Recently in Baseball Category

Let's Get Serious

Earlier in the week, I broke the standing policy not to post pictures. Today, I'm posting the first video because it is vital to the rest of the post. You know you want to watch it, so click and sing along. I'll wait.
 

OK, now that you've watched it (a few times, I'm sure), let's see just how savvy those On the Run folks are.

Below is a table of how often the Cardinals have scored six this year, whether it was at home or on the road, and whether they won or lost, plus the gap between "serious" games.
 


So, out of their 47 games, the Cards have reached the six level 14 times, or almost 30% of the time. That was brought down significantly, though, with their 13 game drought that was snapped last night. Before then, it was up around 41%, which means almost every other day before this power outage, you could get a cheap drink.

The Cards are 11-3 when they put up six runs or more, which is what you'd expect.  If a team is losing a lot of 6 run games, they've got some serious pitching issues to address.  Interestingly, though, they are only 6-3 in these games on the road compared to 5-0 in Busch Stadium.  Those three losses, though, came in Arizona, Chicago and Philadelphia, which have never been confused with "pitcher's parks."

I have no idea what a regular drink costs at On The Run, but I'm guessing $1.25, which means that if you'd bought a drink every time, you'd have saved yourself $14, unless, of course, you wouldn't have bought one otherwise, in which case you've cost yourself $3.50.

Don't worry, I'll continue to keep an eye on this and I'm sure you'll see periodic updates on this crucial part of Cardinal fandom.

Book Review: St. Louis Cardinals Past and Present

A month or so ago, I received in the mail a copy of Doug Feldmann's St. Louis Cardinals, Past and Present.  It came at a pretty busy time for me, so while I immediately sat down and started poring over the book, I wasn't able to get around to publishing a review of it until now.

Winter Blahs

Being in Arkansas, it's fairly rare that I have to spend an hour trying to get my car drivable, but yesterday's sleet/freezing rain combo lasted well into the nighttime hours, so that was how I spent my morning.  How you Northerners do it all the time is beyond me.

Right now, coming up with blog posts is similar to that car de-icing.  You chip away, chip away and hopefully when you get some news, you are ready to go.  So consider this a chipping away entry as we wait to hear what the Cardinals are going to do next.

First off, if you liked yesterday's roundtable answers, check out all of the entries in one place.  There are some really amazing bloggers on the network that know their teams well.

Chet from 4thebirds has set up a new blog called Cardinal Nation Ticker.  Basically, it's a place to host some live blogs during the week.  I joined the crew last night as we talked about Brian Fuentes and whether he should sign, the bullpen in general, the outfield....you know, the topics that continued to get hashed about in our waiting period.  The next one is set for Thursday, so feel free to come over and join the discussion.  If you are needing some Cardinal talk before then, though, head over to CardsClubhouse and start talking!

Over at Bird Land, Derrick Goold has restarted the prospect voting.  Right now he's taking votes for number 19, so make your voice heard!

The news of the day seems to be Rafael Furcal going to the Braves.  Which is not nearly as interesting as what it means for Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson.  The Cardinals had talked about swapping an outfielder for one of those earlier in the winter, but with Khalil Greene in the fold and Adam Kennedy basically untradable, there may not be anything there.  Then again, those guys are cheap enough in salary to be able to have Kennedy as a bench/platoon guy, so maybe something will happen.

The Mike Cameron to the Yankees deal may not be happening (again).  If the Rick Ankiel for Ian Kennedy swap was anything more than internet rumor, it might flare up again.

You may have noticed that there's a player for the UCB Radio Show up on the right side of the blog.  You can listen there or, if you'd rather be mobile while listening, we now have it set up on iTunes.  Thanks to everyone that is working on that, from Tom at CardinalsGM who set it up to Chet who is doing a lot of hosting to Nick at Pitchers Hit Eighth who finally got it on iTunes.  Great work, guys!

Cardinals in Vegas, Day 2

No deals done on the first day of the winter meetings, but a lot of talk going on.  Lots of it, according to Joe Strauss's latest article.

First off, John Mozeliak shot down the Burnett idea, which isn't terribly surprising given since the team doesn't really want to deal out too many long-term contracts right now.  Especially with one that may have some injury issues.  I know the talk is that they don't want to limit their flexibility with Carp, Wainwright and Lohse all signed long-term, but you'd have to think that continuity is fine if everyone is healthy and good.  It worked for the Braves in the '90s, didn't it?

Moving an outfielder is still on the priority list, but it looks like it won't be Ryan Ludwick.  Which makes sense in a lot of ways, mostly because every other outfielder in the system, it seems like, is a left-handed batter.  Problem is, like BrewCards noted in yesterday's comment thread, there are just so many questions around everyone else that it'll be tough to get adequate talent back for them.  I don't believe they'll move Rasmus (unless completely overwhelmed), people have to decide if Schumaker is for real and they can live with the lack of power, Ankiel is a free agent after this season, and Chris Duncan is coming back from injury.

