The Return of Miles

I would like to express my disappointment in the re-signing of Aaron Miles. Although I admire Miles' gritty attitude and hustle, the signing doesn't make sense for the Cardinals if it is assumed that Miles, who will make $1.4 million this year, will automatically be on the 25-man roster. I'm not worried about the money, as I would rather the Cardinals spend it on one-year contracts like this than let it waste, but I am worried that Miles is not the best option for the Cardinals. In fact I know so. Both Brendan Ryan and Jarret Hoffpauir present development opportunities that could improve the club for 2009, and D'Angelo Jimenez is an on-base guy that this lineup desperately needs. Miles? An empty batting average and the illusion of versatility, as he is sub-par defensively at all his positions. I somewhat like the signing if it promotes competition in Spring Training - if Miles plays better, runs harder, and is more willing to work than the aforementioned three, than he plays. But the deal should go the other way around - if Ryan, Hoff, or D'Angelo beat him out, than they should play. The fact that Tony is at the helm worries me that this is a one-way street, rather. Miles or bust; I don't like that at all.

Perhaps John Mozeliak looked at the Bill James projections, which is valid here since I've used them to justify the patchwork rotation. We do know that teams use their own versions of projection systems to predict value both short-term and long-term. Miles would seem to be the short-term solution. I'll include the 2008 ZiPS projections too to get another perspective, as ZiPS is known to be a bit more pessimistic than James.

Player	Proj. Sys.	AB	BA	OBP	SLG
Aaron Miles	Bill James	421	.278	.323	.340
	ZiPS	377	.268	.311	.334
Brendan Ryan	Bill James	221	.267	.319	.348
	ZiPS	396	.265	.315	.351

Both predict similar years for Miles and Ryan, which would mean a pretty substantial drop-off for Ryan. Ryan has the advantage in speed and defense, although his best position is shortstop and Miles' is second base. It's tough to say how exactly the greener Ryan will adjust to his second year in the big leagues, while we know Miles as a proven commodity. Still, resorting to Miles when there's legitimate, younger players capable of playing would be a detraction from the youth movement evidently being implemented. We'll see in Spring Training how this all turns out, but I will say this: Brendan, Jarrett, and D'Angelo, better bring your 'A' game this Spring because Tony's going to be hard to impress with Miles already on the team.