The St. Louis Cardinals traded for Oakland A’s pitcher Mark Mulder, according to The Sporting News‘ Ken Rosenthal. They certainly gave up some value in return, sending Danny Haren, Kiko Calero, and 2003 1st round draft pick catcher Daric Barton to the A’s. Mulder was an excellent pitcher from 2001 through the middle of last season. He then pulled a Matt Clement, disappearing down the stretch. 12-2 at the All-Star break, Mulder went 5-6 with a 6.13 ERA after the break.
It’s always disappointing when the rival acquires a big gun. Cubs blog 1060west writes, “Mulder is an ace. This was a great trade by Walt Jocketty.”
Cardinals fans are certainly excited. Cardinals blog All in the Cards goes so far as to state, “MLB’s 2004 Executive of the Year has made the deal that will likely keep his Cardinals at or near the top of the National League.” All in the Cards ignores, however, Mulder’s second half problems last year.
Still, if Mulder is healthy, one of the great things about him is that he’s just as tough on righthanders as he is lefthanders. His three-year split totals have him allowing an OPS against righties (.700) almost identical to what he allows against lefties (.693), meaning the Cubs’ big guns – Ramirez, Sosa (?), Lee, and Garciaparra, all righties – won’t have as much of an advantage against him as they would a normal lefty.
The Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Jose Mesa today to a one-year contract with an option for 2006, reports MLB.com. You have to admire Mesa’s loyalty. The Pirates were the only team before last season to offer Mesa a chance to be the closer. As a result, though Mesa could have declared himself a free agent this offseason, he never did, and re-signed with Pittsburgh. “I don’t care about the other opportunities. If Pittsburgh wants me to be here, I am willing to stay here,” said Mesa.
As I said, you have to admire that kind of loyalty. You also have to admire it because it means Jim Hendry can’t be tempted to make Mesa the Cubs’ closer.
Carlos Beltran, playoff hitter extraordinary, will be a free agent this offseason. The Yankees, of course, have been rumored to be interested, as they seemingly are with every high profile player. However, the New York Daily News‘ Bill Madden doesn’t think the Yankees will be serious players, for the following reasons:
But even at that, part of the problem for the Yankees (assuming you believe Steinbrenner considers a payroll of $200 million to be a problem) is two of Boras’ fading other clients, Brown ($15 mil) and Bernie Williams ($15.5 mil) are responsible for a sizeable chunk of the payroll in the final years of their contracts. Add in, with Williams, the $11 million Giambi is owed for next year and the $3.1 mil for Kenny Lofton (who will be difficult to move at that price) and that’s $39 million in center fielders and designated hitters alone, two of whom would have to be on the bench if Beltran were signed to play center field.
If this really does dissuade the Yankees, and the Cubs are interested in signing Beltran, removing the Yankees as an option could help keep the price reasonable.
The Houston Astros’ acquisition of Carlos Beltran not only gives them a quality centerfielder with a very good bat, but allows them to switch Craig Biggio to leftfield where he’ll be less of a liability defensively. It’s not exactly acquiring Randy Johnson circa 1998, but I’d say it’s close. Last year the Cubs were the big movers. This year, Houston has struck first. With Jeff Bagwell and Biggio running out of time, and Roger Clemens on a one year lease, the Astros are clearly doing everything they can to win the World Series this year.
It will be interesting to see if the Cubs answer the Beltran acquisition like they did the Clemens one with Greg Maddux. Shortstop is the only obvious upgrade position. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options in that regard. Of course, with the way the Cardinals are playing (who saw Chris Carpenter’s comeback?), perhaps neither team will catch St. Louis.
I haven’t had time to digest these yet, but I know any Cubs preview written by David Geiser will be worth reading. And speaking of Central Division previews, The Big Red C has the final installment of his Astros preview up, concluding the well worth reading “Know Your Enemy” series (see the links on the left side of his blog).
Redbird Nation’s Brian Gunn analyzes issues facing the 2004 Cardinals. He thinks they’ll compete this year (I have no doubt they will), but this might be “the last year the team competes for quite awhile.”
The Journal’s Allen St. John provided his predictions on each of the divisions in Friday’s paper. Here’s his (short) take on the NL Central:
37-11: Andy Pettitte’s home record since 2000. Astro fans popped the bubbly when Houston signed the ex-Yankee, but Mr. Pettitte (7.04-run-per-game support in 2003) will miss New York. That hands the division to the Chicago Cubs – who added pop with Derrek Lee (.508 SLG) and Todd Walker (.428 SLG). But the Cubs’ 22-year-old Carlos Zambrano (7-3, 2.51 ERA after the All-Star break) should be the division’s difference maker.
