The Cardinals can learn a lesson from Alfonso Soriano when it comes to their handling of Carlos Beltran

The Cubs finally pulled off the seemingly impossible today, trading Alfonso Soriano to the Yankees, along with a ton of money, for a minor league prospect to be named later.

Thus ends one of the longest sagas involving a bad contract in recent history.

To get the Yankees to take Soriano off their hands and get a halfway decent prospect in return, the Cubs will eat nearly $18 million of Soriano's remaining contract.

Yes, you heard that right, the Cubs will be paying the Yankees $17.7 million so that Soriano can play for them.

As a Cardinals fan living in Cubs territory, I've been able to witness the Soriano saga first hand.  The Cubs grossly overspent on Soriano, signing him to a 8-year, $136 million contract, back when the Tribune Company was trying to win to increase the sales price of the team.

However, after a couple of division titles and zero playoff victories, the Cubs were left with a player who's skills (and knees) were deteriorating and who's play was of far less value than his contract.

Thus, when Albert Pujols became a free agent and was looking for a big contract, although my heart wanted him to stay in St. Louis and retire with the team, in the back of my mind I knew that a long-term contract, like the one he signed with the Angels, could come back to haunt us.

Now the Cardinals are facing a similar dilemma with Carlos Beltran.

Back around the All Star break, Beltran told Derrick Goold that he wanted to play three more years and recently Bernie Miklasz made the case for keeping Beltran.

For the most part I agree with Miklasz, the Cardinals could use Beltran for another year or two.  Oscar Taveras has been limited this year due to an ankle injury and may not be ready to take over for Beltran next year.  In addition, Jon Jay has not been producing at his usual level, so even if Taveras were ready to start in 2014, maybe it would make more sense to put him in center.

But, the crux of the issue with Beltran is this:  How long do the Cardinals want to commit to Beltran and would Beltran be willing to accept a below-market deal to stay with the Cards?

I do not want to see the Cardinals offering Beltran a 3-year deal.  My preference, and probably the team's as well, would be a one-year deal with an option for the second year.

If he continues to produce, then there's no problem.  But, if his production drops, like it did during the second half of 2012, then the Cardinals will have limited their losses.

The worst thing to do from a team standpoint is to pull another Ty Wigginton move and sign an aging veteran to a 2 or 3 year deal at or (in the case of Wigginton) above market and be stuck with a bad contract.

Injuries happen more often to players as they get older.  Look at Lance Berkman, after he signed an extension with the Cardinals.  Chris Carpenter is another example.

So, as a team, you have to do everything in your power to limit your exposure to losses, which includes foregoing long-term contracts for shorter contracts for a bit more money per year.

It is a formula that has worked well for the Cardinals in the past and one that they should stick to moving forward.

Could Kyle Lohse become the next Jeff Suppan?

Kyle Lohse finally found a team.  After waiting almost to the brink of opening day, Lohse signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for 3 years/$33 million. A bit less than what he and agent Scott Boras were hoping for, but at least they got a deal done.

However, when I first heard about the signing, I immediately thought back to the Brewers signing of Jeff Suppan.  In case you forgot about him, Suppan signed with the Brewers for 4 years/$42 million back in 2006 and is generally considered one of the Brewers' worst signings.

The similarities between Lohse and Suppan are eery.  Both of them resurrected their careers while pitching for the Cardinals and pitching coach Dave Duncan.  Lohse, who owns a career 4.45 ERA, posted a 3.90 ERA in 5 years with the Cards, while Suppan, who finished his career with a 4.70 ERA, had a 3.94 ERA in 4 years with the Cards.

In addition, they both had their career year with the Cardinals.  Suppan's best year came in 2005, when he went 16-10 with a 3.57 ERA (114 ERA+).  While Lohse's best year, to date, was last year when he went 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA (134 ERA+).

The good news for the Brewers is that Lohse has better overall peripherals than Suppan.  For his career, Lohse has given up 9.7 H/9 and 2.6 BB/9 for a career Whip of 1.369.  Suppan had a career 10.1 H/9 and 3.1 BB/9 for a Whip of 1.461. 

In addition, Lohse has posted a career 5.6 K/9 compared to Suppan's 4.9 K/9.  However, strikeouts aren't their thing, as they are both sinkerballers, thus Suppan's career 1.31 GO/AO edges out Lohse's 0.99 ratio and offsets Lohse's higher K rate.

One other area of concern for the Brewers is that Lohse is currently 34 years old, whereas the Brewers sign Suppan just before he turned 32.   Can Lohse continue to pitch well for 3 more years?

If I were a Brewers fan, I would definitely be nervous about the Lohse signing.  Maybe it won't turn out as bad as the Suppan signing, but the warning signs are definitely there.