My alt history

by Harknights on Jan 2, 2008 12:01 AM EST

The talk of alternate histories got me thinking about a diary I've been thinking about for some time, a history of a more fortunate Cardinal franchise. It all begins with Todd Worrell finding 1B. So here we go.

1985
9th inning, game 6 of the World Series.
J Orta, Ground out:1B-P; S Balboni Popfly:1B; J Sundberg Strikeout Swinging

10th total Championship and 2nd of the decade.

1986
Yet another championship hangover season. Along with the injuries fans write it off as nice problem to have.

1987
Resisting the urge to trade for a big name catcher Whitey decides to see how the season starts with what he has. A breakout season by Van Slyke is the reward, along with a strong season by the two rookie pitchers, Magrane and Dunne. The increase in offense and pitching results in clinching the east in early September and resting key players to keep them fresh. A full squad beats the Giants in 5 games. With the extra days off the Cards and Twins have both rotations set up. After dropping game one the Cards take game two and sweep at home.

11th total Championship and 3rd of the decade

1988
Fresh of another championship Jack Clark rewards the Cardinals by going to New York. The Bob Horner experience doesn't last and John Tudor is flipped for Pedro. All this results in yet another championship hangover season.

1989
The big change the Cards make this year is Signing Gary Redus?!? Strangely it works. Behind strong pitching performances of Joe Magrane and Jose DeLeon the Cards beatout the Cubs late in the season. The Cards are defeated in a rematch of '87 in 6 games. The Giants go on a lose the earth quake series.

No Championship but the Cards are the team of the decade.

1990
Yet another hangover season. Not as bad this time finishing at .500. However even a strong season by Magrane can't get us closer than 4th , 10 games behind the Mets.

1991
Good news in the off season. Terry Pendleton is able to work out a contract. Zeile stays at catcher. Behind Pendleton's breakout MVP season the Cards are able to win 93 games just passing a Barry Bonds lead Pirate team for the NL East Title. Lead mainly by the pitching, strong season's from Hill, Tewksbury and DeLeon helped overcome an average offense.
The Cards lose a close 7 game series to the Dodgers who go on to lose to the Twins.

1992
Happy with the season but not with production at 1B the Cards choose to think outside the box and move Zeile from C to 1B and move Pags to starter. This option is picked over trading for an outside 1B from the Expos. Again the Cards are lead by pitching with Hill and Tewksbury able to go head to head with any team and helping the team win 100 games.
The Cards advance to the World Series beating the Braves 4 games to 1. In the World Series the Card s again win 4 games to 1

12th Championship

1993-1995
The following three years isn't your everyday hangover. In 1993 said goodbye to Van Slyke. Two years later Pendleton and Zeile leave. These teams are helpless.

1996
TLR and Walt are together again. After thinking about it again they don't trade Gilkey and thus don't sign Gant. Everyone is rewarded with Gilkey's best season. The team is very fortunate in that they don't suffer any major injuries. A full squad beats the Braves in 6 games. Facing the Yanks in the Series.

The Yanks sweep the Cards no championship but another pennant.

1997
A healthy team returned to take a weak division with 85 wins. The Benes brothers were joined by rookie Matt Morris to solidify the pitching staff. On offense the addition of Mark McGwire gave the team a balanced attack.

The post season was short this time. Losing to the Braves in 4 games.

1998
The fans were sweating in the off season but Andy Benes signed an 11th hour contract to keep the Benes Brothers together. With a healthy Morris the pitching staff held up for the year. Seeing a need to replace Gaettie and in an effort to end an internal dispute Todd Stottlemyre was traded for Fernando Tatis. The new offence was enough to get a wild card birth with 92 wins.

In a close series the Cards beat the Braves 3-2. The Cards then faced the Padres but fall just short in 7 games...but at least Mac has the HR record.

1999
All looked well for the Cards again but misfortune stuck. Late in the season one of the best starters was lost. Alan Benes had his career ended with an arm injury. The pitching loss was enough to keep the Cards in 3rd place.

2000
To replace Benes, Kile was brought in to help. Also in the off season a detailed medical program was used to treat Mac's knee using Andro. This treatment helps prolong his career another year. Behind Mac's 64 HRs and another full year of Matt Morris the Cards win 100 games.

After beating the Braves in an extrorinally uneventful series. The Cards face the Mets. A healthy and rested club beats the Mets to face the Yankees. In a good series the Cards win in 7 games.

13th Championship and second of the decade.

