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Cardinal Roster Machinations

Posted on November 22, 2010 at 8:06 AM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers
I love Cardinal Nation.  I was offline much of Saturday, but I still received texts from my good friend Josh of Pitchers Hit Eighth, keeping me in the loop on 40-man roster moves.  Not sure if other fan bases obsess like this, though I'm sure some do.  To me, though, it's just part of being a Cardinal fan, worrying about the details, whether it's a replacement bullpen coach or a guy getting dropped off the 40-man.

Or, in this case, four of them.  I wasn't that surprised about Nick Stavinoha, though I think it gives an indication that the front office wasn't that enamored of the philosophy of last season either.  Stav had his moments, but probably proved that he was, at best, a tolerable pinch-hitter. That's not enough to keep your roster spot in the offseason.

Josh said he was most surprised that Adam Ottavino was left unprotected.  I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that, since it's possible someone could select Ottavino in the Rule V draft and then keep him on the disabled list all year, especially if he needs surgery.  The flip side to that is wondering if other teams think there is value in selecting someone that may need surgery.  If not, he could make it through the draft and stay in the organization.

At first blush, the name that jumped out at me was Steven Hill.  I know with Yadier Molina and Bryan Anderson (most likely), there's not room at the catcher position right now in St. Louis, but I was surprised that they'd give up on him.  I'm guessing the thought process is that catcher is a deeper position right now (they added catcher Tony Cruz to the 40-man at the same time) and that Hill wasn't ever going to have the defensive chops that they wanted and they didn't have a spot for him to move to.

Lastly, the sad case of Daryl Jones is a cautionary tale of drafting "athletes".  Jones didn't have a lot of experience playing baseball when he was drafted, but he had all the tools.  Two years ago, it looked like he had finally put all those tools together and was on the right path, but injuries and regression have taken their toll and he's now spent three years at AA.  I'm sure someone will take a flyer on him in the draft and maybe they can unlock his potential.

This weekend was Stan Musial's 90th birthday, so Bernie Miklasz put together 90 reasons to love The Man.  If you didn't read it over the weekend, read it now.  Looking at the video of his birthday, while he still has some energy and life to him, it's obvious that age is getting to him somewhat, so we've got to appreciate him while we have him.  It'll be a sad month in St. Louis when he goes.

Late last night, the United Cardinal Bloggers released their Cardinal Blogger Awards winners. I was extremely honored to be selected as co-Individual Blog of the Year.  When you are in the same sentence as Pip at Fungoes, you must be doing something right.  Interestingly enough, a couple of years ago we were tied in this category when the awards came out, but a late ballot broke the tie in Pip's favor.  We'll see if history repeats itself!

Keep in mind that Wednesday, the UCB Radio Hour is dedicated to why we, as fans, are thankful.  We are looking for a lot of callers to discuss what aspects of their fandom they are most appreciative of.  While you are getting ready for the big turkey day, plan to join us that evening for a little Cardinal Thanksgiving!

(PS: As I complete writing this post, I see that Viva El Birdos has a similar title to today's entry.  The similarities are 1) entirely coincidental and 2) do not extend to the quality of the posts, as you can probably tell by reading them!)


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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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