8:00pm: Berkman's extension includes a full no-trade clause, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
10:43am: Headed for a potentially turbulent winter, the Cardinals made the rest of their offseason that much simpler today, agreeing to a one-year, $12MM extension with Lance Berkman. The sides had been discussing a possible deal this month, though talks had appeared to lose momentum.
The Cardinals have announced the deal (Twitter link) and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch added (on Twitter) the value of the deal and that no money is deferred. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes suggested on Tuesday that a $12MM deal would be a fair compromise.
Berkman, 35, has enjoyed a resurgent season in St. Louis, hitting 31 homers and posting a .300/.412/.555 line through 558 plate appearances. The switch-hitter has played first base and both corner outfield positions for the Cardinals this year. He leads the league with an OPS+ of 169 and has added 4.6 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.
The Cardinals, who are gaining ground in the National League Wild Card race, also extended Chris Carpenter this month. They have signed five players to extensions during the month of September since GM John Mozeliak took over. Only one other MLB team has extended a player during the final month of the regular season in that time (Tim Byrdak of the Mets signed an extension this month).
Albert Pujols, Edwin Jackson and Rafael Furcal are among the Cardinals who will file for free agency after the season. Moye Sports Associates represents Berkman, as our Agency Database shows.
That’s a pleasant surprise. Now on to the Wild Card!
goodbye Albert
People do realize that Pujols is making $16M this year, right? A raise to $23M-$25M is going to cost around $7-9M. They save that money and more by non-tendering Schumaker and Theriot and reducing Carpenter’s salary from $15M to $10.5M (Assuming he makes the same amount both years of his new deal).
A slight raise for Berkman really doesn’t hurt those chances at all; it just gives them a nice backup plan if talks fall through. The “goodbye Albert” schtick is already about as old as last offseason’s “Can he pitch?” Brian Cashman jokes.
Good god those “can he pitch” jokes were awful…just awful
Can Albert pitch? I’d really love to make use of his services.
– T. Epstein
(I vote to switch from Cashman to Epstein for this meme. Given, you know, Boston’s pitching needs.)
Every time Cards sign someone, somebody has to be “that guy” that says “Goodbye Albert”.
As if the Cardinals have been thinking about this all year… “hmmm should we go after Albert or resign Berkman to a 1 year deal??? Lets sign Berman”
Ya right.. great signing though, if Berkman puts up similar numbers next year 20 million dollars for a 2 year powerhouse Berkman is a bargain.
So you’re saying Pujols can pitch…? And if not, then Berkman can…? Am I getting this right?
Why would they non-tender Schumaker? He’s been pretty good as an affordable second baseman.
I hope this doesn’t mean they are giving up on El Hombre. I’ll reserve my excitement for when I find out his salary next year.
Never heard that nicnkame, but I assume you mean Pujols. If anything, I think this increases their shot. This, to me, screams “clearing our plate.” They’re getting all of these questions answered in September and that’s a smart move. From what I can tell (And I’m not intricately familiar with the Cards), with all this manuevering, the only big question the Cards have left to answer is Pujols. With Carpenter and Berkman resolved, the Cardinals can go into the offseason with one goal to focus on: re-sign Pujols. No distractions, no juggling, just handle the one thing and give him all of their attention.
Smart front office management, in my opinion.
Still Need to resolve the SS and 2nd Base problems too but those won’t take much time away from Pujols negotiations.
He was going to be a Tpe A free agent and probably would’ve accept an arb offer anway so at least they’re going to have a set number with him before moving on to Albert.
Accepted an arbitration offer? Berkman made $8M this season and hit .300/.412/.555 with 31 homers. He’d have turned down arbitration in a heartbeat and gotten one last multi-year deal, assuming he wanted it. He easily could’ve parlayed this season into at least a two-year deal.
Aubrey Huff signed for two years and $22M coming off a worse season than this. Berkman could’ve landed 2/24 and an option with a healthy buyout to guarantee himself $27M or so.
Very surprised he took a one-year extension, but I guess he really wanted to stay in St. Louis. Either that or maybe he’s just planning on retiring after 2012.
Yes, but huff didn’t cost the Giants their first round draft pick. would you give up a draft for Berkman?
After the season Berkman had, you can guarantee some teams would. 2012 is said to be one of the weakest draft classes in years, and he only costs a first rounder for half the teams. Baltimore signed Vlad as a Type A and only had to forfeit their second rounder.
Teams give up their first round picks for relievers every year. That wouldn’t deter someone from Berkman when he’s coming of a 1.000 OPS season in a pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Its only pitcher friendly if the opposing pitcher is at least average. What are the chances of seeing Milwaukee’s big three all nine times? You don’t think playing more than 50% of his games against the NL Comedy Central pitching didn’t help those numbers? Yes, the Cards are saving roughly 5 from Carpenter, but 4 of that is wiped by Berkman. As far as I know, the Cards don’t exactly have deep pockets.
Berkman has an OPS over 1.000 against 10 teams this season. One of those teams (Houston) is in the NL Central. Look at his numbers. He crushed everyone.
He also slugged 150 points higher on the road. Look at the Park Factors. St. Louis has ranked 22nd-26th over the past five seasons in terms of overall hitter friendliness, and has consistently been a bottom five park for homers.
If Berkman wanted a multi year deal he wouldn’t have signed a one year deal with the Cards. He definitely would have accpted arb. Although I doubt the Cards would offer arb…
But the very reason he signed a one year deal is because he didn’t want to take it to arb, he most likely wanted to stay in St. Louis and was fine on a 1 year extension. Had he made it to arb, maybe he accepts, but most likely “if he made it to arb” is only in play in the first place because he decided he wanted a multi-year deal, so you can’t really say what he would have done. And the Cards def would have offered arb had he made it that far, they get type A comp if he declines and walks, and if he accepts they prob end up paying him around $12 MM, which they were prepared to do and are now paying him anyway.
I feel like I recall reading a quote of his that said he’s in the stage of his career where he plans to go year to year for the remainder of his contracts. It may be about maximizing his earnings, or may be that he doesn’t want to feel obligated to stick around longer than he wants, but I’m pretty sure I recall reading that over the last couple of weeks
He said that earlier in the year. You are correct. I too am too lazy to find the quote.
How much will this cost? Non tender schu/theriot and platoon descalso and craig at second, only because he can hit.
Craig at second, scary thought.
Good to know there is now no chance of Berkman ending up in Texas. Good riddance.
oh thats just jealousy, Im sure you were freaking when you heard of the possibility that Berkman may be trader to Texas… that man would do damage in Arlington
Like he did in the Bronx?
when he was hurt?
LOL you have to have a mind equivalent to that of a kindergartener. Go jump off the Brooklynn Bridge cause your opinion is worthless.
What a rational response. Get offended at a quip towards a man-crush of yours and tell the person to commit suicide and tell him he’s worthless.
Chill pill, man. Nothing worse than a guy that acts hard on the internet.
the big LOL did not at ring a bell that it could be a joke. Telling someone to jump off a bridge is not really acting hard, telling him his brain was that of kindergartner is not really either. now telling his i would fight him would be but I did not. a joke for a joke.
“They have signed five players to extensions during the month of September since GM John Mozeliak took over, though no other MLB team has extended a single player during the final month of the regular season in that time.”
Umm, didn’t the Mets just extend Tim Byrdak during the month of September?
He meant players that people have heard of. 😀
Shut up.
😀
Well the Cardinals Backup plan is set
boooooo!! i like berkman but i feel his 2nd half is where he’s gonna b all next year. plus with his raise and raises for garcia,molina etc. i think this team is what we’re gonna see next year….minus pujols. and we’re not great now even with him.
Albert will remain a Cardinal
I think that sounds about right given his season, and the fact that it is a one year deal. Still surprised the big puma didn’t try to squeeze out an additional 7-8 mil by adding one more year.
YESSSSS BERKMANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Upon further reflection this is good posturing by Mo in his dealings with Lozano for Pujols. What Lozana would love is for the pujols negotiations drag out into late January and leave the cardinals to where there are no other competent first baseman available, forcing Mo to overpay. Berkman offers insurance for this situation.
Practically Pujols is going to cost the cardinals around $250 million. To have Berkman for this year costs the Cards 12 million, if Pujols signs it would be easy to backload some money to make sure that the cards can make payroll this year, but at the same time they protect themselves from being left without an alternative at first base.
The fact of the matter is, Pujols wants to be a cardinal, he just wants to be payed what he’s worth. After the market takes shape for Pujols, I’m pretty confident he’ll remain a Cardinal unless some team like the cubs really overpays.
Wow. Big discount. Surely he could have gotten 2/25 or 1/15 on the open market after the season he’s had.
so let’s see here:
pujols at 25M
wainwright at 12M
berkman at 12M
holliday at 18M
carpenter at 9.5M
westbrook at 7M
lohse at 8M
that’s 91.5M for a payroll usually around 100M…….
welcome phat Albert to Wrigleyville!!
Hollidays contract is deferred till 2029.. he does not make 18 million a year, also Im sure Alberts new contract will be deferred as well.
Cardinals owner said last month he will be increasing the payroll next year..
welcome to last place cubs!!
This is the first I’ve heard that DeWitt has said payroll will rise next year and I follow the Post Dispatch daily. Can you provide a link? Cards can still sign Albert but it will take a creative contract with deferred money especially for next year. The question will be if Pujols is willing to go that route.
I dont have a link but It was on this website a little while back.. My guess is they will try and work some sort of stock or ownership in with Alberts new contract. Either way STL has been very creative with past contracts and Im sure they will have about 50 options for Albert to pick from. I honestly think more teams will be intrested in Fielder than Pujols. Albert will be a Card for life, Im not sure if it is going to be the best choice for St. Louis but its whatever. The way I look at it is STL is paying for Albert to be elite for a few more years but mainly keeping him around to break the records in STL rather than somewhere else.
2MM of his annual salary is deferred interest free to be paid in increments of either 1.4 or 1.6 during the years 2020-2029. Right now he gets about 15.1 MM per year while he’s playing. So, the guy was off by about 3MM in his estimation of the Cardinals’ payroll. That being said, Pujols will still be a Cardinal.
So, the Cards are going to pay for Holliday and Pujols until 2030? That’s not really a sound investment…Just ask the Mets.
Pujols’ contract doesn’t have to be deferred. Holliday’s just happens to be. I still don’t see Pujols in any other uniform but the Cardinals’. Just my opinion.
ya really think after all of this pujols is gonna defer money?????????????
fantasyland must reside in st louis.
he looks better in blue!!!!!!!!
Nah there is allways the astro’s and now the pirates to keep the cubs feeling better about not having the worst record in the central this year.
Congrats cardinals fans on the extension of L Berkman 12 mil is a fair price for berk and the cards team will be very tough next year and would be the front runner of winning the division IMHO and be much better than this year and thats comming from me a CUBS fan congrats.
CUBS fans
It would be a mistake signing pooholes as he would harm the payroll for years to come and would totally not be worth it even by weakening our rivals the cards. The cubs will be rebuilding as they should for 2-3 years and then be a true force within the central for many years to come. Next years line up should be…….
1b …….. B Lahair
2b …….. D Barney
ss ……… S Castro
3b …….. D J LeMahieu
C ……… W Castillo (if the cubs can trade G Soto for a A grade prospect)
LF ……… T Colvin ( if the cubs can pay most or all of soriano’s contract and get a A or 2 B grade prospects for him)
CF ………Brett Jackson and trade Byrd he has been a awesome cub but its time to part ways and get some very good prospect for him
RF ……… L Montanez or R Johnson or T Campana or J Baker ( R Johnson and J Baker should be resigned )
P ……….Garza
Wells
Coleman
Marshall
Samardiza
Hopefully Dempster ,Pena and Ramirez walks and turns down Arbitration
RP ………. Wood
Russell
Mateo
Cashner
Carpenter
Bench………. Clevenger
And for the last 2 spots try for the best starter that they can get either C J Wilson and or Yu Darvish and try to trade ZAMBRANO for A J Burnett what ever it takes get him.
Then put every penny into the draft and build the farm while St Louis trades its futre for right now by defering pooholes and hollidays pay for many years after they are ineffective. Sorry about this ramble its not in the right topic and I appologise about that I just wanted to show cubs fans that it would be a fruitless for the cubs to poach pooholes from the cards when they have no team to put around him.
How are we ‘trading our future’ by deferring money to Albert and holiday? Our farm system is very over looked, but we have guys like shelby miller, Carlos Martinez, zack cox, Tavares, Matt Adams, Jordan swaggerty, Seth Blair, t. Jenkins, Trevor rosenthal, kolton wong, and Joe Kelly in the minors. All of those players have A-B potential. Also we have a few good young players in the majors like Jaime Garcia, maikel Cleto, lance Lynn, Jon jay, Allen Craig, Freese, Tony Cruz, Zep, chambers, motte, Boggs, salas, Eduardo Sanchez, and Descalso. Our future is lookin pretty good to me!
I also heard that the Cardinals are going to shift Holliday to centerfield and sign Bartman to play left… that dude can catch
Too bad he didn’t actually catch the ball. Nice try though.
Either did Alou.
I thought we were talking about Bartman, or are just not good at admitting your attempt at a Cubs joke failed?
That joke just when way over your head huh? Take your time with it.. youll get it sooner than later
Or, you’re not as clever as you think you are. The voices in your head don’t count as positive criticism.
Guy
That just wasnt funny and it wasnt sarcasm so dont try that either. Bartman didnt catch the ball but if he didnt get in the way alou would have and the Cubs wouldnt have melted down and in 2003 the cubs would have won the world series.
Not with dusty at the helm LOL YOU
Really? The Cubs would have bet the Yankees.. you know this how? Funny how all cubs fans think that one single fan ruined the World Series by doing something that each and everyone of you would do, catch a souvenir. Sad that you get so defensive over something so stupid.
He wants to win….. Wrigleyville is not in the cards.
Pujols has said the most important thing to him is winning, why would he want to play for a bottom of the barrel team like the cubs. Even if they had Albert next year, they would still need 4 more starting pitchers to compete next year.
This is the exact B S why cubs and cards fans cant get along ignorant comments like this.
Albert NEVER said winning is his priority his priority is getting the most money that he can because he deserves it. He wants to be paid the max that he can so he can help his fellow countrymen live up to a human leval rather than live in ultra poverty. For that reason he should be praised.
Andy you must be retarded if you think that is what it is going to take to make the cubs compete next year it will take more than that.
Uhh actually time and time again Pujols has said that the most important thing to him is winning. Try using google before you say something so ignorant.
Now you may be right that Albert might care about getting paid more than winning, but all he has ever said is that he wants to play for a winner. So if the Cubs offered Albert 300 to 350 million to play for a losing team and the next best offer was 200 million, he’d probably take it.
But if the cards offer a competitive offer to what the highest bidder is he’ll stay with the cards.
Pujols to the cubs makes sense for neither party. They have one good starting the pitcher the rest is garbage. Even if they pay Pujols 30 million, they still aren’t going to be able to compete. And Pujols sin’t going to win in Chicago, because chicago never wins. Also Wrigley is Pujols’ worst park.
If Albert signs with another team, the one that makes the most sense is the Angels. Good team, good farm system, ran the right way, big latino market, and with the dodgers in their funk they would have a chance to become LA’s number one team.
I’m not saying there’s no chance that Albert won’t become a cub, but if he is it will just go down in the long history of stupid contracts handed out by the cubs.
I’m not saying there’s no chance that Albert won’t become a cub, but if
he is it will just go down in the long history of stupid contracts
handed out by the cubs.
Agreed
I hope that the cubs dont sign pooholes he simply isnt worth the money and
Andy you must be retarded if you think that is what it is going to take
to make the cubs compete next year it will take more than that.
Thats my comment and I know that the cubs cant win with pooholes IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN THAT ( MEANING MORE THAN POOHOLES )did it sink into your simple mind that time I said it.
You are ignorant with the comments I havent read anywhere that his proirity is winning above money and I live 100 miles from STL and hear all of their news on TV and read the post dispatch. Im done with verbally battling a fool like you now you are retarded.
I love the fact that someone named gunsnascar is trying to insult my intelligent. I love the irony.
