I thought it was De Niro?

Also, Psycho Killer = Awesome. Thank you for reminding me.

or is there a certain person we all may know who is the subject of that dedication???

…I had WinAmp on shuffle and Pale Blue Eyes started right as I clicked the article…
…Sho ‘nuff, it’s on the day’s playlist.

It’s the little things in life…
Awesome.

Is anyone else having a really bad time with the site the past couple hours? Both the old and revised versions of this article have now been published, and both have shown up just in the course of me loading the main page to look it over and see how it is. Plus, the publishing page itself is doing some really wonky stuff, but that’s not really the concern of most everyone else here.

Oh, well. Hopefully we don’t all get SBN’d today, and everything is running smoothly by the time morning traffic picks up.

the legend of C. Rasmus will take on new dimensions. I too am looking for a passing the projections type of breakout season. That’s my position surprise.

Chris Carpenter will (read:will not) get hurt. He’ll languish (kick ass) all year on the DL (mound).

I like Joey Bombs, wrist permitting for the same reasons stated above. If his wrist doesn’t permit, however, I like Mark Hamilton to open some eyes as an option for another LH hitting outfielder (is he servicable as an outfielder?)

Hill will go the way of Matt Clement and our fifth starter coming out of spring training will be Jaime Garcia.

but for the sake of being contrarian, I’ll go with Sanchez instead of Samuel.

Other things it’ll be nice to see: Colby hitting lefties, Luddy getting somewhat back to 2008 form, Lohse injury free and pitching well, Kinney finally looking recovered and not sucking, Freese playing good D at the hot corner, everybody being more patient at the plate and taking more walks, em…is it bad form to wish for someone to do poorly, because I hope Franklin does poorly enough that the organization realizes he’s not a season-long solution for the ninth, and oh..what the hell: MOAR DINGERZ!!!!

I think he’ll really struggle to hit as well as he did in 2009, but I guess that’s not based on anyone.

I love the Salas pick, I think he’s become amazingly under-rated given that he’s basically Eduardo Sanchez after one injury-hit year in AAA.

I’m going to pluck a couple of seemingly unlikely names out of the air and go with Oneli Perez and Jon Jay (although I could see Mark Hamilton hitting well enough to be talked about, I doubt he gets close to the mlb team due to positional issues).

good music choices today. Love Pale Blue Eyes and Queen Bitch (although I’m not a big Bowie fan, in general), and knives out is one of my favourite post-guitar radiohead tunes. Kudos.

but I think it’s a misrepresentation of his velocity. When I’ve saw him in person he sat 90-92 and touched 94. He’s more of a command guy than a stuff guy.

I think Joey Bombs helps in a big way. He has great upside if healthy, and he has the versatility thang going for him. Seemed he actually played some pretty impressive D at 3b last spring. Bombs Away! For pitchers, I’m giving Motte some love. He’ll be smarter and better with the slider. We won’t remember Chris Perez when Motte the Hell dominates.

I don’t really expect any Spring Training acquisition.
…
Anyway, since I do expect Colby to improve greatly and I expect Craig and Freese to be capable and Luddy to improve, yadda yadda, I’m going to have to be totally unoriginal and say Brendan Ryan will be the surprise hitter. Same defense and improved hitting. I don’t really expect it to happen but I really, really hope it will happen.
As for surprise pitcher? I dunno… Kyle Lohse. There.

to see Jamie Garcia just come in to spring ready to win the 5th spot and do it with out any qustion. Since we are talking about suprises I would like tosee Tyler Green step up. So there would be no need for a guy like Floopy.

;=8)

Breakthrough position player: Joey Bombs
Breakthrough pitcher: Joey Bombs

Deep in his batcave this winter, Mather has been honing his skills, only to emerge this spring with a 95 mph fastball and biting curve. Carpenter is heard to remark that “all Joe needed was a taste of me Samsonite.”

Meanwhile, Duncan turns Bombs into a groundball machine, who splits time at LF, 3B and as a bridge to Ryan Franklin.

Mitchell Boggs will become the answer to the eighth-inning quandary and become a formidable bullpen arm, pushing Motte to the seventh inning/escape artist role, allowing us to shrink games to 7 innings and squeeze valuable nectar from our awesome, yet brittle rotation.

I think Yadi will burst his offensive bubble that has restricted his value to just under the Mauers, McCanns, etc. I predict a Holliday-ian of a line something like .315/.395/.455 with HRs in the upper teens and RBIs over 100. Of course, this offensive prowess will help him win another Gold Glove, even moreso than his 30 pickoffs for the year.

What?!

will we be subjected to endless “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” memes?

Because I really like him. And not just because he looks good in a baseball uniform either.

On pure hunch, I guess…
Position Player: Allen Craig
Pitcher: Kyle Lohse

I had to think for a moment to realize who our 4th rotation spot was reserved for, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who dosn’t have Lohse on the mind as we head into spring training. If he’s fully recovered, I think we can expect him to bounce back to near 2008 form.

I know its hard to be surprised by a $120 million dollar player, but I feel he is gonna tear the cover off the ball and be the Cards MVP in spring training. Look for him to OPS something like 1.023 and then taper off dramatically when games start counting again. Wait this sounds familiar…..

My prediction- both Parise and Gotay make the team out of spring training.

Yes, I know both players are “low-upside” guys, but if both players make the big club that would qualify me for the spring surprise award, right?

Here is my short argument for both players-

Parise- K/9 ratio spiked last year as the closer in Memphis (7.61) and K/BB ratio stayed solid at 2.38. CHONE is already giving him a 4.30 MLE era this year, and if his walk rate stays low he could meet or slightly beat that projection.