2001
The most notable result of the Series is that in looking for story angles researchers find that Kile's father died of heart desease in his 40's. As a promotional event Kile has an exam and a defect is found. A suceesful procedure fixes his faulty heart. On the field an aging Mac "only" hits 50 HRs. A freash J.D. Drew, who had a day off against David Wells, ends up hitting 40 HRs. With a healthy Mac, Lankford is redundant and is sent to the Padre's for Williams. With 101 wins the cards win the division.

Facing the Braves again the Cards lose in 4 games.

2002
Another solid season is in question due to Mac deteriorating body. Seeing a clear need for another player the Cards trade for Scott Rolen , as part of the package the Cards offered Polanco but the Phils wanted Journell and the Cards said ok.

In the playoffs a solid rotation of Morris, Kile and Ankiel resulted in another uneventful playoff win over the D-Backs. After winning the first game in extra innings over the Giants the Cards went on the sweep in 4 games. Facing the Angels the Cards go down in 4 games.
No Championship but another pennant

2003
With Mac leaving the game the Cards choose to move Pujols to 1B. Polanco moved to 2B full time. Needing an outfielder the Cards went with journeyman Matt Stairs. More steady seasons from Morris, Kile and Ankiel resulted in an easy division title.

In the playoffs the Cards get the Braves again. This time the Braves sweep the Cards.

2004
In the off-season the Cards questioning the pitch calling of longtime catcher Eli Marrero send the solid (and cancer free) catcher to the Braves for King and Wainwright. For this year the Cards go with longtime backup Matheny until Molina is ready.

This year the fully rested and healthy Cards easily take the Title losing only 3 games in the playoffs.
14th Championship.

2005
Some hangover here. Renteria leaves and the Cards sign Eck on a 1 year deal.

While the Astros have a big three so do the Cards and Carp, Ankiel and Haren lead the Cards back to the Series to face the Other Sox. This time a curse is broken as the Sox win in 7 games, 2 of which went extra innings.
No Championship but another pennant.

2006
This season sees the end of the Ankiel era, as he is signed away by the Yankees. Carp and Haren are still able to lead the Cards to the division title with 87 wins.

They win the series in 5 games over the Tigers.
15th Championship and 2nd in 3 years.

2007
Carp, Haren and Wainwright lead the pitching and a full season from Duncan helps lessen the blow of Drew opting out of his contract. This time 85 wins is good for the division.

The Cards get past the D-Backs in 5 games but fall short in 6 to the Rockies.

So what was different?
1.    No Pena trade.
2.    Redus is signed not a trade for Thompson.
3.    No Hill trade.
4.    Pendleton is resigned
5.    Zeile is kept at catcher then moved to 1B
6.    Gilkey is not traded.
7.    The team is healthy in the 1996 playoffs.
8.    Alan Benes doesn't blow his arm out until the end of the 1999 season
9.    Morris never blows his arm out.
10.    Andy Benes is able to resign
11.    Eli doesn't get sick and averages just under 60 runs scored a year. From 1998-2003
12.    Ankiel doesn't freakout
13.    Drew averages 150 games a year from 01-06
14.    Kile doesn't die.
15.    Mac gets a doctors note to take andro and his knees last a little longer.
16.    Matt Stairs is signed
17.    Rolen doesn't run into anyone nor have anyone run into him.
18.    Martinez isn't signed.
19.    Polanco stays a Cardinal
20.    Marrero wants to play OF and is valueable enough to net Wainwright and King.
21.    Carp doesn't have his arm thing at the end of 2004.
22.    No Mulder trade.
23.    Eck signed only 1 year
24.    Belliard resigned.
25.    Carp not reinjured
26.    Duncan plays the whole year in 2007

This is what happens when your wife is sick on New Years Eve. Waaaay to much time to waste.

0 recs | Comment 10 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

holy crap

thats a lot of championships

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.

by wilson on Jan 2, 2008 3:28 AM EST 0 recs

I did everything random

Well not 1985 that was the whole point. So only four additional Championships and two of these 87 and 04 aren't new World Series appearances.

Plus I didn't want to do all this and say "well still nothing good happened"

by Harknights on Jan 2, 2008 9:56 AM EST up 0 recs

You lost me...

at break out year for Mike Dunne.

by Brock20 on Jan 2, 2008 7:10 AM EST 0 recs

In 1987

He did have an ERA+ of 135. I was just trying to say he was still a Cardinal. Don't read more than that into it. I wasn't assuming Anyone played over their head.

by Harknights on Jan 2, 2008 9:51 AM EST up 0 recs

Fun stuff

It is kind of interesting how such a small percentage of decisions can realistically have such large effects.

by siddfynch on Jan 2, 2008 10:15 AM EST 0 recs

holy crap

That is a lot of conclusion jumping! I need to eat my Coco Puffs before understanding all of that. However, very interesting to read.

