Shoot, We'll fix It

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Yesterday, I talked about what went wrong with the Cardinals.  Today, let's look the steps the suits should take to be competitive for next season. 

You must make the strongest pitch possible to sign Matt Holliday.  There are, of course, myriad ramifications to this move.  History tells us that Scott Boras, Holliday's agent, will test the market and probably go deep into the free agent season before signing.  That combined with the Cardinals history of prioritizing free agents and making low prioty targets wait until the top ones sign or go elsewhere could provide for some real problems g.m. John Mozeliak. 

I think Mark DeRosa is a winning player and brings elements to the ballclub that go far beyond the stats.  Teams need "glue guys".  But one of the reasons that Mark has bounced around so much is that when measured by stats alone it appears that he is replaceable.  I hope the Cardinals don't make the same mistake the Braves, Rangers and Cubs have all made.  But if the Cardinals wait on Holliday with DeRosa wait on the Cardianls?  Or, will the club change the way it apporaches free agency?  Having said all of those nice things about DeRosa I must admit that I don't think he will be 100% until well into the 2010 season, which leads to my next point.

Do the Cardinals think David Freese can play?  You have to give him the lead shot to win the thirdbase job next spring.  He did too much this year to ignore him.  Unless for what ever reason you don't think he can play.  Now what?  You better have DeRosa and can Schumaker play third too?

As I mentioned yesterday, all of this comes after you decide who is going to close.  Look there is good nucleus.  But it's far from a foregone conclusion that the Redbirds will be back.  There is a lot of work to be done and it begins now.