St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Smoltz will join Cardinals

Various reports today have indicated that John Smoltz will in fact sign with the Cardinals after he officially clears waivers and is released. However, his role with the Cardinals is still unknown. Some reports indicate that Smoltz will be joining at the 5th starter, others indicated he will be the set-up man out of the bullpen. Both options make sense for the Cardinals, though I ultimately see him ending up in the 'pen.

Scenario 1 - John Smoltz the Starter. Including tonight's game, the Cardinals have 40 games left this season. If divided evenly, each starter would get 8 starts. However, the starts won't be divided evenly. Carp, Wainwright, and Pineiro will get the majority of the starts, leaving the remaining to be divided between Lohse and Smoltz. Lohse still seems to have some lingering effects from his forearm injury earlier this summer, meaning Smoltz would probably get a few more starts than Kyle. Smoltz has been effective this season in the first three or four innings in the majority of his starts, which is why some call for him to be in the bullpen. However, the National League is much more of a "pitchers league" than the American League, which would allow Smoltz to get a little more of a break when he reaches the lower part of the order. If John Smoltz is used as a starter, he would only be expected to give the Cards 5 or 6 innings a night. I believe he is capable of doing this.

Scenario 2 - John Smoltz the Set-Up Man. Ultimately, this is where John Smoltz will end up, should the Cardinals make the playoffs because the Cardinals will clearly not use five starters in October. This is a good spot for him because he has been very effective the first time through the line-up so far this season. However, he would prefer to start.

Tonight's anthem - "Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon

Go Cards

Monday, August 17, 2009

Been a little while

Sorry guys, been out of touch for a while. No excuses.

Its great to see the Cardinals playing well again. We're a .700 team since the addition of Holliday. Ankiel and Ludwick are starting to find their swings, we're getting great starts out of Carp, Wainwright, and Piniero - Franklin's been solid in the back end of that bullpen. 

I don't want to harp on the negatives, we're playing far too good of baseball to do that. However, I still see a couple of weaknesses in the land of the Red - middle relief and the back end of the rotation. Our offense hasn't been an issue. We're scoring enough runs to win pretty consistently.  

Middle Relief - Hawksworth has been great; McClellan and Miller have been very good as well. Reyes has taken on a heavy workload and done his job. If either Thompson or Motte can be a little more consistent we've got a good chance of making a run. Justin Speier? Nah. Speier would allow the Redbirds to throw Hawksworth into the rotation. He's been so good in that 7th or 8th inning role. Why mess with that? Let's also remember. Speier got released for a reason. A 5.18 ERA in 40 innings isn't stellar. Who knows though, maybe he could be another Duncan reclamation.  

Back end of the rotation - We can win in the playoffs with three good starters, but with a month and a half left, we've still got to get there. I'm not convinced the Cubs are done, at some point, they're gonna put a few weeks of great baseball together, I'm sure of it. Smoltz? Maybe. I think this makes a lot more sense than Speier. He's good friends with Mark DeRosa and could be a great influence in the clubhouse. He would  only come as a starter and could give us 4 or 5 starts. I really believe St. Louis would be a better fit than Boston. He's pitched in the NL his whole life, and again, Duncan could be a huge help to him.

Okay we're done with the negatives.

Carpenter is laboring on the mound tonight, doesn't have his best stuff. But he's a winner. He's battled through five innings so far surrendering only a run. We're gonna get to this knuckleball sooner or later. 

I don't want to steal Matthew Leach's thunder, but this blog is going to start offering up an anthem every night. This evenings anthem: Ride On by Les Stroud. That's right Survivorman. Yes, he sings too. Great outdoorsy music. Give it a try. 

Go Redbirds. 


Sunday, July 26, 2009

Double Plays and Poor Outings - Cards Drop 2 of 3 in PHI

Tough series in the City of Brotherly Love. The Phillies have a superior record and certainly played like a superior team this weekend.

In regards to Todd Wellemeyer - same song, different verse. He continues to be unable to get anybody out at the plate. His ERA is creeping closer and closer to 6 with each outing, and he hasn't made it through the 6th inning since the 2nd of July. After his last outing in Houston, Tony LaRussa said his spot in the rotation was safe because they weren't convinced anyone else could offer more and because they believe he will improve. How much time for improvement does he get? The Cardinals are simply unable to win when the ball is in his hands. Two wins per every ten outings just isn't acceptable. I can understand why the Cardinals would be hesitant to give his spot to Brad Thompson, who has struggled this year. I can also understand why P.J. Walters isn't being given a shot because he's been knocked around when he's pitched. Quite frankly, Walters probably belongs in Memphis. What about Mitchell Boggs? Boggs was an all-star in AAA last year and was the NL Rookie of the Month earlier this year. He's pitched well in his time with St. Louis this year. At bare minimum, he gives St. Louis a better chance to win when the 5th starting pitcher is on the mound. Wellemeyer's spot in the rotation is putting a heck of a burden on the other 4 starters.

