ST. LOUIS - Contract negotiations broke down last night with starting Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina. It has been widely speculated that St. Louis will be releasing Vina to make roster room for other players.
A very popular player in St. Louis, Vina played in all 162 games each of the past two seasons. Fernando's best season was 2001 - when he hit .307, 16HR's and 60 RBI's. Last season, Vina numbers dropped to .278, only 1 HR and 48 RBI's. Also, Vina committed an uncharacteristic 20 errors at second base. For the coming 2003 season, it has been believed that Placido Polanco will be moving from third to second base to make room for Vinny Castilla and possibly Melvin Mora.
While St. Louis management has made no official comment on the matter, they did acknowledge that contract discussions have broken off.
"St. Louis has been a fun place to play and the Cardinals management have treated me well", said Vina sounding like someone expecting to play for a different team in 2003.
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