Also, I was in a pretty cool ‘q and a’ session with Jeff Luhnow at the Cardinals Winter Warm Up where he specifically mentioned Parise as a sleeper for the big club.

Gotay- Dave Cameron of fangraphs approves of this guy, and that’s good enough for me.

Gotay highlights- He knows how to take a walk (102 walks in 479 PA’s last season in AAA), Showed a little pop last year, so he may be a late bloomer (.879 OPS in PCL), ability to play 3b, and a switch hitter who is best vs right handers (platoon option w/ Freese). Still only 27 years old.

Brad Penny comes in and reminds everybody that he still throws really hard and had a .205 avg against once he retreated back to the NL last year. Suddenly it looks like we have 3 number one’s, and the talk begins about which of them is most likely to challenge Lincecum for the Cy Young. OK, I’m only kidding about the last part.

Colby doesn’t just show the expected improvement, but starts to look like a legitimate all-star CF — the kind that hits .300 and has 30 HR power.

Boggs will develop the control that has been missing from his repotoire and become a very good releiver or even a pretty serviceable starter.

Allen Craig will hit .360, OBP over .400, and show lots of pop. Sadly he will be sent to Springfield to work on becoming a 2nd baseman after showing adequate skills at both LF and RF.

Pitcher: Kinney might be wishful thinking, but I have a little trouble letting go of the idea that he could recapture whatever it was that he captured in the first place to make him so freakin’ good a couple of years back.

Position Player: Shane Robinson was created for exactly this kind of scenario. He will have a batting avg. of, like, .440, in spring training, make a couple of diving catches that ingratiate him to all of us, might even have a couple of good games in April, and will quickly become the Brian Barden of 2010.

I love that we put ourselves through this every year.

In spring training 2009, the dudes tearing the cover off the ball were Khalil Greene, Rick Ankiel, and —for a while -- Chris Duncan.

/facepalm

I may not always agree with your point of view or your humor (though mostly I do), but I can never argue with your musical tastes. For clarification: which version of “Psycho Killer” are you listening to? I actually prefer the live recording from “Stop Making Sense.”

This makes me more excited for the season than Matt Holliday re-signing.

Ben jukich and ruben gotay -

Jukich because – though not likely to stick with the club – he has a likeable skillset (groundball pitcher) for the cards. Seems like most people are under estimating him.

Gotay because he could really seize his chance to shine.he has a long history as a patient on-base guy.

Although I don’t expect either to make the team, both could plausibly have a role in the last pitcher/position player spot respectively.

Bryan Anderson will show enough bat to complicate things (when Pagnozzi and LaRue stand between him and the backup role).

Mitch Boggs will show flashes, before draining away into oblivion.

Or maybe not.

Salas and Gotay

Gotay because I don’t see anyone currently contending for the last MIF spot. He will have a good spring than become Thurston 2.0

I have been awful high on Salas since his great 2008. His injury plagued season of 2009 can be tracked to hand injuries thankfully. No shoulder or elbow problems. He has a good curveball already so that should help him adapt to the major leagues. With his excellent control paired up with him. He is probably good enough to give you a K/BB of 2 or better. Here is a video of him

Albert hits .600/.800/2.000 in ST and Carp throws 30 perfect innings

Is this a 2010 news story or a recycled 2007 story? Can it be both?

Also, tony la russa contemplates managing the reds with both cairo and miles on the team, sheds solitary tear.
He then returns to polishing the bronze statue of matt holliday he commissioned last month.

Pitching: Mitchell Boggs in the bullpen (even if I’m not sure it’d be a surprise)
Position: Allen Craig

because I’d be incredibly surprised if either of them are healthy enough to do anything in ST. Mather is closer than Hill to actual health, but it’s not even that I’d be surprised- I’d be impressed with Bombs if he made it back, because it takes a lot of luck and a ton of work and a high pain tolerance to deal with his injury.

On a more serious note, I think the Gotay and Jukich optimism is pretty well-founded. Both are low-upside TLR and DD sort of guys, and that could give them an edge looking toward the MLB roster. However, we’re not exactly talking about people most likely to make the roster. We know what these guys look like, and it’s their unsurprising, predictable skills that make them more likely than more intriguing people with high upsides.

By the way, a few comments down, Allen Craig actually made the inaugural Spring Surprises list after raking in AA ball. What might have been.

So, despite a few instances of misdirection, my actual picks are Allen Craig and Francisco Samuel. These are the kinds of players people really talk about in the spring. Heavy hitters and hard throwers can make any reporter start seeing unicorns. Our coaching staff is less impressed by these types, so their MLB future is questionable, but that’s no surprise.

Even if he shows marginal improvement in his approach at the plate while maintaining defensive excellence, it will be a real boon for him and the Cardinals. Wouldn’t it be great if Brendan had Tyler Greene’s power?

Lastly, are you sure that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t, in fact, a train?

Sadly it will all be for naught; Gotay will bomb, and Skippy will pull a hammy in ST, forcing MO to trade Craig to the Reds for Aaron Miles.

Ruben Gotay will be our Opening Day third baseman. You heard it here first (possibly).

Kyle Lohse bounces back to his 2008 form. It is all kinds of rad, and people dance in the streets.

and I meant to post this much earlier, but I was being all SBN’d,but how in the hell did Aaron get a post up at 2:30 in the morning? My Wednesday is going to be all screwed up now.

I thought I was going to be the only person to say Gotay, but his name seems pretty popular on here today. totally agree with picking Boog, RB (no pun intended). also, that’s a very knifey playlist ya got there.

as for pitchers, I think Rich Hill will surprise, if not him, maybe Motte will have a new pitch or just be more effective in general.