Just One More Thing

(And a minor win for me today. I recognize 50% of the artists in the playlist!)

i am pretty sure it won’t happen, given salary considerations and the fact that Bengie wants to start but i am pleasantly surprised by the FO even considering this

still doesn’t negate the Theriot/Skip/Boog bullshit though, not even close

but not only would two Molinas be great though, I really want to have a player named Bengie on the team.. besides, imagine the three-way hugs, the Pujols-Molinas sandwich and the smiles in the dugout and brandon phillips never daring to utter another word about the Cardinals ever again. we’d win all brawls if anyone is ever stupid enough to start shit with us again

Epic. Could we resurrect Jose to have a Molina trifecta?

I don’t really see this happening as some team will probably give him a ML offer.

and he can’t find the strike zone at all. I’d rather have Brian Tallet.

and as much as I doubt that would happen because of $$, it would probably nullify signing Jeff Suppan, or a Jeff Suppan type, as someone like McClellan would be shifted to long relief. That’d be a sick right handed relief corps though.

i think we can find a closer among them.
if we have money, find a way to turn it into a 2b/3b

but I suspect they’ll want a little too much for him. I suspect something like Sanchez plus another viable prospect in return. That’s probably not something I’d want to trade, really.

I’d probably do Jay for Bell, though.

one move, and one non-move. Still counts – and I am in full support!

although it is easily the most important deal that needs to be brokered, I feel as though it exists in a realm all by itself.

;=8)

…always makes me nervous.

just decide that the $2.7 M we’re paying Skip is a sunk cost and try to make the most out of him. Electing not to go w/ Hudson at 2nd, or to move Theriot to 2nd so that we can play Ryan at SS simply b/c we’ve committed money to Skip is a poor move. It’s why they extricated Kennedy from the roster a couple of years ago. He stunk and we decided it didn’t matter if we had to eat the money, we couldn’t abide having him play every day for us. We need to make the same decision w/ Skip. Make him a 4th or 5th OF. Eat his salary and give him away to anyone who wants him. Whatever. He has no business playing 2B every day on a contending team.

why is anyone going to take Skip Schumaker and his 1 year, $2.75m contract, in a salary dump???

Give him a shot. If he fails miserably, in the limited ABs and innings he is going to be given, you can always pick up a veteran in July. Why waste money on an aging vet?

But that being said, it is clear that the organization is going to bring in someone else.

If one of your catchers gets hurt, then you still have Bryan Anderson waiting in the wings. If not, hopefully Anderson proves to someone that he deserves a real chance on a 25 man roster for more than 3 weeks. If I learned anything from last season, it’s that depth is a good thing to have.

Who says there isn’t wasteful Washington spending??

Can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone say that.

They could resign Duncan and Mulder and i wouldn’t care as long as they sign The Mang

Also, see Seattle Mariners December 17, 2004 and his production thereafter in respect to the contract received. Now, imagine what that contract would look like six years later after another walk year performance.

Does not compute.

Hasn’t he been one for quite some time now?

I’m not sure that that’s not what the organization is doing. I hope he’s wrong but I’m not sure why that makes him an ass.

I think Bryan Burwell is a blowhard windbag of a journalist, and I typically avoid his articles like the plague… however, I did read this and was surprised that it wasn’t so bad as his normal hacktastic schlock. What’s that saying – something about the sun shining, and a dog….

I think there’s a valid point he makes in the “Management is trying ever so subtly to cover their rears in the event they can’t sign Pujols to an extension.”

they should be quick to hand out $28-30 million contracts and not be greedy… they should just cave in to Pujols’ demands

he just said we shouldn’t do what the Yankees did to Jeter? Uh, I believe if the Yankees did what you want them to do, they’d be on the hook for four years at $24 million for an agining, declining, and terrible defensive SS

so this piece of crap article is why all my friends kept mentioning how ESPN rumors had “Cards preparing for life after Pujols”

I thought it was desperately unlikely and was against it because I thought it’d have to be 2 years and north of $20m. For 1 year, $7m, I’m all for it.

