It's official - Kyle Lohse has been signed to a four-year deal worth $41m with full no-trade protection. It's less than I thought we'd be paying but still is a risk given Kyle's resume. The no-trade protection scares me because it takes away the option of a salary dump or a trade for prospects, but perhaps it was the only way to keep the total number fairly low. What Lohse does give us is stability in the rotation, similar to when Russ Springer was signed last year. There's a philosophy out there that we've learned over the years - the less damaged arms pitching for you, the better. Kyle is a healthy arm - knock on wood - and his signing allows us to address other areas of weakness such as the bullpen and getting another bat, preferably in the middle infield.

There are quite a number of options for the bullpen. I broke down a list of them here, and I wrote a profile of Dennys Reyes here. Reyes, Affeldt, and Ohman are the strongest candidates for the job of lefthanded reliever, and guys like Juan Rincon and Guillermo Mota could be cheap, low-risk pick-ups on the righthanded side of the bullpen. The bullpen, for all its struggles this year, has a pretty solid foundation for 2009 and beyond. Guys returning include:

Chris Perez
Jason Motte
Ryan Franklin
Kyle McClellan
Josh Kinney
Brad Thompson

That's already six guys in what projects to be a seven-man bullpen. Obviously, it's hard to count on fragile pitchers such as Josh Kinney for a full season, but the depth is there from the right side. Finding a solid lefthanded reliever or two should be near the top of our priority list this off-season.

The middle infield is going to be more complicated to address. There's second baseman Orlando Hudson, who's due to make over $10m on the free agent market. Edgar Renteria might be willing to make a return trip to St. Louis, but his bat is starting to decline along with his glove. Rafael Furcal is due to make big bucks at shortstop, but he could fill your lead-off spot and add speed to the lineup. There's trade possibilities for anyone ranging from Jack Wilson to Troy Tulowitzki. And then we have Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo, who, if you recall, was last seen trying to get a ruling as to whether he'd be eligible for free agency or not. Per Baseball America, August 27th 2008:

Torres did not specify the country or which organizations were interested in his players, but he said he considered Viciedo the closest to signing, perhaps in the next two or three weeks. "I hope we can have something done by the time instructional league starts," he said of Viciedo. He set November as a more reasonable timetable for Arguelles and Iglesias possibly signing.

Dayan is capable of playing shortstop, third base, and the outfield, just the kind of versatility Tony La Russa loves. Trying to sign Dayan and then counting on him filling a spot on the 25-man roster is a big risk, but it's creative and could end up working out like another favorite player of mine - Cuban defector Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox.

All I know is Cardinal Nation isn't going to tolerate another off-season of do-nothingness from the Cards front office. I'm pretty sure they know that too.