The Cardinals have signed Lance Berkman to a one-year deal, the club has announced (via Twitter). Berkman will earn $8MM according to Jon Heyman of SI (via Twitter). The former Houston Astro will be placed in left field with Matt Holliday being moved to right field.
Big Puma identified the Cardinals as one of his many suitors earlier this week. GM John Mozeliak says that the slugger will be an everyday player in St. Louis, according to Tom Ackerman of KMOX 1120 AM (via Twitter).
“He’s an impact player who not only helps solidify our everyday lineup, but he also brings a wealth of experience," the GM said.
Berkman was likely drawn to the Cards in part because of their ability to offer him a spot in the outfield. The veteran never ruled out signing on with an American League team as a DH though he made his disdain for it well known.
The 34-year-old last played in the outfield in 2007, and he owns an ugly -2.1 UZR/150 for his career, with most of his work coming in right field.
Woah didn’t see that coming!
It’s an admission that they should have kept Ryan Ludwick.
Yeah you’re right. Because he did soooo awesome after the trade
Good platoon partner for Pujols.
Pujols will start every game from now on, Playing till the age of 50 and reaching Cal-Ripken Iron Man status.
Berkman will be if left, with holliday switching over, or play in right. (I think he’s playing in right.)
way to kill the joke.
I’d take that bet.
the cardinals don’t pay $8million for a platoon guy, but where is he going to play? It has to be LF. At least he has more motivation to get healthy. I like this signing.
8 Million? HA HA HA .. wait till u see what he signed for tomorrow… youll eat those words my friend.
You want to platoon the best hitter in baseball?
sorry,did I miss the sarcasm?
Yup.
Yup.
You want to platoon the best hitter in baseball?
sorry,did I miss the sarcasm?
Bitter?
Nice try, mom.
why?
Good news about this…Just another reason why Adrian Beltre to the A’s makes perfect sense!!
whoever gets beltre is screwed IMO. especially since they offered him a 4 or 5 year deal. he wont be good until the very last year
Span. Your as big as a A’s fan as I am. How you feel about this? Honestly, I was a bit surprised. I thought for sure he was coming to oaktown. But at the same time it might not be as bad as it sounds. What’s next? I think they go after beltre even harder and maybe matsui? What you think? Who else is out there? Chris Carter might have to step it up big time if we can’t come up with someone…
Yeah man we are both huge A’s fans! I seriously think that Beltre will sign with the A’s in a matter of days. I think it’s the perfect fit. And I’ll tell you something, ever since the begining of the off-season I’ve been riding the Matsui/A’s train all along. I think he’d be a spectacular unbelievable fit there. Especially in bringing more fans to the ballpark. I’m really excited!
Maybe you can explain how Beltre @ $15M per is so much more valuable to the A’s than Kouzmanoff @ $5M per.
Considering Beltre’s numbers in Seattle, I really can’t see how he would be worth the massive contract the A’s will have to give him.
Because Beltre is actually worth the money, he can hit, defend much better than Kouz, and get on Base.
Beltre in Seattle: .266/.319/.454
And that’s excluding 2010.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay $14-15M per for five years for that.
I would do it based on last year solely, and even considering his Seattle days, I wouldn’t even think twice about it.
Kouz’s 2010 UZR was fluky. If you think the regression in the bat was for real, Beltre makes a lot of sense.
And, its the best non-Crawford improvement the A’s can make—and I don’t see them throwing the 100++ MM needed to nail Crawford.
My point was that Beltre isn’t worth the $60M investment over five years if you’ve already got Kouz. Sure, Kouz’s 2010 defensive numbers don’t seem repeatable, but he’s still a damn good defender. And with a year of AL experience under his belt, I doubt he’ll be as miserable in 2011 as he was in 2010.
I guess it’s all about whether or not you think a marginal defense upgrade and a .780ish OPS is that much better than what Kouz offers. I, for one, don’t.
even if Beltre’s getting overpaid, he is SO much better than kouz who had an OBP of under .300 last year and he hit .214 with RISP. Even for a middle of the order hitter he has to do better than that… suzuki has to improve too actually
After the painful experience that was the Eric Chavez contract, I’m just not too excited about committing to a guy through his 36-year-old season. Especially since we’ve already seen what Beltre can do in a pitchers park in the same division.If there was a decision on a new stadium already and we knew the A’s would be seeing dramatically increased revenue over the life of a five year Beltre contract, I’d be all for it. If the A’s could snag Beltre for just three years, I’d be all for it. I just don’t think that the five year deal that it’s going to take to land Beltre makes a lick of sense at this point.
yeah I know what you mean, I really wish the A’s got Berkman on a one year deal and I thought they were going to…
I do think Carter will have a solid season next year even though it’ll be his first full season, and that should help a lot.
Yea matsui is a better hitter/fielder than berkman. Not to mention the fans he would bring to the coliseum. It will be our version of ichiro. It’s a slim posibility but if we get Iwakuma that would even better. I heard they have to sign him by Monday 12pm est. I haven’t heard much talk of anyone having much interest in matsui, so the A’s might actually have a good shot of bringing him here.
But Jack Cust is better than both Matsui and Berkman. As is Jim Thome, and Magglio Ordonez, and Manny Ramirez.
Melonis. Your either trying to be funny or you just never seen jack cust play. I pretty much seen all 162 A’s games. He swings for the stars and misses 150+ times a year. He has cost the A’s wins countless of times with his play in the outfield. Either with errors or over thrown cutoff man, he is just not MLB worthy..
Well Signing Iwakuma would attract Matsui, hand in hand.
