Tuesday night came and went with Milton Bradley still on the Cubs' roster. The rumors that suggested Bradley would be traded to an unnamed team on the second day of the annual gathering changed their tune. Most still feel Jim Hendry will trade Milton Bradley before the end of the meetings, which conclude on Thursday ... and many speculated Bradley could be dealt at some point on Wednesday.
According to reports from the Daily Herald and Tribune, Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry and Randy Bush held an impromptu meeting in the vestibule between the lobby doors of the Marriott on Tuesday night. The Herald reported, "Crane was doing a lot of gesticulating and Jim and Randy were doing a lot of listening." Bruce Miles hinted that Milton Bradley was the topic of their conversation.
Here are the updates from day two ...
Milton Bradley
Dave Kaplan spoke with Paul Sullivan of the Tribune and Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times about the latest on Milton Bradley during Sports Central (WGN Radio).
Paul Sullivan discussed the scene at the Marriott in Indianapolis ... including the large amount of tweeting going on this year by many of the writers.
Not long after the rumors surfaced about Seattle possibly being the mystery team, Sullivan ended up on one of the elevators with the President of the Mariners, Chuck Armstrong. Sullivan said he asked him directly about the Bradley rumors and was told the Mariners are not trading for Milton Bradley.
Paul Sullivan thinks Bradley will be traded on Wednesday. From what he has been told the pieces are in place. Sullivan thinks the Rays are still the likely destination for Bradley ... along with a ton of money for Pat Burrell. The Cubs would then move Burrell to another team.
Sullivan thinks Jim Hendry has a team in place for Burrell. Sullivan mentioned the deal that would send Burrell to another team might not be announced at the same time as the Bradley for Burrell trade.
Kaplan discussed his concerns over the Cubs' starting rotation with Sullivan ... and he thinks the Cubs need another starter. Sullivan indicated the Cubs do not have any room in their payroll right now to add a big time starter but might go the non-tender route.
According to Sullivan's report in the Tribune, Jim Hendry met with Milton Bradley's agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, on Monday.
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times joined Kaplan for a short time to talk Milton Bradley.
Topkin disagreed with Kaplan and does not think Bradley will be traded to the Rays by the time the meetings end. Topkin said the Rays are looking for a lot of compensation from the Cubs to minimize their risk. He went on to say, the Rays are not going to budge on what they need in return.
Topkin seemed to discredit the reports of a surprise team. He said who could it be, the Mariners? Baltimore?
Pat Burrell is not far behind Milton Bradley on the list of the most un-tradable players in the baseball according to Topkin. He indicated that moving Burrell will be very hard for the Cubs to do ... there is simply nowhere to move him.
A report from the Sun-Times mentioned Dontrelle Willis (Tigers), Jose Guillen (Rays) and a player on the Blue Jays, not named Vernon Wells, as the possibilities for "the mystery AL destination" for Bradley ... and the Sun-Times brought up a report that refuted any interest by the Royals late Tuesday night.
Mike Cameron
According to a report from the Sun-Times, "sources from two other teams familiar with Mike Cameron say they expect him to wind up with the Cubs." Piniella loves Cameron and Cameron loves Piniella and the city ...
Luis Castillo
The Mets might not be interested in Milton Bradley but they are still trying to trade Luis Castillo to the Cubs according to a report from the Tribune.
J.J. Putz
According to a report from Bruce Levine, the Cubs are one of at least 12 teams interested in J.J. Putz. Putz has received at least two offers and it is not known if the Cubs are one of them.
Putz is not fully recovered from elbow surgery but teams have been impressed with his workouts. Putz had bone spurs removed from his elbow in June.
According to a report in the Tribune, Putz would serve in the same role as Aaron Heilman last year and Bobby Howry the season before ... a sixth or seventh inning man.
The Cubs would be looking at an incentive laden contract with a "modest" base salary for J.J. Putz.
Ryan Church
The Atlanta Braves designated Ryan Church for assignment on Tuesday. Could he be a fit for the Cubs off the bench? The Cubs were rumored to be interested in Church when he was in the Expos/Nationals organization. The lefty hit .273/.338/.384/.722 with 28 doubles and four home runs in 111 games with the Mets and Braves in 2009. Rumors suggested Church was going to be non-tendered by the Braves ... and he was cut to make room for Rafael Soriano. Soriano accepted salary arbitration on Monday.