1990 10 games behind the Braves??? Wrong division.
1992 100 wins and a World Series with that team?

McGwire was not going to stick around any longer than he did. Steriod testing started right after he retired and he didn't want any part of that.

Journell was not a plausible substitute for Polanco. The Phillies needed a 3B to replace Rolen in the deal.

Assuming Ankiel would have been healthy all of that time with his mechanics is pretty unlikely...he broke down in 2001 as a pitcher and several times thereafter as a fielder. He has proven fairly fragile.

Marrero for Wainwright and King is nonsense. Drew was the star of that package and you have Marrero as a catcher then. The Braves would never have included Wainwright in that deal and likely, would not have thought of Marrero as an outfielder. This trade with your other scenarios in place, would not have happened.

All in all, good work on your part.

How about handin' me another helpin' of those mashed taters...thank you very much!

by Elvis on Jan 2, 2008 11:48 AM EST 0 recs

My bad on the Braves

I was trying to adjust the teams around and flip flopped the Braves and Pirates fortunes I made the change.

I looked at the 1992 team a couple times because I said that same thing. But tell me this. If you replace the 1992 Galarrage with the 1992 Pendleton, the 1992 Felix Jose with the 1992 Van Slyke and move the 1992 Ken Hill into the rotation what do you get? The Pythag says 100 wins. As for the title? I just drew cards for the winners of series. That was all luck. You tell me how many they would have won with those changes. It was the one year I went back a couple times thinking I did something wrong.

As for Mac. My assumption was that the Medical staff had him on Andro and that his knee held up while on it. As you say the 2002 season he would have stopped and I had his production fall off the table that year (I just moved his 01 to 02.)

The Journell for Polanco switch. Journell was the Cards top prospect at the time so it wasn't a "they gave Rolen to the Cards for free" issue. There has to be some leaps in logic on alt histories. I could change it to Polancos's agent gives him the Cards offer. It should change things much.

The Marrero tade. I didn't flush the history out enough there. I was assuming that Marrero was a 15 HR a year type guy and that he wanted to make a move from C to OF. Remember Marquis was the bigger name coming from the Braves. Wainer is one of the few Brave pitching prospects to be good away from Atlanta. A leap? Sure...but it's not Marrero for Jones or anything.

by Harknights on Jan 2, 2008 1:18 PM EST up 0 recs

Trade with Atlanta

They had to get Drew in the deal, he was a Georgia native and they thought they could sign him long term as a hometown star. He walked the next year. I have a friend who's a braves fan and I can still piss him off bringing up this trade.
Eli the year before the trade played all 3 OF positions part time as well as catcher and some time at first.
Wainwright was the big name comming back, Peter Gammons was dumbfounded repoting on the trade because up until then everyone thought he was untouchable. Think Joba Chamberlain or Jonathan Papelbon. He was the top rated pitching prospect in all of baseball not just the braves. The braves considered Marquis as a 4th or 5th starter, they even used him out of the pen.
I'm sure we would not have even got Marquis and King just for Eli. One of Walts best trades ever.

by That's a Winner on Jan 3, 2008 11:30 AM EST up 0 recs

Good points

On the 1992 season, that really does make a difference. Very good points made.

Journell may have been as highly rated as Polanco at the time, but the Phillies NEEDED an everyday 3B in return. They had nobody around to play there with Rolen gone. Now, if the Cards had another capable MLB ready 3B guy to throw in, your scenario holds more water.

I can see your Marrero reasoning, but my point was that under your other scenarios leading up to this point, Marrero was and had been a fairly successful starting catcher for the Cards. This would have made it much more unlikely for the Braves to have seen him as an outfielder and Eli would have been entrenched as a catcher. It is also important to note that Drew was the star of the deal and Wainwright was the guy the Braves hated to give up.

How about handin' me another helpin' of those mashed taters...thank you very much!

by Elvis on Jan 3, 2008 12:40 PM EST up 0 recs

What about firing Torre?

The 1985 Series, yea we should've won that. I can even see the Pena trade seriously changing our fortunes, but the rest is pure fantasy to me. Pretty neat to think about, though.
I always wondered what would have happened if we would never have fired Joe Torre, the next season he won the Series. Those 1993 Cards were a good team, and the next two years were the strike and a horrible start to the 1995 season. I think that move was critical and though Tony has been successful here, maybe Torre would've been even better. What if..... I love it.

A walk is a waste of three pitches-Bob Gibson

by orlando card on Jan 3, 2008 2:14 PM EST 0 recs