Fay’s Monday Musings: Cards stacking up
11/25/13 at 10:51am by John Fay

The Reds have remained quiet on the Hot Stove front, so quiet they haven’t even confirmed the Skip Schumaker signing yet.

Not so with the Cardinals.

A couple days after trading David Freese to the Angels for Peter Bourjos, the Cardinals agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal with free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

The Cards basically addressed their two big weaknesses: Shortstop and outfield defense before the Winter Meetings started. They did both things without giving up any of their top young pitching. The Reds had a lot of catching up to do with the Cardinals before the offseason started. Now? The hill is a lot higher.

Peralta, of course, was one of the players suspended in the Biogenesis mess. Aside the issue of rewarding a player who cheated with a big contract, teams have to factor in this: Did the performance-enhancing drugs enhance the performance of the players we’re about to sign?

Peralta hit .239/.305/.384 in 2012. He hit .303/.358/.457 in 2013. Hmmm. Before I wrote a check to the guy, I would have wanted him to come completely clean about when he was using PEDs. Peralta’s numbers have been up and down his whole career. Were PEDs part of that?

MORE SIGNINGS: The Yankees have reportedly agreed to a five-year, $85 million deal with catcher Brian McCann. You’d think that makes it slightly less likely that they’d re-sign Robinson Cano, thus making it slightly more likely the Yankees would consider trading for Brandon Phillips.

Jayson Stark wrote about the market http://espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove13/story/...inson-cano for Cano. It’s rather limited.

The Dodgers reportedly agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal with Dan Haren. The Dodgers were one of the teams Bronson Arroyo said contacted him. It’s a limited market for Arroyo. Every time a veteran starter signs, it tightens up a bit more.

TWITTER QUESTION: From @Tuck_Mee: What do you say about a Homer Bailey for Mark Trumbo trade?

A: I’m not a big make-a-trade guy. I am a big shoot-down-the-made-up-trade guy. Trumbo had .294 on-base percentage and struck out 184 times in 620 at-bats. He also played more first base than left.

SAPPELT RELEASED: The Cubs released Dave Sappelt, who the Reds traded along with Travis Wood and Ronald Torreyes, for Sean Marshall in 2011. Sappelt was the phenom of spring training in 2011. He hit .564 with with three home runs and 12 RBI in 39 at-bats.

He hit .251 with two home runs and 17 RBI in 144 at-bats with the Cubs. No, I don’t see the Reds bringing him back.

FOOTBALL FEVER: I watched one football game from start to finish this weekend — the Moeller-Colerain game, which took about the same amount of time as your average half of college football. Very good game. Moeller’s quarterback, Gus Ragland, is one talented kid.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2013/11...acking-up/

GM on Peralta: Cardinals not 'morality police'

AP | By R.B. FALLSTROM

Published November 25, 2013 06:51PM EST


St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak speaks during a news conference about the signing of free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, in St. Louis. The baseball team has announced they have signed Peralta to a four-year contract through the 2017 season. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals factored in Jhonny Peralta's drug suspension when they negotiated a $53 million, four-year contract with the free agent shortstop.

General manager John Mozeliak said Monday that Peralta had admitted wrongdoing and served his penalty, and that the Cardinals weren't about to appoint themselves "morality police."

"Character and makeup are something we weigh into our decision-making," Mozeliak said. "In his case, he admitted what he did, he took responsibility for it. I feel like he has paid for his mistakes, and obviously if he were to make another one, then it would be a huge disappointment."

Mozeliak agreed with critics that penalties aren't strict enough.

"You do need a deterrent, and right now 50 games does not seem to be necessarily stopping it," Mozeliak said.

But he also believed attitudes have changed.

"I think Major League Baseball has done a great job trying to clean up this game, and I feel like they've taken great steps," the GM said.

While he used the phrase "morale police" during his availability earlier in the day, Mozeliak said he meant to say "morality." He also said the club was confident this was an isolated circumstance.

The 31-year-old Peralta was suspended for 50 games last summer following MLB's investigation of the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic, which was accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. He underwent a physical on Sunday in St. Louis but did not attend the introductory news conference.

Peralta gets $15.5 million next year, $15 million in 2015, $12.5 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2017. He had a $6 million salary season, when he lost $1,639,344 in withheld salary during the suspension.

St. Louis also explored a trade but wasn't willing to part with several prospects. Mozeliak said negotiations went quickly after groundwork was laid at the GM meetings.

Peralta and Stephen Drew were the best two shortstops in free agency. Peralta was a plus for the Cardinals because they've got a lot of left-handed hitters and he bats right-handed.

Mozeliak said rookie Pete Kozma, the starter last year who could end up back in the minors next season, was a better defensive shortstop than Peralta. The Cardinals prized Peralta, an All-Star two of the last three seasons, for his bat.

Peralta batted .303 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs in 107 games last year and four times has hit 20 or more homers. Kozma hit .217 with one homer and 35 RBIs.

Mozeliak said he'd be satisfied if the Cardinals stood pat the rest of the offseason but added the team will still be listening to offers. St. Louis filled its other need last week by trading third baseman David Freese to the Angels for center fielder Peter Bourgos.

Coming off a second World Series in three seasons, the Cardinals are loaded with young pitching and the lineup is set.

Matt Carpenter is set to move from second base to third base next season to make room for rookie Kolten Wong, a first-round draft pick in 2011. Matt Adams will start at first base with Allen Craig moving to right field.

The Cardinals don't anticipate Carlos Beltran, the right fielder last year, will take a one-year qualifying offer.

"There's still some things we can look at, there's still opportunities over the next 6-7 weeks as we progress into the winter meetings, but if the clock stopped today we'd be pretty happy with our club."

http://www.rr.com/articles/2013/11/25/g/...ale-police

This doesn't surprise me, CTip. I've often suspected the Cards clubhouse of being on
the forefront of PED use. The time it takes their stars to recover is often mind boggling.

Holiday looks like he's juicin

ctrent ‏@ctrent 2h
Free agent OF Carlos Beltran tells a Puerto Rican newspaper that the #Reds have contacted his agent, Dan Lozano http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2013/11...s-beltran/ …

(11-26-2013 11:38 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  ctrent ‏@ctrent 2h
Free agent OF Carlos Beltran tells a Puerto Rican newspaper that the #Reds have contacted his agent, Dan Lozano http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2013/11...s-beltran/ …

Of course! We love us some St. Louis retreads. While Beltran had a darn good year, dude is 37 years old!

I like Beltran on a short deal, but where would we play him? Move Bruce to center? Also don't think we should give up a first round pick for him. No harm in inquiring. But I don't see the fit.