WEDNESDAY, 8:34am: Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has more quotes from Mozeliak, who admits it'd be easier to re-sign DeRosa before free agency than Matt Holliday. Strauss says Mozeliak "minimized the potential impact of DeRosa's left wrist injury."
TUESDAY, 9:42pm: The Cardinals have discussed an extension with impending free agent third baseman Mark DeRosa, according to MLB.com's Matthew Leach. But Leach says GM John Mozeliak "emphasized not to over-sell those discussions." Too late – we dedicated this post to them!
DeRosa, 35 in February, has scuffled to a .244/.313/.425 line for the Cards since coming over in a trade with the Indians on June 27th. A big factor: he tore a tendon sheath in his wrist a few days after the trade; it will eventually require surgery. The versatile DeRosa is earning $5.5MM and sits on the borderline of Type A and B status.
Mozeliak also told Leach that the team plans to go year-to-year with Ryan Ludwick rather than lock him up. Ludwick came back down to Earth this year – his OBP dropped from .375 to .333 and his SLG from .591 to .465.
