The Half Assed Approach to Foundation Repair

Winter is steadily creeping in to this particular corner of the world, and I really could not be happier.  It's always seemed strange, even to me, that someone who loves baseball so much can possibly love winter as well.  What can I say?  I've always been a cold weather person.  Plus, I love all varieties of hot beverages and soups, but can't stand them in warm weather.  None of this has anything to do with anything, I know, but I'm feeling cheerful, not to mention loquacious, this morning.  On to the baseball!  

I haven't said too much yet about my feelings toward the Mozeliak signing, mostly because I'm pretty on the fence about the whole thing.  I was all kinds of excited about the prospect of Antonetti coming here, and in the initial disappointment of his pulling out of consideration, I was pretty down on the whole situation.  After the initial let down, though, I looked at the situation and I'm actually pretty happy with the way the whole thing went down.  I still think CA was the best choice, but I definitely think the Cards did the best out of the other candidates.  I didn't like Hahn; as Lb stated yesterday, the team he helped put together is in the same straits as this Cardinal team.  In fact, the White Sox's farm system is probably even worse than what we have here.  Woodfork seemed a little interesting, but, by many reports, he had very limited experience in actually making deals and working to sign players, and I get the feeling he may not have been ready for the responsibility.  Really, the only other name I was really intrigued by was Paul DePodesta, and he has his warts too.  He helped to put together a very nice farm system, but his major league dealings were less impressive.  The thing about DePo, though, is that there seemed to be a lot of front office 'noise' throughout his tenure; it seemed there were competing directions and very little cohesion in the front office, making it hard to get a great feel for how well he actually did his job, to me.  

So I think Mo was probably the best fit of the bunch, honestly.  He's already proven he can work within the framework of this front office, (to me, that's probably the biggest issue) and he has a nice rapport with most of the players and their agents.  I'll reserve judgement until we see a little more from him with actual control; as many others here have already stated, we have a couple of fantastic barometers in the persons of David Eckstein and So Taguchi.  The way those two situations ulimately resolve will give us a whole lot of info about where this team is going.  Which brings us to my main point.  

So far, all the statements we've heard have been along the lines of, "we need to evolve/ retool/ get younger, but we're going to stay competitive while we do it."  Those statements, to me at least, are really worrisome.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's possible to do both at the same time, and I don't enjoy watching a bad product on the field, but sometimes the only way to take a great leap forward is to back up and get a running start.  The foundation of this team still has a couple of nice parts, but, overall, the squad needs some new core pieces, not just some cosmetic work around the edges.  I'm afraid that DeWitt and Co. are trying to keep the fan base happy with a winning product in the short term, rather than trying to make sure there's some truly great baseball to look forward to in the future.  Personally, I think the fan base would stick with the team through a down year or two, especially if the organisation was sure to make the long term plan clear.  The problem is that, outside of a vocal minority, (which, incidentally, includes a lot of us) most of the fan base would see a youth movement not as a necessary rebuild, but as a money driven scaling back.  Ownership, instead of just trying to ameliorate those fears with excursions into the free agent market, needs to communicate better to the fan base, make it clear why certain things need to be done, in order to make the next great franchise run possible.  I'm reminded of something I read in Bob Forsch's Cardinal remembrance book a couple of years ago.  He said that Whitey Herzog had a philosophy on building a team.  He said, "You should try to get to the World Series every third year.  Then, while the goodwill from that WS appearance lasts, you scale back and build the team that'll get you there again in two years."  I don't completely agree with that, but I think there's a good lesson to be learned: the fan base will tolerate some down years, so long as they can see the success coming.  

So far, the moves the team has made this offseason haven't been terrible ones, but they haven't really been anything to write home about either.  At the very least, they haven't shown any real imagination or innovation; again, though, these probably aren't make or break moves anyway.  We overpaid for Russ Springer, but it's only one year, so at least he's not blocking anyone.  The Pineiro deal bugs me a little more, though.  At two years, it's still manageable, and the money, again, is probably too high, but whatever.  The thing I see with Joel is that the Cardinals do have one of the better pitching coaches in the game, (as much as I disagree with him at times) and if he really thinks he can do good work with someone, I suppose you have to listen to him.  I still just have the feeling, though, that come next August, we're going to feel, watching Joel pitch, much like a woman who goes home with Mark Wahlberg after seeing Boogie Nights.  Yes, technically, you knew you were seeing an illusion, but you still can't help but be disappointed.  