Who is cheaper, could also hit really good, and could probably play not completely awful outfield defense. And with a decent probability of injury. Did I mention he would have been cheaper?

skip was worth 0.6 oWAR in 2010. that’s people’s problem with him. and quite frankly, i think it’s justified. there is nothing to say that 2009 wasn’t the fluke. Skip had a decent 1.5 oWAR in 2008, and I think that’s the player he is. i don’t see any reason he will put up 2-3 oWAR in the future.

ignore defensive issues entirely for a moment: skip has done nothing positive offensively in his career except hit .300. he is not an on-base machine- he typically has a decent on base percentage, but it’s driven by his batting average, not a lot of walks. he has little to no power- in his best full season, his ISO was .104. in 2008 and 2009, we’ve seen skip to be what he really is, if he’s playing well, which is an almost exactly league-average hitter (OPS+ 102 both years).

as an outfielder, that’s one thing if you’re playing center well- it beats league average there considerably. however, skip is blocked in center (and i don’t think any of us have LOVED skip’s defensive in center field anyway), and his bat just doesn’t project in a corner spot, where he is below league average. not to mention, for a good, winning team, you want your players to be ABOVE league average everywhere if you can help it.

so instead, skip was moved to second base, a place where his bat (at least the 2008-2009 variety) DOES sit above league average. however, even at its best, skip’s bat does not SIGNIFICANTLY outperform league average at second. if we then have a player who plays slightly below league average defense, we have just about an average player at second base (which, i will note, is not always the easier thing to find), for a pretty low price. does his bat “make up for his defense”, like you stated? yes, i guess, if we’re talking about restoring him to league average, but he is no weapon at second base because of his bat.

now, i don’t think any of us are particularly happy with the cardinals featuring a almost exactly league average player in a spot where we could see significant improvement, but it’s tolerable. however, what is NOT ok is if skip’s bat falls off, like it did in 2010. we are now playing a significantly below average offensive player, even for second base, a typically low offense spot. in addition, we are putting a weak defensive player out in the field for a pitching staff focused on getting as many ground balls as possible. this doesn’t make any sense.

so- if we want to keep skip at 2B, we are essentially betting he regains his almost exactly league average form, and basically stops HURTING the team. he still is not really adding anything, even at his best. on the other hand, we can replace skip with a player (i’ll use orlando hudson as an example) who has been better than skip both offensively and defensively for EVERY YEAR we have a legitimate comparison for the two players.

the real problem is that he is one of the worst defenders in the league, at a position that our team relies of heavily. As I wrote in a fanpost, playing Skip Schumaker at second instead of Theriot will result in a team-wide increase in ERA of something like 0.15 runs. His defense will undoubtedly cost us more than two games, and his offense just isn’t good enough to make up for that fact.

The guy is a butcher at 2nd base and is only a useful player when he’s at the top of his offensive game which isn’t all that high to begin with (w/in a few points of league average). When Skip doesn’t hit he’s BAD! Both Skip and The Riot have dropped the past three seasons WAR-wise, but The Riot started higher and hasn’t wound up as low (though the drop has been more precipitous) which to me suggests a higher overall talent level overall to begin with. The organization really needs to make a decision between the two and Boog, and Skip with his inability to field at an important fielding position has rendered himself the least useful of the group. It’s not hate, it’s just honest appraisal of the available evidence.

So, the organization has three routes to take:

1. Proceed like this season was an aberration and hope he bounces back offensively while wearing his bad defense and moving other pieces (Boog to the bench or out of the org or something).
2. Use him as a bench guy in the OF and occasionally at 2nd.
3. See what they can fetch for him in a swapperoo.

