What we did in '88

It seems a near-consensus that we need to play for '08 and beyond.  Folks (including myself) are clamoring for an Ankiel call-up, and Bernie at the PD wants to call-up Ank, Perez, Hoffpauir, and anyone else he could name off the top of his head.

So I jumped into the Baseball Reference time machine to look for a Cardinals team in similar circumstances and see how they spent the last few months of the season.  I settled on the '88 squad as they were just off a World Series, never spent a day in first place, and were saddled with a few under-performing veterans (Horner, Herr).

Down the stretch, that team gave a look to a number of young players who would go on to make significant contributions to the organization.  Tom Pagnozzi (25), Luis Alicea (22) and Jose Oquendo (24) all got their first chances to start on a regular basis.  Ken Hill (22) also made his first major league start.

They also traded Tommy Herr (32) for Tom Brunansky (27), and released Bob Horner.

The '07 Cardinals probably can't unload their aging veterans as successfully, but I hope the team makes an effort to get a look at as much young talent as possible.  Come roster expansions, we need to answer questions like Ankiel and Ryan.  We need to find out if they're legitimate options for '08 or just contingency plans.  

There are sophisticated models for predicting major league performance, but there's still value in throwing a few in the deep end and seeing who swims.  It's obvious we need to acquire a lot of parts in the off-season, so the best thing we can do from here on out is itemize what we already have.

And sure, '88 was the beginning of one of the more futile periods in Cardinal history, but I stand by the comparison.