whiff upon a star

by lboros on Feb 27, 2006 3:00 PM EST in St. Louis Cardinals News

i did a little checking up on an item in friday's comments thread from thenerdhater: "Heard a rumor on the radio this morning that J-Rod's cockiness is gonna cost him a spot on the team. The veteran players have started calling him `Ned.'" i put out a couple of lines and got this response from a well-situated observer in jupiter:

JRod has a swagger to him, no doubt. And it is the target of sarcasm 'round the clubhouse. Adam Wainwright has worked up a spot-on imitation of the Rodriguez. But cost him a spot on the team? Doubtful. Guy can be as cocky as he wants, it's the production that gets him on the team. If he produces and does it with that swagger, he still produces. La Russa isn't out to humble guys; he's out to field a team.

what a platoon rodriguez and taguchi would make --right/left, humble/cocky, no-hit/no-field. indeed, it's probably the latter (poor glove) that poses the biggest threat to j-rod's status. that, combined with the presence of other lh bats (duncan, daubach, spezio), may make j-rod expendable. mlbtraderumors says the phillies want a left-handed-hitting outfielder to round out their bench -- but if they wanted j-rod, what would/could they offer in return? their roster looks overstocked with bad left-handed relief pitchers, but that type of transaction would merely undo the last deal philly made -- reserve outfielder jason michaels to cleveland for lhrp arthur rhodes -- and it wouldn't fill a need for the cardinals. so let me shoot down my own speculation; that doesn't look like a good fit.

ok, so let's try this one on: supposedly the nationals (needing to replace the injured brian lawrence) are keen on bronson arroyo and may offer outfielder ryan church and 1b nick johnson to acquire him. church might look good in a cardinal uni; turns 27 this year, plays the minimum and may be capable (in a good year) of delivering an .850 ops. and the cards have a surplus of pitchers -- but who can they offer? wainwright: not enough. reyes: way too much. marquis or suppan: pending free-agents, hence unattractive. ok, that's not too bloody likely either.

now here's a juicy one: some readers of tea leaves believe the marlins might have to deal miggy cabrera. quoting from the palm beach post:

With another strong season, All-Star Miguel Cabrera should be in for a seven-figure payday when he becomes eligible for salary arbitration next winter.

But will the third baseman be too expensive for the Marlins if the team retains its "market correction" strategy next year?

General Manager Larry Beinfest declined comment when the question was asked Saturday.

in the unlikely event he joins pujols in the lineup -- and a fine couple they'd make, no? -- the cost would be exorbitant. edmonds or rolen would have to leave to loosen up the payroll, and the marlins would probably ask for something on the order of reyes greene and rasmus in exchange. i can't really see that happening, can you? i guess you never say never, but for the time being that seems like yet another non-starter.

which makes three strikes; i'm out.

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Comments

Wainwright's impersonation

strikes me as typical clubhouse "ribbing" rather than any sort of attitude problem on the part of J-Rod.

matty fred is a web log.

by matty fred on Feb 27, 2006 3:24 PM EST reply actions

Bowden is an idiot

Johnson and Church for Arroyo?

Reverend Redbird

by erik on Feb 27, 2006 3:54 PM EST reply actions

Bowden

Didn't he offer Sammy Sosa a contract?

That's exhibit #1 on your idiot case.

by STLEdge on Feb 27, 2006 4:37 PM EST up reply actions

Other exhibits for idiot case

trading Wilkerson for Soriano who refuses to move to the outfield.

Signing Christian Guzman and Vinny Castilla last offseason.

Reverend Redbird

by erik on Feb 27, 2006 4:58 PM EST up reply actions

Living in DC

He signed Guzman to four years! I couldn't figure out how he suckered the Padres into taking Castilla off his hands until Lawrence blew up less than two weeks into spring training. Memo to Bud, owners for Nats good - Bowden bad.
The Cards can do better than Ryan Church. The guy is SOFT. We already have Spivey to worry about.

All my friends became Cardinal fans and grew up happy and liberal. I became a Cub fan and grew up imbittered and conservative." -- George Will

by wannabeGedman on Feb 27, 2006 10:17 PM EST up reply actions

Ned

actually, the "ned" nickname was started by the radio show "the morning grind", attempting to give j-rod a less flashy nickname.

by tstorm on Feb 27, 2006 10:01 PM EST reply actions

if they want pitching

how about Marquis and Bigbie for Jose Guillen?

by acr on Feb 28, 2006 2:04 AM EST reply actions

to JRod or not to JRod

Don't see in which way Daubach's a threath to JRod. Where are they going to put him? On the bench waiting for Albert to get injured? He hasn't played any significant outfield since 2002.

You see, I have the problem that I don't see the games. I only see the stats and the stats say both JRod's fielding percentage and range in leftfield were on par with league average.

it's Daubach 1.000/1.53 vs JRod .984/1.55 Add 1 error to Daubach's stats, and his fpct drops to .989

As for Spiezio, he could be useful on the bench as he's an experienced player at both first and second, while he could also fill in at third. The trouble is that for second there's already three options in Spivey, Miles and Luna. But again if you're looking at weak gloves, Spiezio too is barely above league level.

With regards to platooning. Just don't play Taguchi against lefties, ok? I mean, the guy's hitting .276 vs lefties and .296 vs righties! And don't play Bigbie at all

by Neuronix on Feb 28, 2006 5:00 AM EST reply actions

maybeyou should

watch a game before popping off.I like So butpeople please So won't be able to play everyday i just don't see it happening.I rather have bigbie play with j-rod playing2days a week and Sospelling juan in right and jimmy in center.Stats mean a lot but what you do means more.Plus you need So late in games with RISP the dude bats over .400 so if he spells bigbie or j-rod late in games or starts 2 days a week i'm good with that and he'll still get tons of ab's to keep him fresh and sharp.

by sportsmanspark78 on Feb 28, 2006 12:14 PM EST up reply actions

"Confidence Baby, Confidence"

That was the quote of the day leaving the Peoria Cardinals Caravan on January 21st. It was issued via J-Rod himself, when asked what it takes to hit on the Major-league level. The next question directed towards him had to do with his base-running mistakes (most following doubles to right, which sucks) and the only error I can remember him making in left (he took an aggressive line on a shallow liner and the ball skipped past him to the wall, but no one scored). He seemed a bit defensive at first, refusing to believe that he was any less capable of playing good "D" and running the bases (he is fast) But then admitted that he sometimes gets a little too excited (like Jo-Jo the Idiot Circus Boy) and says the more time he spends on the field the less mental errors he makes. That's all it takes, Confidence Baby, Confidence.

by SethWestern on Feb 28, 2006 11:14 AM EST reply actions