The mainstream media has not connected the Cubs with Ryan Church.
From the Mill
- According to a report from Ken Rosenthal, the amount of money the Cubs are able to save by trading Milton Bradley will be used on a centerfielder. If they save a lot ... Mike Cameron. If they save a little ... Marlon Byrd and if they barely save anything ... Scott Podsednik.
- According to a report from Baseball Prospectus, the Cubs are interested in Heath Bell and they are working on a package that would include Geovany Soto as the centerpiece.
- The Orioles and the Brewers are interested in Kevin Gregg.
- The Indians are shopping Kerry Wood and the one-year (with a vesting option for a second year) left on the contract he inked last winter.
- According to a report from CSN Chicago, don't be surprised if Mike Fontenot is traded this winter.
2009 Winter Meetings Recaps
- Day One of the Winter Meetings: More Rumors than Action for the Cubs
- Day One of the Winter Meetings: Tampa or Bust for Bradley?
- Day Two of the Winter Meetings: The Mysterious Case of Movin' Milton
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ChicagoCubsOnline will have full recaps and updates during the winter meetings. If the Cubs make a move, the CCO will post it. If the Cubs are rumored to be making a move, the CCO will post it ... so check back early and often to discuss all of the moves at Baseball's Winter Meetings here at the CCO.
Well, there's the updates ... and I'm sticking to 'em!
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Is Jim Hendry stupid we do not have any catcher in our farm system ready why trade Soto. Hill is an offensive liabilty.
Soto's value is still high right now coming off a year removed from ROY. Everyone thinks they can chalk it up to bad conditioning before the season and the WBC taking it's toll on participating players.
The truth is he is lazy, overweight - which does not bode well for a catcher. If we want this organization to start selling high to get the players we need to get to the point that we desire, then Soto (aka. Puff the Magic dragon) could be the guinea pig so to speak. I'm not sure if getting Heath Bell is the right guy to use Soto as bait for, but I am all for trading Soto to provide for the future of this team.
Hill can handle the staff adequately, bring up Castillo to get 2 or 3 starts a week and get him some experience. It might be half a season early but players need to take their bumps and bruises to become the Hanley Ramirez or Joe Mauer's of this league.
IN answer to your question: yes. JHendry is stupid.
So now we hear that our lame-duck & senile "manager" really likes 37 y/o Mike Cameron, from their days when Lou wasn't taking siestas during games, and will likely be pitched to join the club. Excellent move....NOT. I guess we have no-one in the entire farm system that can play CF.
Same goes for the starting rotation. Hmm, we didn't want to trade (when we could) or resign Hardin. And with Lilly on the mend the brilliant leadership now thinks we have a void in the rotation that might ably be filled with the rumored likes of Carlos Silva, Zack Duke or others. Wonderful. And again, I guess there is no-one in our entire farm system able to grab a spot in the rotation. Nice!
I'd just place Bradley and Soriano at the end of the bench at Clark & Addison, bring up every top prospect we have in the system, and say, "kids, let's see you develop in 2010", and then get ready for the real, and exciting Sandberg/Jaramillo regime starting in 2011.
I think the Cubs should just keep this loser Bradley at least until the trade deadline. He's better than Burrell or Dontrel Willis.
As for Soto, there is a shortage of catching on the ML level right now. You could sell high, but you've little to back him up since you traded away Aaron Miles. He was the Cubs #3 catcher last year.
Who cares about the emergency catcher? Suit up Lou and toss him in to catch if we lost both of our starters in one game. Hey Big Boy Z apparently lost some weight, maybe he can fit into that catchers gear now if needed.
If we want the kids to play and get some experience for when this thing kicks off when Sandberg takes over - we have to trade dead weight while they are worth something.
I'm in total agreement Bryan, if we sign Mike Cameron it will we the crowning point in how to change a possible World Series Team into a .500 team in the space of a year.
As for Bradley, think about this. What has gone as predicted this offseason? Gregg, Harden, and Johnson were not offered arbitration - thats about it.
We all thought we would be stuck with Heilman and Miles next season. Kudos JH, pointed right and you improved this team drastically by freeing up some roster spots.
