Signs of things to come?

That was pathetic. The Cardinals got outscored 32-11 over the weekend. The Dodgers beat us 20-6 on Saturday. Seriously. And then on Sunday they decided to lose to the Braves 12-5. Wow, is that pathetic. The Cardinals staff still has some work to do….

Reyes was scratched from his start yesterday due to the flu. He should be fine to pitch his next turn in the rotation.

The offense didn’t look that bad though; Barton went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run. Glaus went 2 for 2 against the Dodgers, and Ankiel went 3 for 6 for the weekend.

The OF is looking to be even deeper than first expected. Since we all know that LaRussa loves his right handed bats, it seems like Joe Mather will continue to get looks as long as he continues to hit. Mather is hitting .391 with a 1.239 OPS. Why can’t one of these OFers play somewhere in the infield?

The Purple Iguana

Cards rely on HRs

Yet again the Cardinals relied on HRs. This time it started off with back to back shots in the first from Colby Rasmus and Albert Pujols. After that, D’Angelo Jimenez and Ankiel each hit solo shots of their own. Ankiel ended up going 3 for 5 on the day, and Pujols went 2 for 2. It looks like the cards are going to be relying on the long ball a lot more than we thought…..

The Purple Iguana

Pujols needs reconstructive-Tommy John surgery

Albert Pujols does in fact have an elbow tear, which I referenced to here. The doctors are saying that he has a “high-grade tear” of an elbow ligament, and that he will need reconstructive surgery, but not at this point. They are saying that he may need Tommy John to rebuild the elbow.

At this point in time, I think he should just get it down for a couple of reasons. I think that the Cardinals will be good this year, but I doubt that they are going to have a chance to make the playoffs this season. I would rather see him have surgery this year, and get ready for next year when our younger players have another year of experience, and when our starters are fully healed. This would also aloud Duncan to slide over to first, which would allow 5 other OFers to make the roster. This would also enable Duncan’s trade value to go up by playing first for a year. Obviously you don’t want to throw the season away, but if it’s the difference between Pujols coming back early in ’09 from Tommy John or having enough time to rest, I would take the latter…..

The Purple Iguana

Cards win, Pujols elbow scare

The Cardinals beat the Marlins 5-2 yesterday on the back of back-to-back-to back HRs by Skip, Joe Mather, and Pujols. All three HRs were off of Kevin Gregg. There’s a box score here. Shumaker ended up going 3 for 4 today out of the lead off spot with 1 RBI and 3 runs. Pujols went 2 for 3, and Wellemeyer let up 2 run in 3 2/3 innings. Izzy got the win with a scoreless inning.

I got a scare yesterday when I read on a message board that ESPN bottom line had Pujols needing Tommy John surgery, but I later found out that there were chips or something in his elbow, but that it wasn’t going to require surgery. Even without surgery, this does not bode well for the season. The only positive that may come out of Pujols being hurt is that Duncan will be able to play first and we’ll be able to carry 5 other OFers, and we would be able to see who was the best fit for our OF. But I hope to God that doesn’t happen…..

The Purple Iguana

Barton/Ludwick cure for lefty problems?

The Cardinals suck against lefties, and LaRussa says it’ll take more than Troy Glaus to fix it. However, Ludwick and Barton could be the solution. The continued the horrible display yesterday against Washington, but LaRussa hopes that that changes.

Tyler Johnson is most likely going to start the season on the disabled list. He won’t be throwing for at least a week, and then he gets to join the ranks of Carpenter, Mulder, and Clement. Looks like it’s going to be another year with a lot of pitchers on the DL……

The Purple Iguana

Barton, young players shine

Brian Barton went 4 for 5 with a run and 2 RBIs, as well as a HR. Ludwick went 3 for 4, also with a HR, and the box score can be found here. Chris Perez pitched a scoreless inning, only allowing 1 hit. Izturis had his second error of spring.

It looks like the young studs are continuing to shine. It may take awhile until they are consistent enough to be in position to win a division title, but they’re still in great shape for years to come.

The Purple Iguana

Cards Crushed

Reyes went back to his old self yesterday and let up 4 runs in 2 innings, and the Cards lost 10-2. Rasmus drove in both runs with a single and a HR.

