Yeah, see my other post

texasaggie2015 said:

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Conteras is telling teams that he can be a better hitter with less time behind the plate. The Astros agree with that. He would split time between DH and C if he came to Houston. Maybe a few games in left.

That being said, he would be the primary catcher in the postseason.

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If we gave him a 4 year offer and his next best is 3….AND we are saying he's a part time catcher and can play for a WS caliber team….

Seems like a no brainer for him to sign with us

AggiEE said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Conteras is telling teams that he can be a better hitter with less time behind the plate. The Astros agree with that. He would split time between DH and C if he came to Houston. Maybe a few games in left.

That being said, he would be the primary catcher in the postseason.

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If we gave him a 4 year offer and his next best is 3….AND we are saying he's a part time catcher and can play for a WS caliber team….

Seems like a no brainer for him to sign with us

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Cards seem pretty interested too. I wonder if they have any issues matching years with us.

The Porkchop Express said:

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3. I really am curious why the owners of MLB don't band together and say, we're not offering anyone more than 5 years. They're eating themselves by doing it this way.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_collusion#1985%E2%80%931987

From what I understand he's looking for 5 years

Seemed like last night STL is hesitant to offer a 4th

Currently, the Mets' CBT payroll is ~$298 million. With the Jose Quintana signing, they are now over the Steve Cohen Tax threshold, and every dollar they spend gets taxed at 90%. If they stop spending today, their total tax bill would be ~$34 million. But they're not stopping.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 7, 2022

Damn

Cardinals closing in on free-agent catcher Willson Contreras, sources tell @TheAthletic.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 7, 2022

Farmer beat me to it.

Farmer1906 said:

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Damn

Cardinals closing in on free-agent catcher Willson Contreras, sources tell @TheAthletic.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 7, 2022

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I would have been down for it but 4/$80 on a guy we're not committed to as a catcher never seemed like a real fit.

Time to get Maldy, Dusty and Crane in a room with Vazquez and have them figure out a way to make it work. Give Vazquez 4/6 and Maldy 2/6.

****. Who's next on our list? Benenitendi?

Remember when Brantley went to the Blue Jays? Maybe Crane jumps on the phone and stops it.

Willson Contreras is heading to #Cardinals. https://t.co/BXmiFQu4mm

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) December 7, 2022

What other open starting spots are there for Vasquez?

Seems like he's run out of options and he may have to settle on a backup/split role.

It seems like the gap between the spenders and regular teams is as great as it has ever been. The playoffs are going to be easy to predict, just take the top however many teams that spend and you can almost guarantee 80% will make the playoffs.

The team is also very interested in Michael Brantley returning, but he would need to be medically cleared which we may have more information in March.

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) December 7, 2022

Something is off on Conforto

He didn't sign last season when he was ready and now there's not a lot of chatter on him.

What gives? Boras asking too much?

Ag_07 said:

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Something is off on Conforto

He didn't sign last season when he was ready and now there's not a lot of chatter on him.

What gives? Boras asking too much?

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Was he ready?

It seemed like most Conforto speculation in late August was contrived by Boras to see if he could get someone to bite on a deal in hope he could be ready for the playoffs. Didn't seem like he was though.

Ah ok

I thought he had been medically cleared.

Not getting Contreras is a gut punch

Now we need to find a LF AND Catcher

I think Contreras is just using the Astros as leverage and always wanted to sign with the Cardinals

He's just trying to drive the price up at this point

At this point we should be looking for Vasquez

AggiEE said:

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I think Contreras is just using the Astros as leverage and always wanted to sign with the Cardinals

He's just trying to drive the price up at this point

At this point we should be looking for Vasquez

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Tell Vazquez that he will get plenty of action behind the dish this year as well as DH/1B (when Jose needs a break) and when Maldy walks after this year he becomes the starter full-time.

Prosperdick said:

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Tell Vazquez that he will get plenty of action behind the dish this year as well as DH/1B (when Jose needs a break) and when Maldy walks after this year he becomes the starter full-time.

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There has to be a way to make it work for Vazquez. And we should be willing to do what it takes to accommodate him. He represents a seamless transition to a savvy, playoff-tested veteran who can guide our young pitchers through 2025.

Contreras is almost solely about getting his bat. Vazquez obviously doesn't hit like Contreras but he hits well and adds way more value behind the plate. He's significantly cheaper too.

I'm back to being greedy again. I want to allocate JV's $40 million on:

Vazquez $10
Reynolds $7
Brantley $10
Cueto $13 (to backfill the pitcher we have to trade Pittsburgh)