I wouldn’t save the Descalso audition wait until ST, it should start now. There is no reason to put off the inevitable, Skip’s just not good enough to play. PH-bench player maybe, but not starting 2B. Actually, minus a real 3B, we have next year’s team here except for Gagnozzi, whom shouldn’t be. This is providing that Descalso can hold down 2B.

Makes way too much sense.

I don’t understand why he’s even on the team.

He’s the harbinger of doom to me.

This isn’t a terrible team, it just feels like one right now because Murphy’s law decided 2007 wasn’t enough punishment for our awesome end to 2006 (I think Murphy is making the argument that 2007 was of our own making, whereas there is far more bad luck involved this year).
We don’t need to blow up the team or make huge sweeping changes, in my opinion. The Stars and Scrubs® approach obviously has flaws, but it also has the advantage that our core is still really good. The front office just needs to be sensible.

even coming from a cow.

somehow i suspect that if you ever made assistant gm, you’d put cows on the bat..

I’m fine with arguing that we might have had a little “too much” junk this year, but most of that was the result of injuries, and not having the money and/or players to go acquire solid replacements. Or, simply choosing not to, b/c we thought Freese was coming back.

There has been plenty of young talent on the roster this year. Raz is only in his second year. Boog is still fairly young. Jay and Craig have seen considerable time. Freese was our starting 3B. Anderson/Pagz have both seen time. Greene has been up and down. Garcia has been in the rotation all year. Salas has helped out quite a bit. Motte is still pretty young. Hawk. I mean, just HOW much mid-level young talent can you throw on a roster, and expect it be consistent?

You also throw Flop and Stavi in there. Flop had a crappy year, but he is not a scrub, not old, and certainly not on his last leg. Stavi, I can see some people’s point on him, but his role at the beginning of the year was 25th man, righthanded pinch hitter off the bench. I still contend that if his role had been that all season, he’d have been fine.

I’m not sure why people think you can just stick your 4 best, non-starter minor leaguers on your bench, and call it a day. It stunts development in some cases. It leaves you no depth b/c ALL of your minor league talent is already at the ML level, and you start players “clocks” unnecessarily early in some cases. You just about have to have 2 bench guys, IMO, that are simply that, older bench guys. That doesn’t mean it has to be Miles and Winn, but it also doesn’t mean sticking Decalso and whomever there, either.

And this is a year to year strategy. Next season may be different. Guys like Jay, Garcia, and a healthy Freese are almost certainly ML players next year. Greene and Craig probably got the last bit of experience they needed this year, and need to try the ML level. Mather should be recovered now, and if healthy, is probably right on par with Craig. So next year, I could see that. If we don’t sign somebody, Craig or Mather just about have to be on the roster to spell Jay. Unless there is something going on I don’t know about, I’m ready to let Greene be the utility guy next year. Same with Anderson (hopefully) or Pagz. That could still possibly leave one, maybe two bench spots open. I see no reason to fill those spots with Decalso or Hamilton. Probably a good spot for Stavi. Or another older, veteran bench OF.

other than re-sign Westbrook?

That’s a lot of letters to say that :-). You’ve been taking lessons from fourstick.

preferably with a 4th OF who can play all 4 positions adequately.

There are four outfield positions now?

this all makes too much sense, somehow they will fuck it up

given that the roster really started out way different than it ended, it’s not a really fair statement
can someone mail this to TLR so maybe he can reevaluate the weight of the grit factor

That’s why we only looked like a legitimate contender.

The injuries to Freese, Penny, and Lohse exposed our lack of depth.

Among other things.

Sell high.

