So you may have heard the San Diego Padres are interested in dealing their ace Jake Peavy in part to do away with his $60 million dollar guaranteed contract. The Cardinals were one of those teams who surfaced as having possible interest.
The Cardinals already have as much as $108 million spoken for in starting pitchers Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Kyle Lohse for the next three to four years.
I doubt GM John Mozeliak will be willing to part with any prospects or take on additional payroll. There are still some questions. How will Chris Carpenter come out of nerve surgery on his shoulder. There is no guarantee the pain will go away or not flare up again. Only time will tell if Lohse is able to pitch like he did last year. Was a $41 million extension overkill?
Even with those questions that are lingering in the starting rotation, the biggest problem that needs to be addressed is at the closer position. The Cardinals blew over 30 save opportunities.
They’ll need to look inside for the job with either someone like Chris Perez who has experience plus spring training, or they could also look outside via free agency. While it’s anticipated the Cubs will do all they can to sign Kerry Wood, he is a free agent and if he tests the waters, the Cardinals should go after him.
Wood went 34 of 40 in save opportunities with a 3.26 ERA and showed he could pitch on back to back days and showed no effects from a shoulder that has given him trouble before.
