Y'know, that looks pretty damn good to me too. However, word on the CardsBlogoSphere is that Giles will want far too much money to make him worthwhile. What do you think he's worth?

Well, if the Cards are really trying to win something within the next 3 years and we have no other (younger) options, I'd have no problem dropping $30 mill on Giles for 3 years.

I'd rather overpay for a truly great player than overpay for a mediocre player. He will definitely be slowing down (we'll be getting him for years 35, 36, 37), but what other options do we have? He has the ability to be the second best hitter on our team, he has no (to speak of) history of injury and is incredibly consistent. He hits for power (maybe 22-28 HR), line drive power (lots of doubles), contact (.300 hitter), doesn't give up outs (gets on base a ton).

He would probably put up better numbers than Scotty or Edmonds next year, and I might even bat him 4th with Rolen 5th.

If we do sign him, it does put an incredible amount of pressure on the club to:

win soon
develop younger players with upside talent

That line up sure does look good, BUT...three years is one huge $10 million year too many to sign Giles. He's a hitter, but the 30 home run days are over, injury risk. Find a younger option, trade for an Aubrey Huff or someone of a similar ilk.

ryan vb, I sort of agree with you, but what specifically are our other options? I've heard talk of Jacque Jones. You mention Huff. How do we get him? He's not a FA. Do we trade even more young talent away for him?

The fact of the matter is we have roughly $11 mill to spend on a single outfielder or combination of OFers. I guess it comes down to would you rather have 2 guys like Giles and Rodriguez or 2 guys like Jose Guillen and Jacque Jones?

I guess I"d still rather overpay for really good players than mediocre ones. The things you say about Giles are true, but the question is to what extent. His 30 HR days may be over (or not) but it's very likely he'll hit in the high 20s. Plus our lineup doesn't really need a lot more power.

His risk of injury does go up, but he has no established history of injury as did Larry Walker and is Scott Rolen is developing for himself.

At least next year, I think Giles could put up better numbers than Rolen, and no one is saying he's a waste of $10.5 mill.

In other words, propose some specific other options if you got 'em. From where I'm sitting, Giles is our best option against other FA combos out there, and he's an upgrade over our previous year's corner OFers at roughly the same price.

I'd put giles between rolen and pujols for the R-L-R effect, but, yeah.

There's a chance that more bang for the buck (and I'd like a truly awesome set-up guy next year) might be had via trade, but Paying Giles 10 mil per for 2 years with a third year that kicks in if he plays 2 full seasons sounds pretty good.

Clearly, it's hard NOT to like the thought of Giles in a Cards uni. I certainly wouldn't boo the guy.
I think you could get Huff for Marquis and a throw-in, like Nunez or a grade C prospect. Tampa is loaded for outfield talent, and has a hard time justifying Huff's contract with Baldelli, Gomes, Gaithright, etc. Could also pull a similar move, maybe, for Juan Pierre. There's not much out there in terms of free agent OFs. If Jones came cheap, he might do okay here, building on his work ethic, but he's baaad against lefties. Jock has to pursue Giles, but I just get real iffy about a 3 year deal or even $11/12 million for two. It's a tough call either way, but if I think I would rather see a trade for Huff or even Pierre over a huge 3 year deal for Giles.

How about Preston Wilson out there? If the guy stays healthy he looks capable of putting up Giles like numbers for much cheaper. and being a FA we could sign him for about 3-4 mil per year for 3 years, or 2 years with a club optiion. much much cheaper and free up room to afford to put a little money to keep Grud. a thought

Getting Huff for Marquis is wishful thinking; I think Marquis will be too expensive for Tampa Bay and as for Nunez- he's a FA.

I would definitely be in favor of Pierre. Saying Wilson could put up Giles numbers is just really a stretch. Of course it is possible that Giles could put up Wilson numbers, like if he gets really hurt.

I guess it's difficult also for lots of Cards fans to realize we are sort of a junior member of the evil empire club. We spend a lot of money on players too, and if we have that money to spend, you spend it rather than keeping it in cash or something.

This past playoffs, we had 4 guys over $10 million in our lineup. Only one of them was helpful. Walker and Rolen were hurt, Edmonds was his usual head case and not perfoming. If we plug another $10 mill guy into the lineup and have Rolen back again, it makes our playoff perfomance a lot different I think.

I'm not saying I"m only in favor of Giles. But he's a .300 hitter with power and great eyes. No one else available (as a FA) is even close. We can only hope to negotiate his age against him and the red fuzzy love of Cardinal nation and WS hopes for him to get him as cheaply as possible. $10/year for 3 years is probably the cheapest.

If there were better pitchers out there, I'd say go cheaper in the OF and get a pitcher, but that market is even slimmer and more over priced right now.

but how many used cars would you buy with 100,000 plus mile on it for a very inflated price? Giles is great and still a solid hitter, but i mean he is looking for a 33 mill 3 year deal, come on. this is why mediocre players get paid higher than they should and inflate the price of a mereley above average player. whats wrong with having the buck stop here? we keep saying we need youth we are getting older, its been like that for 3 years now and we havent done anything about it. if we keep this up in 5 years half our team will be splitting time between us and the Hall of Fame game.

Yeah, I see your point and I agree. I guess I don't think it's really an inflated price as much as you do. Also, the only tradeoff with getting younger is in our ability to put the best possible team out there for the next few years, while we're sort of poised to win.

But you're right, and it will be less than 5 before our team is really too old. Lots of moves will happen between then and now though.

Should be a fun offseason. Keep throwing ideas out there.

thanks, ryan, i agree with you in the same way but well you know. what are the odds in spring training that ankiel will get. a look? or a possible bench player. i think that in right ankiel and gall can make a solid right field. and johnny rod in right. another thought.

correction- meant rodriguez in left

It's going to take more than 4 mil to sign Preston Wilson; I'm sure that there are a couple of teams that think he can still play CF(like the yanks where anyone would look like a CF compared to Bernie, lol) and will give him 6-8 mil per year.