means they are starting): Edmonds, Wilson, Chris Duncan*, Juan Encarnacion* and So Taguchi. So, backup outfielders are not necessary. Now, lets go shopping. Down the fvie tool isle, we see Alfonso Soriano (2B/LF). Soriano comes with great speed, an even better bat and a better than average throwing arm. He converted to the outfield in Washington. With St. Louis, he's still an outfielder. Soriano will cost a lot, but guess what? We got close to $30 million to spend. So, lets try to pick him up. Soriano wants a no-trade clause, and plenty of teams are going to try for his services. Here's a few: New York Yankees, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres. Like I said, just a few. So, the Cardinals need to blow Soriano away with an offer. Here's my offer layed out over the period of years the contract states: Year 1 - $12.5 million Year 2 - $13 million Year 3 - $13 million Year 4 - $16 million Year 5 - $18 million (club option; buyout: $3.5 million) Yeah, thats a big contract, but for a good reason. Soriano is worth the money. He can hit fourth in the order with Scott Rolen batting after him, followed by Duncan and Encarnacion. This gives the Cardinals a batting order of five guys that can hit for 20+ homeruns. Thats worth $54.5 million over four years. Next isle: Carlos Lee. This cat is worth the dough, but not as much as Soriano. Lee has great power and the ability to hit for a high average and score a lot of runs. He's basically a Panama version of Albert Pujols. What I would do with him is lay out another four year contract with a fifth year option, but not as much money: Year 1 - $11 million Year 2 - $11 million Year 3 - $13 million Year 4 - $14 million Year 5 - $16 million (club option; buyout: $3 million) Soriano's contract can be worth either $72.5 million or $58 million. Lee's can be worth $65 million or $52 million. It's significantly less money, but beings Soriano has more abilitys than Lee, it's actually pretty reasonable. Now, notice what I'm doing here with Lee and Soriano. I'm looking for guys who can hit 40+ homeruns and drive in over 100 runs. Why do that when I have Pujols? Here's a question to your question: why have Manny Ramirez bat after David Ortiz? You have two guys who hit over 80 homeruns and drive in over 270 runs a year (between the two). This gives the Cardinals an even more dangerous middle of the order and it takes a little pressure off Rolen to always come through. The bench can be easily addressed. We bascially only need two players for the bench. We have Micheal Hernandez at Triple A right now, and we can always resign Jose Vizcaino. So, no big deals there. The bullpen, yes it could always use an extra arm (e####ally after watching it this year). So, basically, whoever becomes available, we go after. After all these moves, we should have about $12 million left over for jus in case moves, and to carry over and pay for some salaries of guys' contracts that grow. Now, how can you argue with that?
Folks, I think it's offical. Take out the gun and shoot them now. Walt Jocketty has done everything he can to keep the farm system intact and try to win. He has done a pretty good job too. Bringing in Preston Wilson to help off the bench and start once in awhile. He has also added Ronnie Belliard to help spark the offense. However, none of these plans of Jocks have worked out the way he wanted them to. Lets break these down, shall we? Belliard has floped as a Cardinal. He has posted a batting line of .264/.312/.361 (AVG, OBP, SLG) in 19 games. Also in those 19 games, Belliard has hit one homerun and put up nine RBI and six runs. How can this help, honestly? I know the platoon of Hector Luna and Aaron Miles wasn't producing a lot, but they produced better numbers than Belliard has put up so far. My hope for this move is that Belliard understands he's not as good as he has been and takes a paycut for next year. I would love to see him back in a Cardinals uniform and see how he produces in a full year in the STL. Wilson, for only being around for five games hasn't been bad. He's been himself, really. He has a .235 batting average and he's played center and right field. He's got two taters and three RBI as a Cardinal so far. Now, thats not bad for five games. Wilson was picked up for his veteran skills. He can play all three outfield positions, and all well. He has a Jim Edmonds like arm and defensive skills. He also has Carlos Beltran speed. The guy packs a wholap as a five tool player. His downfall is that Chris Duncan is in left and will not move. Edmonds is in center and Juan Encarnacion is in right. Now, if I were Tony La Russa, I would do this with Wilson. Against lefties, play him in center and give Edmonds a day off. Do NOT put him in right and move Encarnacion to center. Encarnacion needs to stay in right field and not be moved around. Also, use Wilson in right or left field every fourth game (fill in for Duncan) and fifth game (filling in for Encarnacion). This way, Wilson gets to play at least twice every five games and it keeps the outfield fresh for October (assuming they get there). Almost done. Not only does that explain the story, it explains this next person: Jose Vizcaino. Vizcaino was released by the San Francisco Giants. He's a utility infielder (like Scott Spezio) and can play all four infield spots. The advantage Vizcaino has over all these other new comers: Playoff Experience. Thats huge my friend. Now with David Eckstein on the disabled list, Vizcaino was desperately