Cardinals key losses:
Albert Pujols
Grades: Years 1-3 F- Years 4-10 A
Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan
Grade: D+
Edwin Jackson
Grade: A-
The loss of Pujols hurts a ton in the 'short' term. Long term, the Cardinals benefit and overall are better off not signing Pujols. A 37-42 year old Pujols making 25+ million a year (his contract is backloaded!) would have been a noose around the org's neck. LaRussa and Duncan are both losses as well. Although Duncan is an advisor to the team right now and says he'll come back if his wife gets better.
Edwin Jackson would have been nice to keep around, but not at 12M for a 3/4 starter. The money ended up being better spent elsewhere.
Reds key losses
Fransisco Cordero
Grade: F
Boxberger/Alonso/Grandel/Volquez
Grade: Years 1-3 A Years 4+ D
Ramon Hernandez
Grade: C-
I don't understand why the Reds didn't keep Cordero at just 4.5M for one year. At that price, I was upset the Cardinals didn't try to land him. Madson is a nice pickup but is inconsistent, having a fallback option like Cordero at such a cheap price seems like it would have been a no-brainer. The Reds got great production out of Hernandez, not sure why Jocketty didn't try to keep that backstop-duo together for one more year since it worked so well. I'm guessing he has fears about Hernandez getting old.
"Winner" = Reds in the short term, Cardinals in the long term.
Cardinals Key Additions
Carlos Beltran
Grade: A+
Rafeal Furcal
Grade: B
I was tempted to add Wainwright as an addition, but that'd be cheating! Beltran was an excellent pickup, he's coming off a great year where he got MVP votes. Beltran will be turning 35 this season, but for two years at $25M total, I like the pickup. I think he has two good years left in him. Linebrink is barely worth talking about.
Furcal, at 33, still has some life left in him. I think we over-paid, but it solidifies a position for a couple of years that has been a black hole since Edgar Renteria defected to Boston. I think his offense will be better this year then last year, the dropoff from 2010 to 2011 was way too extreme and IMO was an aberration. Not that he is the player he was 5 years ago, but he's better offensively then he was last year.
Reds Key Additions
Ryan Madson
Grade: A+
Mat Latos
Grade: See above
Ryan Ludwick
Grade: D
Ryan Madson was a great pickup at the price. Like I said above, I'm confused that the Reds let Cordero go so cheaply and are putting all their eggs in Madson's basket, but you can't judge the signing by that. Ludwick fell off a cliff production wise when he left St Louis. I don't know what happened to him, but he's not a very good player any more.
I like the Latos pick up a lot for the Reds for 2012. They needed a starter and the FA market was very poor this year, so Jocketty traded for one. However, I think he gave up way too much. I don't think this will work out quite like another of Jocketty's infamous trades (Dan Haren for Mark Mulder) but I think Reds fans will sad watching Grandel and Alonso from afar like Cardinals fans are watching Dan Haren. This is a "win now" trade, and it will be judged upon if the Reds do indeed win in the next two years while they still have Votto. The Cardinals have already been proven correct in the Rasmus trade, even if he ends up being an All Star guy in Toronto, the Reds trade will also be judged by the short term success or failure.
Winner: I think it's a push in the short term. Long term, Cardinals "win" by a large margin.