Yea matsui is a better hitter/fielder than berkman. Not to mention the fans he would bring to the coliseum. It will be our version of ichiro. It’s a slim posibility but if we get Iwakuma that would even better. I heard they have to sign him by Monday 12pm est. I haven’t heard much talk of anyone having much interest in matsui, so the A’s might actually have a good shot of bringing him here.
hes as big of an everybody fan as anybody, arent ya span man lol
sure am! 🙂
Yeah as an A’s fan I didn’t really want Beltre because of his history of only playing well in the final year of his contract. I wanted Berkman or Dunn if possible, but now that they’re gone I think the A’s need Beltre, even if he’s grossly overpaid.
The A’s just need SOMEONE with power to support their pitching before this window closes.
Your sure this is the right Berkman? #dontgetit
No mistake. He’s going to look like the old man he is in left field.
LF is the only thing I could think of, but then I remembered they already have a left fielder…and one who’s making a pretty big chunk of change. I don’t get this signing at all.
I guess they’ll move Holliday to RF? Still seems odd. And like a pretty poor outfield defense.
You’re forgetting about Rasmus’s fresh young legs in Center, he’s going to play a major role in the outfield defense with Berkman and Holliday out there and you got Jon Jay to be the fourth and Schumaker will probably split time as a fifth or sixth outfielder. Like somebody else said earlier, this is definitely an admission that they should have held on to Ludwig but this could be an explosive line up with Rasmus batting leadoff, Freise batting 2nd, Pujols batting 3rd, Holliday batthing 4th, and Berkman batting 5th, or you can bat someone else leadoff and then have Friese or Rasmus in the 6th hole. I’m still not completely satisfied with Mozelik but at least the Birds are finally doing something right, now pay Albert.
Rasmus batting leadoff?? Not going to happen. It’s Tony LaRussa, so you never really know. But Tony’s on record saying he wants more plate discipline from Colby, so one thing he will almost certainly not do is bat him leadoff. Tony changes his lineup all the time, but I think he’ll often use these combos:1. Theriot, Skip2. Rasmus, Freese, Berkman3. Pujols4. Holliday5. Berkman, Rasmus6. Freese, Rasmus7. Skip, Theriot8. Molina
I guess they’ll move Holliday to RF? Still seems odd. And like a pretty poor outfield defense.
Remember the movie, Damm Yankees, I think Berkman is going to look like the old man in the outfield in that movie. I can’t believe it! I thought he would have been perfect for the A’s. He’s a borderline DH.
Guess this means that albert guy is headed to memphis.
i dont get it. what does memphis, TN have to do with pujols?
Memphis Redbirds…Cardinals Triple-A affiliate.
…Memphis is the AAA affiliate of the Cardinals.
“okay, that makes sense,” he says as he looks up to see a joke fly overhead.
…the minor leagues.
’tis a joke?!
Rough crowd.
minors
what!
Whoa, that’s out of left field.
ziiiiiiiiiiing!
I’d assume backup 1B/OF.
Ahhh I love twitter 😛 Got this update before it was posted on here.. was wondering why it took MLBTR so much time to put it up here 😛
Go back to Twitter douche
this is a plot twist!!!
Be scared.
It’s a trap!
can Berkman really play in the OF?
Yes!! And just as poorly as he did 1B for the Yankees!!
Oh Emm Gee.
Projected Lineup as of now
Skip Shumaker
Colby Rasmus
Albert Pujols
Matt Holliday
Lance Berkman
David Freese
Yadier Molina
Ryan Theriot/Pitcher
Pitcher/Ryan Theriot
Or have Theriot at second, ethier way. WOOO!
you do know that there is no dh in the nl right. berkman has no position. he will be a power bat off the bench.
Berkman has a position. He is going to be a left fielder. Holliday will be in right field. Jay and Craig will be both on the bench, if STL will not trade one off for a young prospect.
Jay and Craig are already young prospects themselves. Besides, we need one of them to step up and take over RF in 2012 on the cheap when Pujols becomes expensive.
Berkman wouldn’t sign with st. louis if it meant he’d be a bench player
why not. he had a no trade clause and decided to sit down in new york
Berkman wouldn’t sign with st. louis if it meant he’d be a bench player
I see Rasmus leading off and Berkman hitting #2. Berkman’s an OBP machine.
Colby Rasmus doesn’t have the OBP to be a lead-off hitter
Neither does Schumaker.
Actually, Rasmus’ OBP/BB-rate is very good. Even with a .276 AVG, his 2010 OBP was .361. And in 1500+ MiLB ABs, his OBP was .366. Are you thinking of someone else, like maybe Brendan Ryan? Rasmus does K quite a lot. That’s one knock against him. His skill set is very similar to Grady Sizemore, who was successful as the Tribe’s lead-off hitter.
Rasmus has too much power to lead-off, and with his stolen bases, Theriot is more suited for leafoff than Schumaker, although for the times when the pitcher bats 8th, Theriot’s SB make him more suited to bat 9th.
I hope they don’t completely give up on Brendan Ryan he is a great defensive player up the middle and with the slugs at the corners in the outfield that is going to be a lot of pressure on Rasmus in center, at least with Ryan out there sometimes you have another plus fielder on the diamond.
What do you mean slugs, plural? Holliday’s defense is quite a bit above average.
i guess they think he can still play right field.
No, word is that Berkman will play LF and Holliday will be playing RF. I’ve always have thought that Holliday would be better playing RF, than LF.
lolwut?