Link to article: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/124F6AD6AB7DFDD5862574030019B45C?OpenDocument

Link to Box score:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_03_04_slnmlb_balmlb_1

The Purple Iguana

Looper sharp, Johnson to have MRI

The Cards lost 3-2 to the Nationals yesterday, and the box score can be found here. Things to note:

Kennedy went 0-3 with a K in the lead off spot

Pujols went 0-3

Glaus was 2-3

Ludwick went 1-4 with a run and 2 Ks

Looper threw 3 innings, letting up 1 earned on 3 hits

Looper threw his sinker about 80% of the time, as evident by 7 of his 9 outs coming from groundballs. He threw 24 strikes and 36 balls, so it looks like he could be a solid #2 again this year.

Tyler Johnson had an MRI on his left shoulder yesterday.

The Cardinals supposedly have a sign to hit people, and Ray King also supposedly told Brewers manager Ned Yost that it was used before the Cardinals hit Prince Fielder back in September. However, King and LaRussa talks and LaRussa believes he had nothing to do with it.

The Purple Iguana

Today's lineup vs Nationals

1. Adam Kennedy, 2B
2. Rick Ankiel, CF
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Troy Glaus, 3B
5. Chris Duncan, LF
6. Ryan Ludwick, DH
7. Skip Schumaker, RF
8. Jason LaRue, C
9. Aaron Miles, SS

Starter: Braden Looper

Players to watch: Kennedy leading off, Ankiel in center, Duncan in left, Ludwick DHing and Shumaker in right. Izzy is not traveling with the team, but will be throwing BP to Cards hitters.

Link

Pujols talks; the Cardinals have a savior

….and his name is Sidney Ponson.

In other news, Ted Simmons is the bench coach for the Brewers this year. Hopefully he does well enough to take second….

Albert Pujols is talking about the difference in the teams this year. It looks like he realizes it’s a rebuilding year, but is still expecting to win. He also realizes that his elbow’s effected him last year, but thinks not making the playoffs has helped him recover. He points to the 2004 season where he also had an extra break after the ’03 season. Hopefully he’s right.

He also looks forward to leading some of the other players like Matheny, Renteria, and McGwire did back in his first few years. Another thing he said is that this may be the most powerful offense the organization has ever had. If that’s the case, this team will definitely be worth watching. Yet again, I hope he’s right…..

The Purple Iguana

Minor league review

This link takes you to a pretty good review of our minor league sytsem. it talks about our best prospects, along with the 2007 draft. Defiently worth a look if you want to know what's coming up in a few years...

The Purple Iguana

Mo's man lover, Marquis sucks

Bryan Burwell is an idiot. He thinks that how John Mozeliak handled the Scott Spiezio situation shows the difference in management this year. He said that Jocketty came across as an “enabling and excuse-making obstructionist”, and it was embarrassing to the whole organization. That’s not the bad part, but something I did find crazy is that he gives Mozeliak credit for releasing Spiezio. I’m pretty sure that any GM in their right mind would have releases him, given the situation.

Another thing that I found amazing was that he also said that if Ankiel rebounds and Carp/Mulder come back that those will prove how good of a GM he is. None of those have anything to do with how good of a GM he is! Ankiel falls on LaRussa and the rest of the staff, and Carp/Mulder on the trainers, but the situations have absolutely nothing to do with management.

I get when he will give credit to “Mo” if Juan Gonzalez continues to hit like he is, or if Clement comes back from injury, because that actually has something to do with his GMing ability. It seems like someone may already have a man crush on the new GM…..

Jason Marquis has reverted back to how he was with the Cardinals. It looks like he told reporters that he would rather be traded than pitch from the bullpen, and Pinella exploded on him saying that he has 7 starters for the 5 spots so if he wants to be gone he can be. I’m surprised it took this long for the mental midget to blow up in Chicago. Not surprisingly, Marquis said this after he let up 2 runs o n 3 hits in 2 innings against the Angels….

The Purple Iguana

Glaus hopeful, Thompson strong

Even though it seems Troy Glaus is a lot older than 31, he says he's not and that he doesn't feel it either. Glaus says that he’s looking forward to a season without distractions. He’s also looking forward to playing in a baseball city, in front of “50,000” people supporting you. Hopefully he can get back up to the 35 HR range….

