Cards will regret Furcal deal, why?

   At first, I was excited to see the Redbirds grab up Rafael Furcal. His defense bailed out the Cardinals down the stretch in 2011, and he had some huge hits in some very big games. Maybe it was the typical World Series hangover that made me not dive deeper in to the Furcal signing. The Cards do have a bit of a history with some bad post-championship deals, (Adam Kennedy comes to mind first) but overall have began to cleanse themselves of a bad stretch of deals over the last 7 seasons or so. Just when we think a lot of bigger paying deals go off of the books (Lohse, Westbrook, next), the Cards will again be stuck with a bad contract. At 34 years old, Furcal has began to show decline (especially on offense), and the fact that he just can't stay healthy makes him a bad choice for a deal worth that kind of money. I could have understood a 1 yr/4-5 mill deal or a 2 yr/8 mill deal (on the high side), but 2 yrs/14 mill? Come on Mo', really? A 34 year old shortstop who has had only 797 plate appearances in the last two seasons combined, a .332 OBP over the same two seasons, and a .266 BA? And you signed him with the intention of making him your everyday, lead-off shortstop? It seems like maybe a hasty decision was made, and some close to the organization have stated that the shortstop market was very shallow (BTW, I am not condoning 18 mill a year on Reyes either), which expedited the Furcal signing.
  
   Well, here we are, opening day is in two days for the Cards, and Furcal has just came off of a putrid .192/.222/.260 spring. It is the consensus that Tyler Greene will get his shot somewhere on the infield, and Furcal is slated to start in Miami and bat eighth. Ironically, Daniel Descalso (.283/.411/.433) had a great spring at the plate, and we know the value of his defense anywhere on the infield. What about him? He makes quite a bit less than Furcal, is reliable, and is a gamer without a doubt. But wait, Furcal has a 2 yr/14 mill deal. You can see already where this is heading without the merits of a crystal ball. If we are lucky they will find a way to platoon Descalso, and we will be stuck with an over-the-hill, mediocre, once talented veteran who will get playing time solely based on what he makes. While visions of Tino Martinez and Adam Kennedy dance in my head, I will prepare for opening day, and hope Furcal can turn it around our Descalso can hit his way into an everyday job. I will bank on the latter. Thanks for reading-Joe.