Jocketty dodges the bullet again....
« The Small Bears On The Run | Main | American Idol, er, MLB Comes to Town »According to the Post-Dispatch this morning (and the Birdhouse yesterday) the Cards signed southpaw Rick Ankiel to a 1-year deal worth $400,000 (before incentives). Thus, Walt once again avoids the need to go to arbitration, as Ankiel was the last of the arbitration-eligible players to come to terms with the team.
According to the Birdhouse, Ankiel's incentives include an additional $75,000 based on appearances, $50,000 if Rick is selected to the National League All Star Team, and $50,000 if he is selected as Comeback Player of the Year.
Welcome back, and good luck, Rick. All of Cardinal Nation will be pulling for you!
Posted by Len at January 19, 2005 08:13 AMI'm deleting my comment on his chances for those bonuses for fear of jinxing everything.
Nice site by the way. I check it at least once a workday.
Posted by: Whitney at January 19, 2005 12:27 PMI am hoping that this will finally be "the" year for Ankiel. I honestly believe he has the stuff to be a top pitcher in MLB.
I hope Ankiel tears down the house when he fills in for Morris, and that when Morris returns LaRussa doesn't know what to do with the rotation because of Ankiel's success.
Wouldn't that be a great "problem" to have?
Posted by: John in Chicago at January 19, 2005 12:43 PMI agree, but I think if that were to happen, Morris would likely be put in the bullpen. His contract is largely incentive based, so using him as a reliever would save a lot of cash, whereas Ankiel's incentives sound really cheap, so using him as a starter wouldn't cost much.
Posted by: John at January 21, 2005 06:01 PM