Apparently the braintrust is rethinking the closer position as well.  Either they aren't convinced Perez and Motte can handle it even with a year of seasoning or they want to keep their options open now that the closer market seems to be coming back to them.  Getting a FA closer on a two-year deal (if they could) might open trade possibilities next offseason.

Adam Kennedy looks to be the starter next season at second base.  When you look at his numbers, they really weren't as bad as everyone seems to have in their head.  While an Orlando Hudson would be an improvement, there really isn't any way to get him if Kennedy is still on the roster, and there doesn't seem to be any mechanism for getting him off of it that works for the Cardinals.  He'll be a free agent, so maybe we'll finally get to see what the Cardinals were looking for two years ago.

Strauss talks today at noon from Vegas, so I'm sure he'll elaborate even more on these points then.

Apparently the Cardinals have been looking at Scott Downs from the Blue Jays and have considered sending either Ankiel or Joe Mather to the Braves.  A quick glance at Downs looks interesting, especially his last two seasons.  He's been playing in a tough division as well, so moving to the NL Central might even help.  I'm a little surprised the Cards would move Ankiel, especially for someone like Mike Gonzalez, but they've got to clear a spot somehow.  Looks like he'll be a popular chip, with the Yanks, Rays and Giants all asking about him.  (Isn't he a little young to be a Giant?)

In fact, the rumor of Ankiel for Ian Kennedy is a little intriguing.  Kennedy, who was actually drafted by the Cardinals in 2003 but didn't sign, has been a top prospect for a while in the Yankee organization.  And, while we all know that Yankee prospects have a heck of a hype machine, his minor league numbers backed a lot of that up.  He struggled this year in the majors, but he will turn 24 next week and still has a long way to go before he hits his prime.  He'd be a long term committment, but a cheap one.  If that's an offer out there, I think (even though I'm a huge Ankiel fan and would hate to see him go) that Mo should take it.

A reminder that the special edition of the United Cardinal Bloggers Radio Hour will be coming to you tomorrow night at 10:00 Central time.  Yours truly is scheduled to be a guest in the first hour.

None? None At All?

So the Cardinals decided not to offer arbitration to any of their free agents.  As we discussed yesterday, the only options were Springer and Looper, really.  The case against Springer stems from his age and the fact that the right side of the bullpen has a lot of in-house options.  If they really thought Springer would accept the offer, then I can see why they didn't offer.

There really did seem to be no downside on offering Looper, though.  Do you really think he's not going to get multi-year offers somewhere else?  Even if he accepts, would it be such a bad thing to have a starter/reliever combo in the same person?  Right now you have Wainwright, Lohse, Wellemeyer and Pineiro in the rotation.  Your own pitching coach doesn't think we'll see Carpenter in '09, at least as a regular rotation member.  Does Mozeliak really have plans that will come to fruition this week for the rotation, making the offer to Looper such a huge risk?  Is the market really that slow for him?

It just seems like we've heard so much about building up the minors and gaining strength from the draft, so when the team turns down the opportunity to get more draft picks, it's a little strange.

It also looks like the Trever Miller saga is not coming to an end either.  Apparently something showed up on the physical that they didn't like.  As always, when it comes to the Cardinals and injuries, it's always a murky path.

I was talking to cards4life from Redbird Ramblings last night and the question was posed that, if two weeks from now the Cardinals are in the same situation, with no signings or trades, do you start getting restless and where does the blame lie?  He leaned toward DeWitt, which a sizable portion of the fanbase would, while I thought the blame would probably rest on Mozeliak.

Hopefully it's a moot point, though.  I still have a feeling that the Cards will be signing Renteria pretty soon and you'd think activity would pick up now that the arbitration deadline has passed and the Winter Meetings are next week.  Something's going to happen.....right?

My schedule has me out of the office the rest of the week (though that's always subject to change) so if I don't get a chance I wanted to mention again the next UCB show.  There should be plenty of discussion about the arbitration decisions and what comes next.  Should be a great night!

Decision Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend.  I battled some junk the last couple of days and haven't been online at all, which is unheard of for me!

Obviously I picked the right days to be unplugged, since absolutely nothing happened over that time span.  That'll change today, though, as it's the deadline for offering arbitration.

Russ Springer, Braden Looper, Jason Isringhausen are the big ones that have to be decided, due to their Type A or B status.  There's no way Izzy gets arbitration, mainly because of the 20% cut limitation.  Izzy's contract for next year is going to be a lot less, no matter who hires him.

I'd probably offer to both Looper and Springer.  Looper isn't likely to come back for a one year deal, so he'd decline and you'd get the draft pick.  Even if he does, having him around for insurance couldn't be a terrible thing.

As Leach notes in his article, Springer could be a question mark, but I think you offer to him because odds are he's going to come back to St. Louis anyway.  If he doesn't, then you've got the picks, especially since he's Type A.

After everyone sorts out the arbitration stuff, I think we'll hear more about moves, etc.  I honestly expect the Cardinals to sign Edgar Renteria once the Tigers decline to offer him.  Between this and next week's Winter Meetings, the stove is going to start cranking soon!