Brad Thompson looked good yesterday against the Marlins. Thomson, being one of the 3 pitchers fighting for the last two spots in the rotation, would like to get a couple of starts in Spring. It seems like his sinker is working offly nice at this point in the year, and I’d love to see him in the rotation, but I think he’ll be more valuable in the bullpen. He most likely wouldn’t stay in the rotation the whole year when at least one of the 3 injured pitchers come back, so I’d just like to see him get settled in….

The Purple Iguana

Wainwright thinks Cards will be scary

Adam Wainwright says this team could be scary. And I agree to an extent, but the players he is relying on may not be the right people. He believes it’s going to be Mulder, Carp, and Gonzalez, but none of them have proven they can do anything in this year (which, incidentally, is the same for every one on this team right nor but Pujols and maybe Glaus). He seems to be a very optimistic person…..

The Purple Iguana

Izzy working on splitter

Sorry for getting this up so late today, I had some delays....

Izzy’s working on a splitter. I keep thinking that he’s going to break down and then-wala! He either stays injury free or finds a new way to dominate. His cutter, which he has taught to Ryan Franklin, just keeps sawing off players bat. I think Izzy could have another solid year.

The Purple Iguana

Cardinals-94 wins?

On the Cardinals message board at scout.com, "Bobreed" posted a very interesting theory on how the Cardinals could win 94 games this year, and for the most part I agree with it, so I felt like posting it:


"But I *like* Kool-Aid.
OK, here's how it works. We start with a base of only 71 wins, which is last year's victory total based on runs scored v. allowed (commonly known as Pythagorean wins). Maroth, Wells, Reyes, Jimenez, Cavazos, Mulder, Carp, Dove, and Miles(!) combined for 392 innings in 2007, with a collective ERA of exactly 7.00. If those innings are replaced by guys with a still sub-mediocre ERA of just 5.00, the Cards save 87 runs. That's 9 additional wins, for a total of 80.

If Troy Glaus equals his *worst* season of the past 4, he'll post an .840 OPS, which would be worth about 3 more wins than the Scott Rolen of 2007 (the difference between them defensively over the past few years is actually negligible).A mostly healthy season from both Duncan and Ankiel (provided they hit nearly as well as last year, of course) adds another couple of wins.
So now we're at 85 wins in 2008.

I'm adding one victory for an improvement at 2nd base. Someone, hopefully Adam Kennedy himself, should be at least a bit better than the '07 Kennedy.

Jim Edmonds had a .728 OPS last season, and was 0-2 in SB's, effectively giving away another 5 or 6 total bases, or 15 points of OPS. If Colby Rasmus posts an .840 OPS or so--or if Ryan Ludwick puts up an .840 while Ankiel plays CF and Rasmus percolates in AAA--the Cards gain about 35-40 runs, or another 4 victories.

So now we're at 90 wins.As pointed out at Viva El Birdos yesterday, the Cards were wayyy below their expected performance with 2 outs and RISP last year. A lot of that is luck, and it cost them 22 runs; assuming they get those runs back in 2008, you can add 2 more wins. Now we're at 92.

The Hardballtimes just listed the luckiest and unluckiest individuals and teams in the majors last year, when it came to "cheap" homers, balls that barely cleared the fence. In 2007, the Cards were the 3rd-unluckiest team in baseball. If they'd been average, they'd have hit 11 more longballs; the average homer is worth a bit less than 2 runs, so our Birds lost about 20 runs in 2007. That's 2 more wins with average luck in 2008.So now we're at 94 wins.

Just hypothetical, of course. But quite plausible to me."

This was a pretty well thought out post, and i think it's quite possible that we could win 94 games. But then again, it's quite possible that we could lose 94. One of the things that I think he failed to mentioned was the loss of Percival and the end of the bullpen, but, then again, we only had him for a 1/2 a year.

Like I've said before, this may not be the best team the best team the Cardinals put on the field, but it will be fun to watch.....

Cardinal's videos

I started a new account on youtube with some of my favorite videos about the Cardinals. My site is at http://www.youtube.com/user/purpleiguana05.

The two video's I have up right now are both pretty funny.

The first one is a top ten list of baseball plays at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVu78oEXfEk

You need to check this one out. It's some crazy dudes list of top ten plays, and he happens to be a Cardinals fan. It's not really worth describing, I'd just check it out.

