"Another Season-long contract conflict in St. Louis"
February 23, 2012
   Spring Training is in full swing down in Jupiter, and there is a lot to be excited about! New arrivals, returning veterans, a new skipper, and promising young talent help soothe the sting of King Albert leaving for sunny Hollywood. And, just we begin to put the Albert saga behind us, Cardinal Nation is greeted with another high-profile player and his agent taking a page out of the Dan Lozano playbook. Deadlines on sides making offers and discussing a deal, the "no hometown discount" tag line, and "it is up to my agent" quote ring out from the Cardinals locker room down in Jupiter. Albert and the Cards knew what the plans were from the beginning. Lozano wanted the biggest deal possible for his slugger, and Cards made the safe move avoiding a long term deal for an aging-yet-still dominant player. But here is why Yadi is a different animal: He is almost unreplaceable, extremely durable, has no serious injury history, and the Cards have no backup plan in waiting (Bernie Miklasz touched on this today on 101 ESPN) as they did when Molina came up behind Matheny. Yadi changes every game he plays defensively, handles a pitching staff better than anyone in the league, and had a nice .300 plus year with 14 homers at the plate. Yadi also won't cost the Cards 250 million, and they have a lot of room coming off of the payroll next year. I was pleased the Cards didn't cave to the Pujols/Lozano camp, but this is different. Enough deadlines, talks, no talks, etc., Mo' just needs to get this deal done! No excuses! Thaks for reading-Joe