Guess he really want to stick to the Astros
For some reason Astros players love Stl, Oswalt wanted to go there bad as well and Berkman said he preferred Stl awhile ago before they were even interested.
Odd, Holliday in LF and Pujols at 1B, where is Puma going to play? RF?
Yep.
And it’s going to be ugly.
Wrong …. Berkman in LF, and Holliday in RF.
No, Holliday is moving to RF. He said that he would be willing to do this around the trade deadline last year.
No, Holliday is moving to RF. He said that he would be willing to do this around the trade deadline last year.
no hollidays movin to rf wit berkman playin Lf
Berkman has not played the OF since 2007. 31 in RF, 1 in CF.
True, but if Manny can play the Outfield, Lance Berkman can play the outfield.
Sure, but Manny can’t play the outfield. At this point he gives up more in the field than he contributes at the plate. The same will be true of Berkman in 2011.
Manny can’t play anywhere, while Berkman has proven that he’s decent, or at least acceptable, at 1B. The Cardinals liked what they saw on his physical, so I think they’re in better position to judge whether or not he can still play the outfield with no other evidence out there.
This comment is awsome!!
I though he was going to the A’s. O well we still gonna get Adrian Beltre.
We sure are! And I’m extremely excited!
So if the A’s get Beltre, can my Indians have Kouzmanoff? You know, he started there, and while he’s not a perfect guy for third base, the Indians 3rd base has been a black hole since Blake left. Kouz would be an upgrade from black hole and a nice place holder for Chisenhall.
Tell Mr. Beane he can have a cheap bullpen guy for him.
I think he’d be a really good 2-3 month guy as you said until Chisenhall is ready…It would cost anything more than someone like Hector Rondon…
Ah, Hector Rondon is rehabbing from TJ surgery; if that’s what it takes, the Indians should do that deal.
I’m kind of thinking Beane’s going to want a player currently in better health, and the Indians have no problems dealing with health issues. I’m guessing they keep Rondon. They have other available non starting arms though.
Goo call. He wouldn’t cost much. Probably a reliever who isn’t spectacular…I keep expecting Yohan Pino to get picked in the Rule 5 and he never does…He would be my guy.
Goo call. He wouldn’t cost much. Probably a reliever who isn’t spectacular…I keep expecting Yohan Pino to get picked in the Rule 5 and he never does…He would be my guy.
What’s so exciting about paying $15M per for a sub-.800 OPS and plus defense? The A’s can get that production out of Kouzmanoff for a fraction of the price.
It seems like the A’s and the Orioles are getting no respect to this point. It’s almost like they are the Mets. Nobody seems to want to go there.
The Cardinals might seriously have negative 2 Stolen bases in ’11.
rasmus might be able to steal around 20-30 now that he has a good contact hitter behind him and not K machines like Freese who consistently miss hit-n-run tries.
He does have pretty good SB numbers in the minors…He’s a 5 tool player…I was making a joke before but yeah I can definetly see Rasmus stealing 20+ bases.
I would agree with your negative 2 comment. Rasmus could steal 20-30, you know, if La Russa actually played him everyday.
I see Berkman running and lifting weight as we speak to shut us up! But all I see is Fat Elvis.
Did you all forget that Theriot has stolen 20+ bases every year for the last 4 years? Rasmus played in 144 games last year and was hurt briefly a couple times for a total of about 25 of the others. He only missed a rare start every now and then like nearly every starting position player to keep the bench sharp as the matchups determined.
i didn’t realize there were 169+ games in a season.
Molina will be their leader in stolen bases.
Weren’t he and Pujols duking it out for this last year? If memory serves they tripled the 2009 team total by stealing two or three bases each.
They were both in double digits. Pujols won with 16, I think. It’s a good thing we’ve got Theriot now to avoid repeating that embassment of our best slugger and our slow-footed catcher fighting for the team SB lead.
Yeah, last year’s speed demons sort of reminded me of the 1987 Cardinals.
…and what MLB Catcher allows Yadier Molina to steal a base? That still baffles me! 😉 And that’s coming from a ginormous Yadi fan!
The past two seasons Molina’s sb’s totals have been better than they were earlier in his career. 09 he had 9 sb’s, and in 010 he had 8 sb’s.
Well, they should have quite the lineup, that’s for sure.
i again don’t know if i should punch something or cry. I just hope it isn’t more than 4million and berkman loses about 20 pounds.
8 million, i think.
Thought he would have been a nice pickup for the Bravos in case Freeman wasn’t ready and he couldn’t be any worse than Melky in the outfield.
Should be a nice bat coming off the bench or starting in right (?) for the cards provided the price was right.
Good moves for the Cardinals. more bad news for Cubs, Berkman, Dunn, Gonzalez: all gone. All that’s left is stupid Carlos Pena and he even he might sign with the Nationals. Cubs like usual being run like a mom and pop franshise. Hendry “we’re waiting till the winter meeting” For what. Who is going to be left. Even the crap players will have signed by then.
I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and guess by your vague commenting, that you really don’t like the way the Cubs are run?
how did you guess? lol I’m just tired of the b.s. line of “we’re waiting till winter meetings” its a line that doesn’t apply to today’s baseball. Players look out for themselves and try to get the best deal possible. They don’t hold out to go to certain teams anymore and Cubs havent picked up on that yet, which why they’re either gonna get a crap LaRoche or Pena, a crap reliever, and a starter who cant stay healthy. I know they don’t have much money to spend this year, but at least have some brains.
AS a cubs fan there really scarying me. I can see the Cubs signing one of L.Overbay :/, J.Cantu :), or C.Koatchman:). I hope we sign some one or the cubs bigest signing og the off season would be S.Moore!