needed. Here's the scoop though: what to do afterwards? After Eckstein gets off the DL, what will the Cardinals do? Assuming Edmonds gets healthy, the Cardinals will have two outfielders on the bench (Wilson and So Taguchi), three infielders (Spezio, Vizcaino and Miles) and a backup catcher (Gary Bennett). Then you think about the bullpen (and yes I know, if you add up everything, there will be 26 players, don't worry) consisting of: Randy Flores, Braden Looper, Adam Wainwright, Jorge Sosa, Tyler Johnson, Jason Isringhausen and Josh Hancock, what will happen? You have to drop someone to get to 25. A bench guy or a bullpen pitcher? Who knows. My planning would be to drop Johnson, being a rookie how would he handle the pressure of the playoffs? Last, but not least, closer. This has not been the year of the closers. Ask Brad Lidge, Francisco Cordero (before going to Milwaukee), Derrick Turnbow, The Braves, Bobby Jenks, The Reds, Eddie Guardado (before going to Cincinnati) and Eric Gagne. Oh, I forgot one, didn't I? Isringhausen. What will the Cardinals do with Isringhausen? Some people want La Russa's head for going with him all the time. Some are cutting Isringhausen slack (like I did). My idea: bump Isringhausen to the seventh and eigth innings and use a combonation of Brad Thompson (in September), Jorge Sosa and Braden Looper in the closers role. A closer by committee group. It can work for the rest of September. This gives Isringhausen a chance to make his cutter better in earlier innings and it won't blow the game.
Carlos Lee was involved in the biggest blockbuster deal of the summer. Danys Baez was traded to the Atlanta Braves. Both of these moves were great moves. The Milwaukee Brewers added yet another setup man in Francisco Cordero, he might even close if Turnbow continues his struggles and a new left fielder in Kevin Mench. The Braves added a utility infielder in Willy Aybar and a setup man in Baez for only Wilson Betemit. This is good news for the Braves, great news for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves finally have a guy to pitch the eigth and get the ball to new closer Bob Wickman. The great upside for the Dodgers is, they have a future third baseman in Betemit and they can move Cesar Izturis to second base. The Texas Rangers have enough money to retain Lee, if they so choose. With the newly aquired outfiled prospect Nelson Cruz, they could devide to let Lee walk and save some money. No matter what happens, the Rangers added a huge bat for the middle of the struggling order and they didn't trade any of their prospects for Lee. Why is that good? They can now go out and maybe add a starting pitcher. Say, Livan Hernandez? No matter who they want, they can more than likely add a starting pitcher.
Wanting to know how to build that World Series winner? It's not as simple as spending as much money as you can or even having the best veterans of the last decade and no youth. To build that winner you need to mix and match. You need some young blood, some proven veterans and some good minds to make things go. What I mean by some good minds is a manager that knows what he needs to do every game so he can win that game and get that much closer to the series. So, here's how you build that winner.
MANAGER: Experience Your manager needs some experience in some way, shape or form.Maybe not World Series experience, but at least some playoff experience. It could also help if your manager was also a player at some point. That way he knows how hard it is to go out there everyday and how much pressure a player is under in the playoffs. This way he can relate to you.
PITCHING AND HITTING COACHES: Brains Your coaches need some brains. They have know what they are doing. You can't just hire some random bums you met down at the river and begged you for money while inside of their box and their pet sock was talking to you. They need to be able to know other pitchers and hitters and tell you a plan of attack. They also need to know their own pitchers and hitters so they can help them get beter and maybe help them get some hardware.
THE TEAM: Experience, Youth and Some Fun Your team cannot have expenses out the butt. You can't go out and pickup every 40 year old player that was good in the late 80s and early 90s. They have to be good NOW. They have to have a little experience in the playoffs and a lot of experience in strech runs. You also have to have some young blood. No one can do it all with old veterans. Young blood keeps the team a float with it's youth and energy. Something you really need for a season that can last 7+ months. Energy. Now, fun is what every team needs. You can't go around and have a serious team that has no fun whatsoever. It's like what the Brewers do. They have two team buses. One bus is for players that want to go on say whatever they want and not get in trouble for it. Guess what? The caoches ride this bus to and say what they want. This keeps the chemistry high and lets players be themselves and they can have a lot of fun too. The other bus is for players and coaches who don't want to speak their mind. Not many people ride that bus. You have to have some joksters. It's like with the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals. Reggie Sanders was the big jokster on that team. He was serious when he needed to be, but when he didn't need to be he made others laugh. Thats what a team needs: seriousness when seriousness is needed, but laugher the other 99.2% of the time.
