Lefty Relief.....Clocks Ticking!!

When it comes to our issues on the left side of the bullpen, we seem to be running out of time getting those issues resolved. Mozeliak has mentioned himself that he expects the lefties on the market to continue going off the board at a rapid pace, so at least he realizes that there isn't any time to waste whenever it comes to signing one of the top options.

For me, those top options are down to two choices.....Joe Beimel & Will Ohman.....Many may be wondering why Fuentes isn't added in there, well that's simple to answer - Because he is WELL out of our price range. If you have ANY aspirations of the Cardinals signing Fuentes, it's time you bang your head against the wall and realize that just ISN'T going to happen. Get over it, take a deep breath and move on.

The way I see things we need two lefty relievers, actually I think we need more than that since all of our starters are righthanded, one as the "Lefty Specialist" that LaRussa desires so much and the other as someone who gets lefties out quite well, but can hold his own if he is forced to get out a number of righties. With Ohman and Beimel I feel that they can fill the latter of those two scenarios. They both have solid numbers against lefties, as one would expect, but below are their respective numbers against righties.

Beimel: .286 / .367 / .428
Ohman: .262 / .359 / .397

Now neither of them are exactly dominant against righties, but they shouldn't be forced to face righties too often with our surplus of righty relief and the before mentioned right heavy rotation. Thus their numbers are respectable enough to fill the role. I would imagine that either of them will be going for around $3-$4MM per over 2 or 3 years. The signing of Affeldt to only $4MM per earlier this offseason has forced their per year salary to be no more than $4MM, because he was the better option by far of the bunch. Signing either of these guys to more than what Affeldt is getting is a mistake by any team that chooses to do so. Personally anything more than $3.5MM per is a mistake if you ask me.

With either of them receiving the type of money they are going to receive, signing both of them is not an option for us. We can only afford to sign one, and then pick up that "Lefty Specialist" out of a group of cheaper options. If we didn't have the middle infield issue's to deal with, along with a likely need for another SOLID rotation guy, we could afford to sign both and be in extremely great shape. Sadly that is simply not realistic.

The choices for the "Lefty Specialist", on the cheaper side of things, is a short list too. For me it's either re-sign Villone or go and get Arthur Rhodes. Both should be within our price range when factoring the other needs that must be addressed. Their numbers against lefties in 08' follow.

Villone: .176 / .311 / .318
Rhodes: .221 / .289 / .325

Rhodes happens to have had some solid numbers against righties as well, but for me his age makes me a little wary of using him in the same role that I have outlined for Ohman & Beimel. Rhodes made $1MM last year while Villone only cost us $600K last season. I don't see Villone getting much of a salary increase if any, so he should remain within the $900K range at the very least. Rhodes on the other hand could sneek up to somewhere around $2-$2.5MM after the numbers he put up. His age will help to keep it from going too high, but a team might have to give him 2 guaranteed years of service if they are to keep him out of the $2MM range. Villone on the other hand will likely be an easy one year snag.

Rumor's have it that the Cards are leaning toward an Ohman/Rhodes duo, but I haven't read anything significant about serious offers being made to either. Anything much over $5MM to fill our lefty needs would have to be questioned. I would imagine a line of $5.5 being the highest high.

We should know quite soon, as to who our first signing is. It most certainly will be of the Ohman/Beimel options. I think missing out on either of these forces a trade scenario to be the only other option to fill this role.