….they’re looking moore at Smoltzy now as a cowtingency starter, someone to go to if no one establishes themselves as our #5 this spring, or if an injury happens, and if he gets signed at all it would be sometime after the beginning of the season.

As for the FLopster, he’ll be el chupacabra-ing ABs away from Skip and Lugo, and perhaps Tastee as well, which is ok provided he can hit and field well. I don;t see him moooch in LF, except during double switches or a late inning replacement vs a lefty closer.

I’d like to point out, though , that the Brew crew now has 3 lefty starters, clearly a response to last year’s less than stellar performance against lefties.

Oh yeah, and, uhh, moo.

:=8)

although I suspect for that price he’d probably only want to be playing for a contender (and apparently he really enjoyed his last stint with the Cards, so maybe didn’t drive a very hard bargain). The Twins had big holes at 2B and 3B, so he seemed perfect for them (I know they signed O-Dog for 2B, but that cost more money and now they’re considering Nick Punto as a 3B option), Dodgers signed Carroll for more money, Phillies signed Polanco etc.

I sort of felt the same way about Russ Branyan; a lot of teams had DH or 1B holes this year, and, despite the injuries, his age, and his occasional lack of full-time action over the years, he still hit 31 jacks last year and is a very good hitter who ended up signing for a paltry sum.

I think even our bench is looking pretty solid now. Something like Floppy, Lugo, Craig, Mather, LaRue is a LOT better than last year.

I have been more worried about the bench than the bullpen for some months now, and this is where I see Lopez contributing the most. On a TLR team, that’s not nothing.

As for DAR, I’m thinking we’ve broken even.

TLR likes double-switches. We’ll see Floppy subbed out for a defensive replacement when he starts and subbed in for his bat when he doesn’t. He’ll appear in a lot of games this season and log somewhere around 4 innings in the field per appearance.

mets’ facility is fine (and beer is cheaper)!
usually hit both if there is an attractive team playing the mets

and head to the back lots where the entire farm system practices on four fields at once. Hang out there and watch the future redbirds until game time.

It looks like I’ll be down there towards the end of March for some games. Hopefully you’ll have much better weather than they did last week.

of sunscreen is a good idea. In the Cardinals’ ballpark, there’s nowhere to sit that doesn’t put you in full sun.

DO NOT, under any circumstances, shout Big Lebowski quotes in his direction for the majority of the game

I’m sure Lugo makes the team. There’s just so little downside in sending Greene down to AAA to start the year compared to cutting Lugo loose.

If Ryan’s wrist looks like a real problem in two weeks, I’ll re-evaluate that.

Tony won’t carry 13 pitchers until the schedule gets late April when the schedule gets busy. Starting April 23rd the Cards have 30 games in 31 days. Prior to April 23rd, the Cards have 15 games in 18 days. So I see a 5 man bench.

With that in mind, I would think the team would carry a 5th OF instead of another 3rd utility IF. I think the bench will be LaRue, Lopez, Lugo, Mather and Craig breaking camp with Greene on the team if Ryan starts on the DL.

Although the Lopez acquisition could make Lugo extraneous, I see it more as a hedge on Freese. Ryan’s injury gives Freese the opportunity to win the position because I presume that Lopez will start at short, and Lugo will remain as the primary platoon for Skip. But I see Freese losing the position at 3B if he’s unable to outproduce Lopez by the time Ryan returns. If this occurs, Freese will be the backup and Lopez the starter, and Lugo will continue to platoon with skip.

I’m a pessimist on Freese, so I think Lujo will be staying put.

-Lugo was worth “Chris Duncan” on the open market last year. So, no, I’m not particularly sanguine about the prospect of getting anything valuable for him a year later.

- I think Lopez’ presence makes Jay more likely to go back down to Memphis and for Mather to remain because there’s less need for a LH bench bat (this assumes Mather can play a passable CF)

- Agree that Skippy should never bat against LHP. Ever. Even if we didn’t have Lopez, Skip should not take any at bats against LHP.

here

"When he came down, it was incredible," said reliever Kyle McClellan. "He was throwing 98. It was pretty impressive….I think it’s something where you are only asked to go a short period of time, so you are going to go with everything you’ve got where as a starter sometimes you feel like you have to hold back a little bit. You’re more aggressive in the bullpen because you are only in there for a short period of time. I felt like he was real aggressive last year. All in all, it was a great transition for him."

http://www.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/feb/28/mitchell-boggs-hoping-move-bullpen-means-stay-st-l/

certainly has a talented and successful family.

got them and threw them in the trash, thought it was total BS. Got a letter or two from the city , which for awhile wasn’t even pursuing them. Some city official came out and said they basically didn’t have the resources to enforce them, and only about 1/3rd of the people actually paid them, so they just took the,money from those suckers and called it a day. However, more recently, I think the city turned the unpaid tickets over to a law firm that is now handling the matter. I got two letters maybe, and then they stopped. Haven’t heard anything since. The tickets don’t show up on my driver’s record and as far as I know they haven’t affected my credit. That being said, I’m not advocating this way of dealing with it. If I really had the time, money, and inclination to raise a fuss, I’d be down at the city courthouse contesting the tickets right now on a constitutional defense of a violation of my 14th amendment due process rights. But I’ve got a hot pcket in the microwave, so…eh