There you have it. You need experience and some young blood.
The Cardinals lost a lot this offseason, and really didn't replace them with power guys. Matt Morris walked and was replaced by the twosome of Sidney Ponson and Anthony Reyes. Reggie Sanders walked and was replaced by Larry Bigbie. Mark Grudzielanek walked and was replaced by a Aaron Miles/Hector Luna/Devi Cruz/Junior Spivey combonation. Larry Walker retired and was replaced by Jaun Encarnacion. The replacements aren't as good as their predacessors, byt they work. The Cardinals still have a big offense and minor league system that is getting deeper in talent. They'll be ok this year, it's the 2007 season that panic could strike. Houston Astros
The Astros added some huge punch to their offense by signing Preston Wilson, but this means that Chris Burke is yet again denied a starting job. Will Tavarez will most likely switch over to left field, Lance Berkman going to 1B and Wilson in CF. This means...yes, Jeff Bagwell is done. He'll be benched if the Astros can't get his insurance claim. They look good, but not good enough for Central title.
Milwaukee Brewers
THE BREWERS!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!! How good are they?????? Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy and the newcomers. They look good this year. They have a tough division and won't get the title. However, the Wild Card is open. Maybe there? Wait till Saturday to find out....Chicago Cubs
The Cubs look good. They have a lot of issues though. Aramis Ramirez is coming off an injury, Derek Lee came off a season of where he could have had a fluke year or he could the the real deal offense. They have a declining Jacque Jones in right, and Juan Pierre's numbers are declining. They have Ronny Cedeno at short, and problems at 2B. They're bullpen is chalk full of injury prone pitchers, along with the rotation. They place fourth in the Central cause of all the question marks they have.Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates look great. Great young talent at the big league level. However, with Jim Tracy new to the clubhouse, the Pirates will have to wait until 2007 to make a serious run at the title. They will end up over .500 this year. In fact, when they do, it'll be the first time in a long time that 5 out of the 6 teams in the Central finished .500 or better.
Cincinnati Reds
Not much to say about the Reds. A new regime in the front office, "new" manager in the clubhouse, and some new talent. They need to deepen the minors to help replace some declining talent. They don't have enough to get anywhere close to .500. They have no closer, their starting rotation sucks hardcore...they just need to make a plan and execute it correctly.
This will show you what each team looks like in the NL Central, pitching and offense wise. Just so you know, these are my predicitions, some of these might happen, some won't. The players with slashes are possibilites.
St. Louis Cardinals: Manager - Tony LaRussa C: Yadier Molina 1B: Albert "The Machine" Pujols 2B: Junior Spivey 3B: Scott Rolen SS: David Eckstein LF: Larry Bigbie CF: Jim Edmonds RF: Jaun Encarnacion BENCH: John Rodriguez, So Taguchi, Devi Cruz, Gary Bennet, John Gall/Aaron Miles/Hector Luna/Scott Seabol
SPs: Chris Carpenter (1), Mark Mulder (2), Jeff Suppan (3), Jason Marquis (4), Sidney Ponson/Anthony Reyes (5) BULLPEN RHP: Brad Thompson RHP: Anthony Reyes/Sidney Ponson/Adam Wainwright/Juan Mateo LHP: Ricardo Rincon/Tyler Johnson LHP: Randy Florez/Tyler Johnson SU: Braden Looper CL: Jason Isringhausen
