Updated 1/4/07, 4:27pm
The St. Louis Cardinals signed “hustling white scrub” infielder Aaron Miles to a one year contract for $1.4 million, Future Redbirds has learned. “We’re happy to have Miles back in Cardinal red for 2008.” said GM John Mozeliak. “We realize we have four players already superior to Miles in every way. But what he lacks in on base percentage and defense, he makes up in scrap and hustle. We needed more of that, by gum!” Jarrett Hoffpauir was not immediately available for comment, as he was in the hospital after jabbing a fork in his head upon hearing the news.
Tony LaRussa praised the signing. “I don’t know why they let him go in the first place. He hit .290 for us last year for crying out loud! And my oh my, he’s such a gamer. I’m nearly wetting myself even thinking about him. I can’t wait to give him another 400 at bats.”
Dave Duncan also was enthusiastic about the return of the short, stocky middle infielder. ”With the pitching staff Mo has put together this offseason, I’m sure Miles will be able to help rest our bullpen by providing invaluable mop-up relief. I’m excited dagnabbit! Can’t you tell by the look on my face?”
Filed under: Jarrett Hoffpauir, Transactions
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Ah Satire, got to love it.
No. Please somebody wake me from this horrible dream.
This is madness!
THIS IS SPARTA!
Sorry Jeff, couldn’t resist…
I don’t get it either… maybe injuries will help Hoff out, I don’t know if he’ll get a chance to perform much in Memphis either the way things are going. Right now it looks like Kennedy, Miles, Izturis, Ryan and Jimenez are all going to be higher on the depth chart and at least two of those are going to be fighting for ABs in Memphis. So not only are we blocking Hoff’s path to the majors but now we are denying him ABs in Triple A, too. Do not want!
I’m pretty sure I would rather have Jimenez and Ryan than Izturis and Miles. And I’m pretty sure Izturis and Miles will start with the big league team. On the bright side, we know almost have enough middle infielders to sit everyone else.
Jimenez is one I totally have been forgetting lately and it makes me wonder if Mo forgot about him too. How much MIF depth does one team need? Or is someone being dealt?
I cannot believe they re-signed him. I really thought MO was having a good offseason…jettisoning older average/below average players for younger average players w/possible upside. Then he re-signs Miles. I just don’t understand. We have plenty of candidates for Miles job…but you know TLR will find a way to give Miles 400 AB’s. Looks like I’ll need about 400 A-B beers to get through Flag Day watching Miles take at-bats away from deserving younger players.
I lit a money on fire this afternoon in a tribute to Aaron Miles contributions.
1.4M, AZ?
No, I’d light myself on fire before I’d light 1.4M on fire.
ONE POINT FOUR MILLION? Plus incentives he’ll easily reach?
So…3+ million for Izturis, 1.5+ million for Miles. What’d that exiled shortstop sign for again? At least Eckstein could hit a little bit.
Ryan and Hoff are better in every concieveable way. Huge step backwards, I’m terrified for what this means for the organization.
Sure glad that six million saved from Edmonds isn’t going to waste.
Khhaaaannnnn!
Hopefully Pujols is on first names basis with his chiropractor. Not like he doesn’t have enough hamstring/leg issues already.
The funny thing is I don’t even think that Miles is the terrible player that most folks here and on Viva El Birdos do and I’m still appalled. I think he’s a league average reserve infielder who has a knack for getting important hits when I’m watching. The problem is he is nowhere’s near the player that Ryan is in any faze of the game other than swinging left handed and the Cardinals are willing to pay him three times as much. He is probably not as good as Hoffpauir either. Hoff and Ryan will apparently spend unnecessary time at AAA while Miles fills TLR’s criterion for trust (being over thirty) being mediocre in St. Lou. I find it hard to believe that this would have been done for any other reason than to pacify Tony. His two year contract may be the biggest barrier to doing what needs to be done for this team.
Is this the signing that pacifies tony’s promise of being supplied a winning team? Shit and Shinola
Like I said earlier Mr. LaRussa is running the show. They hired a manager before a GM?? Don’t look for Ryan or Hoffpauir in St. Louis to begin the season if much at all. If this team wants to start a youth movement they have the wrong manager. Folks I believe this will be a very long season. I least I will get to watch the kids in Springfield at every home game again this year.
Oh the positives! Where to start?!?!
1. The go-to guy to step on the mound when you’re trying to contain a 12 run deficit
2. Our Memphis middle infield ought to be awesome!
3. We don’t have to start the free agent clock on Hoffpauir for another year. At least. We’ll probably resign Miles until he’s 35 so we most likely won’t have to start it until Hoffpauir is 30!
3. This signing, coupled with the Izturis signing, ensures a consistent replacement level performance should one of them go down to injury.
4. Brendan Ryan can start working on not smiling right now!
5. Nothing says “player development” like Aaron Miles.
That’s all for now. Maybe more to come later - if I don’t drink too much and pass out.
at this point all the rational folks can do is hope there is some kind of deal in the works in which someone wants one of our MI folks. no way there will be enough opportunities in st to give all a fair shot. if not, mo just went down the toilet. no new board on his character house for this one.
I love this website, but I don’t understand all the hate for Miles.
I didn’t realize he hit .350 in June and .380 in Aug; whatever his playing time was in those months, TLR should give him similar PT every month in ‘08.
