buried in work this morning; links:
mlbtraderumors puts the kaibash on its own speculation about the mark-worrell-for-victor-diaz deal. the site's source at shea says the mets weren't impressed with worrell and have moved on. the same post at mlbtrade says the cards are now looking at reggie sanders. . . . . .
danup explains what the cards' current outfielders have in common with quilvio veras. ev'ything but the basepath speed . . . .
the previous clause originally read "ev'ything but the speed," but it struck me that in the post-grimsley baseball world you can no longer use the word "speed" -- as it relates to swiftness afoot -- without a modifier . . . .
cardinals diaspora anticipates life beyond izzy with a look at two of stl's draft picks from last week. as for life with izzy, at least he's healthy -- or so thinks rick wilton, the hardball times' injury tracker: "His K/9 rate sits at 8.53, right in line where he should be. This suggests his fastball, velocity and shoulder strength are okay."
to the minors: quiet night for terry evans, the out-of-nowhere prospect who mashed his way out of a ball (where he'd languished for four years) last week and then hit 4 homers in his first 3 double a games. why does hgh suddenly intrude upon my thoughts? . . . . sigh; it is that kind of a world. for the moment evans has supplanted cody haerther as the ev'yday right fielder at springfield; haerther has only started one game since evans' arrival. he has bigger things to worry about; haerther is in a 2 for 27 slide, his second serious slump of the year, dropping his average all the way down to .223.
both evans and haerther may lose playing time soon to the mystery man of the cardinal draft, cuban defector amaury marti. he made his professional debut at palm beach last night and hit a homer; see liam's diary for more. . . . in that same game, blake hawksworth rung up his 6th win with 6 innings of 4-hit, 2-run ball. his strikeout totals don't impress you at all, but he has great control (1 walk per 4 innings) and hasn't given up a dinger all year --- 77 homerless innings. era is 2.47. he was ranked as the cards' #1 prospect a couple of seasons (and injuries) ago; prob'y see him up at double a soon.
at which station, stu pomeranz broke a two-game losing streak with 8 strong innings last night -- 4 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts. he does not not appear to have pitched nearly as well as his 7-2 record suggests; batters are hitting .276 off him this year (thank you minor league splits database), and he has coughed up 10 homers in 79 innings. doesn't strike people out; main thing he's got going for him is a low walk rate. he's the double-a iteration of jeff suppan . . . . but if he can be part of a trade package for a outfielder, god bless 'im.
finally, some interesting card-related content in this edition of vice-versa, a literary journal published by the univ of hawaii.