Deals like Pineiro's are what really worry me about this half assed, (see how I brought the title back in?) rebuilding approach.  He shouldn't be truly terrible, but signing guys like him are the sorts of marginal moves that get in the way of really overhauling the roster.  Oh well, hope for the best, I suppose.  

A few other things:  

I would really like to see the Cards get involved in trying to sign Kosuke Fukudome.  He's in the prime of his career, he's something the Cardinals need badly, i.e. a right handed hitting outfielder, and, most importantly, he doesn't cost you any talent to bring in.  He won't be cheap, but the organisation can better afford to overpay in dollars right now than they can in talent.  You bring in Fukudome, and you can free up Duncan to be moved for a long term solution at shortstop or a young pitcher.  I hate to see you go, Chris, but you're probably our best bullet to upgrade the really bad areas.  

I'm sure a lot of you have already checked it out, but if you haven't, Future Redbirds has been counting down the top Cardinal prospects for the past week or so.  Both erik and azruavatar have completed their lists; no surprises at the top, but each have put forth great reasons for their picks to go along with the lists.  If you read this blog, and haven't checked theirs out yet, you really should.  Both of them do phenomenol jobs of covering the Redbirds' system.  During the season, I would check here for my daily dose of reality, then head over there for my daily dose of hope.  It's an approach I wholeheartedly recommend.  

I was listening to the radio the other day, and there was a little news story about the University of Texas.  I wasn't really paying attention, so I have no idea what it was about, but I immediately thought of Kyle Russell, the Cards' fourth round pick that they failed to come to terms with.  I started considering the failed negotiations, in light of the changes since, and wondering how the negotiations might have been different if everyone in the front office was on the same page.  Luhnow picked him, Walt, I believe, was the one trying to get a deal done with him.  To me, that alone says an awful lot about the dangers of having the kind of divide the Cards had in the front office.  

Look at it this way.  Whatever your job is, say you have a rival.  This person is in a very similar position to you, and, in fact, the two of you sort of compete with each other.  Now, you have a big project coming up, and your bosses have decided to bring in some outside help.  You're going to be the point for the project, but your rival is in charge of choosing the outside help.  If you end up being successful, you'll look good, yes, but your rival is going to get a ton of credit for choosing just the right person to bring in.  Now, you're a professional, so you will, of course, do your best to work with whoever is brought in.  But, honestly, would you really be able to be totally effective, with all of that baggage going in?  That's the situation that Walt and Mr. Luhnow were in.  Walt was responsible for trying to sign a player that a man who he viewed, (rightly or wrongly) as a rival and a usurper, had chosen.  If Walt signs the kid, and he turns out to be great, who gets the credit?  Certainly not the guy who negotiated a deal.  Now, I would never suggest Jocketty would ever purposely damage the organisation due to a difference in philosophy with another executive, but I can't imagine that having such a gigantic conflict of interests in the middle of a negotiation is helpful, to say the least.  I would be very interested to hear from anyone involved in the Russell talks as to how much urgency was shown by the Cardinals to try and get him into the organisation.  

The Gold Gloves have been awarded; both Albert and Yadi got massively screwed, in my ever so humble opinion. Albert, in particular, was head and shoulders better than anyone else at his position. Unfortunately, the Gold Gloves are becoming more and more of a joke all the time; just ask Derek Jeter. Hardcore Legend put up a diary about it already; some good discussion, and lots of spleen being vented, deservedly so.

Finally, on a non baseball related note, the St. Louis International Film Festival begins tomorrow, the 8th of November, and runs through the 18th.  I know a lot of people on here don't live in St. Louis, but if you do, do yourself a favour and check out this event.  Chris Clarke, the director of Cinema St. Louis, does an amazing job of putting this thing on each year, and it's really grown into one of the better festivals in the country.  I've gone each of the past three years, and have seen some truly wonderful films that, otherwise, I never would have even been aware of.  I can't recommend the event highly enough.  Give it a chance, you won't be sorry.  

Only a few more weeks until the Winter Meetings; between now and then, we should get a better handle on how this offseason is going to go.  Let's all hope that the 'new direction' talk isn't just lip service.  Until next time.