The second video is the Saga of Brad Lidge at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFHnAffr0I

It's about the story of the rise and fall of our favorite postseason pitcher, Brad Lidge. Another on worth checking out.

If you have any other Cardinals videos, let me know so that I can add them to my favorites....

The Purple Iguana

2/29 Game Summary vs Mets

Players to Note:

Brian Barton- 0-3, 1 K

Pujols- 2-3, 2 runs, 1 RBI, double, solo HR

Rasmus- 0-1

Gonzalez- 3 run HR off Santana

Ryan 2-3, triple of Santana

Wainwright let up 2 2 runs in 3 innings, but didn't allow an extra base hit or a walk. He had 2 K's....

The Purple Iguana

2/29 game vs. Mets

Juan Gonzalez with a 3 run shot, knocking in Glaus and Pujols (who had a double)....

Wainwright let up 2 in the first...

Cardinals up 3-2 bottom after 1 and a half...


Parsi lets up a run on 3 hits.....3-3 after 4....

Pujols with a HR, Ryan with a triple.....4-3 Cards in the top of the 6th....

Duncan to start against Santana

Chris Duncan is starting today against Johan Santana. That’s a huge surprise-I didn’t think he’d play at all against lefties.

The rest of the lineup for today against Santana and the Mets:

1. Brian Barton, CF
2. Chris Duncan, LF
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Troy Glaus, 3B
5. Juan Gonzalez, DH
6. Ryan Ludwick, RF
7. Yadier Molina, C
8. Aaron Miles, 2B
9. Brendan Ryan, SS

Players to watch: Barton, Duncan, Gonzalez, and Ryan. Let’s see how they do against one of the best pitchers in the game, and let’s see if Ryan can try to nab the need off spot.

Wainwright gets the start.....

The Purple Iguana

Reyes shuts down Mets

Reyes threw 3 shutout innings against the Mets today....not too shabby....hopefully this translates that into a solid season, especially with everything we've been hearing out of camp about how well he's been doing...

The Purple Iguana

Positional battle: OF

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this again: this OF could be very fun to watch this year. They’re young, but the also seem like they actually want to be here (**cough** Juan Encarnacion **cough**). I see 6 people on the roster that are competing for the 3 starting spots, not including a possible non roster invitee in Juan Gonzalez.

The first person I’m going to look at is the one person that will nab at worse a platoon job, Chris Duncan. Duncan has probably the most pop of the outfielders, but he’s also the worst OFer. I saw a lot of improvement at the beginning of the season last year, and I expect him to continue to improve. I would like to see Duncan play him more against lefties so that at some point he can play everyday. I see him at worse as a left field platoon, and a back up first baseman.

The next most likely starter is Rick Ankiel. He started out amazing last year when he got called up, but then slumped badly when the news came out about him using HGH. I think his arm suits him best for RF, but he will most likely get some innings in center. He can hit anywhere in the order, and will most likely be used in the 2, 5, or 6 spot, with the occasional lead off duties.

Colby Rasmus is by far the most heralded prospect to come through the Cardinals system in awhile. At this point, nobody really knows whether or not he’s going to be in the majors this year. I’m pretty sure that if he spends 1 month in the minors that the Cardinals get another year of arbitration, which would lead to management wanting him to spend another month at least in the minors. However, LaRussa has recently said that if he’s one of the top 5 OFers, he’ll stay, so I’m guessing he’ll be in the majors. I think that he has the most talent on the team, and should start in center, but my guess is this will be another lefty-righty platoon.

The Cardinals picked up Brian Barton in the rule 5 draft. He can play anywhere in the OF by the looks of it; futerredbirds.com has a good analysis of him here. If we want to keep him, he’s going to have to stay on the major league roster all year unless he goes on the DL. I expect him to stay up, unless management decides to parlay his knee injury into a DL stint, which then turns into a rehab stint, which results in him not having to be up until the All star break. Look for him to be in a platoon this year as one of the righty-lefty matches in the OF.

A huge surprise in the outfield last year was Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick is reliable both offensively and defensively, and there’s nothing much to day about him. I expect him to get a decent amount of time in the OF, and don’t expect him to end up anywhere but the majors.

Skip Shumaker is another left handed bat trying to make his way into the OF. He had a .333 AVG last year in 88 games, but only a .816 AVG. I think Shumaker’s chances of making the team is the inverse of whatever Rasmus’s is-I see one on the team, but not the other. If we kept them both, 4 of the 5 OFers would be left handed, and we all know how much LaRussa loves playing those leftie against lefties.

An interesting player is the before mentioned Juan Gonzalez. Is he in as good of shape as Albert Pujols says he is? Is he back at his MVP level? I doubt both, and I don’t want to see him taking the spot of one of the younger guys.

This is by far the most depth I can remember at the OF position as far as possible starters go. I see it as the top 4 spots being taken at this point between Duncan, Ankiel, Barton, and Ludwick. That leaves the last spot open for Rasmus, Shumaker, or Gonzalez. I could see LaRussa keeping Gonzalez up, but I would rather see one of the lefties. Even though LaRussa says its not the case, I think Rasmus staying up will come down to whether or not he’s going to be starting. No matter who’s out there, the OF will be by far the most fun position to watch this year….

Prediction: Rasmus CF, Duncan/Ludwick LF, Ankiel RF

As always, let me know what you would do

The Purple Iguana

NY Mets vs Cardinals, 2/28

Lineup
Kennedy
Ankiel
Pujols
Glaus
Duncan
Gonzalez
Schumaker
Izturis
Larue

Pitcher: Reyes

Reyes let up a lead off single to Reyes, and a single in the second to Church...no score after 1 1/2....Cards went 1-2-3...


Glaus with a single and a run, Gonzalez with a hit and run, Izturis with a BB and run, Larue with a 2 out RBI, Kennedy with an RBI single.....3-0 cards....

Reyes shut them down 1-2-3 in the top of the third....

Duncan with a walk, but an otherwise actionless 3rd....

I'm out for now....

Fallout of Spiezio's release

If you haven’t heard by now, Scott Spiezio (and his red soul patch) has been released. Obviously there are other ramifications to this than just baseball, which I briefly touched on here. But this post is going to be about who can benefit from this happening.

First, what the Cardinals lost from Spiezio is mainly in his versatility, whether it be in the infield, outfield, or even the occasional inning pitched. Now, it doesn’t look like there’s anyone in the system that can take on all of that responsibility, but there are a few people that could benefit:

Brendan Ryan

Ryan may have made the team as it was, but my guess was that he was going to go back to the minors this year so that he could play every day. Now, with the loss of Spiezio, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Ryan can play either of the middle infield positions (and I think he should start at one of them), and occasionally third when Glaus needs a day off. I think he could be the person that takes over the infield utility spot that Spiezio had, and I think he’ll do just fine doing so.

D'Angelo Jimenez

The Cardinals are Jimenez’s 5^th team since ’05. His average sucks, but his OBP is pretty good at .351 for his career. He is mentioned as a possible leadoff hitter here, but I honestly don’t see him as a possible leadoff hitter for this team. As for his positional flexibility, he has played 2^nd, short, and third, so he’s also got the positional flexibility needed at this point.

If I would have to bet, my money would be on Ryan. The loss of Spiezio could also increase the roll of Miles and possibly even Kennedy. There really is no need for a OF utility man with the depth at that position, but we could always throw Kennedy out there so that he can throw home like a pussy with the winning run coming home against the Pirates in extra innings (end rant)……

The Purple Iguana

LaRussa talks leadoff

Tony LaRussa says he’s looking for OBP in his lead off hitter. He also says that he’s going to rotate between candidate this spring, and the three players that are mentioned are Izturis, Shumaker, and Miles. If one of those 3 lead off, we’re in trouble. I think that the best leadoff hitter will be whoever’s playing CF, whether it is Ankiel or Rasmus. I think if LaRussa can get over his fascination for righties and veterans that the choice would be obvious, but then again, he’s one of the best managers in the game, so I guess we’ll see…

The Purple Iguana

Barton has great day

Brian Barton met with the surgeon who repaired his knee yesterday. He also reached base all 3 times he went to the plate, and hit a 2 run HR. Even though it was against college pitching, he hit well and looks good. This is going to be a fun OF to watch this year, and I plan on doing something on them, later in the day…..

The Purple Iguana

Free baseball cards!