Houston Astros: Manager - Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner C: Brad Ausmus 1B: Jeff Bagwell/Lance Berkman 2B: Craig Biggio 3B: Morgan Ensberg SS: Adam Everett LF: Lance Berkman/Chris Burke CF: Willy Tavarez/Preston Wilson RF: Preston Wilson/Willy Tavarez BENCH: Jason Lane, Orlando Palmeiro, Mike Lamb, Chris Burke/Jeff Bagwell, Raul Chavez, Eric Bruntlett
SPs: Roy Oswalt (1), Andy Pettite (2), Brandon Backe (3), Wandy Rodriguez (4), Ezequiel Astacio (5) BULLPEN RHP: Russ Springer LHP: Trevor Miller LHP: Mike Gallo SU: Chad Qualls SU: Dan Wheeler CL: Brad "Lights Out" Lidge
Pittsburgh Pirates: Manager - Jim Tracy C: Humberto Cota 1B: Sean Casey 2B: Jose Castillo 3B: Joe Randa SS: Jack Wilson LF: Jason Bay CF: Chris Duffy RF: Jeromy Burnitz BENCH: Jody Gerut, Ryan Doumit, Craig Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Nate McLouth
SPs: Oliver Perez (1), Zach Duke (2), Victor Santos (3), Pat Maholm (4), Kip Wells (5) BULLPEN RHP: Ian Snell RHP: Ryan Vogelsong LHP: John Grabow LHP: Damaso Marte SU: Salomn Torres SU: Roberto Hernandez CL: Mike Gonzalez
Milwaukee Brewers: Manager - Ned Yost C: Damian Miller 1B: Prince Fielder 2B: Rickie Weeks 3B: Corey Koskie SS: JJ Hardy LF: Carlos Lee CF: Brady Clark RF: Geoff Jenkins BENCH: Bill Hall, Corey Hart, Jeff Cirillo, Chad Moeller, Gabe Gross
SPs: Ben Sheets (1), Doug Davis (2), Chris Capuano (3), Rick Helling (4), Tomo Ohka (5) BULLPEN RHP: Justin Lehr RHP: Matt Wise RHP: Jose Capellan LHP: Jorge de la Rosa LHP: Dana Eveland SU: Dan Kolb CL: Derrick Turnbow
Chicago Cubs: Manager - Dusty Baker C: Michael Barrett 1B: Derrek Lee 2B: Todd Walker 3B: Aramis Ramirez SS: Ronny Cedeno/Neifi Perez LF: Matt Murton CF: Juan Pierre RF: Jacque Jones BENCH: Jerry Hairston Jr, John Mabry, Neifi Perez, Henry Blanco, Augie Ojeda
SPs: Mark Prior (1), Greg Madduz (2), Carlos Zambrano (3), Kerry Wood/Jerome Williams (4), Jerome Williams/Glendon Rusch (5) BULLPEN RHP: Bob Howry RHP: Scott Williamson RHP: Michael Wuertz LHP: John Koronka LHP: Scott Eyre LHP: Will Ohman CL: Ryan Dempster
Cincinnati Reds: Manager - Jerry Narron C: Jason LaRue 1B: Adam Dunn/Ken Griffey Jr/Wily Mo Pena/Austin Kearns 2B: Tony Womack 3B: Edwin Encarnacion SS: Felipe Lopez LF: Adam Dunn/Wily Mo Pena CF: Ken Griffey Jr/Wily Mo Pena RF: Austin Kearns/Wily Mo Pena BENCH: Wily Mo Pena/Dane Sardinha, Ryan Freel, Rich Auralia, Javier Valentin, Chris Denorfia
SPs: Aaron Harang (1), Paul Wilson (2), Eric Milton (3), Dave Williams (4), Brandon Claussen (5) BULLPEN RHP: Jason Standridge RHP: Todd Coffey RHP: Matt Belisle RHP: Grant Balfour LHP: Jung Bong LHP: Kent Mercker CL: David Weathers
I'm 18 and I enjoy baseball, as I'll only write about baseball. I'm a business major at Illinois State and I plan on going into baseball for a career. Hopefully one day, beating Theo Epstein's record as the youngest GM ever. My dream job is being the GM of the St. Louis Cardinals.
finally type my story. Theo Epstein has an ok team in front of him, but he really needs to do something else. He needs to address about every part of his roster this offseason. Here's what the Red Sox need to do in order to keep pace with the Yankees next season. Some of these moves probably won't happen, but they can work.
benefit a lot from a trade of Jones. They could trade Jones to Boston for Coco Crisp (to play left field and leadoff), Mike Lowell, Kason Gabbard and Manny Delcarmen. Now, you ask why trade a center fielder for a left fielder? Simple, the Braves need someone out in left that is good. Also, Crisp could be their leadoff man (or Edgar Renteria could take that spot). They just need to bump Marcus Giles from the leadoff spot. He's not comfortable there, and everyone knows it. This could also be beneficial because that will allow the Braves to sign Torii Hunter (if he's a free agent) to play center.
