St. Louis Cardinals: Sluggish offseason, a cause and effect expose

The extremely sluggish free agent market this offseason has had an impact on virtually all teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals.

In this conversation between two of our writers, Dan Campbell and Larry Levin look at the overall environment and some of the reasons for the slow signing pace, and translate to how it might be affecting the St. Louis Cardinals’ decisions.

[Editor’s note] We are so blessed at Redbird Rants to have dedicated writers who are interested in respectfully debating issues with each other. This article stands are strong evidence of that fact. Equally, we are honored to bring disparate views on topics of baseball to you, our readers. I, as editor, posit that- while verbose- this article will be one that you will want to refer to often as Spring Training approaches.

Larry: Dan, there’s no question that this is one of the slowest offseasons for free agent signings. If you don’t count the offseasons that contributed to the players union collusion cases against MLB, it might be THE slowest. What are some of the causes that are making this Hot Stove League a nightmare for baseball journalists and blogging fans like you and me?

Dan:  Larry, there is no question that this is the slowest offseason of all time.  Baseball reporters and blogs on both local and national levels are discussing the possibility of a spring training camp for unsigned free agents.  Other reports are analyzing how good a team the currently unsigned free agents could be – and they might need to be if the status quo does not change.

What is the cause of this situation?