So be prepaired for Bret LaHair and Baker for 1b :/
Good move by STL tho! Right now im thinking Whitesox and STl Ws?
Konerko is still available.
There’s also Derrek Lee
I can’t imagine him going anywhere to be a backup. It could be setting up a Rasmus trade.
Just sayin……
and they’re going to put who in CF?
John Jay? They did trade Ludwick under the premise of Jay being one of their outfielders next season.
yeah, how’d that turn out? He hit around .230 after the trade. Now we get the Puma to play outfield because we’ve lost faith in Jay. Rasmus isn’t going anywhere.
The move sounds solid to me. I didn’t follow the Cards closely last year but it seemed when they shipped Ludwick west the Cards went south.
I’m sure if I’m wrong I will be told.
I’m not saying it worked out, I’m not even a Cards fan, I’m just saying that was the pretext for the deal.
While Jon Jay opened the door for trading Ludwick by doing well, it would have happened sooner than later cause of our need for pitching.
how so?
Just fanning some old flames….
N.O.T-A.T.-A.L.L
Cardinals have said that Rasmus isn’t being traded. So, if anyone still thinks he’ll be traded then stop dreaming about him being traded. As of now the only player the Cardinals have on the trade block and would like to trade is Brendan Ryan.
Well if he is really going to be an everyday player like the GM says then I guess it would be Holliday in RF. They should sign TWG Jr as a late inning defensive replacement.
TWG jr = Tony Gwynn Jr?
I’d like him for the Cardinals bench. And can back up for Rasmus and maybe back up for Berkman.
The Cards don’t have any money left for unecessary additions, and Jay is already perfect for that job.
odd
Berkman in RF? So, what happens to Jon Jay? Don’t the Cards have too many outfielders?
And, it makes no sense for Berkman to sign in a place where he’d only be guaranteed a bench job, when he could sign somewhere where he could 1B or DH, so you have to think he’s a starting OF.
Jon Jay and Allen Craig will come off the bench or be traded.
Jay flamed out after his hot start and Allen Craig isn’t consistent enough at this point. Should Berkman have an injury or be incompetent, The Craig/Jay platoon will take over.
No, it’s Berkman in LF and Holliday in RF.
Damn! Really wanted the Rockies to make this acquisition. Now what, Troy Glaus?
I hope they’re smart enough to pull the trigger on a move like Glaus or trade for Willingham…Plus a #2/3 pitcher to strengthen up the rotation..atleast take a chance on Chein Ming Wang, Webb, trade for Garza.. something..
As I see it now, the Rockies have not improved one bit from their moves, but have gotten a little worse. Extending Tulo & re-signing DLR was great, but we had them last year..no improvement. I don’t see trading Barmes for some marginal bullpen/rotation help, then signing Lopez as an improvement. We didn’t retain Olivo…Iannetta is not the future..Helton, love the guy but he is declining rapidly. So I don’t see any improvement upon the team so far from last year. I can only hope that the front office sees this and will take a serious approach at bringing in some quality impact players to compliment the home grown talent that they seem to think is good enough. I had an old coach that always preached, “If you’re not getting any better, then you getting worse”. I always took that to mean that if you aren’t pushing yourself to improve and even if you stay at your current level, that someone else out that that wants it more than you will push themselves to improve and surpass you..I saw this last season as the trade deadline came and went and the Rockies did nothing. Does anyone remember the standing at the dead line and what the Giants did? Anyway, I’m afraid we will see more of the same in the future, but I can only hope this is not the case.
There’s still time. I’m rooting for a Willingham and/or Wigginton sign by the Rox. I know a lot of folks have been knocking the J-Lo signing. But I tend to be optimistic about it. He’s still young and had a very crummy year last year. If he’s going to turn it around, COL is a good spot for that.
Sometimes getting better involves allowing the younger guys to grow a bit. Considering the roster, there are a number of guys that could apply to.
I think that moving Barmes and Roe for Paulino and Lopez does improve the team, if only marginally. Look at Paulino’s stats and game logs for the 14 games he started last season before he was injured. He wasn’t that bad; he certainly pitched better than his 1-9 record.
O’Dowd has been VERY active in the early going and I don’t think he’s done.
Sometimes getting better involves allowing the younger guys to grow a bit. Considering the roster, there are a number of guys that could apply to.
I think that moving Barmes and Roe for Paulino and Lopez does improve the team, if only marginally. Look at Paulino’s stats and game logs for the 14 games he started last season before he was injured. He wasn’t that bad; he certainly pitched better than his 1-9 record.
O’Dowd has been VERY active in the early going and I don’t think he’s done.
Sometimes getting better involves allowing the younger guys to grow a bit. Considering the roster, there are a number of guys that could apply to.
I think that moving Barmes and Roe for Paulino and Lopez does improve the team, if only marginally. Look at Paulino’s stats and game logs for the 14 games he started last season before he was injured. He wasn’t that bad; he certainly pitched better than his 1-9 record.
O’Dowd has been VERY active in the early going and I don’t think he’s done.
Undoubtedly the Astros sent him in to destroy the Cardinals from the inside.
All jokes aside, I think he’ll be a bigger offensive weapon than people are giving him credit for, he had a rough year, but the dude is primed to bounce back. I can’t imagine it’ll be real pretty watching him in the outfielder, but it is what it is…unless Pujols moves back to LF or 3B and they put Berkman at 1B…
They did a great job doing that themselves last September, actually.