I’m going to give away some of my rookie cards. To enter, leave a comment saying that you would like to be entered into the contest. When the contest ends, the winner will be drawn randomly and s/he will be given all of the cards that have reached the goal of the card. The cards are:

Huston Street signed Bowman 2005 rookie card
Anthony Reyes Topps 2005 rookie card
Tyler Johnson signed “Bowman Best” 2003 rookie card
Zach Duke Topps 2004 rookie card

For each individual card, there are “goals” that need to be reached for it to be given away. Here they are:

Zach Duke-10,000 page views by opening day
Tyler Johnson-2,500 unique views by the time Mark Mulder comes back
Anthony Reyes-100,000 page views by All Star Break
Huston Street-15,000 page views by the time Chris Carpenter come back

What that means is that for the Duke card to be given away, this page will have to have 10,000 page views. The Johnson card, 2500 different people will have to view it.

I’m not going to lie- I’m trying to gain views to my page. That means that for me to give the cards away, you might have to help me gain traffic by telling any Cardinals fans you know about this site/contest. If you have any questions, leave a comment or email me at thepurpleiguana05@yahoo.com

Thanks,

The Purple Iguana

Arrest warrant for Spiezio

There’s an arrest warrant out for Scott Spiezio. The charges are from a wreck in which he was driving drunk. That’s too bad. When they brought him in, and he had the red thing on his chin, I knew instantly I’d love him as a player, which I did. This, on top of the drug abuse from last year, and it looks like he has a serious problem. Too bad…..

The Purple Iguana

Behind the scenes of Pujol's injury

Jeff Passan of Yahoo sports reports Pujols is more injured than he lets on. Even though he won’t admit it publicly, Pujols is spending a lot more time with trainer Brian Weinberg. LaRussa credits Pujols for playing through it, compared to some who will let any injury sideline them (referring to Scott Rolen?) Decent article about what is really going on behind the scene with Pujol’s injury….

The Purple Iguana

Rasmus to stay up if top 5 OFer

The Cardinals view Colby Rasmus as a critical part of there future success. Not that that comes as a surprise to anybody. Rasmus talks about wanting to be “that guy”, and how he has always loved the attention. LaRussa says that if he’s one of the top 5 outfielders, he will be on the roster, which I think is a surprise- I was figuring that the only way they keep him up is if he’s going to start….but I guess we’ll see….

The Purple Iguana

SLU game updates

Rasmus with a lead off single, Barton with a 2 run shot....

St. Louis University with one in the first and one in the second, both earned runs against Boggs....

Freese with a hit and a SB.

Rasmus with an error

No runs in the bottom of the second for the Redbirds....

Walters with a 1-2-3 inning....

Rasmus and Barton with back to back hits in the bottom of the third, Mather with a BB, Phelps with an RBI BB.....

Barden with an RBI walk....Cards up 4-2...

Walters another 1-2-3 inning, 2 K's in the 2 IPs.....

Cards score 2 in bottom of 4th, with one out....looks like Barden got another walk, Anderson with a hit/RBI, and I'm not sure how else we scored- the box score isn't helping much.....

Marti with a pinch hit grand slam....9-2 cards....and I'm out for a while...game summary later possibly....I realize it's spring training, but I'm glad it's baseball season...


The Purple Iguana

Today's lienup vs SLU

The lineup for today’s game against SLU, according to Derrick Goold:

1. Colby Rasmus, CF
2. Brian Barton, DH
3. Joe Mather, RF
4. Josh Phelps, 1B
5. Cody Hearther, LF
6. David Freese, 3B
7. Brian Barden, SS
8. Matt Pagnozzi, C
9. Jarrett Hoffpauir, 2B

Starting pitcher: Mitchell Boggs

I’d like to see how the top four hitters in the lineup do, as well as Barden and Hoffpauir up the middle….

The Purple Iguana

Rolen sounds off against LaRussa

Scott Rolen says that he misses St. Louis, but he knows that he had to be traded. Rolen takes another snipe at LaRussa by saying,

“I think Cardinal fans deserve better than two guys airing their laundry out publicly in a private, personal matter.”

He also says that the rift between him and LaRussa was a personal rift, as well as saying that he fully expected to finish his career in STL when he signed his contract. He also says the situation was not at all like what happened in Philadelphia.

