Cardinals do another cheapskate fake rotation upgrade

I'm going to keep kicking the ass of John Mozeliak and Mike Girsh until they actually do something.

So far, via either a SERIOUS trade or a SERIOUS free agent signing, they've left the starting rotation untouched from last year.

Dallas Keuchel? To the White Sox at 3/$55.5, which could vest to 4/$74. Still cheaper than Hyun-Jin Ryu and $4/80 with the Jays.

They even passed on getting Gio Gonzalez for just $5M for one year. Though they did avoid paying, or overpaying, Madison Bumgarner at 5/$85.

I do NOT consider Gwang-Hyun Kim an acceptable answer for upgrading the rotation, certainly not if the question is "Do you want to go to the World Series?" rather than "do you want to make the playoffs?" (With Cubs in sell mode and the Brew Crew kind of consolidating, making the playoffs next year should be a given. That said, MLBTR fans expect the Reds to win 85-89 games, so no sleeping on your hands!)

Nor do I consider acquiring Class A ball Rays prospect Matthew Liberatore to be doing anything for this year, and I don't consider it to be doing THAT much for beyond. He's only an A-ball player so far, and other Cards fans should stop foaming at the mouth until we see him in AA. I'm OK with cleaning out Jose Martinez, as we all know his defensive limitations and now he's going to an AL team. But Randy Arozarena as well? AND moving DOWNward in draft pick slots, in exchange for getting a back-of-the-bench catcher prospect, Edgardo Rodriguez as a throw-in?

If this DID necessitate trading two OFs (and I don't see anything in Liberatore that does), I would have traded Harrison Bader or Tyler O'Neill first.

I'm definitely not as much a fan of the trade as Red Satan's David Schoenfield. That piece can stay behind the paywall, ESPN, and I know it's not worth paying to read.

Beyond that, this trade, as noted two paragraphs above, does nothing for 2020.

So, we're still at me wanting Mo to be daring and creative — daring enough to trade Matt Carpenter for David Price, while taking on Jackie Bradley Jr. as well in a salary dump.

For more on the details of that trade idea and how it would benefit the Sawks, and benefit them enough in my opinion for them to stop asking for prospects, and how it benefits the Cards by getting a starter still decent when working through nagging injuries and still very good when fully healthy, read this blog post.

That said, with Mookie Betts now reportedly getting a record $27M in his last arb-year, while avoiding arbitration, Red Sox head honcho Chaim Bloom either has more incentive to dump more salary, or else more incentive to shut up and lump it on lux taxes. (JBJ is getting $11M in his final arb deal, per the same piece.) But now that the award is in, he's at shit or get off the pot territory.