Pujols’s elbow can’t handle those other positions on a regular basis. It’s why the Cardinals moved him to 1B in the first place.
if Mo promised him an OF spot and that twitter isn’t bogus, this is the worst signing i can remember.no way he plays more than 1-2 a week in RF and pinch hits every single day. thats the most they can do.
if that’s the plan, and berkman was okay with that, id be happy.
defensively holliday is average, rasmus is overrated, and berkman isn’t bearable. tony would be crazy to consider it
Rasmus is not overrated. Go ahead and look at the OPS of every CF in the NL and tell me who is on or near the top.
Plus, Rasmus is a plus defender. Don’t listen to half of the stooges on here. Berkman adds depth, experience, and talent. On top of that, he’s an amazing teammate.
Holliday is also above average and underrated defensively.
Wow. This is kind of interesting. I think he will bounce back some ofensively but a little worried about his defense in the outfield. Especially watching how coordinated he looked chasing that foul pop up at 1B in playoffs where he went down.
Durrrrrrrrrr Daric Barton is a better player than Lance Berkman. Durrrrrrrrr.
are you serious. can’t tell.
The only bad point I can make about Berkman is that he basically got fat by hitting in a hitter’s ball park. I know he was hurt when he was with the Yankees, bt even when he got healthy he didnt look like more than a doubles hitter. Still though, the Cards arent getting him to hit homeruns and doubles should be enough for them. But yeah, he did get some big hitting numbers by hitting in a hitter’s ball park.
Go look at the park effect stats. Minute Maid has been a neutral ball park the last several years.
I think the CF is going to have to cover a lot of balls in the alleys with Berkman and Holliday flanking him. Expect a lot of hits in the gaps against the Cardinals this year.
Berkman is a quality guy and I wish him well. I wouldn’t have spent eight million on him and he’s almost useless now against LH pitching. What will surprise you, though, is how well he works a walk and runs the bases but his straight-line speed now is subpar and, unless something happens to Pujols, he’s going to need to come out for defensive purposes in close games.
wow!!!!!!!!!!!
wow very athletic outfield youll have to look forward to.
Wouldn’t Be Surprised To See Pujols Traded During The Winter Meetings…I Don’t Want Pujols To Leave STL, But If He Is Going To Leave, We Should Get Everything We Can For Him.
Are you kidding me? Hes not going to get traded LOLZ. He will be extended if anything hahaha.
I Just Don’t Want The Cards To Get Screwed With Pujols Like The Cav’s Got Screwed With LeBron…If We Can Get Something For Him, We Need To Do It If He Doesn’t Sign An Extension By Spring At The Latest.
Pujols, unlike lebron, has won a championship. And has a team around him to win many more.
I Just Don’t Want The Cards To Get Screwed With Pujols Like The Cav’s Got Screwed With LeBron…If We Can Get Something For Him, We Need To Do It If He Doesn’t Sign An Extension By Spring At The Latest.
No need to worry. Pujols will not be traded. If that happened, nearly every Cards fan would disown the team and the PR department isn’t that dim. If his contract isn’t extended, there’s a good chance he walks in his FA year. But I’m confident the front office is not going to let the media and fans blame them for letting The Machine leave St. Louis.
Breaking news from St. Louis! Berkman to take over as starting shortstop.
I love the Cardinals’ management. Seriously, how terrible would they be if they hadn’t lucked into getting Albert Pujols?
Since Walt Jocketty left I’d have to agree with you, Mo is Mets/Cubs material but Walt made some darn good deals and Pujols wasn’t the only reason they were the best team of the decade in the NL. I don’t know how I feel about this deal, I like the potential offense it brings but Holliday in RF scares me, I would miss Ludwicks defense more than anything. It’s strange Berkman never tried 3rd base
walt was horrible at drafting and developing players though. Remember all those drafts of schmucks like Chris lambert, Shaun Boyd, etc etc. the entire 2004 draft produced one player in the major leagues-Jarret Hoffpauir. That is so atrociously bad that something had to be done.
I would agree drafting and developing weren’t Walt’s strong suit, but I wouldn’t describe it overall as “horrible”. We had our share of prospects that turned out well: Matt Morris, J.D. Drew, Yadier, Pujols, Polanco, Daric Barton, Ankiel, Rasmus, just to name a few.
His strength was trading. Aside from the big black eye of the Mulder trade, he had a remarkable share of “wins”. Some lop-sided ones that come to mind: Bottonfield and Kennedy for Edmonds. Drew and Marrerro for Marquis, Wainwright and King.
I always liked Walt’s demeanor and M.O. as a GM. He really likes to operate low-key and out of the spotlight. It wasn’t a big surprise to see the Reds’ success this year after he’d tweaked the roster for a couple years.
rasmus was drafted under the Luhnow reign. Pujols was definitely a lucky pick. Ankiel? erm..
he was a pretty bad drafter. Always having to see great talents passed up for the Chris Lambert’s of the world really can drive one crazy.
Like you said, Luhnow is currently responsible for drafting, not Mozeliak the GM. I don’t think Jocketty was ever the one most in charge of drafting.
Berkman at SS = too funny! 🙂
Berkman at SS = too funny! 🙂
Berkman at SS = too funny! 🙂
this makes me feel a little bit better@billjamesonline projects Berkman at .275/.393/.486 with 22 home runs. #stlcards
pretty good. Makes for a dangerous line up i suppose. Just get another middle infielder please(Johnson!).
Bill James also projects the US economy to grow by 7% next year. I wouldn’t believe either…
yeah but its not like its that far fetched if he loses a bit of weight and stays remotely healthy. He is one season removed from a .907 OPS. I think the projections are a bit generous, but if his knees are close to 100% and drops about 10 pounds, he could be a force offensively.
