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Spoils of Victory

Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:04 AM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals
It's good to be the king.  Or at least, the king of the baseball world.

Both the manager and the MVP of the postseason were on late-night TV last night.  Tony La Russa sat with David Letterman, while David Freese chatted with Jay Leno.  I never watch either of those shows, but I made sure to catch the important parts last night.

TLR looked pretty relaxed and it was hard, looking at him, to realize that we wouldn't be seeing him in the dugout next season.  He tried to make some jokes, but his dry humor and fairly soft-spoken voice didn't do him any favors.  He did get a chance to talk about the famous bullpen issue, saying "I made so many excuses to cover my butt that I don't remember what I said then."

He also said he'd gotten a job offer after his retirement announcement, to be an elephant keeper with an organization that is related to ARF.  I think Tony's dealt with enough excrement in his years in baseball, so I don't think he'll go that route!

Freese apparently is still doing things the Cardinal (i.e., hard) way, missing his flight to California and having to scramble to get there on time.  Still, he seemed to enjoy talking with Jay, talking about the Corvette that he got as the MVP of the Series replacing a much older car, about when he got away from baseball, and some about that famous Game 6.

Both represented the Cardinal organization well and it was good to see them.  That said, it pretty much put the cap on the 2011 season.  Especially with the news from yesterday, it's time to put that aside somewhat and start focusing on what is to come.

With La Russa's retirement, the managerial search takes center stage.  I mentioned some of the names that are out there in yesterday's post, but let's take a look at a couple of them.

I think there are a couple of drawbacks to hiring former players such as Jose Oquendo and Terry Pendleton.  One, they've never managed before, so making their first job following a legend of the game seems a bit tough.  Two, you have to have an end game, I think, when you hire someone like that.  How messy is it going to be if you have to fire them?  Because odds are, you are going to have to at some time.  Would you shy away from doing that because the manager is also a legend from his playing days?

Jim Riggleman's name has been tossed out there and I'm sure he'll be on the short list.  He's got experience plus he's got ties to the organization.  That said, his walking away from Washington this year may not work to his advantage and he's never been a big winner, though he's never had great personnel.

I really would expect that, if the Cardinals don't make a push for Joe Maddon, that we'll see heavy interest in Terry Francona.  He's been in a bigger media market, he's dealt with the pressures that come with high expectations, and he's the biggest star on the market, which might help ease the blow of losing a legend like La Russa.

Whomever the next manager may be, it's going to take a while to find him.  This organization has only had three managers in the last 30 years.  (Interestingly, two of them resigned rather than being fired.)  This group of owners has never had to really find a manager, plucking La Russa soon after they took control of the team.

The Cardinals also did some other business yesterday.  They picked up the option on Yadier Molina, which had been widely discussed this weekend, while declining the options on Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal and fairly forgotten man Corey Patterson.  We won't see Patterson again, but Dotel and Furcal may return at lower prices.  I wouldn't be too disappointed if Dotel does, but I'm a little leery about bringing back Furcal, as you probably heard on the latest podcast.  I didn't see enough out of his bat to think his glove was going to overcome it.  Then again, we saw what happened earlier this year when the team traded defense for offense.

A few links to wrap up the day:

Last year, Graham Womack did a project to find the best 50 players not in the Hall of Fame, using the collective wisdom of the internet.  He's back this year to do it again, so if you are interested in helping out, head over to his site.

Talking about your unsung heroes.  Did you ever think about the guy that is in charge of the lights at the stadium?  Here's your chance to get to know him in an article from the Riverfront Times.

Chris Jaffe takes a crack at objectively ranking the recent postseasons.  This year's comes in fifth, which seems a bit low until you realize that the LCS weren't necessarily the most dramatic ones we've seen come down the pipe.  He did one earlier ranking the all-time postseasons using the same formula.

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1 Comments

1 Comment | Leave a comment

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WilliaminMaine | November 1, 2011 12:49 PM | Reply

Missed both late night shows. I'm glad for Freese and his new car. Makes me smile.

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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (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)
Jason Motte (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (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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