Cardinals

Mark Grudzielanek was not offered arbitration and subsequently he is no longer a Cardinal. Matt Morris was offered arbitration and he is also leaving. We traded Ray King to Colorado for second-baseman Aaron Miles and outfielder Larry Bigbie. The Cardinals are apparently close in closing the deal for signing a two-year deal for left-handed reliever Ricardo Rincon. Rincon will turn 36 early in the 2006 season, has a 4.34 ERA for 2005. He has spent the past three plus seasons with the Oakland A's. So if he signs that will be another american leaguer to switch to the "good" side-meaning national league. My opinion is that the American League is not real baseball. One guy gets paid to hit the ball, thats it, he is the desginated hitter, and the pitcher just throws the ball, doesn't go to bat or anything. National League on the other spectrum requires their pitchers to be able to swing the bat. Designated hitters? Yeah right. Last year, when the Cardinals signed Mark Mulder, he was quoted as saying he was excited to actually get to bat. He's done pretty well adjusting to real baseball. Back to my orignal posting... Anthony Reyes is expected to be pushed up to the starting line-up. But is he ready? He was good the one time he came and started a game for the red birds. Then everybody was like "oh he's awesome, he is so next year's starter". Um, hello we have only seen this guy in action once! That is not enough to prove he is ready for the big leagues full time. I am still skeptical, but hey if he can do it then thats great. More money saved. Reggie Sanders and Julian Tavarez were also declined arbitration. Tavarez has a nasty temper that he needs to get under control. He went and broke his hand after a bad outing in the world series!! Hello how dumb can you be?! Sanders is good, I would love to see him as a Cardinal again, but I wish him the best of luck with his new team. Same with Grudzielanek. I just found out that the Cardinals Winter Warm up is on the same weekend that Dad is going fishing and I am attending a regional conference for my fraternity. I soo wanted to go too! Oh well maybe next year. I am thinking of starting a countdown to Spring Training... I can't wait until baseball season starts again!! Go here for more details on Rincon, and here for Winter meetings summary.