He needs to be, to make up for the absolutely atrocious defense he’ll provide in the OF.
After taking massive risks in 2010 with the roster, I thought Mozeliak would have figured this out my now.
And Brendan Ryan is one season removed from .292/.340/.400. How did that work out?
i don’t get what your saying. Brendan Ryan had basically a career year last season, his minor league track record and major league track record aren’t that impressive. Berkman on the other hand has a career obp over .400 with power. It is also pretty obvious Ryan’s best asset is his defense, not his offense while berkman is the opposite. Ryan also had wrist surgery in the off season which is known to kill people’s offense for at least a year. I really am missing the point of your post, sorry.
I’m saying that simply hoping for Berkman to get his stuff back together in 2011 is probably a bit of wishful thinking. He’s had knee problems in the past, so having him cover more ground in the outfield, where he hasn’t played since 07, may not be a great idea. Not to mention that when he did play in the OF, he was horrible. And of course he’s got to make the mental adjustment to playing in the OF, which could creep into his offensive production.
Point being, simply hoping for an offensive boost because he’s one year removed from a great season, at his age, physical state, and injury history, is probably wishful thinking. Then again, judging by Mozeliak’s work in assemblying the 2010 roster, wishful thinking is what he does best.
But, the Cards aren’t hoping for a return to one magic season with Berkman. The guy is a lifetime .409 OBP hitter. In front of Pujols, that = runs. Raz will cover the extra ground on Defense. This is a great move to create depth on a team that, last year, was killed by a lack of viable options. $8M is a bit much, in my opinion, but I like the signing.
Besides, if Berkman is a bust, we can always go back to plan B of a Craig/Jay platoon.
yeah but its not like its that far fetched if he loses a bit of weight and stays remotely healthy. He is one season removed from a .907 OPS. I think the projections are a bit generous, but if his knees are close to 100% and drops about 10 pounds, he could be a force offensively.
Bill James also projects the US economy to grow by 7% next year. I wouldn’t believe either…
Bill James projections have a reputation for being overly optimistic (look up the line on some players like Domonic Brown…)
Berkman says his knee is good, he could have a great year. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the lineup.
At least Berkman will be supported by two solid defensive players in Rasmus and Holliday. Gotta be honest, though, I think that by July we might be looking at a scenario where Pujols and Berkman are switching positions for a few months…
In a bad way this deal has the feel of the sort of personnel decisions that dominated the 80s.
Now all the Cards have to do is sign a fan favorite from the Bucs, Crew and Reds, and Mo’s evil plan will be complete!
I here Joe Morgan doesn’t have a job. He should be an improvement over Skip.
Yeah, Skip is all right but he’s no Hall of Fame second baseman.
Now Joe Morgan is a Hall of Fame second baseman! But even back in his prime when he was a Hall of Fame second baseman, a plate of spaghetti back then was $1.50, and it was very good food, that’s why it lasted, just like Joe Morgan, the Hall of fame second baseman.
I don’t want you to draw any conclusion. I want you to listen to what I just said.
Epic
Where are rasmus and jay going to play?
Jay Is NOT A Starter…He’s A Bench Player And Rasmus Isn’t Going Anywhere
Wow.. First the tigers boost up their lineup, than red sox, and now possibly the cards? Uh oh.. I guess now we definitely NEED cliff
Undoubtedly the worst move of the offseason. I like the fact that it’s a decent bat, but the defense is beyond horrible. The Cardinals now have Chris Duncan back in left and someone who is equivalent to Chris Duncan in right. This spells DISASTER!!!
how is this the equivalent of Chris Duncan in right? Duncan was horrendous in left field, Holliday is above average. Stop panicking. Take a deep breath and take a quick walk outside to cool off.
Screw that it’s cold outside :p lmao.
Holliday really is above average… in left field. In right field though? Idk. That’s where I don’t like the signing. They needed a bullpen arm instead of another offense guy. Berkman we know will be a train wreck in LF. lol. Holliday is gonna be new to right (ok I’m sure he’s played RF before… just not at MLB level). Idk man. Get ready for a rollercoaster.
Jay and craig are nothing special in right field either. Holliday will probably be right on par with them defensively.
That is the one thing I truly miss about Luddy was his defense in right, now we not only have two OF’s w/ no range but 3 wet noodles in the OF. I have mixed feelings about this deal but like it better than the Theriot deal
Which is exactly why I’m scratching my head over this one. We supposedly traded Ludwick because he was arb eligible and going to be too pricey. We needed $ room for Pujols’ extension. But then we sign Berkman for $8M? Would Ludwick have earned $8M or more through arbitration? I could be wrong, but I find that difficult to believe.
It was thought that Ludwick would be traded in the offseason anyway (which in hindsight with the inconsistent offense that forced this Berkman signing, probably wouldn’t have happened, but he was traded because we desperately needed starting pitching [and Westbrook did improve the team more than losing Ludwick made it worse, as there’s no way we’d have had a winning season by continuing to rely on Suppan (although he was a decent fill-in), Hawksworth, and Lohse (although he rebounded in September) for 2 rotation spots and later 3 after Garcia was shut down]. Pujols will make $16M ($3M of it deferred) next season regardless of whether or not he signs an extention this offseason or not.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the impact that an extreme groundball pitching staff could have on minimizing defensive shortcomings in the outfield.
Chris Duncan equivalent in right? Wow! How long will it take some people to forget a parttime outfielder that got hurt and couldn’t come back?
