the infield

they’re just not very good/consistent. This makes me nervous.

Then maybe swing a trade for Mauer, Delmon Young, Span, Kubel, Cuddyer, Baker, Liriano, Duensing, and Slowey and I think we may have a shot at that post-season thing.

as it was watching these infielders play i think the Cards will stand pat. time to promote from with in. i have mentioned this name before but I would not mind the Cards giving Andy LaRoche a shot. he is pretty much done in P-bugh and i would not be surprised that he is non-tendered. he and Freese could battle it out for the starting job, but i expect the he ends up on the bench. he has play a game or two at second and could give albert a day off once in a while. Let’s sign Westbrook, Pujols and fix up the pen and call it done.

playoffs thread overflow

"I was just looking for a pitch to drive, and got lucky and put a good swing on it," Ankiel said. "And I can’t explain how I feel right now. … I can’t even explain it. I’d say this is the pinnacle of everything I’ve ever done. To win a playoff game with a home run, I mean, that’s where it’s at."

link

Leach’s filing

And ladies and gentlemen, Chipper Jones:
On Ankiel
"He’s here, he’s back in the playoffs, and a hero for the Braves tonight."
"I think if you had been in here when everybody came off the field and went through the congratulatory line, you would see how people feel about him, and how all of his teammates have always felt about him. They’re always pulling for him. I mean, we absolutely mobbed him when he came in here. … I don’t think other players might have got quite the reception that he got, for the simple fact that he’s such a favorite here in the clubhouse."

On Glaus’ play
"He came off the field and said he was about to throw up. Said he’s never really been put in for defensive purposes before [Chipper is laughing here, hardly able to finish the sentence.] When they hit it, I didn’t even know he was in the game. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s Troy.’
"And he made a decent throw and we got the double play. It was just fun to see his reaction, because he literally looked like he was about to heave."

If the Cards keep payroll about the same, other than Penny’s $7.5 M and Ludwick(Westbrook) $5.45M, is there other money coming off the books?

Next year, Lohse gets an additional $3M , Waino close to $2M more, and McClellan is arb eligible. Add in any sort of raise for Pujols and the money looks like a wash already.

Any chance we could land a good package from them, with or without Raz? Hill? Not sure about his defense, but I like his bat. Gonzalez? Escobar? Prospects?

and Hardy has 1 more arb year.

I bet it starts with “Josie’s on a vacation far away”

Orlando Hudson also looks like a nice piece to have manning 2B. JJ Hardy showed alot of pop to his bat, but that was 2 years ago. I think trading Rasmus would be a mistake. I thought the focus has been on developing from within, but I’m not sure how successful we’ve been, at least with the MIF. I like Skip, but he seems like he could be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type of player (ok occassionally in OF, 2B), like a better Aaron Miles, that my girlfriend has a crush on.

I didn’t have a chance to get on during the games last night. As awesome as this postseason has been (at least the NL side), my favorite moment came last night. I always loved Rick Ankiel: his promise,his heartbreak, his redemption, his legendary throws, his facebreak, his slide into obscurity. I didn’t want the Cardinals to get rid of him (purely emotional reasons), but understood why they did. I was glad that he went to the Royals (they have easy-to-please fanbase, I can see him live 2-3 games a year), and was really glad when he got traded to the Braves (playoffs?!?). Seeing him crush that ball into McCovey Cove made me so joyful. I actually stood up and screamed, like he was a Cardinals player. Way to go Swingin’ Dick!

some Yahoo picked up Santa Glaus
and Leach just picked up Good news, everyone

VEB may have to get…… creative.

“So WAR could be renamed WIS, What I See. Because what I see are 2 crappy players that look a like. And I see that one of them seems to help us more as a 19th inning pitcher.”

well, I can start, but I’m surely missing some. or will be wrong.

Playoff appearances — Halladay, Lincecum, Liriano, Heyward, Sweeney… I’m missing a bunch of pitchers, and whole teams of course.
all the stats related to the no-hitter
yeah, I’ll be fair … BP’s homer another “since when” though it might’ve been a Reds record
two playoff teams relinquishing 4 run leads on the same day
first playoff splashdown since Barry Bonds

ex-Cards out there
Rolen, (Edmonds,) Renteria, Ankiel, Glaus
NL Central alumni
Berkman, Oswalt, Lidge, DLee … I don’t really count Pettitte anymore

not for the price of Colby though

This week’s Simpsons is VEB approved.

In an effort to broaden her extracurricular horizons, Lisa decides to manage Bart’s little league team. Using statistics and probabilities, Lisa leads the team to an incredible winning streak.

For my money, this would be the best case scenario. Losing Colby is too high a price, but if the Cardinals have other pieces that the D-Backs would take (for example, Descalso, Craig, Jay, etc.), then it bears exploration. I don’t know what Arizona’s full needs are, but that would represent a better fit.

Johnson is probably at his peak value right now. The good news is everyone knows it. Even if he regresses slightly, I would enjoy seeing him covering 2B, with Schumaker moved into a backup position for second, rightfield and centerfield. Skip could still get a good 250AB a year, and be a nice bench player.