We all know Jake Fox does not have a place on this team. Yet, we envisioned him backing up the corners next season and providing a pop off the bench. JH again did something good and is allowing this kid to actually make a name for himself with some playing time in the right situation for Jake.
We figured going to these meetings that Burrell or Castillo would be a Cub within 48 hours. Names keep getting spread around like Byrd or Cameron will be the Cubs next center fielder. What if JH is pointing right again and everyone is looking right, and with his left hand pulls in lets say Kerry Wood and Grady Sizemore in the Bradley deal? He makes a deal like that does that all of a sudden change his reputation?
I will say I am not a JH supporter by any means, but if he reaches in that hat and we expect to see a rabbit come out and instead he pulls a bird - we would have to give him his props. Maybe the guy is actually learning. Every job has its on the job training, and maybe Hendry is finally starting to see what it is he should of been doing all this time. I believe that Hendry's job depends solely on what he does with Bradley. Am I wrong?
Yes, the team have more issues than Milton Bradley. Starting Rotation,Bench and Offense. Every one believes when we get rid of Milton Bradley our problems will be solve, but the truth is we are really in trouble for next year.
I too agree that Bradley is only one problem, and so overblown. If moving him in some crap-swap (Burrell, DTrain, etc) is all that Hendry is working on, I would be disappointed.
And Woody, what makes you think that Cleveland would swap Sizemore for Milton? Is Grady even being talked about anywhere? Most here were adamantly opposed to trading prospects for Granderson, but Grady wasn't much better last year and would certainly demand a lot more than Granderson did.
Sounds like the Brewers are inking Wolf.
You are right Woody. You would think JH is under a lot of pressure...the Ricketts said they would evalaute the front office at the end of next year. He can't make a mistake.
Saying that I think you might be optimistic that he is actually going to do anything special. He does not have a strong hand, has no chips and can't bluff. His only hope is a miraculous infusion of creativity into his DNA or incredible luck neither of which I'd bet on.
Koyie Hill killed the offense last year. How many times did the Cubs have runners in scoring position and Hill then the pitcher got the outs to end the inning? A whole other year of that? No thank you.
I can't believe you guys are worried and talking about emergency catchers.
The Brewers sign Randy Rolf to a three year deal according to mlbtraderumors.com. Everybody starting rotation in our division is looking better than ours.
What about Bradley for Kerry Wood? Could that happen?
I don't think it would ever happen, but it would be great if it did! I was just reading something interesting
Buster_ESPN: One reason why Indians might have trouble moving Kerry Wood -- he has an $11 million option for '11 that vests if he finishes 55 g. in 2010.
If that were to happen the money with Milton would match up perfectly. 2 years 21 million. But why trade a great guy like Woody for a headache?
After the year he just had, trading Soto is just stupid. Completely asinine.
There is NO WAY he could worse than last year, and now we want to dump him and open up another hole in the lineup ? Don't undersestimate the wake-up call he recieved this year after his failure. I think his motivation will be high this winter to get into shape and have a big year again.
And don't we enough arms in the bullpen at this point ? Jeez
And for all of you that saying we should trade Soto, I can't wait to see all your responses in the middle of July when Koyie Hill is hitting .220 with 2 HR's.
Please.
Baseball America just announced the top 10 Cubs prospects;
1. Starlin Castro, ss
2. Brett Jackson, of
3. Josh Vitters, 3b
4. Andrew Cashner, rhp
5. Jay Jackson, rhp
6. Hak-Ju Lee, ss
7. Logan Watkins, 2b
8. Chris Carpenter, rhp
9. Ryan Flaherty, ss/2b/3b
10. D.J. LeMahieu, ss/2b
Have not heard the names Watkins and LeMahieu before. Castro seemed to come out of nowhere. Shows that there are a lot of places where talent can come from and the Cubs need to focus on their farm system and development...Trades are for balancing and tweaking...FA are things that can get you over the top when you get close. If you truly want to win keep the wallet shut, Ricketts family except when it come to your management...get the best and give them what they need to succeed.
LeMahieu was our second round pick last year. He hit well over .300 in the low minors last season. Watkins is very young and has also shown some promise in the low minors. If LeMahieu develops maybe we could see him in a Cubs uniform in 2012. Watkins is likely farther away.