I don’t think anyone could ever match the Duncan nightmare. Probably some of the worst fielding I’ve ever witnessed. He looked so lost. A ball actually bounced off the top of his head one time. Didn’t think I’d ever see that at the MLB level. I do kinda feel sorry for the guy, tho. He’d been okay at 1B throughout his life, then this Pujols guy came along and rather than trade him, management said, “Chris, you’re gonna have to learn to play in the outfield if you want a spot on the team.” Who knows what would have happened had they dealt him right away and his confidence level wouldn’t have been shot through the heart.
it’s risky putting berkman in the OF, i mean it’s been 3 yrs since he’s done it.
Precursor to a Pujols trade?
O.K. do any of you read these columns or just the headline seriously. No wonder education in America keeps dropping to lower heights every year. If you would just read, the article would answer your questions. He will be in left field, Holliday in right.
O.K. now that my complaining is done, YAY!!!! This was amazing news coming home from work.
That is going to be one ugly defensive outfield. I bet the Cardinal pitchers are questioning this. I can see Carpenter on the mound now.
Um, LF bad, CF above average, RF above average. What’s so ugly about it as a whole?
I Think the cards did an excellent job with this pickup.To have #3 Albert #4 holliday and #5 Berkman in the lineup will truley be deadly for the opposing teams. Now defensivley they will take a crucial hit I believe , especially more putting him in the outfield a position he has not played since 2007 but for a 1 year deal it was a gamble worth taking and for example if they re-sign a randy winn as a solid bench option , they can also put him in the game late for defensive reasons. I got to see a lot of Lance being my crosstown rivals picked him up at the deadline in July and I watched him struggle in the beginning but toward middle of September and especially in the post season, he really put it together. Over all I like the move. If anyone wants to comment on my thought then reach me at mets1983gmailcom
I like #2 Berk, #3 AP, #4 Matty, and #5 Raz even better!
Um ok… When I read about this I was like “Woo hooo!”. I can’t wait! Think about it. Pujols, Holliday, Rasmus, and now Berkman. And you can’t forget about Ryan T. Even though he won’t hit the home runs, I think he will have a come back year. Come on. Lance is a very good player. I love the deal. I think he will be good in LF and I think Holliday will be good in RF. OK.
The Cards have locked up the MLB’s worst defensive outfield. The pitchers are going to love this! Holliday is horrible, Berkman is slow and old, and Rasmus while solid as a corner OF, is poor in center.
all the cardinal pitchers are mostly groundball pitchers
What outfield are you watching? Only Berkman is a liability.
So rasmus is only good as a corner outfielder, cannot wait to see who you think is a good CF. Rasmus will have to cover more ground with berkman in left but holliday can play decent OF and he has an ok arm(not too good for right though). Berkman claims he is healthy and can move better than he did the last couple years so maybe he can be better than Manny was in LF the last 3 or 4 years. Point being Puma aint playing over 125 games I bet and his D will be questionable sometimes but with having groundball pitchers and a good CF an average RF and a below average LF the Cards can get away with it.
With this D they wont have a good OF D but they will have good enough to win with a line up like that they can win some games. Best lineup in the central which should be more than enough to win with a pitching staff like theirs.
Possible Lineup-
1 Theroit
2 Rasmus
3 Pujols
4 Holliday
5 Berkman
6 Freese
7 Molina
8 Pitcher spot
9 Shumaker
Rasmus has an inaccurate arm, and have you ever watched his routes to balls??…his speed doesnt matter when you take crappy routes to the baseball
Rasmus most defintely has an inaccurate arm, there is no doubt about that. Now I do agree he takes bad routes to balls, but with that said it is something that is improving. Now when you say it doesnt matter if you have speed and your run bad routes, but i think it would hurt worse if he was slow and ran bad routes so yeah speed does make a difference.
Pretty much what I get out of you is that Rasmus has hit his ceiling and he wont get better when last year was his first full season being a starter at the major league level. He will become a more disciplined hitter and fielder, if you can’t see that then I do not know what to tell you. With all that said he probably tops out as a B to B+ defender, his inaccuracy will always hold him back but he will still be at that tier right below gold glove level which will be good enough for a team that has all groundball pitchers.
Your reply to mine still has absolutely nothing to do with what I said, I never once mentioned Rasmus’es speed, routes to the ball, or arm before you did so maybe you should find someone who did so you can reply to that next time.
couldnt agree more…and we have the worst MLB shortstop arm in the majors with Theriot
Yeah we also had a bad pitching staff, a horrible shortstop arm, a thirdbasemen who had a bad shoulder and couldn’t hit, a rookie closing, and an outfield that had both chris duncan(awful OF) and Juan Encarnacion with Belliard playing second, would not say thats very good offensively or defensively and hey we won the WS. Maybe you should stop being so negavtive and try to see the good out of what has happened.
The Cards have locked up the MLB’s worst defensive outfield. The pitchers are going to love this! Holliday is horrible, Berkman is slow and old, and Rasmus while solid as a corner OF, is poor in center.
The Cards have locked up the MLB’s worst defensive outfield. The pitchers are going to love this! Holliday is horrible, Berkman is slow and old, and Rasmus while solid as a corner OF, is poor in center.
They are going to need the fastest CF they can find with Berkman and Holliday flanking him. That’s a LOT of extra ground that’s going to have to be covered.
The one positive that I find for myself is that Berkman did NOT come to Colorado as had been widely speculated. He can’t play the OF anywhere else, so trying to do it at Coors would be an absolute nightmare. The only way him coming to the Rockies would have made any sense is for Helton to retire, and that ain’t happening, unfortunately.
