Results tagged ‘ John Mozeliak ’

T-minus 49 hours

There’s now, officially, an announced deadline in the Albert Pujols negotiations.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Monday that talks between the team and agent Danny Lozano will come to an end on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 11 a.m. CT. The deadline has been pushed back from Tuesday, partly out of respect for Stan Musial. “Stan the Man” will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on Tuesday.
“One of the things we wanted to make sure is, tomorrow’s a very big day for Stan Musial,” Mozeliak said on Monday morning. “And it wouldn’t make any sense to have a large distraction for that special day, given the amount of respect we have for that man. So it only makes sense to make sure we weren’t trying to have a lot of things going on, given what’s happening tomorrow in Washington.”
-M.

Tuesday tidbits from Disneyburg

Greetings from a busy day 2 of the GM Meetings. I’ve had Winter Meetings days that were far slower than this one.

A few tidbits from the day:
* I asked John Mozeliak about the Albert Pujols negotiations, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report that the club has a time frame in mind to get something rolling.
His comment: “Obviously Albert is someone that we need to focus on, and in the near future, I will get with his agent Dan Lozano and we will start looking at timing and how to handle the situation.”
* As I noted in the story on Adam Wainwright’s Cy Young finish, Wainwright said that he recently had his right elbow checked out and that it came out clear. Here’s Mozeliak on that topic:
“It was just more precautionary. We just wanted to make sure that how he ended the season, there weren’t any lingering effects. And it was all positive.”
* A couple of other things from talking to Mozeliak after the Jake Westbrook announcement. He said that there’s no one next priority for the club, that comes ahead of all the rest. He also said that the Cardinals maintain interest in adding a sixth starter for depth. 
* However, Bartolo Colon will not be that starter. The club has no interest in Colon at this point.
* Additionally, I wrote this on Twitter, but I wanted to get it in here too: The Westbrook deal is, to my eye, simply an outstanding one for the club. He’s a quality pitcher who should rack up innings, and the going rate for those guys is three years and at least the dollars per year that Westbrook got.
I’m not crazy about the blanket no-trade, but it’s only a two-year contract, so the risk is less than on a longer deal. Overall, though, the dollars are reasonable, and getting a pitcher like this on a deal of less than three years looks very good to me. A nice move.
* And, finally, the playlist. In honor of the release of the mega-box-set of Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town, my five favorite songs from that album:
“Badlands”
“Something in the Night”
“Candy’s Room”
“The Promised Land”
“Prove It All Night”
-M.

Monday night tidbits: Holliday, Penny, arb offers, more

Just got back about an hour ago from the Cardinals’ suite at the Marriott in downtown Indianapolis. Here’s a rundown of some of the newsworthy notes from the media session with John Mozeliak.

* The Cardinals met with Scott Boras for approximately 90 minutes on Sunday night, but Mozeliak didn’t give the indication that he feels the team is any closer to understanding where it really stands with Boras. The conversation was heavily about Matt Holliday, rather than about any of the other players of note (Xavier Nady, Adrian Beltre) represented by Boras in this market.
* As noted elsewhere on the site, a deal with Brad Penny is evidently imminent. It hinges on a physical, which could take place Tuesday or Wednesday. Multiple reports have pegged the 1-year deal at $7.5 million in base salary with incentives that could take it up to $9 million.
* Mozeliak said that although things can still change in the next 3 1/2 hours, the Cardinals are not currently expecting anyone to accept arbitration.
* The Cardinals are not necessarily done adding pitching. Obviously if they make something happen with Holliday, they won’t add another starter. But if no deal with Holliday gets done, Mozeliak said tonight that they could sign another starter, rather than giving the fifth spot to an in-house option. I don’t think this is very likely, but it’s on the table.
* Mozeliak was cagey about whether he felt they’d need a “caddy” for Penny, ie somebody who could safely be relied on to provide innings in case Penny breaks down. But basically he didn’t sound like he considered that a priority.
* No surprise here, but Mozeliak said they do not intend to non-tender anyone next week.
* The Cardinals expect to be much busier talking with agents than with other teams this week. That makes sense, because the farm system just doesn’t offer many trade chips right now.
* Asked about the “Cardinal mystique” and whether it did or did not take with Holliday, Mozeliak was blunt about Holliday/Boras’ perspective: “This, right now, is a market-driven deal.”
A playlist of melancholy tunes for a gray day:
Dinosaur Jr., “Thumb”
Morphine, “Cure For Pain”
Beta Band, “Dry the Rain”
Radiohead, “Fake Plastic Trees”
Aimee Mann, “Wise Up”
-M.