Thanks for the info on LeMahieu and Watkins.
I tend to agree that Soto should be given another year to see if the promise of his rookie season was a fluke or not...but that determination must be made by the Cubs staff. Catchers with a live bat are hard to find. I wonder though if Soto has the work ethic needed to get in the top 25% of catchers (considering all facets) and stay there.
JW, here is a link to the article that was run when the Baseball America list came out in November.
http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2009/11/cubsnewsrumors1.php
Hope this helps as well...
Bradley to the Mets???
Trade one Putz for another???
Trading Soto wouldn't be the end of the world, assuming one of our minor league catchers could potentially step it up and/or we get a catcher in the trade, but Heath Bell? With all the other needs the team has, why is the bullpen so high up on the list? We need some fielder who can hit. No need for a bullpen to hold a lead if we don't score runs....
"assuming one of our minor league catchers could potentially step it"
Sure. And if the queen had balls, she would be king.
We have no one that's ready to step in. You're looking at Koyie Hill as your starter. The guys is a nice backup, but nothing more. To have him get 400 AB's would be a disaster.
Agreed...
I think Soto had a good wake up call from last season, and is likely a bit humbled. He's still young, and we saw in 2008 what he can potentially produce (again). Let's not open another hole there.
Unless we got a lot of value back, I wouldn't sell low on Soto. He hurt his shoulder early in the season and I'm guessing it hampered him all year.
A break for the Cubs...LaTroy Hawkins signs a two-year deal with the Brewers. Lucky them!
Most of you are the ones who are stupid not jim hendry, i'd get rid of sota he is lazy as is zambrano and ramirez
the same Jim Hendry that signed
Bradley, Soriano, Z, Fukudome, Miles to to those great contracts ?
Just asking.
Rich...stay classy my friend...it's okay to disagree with opinions...it's another
to attack one for their opinions...
I disagree with you re Hendry...too
many expensive mistakes on his part.
It's Soto not Sota you unclassy motherflower...
Rick, thank you for the post ... but please don't call our readers out like that ... Our motto at the CCO: Stay Classy Cubs Fans!
I wouldnt knock the Brewers for signing LaTroy, he was always a great setup man, and he was signed by the Cubs to be a setup man and if you look at the breakdown, he was solid as a setup man until he fell apart and absolutely blew as a closer, but once he went back to the setup role he went back to being pretty good.
Soto will bounce back, dont trade him, but DO SOMETHING HENDRY jesus man your killin me right now...MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN, YOUR JOB DEPENDS ON IT.
Hypothetically had we finished 2nd to the Cardinals this season and Bradley had won the triple crown and we weren't trying to trade him, would we still be sitting around saying we have no $$ to spend while other central rivals improve? I'm with Jim C., this is annoying! Let's see one positive ray of light come out of these meetings other than "we're waiting to see how much we have to spend after we trade Bradley". I'm waiting for the line of BS about how we had some good conversations and put some things in place for future discussions....blah, blah, blah, this sucks! If we do trade Bradley and run out and and sign Cameron I thought he was option C or D....oops no Granderson, no Figgins...I guess we're already there!
Maybe they can trade for Bodkin? It appears that Bradley's contract is too lucrative.
Guys...we all knew this was coming.
Hendry maxed us out last year and
Ricketts has to contend with a 30 million
interest payment that the Trib never had.
Would you even want to invite Bradley to dinner?...I think not...and the other mlb
teams are just like us. The guy is a plague. And Hendry is asking the other teams to pay 21 million for the right to the plagues services.
If Milton can't be traded...then I don't know...I actually feel bad for Hendry...
this whole offseason is about atonement for him...atonement for his sins last offseason.
Here's the rub...while it might be financially prudent to keep Mr. Muppet
at this point...I will not attend any Cub function as long as he wears Cubbie blue.
You feel bad for Hendry because he can't trade the player and the contract that he signed off on? I might, might be able to sympathize but for the 2011 year at 13M$ for playing in 75 games in 2009 that Jim decided was sound business...or some kind of incentive (??!!). No way, Suzy. All I feel about is that he gave Milt that contract in the first place.
Hendry dug the hole, he jumped in, and Milty has filled it in up to his armpits...
Heath Bell has a lot in common with one Mr. Kevin Gregg...namely that laster straight fastball.