They are going to need the fastest CF they can find with Berkman and Holliday flanking him. That’s a LOT of extra ground that’s going to have to be covered.
The one positive that I find for myself is that Berkman did NOT come to Colorado as had been widely speculated. He can’t play the OF anywhere else, so trying to do it at Coors would be an absolute nightmare. The only way him coming to the Rockies would have made any sense is for Helton to retire, and that ain’t happening, unfortunately.
They are going to need the fastest CF they can find with Berkman and Holliday flanking him. That’s a LOT of extra ground that’s going to have to be covered.
The one positive that I find for myself is that Berkman did NOT come to Colorado as had been widely speculated. He can’t play the OF anywhere else, so trying to do it at Coors would be an absolute nightmare. The only way him coming to the Rockies would have made any sense is for Helton to retire, and that ain’t happening, unfortunately.
Does anyone think the cards will sign anyone else?
Pujols to an 8 year extension and maybe another reliever.
They are also will be getting a back-up catcher. Maybe a long reliever, probably one that was a starter last few years. Also they have Brandon Ryan that can be a trade piece for a young guy.
Does anyone think the cards will sign anyone else?
I remember exchanging comments with Cardinal fans when I said they would regret getting rid of Ryan Ludwick, who I’d have loved to go to the Giants. But all of them said they were set with John Jay, who I felt was overrated and playing over his head.
Now it looks like the Cardinals agreed with my assessment. Berkman’s going to play LF, along with Rasmus and Holliday, and that leaves the “young star” Jay as the fourth outfielder.
Personally, I think Allen Craig is a lot more likely to be our heir apparent in RF (assuming Holliday moves back to LF net year) than Jay.
im a Cardinals fan and live in STL…we should realize that we have a TERRIBLE owner in DeWitt and a pawn of a GM in Mozeliak…John Jay is at best a 4th outfielder
Remember this is a pitching staff that gets a lot of ground ball. They won in 2006 with Chris Duncan in left. Nobody could be worse than he was. It’s never a good sign when you have to wear a helmet in the outfield. Defense maybe suffers some with Theriot and Berkman, but nobody in the NLC or maybe the NL has the pitching or firepower of St. Louis.
The Giants have better pitching.
Okay, you compare Westbroke to Zito. I will go for Westbroke 4 of 5 times.
Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels would disagree with you.
That is only 3 guys. Why not place a complete 5 man starting rotation out.
Berkman’s bat is a nice fit for that lineup, but Colby Rasmus is going to to run himself ragged chasing balls down in the gaps. Yes, Holliday has been a pretty solid defender in left, but replacing him with a butcher and making Holliday learn a new position (ok, it’s not like he’s moving to catcher, but…) is going to be a problem. Hopefully the Cards break camp with a solid defender as their fourth outfielder.
Wow…. This is some surprising and terrible stuff… what a waste of money … why not sign Hermida or Francour to play rightfield? That would of been better and probably A LOT cheaper….. what the hell is wrong with the cardinals management, seriously
Wow…. This is some surprising and terrible stuff… what a waste of money … why not sign Hermida or Francour to play rightfield? That would of been better and probably A LOT cheaper….. what the hell is wrong with the cardinals management, seriously
Lol what a joke, you can’t be serious, the fact you use the word better with the players hermida and or francour makes me wonder if you watch baseball or just play video baseball games. Obviously we were not signing berkman because of his defense so the fact you ask for hermida or especially francour is a complete joke. The wanted a stick not a glove, personally I would rather see rasmus, pujols, holliday, and berkman as your 2-5 rather than pujols, holliday, rasmus, hermida/ francour as your 3-6. Do not forget we have a ot of groundball pitchers so however bad berkman(who says he is in great shape) plays in left wont be as visible as how bad Manny used to be.
Cardinals had Berkman do a team physical, and found out that he is in better shape right now and has lost weight.
berkman is still a fat bum in defensively in the outfield…and he is going to be 35 years old…idk who ios worse in the outfield…Chris Duncan or Lance Berkman?
If Berkman can somehow regain some of his form, this could be a major boom for the Cards.
But honestly, I think the Big Puma is on the decline.
Like some others on here have said, I just don’t get the logic behind this deal. I’m not saying it was a bad deal, I just don’t see the reason for it. Berkman isn’t the player he use to be and they already have Holliday playing LF.
-2.1 is ugly?
It’s not that bad. It’s almost average, as compared to the -15’s that some left fielders put up.
It looks like the Cards are almost set then, barring a trade for a decent hitter in the middle of the infield, and possibly …
I would love to see them sign a great reliever as an insurance policy to the non dominant declining Franklin… Although maybe somebody in the organization can step into that role this year… Boggs, Motte, Salas, McClellan come to mind…
Can I ask how a -2.1 UZR is “ugly”? That is average at worst. The right comment to make is that he hasn’t played there since 2007 and would probably be worse than his career numbers.
Lance is tight and will rake
What would it ake for the Cards to get Stephen Drew? Ryan & a couple prospects?
Probally Ryan, Lance Lynn, Salas, and another relief pitcher (Motte, Boggs, Sanchez, Samuel). They could probally also get him for Salas and Carlos Martinez. But the DBacks have said he’s unavailable.
What do Cardinals Fan and Gay Men Have in Common???
They Both Love POOHOLES
He couldn’t play the OF 4 years ago….do you think he’s improved with age? Somehow, I doubt it. What are they thinking in St. Louis?
How come every old man and subpar defensive OF/1B begrudges being a DH?