2007 Cards (Center Field Options)

Alright, going back to the last post, we'll look at the options for center field.

The options are:

1) Keep Jim Edmonds(either through restructuring his deal or picking up the $10M option.)
2) Sign one of the many free agents
3) Go after Carl Crawford aggressively in a trade

The Cardinals seem to be leaning towards #1, which is probably wise, given the crop of center fielders out there, but let's look at the options for #2 and #3 and how they stack up to Edmonds.

Let's stick with the OBP/Slugging/OPS stats

Player - OBP/Slug/OPS
Edmonds - .350/.471/.821
Roberts - .360/.393/.753
Pierre - .330/.388/.718
Matthews - .371/.495/.866
Crawford - .348/.482/.830

Pros and cons of each.

Jim Edmonds - He's obviously on the decline, as his career OPS is exactly 100 points better than last year. Now, he could rebound on some level as he was hurt with a concussion last year for significant time and played several games with post-concussion symptoms. As everyone else says, it's really a 1 year 7M deal when you consider the buyout. If they can work a 2 year 14-15M deal, that might satisfy everyone. He's still a good glove in the outfield, although many stats people will say his range is considerable worse than it used to be and that he didn't deserve his last couple gold gloves.

Roberts and Pierre - Both are speedsters who would be relatively cheap. Pierre is really not at all a good defensive player, with a zero arm and surprisingly poor range(worse than Edmonds by the stats), but he never strikes out and can steal 40-50 bags a year while hitting around .300

Roberts draws more walks and would be cheaper, and actually has better range. Of the two, I'd rather see Roberts signed.

Matthews is a one-year wonder so far. He was pretty good in 2004, declined in 2005 and had his career year in 2006. He's not the Cardinals type of signing, as he is going to be looking for a payday. I honestly think his 2006 was not an aberration, and that whoever signs him will probably get an OPS of over .800 from him(maybe not .866 though). But again, he's probably going to command at least 7M a year and if you're going to pay that much, why not keep Edmonds who can fill the gap until Rasmus in the minors might be ready.

Crawford is the best option outside of Edmonds. He is continually getting better, is not only a speedster and a plus outfielder(although he's moreso a left fielder in Tampa, he has the tools to be a good center fielder), he even has some pop, and batted over .300 last year. Tampa is overloaded with young outfielders and has no pitching. That's the problem with this idea. PRobably a package of Anthony Reyes, Chris Duncan, and one of the young bullpen arms might fetch Crawford, but will that hurt the Cardinals as much as help them? And it will cost the Cardinals more money as they'd be taking on a player making 3-4M and giving him probably 3 players who total around 1.2-1.5M.

My preferred way to fix the outfield would actually be to try to attain Crawford AND keep Edmonds. That would mean the Cardinals would probably have to go after a couple cheaper options for the rotation(like Woody Williams and perhaps a Kip Wells type who is coming off a down-year.)

If this isn't possible, signing Edmonds to two years 15M to avoid paying him 10M might be a good option. By 2009 maybe Colby Rasmus, the stud AA outfielder will be ready.

Anyway, that's my take.