The Loop

by gibbyfan on Nov 13, 2007 2:12 AM EST Comment 8 comments

Well I'm up late again tonight, and I had a idea. We've all been talking about who would want Rolen, and what we could get for him, and I don't know how many trade's I've heard that start with Reyes, and Duncan. Here is what I though of, you know who the cards best trading chip really is? Looper. Here is my quick argument as to why the cards should trade Looper.

He can be marketed as both a starter and a reliver. We could easily bill him as a possible closer for teams that need help there ( I know you love Big Joe Larry but come on). And any other teams could see the potetial for a four or five man in the rotation.
His trade value won't go up. I'm not a beliver that Looper will feel no effects from his first season as a starter, and I don't think he will be near as good next year. As is we might get a couple of good prospects for him, but if we wait to long we'll just have an old free agent on our hands.
We can replace him with out much work. I'd say we already have his replacement in Joel, and we could go out and sign Jeff Weaver. Then our rotation could look something like this.
AW
Jeffy
Mark Mulder
JoL
Thompson (Carp comes in when he's back)
Spring training fling Mark Prior.

We'll what does everybody think? What might we get for the Loop. Peace out all.

0 recs | Comment 8 comments

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There's a pretty heft discussion

About this subject in Hardcore's diary entry two below from this one.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." - Bob Gibson

by stl tyler on Nov 13, 2007 2:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Reason #3 ...

is the reason why he's not as good a trade piece as you think.

Trading Looper doesn't give us a whole huge deal of salary relief for '08 (what's his salary then, 6.5?) and since he'd already be off the books by '09, when most of us are looking ahead to, it doesn't help us there either.

In addition, the fact that he's an easily replaceable starter or reliever means there's plenty of replacements that OTHER teams could plug in too.

I think many of us are overrating Looper right now because our rotation was SO bad that his 4.94 ERA looked good. League average was 4.43, so in reality, Looper was a bad pitcher on a REALLY bad staff.

I do agree he's at his most valuable now, at least since the Cardinals reacquired him, but I'm not sure that value is as high as everyone seems to think.

by mtalken on Nov 13, 2007 7:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

slight disagreement...

... Looper's peak value was in June, not now.

by kindred on Nov 13, 2007 4:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

#3

Please! Jeff Weaver. The Cardinals should consider his stint in STL lucky and never deal with him again.

Did you see the numbers he put up in Seattle. That is a pitchers park for gods sake.

Jeff Weaver is so inconsistent and he will be way too much money.

by ICbirdfan on Nov 13, 2007 11:07 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

you don't understand.

The fact that Seattle is a pitchers park has nothing to do with his numbers. He did so well here because of LaDunc. The coaches are what made him great here.

trade for miggy & the d-train!

by dunc4life on Nov 13, 2007 4:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

duncan

I think that Dave Duncan is a very good pitching coach.

Jeff Weaver was not very good under STL.

ERA is not a great stat but I am too lazy to get better stats.

ERA July, Aug, Sept= 5.43
ERA October 5 playoff starts 2.43

I will give it to Jeff he stepped up and pitched well in the playoffs but he honestly only made the rotation because his 5.43 ERA was not as bad as Jason Marquis 6.02 ERA.

by ICbirdfan on Nov 13, 2007 5:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

it just seems to me that

with every start (after about the first 4 or so) he started getting better and better. One has to think that this was because he had more and more time to work w/ Duncan. I don't know where you get the 5.43 ERA, I saw that his ERA w/ Angels was 6.29, but 5.18 with the BOB. I seem to recall him pitching a 1 run CG at the beginning of September v. the Pirates.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/weaveje01.shtml

trade for miggy & the d-train!

by dunc4life on Nov 13, 2007 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs