The Cardinals and Rafael Furcal have reached agreement on two-year deal, pending a physical, a source tells Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Furcal's two-year deal will likely come in around $14MM, a source tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
Furcal, 34, hit .255/.316/.418 with seven homers in 217 plate appearances after being traded to St. Louis at the deadline last year. He was said to be seeking a multi-year contract last month. Furcal recently underwent an appendectomy but is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.
The signing shrinks the market for Jimmy Rollins even further and could signal his return to the Phillies. The Cardinals were known to have interest in the shortstop and had more money to spend after the departure of Albert Pujols. However, the club wasn't willing to give Rollins the five-year deal that he seeks.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter) first reported that the two sides were making progress towards a new deal while Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports tweeted that a deal was close.
bueno.
As a brewer fan I agree. Furcal will be a bust.
Good luck with that – tremendous insight!
What part didn’t you understand?
The part where you mentioned you are a brewers fan..
Brewers fan… all mouth. Just like their team. LOL
Alex Gonzalez sure was a steal though. His .290 OBP should come in handy.
Better value than furcal.
that’s yet to be determined. Furcal has a lot more upside though.
Furcal has upside, true, but paying 7 mil/year for upside and an extensive DL history is quite risky.
How is he a better value than furcal??? Furcal contributed to a world series team. Once Alex Gonzalez has done that then we can talk value.
Uh, did you just start watching baseball this year or something? He hit a walk-off homerun in the 2003 World Series.
lmao! owned. i think alex krone was born in 1994. off to bed son.
lmao! owned. i think alex krone was born in 1994. off to bed son.
in 2003? that was 8 years ago when he wasnt old, he has washed up since then? furcal won a championship last year, as in 3 months ago, not 8 years ago!
thank you bighiggy….couldn’t of said it better myself.
in 2003? that was 8 years ago when he wasnt old, he has washed up since then? furcal won a championship last year, as in 3 months ago, not 8 years ago!
You prefer Alex Gonzalez? I doubt it.
By a lot actually. Per dollar. C
Those few million dollars sitting in the owners pocket should help the team quite a bit.
Lol
Wow are the cardinals fans on here stupid. Pretty contrary to my previous experiences.
you come on a cards post and put this crap, you my friend are quite stupid!
So that’s like 40 million / 162 games.
His defense alone makes me think it is worth it.. as long as the guy can stay healthy.. I hoping there is a clause that he has to play a certain amount of games to receive the full amount
Average/below average defense is worth $7MM/yr? Yikes.
Below average? He was amazing defensively for the Cards.
I do doubt my original post though.. I think he is worth 4 million per year.. Wow we did get Berkman last year for the same amount
Uzr is not kind to him. I’m not positive, so I’ll just say that I wouldn’t be happy with tht contract if he signed it with the brewers. At all.
UZR had him well above-average 2009-2010. Last years rating may have been due to injuries. He looked much better with the Cards. A full season of Furcal is worth 3 to 4 wins, or around 15 mil per year. Furcal is making half that. Don’t see why you wouldn’t be happy with this deal.
he wouldnt be happy if he signed it with the brewers? you have alex gonzalez who is complete garbage and now braun gone for 50 games, good luck taking 3rd in the central!!!!
UZR had him well above-average 2009-2010. Last years rating may have been due to injuries. He looked much better with the Cards. A full season of Furcal is worth 3 to 4 wins, or around 15 mil per year. Furcal is making half that. Don’t see why you wouldn’t be happy with this deal.
Amazing? He had ten errors in 50 games! That’s a worse percentage than Ryan Theriot!
I get the feeling that you don’t understand baseball all that much.
Furcal’s fielding at short puts him 4th in the major’s last year.
But your argument was good too.
he played in 50 games last year. for his career, his defense is merely average
Ummm. No. Nice effort though.
Furcal is a better choice than the other option, Tyler Greene.
The glass is half full huh… haha
Tyler Greene who lead all of AAA in wOBA. Yeah what a bum
And has still shown nothing at the MLB level in 360 PA. And he’s 28.
Greene has yet to be given five consecutive games in the majors because TLR didn’t like him. Sure, he’s had 360 PA, but they’re all spread out due to uneven adn inconsistent playing time. The kid needs an everyday chance just to settle it.
Then he needs to demand a trade to a rebuilding team like the Astros or White Sox. We’re reloading for another run at a title, so we can’t afford to give consistent playing time to a guy who so far doesn’t deserve it. It had nothing to do with La Russa but with the fact that the Cardinals haven’t had a rebuilding year since 1995.
Nick Stavihona is pretty good in AAA. Doesn’t make him a big leaguer…
People say this a lot but Stavinoha was never nearly as good in AAA as Greene was last year. Also Stavinoha was never, ever considered a real prospect. I’m not trying to say Greene is the next Tulo, but it bothers me when Cardinals fans act like he’s already had his chance, when that “chance” consisted of about 300ish ABs spread thinly over 3 years while getting jerked around by his manager. Hell in 2010 Allen Craig got more ABs than Greene has ever had in a season and did nothing with them. He got more chances though because anyone could look at his minor league performance and tell he was something special.
If the Cards can’t sign a good 2B I’d love to see Greene and Descalso fight for it in spring.
Which 2B free agents are left? Did Kelly Johnson sign somewhere yet?
Accepted arb.
Whos left?
Schumaker, of course. We can upgrade at 2B after next season, but for now, you don’t just throw away a career .290 hitter with passable 2B defense who can also play the OF.
Ive heard he is going to be non-tendered
That’s merely been speculation on this website. Theriot will probably be non-tendered, but Schumaker should be tendered for the reasons I mentioned above, especially now that we don’t have to pay Pujols.
Accepted arb.
i’d like to see then literally fight for it.
If you want to play for Tony, you better do something fairly quickly. BTW, Tony uses his AAA type players more than any manager in baseball. But you better do something. Greene never did…….. Not Tony’s fault.
I doubt Matheny will give as many chances. Time will tell.
I think Greene is overrated and so did MO and that is why he signed Furcal. I have honestly never been that impressed with Greene, not like I am with Kolton Wong (yeah, he plays second, but still). Wong has more potential.
What are you talking about? Craig hit over .300 with excellent power. Greene struggles to even hit .200 in the Majors. Maybe he deserves a shot on a rebuilding team, but a team that’s constantly competative like the Cardinals can’t afford to give an extensive in-season tryout to a guy who has so far proven to be nothing but a AAAA player.
Some good AAA players can’t make the transition. Tyler Greene has had plenty of opportunities. So far…. has not happened.
So Jimmy Rollins’ balls are now officially in a vice wielded by Ruben Amaro Jr. Excellent…
aren’t the Marlins looking for a shortstop?
haha
good signing by the Cardinals. It can’t be easy to be a fan right now so it’s nice to at least get the guy that jump-started them into the playoffs
its only difficult for the irrational fans who can’t see the bullet they dodged by not giving him 10 years at 250million. Furcal at 2/14, while i think is a slight overpayment, should be a good deal.
regardless of the specifics it’s still gotta be tough losing the face of your franchise
Trust me. It is hard. Hurt pretty bad, but I do realize that we will be better in the long haul.
It might be hard and I am still sad about it. However, you know what? We will have new future faces of our franchise over time as we are investing in our farm system. I am hoping that eventually Matt Adams can help us at first base and Albert moving on was really about two things, money and location and now we have extra money to spend on the future and that for me is better over time.
Why do people keep saying this? He sucked last year.
Not on the Cardinals, really. Killed Milwaukee it seemed like too.
Maybe because most people don’t base their opinions on a half a season’s injury affected data. Or I suppose you know more than people like Keith Law, who tweeted this was a solid deal.
Keith Law likes the deal? That makes me rethink my favorable opinion of the deal.
I liked it until I read that…
Maybe because most people don’t base their opinions on a half a season’s injury affected data. Or I suppose you know more than people like Keith Law, who tweeted this was a solid deal.
hits were timely & made some BIG plays defensively. weak lead off hitter for sure
Our organization continues to be VERY strong team even without Pujols. Just think the Angels are strapped for $25.4M a year for 10 years to a guy who has an elbow that could go anytime. As for the Cardinals now, Furcal was a great signing. He is very strong on defense and a full year with the Cardinals will get his offense going, also.
There is an old folks home just down the road, Mozaliak needs to look there for some pitching help or maybe even a hitter or two.
Apparently you don’t realize the Cardinals can compete in the NL Central with the team they have right now. The roster could bet set, anything now is just improvements.
Apparently you don’t realize the Cardinals can compete in the NL Central with the team they have right now. The roster could bet set, anything now is just improvements.
7 mil a year for what he’s done the past three is an overpay. they’re paying him for what he did 5 years ago, it looks to me.he deserves a 3 million dollar rebuild your value contract, not 14. i’d like to see what tyler can do with a full season. so what if he’s 28, when did ludwick bloom?
Ludwick had an excellent year off the bench before he got his shot (and he hasn’t exactly been much since his career year, anyway). Greene has yet to prove that he even belongs on a Major League roster.
tyler greene is terrible! trade him for anything!!!!
He was worth 1.4 bWAR in just 50 games with the Cardinals in 2011. If he were to keep up that pace he’d only need to play 100ish games over the life of the contract to be worth it. Looks like pretty good value on a short contract. Not a steal, but a good signing.
I’m missing the mythical upside everyone keeps talking about with Furcal. He’s old and injury prone and couldn’t hit worth a lick this season. He improved in St Louis but still wasn’t a 7M a year player, I guess that’s what happens when the SS market is shallow.
If he were to play exactly the same as how he played in St Louis for a full season he’d be worth 15M+ per year. He’s not likely to do that but what you said is just plain wrong.
From a fan of a team that just paid Clint Barmes 5.5M/yr to play SS, I’m not sure questioning a 7M/yr deal to Furcal is justified.
I think he is pointing out that signing a big deal to a guy who didn’t hit all post season and managed to only play 150+ games in one of the last 5 seasons plus is only aging is a bad signing. No clue how you think that furcal will actually hit that 15 mil value mark. Just because he won a championship doesn’t mean that he was the reason they won it by any stretch. I was hoping the matheny era would help the cards deal with young players better like Tyler Greene, but signing like this continue to show that they would rather overpay veterans who are past their prime. Also Jumsy no need to bash on the buccos signings. He didn’t even state that Barmes was a great signing by any stretch so trying to turn that around on him to justify the Furcal signing is kinda pathetic. Clearly the pirates need to offer more money to players to sign them due to their teams lack of success. A problem the cards don’t have.
LOL LOL and it continues.. paying that BUM 7 M a year, I love it.. Keep it up WLB’s.. The Cards are done
Keep thinking the Cards are done…
Just like last year.
Lol wow to say the cards are done when their pitching staff will get better and they will still put up a lot of runs is just not a smart thing to say.
Ha Ha Cardinals will win the Central… No Competition.
I think you are underestimating the Reds.
Saying that the Cardinals are done because they signed one player for $7 M four months before the season even starts is a little premature, don’t you think?
really the cards are done, with braun missing 50 games and the reds fighting with themselves, who takes the central, the cards duh! mr. mohr who are you a fan of that is going to take the title away from the cards?
Would not have given him more than 1 year/4 million + incentives (I wouldn’t have got him if I was only paying him that much, yea yea)
Maybe he’ll work out, I personally don’t think he will (high risk, medium reward)… But if he’s healthy, he could earn his money.
He surely fills the void in the lineup that Pujols left…
dont worry, we get beltran and maybe trade kmac and ottavino for keppinger and we will breeze through the central, and with braun gone for 50 games!
dont worry, we get beltran and maybe trade kmac and ottavino for keppinger and we will breeze through the central, and with braun gone for 50 games!
You know If the Cardinals resigned Pujols for 25-27 Million per year for 10 years Im certain that STL would be bashing that move too.. The guy is gone and yeah it will take 4-5 years till it starts to make sense for STL fans but the Cardinals do need to go out and get a Beltran type guy for 3 years or so
We don’t need any more old guys on more than one year contracts.
Those “old guys” won a world series last year
Those “old guys” won a world series last year
We don’t need any more old guys on more than one year contracts.