Their lineup would get a big boost. Gabbard could be in the rotation for the Braves in the second half of next season (starting at Triple A) and all of 2008. Delcarmen could be out in the bullpen and help out their to bridge the gap to Bob Wickman. Lowell would be good for Chipper Jones. Jones and Lowell are getting up there in age and their play is starting to show it. If you platoon these two, their injuries could be done and both could impact the club.
either young, old, consistent or a combonation of some. Thats not good enough to compete with the Yankees offense (they have a pitching staff other than Wang and Johnson?). They need to add a boost. That's where Zito comes in. Zito can fit in nicely in this rotation as the number one starter. That'll put these pitchers following Zito: Beckett, Schilling, Paplebon and Lester. This lets the pitchers know where they stand in relation to their peers so they can pitch better. If you're told you're the ace of the staff, that can mess with your head if you've never been one before. Schilling can't carry this staff anymore and Beckett is Beckett. Zito is needed to keep this rotation together. This also makes Wakefield and Clement expandable to trade off for some pitching help. They really don't have a closer, unless Keith Foulke or Craig Hansen and take the duty. Look at this
bullpen: Foulke, Hansen, Mike Timlin and Julian Taverez. Is that threatening? Not really. They really need to add some people. They can look to teams that have a lot of youth coming up, that way they don't care if they give up some veterens. They could also look to signing Joe Borowski to help build a bridge, maybe even be the closer. Eric Gagne will be available, maybe they could go there. No matter what they do, they need to stock the bullpen along with adding Zito to help improve this offense.
first. Well, the Red Sox just traded off Lowell. Remember? The Red Sox really want to move Kevin Youkilis back to third, and thats why they traded Mike Lowell. This allows them to move Youkilis to third and sign Sheffield to play first. Look at that, their defense is almost completed. They just need to resign Loretta. They did have a middle infield combo coming up in Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia, but they traded Ramirez. This leaves Pedroia, who has and can play second and short. This is big. They can move him to short and keep Loretta to play second and their defense has taken a big leap. Also, their offense has as well. We have one more move, then I'll show you the updated lineup.
give you a rundown in a second. First off, lets remember not to long ago the Cardinals had an over $90 million payroll. What did that bring? A World Series appearence. What has this $85 million dollar payroll bring? Disaster. There are teams that have upped their payrolls past the Cardinals. Now, the Cardinals can say they don't want to spend to much. However, whats too much? When Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter make over $31 million (for good reason), I think you know that you have to up the payroll. After all, those three make more than a third of the payroll. So here's what the Cardinals need to do:
and this is how you start it. Now, you set your sites on a few goals. First and foremost, limit your spending to your own possible free agent players. You don't want to spend too much, but you don't want to spend too little. So, here's what I would do. I would resign Ronnie Belliard to a two year contract worth $6 million, with a club option for a third year worth $4.5
million. Next, trade Ricardo Rincon for a minor league player, outside of the league. This frees up spots for Tyler Johnson and Randy Flores to be the full-time lefties out of the pen. Next comes the tricky part: Jim Edmonds. I would deny his option. Then, try to sign him to a one year deal worth $1 million. If he denys, fine. If he accepts, great. Either way, this saves $6-7 million. After this, I would resign Jeff Suppan, who has probably been the number two pitchers the past three years. I would definently resign Preston Wilson. This gives the Cardinals a lot of insurance. If they can't sign a big time outfielder, at least they have 
a fall back plan. Now, the expensive part: Mark Mulder. I would definently try to work out a deal with Mulder. Sure, he's been a little inconsistent, but everyone knows the capability this guy has. I would try to sign him to a five year contract worth between $48 and $55 million dollars. Why so high? The money we would get back on Mulder and the money we save on Edmonds would cover the first year of the contract, and it still gives us $2-3 million to play with.....along with $13.5 million dollars. Ah ha, think of that. Sounds bad, but when you break it down, it's huge. We have about $28 million to spend in the offseason. We have an open outfield spot for a big time signee and a set rotation (Carpenter, Mulder, Suppan, Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright). Also, look at the bullpen: Flores, Johnson, Brad Thompson, Josh Hancock, Jorge Sosa, Braden Looper and Jason Isringhausen. Plus, after a big offseason signee of an outfielder, we can add a few arms to the bullpen, if we want. Now, lets move on to the free agent market.
