11:04pm: Renck confirmed that the Rockies are out on Miles after signing Amezaga (Twitter link). Yesterday's workout sold them on his ability to help the club.
8:16pm: Utility infielder Aaron Miles is drawing interest from multiple AL and NL teams according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post (on Twitter). The Rockies were rumored to be one such team, but they signed Alfredo Amezaga to a minor-league contract earlier today. The Nationals had interest in Miles earlier this offseason as well.
The 34-year-old hit .281/.311/.317 in 151 plate appearances for the Cardinals last season, not all that far off from his .282/.321/.354 career batting line. He has plenty of experience at both middle infield spots and has dabbled at third base and in left field in his career. Miles also has five career pitching appearances (3.60 ERA) to his credit, so he can always do that in an emergency as well.
blue jays ?
Only if we sign him to be a reliever. We need more of those, in case you were wondering.
whyyyyyyyyyyyy
who knew that zero tool players could generate so much interest?
Milton Bradley ended up getting 30 million for having a mediocre year in 2008.. I feel sorry for Mariners fans having to deal with him everyday and all his BS
ummm.. in 2008 he had a .436 OBP and .999 OPS
He may be a tool, but his 2008 was nothing close to mediocre
I was gonna say we already signed Jerry Hairston Jr, why do we need Aaron Miles, but then I saw that ERA, he could probably make our rotation. In other words, get back soon Strasburg.
…. but aaron miles is a horrible baseball player.
He’s a strong bench. A hustler and a positive clubhouse influence.
He’s a singles hitter who doesn’t walk and is bad at every conceivable defensive position. Yes, he hustles. He’d better, since he’s bad at everything else. I’m glad (it appears) that he won’t be donning a Cards uni this year.
Well if nothing else, if the dugout gets full in September, people can sit on him.
Aaron Miles went to my High School!
Ryan Ludwick went to my HS the first year it opened 1995 i think it was in Las Vegas i went there 4 yrs later
Love to see him go to the Cards……hate the Cards.
Love to actually see the Cubs compete for once….hate the Cubs.
The Cubs won’t compete anytime soon trust me you have nothing to look forward too for good 5 years.. or when all the bad contracts are up.. I like most cubs fans hope guys like Ramirez, Pena, Soriano and Zambrano are moved before their contracts are up.. I would be shocked if anyone actually wanted Ramirez though… Unfortunately Pena will likely get a huge extension if he hits .203
5 years might be a stretch. The contracts of Ramirez, Kosuke, Pena, Silva and Grabow are all up after this year. The combined total for them is roughly 39M not counting buyouts or excersizing options. After next year Zambrano, Dempster, and Byrd are all cleared. Their combined total is 38.5M with no buyouts. Granted they will still have Soriano for 2 more years but having only 2 years left he could be more tradeable than he is right now.
That is 77.5M over the next 2 years. That is a lot of freed up money with some very big names potentially hitting free agency. Are they contenders this year. Not really. Unless they get big years from contract guys Ramirez and Pena and the other teams falter. But depending on what they do with the money coming off the books i could see them being contenders as soon as next year.
I agree with all that. The problem is Jim Hendry and his track record for signing free agents. I have zero confidence in Hendry’s ability to sign a quality free agent at a reasonable price.
Maybe someone else will be making those calls when the time comes.
Yeah he has made some boneheaded decisions when it comes to free agency. Bradley, Soriano, and Grabow have probably been the worst, Pena’s deal is close but he does have a solid track record and it is only a 1 yr deal so ill let that one slide. But for all his idiocy in FA he did make some good signings too. Zambranos deal at the time it was signed was widely considered to be a bargain considering the Zito contract the offseason before Zambrano probably could have easily gotten over 100M as a FA. Ramirez’s deal was also considered a very good one with Anaheim wanting him very badly. So while i would love to roast Hendry like a chicken i cant say that he has been all bad. His trades were very good and now that money is freeing up i have some ideas for some of the major moves that could be made over the next couple offseasons.
1st. If he puts up a line closer to his career line i say they should resign Aramis to a 2 year deal. You might ask why. Look at the FA class at 3B the next 2 years. There is next to nothing. The Cubs dont have a guy ready in the minors. And look at who could be available after the 2013 season. Zimmerman, Wright, Reynolds, Youkilis. We would have the money to bring in one of those guys when you add the money from an expiring Ramirez deal and Soriano having just one year left on his deal after 2013.
2nd. Take the combined 32M from Zambrano and Dempster’s expiring deals after 2012 and go after Jered Weaver and Matt Cain. Put those 2 at the top with Garza and probably McNutt and Jay Jackson at the backend. Pretty solid rotation.