If you really did read the post dispatch then it should be clear to you Pujols’ priority has been about winning. (at least that is what he’s said). That doesn’t mean he is going to get low balled, but he’s not going to chase every dollar.
I love how you insult me for saying a comment that you agree with. The Cubs have too many holes, and will have maybe 50 or 60 million dollars to patch them. You can do a lot with 50 million it’s a dream scenario for most teams, But if 30 million of it is going to Pujols there won’t be enough left to fix the rest the team.
P.S. my favorite part of your post is that you seem to think you’re smart.
I pity you andy as you seem to not have the abilty to comprehend what you are reading, if you can fully read what I am writing to you. The cubs dont have any business signing pooholes, but he very well may be signed by another team not the cubs or the cards.
I am starting to believe that you are a ignorant 12 year old kid that runs his mouth here because he gets picked on in real life.
Stay in school and learn to read.
You’re too stupid to realize that I do understand your point. For someone with such an apparently low intellect I would recommend that you avoid attacking posters about their IQ. I’m not going to turn this into an internet pissing match, but I assure you that I am more educated than you, have a better job than you, have a higher IQ than you, and don’t watch Nascar.
Lol gunsnascar doesn’t know what hes talking about
every comment that you make proves my point. You are truely foolish. Im done with ya kid and you dont know sh it about what I do or make so go F yourself.
“I love the fact that someone named gunsnascar is trying to insult my intelligent. I love the irony.”
Me too….
a pot headed (420) fair weather fans (YANKEES) comments mean nothing to me either
Haha, that really flew over your head didn’t it? I guess I should have underlined the incorrect use of “intelligent” instead of “intelligence.” I was trying to subtly point out the irony in Andy_B’s mistake while pointing out irony. But good job getting upset for no reason and attempting to insult me. 😉
Hahahahahahaha! Too bad my eyes are trained to accept poor use of the English language on the comment boards. Bless you for pointing that out.
My apologies yank420
my bad I have re read it and it is funny what you said about the genius from STL. In my anger I unfairly added you to the mix and im sorry for that.
Your the ignorant one. Pujols has always said that he wants to play for a contender.
Unless I’m Mistaken, Waino’s options are 9mill for 2012 and 12 for 2013. Not to mention Lohse and Westbrook are gone after next season which saves money if the deal is backloaded/deferred.
The Berkman signing doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t also afford Pujols.
1) They’re 6th in attendance and are in the top half for ticket price. They’re doing just fine.
2) Why would the Cardinals make a move that prohibited them from competing for the services of a player that could potentially be not only their greatest player, but also a player that brings tremendous money to the team through ticket and merchandise sales.
3) It’s widely been speculated that the Cardinals would have to expand payroll for Pujols anyway. If they sign him, I’d expect payroll to be between 110-120M. If they fail to resign him, they’ll probably try to hold the line instead of ramping it up.
Why do people think signing Berkman to a 1-year $12MM deal hurts their chances of re-signing Pujols? Doesn’t anybody realize Pujols’ main concern aside from the money is contending and by re-signing Berkman St. Louis is showing Pujols’ their commitment to winning now?
I really don’t see how he doesn’t resign with the Cardinals. I’d be really surprised if Wainwright didn’t come back and be effective. Even if he is half the pitcher he was, it’s still better than some pitchers in baseball filling out rotations. I’m looking at you Rodrigo Lopez…
Excellent.
I’m shocked there’s not even an option for a second year.
Same, but I think that’s Berkman, not the Cards. Berkman wants to be paid something commensurate with his talent and desirability, but he’s made so much money that he could retire any time now and be more than fine with it. Now it’s about whether or not the game is still fun and where his stats will end up/will he get a WS ring.
I could see him doing 1 year deals until he retires.
This contract = what Ibanez SHOULD HAVE got in 2008 offseason.
The difference is the Cardinals had exclusive negotiation rights to Berkman and a mutual interest. Ibanez was a free agent who had numerous potential suitors and an inexperienced GM.
Berkman just wants to play year by year. Ibanez wanted a 3 year deal.
Where are those clowns that said Daric Barton is better than Lance Berkman? Where are you?