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The Berkman Potentiality

Posted on November 29, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals
I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.  If you are like me, you ate well, you got to see some family, and then just enjoyed not having to work.  Got some of the Christmas decorations up as we do the whole Advent thing.

What didn't happen over the last few days is anything related to the Cardinals.  The front page of the Post-Dispatch looks the same, no major breaking news, no reports of John Mozeliak inviting himself to Albert Pujols's house for a little turkey and cranberry sauce.  Which means that it's tough to find things to write about in this space.

However, today some news came out that was at least intriguing and worthy of discussion.  Lance Berkman apparently wanted to go back to Houston, but the Astros didn't reciprocate.  So he's looking at other teams, and one of the teams he says has contacted him is the Cardinals.

Does this make sense for the Cardinals?  After all, it's pretty obvious Berkman isn't going to play his normal first base in St. Louis, at least in 2011 and hopefully for many a year after that.  Though having Berkman would be some sort of insurance policy if Pujols were to walk, even if it is one that doesn't pay full value for the loss of use.

The real question is whether it's a good idea for the Cardinals to go the established veteran route instead of using Jon Jay and Allen Craig.  Berkman had the worst year of his career last year, but is still only 34.  (Seems like he's been around forever!)  In 2009 he hit 25 home runs and had a .399 OBP.  If you think last year was a bit of an aberration, combining a bad start with a change in scenery, you have to think it's possible for him to be a .270/.380/.480 with 20+ home runs again, which is probably a bit more than Craig and Jay will combine for, at least in 2011.

Craig and Jay are on the rise, in theory, and Berkman is on the downhill side of his career, even if it's not a straight downward slope.  So if you have to give Berkman a three year deal, for example, by the end of it, the two youngsters might be outperforming him at a fraction of the cost.

Which is where the real issue comes in.  If you can get Berkman for a minimal salary, I think you probably pull the trigger.  He made $14.5 million last year, though, and I can't see him settling for less than $7-$8 million with teams like Chicago in the mix as well.

I've always had a fondness of Berkman, as he was one of the classy Astros that made the Houston/St. Louis rivalry so good in the 2000s, but I'm not seeing a good way to get him into Cardinal red.


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2 Comments

2 Comments | Leave a comment

user-pic
cardinalsgm | November 29, 2010 9:26 PM | Reply

I laughed at the title..... so is Berkman ,,, "a great big bunch of Po-ten-tiallity?"

You know the song, right?

user-pic
Author Profile Page Cardinal70 replied to comment from cardinalsgm | November 30, 2010 7:56 AM | Reply

I don't think I do, Tom. Toss me a link to some lyrics.

I actually had in mind the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which titles all of its episodes in this fashion.

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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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