Once agian, I think Hendry has a very unhealthy obsession with bullpen pitchers. The best arms in the Cubs pen are youngsters that have come from within. Why does he always go and overpay for aging/aged bullpen arms? Why!
I guess if you ignore the starting rotation, and expect Shark and Gorzy to open the season in the rotation, that having a LOT of arms in the pen is a good idea!
According to mlbtraderumors.com Rich Harden is willing to sign a one year contact with lots of incentives, Neil is there any chance the Cubs will bring him back now since he willing to sign a one year deal.
Looks like Richie is finding it a little tough out there in the mnarket.
:-)
Milwood and 3 million to the O's for Chris Ray...I was really hoping the Cubs would trade Milton for Milwood.
NOBODY wants him.
The only real scenario...Rays will get Milty and 14M$...the Cubs will get a 23M$ Pat Burrell and still need an everyday CF.
Enter Marlon Byrd or Scotty Pods.
O god...that is depressing.
I'm aware of the proposed trade with the Rays. I just think Burrell might be as untradble as Milton. And yes, I agree...very very depressing.
Neil,
Did the Cubs ever try putting Milton through waivers? I wonder if anyone would pick him up that way, like Rios' bad contract was picked up by the White Sox. If we could swing that, then we would have enough money for a middle rotation starter and a veteran setup guy.
Woody34,
That makes zero sense.
if someone was willing to pick up Milty's cash, he would have been traded a long time ago. But that's the problem, nobody really wants this guy bad enough to pay him that ridiculous amount of money that Hendry gave him. So that's why we're here now, begging for someone to take this bum, while we pay for most of it.
Woody ... I would think so. Teams put most of their players on waivers in order to gain a level in interest for that player.
The meetings have gotten eerily quiet, that usually means something big is about to happen.
For all of you knocking Soto, he is training this off-season with Dempster. The same thing Demp did last off-season where he got into great shape. Would be a horrible move to trade Soto especially for Heath Bell.
I'd be shocked if anything significant happens on the Cubs front this offseason. Likely the best we can hope for is a Bradley deal for another bad contract followed by a Byrd or Cameron signing. Anything else will just be tweaking. Either a lot of "ifs" come together and we get lucky in 2010 ... or we'll be playing for 2011. Barring all those "ifs" coming together, JH will be gone after 2010 and hopefully we'll start seeing the development of young players by 2011 and 2012. That's just the reality of where we are.
Per Rotoworld Harden has agreed to a contract with the Rangers for $7.5 million this year and a $11.5 million option for next year
...isn't it ironic, dont'cha think...?
With the $$ Texas is saving on Milwood they intend to sign Harden for a year and around 7M$.
XM Radio is reporting the Harden deal as well.
Millwood to the Orioles
check out this ridiculous, but very attractive, rumor
http://www.faketeams.com/2009/12/7/1188979/mlb-trade-rumors-alfonso-soriano
Congrats we let Harden leave without getting anything for him, no draft picks no nothing.
It's not official yet ... will post when it is a done deal for Rich Harden.
Bruce Levine is reporting the Red Sox are interested in Bradley.
Can Mike Lowell play second base?
I heard the Bradley-to-Boston rumors last night and wondered two things:
1) Who they'd be willing to give up
2) How a championship organization like them would be stupid enough to trade for a game who has shown consistently that he cannot perform in big market areas
Also, it has to be pretty bad to sit through an offseason and watch as every single MLB team officially denies any interest in you. If I'm Milton Bradley, I'm learning a lesson here.
Bradley to red sox would be hilarious
if he thought this was a pressure cooker, wait till he gets a load of Boston.
hahahaha
They have a couple pretty ugly contracts too in Dice K and Drew. Either case would CUT payroll for the Red Sox, not that they really have to worry about that. Drew has 2 left at 14M$ each, DiceK get 8, 10 and 10M$ for the next 3 years.
But I just don't see the Red Sox doing that.
What could this potential deal be? Anyone?
Levine indicated it would be for Lowell and the Cubs would flip him to another team ... possibly the Giants.
Lowell is the guy that Boston wants to dump. Theo still likes Drew and I can't see them selling low on DiceK this offseason.
I'd take Dice-k in a nano-second...
but that ain't happening. Too good to be true.
