Cardinals sign Wainwright to Extension

[klw]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/0...ainwright.html

The Cardinals have agreed to a 5-year, $97.5MM extension with pitcher Adam Wainwright that covers the 2014-2018 seasons, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Wainwright, a 31-year-old right-hander, is represented by Aegis Sports Management. He was set to enter free agency next year as the top pitcher available on MLBTR's Tim Dierkes's 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings.

They must be confident of his health going forward or of a revenue increase which makes the risk pretty low.

[MikeThierry]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/0...ainwright.html



They must be confident of his health going forward or of a revenue increase which makes the risk pretty low.

Probably both. They have a lot of young players with cost control for many years to come along with a ton of money coming off the books next year (something like 30-40 million). They're also going to be signing a long term TV contract in 2017 which will give them about 5-6 times more than what they're getting now. Plus the Cards were in between a rock and a hard place. If they let him walk, they would have been outbid by other teams so they probably had to overpay just slightly so he wouldn't reach free agency.

[HometownHero]

If the Cardinals don't hit on a good clip on their prospects they could get into some trouble before they get to a new TV deal.

A big portion of all the money they have opening up will get gobbled right back up in paying Wainwright and the other players who contracts increase and then playing our 6 arbitration cases next year unless they add more long term deals or let key players walk. And that doesn't even factor in if they want to bring back Mujica or Westbrook in 2014.

Then for 2015 they only have a sure 11M coming off the books but have half that accounted for in current contracts with a couple more key Arbitration players in Lynn and M Carpenter who both could end up asking for good money and would be inline to win their cases especially Lynn who has a 18 win year and a ASG appearance to impress them with if reached a hearing.

If the Cards do good this year a lot of it will be on the guys looking to get paid soon, if they do bad they may have to turn to FA or trade's which will hurt the cause long term.

[Tom Servo]

I think St. Louis would have been better off flipping him this offseason. While I have little doubt he will continue to be a valuable starting pitcher he is 31 and I don't think he is going to return to 2009/2010 levels going forward. Then again it's the Cardinals so watch him get even better for no apparent reason.

[Col_ IN Reds fan]

How will he ever explain this to his kid?

[RadfordVA]

Even if he stayed healthy and had a productive season I can't imagine he was getting more than 20 million a season. Seems like a smarter move to wait than pay retail now. However this is what teams are doing now. Players are not hitting the market anymore. Reds didn't get a discount with Votto either.

[PuffyPig]

Then for 2015 they only have a sure 11M coming off the books but have half that accounted for in current contracts with a couple more key Arbitration players in Lynn and M Carpenter who both could end up asking for good money and would be inline to win their cases especially Lynn who has a 18 win year and a ASG appearance to impress them with if reached a hearing.

Firstly,how can you predict that two players would be inclined to win arbitration cases two years in the future when you have no idea how well they have performed and what they are asking for? The two variables that make up a case are unknown?

And secondly, like any long term signing these days, two much money and too many years. But whatcha gonna do, let your best pitcher walk? You gotta plug your nose and sign the contract if you want to compete these days.

[kaldaniels]

I think St. Louis would have been better off flipping him this offseason. While I have little doubt he will continue to be a valuable starting pitcher he is 31 and I don't think he is going to return to 2009/2010 levels going forward. Then again it's the Cardinals so watch him get even better for no apparent reason.

He was set to be a free agent after this year, so flipping after the season (I assume you aren't thinking of a comp pick) wasn't an option.

The Cards were in a bit of a pickle with this however, had he been 28 or 29 it would have been an easier decision. They paid retail for him, and they have the money, so it isn't horrible. It will all depend on how he ages.

But given his production history and his current age, I have a feeling he won't live up to 97,000,000 over those 5 years. Unless salaries explode even more (which is very well possible) he'll have to pretty much have his most productive 5 year period in his career for him to "live up to it".

[MikeThierry]

Hometown, I see what you're saying but at the same time, I don't know why Cardinals fans worry so much about the Cardinals expense. The organization has presented this tale to the fandom that they're this mid-market team that's cash strapped. St. Louis fans have bought into this "woe is me" argument from management. However, just look at the recent Forbes annual franchise evaluation of MLB teams. The team had a revenue last season of 239 million, even with their god awful pitiful TV contract. Their payroll is 134 million (I'm assuming that's including all minor league players as well as big league players). They have a miniscule operating income of 19 million. This team is not going into the poor house anytime soon. Now that they've almost paid down the new stadium that profit stream will continue to grow due to not allocating revenue towards it. Even with arbitration cases coming up, they've locked up most of their core long term. What the Cardinals spend on their elite players doesn't make me stay up at night, I'll just say that.

http://www.forbes.com/teams/st-louis-cardinals/

[MikeThierry]

By the way, I'm looking at that list and I didn't realize that Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for only 10 million. They're now worth 2.3 billion. That may be one of the best investments in the history of sports.

[*BaseClogger*]

By the way, I'm looking at that list and I didn't realize that Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for only 10 million. They're now worth 2.3 billion. That may be one of the best investments in the history of sports.

About as good as that investment they made in Babe Ruth 50 years earlier, eh?

[MikeThierry]

About as good as that investment they made in Babe Ruth 50 years earlier, eh?

Probably better.

[Trajinous]

Great, I see this as hampering the Cards in a few years. It seems to be a pretty big gamble for his injury history. He'll be effective but they are hoping he's another Chris Carpenter which statistically is pretty rare.

[MikeThierry]

Great, I see this as hampering the Cards in a few years. It seems to be a pretty big gamble for his injury history. He'll be effective but they are hoping he's another Chris Carpenter which statistically is pretty rare.

I don't see how this will hamper the Cardinals considering that there are no huge contracts coming up soon and they have a lot of young talent with cost control for a long time. The only contract that they might have to spend money on is Freese and that's a maybe. With Holliday, Wainwright, Molina, and Craig, you're talking about 57-60 million worth of salary. That leaves a huge chunk of money out of a 120-130 payroll ceiling. Having 40-60 million to spend when your club is full of cost control doesn't make any major contract they have a money drain. I congratulate Mozeliak for creating a situation where they won't be cash strapped. And thank god the Cardinals didn't sign Pujols,

Hometown, I also think there is minimal chance that they resign Westbrook if that means he's going to block Wacha or Carlos Martinez.

[Tom Servo]

He was set to be a free agent after this year, so flipping after the season (I assume you aren't thinking of a comp pick) wasn't an option.

I meant this 2012-2013 offseason, should have clarified.