Back in Red

Just when we thought he was out, they pull him back in.  The Cardinals resigned Aaron Miles to a $1.4 million contract.

What exactly does Miles bring to the table to warrant that kind of money?  I mean, I know that's not a lot for a baseball team to spend on a player, but shouldn't they get some bang for their buck?

According to the always-impeccable VEB, Miles brings....well, nothing really.  Except the knowledge that TLR is still calling the shots.

Look, I've been a fan of LaRussa's since he was wearing the green and gold of Oakland, even before his "mastermind" turn in George Will's Men at Work.  But his obsession with scrappy veterans is going to be the death of a lot of Cardinal fans.

There's probably nothing that Miles will do this year that Jarrett Hoffpauier couldn't do.  The difference, at best, would be minuscule in favor of Miles.  So why spend an extra million to bring him back?  There was a reason you non-tendered him.

I'm glad that Larry was able to get sources to show that TLR was behind this move, otherwise we'd have to have another round of questioning Mozeliak.   The ownership of the Cardinals has an unhealthy fascination with Tony, I believe.  The logical thing to have done this offseason was to shake things up completely and let TLR walk if he wanted.  Instead, not only did ownership not do that, they didn't wait to hire a GM before hiring him back on.  Which told us that no matter who got the GM job, TLR was going to have more influence on the comings and goings than a normal manager.

I hate to be critical of TLR or ownership, but this really is nonsensical, especially after freeing up roughly $6 million in the Edmonds trade.  You spend over 15% of that savings on a guy with 19 extra-base hits last year?  When you have someone you can play for the bare minimum in a year that's already looked at as a rebuilding and regrouping year?  It just doesn't make sense.

3 Comments

3 Comments | Leave a comment

Mike | January 7, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply

I'm not a fan of bringing back Miles either. I'm assuming that he'll join Kennedy and Izturis in the middle infield (count Spiezio if you'd like). What do you think happens with Brendan Ryan?

cardinal70 | January 7, 2008 10:50 PM | Reply

It's a good question. He still has options, so you could see him on the Memphis shuttle. I guess it's possible that Kennedy could start on the DL, though I thought he was healed up.

You've also got Jimenez in that mix, though he is on a minor league contract and so much more likely to be organizational filler.

Murph | January 7, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply

I'm afraid that if Ryan does wind up coming back to Memphis; we could see a severe regression on his part. He seems like he might not have the emotional maturity necessary to survive having the rug pulled out from under him like that.

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