I just can’t see him repeating this year’s performance.

that’s all
all my rationality is out the window when it comes to 29

but seriously, it IS a good point. i don’t know what his trade value is like. i do, however, believe in intangibles and all that nonsense, and i think if we are running with a team full of youngsters next year (please Tony/Mo/Dewitt? PRETTY PLEASE??) it would be quite helpful to have someone like carp in the clubhouse. especially if oquendo is the manager. i think carp is a quiet leader of the team. if lohse had come back this year and pitched a little bit better, i would also be more supportive of this move. but i think we have to go along with the assumption that he’s not ever going to be very good again. in which case, trading carp leaves you with two holes in the rotation to fill.

I might agree.

No reason Carp should have to throw so many innings next year, and that might help him stay fresher. We definitely need to be thinking about 2012 though, as $15M is a lot of coin. Maybe Carp would take a smaller, 1 year deal at that point, if we even want that.

You trade Carp this offseason though, and you have Waino, Garcia who just about has to regress some, and Lohse. Even if we sign Westy, that is still a big hole to fill. Carp may not pitch like an ace next year, but if he can pitch like a solid 2/3 guy, AND add the value he adds as almost a player/coach, I just don’t see how you can move him. Unless we have our eyes set on Westy and another FA pitcher, but I don’t see that. And saving the $15M this year only helps if you can find somebody else. There simply isn’t much out there. Carp will play in STL next year, as he probably should.

…until he is replaced by Shelby Miller. A Wainy/Carp/Garcia/Westie first 4 would rank with the best in the game and give us a significant advantage in the play-offs (if we ever make them!). heck, I’d even say sign Penny to an incentive-laden cowtract and let him push Louse tot he ’pen and be our 5 if possible! A championship-winning team begins and ends with an excellent rotation, IMO.

:=8)

That’s just a cool clip all around.

Something like that has as much chance of being the actual explanation for unicorns as anything. Mythical unicorns are supposed to be smaller than horses (I think) and have a weird mix of features, like a goat-looking beard and different hooves. I think a different tail too.

Titties vs. VORP

What Phoebe showed me that day was perfection. I wanted to have them and I was willing to do what it took to get them. Then my whole world was transformed.

Jerry, we get it. You masturbated to Phoebe Cates. It’s cool — we all have our thing. Sometimes I like to open up baseball-reference.com and just go to town while looking at Barry Bonds OBPs from the early 2000s. ‘Cause, you know, I’m a Stat Geek.

here
steps on home plate, looks up and says “fuck”
/i has a sad for jimmy

i’ll miss the larue-cat interviews, always hilarious

he was really good when he was pitching but he only pitched for less than 2 months. and we don’t really know how healthy he is.

His career wOBA is .434. His wOBA this year is .409; however, that comes with a .290 BABIP. Normalize his BABIP to his batted ball rates and he has a .434 wOBAr. Then consider the fact that league wOBA is down (97.8% of) this year compared to his career. You adjust for that and his wOBA is .444.

‘Cause there’s an FA or two that I’d like to see vanish just to ensure they don’t return.

Your killing me over hear GOB’s….you bastards.

….well, let’s see cow Anderson and Gagnozzi do. Think of it as an audition to back up Moolina next year.

here’s to a fast recovery, yadi

also: BRYAN ANDERSON EXISTS

When you never rest Yadi. We all know how great a catcher Yadi is and how valuable he is to the pitching staff, but when his knee has been bothering him and you never let the man rest, what do you expect to happen?

Senility is definitely not one of Tony’s most charming characteristics….come to think of it I can’t find a single thing I like about him.

and probably would have played more there in AAA this season had Gotay not been on the team.

now a kraken will rise from the Lake DeWitt parking lot and incur a gigantic fine from the city of St. Louis!

The majority of fans are idiots when it comes to actual baseball, hence why you’ll hear your average fan saying:

“But TLR HAZ 2500+ Wins…liek u dont no how good he is so shuddup.”
“TLR IS AMAZING. ID LIEK TO SEE U GO OUT THERE AND MANAGE PROPER”
“AARON MILES IS SEXXAY, AND BATTED 350 LAST MONTH, Y DONT U TRY AND DO THAT!!”

resorting to personal attacks lol!