The Chris Moeller Archives

OUR Winter Meeting

Baseball's off-season peaks this week as the winter meetings begin. What's happened so far, and what does it mean? Stop! I'll tell you.

Let's start with the National League Champions. The Cardinals had some difficult arbitration decisions to make. Re-signing Matt Morris was a good start. At $2.5 million, plus incentives, he accepted a 10 million dollar cut in base pay. That's a steal for the Cardinals, even if he's on the backhill slide. He threw 200 innings and won 15 games last year with a bum shoulder. What could he do healthy? Back to his 22 win form? Why not?
Now, you're bringing back Morris, along with Chris Carpenter, Jason Marquis, and Jeff Suppan. Throw in a fifth front-line starter (dare I say Tim Hudson?) and it's lights out. I don't like the Astros' and Cubs' chances of making up 13 games against that rotation.
Cal Eldred re-signs for one year, significant to those of us in Benton County, Iowa, who love Cal and the Cardinals. Eldred is as fearless as they come, and he won't be asked to do too much, behind other right-handed relievers Jason Isringhausen, Julian Tavarez, and Kiko Calero.
Secondbaseman Tony Womack walked away to the Yankees, but there should be some options available on the market to effectively replace him. The only mistake of the off-season so far is letting reliever Steve Kline walk away. The left-handed bullpen tandem of Kline and Ray King was the toughest in the National League, and Kline hasn't allowed a run at Busch Stadium since 2003. I guess the logic is that only one lefty is necessary, but I better not find out that the decision is fallout from his bird flipping incident in June.
There's crucial work left to be done, to say the least. Re-sign SS Edgar Renteria, nab that front-line starter, and find a 2B/table setter.

In other horsehide developments this week, the Braves said good-bye to J.D. Drew by declining him arbitration. I guess that confirms the Cardinals got the best of that trade last year.

Jeff Kent is heading to the Dodgers. This makes little sense to me for LA. Granted, we don't know what sort of offense will be at Jim Tracy's disposal with Adrian Beltre on the market, but adding Kent to your infield defense detracts from a great strength of the Dodgers. And he doesn't come cheap, either- 17 million over two years. Yikes. I say put him at first base, where he should have been ten years ago, put Shawn Green back in right, and Milton Bradley back in center. That also forces Dodgers fans to yell much louder when they want to get inside Bradley's head. Maybe that's the plan.

The Reds have made a completely senseless move in cutting Barry Larkin. Larkin is 40 years old now, but he's playing for peanuts, and he's not asking for a full-time job. What's the downside? He's been the heart and soul of the team for 19 years, and he's not coasting. He recently learned Spanish to help communicate with Latino teammates. If Edgar walks, I would gladly welcome him to St. Louis on a one- or two- year deal. He can still play most days, and fill the lead-off hitter role. Then LaRussa could bring Royce Clayton to town, and run Larkin into retirement.

A Yankees fan friend of mine (yes, you read that correctly) alerted me to this sticky wicket for the Bombers. They're treating the BALCO scandal as a grand opportunity to clear themselves of Jason Giambi's bloated contract, but how will they justify bringing back Gary Sheffield after they've demonized Giambi and voided his deal? If anything, you could make a stronger ethical case for Giambi's behavior. He came clean in his testimony. Sheffield is employing the Barry Bonds "I was duped" defense.

Sports Illustrated's on-line writer, Pete McEntegart, named Cardinal Larry Walker his Sportsman of the Year last week. The decision stemmed from Walker's suggestion that the Dodgers and Cards shake hands on the field after their playoff series. I say "hear, hear." That moment, along with Jim Edmonds' walk-off NLCS Game 6 blast, is what we'll still remember about the 2004 season years from today.

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Last vacation day of the year gets used tomorrow. TGI Thursday.

A guy goes into a confessional. He says "Father, I'm 80 years old. A gorgeous young blonde just invited me to her apartment. Long story short- we've been having wild sex all day."
The priest says, "Did you come in seeking forgiveness, my son?"
"Actually," the man says, "I'm not Catholic."
"Then why are you telling me this?" the priest asks.
"I'm telling everyone."

posted by CM @ 7:47 PM