Edmonds heading to San Diego

[clevername]

while some of Edmonds' body injuries don't appear as debilitating as Rolen's shoulder, his repeated concussions might indeed be of the same concern.

Fat's post showing his line of decreasing production makes me feel a bit better about the deal.

I hope Freeze pans out. The fact that he was blocked a bit in the Pads system is a little more encouraging. If his defense is bad enough to prompt scouts to declare him a first baseman in waiting...well, we're set there. If he can stick at third and can be a stopgap with the potential to be good while we search for Rolen's replacement, then it's a good return.

I hope we don't go and spend the money on "starting pitching help" that ends up wasting a rotation spot and money for years to come (SILVA! please God no.) and this frees us up to take some players on via trade.

[jim]

My point is, if a guy has zero trade value...what is the point of trading him?

Ahh we DID get value for him, and too move his money off the payroll.

Why is moving payroll important if there is nothing to spend it on? I've seen about $10M in payroll leave, am I supposed to be happy with that if I don't get $10M of product on the field?

Saving payroll is not a benefit unless that saved payroll is put back into the team.

[TimeForGuinness]

I still think Rolen is gone as well. Mo is cleaning house and it isn't going to be pretty.

...but we still have ~3 months until spring training. I'll hold up on my opinion of the team/offseason until then.


/I think moving Jimmy was the right move...high risk, no reward

[skmsw]

Fat's post showing his line of decreasing production makes me feel a bit better about the deal.

IF HEALTHY, Edmonds is a player who models to age pretty well. A return to that 800-850 OPS is not entirely unrealistic.

He hasn't been healthy in a couple seasons, but his injuries are ones he would largely be expected to recover from.

This year, his walk rate was a little down, but his K rate much better -- no trends that suggest age-related decline, but one that suggests potentially not swinging the bat as aggressively. His GB:FB blend was at about career levels, his line drive rate a little below career levels but again, equally likely to be because he was hurt as because he's losing it. BABIP significantly below his norms, with no loss of ability to get the ball into the air.

He's something of a bounce-back candidate. Risk he won't? Absolutely. But in a year like 2008 on a team like this one, with only one year to go, the upside potential is probably worth more to me than the combination of what we got in the trade and relief from the risk he won't.

[cards2468]

Does this mean we found our new CF and leadoff hitter internally with Rasmus? I personally would rather have him get a majority of a season in with AAA before we throw him into the lineup baring a hot streak through Spring Training, but at the same time I think it would be a waste of money to pick up somebody like Kenny Lofton to fill in the gap for a season until he's ready

[clevername]

but when you have 2-3 years of steady various injuries PLUS residual neuro symptoms from concussions...well, he could bounce back, but I don't think the likelihood is nearly as much as you're projecting.

[greenback44]

Saving payroll is not a benefit unless that saved payroll is put back into the team.

Unless you're Bill DeWitt or one of his employees. It's like one of those GEICO commercials. We just learned that DeWitt saved a bundle on his car insurance.

Freese is not a good prospect.

I'd rather have Rasmus's age-27 season than his age-21 season, especially since his age-21 season would be on the 2008 Cardinals.

[Go_Crazy_Folks]

My point is, if a guy has zero trade value...what is the point of trading him?

Ahh we DID get value for him, and too move his money off the payroll.

Why is moving payroll important if there is nothing to spend it on? I've seen about $10M in payroll leave, am I supposed to be happy with that if I don't get $10M of product on the field?

Saving payroll is not a benefit unless that saved payroll is put back into the team.

I've seen others comment about what Edmonds value was and at least we get a fringe prospect. Plus you add in to the fact, there's nothing to spend the saved money on.

My point is, this team is not going to be fun to watch. I'm fine if Edmonds was blocking Rasmus, but he wasn't. If anything, Edmonds could have taught him for a year which would be a bigger gain than the prospect we got. We have reservations about trading a 3B that doesn't want to be here, yet jump on a crappy deal to send a Cardinal favorite elsewhere.

If Edmonds had a couple years left fine, but I was looking forward to one last run of watching Jimmy every few days make a play that I just shook my head at. "Jimmy Jacked One" no more!

[clevername]

If anything, Edmonds could have taught him for a year which would be a bigger gain than the prospect we got.

other than the sentimental reasons, that's the biggest problem I have with the trade. Even if Rasmus came up and took the starting job from Jimmy or platooned with him, he could have gained quite a bit of knowledge, advice, and leadership from arguably the best CF of the past decade. That may not have tangible worth...but I think the worth is there.

[Radbird]

Okay, I've slept on this and come to a decision.

I'm going to try and let the rest of the offseason play out and not stress out too much over individual moves.

However this would be much easier if they finally do something that doesn't make me scratch me head and think wtf.