But again, I’m not familiar enough with Arizona’s priorities in the offseason. Maybe I’m just daydreaming at the moment.

he’s also great in the clubhouse, and to me the clubhouse lacks personality on the team – one of the reasons i like joey bombs being on the big league squad. i think that he’d be fairly cheap too.

leave boog at ss, and hope that freese will not get hurt and set up some sort of competition to win the 2b spot. I’m thinking Descalsco is the guy there.

and I would be thrilled if Jon Jay can turn into Shane Victorino. I suppose that would be his realistic ceiling. He needs to be the + RFer that he appears to be to the eyes, cut down his K rate, and maybe work on the BB rate. If he can do that, we could have a 13+ WAR outfield next year.

Regarding the infield situation, Hardy appears to be the savviest (most savvy?)option. And, yes, I know everyone here, myself included, is sick and tired of playing people at positions that are not their natural one, but could Hardy be a type of Freese insurance? My memory of Hardy is that he is a a bigger than normal SS, although according to the metrics he has exceptional range (well, consistently positive). He could be one to give Freese a day off here and there, hopefully reducing the risk of injury. Hardy could play the super-sub role that Lopez tried (and for the first half, save the injury, succeeded at), or he could just take over at 2B. Unfortunately, with TLR’s faith in Schu, evidenced by the use of Descalso at 3B instead of his natural position, I don’t see Hardy displacing Schumaker, barring injury or massive underperformance (like if he hit like Ryan did). That’s why Descalso, Greene and company seem like the most likely answer, because it won’t upset the existing dynamic and it"s cost effective. Assuming the money to sign Hardy is available, signing him seems prudent, because you’d still have the young guys waiting in the wings when something goes wrong.

to produce a gif symbolically depicting Brad Penny and Rick Ankiel in a laser-enhanced duel in McCovey Cove.

but to my dying day I may never get over that 2009 squad never getting a shot at a ring.

tyler greene i am beginning to sour on – while a better option than miles or feliz, he has not shown signs of translating his minor league performance to the majors

but he has 212 career at-bats, they’ve done nothing to let him prove he’s bad… or good… we need to give hims some PAs so that he can prove himself – his low BABIP and power numbers plus plus defense strikes me as it being worth it

wasn’t happy with the blown call at 2nd in last nights game.

How about he accepts a little responsibility for the play. If he had played it properly and stretched to the ball, it would have been a no doubt out. Instead he played it like he would have a shot at a double play and stayed at the bag.

Then there’s the idiotic play later in the inning where he turned the wrong way on the relay throw to the plate and dropped the ball on the exchange. Brandon Phillips just makes it easier and easier to hate Brandon Phillips.

How do these infield candidates compare with OBP and speed? I feel that the most disappointing aspect of Schu is his uninspiring OBP and inability to steal. I know Mozeliak has said he’s looking for more pop, but perhaps the cards would be better served focusing on other offensive aspects.

and if we cant have him, then i say we drink, drink, drink. then drink some more

know the clinical definition of bipolar you should check out the GT overflow #4 at talking chop….
“farnsworth and ankiel worst trade ever”
“ankiel should pitch the 13th whats the wost that could happen”
“farnsworth and ankiel best trade ever”
“ankiel u awesome worthless piece of shit!!!!”

ankiel u suck/ankiel marry me

I would probably take a look at Jose Reyes. If the Mets are serious about rebuilding the team, then Reyes will be one of the first to go. He has an 11m club option for 2011, and I would probably ask the Mets to accept it, then ask for roughly half the salary and give away someone like Jay or Craig with another B prospect. This probably won’t be enough, but I see some upside for Reyes, and see his most recent season as an aberration.

for like 3 years to buy a subscription of postseason.tv so i can get shitty camera angles and no announcers. wat. i assumed that would come with my current subscription. i should have known i was dealing with MLB, here

i just turned it on

I have Dish Network, and LIVE in Columbia, and I dont get to watch the Tigers play?

2 runs is nothing to overcome in that ballpark. come on rangers

Cliff Lee warming

But seriously I wouldn’t be adverse to kicking the tires on Juan Uribe.

or ‘team chemistry’ or whatever you want to call it. Beginning with the tight-assed Larussa and his stone-faced shadow, Duncan, I feel we are victims of our own-making miasma.
Who IS the ‘personality’ on this club? That is, who provides the (not necesssarily on the field) energy and fun. Seems to me it boils down to Boog and Yadi.
Boog gets stifled, and punished, and relegated to being a flake; Yadi is fine, especially coming from a catcher (field leader, too), but it’s not enough.
Consider the main five, the no-doubt heart of the club – Pujols, Holliday, Waino, (the appropriately named) Carp, Rasmus: too much diffidence, cockiness, intimidation, lead by example, put it on MY shoulders-ism..
I was much in favor of getting Hudson (the O-dog one) the last two springs, but with his declining skills, and watching him a little more than before, I fear he would be something like a rich man’s Brandon Phillips (i.e. no thank you) and besides he would not make a crack in the above hickory nut.
The seven mentioned at the beginning (LaDunc, and the big five) are who they are, unlikely to change. But something needs to stir things up; I don’t know what or who.

1 – 0 Bluenote.

hmm

that this will be the yankee’s 28th?

In the Texas game it just showed how bad the PU was.

He wasn’t calling high or low strikes.

at this point one moar scar isnt gonna matter (sigh)

for having vague ideas of the way to turn each other on again

A Coleman mention…from Craig Seger no less.

and the TARP

"Jay Bruce is a Golden Glove outfielder, Brandon Phillips is a Golden Glove second baseman, Scotty Rolen was a Golden Glove third baseman, and those guys rarely make mistakes," Baker said.

anyone care to say what’s wrong with this?

Jabba the Gwynn to get cancer treatment