Rick's Back, For at Least a Little While

The Cards signed Rick Ankiel to a one year, $2.83 million deal just minutes before both parties were set to begin presenting their cases in an arbitration hearing. Ankiel will be receiving a nearly $2 million a year raise after making a paltry $975,000 in 2008. The dollar amount agreed upon was exactly in the middle of what had been submitted by both Rick and the team.

The St. Louis Cardinals have not needed an arbitration hearing since 1999. That string of arbitration-less years was set to end today, but the last minute deal keeps the streak alive...for now.

Ludwick's hearing is set for Tuesday, and proves much more difficult to be resolved before arbitration. The two sides are much further apart, numerically speaking. Ludwick is asking for $4.25 million and the Cards have offered $2.8 million.

But what does this one year deal for Ankiel mean? Ankiel will be a free agent next year. Because of this there have been many rumors circling around about the Cards possibly using Ankiel as trade bait for some pitching around the deadline. The Cards would surely be able to fill the hole in left with our army of outfielders waiting in the wings.

Even if Ankiel finishes the season in St. Louis, I see him wanting more money than the club would be willing to dish out (i.e. today). The Cards save his career and still can't afford him.

It would be nice if he would give the Cards a small discount considering all they have done for him. Last time I checked there aren't too many failed pitchers getting a second chance at a new position...unless the Blue Jays inked Maroth last month to start in right (although after a few outings they might be tempted to put him in right...deep right...about 6 rows into the bleachers).

Thats all for today. If you want more, I wrote an offensive prediction piece for the 2009 Redbirds over at the bleacher report at this link.