The Cardinals have reportedly reached an agreement with free agent second baseman Adam Kennedy on a three-year, $10 million contract. That effectively takes the Cards out of the running as a possible Marcus Giles destination. It's also a relatively sane contract compared to what has being handed out elsewhere, and it is more reasonable for a more proven commodity than the three years and $13 million that DeRo got from the Cubs. Kennedy's contract is the same money and length that former fellow Angel David Eckstein got two years ago from the Cards.
It is interesting that from the Cardinals' perspective, the value for middle infielders has not changed in the last couple of years, yet everywhere else they seem to be exploding. I also think it further underscores that there are two or three different camps of General Managers; those who will spend whatever on whomever (Cubs, Angels, Astros, Phillies), those who spend what little money they have on the wrong people (Pirates, Blue Jays, Reds, Dodgers), and those who wait for the sane contracts that largely go unnoticed but add up to the right pieces (Braves, Cardinals, Brewers, A's).