He goes on to state that “[i]n October, the Cubs win a classic NLCS against the wild-card Astros. . . . And purists get the World Series they’ve wanted, with Kerry Wood exorcising the Cubs’ demons, while Boston’s wait endures.”
There has been some question about whether Corey Patterson would be ready to go by spring training. The last I reported on this was in September, when the Daily Herald reported Patterson should be ready. Today, the Rocky Mountain News‘ Tracy Ringolsby reports that Patterson “has received a clean bill of health.” Ringolsby doesn’t cite a source. Two weeks ago, MLB.com quoted Dusty Baker saying he was going to treat Patterson “gingerly.”
On another note, there’s a quote at the bottom of the Ringolsby column from Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty saying that he’s “irritated” with how much hype the Cubs and Astros are receiving.
ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer on the National League Central: “The Cubs might have another big move in them. But if they don’t sign Ivan Rodriguez or Greg Maddux, the Astros are the team to beat in 2004.”
Apparently on purpose. Who were they bidding against? And why can’t the Cubs beat a team year-in and year-out that signs contracts like this? This is like some team going out and signing Joe Girardi to a three-year, multi-million dollar contract in 2000.
Are you kidding me? Could this day have gone any better? Astros lose their second in a row to the Brewers, while the Cubs sweep a doubleheader, clinching the division, allowing Kerry Wood to rest until Game 1 of the playoffs. I’ve had a smile on my face most of the day.
One week ago, Cardinals pitcher Matt Morris had some nice things to say about the Astros and some not so nice things to say about the Cubs. Tonight, with the Cardinals all but eliminated from the division race, but with the Astros and Cubs still fighting it out, Morris took the hill against the Astros at Busch Stadium.
His line: 5IP, 8H, 6ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR. His team lost 8-1.
It’s clear what I’m insinuating here.
Now, I don’t think Morris did what I just insinuated. But his performance tonight raises another problem with his comments last week (outside of the sheer pettiness of them) that wasn’t readily apparent when they were made (because the Cardinals were still in the race). Even if Morris really feels that way about the Cubs, he never should have said what he did, because it’s important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Morris said, “What’s sad is that these clubs [the Cardinals and Astros] could go right to the end, battling and each team winding up winning three games while the Cubs could sneak in there unscathed. That wouldn’t be fun.
“We’ve been battling way too long to expend our energy and then have the Cubs win.”
Morris said, in fact, that if the Cardinals didn’t win, he hoped Houston did. “I really have a respect for their players,” Morris said. “When we compete against them, the games are intense but they don’t have that, ‘I want to kill you, I hate you’ attitude. When it’s over, it’s easy to tip your hat to the other side.
“It’s just the way they go about it and the way we go about it. There’s professionalism involved.”
Baseball Prospectus’s Joe Sheehan today on the Cubs, Astros, and Cardinals (subscription req’d):
The Astros and Cardinals have about four good starting pitchers combined, and managed to come out of July without adding anyone. The Cardinals, heaven help them, might find themselves in a bidding war for Kevin Appier once he clears waivers. I’m surprised by and a little disappointed in both teams: the Astros, because I thought they had both the money and the prospects to make a deal; the Cardinals, because I spent the last month talking up how great a job Walt Jocketty had done at trade deadlines in the past. I don’t think the Cubs are that good, but they look like the best of the three teams right now, especially with Roy Oswalt possibly out for the season.
Also in BP today, Will Carroll reports that Jim Edmonds is headed to the DL with shoulder problems after the cortisone shot he received Monday failed to help, and that we may have seen the last of Edmonds this year.
Both the Cardinals (Edmonds and Matt Morris) and the Astros (Oswalt) have significant injury problems right now. The Cubs have had their share of injury problems – Sammy Sosa, Corey Patterson, and Mark Prior – as well. But the Cubs problems are behind them (assuming Prior returns healthy on Tuesday and taking into consideration the Cubs’ acquisition of a decent replacement for Patterson in Kenny Lofton), while the other teams’ problems are ahead of them. Even without Edmonds, the Cardinals still have a real good offense, and the Astros still have the lead. But even with the Cubs tough August schedule and their questionable, at the least, in-game strategy, the NL Central race should remain close for the rest of the season.
In news that will impact the NL Central Division race, the Cardinals placed Matt Morris on the DL with a broken right index finger. He’s expected to miss three-to-six weeks.
