The 2015 Baseball Winter Meetings are on.
If you’re involved with men hitting a leather ball with a wooden bat in a professional capacity, then you’re in Nashville this week working an angle.
Executives, agents and everyone in between have turned the page on the 2015 season and have come prepared with their freshly printed off-season roadmap.
Get some rest. The #WinterMeetings madness begins. pic.twitter.com/m4zTlx8bAx
— MLB (@MLB) December 7, 2015
The hard truth, though?
Some teams are going to lose their way this week and cost themselves small and big. Regrettable contracts will be signed. Lousy trades will be consummated. Career arcs will be flattened.
Mo has been a pretty good driver for the Cardinals franchise during his tenure as the GM. But keeping the team in between the mustard and mayo is more critical this winter than in years past.
The Pirates have proven that they’re not a fluke. The Cubs look to be a real contender.
If the Cardinals hope to remain the NL Central Champions in 2016 (and beyond), then they’re going to have to make moves.
+++++
It’s hard to get a consensus on anything when it comes to fans.
But I think that if we put it to poll, the priorities for this Cardinals off-season would look something like this:
- Sign Jason Heyward
- Sign/trade for a really good starting pitcher
- Sign/trade for someone that can hit a home run
Log on to Twitter or your favorite Cardinals blog and you’re going to (primarily) get some iteration of those three objectives.
When the Cardinals came hard at David Price, it gave us all a little tingle. No, they didn’t close. But the prospect of the Cardinals getting at least one shiny new pitching star was looking good.
A week later, reports from STLToday.com have indicated the Cardinals may have decided that hunting with the big dogs might not be a fruitful strategy…
Mozeliak said the team will seek “fit and usefulness” in a starter. He had previously described the team’s wish for “horsepower” from the market, but that was a reference to the possibility of signing Price.
That’s just the pitching.
Anything on JHey? We need some JHey back in our lives.
“We’ve come here with some goals we’d like to accomplish,” Mozeliak said. “And this setting leads to more activity than if 30 clubs weren’t adjoined at the hip. I think the next few days — not only do I hope they’re productive, but I think they’re an opportunity for them to be productive.”
Now that is some impressive corporate speak!
The Hot Stove is on full burn as you read this. New contracts will be coming in fast and furious over the next several days. We’ll continue to cover all the signings/trades that are relevant to the Cardinals.
Like it or not, this week is going to be critical to how much fun we have this coming summer.
Photo: SaferKid
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