Wow, what an overpay!
Wow, what an overpay!
If J Roll’s options are shrinking aren’t Short Stop replacement options for the Sillies =P shrinking too? If J Roll goes elsewhere, who can the Phillies get to phill the void?
Tyler Green
Rafie ain’t what he used to be for sure. He did play well for the Cards last year though. Compared to what the Buccos gave Barmes, this deal isn’t all that bad at all. And really, 2Y/14M is going to be an albatross hanging around the team’s neck. It’s doubtful that they’ll get two healthy seasons from him, but overall I like the deal. They would be wise to keep Theriot around as insurance.
Anyone but Theriot, honestly. Nick Punto is a superior option in pretty much every way.
Never thought I’d make that statement about Nick Punto, but in this case it’s completely true.
Ryan Jackson should be ready to play Shortstop for the Cards in 2013
For once in 4 years we will have a starting shortstop back-to-back years.
I like this signing. It’s only 2 years, so if he continues to get injured we aren’t saddled with a long, expensive contract. Furcal looked decent at the plate in STL in the regular season, although he went pretty cold in the playoffs. As far as his defense, he seemed to have much better range than Theriot and made some spectacular plays, although he did commit a LOT of errors as well. It’s difficult to see him playing more than 120 games (and that’s probably an optimistic guess), but I still like this deal more than giving 5 years to Rollins.
I probably would’ve preferred if we could’ve convinced J-Roll to take a 3 year deal with an option for a fourth year, but doesn’t sound like that was a realistic option. I’d like to see us pick up another bullpen guy (preferably another lefty to go with Rzepczynski), possibly explore the option of getting another outfielder to help in case Allen Craig has to miss significant time to start the year, and still see if Lohse/Westbrook will take a trade (although I liked that idea more when Mark Buehrle was still available), but I’m okay with the team we have heading into the 2012 season. I by no means think we’ll run away with the NL Central, but I think we’ll be competitive and have a legitimate shot at winning the division.
I like this signing. It’s only 2 years, so if he continues to get injured we aren’t saddled with a long, expensive contract. Furcal looked decent at the plate in STL in the regular season, although he went pretty cold in the playoffs. As far as his defense, he seemed to have much better range than Theriot and made some spectacular plays, although he did commit a LOT of errors as well. It’s difficult to see him playing more than 120 games (and that’s probably an optimistic guess), but I still like this deal more than giving 5 years to Rollins.
I probably would’ve preferred if we could’ve convinced J-Roll to take a 3 year deal with an option for a fourth year, but doesn’t sound like that was a realistic option. I’d like to see us pick up another bullpen guy (preferably another lefty to go with Rzepczynski), possibly explore the option of getting another outfielder to help in case Allen Craig has to miss significant time to start the year, and still see if Lohse/Westbrook will take a trade (although I liked that idea more when Mark Buehrle was still available), but I’m okay with the team we have heading into the 2012 season. I by no means think we’ll run away with the NL Central, but I think we’ll be competitive and have a legitimate shot at winning the division.
Anybody but Theriot is fine with me.
I feel that this may be a little too much guaranteed money, but I’m not upset with this deal by any means. I would have thought $4 M + incentives would have been enough to get it done, though.
How on earth is Furcal still worth 7 million a season? With his injury history and age I cannot fathom any team offering him more than 3-4 million a season.
you got that right, its sorta shocking
you think the cards should have stuck with greene, then obviously you dont know how terrible he is! oh maybe they should have really overpayed for rollins!
you think the cards should have stuck with greene, then obviously you dont know how terrible he is! oh maybe they should have really overpayed for rollins!
As a Met fan, I feel really badly for the Cardinal fans. We lost our best player in Jose Reyes, but the Cardinal fans lost one of the best players of all time in Albert Pujols. I feel really badly for the Cardinal fans. But I do think the Cardinals will be able to move forward from this.
This signing should make up for the loss of Pujols.
it will…. rather 7 mil then 27 mil
The improved defense from having Furcal last season as opposed to Theriot really helped the pitching staff down the stretch, not only in range but in the confidence to know you are getting outs on ground balls up the middle.