Should we just spend like drunken sailors for the next 2.5 seasons no matter the long term effects?

[crawjo]

I think some of the guys who will be leaving will be replaceable. It shouldn't be too hard or expensive to find a corner outfielder who can put up a .340 OBP with moderate power, and while Hardy's defense is great, if he were to leave and we could move Machado to short that might make us better depending on what third baseman we bring in.

[El Gordo]

I think some of the guys who will be leaving will be replaceable. It shouldn't be too hard or expensive to find a corner outfielder who can put up a .340 OBP with moderate power, and while Hardy's defense is great, if he were to leave and we could move Machado to short that might make us better depending on what third baseman we bring in.

Schoop might be the 3B.

[Frobby]

I may be of the minority, but it wouldn't bother me if we didn't win the World Series for another 10-15 years.

I'd gladly trade in a WS title for a decade or more of baseball like we've had the last 1.5 seasons.

I know it sounds crazy, but meaningful baseball in September is all I want.

I know how you feel, but that feeling won't last. Sooner or later you'll itch for a championship. But right now, I'm pretty happy just being in a pennant race.

[Ommaculate]

McloutH is a wonderful player but is gone at the end of the season. Brob's contract is gone but could be back at a huge discount next year.

Can the team please just move on from B-Rob? This should be the last year, seriously.

[eddie83]

I would think about Johnson next year going to the rotation. I don't know if he can do it or not but to me it is a real option. I was against it in the past but we aren't going the FA route with pitching and it he can't do it then he goes back to the pen. We need to save money in LF, DH and 2nd the next couple of years. I want to keep Davis and Wieters long term. I bet Nick would stay here at a lesser rate. No way are we spending big on pitching, use that to keep the core here through 2018.

[srock]

I am exhuasted. 20 month old and a 8 day old. So am not going to read any of this thread, nor the OP. But I just felt it necessary to say this.

Should we just spend like drunken sailors for the next 2.5 seasons no matter the long term effects?

Greatest Frobby thread title...EVER!

[Il BuonO]

I may be of the minority, but it wouldn't bother me if we didn't win the World Series for another 10-15 years.

I'd gladly trade in a WS title for a decade or more of baseball like we've had the last 1.5 seasons.

I know it sounds crazy, but meaningful baseball in September is all I want.

Well, I don't want to take a poll for fear that there may others thinking along this line. Buck would tell you that September baseball is great as long as it leads to you being the last one standing in October. I don't think it's an either/or proposition, we can have both. Even if we go after a FA vet to shore up the pitching staff we don't have to decimate the farm system to do it.

I look at the Cardinals as the franchise I would like to emulate. Not only are they there come PO time, but they have also made it count when they do get there. Now, I know they haven't been the Yankees or Dodgers when it comes to spending but they do make plays into FA when they can. And the only reason the haven't had to for a pitcher is they have been developing their own for so long.

So, spending like a drunken sailor even for the richer teams is never a cure-all or a how-to on putting together a championship team, but there is a way to do it that is even handed for teams willing to start with developing their own talent first. We've done that, now let's finish the race.

[Slappy]

Speculating 4 years out is kind of a waste of time. It wasn't long ago everyone was saying we were 5 years from contending.

That said, I think DD keeps Davis and either trades Wieters and Markakis or lets them walk.

[El Gordo]

Be drunk always.....

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch,(or IF) in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue(or the O's) as you wish." - Baudelaire

[Rene88]

Speculating 4 years out is kind of a waste of time. It wasn't long ago everyone was saying we were 5 years from contending.

That said, I think DD keeps Davis and either trades Wieters and Markakis or lets them walk.

This.

I agree 100% Wieters is not resigned and Markakis is more than likely not resigned (perhaps at a much lower rate).

[DrungoHazewood]

I know how you feel, but that feeling won't last. Sooner or later you'll itch for a championship. But right now, I'm pretty happy just being in a pennant race.

The problem is the difference between World Series Champ and one game out of the wildcard is often health and timing more than drunken sailor acquisitions.

[brianod]

The goal should always to be to get value. If you can get 35 million worth of value and pay someone 30 million a year, then spend the money. Unfortunately in the post steroid era, free agents rarely return value. Throwing money around leads to last years Boston and Anaheim and this years Dodgers, Blue Jays and Angels. We should aim to be as good at player development as Tampa. If we get that good, then we can simply spend 60 million more them then and compete every year. We shouldn't be giving up on signing Davis imo. Take a chance and give him 100 million now. The sooner we get it done, the less money he will cost.

Cliff Lee is an example of what not to do. I wouldn't want him if he came free. We simply can't afford to pay at 36-38 year old starter 25 million per year. That is not value, that is what Anaheim is doing for Pujols and we can't afford that.

[Il BuonO]

The goal should always to be to get value. If you can get 35 million worth of value and pay someone 30 million a year, then spend the money. Unfortunately in the post steroid era, free agents rarely return value. Throwing money around leads to last years Boston and Anaheim and this years Dodgers, Blue Jays and Angels. We should aim to be as good at player development as Tampa. If we get that good, then we can simply spend 60 million more them then and compete every year. We shouldn't be giving up on signing Davis imo. Take a chance and give him 100 million now. The sooner we get it done, the less money he will cost.

Cliff Lee is an example of what not to do. I wouldn't want him if he came free. We simply can't afford to pay at 36-38 year old starter 25 million per year. That is not value, that is what Anaheim is doing for Pujols and we can't afford that.

Really??? Not even for free? Did Lee suddenly turn into a scrub? And the idea that his contact is remotely close to Pujols is beyond ridiculous. If anything Lee is underpaid. His peripherals still support him being paid every penny of his current contact and I would say he gets at least that and four more years to boot.

He is exactly the guy who earns his money and in whom I have every confidence could take us to the next level.

[Redskins Rick]

Or Votto's 225 million for that matter, which was almost Pujols money.

[brianod]

Really??? Not even for free? Did Lee suddenly turn into a scrub? And the idea that his contact is remotely close to Pujols is beyond ridiculous. If anything Lee is underpaid. His peripherals still support him being paid every penny of his current contact and I would say he gets at least that and four more years to boot.

He is exactly the guy who earns his money and in whom I have every confidence could take us to the next level.

And, when he becomes average and drops below average due to age and the O's are on the hook for 25 million?