J35J wrote:If I was in as bad of shape as St. Louis I would consider trading Pujols for a handful of young talent. Most all the talent would have to be major league ready guys though.... I'm not thinking St. Louis will be very competitive for the next 2-3 years and by then Pujols will be in his 30's. I'm not saying trade him just to trade him but if you got 4-5 young studs who can play this year or would be ready next year then i would consider it pretty easily! Of course it all depends on who the young players are....
This team is already being primed for sale. Could you imagine the PR nightmare if the organization traded their most popular player?
If I got the right deal back I don't care what the PR nightmare would be if it made my team better in the long run....either way, its a moot point because he won't get traded and like I said it would take a lot for me to even trade him. Just wanted to say its not a completely ridiculous thought.
I would agree. I know the M's get caught up too much in the PR crap, when in the long run it's not about the players (except in very rare instances), it's about winning. They've kept guys around too long and tried to "stay competitive without rebuilding" (in fact one of the FO guys said "We will NOT do a Cleveland-style rebuild!" like it was really a terrible thing ) by overpaying FAs and now are paying the consequences. They have a team with basically no shot (unless lady luck smiles on them all year long) and a FO with no plan. It's really quite disturbing.
Anyway, if the Cards wanted to rebuild in a hurry then Pujols would be the best chip out there. Relatively young, high-impact bats who are locked up reasonably for several years aren't that common. If I were the GM, I definitely don't want to trade him. But like I said earlier, if you throw Kemp/LaRoche/Loney/Kershaw/Broxton at me, I have no choice but to listen. I'd be doing the franchise a disservice if I didn't.
jfg wrote:I also don't think it would be a PR nightmare if they get a big enough haul.
How would it not be PR nightmare? The team has been in the new Stadium for 2 years. A stadium that was partially funded by public money so they would have the money to "stay competitive". Fast forward 2 years and the team has one star player, Pujols and have spent next to nothing on free agents. Most Cardinal I know are already upset about the direction of the team. Trade Pujols and you will have a half empty stadium for the 2009 season. That is the season they host the All-Star game and hope to open Ballpark Village.
jfg wrote:I also don't think it would be a PR nightmare if they get a big enough haul.
How would it not be PR nightmare? The team has been in the new Stadium for 2 years. A stadium that was partially funded by public money so they would have the money to "stay competitive". Fast forward 2 years and the team has one star player, Pujols and have spent next to nothing on free agents. Most Cardinal I know are already upset about the direction of the team. Trade Pujols and you will have a half empty stadium for the 2009 season. That is the season they host the All-Star game and hope to open Ballpark Village.
Which makes it harder for the current ownership to sell and reap the rewards of that tax-payer subsidy.
Trading him right now would be extremely foolish no matter how much of a haul he would bring in. Pujols can carry the entire offense by himself, he is that good. He is also young enough that they can continue to build around him. It doesn't make any sense to trade the only marketable player that you have and the one that happens to be the best in MLB after a disappointing season riddle by injuries and down years by almost everyone on the team.
The best thing for them to do now is to try and fill in the gaps, Pujols and Rolens should rebound from their sub par seasons. They are also getting Carpenter back which will definitely be a boost and keep playing young guys like Ankiel, Duncan, Wainwright, Reyes etc. Also have some guy named Rasmus who is supposed to be good or something.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~George Carlin
I guess I'm just used to being a Twins fan. But, even if we didn't have a tightwad owner and were in the situation the Cards were in I'd know that a lot of the prospects that were supposed to be great aren't panning out as well as the team thought and that free agency isn't what it used to be. Loyal fans would see that trading Pujols for a bright future might not be a bad idea. But, I can understand that a new stadium and past spending might change that line of thinking.
Do you really think that Carpenter and Rolen are going to have bounce back years? They aren't young guys. I don't expect Carp to be dominant. They're trying to build a team around Pujols, a couple of aging stars and average prospects. That's not gonna work.
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by AussieDodger » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:20 pm 
) by overpaying FAs and now are paying the consequences. They have a team with basically no shot (unless lady luck smiles on them all year long) and a FO with no plan. It's really quite disturbing.