The following are the names of the outfielders on the roster (* means they are starting): Edmonds, Wilson, Chris Duncan*, Juan Encarnacion* and So Taguchi. So, backup outfielders are not necessary. Now, lets go shopping. Down the fvie tool isle, we see Alfonso Soriano (2B/LF). Soriano comes with great speed, an even better bat and a better than average throwing arm. He converted to the outfield in Washington. With St. Louis, he's still an outfielder. Soriano will cost a lot, but guess what? We got close to $30 million to spend. So, lets try to pick him up. Soriano wants a no-trade clause, and plenty of teams are going to try for his services. Here's a few: New York Yankees, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres. Like I said, just a few. So, the Cardinals need
to blow Soriano away with an offer. Here's my offer layed out over the period of years the contract states:
I would do with him is lay out another four year contract with a fifth year option, but not as much money:
homeruns and drive in over 270 runs a year (between the two). This gives the Cardinals an even more dangerous middle of the order and it takes a little pressure off Rolen to always come through.
Jocketty has done everything he can to keep the farm system intact and try to win. He has done a pretty good job too. Bringing in Preston Wilson to help off the bench and start once in awhile. He has also added Ronnie Belliard to help spark the offense. However, none of these plans of Jocks have worked out the way he wanted them to. Lets break these down, shall we?
Belliard has hit one homerun and put up nine RBI and six runs. How can this help, honestly? I know the platoon of Hector Luna and Aaron Miles wasn't producing a lot, but they produced better numbers than Belliard has put up so far. My hope for this move is that Belliard understands he's not as good as he has been and takes a paycut for next year. I would love to see him back in a Cardinals uniform and see how he produces in a full year in the STL.
and right field. He's got two taters and three RBI as a Cardinal so far. Now, thats not bad for five games. Wilson was picked up for his veteran skills. He can play all three outfield positions, and all well. He has a Jim Edmonds like arm and defensive skills. He also has Carlos Beltran speed. The guy packs a wholap as a five tool player. His downfall is that Chris Duncan is in left and will not move. Edmonds is in center and Juan
Encarnacion is in right. Now, if I were Tony La Russa, I would do this with Wilson. Against lefties, play him in center and give Edmonds a day off. Do NOT put him in right and move Encarnacion to center. Encarnacion needs to stay in right field and not be moved around. Also, use Wilson in right or left field every fourth game (fill in for Duncan) and fifth game (filling in for Encarnacion). This way, Wilson gets to play at least twice every five games and it keeps the outfield fresh for October (assuming they get there).
person: Jose Vizcaino. Vizcaino was released by the San Francisco Giants. He's a utility infielder (like Scott Spezio) and can play all four infield spots. The advantage Vizcaino has over all these other new comers: Playoff Experience. Thats huge my friend. Now with David Eckstein on the disabled list, Vizcaino was desperately needed. Here's the scoop though: what to do afterwards?
Turnbow, The Braves, Bobby Jenks, The Reds, Eddie Guardado (before going to Cincinnati) and Eric Gagne. Oh, I forgot one, didn't I? Isringhausen. What will the Cardinals do with Isringhausen? Some people want La Russa's head for going with him all the time. Some are cutting Isringhausen slack (like I did). My idea: bump Isringhausen to the seventh and eigth innings and use a combonation of Brad Thompson (in September), Jorge Sosa and Braden Looper in the closers role. A closer by committee group. It can work for the rest of September. This gives Isringhausen a chance to make his cutter better in earlier innings and it won't blow the game.
Betemit. This is good news for the Braves, great news for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves finally have a guy to pitch the eigth and get the ball to new closer Bob Wickman. The great upside for the Dodgers is, they have a future third baseman in Betemit and they can move Cesar Izturis to second base.
Lee, if they so choose. With the newly aquired outfiled prospect Nelson Cruz, they could devide to let Lee walk and save some money. No matter what happens, the Rangers added a huge bat for the middle of the struggling order and they didn't trade any of their prospects for Lee. Why is that good? They can now go out and maybe add a starting pitcher. Say, Livan Hernandez? No matter who they want, they can more than likely add a starting pitcher.
g as 
much money as you can or even having the best veterans of the last decade and no youth. To build that winner you need to mix and match. You need some young blood, some proven veterans and some good minds to make things go. What I mean by some good minds is a manager that knows what he needs to do every game so he can win that game and get that much closer to the series. So, here's how you build that winner.
Maybe not World Series experience, but at least some playoff experience. It could also help if your manager was also a player at some point. That way he knows how hard it is to go out there everyday and how much pressure a player is under in the playoffs. This way he can relate to you.
to have some joksters. It's like with the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals. Reggie Sanders was the big jokster on that team. He was serious when he needed to be, but when he didn't need to be he made others laugh. Thats what a team needs: seriousness when seriousness is needed, but laugher the other 99.2% of the time.
St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros 
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates
Cincinnati Reds