Double-plays have killed the Cardinals this season and did so again in this series. It seemed as though everytime the Cards got something going, someone would ground into a double play. The double play killed us in Houston as well. Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols have grounded into a combined 32 double plays thus far this year. That is a ridiculous amount. At least these guys are hitting the ball hard.

The NL's best team comes to town tomorrow. If we can find a way to beat the Dodgers in a series (which doesn't happen all that often) it could set the tone for the rest of the season.

The Cubs looked poised to beat the Reds today which would put us in second in the Central.

Happy Sunday to you all, as always, Go Cards

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Cardinals finally land big bats

The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired Matt Holliday from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for three minor league prospects. Sounds pretty good for Redbirds fans, right? 

After all, Holliday is a three-time all-star and led the Rockies to a World Series just two years ago. He also will provide protection in the line-up for Albert, something we definitely needed. He certainly impressed in his first game with the Cards, going 4-5 with a double last night. When it comes to Matt Holliday, however, as well as Julio Lugo and Mark DeRosa, is the price-paid worth the results?

Holliday is owed more than $13 million this year, the final year of his contract, granted a significant portion of this contract has already been paid. Oakland also agreed to send the Cardinals 1.5 million to help pay Holliday's contract. Internally, the Cardinals believe they can persuade Holliday to resign with the team for less money because of the prestige factor associated with playing for the Cards. They were able to do this with Mark McGwire and Scott Rolen, and though it isn't inconceivable that they will be able to do this with Holliday, it is very possible he will test free agency and be lured away by more money. He is a Scott Boras client. Should he leave, and sign somewhere else, the Cardinals will get two first round "compensation picks". 

In order to get Holliday, the Cardinals had to give up AAA INF Brett Wallace, AAA SP Clayton Mortensen, and AA OF Shane Peterson. Wallace, who in many circles was considered the Cardinals best prospect, was hitting .293 for Memphis in only his second year of pro-ball. He was a two time winner of the Pac-10 Triple Crown  at Arizona State. Mortensen has been a streaky starter in AAA, going 7-6 with an 4.37 ERA. Peterson was also one of the Redbirds up-and-coming prospects with a talent for getting on base. 

If the Cardinals can re-sign Matt Holliday, I believe the trade will be worth it. We will have gotten a solid clean-up hitter to protect Albert for several seasons. 

If we cannot resign Holliday, I believe the trade will still be worth it. While we will never know what the future would have looked like with Wallace and Mortensen and Peterson wearing Red and Blue, we will have received two first round draft choices. Though drafting 18-22 year old's is far from a sure thing, it is safe to assume (hopefully) that one of the two first round selections will end up a major leaguer. Will they turn into a Matt Holliday? Who Knows? Probably not. Will they turn into a better player the Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen, or Shane Peterson? That is a better question.

Matt Holliday has also brought some unseen effects to the Redbirds. We now will have to attempt to fit four players (Holliday, Ryan Ludwick, Colby Rasmus, and Rick Ankiel) into an outfield that only fits three. Holliday's name will obviously be on the line-up card everyday. Ludwick's will, too. He's raised his average 40 points over the course of the last month or two. I have to imagine Colby Rasmus will be in CF every day too, as he is one of the leading candidates for the NL Rookie of the Year. 

That leaves out Ankiel. Before the 2009 season, it was expected this would be Ankiel's final season in St. Louis. After all, he was supposed to hit somewhere in the .280 neighborhood, with 25 homeruns. He, too, is a Boras client, and St. Louis likely would not have been able to pay him. Well, he's hitting about .225, with six homerun's. With the acquisition of Holliday, I expect this will be Ankiel's last season with the Redbirds, simply because there will be nowhere for him to play. No more how prolonged Ankiel's struggles are, no matter how many times he strikes out, the people of St. Louis will always have a special affinity for Rick. He was supposed to be the next great lefty on the mound. We all know what happened, there's no need to revisit it. After his struggles, he reinvented himself in the minor leagues, made something out of himself again, into a power hitter, and a great defensive outfielder. That kind of passion, dedication, and commitment is something the Cardinal fans appreciated. I am certain I am not the only fan sad to see Ankiel's days of roaming the St. Louis outfield nearing a close. 

Go Cards