Yeah $1.4 mil is high for a guy that probably no other team wanted. But he’s a better player than Izturis, who got $2.85 mil. Miles was way better than Kennedy last year; Kennedy makes about $3 mil. I would compare Miles production right now to Eckstein’s, except Miles doesn’t get hurt and is better defensively at SS than Eckstein (not saying much), who now makes $4.5 mil.
If Brendan Ryan gets any extended PT in the bigs, he’s gonna hit .240 with no power, shaky defense (but a great arm), and a propensity for lateness. His BA was dropping off a cliff at the end of last season when he looked helpless at the plate after MLB pitchers got a book on him.
And Hoffpauir’s great season last year was either a fluke, or a by-product of an offseason bulking up on HGH. He’s another guy whose BA was dropping off a cliff at the end of last season when triple-A pitchers started getting a book on him. He needs another good year at Memphis in ‘08 to be considered legit.
Sorry to be so negative about these players, but it’s ridiculous to read all the negativity about Miles as well.
For me I thought I had a read on where the organization was going, but this signing makes me think I was off base. I thought Izturis meant we didn’t need Miles or Eckstein. I had pretty much a “meh” reaction to the Izturis signing, but now that we signed Miles I really don’t like the Izturis signing either. I started to believe we were really moving towards player development. I thought we were using 08′ to get a read on some of the guys that were close. Including Ryan and Hoffpauir. And you might be right on both, neither may be anything. But I thought we’d know one way or the other, on Ryan for sure, and probably on Hoff. Now looks like they’ll be competing with Jimenez for AB’s in Memphis.
I’ve chalked 08′ as one step back before 2 steps forward. This move looks like spinning our wheels to me.
You’re right that we, including myself in particular, can be too hard on Aaron Miles. He gets more AB’s than a person of his profile should, but that’s because he lives up to what he is when guys like Kennedy and Spivey can’t. But when I hear Mo say he’s versatile I don’t buy it. He’s not a plus or liability at 2B, but he’s a huge liability at SS and 3rd. I consider him misplaced any time I see him anywhere other than 2B. And he hits for a good avg. You can expect something around .280 from him. Not bad, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a softer .280 in the league. With that .280 avg comes about a 4% walk rate and an ISO around .060-.070.
By point of comparison, Hoffpauir could likely hit something close to .250 and get on base as often. He couldn’t do worse as far as hitting for extra bases, and would likely even do slightly better there too. Just my opinion. And while I doubt Ryan offers much on offense, I think he can actually be versatile enough to move between SS and 2B without being a liability.
Hoffpauir and Ryan aren’t likely to ever set the league on fire, but they could serve a purpose on a big league team. Signing Miles just confuses me as to what direction this organization is taking.
Agree Merry Crasmus. I don’t think Miles is a terrible ball player either but he is definitely not “versatile” and he has to hit over .300 to be visible offensively. Ryan has genuine skills, good speed, good glove, good arm, versatility in the field that, if he was able to develop offensively would make him the best middle infielder on this team. With the competition he has he could be the best if he hit .250. Oh, then there’s the fact that he’s young and could improve but that’s a strike against him in Tony’s cosmos.
You’re forgetting the best part of the Miles signing. It solidifies Ryan’s and Hoffpauir’s places as “future” redbirds. If they had been allowed to graduate to full-time duty w/ the big club, you wouldn’t be able to discuss them any further. You’d have been restricted to the other middle infielders who progressed through the Cards farm system. This would have created lots of confusion — what with discussing new and different players who played w/ different teams during the course of the year. Nobody wants that! We’ve brought that assembly line to a halt, thus making it less interesting, but more understandable for the reader.
Thank you Tony and Mo for ensuring that Ryan and Hoffpauir remain “future redbirds.” I’m tired of seeing new guys I don’t know on the big club, wearing numbers like 64 or something. Let’s stay w/ the same old guys always, thus keeping the same old guys at Memphis, Springfield, and everywhere else in the farm system. We’ll suck, that’s true, but at least it’ll be easier for the reader and viewer to understand.
shaneo69 - I’m not sure if that’s a sarcastic comment or not but it’s wrong on so very many levels that I’m not sure where to even begin. I’m hoping it’s sarcasm. . .
Signing Miles brings new meaning to the term “Depth Chart.” When the major league club maintains a bench and even some stating slots with league average and bottom dwellers, we truelly have a club with depth.
Seriously, we can now start making some great projections for Memphis by holding onto Ryan, Hoff, and Reyes, while promoting Rasmus and Anderson. They really have a shot to move from pcl worst to best in this season.
And I’d love to see it. Here is to hoping this site can put together some car pools to Memphis.
I would think Brendan Ryan would be more upset over this than Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir was likely ticketed for AAA anyway; Ryan wasn’t.
If tlr & mo want miles back, then screw it. Ryan and Reyes both could enjoy a much more productive season in Memphis than riding pine in STL. With the graduates coming up from Springfield, this could be a big year for the Redbirds.
There it is, I searched high and low. Finally found the one person that thinks this was a good move.
Aaron? Is that you?
Tony?
well, at least our concern that the team will be lacking in scrappiness is assuaged somewhat.
that’s a good thing, i guess. i guess.