Remember, we've got another UCB radio show this Wednesday at 10:00 pm.  More on that tomorrow!

The 2008 Cardinal Blogger Awards

First, I have to say thanks to the wide variety of bloggers that participated in this year's voting.  We had 18 different ballots submitted, though not all ballots voted on all categories.

We'll go through the ballot in order, even though there are blowout races on both ends.  Along the way, I'll toss in some quotes from our bloggers about the selections.

And now, to the awards.............

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The Waiting Continues

Anyone else with me and the "language" issues holding up Trever Miller's contract is that he's one of these quirky lefties that wants the contract written in the language of Borovia?  (Sorry, I've watched Imagination Movers with my kids too often.)

While they work on their Pig Latin with Miller (and just how long does that drag out before we start thinking it's not going to happen?), management apparently isn't resting, making an offer to Arthur Rhodes as well.  Rhodes is another lefty specialist, a definitely LOOGY.

Which really raises the question in my mind--is it a good thing to have two LOOGYs running around in the bullpen?  I can see some advantages, but besides the fact that it encourages LaRussa's Parade of a Thousand Relievers, it seems to limit the guys that you can have to go long in a game.

On a 12-man staff, you have the five starters.  Out of your seven relievers, you have your closer who isn't going to come in earlier than the ninth.  Now you have these two guys who can't face a righty because they'll get torched.  So you only have four relievers that can get multiple outs before the ninth.  If one of them becomes unusable, you could really wear down some arms quickly.

It's to be expected, though, since LaRussa's the inventor of the modern bullpen.  I just wish there were more guys out there that could get lefties and righties out.

The Rundown's ballot is up now and Obviously, You're Not a Golfer is supposed to have their ballot up today in the Cardinal Blogger Awards.  Hopefully soon after they've posted, I'll put up the results.

My 2008 Cardinal Blogger Award Selections

Last week, the second annual Cardinal Blogger Award nominees were posted in this space.  Today is the day of decision.  Voting takes place today across the Cardinal blogosphere as the great bloggers of this nation cast their ballots to recognize those that play the game and those that write about it.

Blogs will be linked below as their ballots are posted and the awards will be handed out Monday (assuming everyone votes in time).

Blogs (and others) participating:

Busch Birds
Bugs and Cranks
CardinalNationGlobe
The Cardinal Virtue
CardinalsGM
Mike Cerrone (former blogger)
Fungoes
la Beisbolista
Pitchers Hit Eighth
The Redbird Blog
Redbird Ramblings
Rockin' the Red
4thebirds.....
Redbird Review
Redbirds Fun

The first eight awards deal with the St. Louis players (and, in one case, games) that we were privileged to watch in 2008.  This wasn’t the most successful Redbird team that many of have seen, but it was a team that battled, that did more than it was expected to, but in the end was done in by the fatal flaw of the bullpen.  A tragic hero of a team, to be sure.

That said, there are plenty of awards to hand out to the team that made our summers worthwhile and gave us bloggers so much to talk about during 2008.  After the jump, read my selections for this year’s Cardinal Blogger Awards.

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General Stuff

Before I forget, I was remiss in not noting in yesterday's entry that CardinalsGM was having a radio show last night.  If you missed it (as I unfortunately had to), you can listen to it whenever you want on this link.  This was a show under the CGM label, as it were.  The next of the UCB shows will be 12/3 at 10:00 CST, with Chet from 4thebirds hosting.

Interesting to see Pujols getting involved in bringing soccer to St. Louis.  I think getting a franchise here would only help in the Cards locking him for years beyond this current contract.  Because Pujols needs to be like Musial in another one--only one team in his career.

Wonder just how much the Padres want to move Peavy?  Because with the Cubs resigning Dempster and the Braves backing off, suddenly the Padres don't have many partners to deal with.  If they lower their price, shouldn't Mo get back involved?  If the Cards could get even part of the contract paid and give up players besides Rasmus, wouldn't they have to do it?

Looks like Jose Oquendo will be back at third for the Cardinals next year.  Which means that he still may be in line for the Cardinal job in 2010 if LaRussa actually steps down at the end of this contract.

The front office appears to be targeting Will Ohman and Arthur Rhodes.  Rhodes worries me, because just glancing at the stats seems to enforce what I was thinking, that he's a pretty streaky player.  Add that to the fact that he's getting into his late 30s and I'd not be all that excited.  That said, he'd probably be a better lefty specialist than Ron Villone.  Ohman is at least on the younger side and looks to have a good hits/IP ratio.

Remember that Friday is UCB voting day!  Be sure to check back for that (in case I don't post tomorrow). 

Also on the Network: √ Doing It The Hard Way [C70 At The Bat] √ Bobby Jenks Saves Sox's Win Over Seattle [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Deadline moves [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Manny's impact [Feeling Dodger Blue] √ Shea Stadium Plays Citi Field [Loge 13] √ Frustration Revisted [C70 At The Bat] √ Not So Fast, T-Mac [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Payroll breakdown [Feeling Dodger Blue]