We have no place for Lowell. Or Drew.
Neil,
In general, what kind of stock do you put into these "flipping" rumors (whether it be Burrell, Lowell or anyone else)? My thinking is if it was so easy to deal Lowell or Burrell, their current teams would unload them. So anytime I hear about flipping being part of a deal, I'm extremely skeptical of the entire rumor.
I agree David. The 'flipping to another team' has been made to sound very easy. Like you I question how it could happen ... especially with a player like Pat Burrell.
That is the reason the Millwood rumor seemed to make more sense ... but that is done.
Is it just me but everyone is getting better in our division except us. I am tired of hearing of flipping players to another team. The Cubs should just fire Jim Hendry now.
Can you please tell me how any team has gotten better?
The Brewers signed Randy Wolf, who's a decent starter, and LaTroy Hawkins, who may suck, but has shown enough "flashes of excellence" that he'll at least be a pain for the Cubs. Besides that, every team is pretty much the same.
St.Louis with Brad Penny their rotation deeper. The Brewers got Randy Wolf now they have a nice two solid starters on top of their rotation. The reds have a solid nucleus it is just matter of time before they get consistent for the whole season, their pitching staff and bullpen is very good. The pirates have good young talent. Now we have Zambrano who shows up when he want t, Lily is injured, Dempster will be consistent. Randy Wells is very hitable. The Shark is not a major league pitcher and their a reason the Pirates trade Gorzelanny he is not very good. The defense in the outfield is horrible. Our bullpen will be young I do not know what to expect yet and we have strikeout artist Soriano who we paying to hop in the outfield.
Not for nothing, but the Reds always have a solid nucleus and the Pirates always have young talent, and they always completely fall apart like clockwork once the season starts.
But I did forget about the Penny addition for the Cards, that does make them a better team, although the Cards' weakness has always been getting runners for Pujols to knock in, which, with the losses of DeRosa and Holliday, isn't an issue they've resolved.
Still, the Cubs haven't gotten better, rather they've created holes with the removals they've made (Heilman, Gregg, and Miles may have sucked, but they need to be replaced, so that's a question mark more than anything).
by the way, just in case anyone needed proof that it was good idea to not get Granderson, just read Phil Rogers today.
He says the cubs blew it by not getting him. If genius Phil says that, thats all I need to know.
:-)
No Ronald... IT IS JUST YOU.
Guys like Brad Penny are not difference makers anymore than the Cubs signing Marquis a few years ago. He is a decent middle/backend of the rotation type guy.
The Cards are clearly looking like they will take a step backwards, they already lost Holliday, Piniero, and DeRo first of all. Second of all, they were pretty lucky with the lack of injuries at the top of the rotation and Carp is still a HUGE injury risk that could single handedly wreck their season, Wainwright is very good but I do believe that last year was a career year. They had a lot of guys that played over their career norms (even pujols) I mean come on, they had Ryan Franklin closing like he was Mariano, does anyone really expect that to repeat much like no one expected Demp to repeat the sub 3 era and 17 wins.
The brewers are still weak in the pitching department and Trevor is yet another year older. The middle and backend of their rotation is still weak and Randy Wolf who basically had a career year in a contract year in a pitchers park and will now be entering a hitters haven at Wrigley North. His era will be right back where it always is, above 4... ALSO, Wolf has only won double digit games in 2 OF THE PAST 6 SEASONS...
The Reds are the Reds, they are always 2-3 years away from competing and will always hover around .500 or so for about a month before heading to the basement for the rest of the season.
The pirates are not even worth a comment.
The Astros are the same as always, decent lineup, not much at all in the way of pitching.
Even with this crappy offseason, A HEALTHY 2010 CUBS IS STILL A VERY GOOD BET TO WIN THIS DIVISION...
Just think about what the Cards fans thought going into 2009 when the cubs were by far the heaviest division favorite in the MLB, and that 2009 cubs team was much better on paper than the 2010 cards will be.
Joel,
Great post. I agree 100%. If we're worried about guys like Randy Wolf, Brad Penny, Hawkins, than we're in big trouble. They are all journeyman. Big deal.
The only thing I will say is that I think there's still a decent chance the cardinals will re-sign Holliday. I don't see alot of teams out there willing to pony up $18M a year right now.