3rd. And this is the quickest one. If Pujols makes it to FA. Put in a starting offer of 7/217M. Thats 31M per year. Do whatever it takes to get him. The bigger markets Boston and NY are already locked into their 1B. Outbid everyone and see if he takes the deal.
What do u think?
Let’s see. I 100% agree with you on making a run at Pujols. If he were going to give the Cardinals a huge home town discount, the Cardinals would have already given it, and he already would have taken it.
He had been the most under payed athlete in all of professional sports over the past 7 or 8 years. He deserves every penny he can get from St. Louis and then some, so if the Cardinals low ball him, based on his love for St. Louis, maybe he will decide he wants fair market value and test the free agent market next year.
Again, I agree . Do whatever it takes. The Cubs will have the money and it makes a lot of business sense to get Albert in a Cub uniform.
Next, A-Ram for another 2 years is fine, but don’t break the bank. If he was healthy, hitting in front of Albert, he would get a lot of pitches to hit. Hitting behind him would give him a chance to drive in 100-110 runs.
Pitching wise, it seems like the Cubs have 5 or 6 young guys who have a chance. If just 2 of them work out and then sign Cain or Danks or Carmona or who ever, then the Cubs could be in really good shape.
That’s a lot of “ifs”. One thing is for sure though. The Cubs will have plenty of money to spend which is more than most teams can claim.
Yeah i agree with you. If they were willing to pay and he was willing to sign the deal would be done already. As far as the big markets NY has Teixiera, Boston has AGon, PHI has Howard, CHI has Konerko/Dunn, LA has no financial flexibility to sign him, and Anaheim has Kendry Morales. If its not STL i think that the Cubs and the Mets have the ability to offer the most and im not sure that the Mets would even be in it. Anaheim could sneak in and then deal Morales. I think SF could be a possibility but not sure on the money. For the best player on the planet i would have no problem giving him 30-32M per year for 7 or 8 years. We have the expiring contracts and the revenue to give him that deal and still put a team together around him that can be contenders every year. If it brought him here id even let him pick a manager.
The reason i say ARam for 2 years is instead of picking up his pricey option for one year maybe we can get a 2/24 or somewhere close. Then you have his and eventually Sorianos money freed up when that huge possible crop of 3B hit FA. I believe that he is in for a great bounce back season. He was having a great 09 before the freak injury and look at what he did in July and August after spending time on the DL to heal up. He’ll start the year healthy which is something that i dont think he did last year and could provide nice protection in the lineup for Pujols.
As far as the arms go. They have Dempster and Z signed through 2012 (Demp has a player option but I would be shocked if he didnt excersise it). After 2012 there are some very good FA options assuming they make it to FA. I think Matt Cain would have to be option #1. He’ll be just 28 and all you have to do is look at his numbers to know why he should be option 1. Grienke and Jered Weaver will be options also. But i think that you start this offseason by going and getting Cole Hamels. With all the money that they have in their SP already with Doc, Lee, and Oswalt not to mention the position players idk that they will be able to afford him.
Imagine a rotation in 2013 with Cain, Hamels, and Garza at the front.
As far as the young guys go. They have a few in waiting. I think Randy Wells will be better than he was last year. I also think that Cashners future is in the rotation. I know that it is kinda farfetched but just imagine Cain, Hamels, Garza, Cashner, Wells/McNutt/Jay Jackson or eventually Hayden Simpson.
I would rather sign Hamels and Cain the next 2 years instead of Pujols. I know that sounds a little nuts but 2 guys who have been dominant and have had success in the postseason with WS experience who would just be 28 (Cain in 2013) and 28 (Hamels in 2012) to go along with Garza who is just 27 right now.
what do u think?
I’d rather see them not go after huge free agent signings that’s been the problem the last 5 yrs.. horrible contract signings. Even tough they gave up way too much for Garza they are loaded in the minors. They should trade Ramirez, and Pena at least by july bring up a few rookies.. it wont matter anyway they will be out of the race in May. they really have nothing to lose.. Maybe even trade Byrd because he deserves much better then the Cubs..bring up Brett Jackson ready or not and see that he has to offer.. it means jack s*** to call up rookies to only have them in a limited role once or twice a week in a PH role and then taken out.. they need to be starting..
Ill respond in the same order you made your “points”.
1st. While the number of guys they gave up in the Garza deal was high they really only gave up 2 legit ML prospects in Archer and Lee. With Castro and the depth in the minors at the middle IF positions Lee leaving isnt all that heartbreaking and considering Archer’s history with lacking command on his pitches it is better to sell high on him if you are going to trade him. I hope the kid figured things out and continues trending upward but it wasnt that long ago when he wasnt considered much of a prospect due to his lack of command. The other 2 guys, Guyer and Chirinos, have already been replaced with Max Ramirez and the OF prospect that came over in the Gorz deal.