I say three is the best option. He’s not a 2nd baseman and treating him like the starter there is foolish, and he’s not a better option in the OF than Jay or Craig off the bench. So… see what he’s worth to some other team. Play Boog at SS and hope he rebounds with the bat, The Riot at 2nd, and hope he also rebounds, and Greene as the backup and hope he can blossom. A lot of hoping there but given the evidence at hand those are the most reasonable hopes from where I sit.

even if he somehow clicks at second and improves all the sudden, I still don’t think he’ll be average. in all likelihood he will still be a horrible defender, and he’s not a good enough hitter to make up for it. he’d have to have more power.

I quite like that one. If we could get him reasonably cheap, and TLR uses his extreme platoon split properly, I’d be for it.

But I think he’s pretty popular right now, so the Cards will probably be outbid.

Drop Schu, have Theriot start 2B, Ryan at SS, and TGreene as backup middle infielder with Hall at 3B while subbing some other positions

(I just realized dropping schu = more playing time for my weird man crush on Tyler Greene – and Greene is higher in my book than Schu so adios Skip!)

Draft Brad Emaus or Marquez Smith in the rule 5.

Both are 3B’s in AAA. Both are right-handed. Smith has above-average power, with possible 30 HR potential, but he’s stockier and probably plays worse D. Emaus has an excellent eye and his K/BB has averaged around 1.0 each of his years in the minors. He’s a 2B/3B and he doesn’t have all that much power (well, he did hit 15 HRs in 2010). Sort of Ruben Gotay with seemingly higher upside.

I don’t think that they would. Selling high on Jay would be good, but I would think they’d want a prospect instead of Schumaker, who really doesn’t have a place on their roster as I look at it.

Also sign Chad Gaudin and or Bruce Chen.

Some trailer burned to smithereens.

but there will be leaks all over the place. Julian Assange is actually preparing a big release of stuff on this right now.

Perhaps they are falling back to the War Room.

negotiations have begun?

when you’re looking up at Mark Reynolds in the batting average column.

Lance Berkman has never had a season as bad as Pena’s 2010

The Cubs overpay a guy who hit .197 last year to avoid giving him a long term contract?

Wow.

his 2010 was awful but I’d guess he’s got similar value to Berkman at 1B these days (maybe Berkman a little more) and they only paid $2m more than we did. It’s probably about right. I reckon Pena is a 2-3 WAR player still, and changing leagues will help.

oh wait.

konerko could have gotten that from several clubs (AZ, BAL, etc.) who else woulda offered pena 10 mil?

time to go to more Sox games for me

Bad move structurally, too.

apparently crasnick said the cardinals are working out deals already for trade packages for pujols at the deadline. that just sounds asinine to me, considering he has a NTC.

Is this a legitimate possibility?

Wait.

The best player in baseball will be a FA next year. Until he’s signed, it is a story — incuding who might interested in signing him, whether it makes sense to trade him if his demands are too high, etc. etc.

How many times has a player said he wants to “be somehwere” only to later leave for the most money, or the “chance to win,” or whatever. It’s these people’s jobs to flesh out these stories, gather tidbits where they can, editorialize, speculate, drive readership and page hits.

if he walks, and we get nothing.

I guess we’d get the picks for a Type A, but if AP and the Cards can’t work out a deal, AP needs to be willing to waive the NT clause, so we don’t get screwed.

I know everyone can play 2nd but even that’s silly.

I’m not quite sure what happened with that block quote, but the whole Goold piece is worth a read anyway, so have at it.

Who’s TB got behind him? Brignac didn’t exactly light the league on fire last year, if I remember right. If/when the Bartlett deal happens (though looking dead to Baltimore for now) I wonder if Friedman wouldn’t be at least a little interested in the best defensive SS in baseball.

stop asking for Brendan Ryan!!!!

Ryan getting traded to the Padres for a PTBNL

He has only played a couple years. He didn’t really start playing till 2005

I don’t worry too much about bad FA precedents affecting the Pujols deal. It’s a pretty unique situation. He already knows he’d get 8/30 on the open market. What Jayson Werth gets isn’t going to play into how much of a discount, if any, Pujols is willing to take from the Cards.