Disparate thoughts: BRyan, Albert, Carpenter, etc.

All making the same excuse. Their apartment complex haven’t plowed the snow yet and can’t leave. Their car doesn’t have the power to push through the inch of a snow. Even though when I left for work their was only one lane open on the highway and Broadway wasn’t even plowed yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the need for young cheap players. And I understand that they are less likely to get hurt and have much bigger upsides. But, I think the Cardinals play better under LaRussa when the players on the team are veterans. For whatever reason LaRussa seems to work better with players he can simply motivate and not have to culture into better players.

I have very high hopes for this next season and the addition of Berkman only raised them. (although it took some convincing that he was a good pick up)

For me the source of frustration with La Russa is that I have no idea what he’s thinking. I look down the list of past message board favorites, and their post-Cardinals careers generally are pretty ugly. So I’d guess TLR does a little better than ZiPS or PECOTA or any other favored projection system. But he does such an awful job of communicating his reasoning to the public — I’m not sure whether it’s intentional or La Russa is simply an awful communicator — that it’s still difficult for me to have any confidence in the man’s decision-making process.

it may not make much difference performance wise if ryan is traded, but I know i really enjoy watching him play defense. so the entertainment value is lower with him. and that’s why we watch baseball isn’t it? for entertainment?

unless the angst is too much
hehe

I am mostly concerned that Ryan is on the block and Skip Schumaker is not. (and getting a backup for David Freese’s ankles is suddenly not a priority.) the reason our shortstop has limited value on the team is because the offense was spinning its wheels in almost every other slot. I am not a big fan of removing a perfectly good working part when the rest of the machine is FUBAR. especially when that working part is a league average player in part because he played injured for most of his career… a situation which should be rectified by now.

the issue is not about cut and dried marginal upgrades. Ryan Ludwick being traded might have improved our team (hindsight makes the deal look better) but the fact that we traded a year and a month of team control for Nick Greenwood and Cory Kluber.

In that same way, Theriot might provide comparable value to BRyan at SS, but he will likely provide a greater marginal boost at second base.

playing outside, oh noes
trapped in Kansas City, oh noes
shoveling the roof, oh noes
now who needs a new stadium
and at least one Vikings player, vis-a-vis Favre, claims it’s divine intervention

we’ve seen big moves made, but also a lot of question marks about the future. to tell you the truth, i would’ve almost rather had the inactive offseason looking back… because the vibes heading into ST (at least on here) are negative.

who wants to come to 10-degree kirksville and study for my finals for me?

DG’s article

that i’ve not seen mentioned. Hank Aaron. No reason the Mang can’t continue to be ridiculously productive until he’s 40.

…but did anyone just see the footage on Fox pregame of the Metrodome collapsing? It was incredible.

Have to do with two things in my opinion.

First, there simply weren’t a lot of good FA’s that is year, that made sense for STL, that we could also afford. There just weren’t. Sometimes you have to upgrade your 2nd weakest position, b/c the upgrade that is available there, is greater than any upgrade you can make to your biggest weakness.

Secondly, people have been complaining for years that we are too quick to trade away our prospects, and that, especially with Pujols on board, we need to do a better job of building from within. Isn’t that what we’re doing by not signing marginal Type A guys, and not trading the prospects that are already in the system? I know nobody wants to move Shelby. Cox can’t move until June. I mean, even if we wanted to move prospects, do we really have much left outside of some good relievers? Part of building a system, and being self sustaining is doing exactly what we’re doing this offseason.

It’s not as if Ryan is a young player; he’ll be 29 in March. Even if you assume that he’s a truly elite defender, he’s still only a league average player. Do I think he makes a lot of sense at shortstop for a club that’s as groundball heavy as the Cardinals? Yes. The level of angst related to his possible departure seems completely detached from the reality of his limited value to the club.

Where is global warming when you need it?

Seems like a typical cardinals signing

sending Skip to the super U and allowing the Therrible Thwo to provide elite defense and average offense from the MI. If not Terio is likely an upgrage over Floppy/Miles last year

how are you planning on seeing Sanchez and Salas, with the current makeup of our bullpen?

If we assume the normal 7 relievers:

1) Franklin
2) McClellan
3) Motte
4) Boggs
5) Salas
6) Miller*
7) Another lefty (Tallet*/Valdes*?)

The term “hissy” might be involved.

And then I’ll go the stadium and cheer whatever comparatively stone-gloved hump they put in his place.

(sigh)

I suspect better at 1B since this is Pujols second lowest WAR and he’s in his prime, better at 2B due to Skip’s regression + Theriot, better at SS due to Boog’s positive regression (I will assume he is on the team until news reports he isn’t) + Theriot, better at 3B simply by not having Feliz/Floppy out there for 1/3 of the season….

that’s 11.8 WAR into four positions that will probably improve (From June [when freese got hurt] to the end of the season, Felipe and Feliz were worth a whopping -1.2)….

Then in the outfield Holliday might be due for a bit of regression, but I think it will only be because of his fielding and Colby could make up for that as he had a -6.0 fielding line and I think Berkman/Jay/Craig is an improvement over Ludwick/Winn/Jay of last year

i still think Lohse/Westbrook nearly offsets the inevitible decline of Carp/Garcia (frankly, the sore elbow is too conviently placed for Waino for me to worry about it)

Our bullpen is nearly the same, but I suspect we receive more from our lefties (0.1 from them combined), and we get a full year of Salas

That is all not even figuring that we could have Greene, Craig, and Anderson (or a catcher that is actually better than LaRue in FA) for a lot more plate appearances rather than LaRue, Miles, Winn…

will TLR/Mo fuck this team up? I don’t know, but I’ll be damned if I don’t waitt for them to fuck it up instead of criticizing their potential fucking up

i think this team is gonna be good…. better than the reds

I wouldn’t say it has that much more veteranness as last season. we know more about Freese to some extent, that he can still be a good defensive third baseman while putting up defensive numbers. but it’s the same third base situation we’ve seen from the cardinals for a while now. the middle infield is the same way. besides Pujols, there is no one playing the infield that is an impressive player. Freese has the best chance of being this guy, but it has the same murky feel as in the past, since what if Freese is hurt or just not the player we thought he would be. same talk with can Craig play third base of the last 2 seasons as well. same iffy closer. I do think the starting pitching is about as impressive as it’s ever been under Larussa right now. which is very exciting. the other exciting factor this year is the bullpen is starting to look like it could be a real asset to the team, save Ryan Franklin, who I’m still not convinced is as good as the stats he puts up. Motte, Boggs, Sanchez, and Salas are all very exciting live arms. we also still have Trever Miller who has been very effective and a nice stabilizer for the bullpen given his experience and effectiveness as a LOOGY.

handegg is getting interesting

YESYESYESYESYESYES

I think it’s the surprise factor. I expect hitters to hit, and home runs – while great – are not surprising. I expect pitchers to pitch, and Ks – while nice – are not surprising. I still expect defenders to defend, but it’s rare for someone to make a rare play, and there are so many unique physical contortions and components (range, positioning, throw, etc.) that can make it up compared to intentionally repeatable swing and pitch mechanics. The closest thing I can compare to spicy defense is, say, a pitcher hitting a HR.

i blame you….

Who wants to join me on the Tyler Greene bandwagon?

the other damned thread.

Arroyo will receive $6.5 million in 2011 and $7 million in ’12, according to contract information obtained by FOXSports.com. His 2013 salary is $18 million, but all but $3 million will be deferred without interest.

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