Wow, so many things to think about. First, count me among the group not happy to have TLR back. As long as TLR/Duncan are here, the youth movement is on hold. C. Duncan and Ankiel only begrudgingly got shots because they had power off the charts. Reyes is really getting screwed by having Duncan continue as the pitching coach. Not that we couldn't see that coming. He's not a veteran and he's not a sinkerballer. Total opposite of what the master works with. I suspect Reyes will get traded and will become a fine pitcher in some other organization. I'd say the AL West would be a good spot for him.
As far as who controls the draft, who knows? Though an improvement in the Cards minor league system is talked about, if you look at the rankings of prospects we're not doing that great. Perhaps compared to 5 years ago we're better (vs. ourselves). But compared to other organizations we're still way behind.
And btw, Edmonds was received for Kennedy and Bottenfield. Kent Bottenfield won a bunch of games in 1999 with a really high ERA (around 4) because he had the best run support in the league. I was laughing my *** off when that trade was announced. Jocketty did pretty with that one, but he hasn't always been great. Take the Mulder deal. I thought it was a joke when it was announced. We gave away Danny Haren and Kiko Calero. Haren would be our #2 probably at this point (putting Carp #1 even though injured). Wainright could be #3.
If you really want to see where the Cards are at this point, look at the projected lineup for next year. We don't have a leadoff hitter now with Eckstein gone. Yadi, Pujols, Kennedy/Miles, Izturis, Rolen, Duncan, Edmonds, Ankiel.