2nd. Ramirez shouldnt be traded. He was having a great 09 year before the freak injury diving for a ball and had some nagging injuries last year which contributed to his horrendous April and May. After taking time in June to heal he hit .313 in July and .301 in August with 14 HRs and 46 RBIs combined. If he has a year around his career line i would like to see his option picked up or signed to a 2 year extension. There are no front line 3B that are free agents til after 2013 when guys like Zimmerman, Wright, Reynolds and Youkilis are all scheduled to become free agents. Then you can use the money that has already come off the books in addition to money freed up from a possible Ramirez deal expiring and you would have another 18M opening up in a year when Soriano’s deal expires.
Pena is a stopgap. granted an expensive one. But he is there to see if Pujols actually makes it to free agency. If he does id expect the Cubs to make a 30M per year offer. Then if he turns it down you can look at resigning Pena if he has a good year.
Your reasoning for dealing Byrd is moronic.
Also moronic is your statement to bring up Brett Jackson “ready or not” to “see what he has to offer”. I could give you a ton of reasons why you wait on him but ill limit it to just a couple. They dont have to rush him because there isnt currently a spot for him. They have a history of bringing guys up too soon (Patterson, Pie) only to find out they should have waited. Why waste service time on him if he isnt fully ready?
I do agree with you that young guys need to play when they get to the majors. But there is no reason to rush him to the bigs. And your whole “ready or not” idea is ridiculous. You have to have confidence that the guy youre bringing up is ready otherwise why bring him up at all?
Why on earth is anyone interested in Aaron Miles? I hope it isn’t as a baseball player.
What has he done wrong? He hit .281 last year. Pretty good for a bench. And a great teammate.
what did he do wrong? well the .281 avg is nice but his OBP hovering around .300 and near non existent slugging shows he is still a bad offensive bench player. He might play multiple positions, but that doesn’t mean he is good at multiple positons. Its like when people say that Jorge Cantu is a versatile fielder, he might be able to put on a second basemans/SS’s glove but don’t expect pretty results and for a bench player, defense is vital.
I was about to reply to cards2ws above, but luckily I decided to finish reading the thread first. You summed it up just fine.
As a Cards fan, I’ve grown awfully tired of the fanbase’s love affairs with scrappy, gritty, sub par hustlers.
That’s TLR’s love affair, not the fan’s.
besides. didnt they sign Aaron Miles 2.0? AKA Nick Punto
Punto is a good defensive player. Miles isn’t. Big difference.
People call Miles versatile b/c he “can be used” at many different positions. The fact that he’s bad at some and horrible at all of them doesn’t make him versatile. It makes him bad.
Punto is not the amazing defensive player everyone seems to think he is. I would expect that he’ll give the cards two or three highlight worthy stops. One will be a really good play, one he will make look very difficult but any other decent defensive player would have been able to field without the flash, and one he’ll get the out and then be put on the DL for a hamstring pull or something like that.
We got to see that all too often up here in MN. Punto also has a problem hitting.
Maybe not the internet fan base so much, but listen to the people who call in to sports radio in St. Louis and you’ll hear what I’m talking about. Plus, I actually saw a BOHART1 license plate a couple of years ago.
You are correct about La Russa, though.
I’d love to hear the spin from the team that signs him. Suck always shines through.
Miles has been a descent Cardinal asset in each of the last 5 years.
A “descent” Cardinal? Does that mean he was going downward?
He was a particularly good asset in 2009, when he played in 74 games for the Cubs and wasn’t taking playing time away from Brendan Ryan or Tyler Greene.
He may have been the worst player in all of professional baseball in the year he was wearing Cub blue. It was stunningly horrific.
This is a joke right? why would anyone actually be interested in Aaron Miles.. beside Andy LaRoche he’s the worst position player in baseball.. scratch that.. worst infielder in baseball.. Lastings Millege is the worst all around player.. not to mention he has a douchey name too
Cesar Izturis is the worst player statistically in MLB.
But damn what if you had to pick from these turds…
Bobby Crosby
Andy Laroche
Aaron Miles
Cesar Izturis
Can’t be too bad if they made it.
two ex-cubs. why god?
Aaron Miles is a guy that really plays his best on a TLR team. Kind of like Jeff Suppan. I wouldn’t mind him back on the Cards. He’s been a good bench player for them.
multiple mlbtr readers not interested in multiple teams interested