Cardinals’ 2009 transactions in review (Part 2 of 2)
[Note: This is the second of a two-part retrospective on the Cardinals' 2009 transactions. We overlooked a couple of important offseason transactions last time, so we'll cover those before getting to the in-season moves.]
Agreed to terms with Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel
The Cardinals avoided arbitration with two-thirds of their 2008 outfield, splitting the difference with Ankiel ($2.83 million) and Ludwick ($3.7 million). Ankiel’s salary seemed reasonable, given that he was a 2.0-WAR centerfielder the year prior. But his HR/F rate went down by half (17.7% to 8.9%), crippling his slugging percentage. A couple of injuries sustained through aggressive play didn’t help, and he lost his centerfield job to the rookie Rasmus and wound up with a 0.1 WAR. It was a long season, as fans had to endure what seemed to be La Russa giving Ankiel sympathy at-bats, exposing his horrendous plate discipline (fifth-worst in the league in chasing balls) and costing the team too many outs. For his part, Ludwick expectedly (by some, anyway) fell off from his career 2008 campaign, creating only 5.0 wRC/27 (down from 7.7 in 2008). Paired with his solid defense, though, his hitting was still good enough to produce 1.8 WAR, making his one-year deal a steal for the Cardinals. Overall, the team came out ahead. Grade: B.
Did not sign Brian Fuentes
We added this to our list of transactions, because the Cardinals deserve credit for not making this one. They apparently offered a two-year deal for around $16-18 million, which Fuentes sat on and ultimately spurned for the Angels’ $17.5-million offer. Despite calls to extend the offer to three years, Mozeliak didn’t budge. The Cardinals were better off for it, even if their offer was too much in the first place. Grade: B.
Acquired Blaine Boyer from Atlanta for OF Brian Barton (04/20/09)
Blaine Boyer Designated for Assignment, selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks off waivers (06/04/09)
Barton was for the Cardinals what he currently is for the Braves: "nothing more than a spare part in the long run," as one blog put it. Still, that descriptor fit Boyer, too. Boyer never really pitched enough — 16 1/3 IP — to make an impact, but, curiously, he had about the same K/BB (1.80) as closer Ryan Franklin (1.83) and a better xFIP (4.02 to 4.23). Neither player would’ve made much difference, and with Holliday’s arrival, Barton — despite his .344 OBP in AAA — wouldn’t have seen any action north of Memphis, anyway. Grade: C
Acquired infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Chris Perez and a player to be named (Jess Todd) (06/29/09)
Unfortunately, the Cardinals bought DeRosa high. His RBI total at the time made him look more productive than he was, and the wrist injury that he sustained shortly after joining the club short-circuited much of what he actually might’ve contributed. He put up only 0.4 WAR — the same amount as Brian Barden, the player he ousted at third base. So DeRosa wasn’t even worth the remaining salary that the Cardinals owed him. As for the players traded for him, Perez wasn’t likely to impact the bullpen in 2009 but may have been a useful arm in the next couple years, and Jess Todd remains to be seen. All the Cardinals have to show now is a potential draft pick, if DeRosa spurns yet-to-be-offered arbitration. Grade: C.
Agreed to terms with outfielder Wagner Mateo (07/04/09)
Terminated the contract of OF Wagner Mateo (09/23/09)
What was considered a high point in the team’s 2009 transactions became the season’s feel-bad story less than 90 days later. When the team signed the 16-year-old Mateo, considered to be among the top international amateurs, Mozeliak hailed it as a "significant step" for the team, and it validated the effort spent building in Latin America. It was the second time in the year that a physical impacted a transaction (see Trever Miller), though in this case it led to a voided, rather than renegotiated, contract. The transaction resulted in more intangible losses (e.g., reputation, time and other resources) and perhaps was due to no fault of the team, but it would still have to be considered a failure. Grade: D
Acquired Julio Lugo and cash from Boston for Chris Duncan (07/22/09)
If ever a player needed to be "freed," it was Duncan, who was unappreciated by Cardinal "fans" during his tenure (including his courageous comeback attempt after a rare surgery last offseaon). With Colby Rasmus’s ascendance and the re-signings of Ludwick and Ankiel, Duncan was expendable. More pressingly, the Cardinals neededmiddle-infield help because of Khalil Greene’s ineffectiveness and inability to stay off the DL because of an anxiety disorder. According to John Mozeliak, ""The reason we pursued it was because we have question marks at shortstop in terms of what happens if Brendan can’t go. Obviously, we also still have questions with Khalil Greene, and it seemed like this would help solidify that position." Mozeliak got the BoSox to assume nearly all of Lugo’s remaining salary, which is approximately $13 million through 2010. Lugo turned in an above-replacement-level 51 games, even if his fielding at shortstop was subpar. Less than a month later, the Red Sox released the erstwhile Busch Stadium punching bag. The saying is that it’s better to be lucky than good, and Mozeliak, who was forced to find other options at short because of his mistake in trading for Greene, found both Lugo and Ryan. Grade: A
Acquired outfielder Matt Holliday and cash from the Oakland Athletics for third baseman Brett Wallace, pitcher Clay Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson (07/25/09)
As we’ve noted previously, Holliday had no clearly demonstrable "protection" effect on Albert Pujols (one of the oft-cited reasons for keeping him), though of course that doesn’t mean he was a bad addition. Indeed not, since he accounted for 2.7 WAR (a $12.3-million value) and provided a consensus upgrade in team confidence. The saying goes "there is no such thing as a pitching prospect"; we’ll see how high Wallace, the former Cardinals’ third baseman of the future, goes (after the trade, he continued to rip up PCL pitching with a .365 OBP and .505 SLG with Sacramento). Losing Wallace has already begun to impact this offseason, in which the team has not one (LF) but two (also 3b) holes to fill, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’ll only assess the impact through the end of the 2009 season. It’s fair to say that if not for Holliday, the Cardinals probably would not have won the division title. At the very least, that should further burnish their credentials as being dedicated to winning. If it doesn’t help bring Holliday back, it will putatively go a long way toward extending Pujols’s time with the team. Grade: B.
Signed John Smoltz as a free agent (08/19/09)
The Cardinals took a smart chance that Smoltz’s traditional numbers in only eight games with Boston — like his 8.32 ERA — were misleading. Indeed they were: even with the Red Sox, Smoltz had a reasonable 4.36 xFIP, and for the Cardinals, he put up a 3.51 xFIP and a less flukish-looking 4.26 ERA. The second Cardinal player whose salary the BoSox paid, Smoltz helped the club hold off the Cubs, over whom the club had an eight-game lead upon his arrival. During his time wit the team, he was second among starters in K/9 and and in K/BB, tossing 38 innings worth $6.6 million. Grade: A.
Overall in-season
Mozeliak and the Cardinals finished strong, and their positive moves had more of an impact that their bad ones did. Grade: B
Overall grade for 2009 transactions: B