Tuesday tidbits: DeRosa, Ludwick, Rasmus, Franklin, rotation, callups

Matthew Leach
MLB.com

Blog: Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer
Twitter: MatthewHLeach

Hello on another really nice evening in Milwaukee — though I have to say, I’m not thrilled about the ever-decreasing daylight. Had a very nice run by the lake, two different Alterra stops at two different Alterra cafes, and then a very tasty lunch with the esteemed Joe Posnanski at Sobelman’s before heading to the park.

Anyway, on with the tidbits, of which there are many.

* Mark DeRosa was back in the lineup today after missing three games due to back discomfort he first felt in Milwaukee. Also, John Mozeliak said this afternoon that the club has in fact had some very preliminary discussions with DeRosa’s representation about keeping him beyond this year — though he emphasized not to over-sell those discussions.

“In this specific case,” Mozeliak said, “we do have some dialogue but I want to leave it at that.”

* Also from this afternoon’s conversation with the GM: Mozeliak said that the club does not currently plan to pursue a long-term deal with Ryan Ludwick this winter. Ludwick is under the team’s control for the next two seasons, so they don’t need to lock him up. They can instead go through the arbitration process, as they did last winter.

* One last thing from that session: Mozeliak said that it’s likely the Cardinals will carry 14 position players and 11 pitchers on their playoff roster.

* Colby Rasmus sat out a second straight game tonight and is likely to be out again tomorrow. He’s dealing with continuing soreness in his left heel, and in fact it has spread a bit. Previously, Rasmus was only feeling pain in the bottom of his foot. But he said Tuesday that he’s now feeling something a little higher, “under [his] Achilles’” tendon.

Still, it doesn’t sound like this is anything too severe. The expectation seems to be that he’ll play Friday, after tomorrow’s day game and the off day on Thursday. It’s still being called a “day-to-day” situation.

* Ryan Franklin is unavailable again today, and likely tomorrow as well. But TLR emphasized that it’s just rest, not an injury issue.

* Mitchell Boggs is listed as an available reliever, starting today. Kyle Lohse is available to pitch out of the pen tonight, but after this game he will not be out there anymore.

* The rotation for the weekend will be Joel Pineiro on Friday, Lohse on Saturday and Carpenter on Sunday, with Carpenter getting an extra day of rest due to the off day. The question will be Monday, where they can either keep Adam Wainwright on his fifth day or go with Smoltz on five days’ rest followed by Wainwright on five days’ rest on Tuesday.

The latter is much more likely. TLR has indicated that they’re probably going to give the starters the extra day as much as possible down the stretch.

* After a couple of days of back and forth, it now is pretty much settled: the Cardinals will not call up any players from Triple-A Memphis until that team has been eliminated from the playoffs. Memphis begins a best-of-five series against Albuquerque on Wednesday, with Jaime Garcia starting. The series continues on Thursday in Albuquerque, followed by games Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Memphis. Obviously the last two games are on an if-necessary basis.

Tonight’s playlist:
Muse, “Undisclosed Desires”
U2, “Zooropa”
The Shamen, “Move Any Mountain”
The Postal Service, “Nothing Better”
Soul Coughing, “Lazybones”

-M.

Monday lineups and early tidbits: Wellemeyer, Rasmus, Mateo, trades

Lots and lots of stuff going on at Busch Stadium today.

* TLR said that Todd Wellemeyer’s next start is not a sure thing. They’re going to make a decision in the coming days, but at this point, Friday is TBA.

* Colby Rasmus had an injection in his troublesome left heel and is improving. He’s available to come off the bench tonight and likely will be ready to start tomorrow.

* Wagner Mateo is here, wearing a Cardinal jersey with number 09 and taking some swings and working out.

* John Mozeliak sounded like it’s all but certain that the Cardinals will not trade any more prospects before the deadline. If they can move Glaus, they will look into doing that. But a move where they send a youngster out for help in the bullpen or rotation is pretty much off.

Today’s lineup vs LHP Randy Wolf:
1. Lugo 2B
2. DeRosa 3B
3. Pujols 1B
4. Holliday LF
5. Ludwick RF
6. Molina C
7. Ankiel CF
8. Ryan SS
9. Carpenter P

Dodgers lineup:
1. Furcal SS
2. Hudson 2B
3. Ramirez LF
4. Ethier RF
5. Blake 3B
6. Loney 1B
7. Martin C
8. Kemp CF
9. Wolf P

-M.

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