The Blue Jays could be pretty tough this year if Rolen can stay healthy. Their lineup obviously isn’t as good as the top 2 teams, but their pitching is very solid. The Blue Jays and Rays could make it so only one team gets out of the AL East this year……

The Purple Iguana

Clement throws, Rasmus homers

Matt Clement is about to start throwing from a mound, and Colby Rasmus/Josh Phelps homered in a coach pitch game (not that that means anything).

The Purple Iguana

Pitcher to bat eighth

Tony LaRussa says the pitcher will bat eighth again. No surprise there. My first thought when I saw that he was going to change that last year was that it was a great move-one of the things that my coaches had done the whole way up playing use to put a “second lead off”, and it always seemed to pay off. The same could be said with the Cardinals last year, who score 3/10 of a run more a game after the switch last year, which, over the course of the season, is a lot. I like the move……

Rob Neyer also commented on the situation today, and both articles are worth taking a look at.

The Purple Iguana

Bullpen analysis

I've done a rotation review, defensive comparison, and a lineup comparison, and the last installment of my season preview is a bullpen analysis. Here it is.....

The Cardinal’s bullpen was one of the best in the league last year. They really didn’t add anyone, though, in the off season, and Troy Percival moved on and signed with the Rays.

The bullpen was pretty young last year, and should continue to improve, especially if Cardinals farm hand Chris Perez is in the majors before September. However, Izzy is due for an injury/spurt of ineffectiveness after a very good ’07.

At best, I could see this bullpen being one of the best if not the best in the league if Chris Perez lives up to the hype this year. At worse, they could digress due to over use last year, and be completely ineffective; if that’s the case, the Cardinals could lose 100.

Overall, I expect it to come down to how many innings that starters can put up. If they throw a good amount of innings, and the bullpen can stay rested, they’ll be as good if not better than last year, even without having Percival come over at the trading deadline.

Let me know what you think,

The Purple Iguana

LaRussa on steroids (finally)

Tony LaRussa finally talks about steroids. After not talking about it for seemingly forever, he talks about bringing in Juan Gonzalez, the Mitchell report, about being the “godfather” of steroids, and McGwire....worth a look.

The Purple Iguana

Cardinals rely on bullpen (again)

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the Cardinals will continue to rely on the bullpen. I don’t know if the bullpen can hold up for another year, however, just based on the shear fact that they threw so many innings last year. Their September ERA was awful. If we don’t get a lot of innings out of our starters this year, we could be in even more trouble than we originally thought….

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Larry Walker on Steroids

Larry Walker thinks that he might get into the HOF just because everyone else used steroids the year he retired. Here’s another quote from Walker:

"Do I feel good that I did it clean? My feeling on the steroid thing (is) if it wasn't banned, then what's the problem? I think once they started testing, once they banned it from the sport, why don't they go forward from there instead of digging into the past to see what happened?”

That paragraph just turns me the wrong way a lit bit…..

Same old, Same old

MLB.com reports that the Cardinals are not planning on changing their approach. They say that one of the reasons to have hope is that the Cardinals minor league system is much improved. LaRussa says that no matter who’s on the team, you play the Cardinals way.

Mozeliak says that there off season plan was based on getting over the gap until Mulder and Carpenter are off the disable list. I hope this doesn’t turn into a Prior/Wood ordeal….

Mike Matheny also seems to be making a good impression on the team….

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David Wells Calls

Derrick Goold of the the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that David Wells called the Cardinals. However, it seems like management wants to continue with the youth movement, and try and see how there younger players fare.

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Reyes continuing to improve

Here's another article about how Reyes is continuing to improve. , along with this one here. Hopefully these reporters know what there talking about and Reyes can live up to his potential. Dave Duncan is also quoted as saying he’s rooting for Reyes…..but isn’t that kind of his job???

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Duncan to play 1B

LaRussa says here that there’s a good chance Chris Duncan will be seeing time at first base, along with DH when inter league play comes. Is that a sign that Pujol’s elbow is worse than they’re letting on?? Hopefully not……

Bonds/Clemens rumors shut down

Tony LaRussa wanted Barry Bonds. Bonds wanted money. The Cardinals told Bonds they had everything he wanted but the money. Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports LaRussa as saying that’s what stopped their discussion. LaRussa has wanted Bonds to back up Pujols in the order the last 2 years, but obviously that hasn’t/won't happened.

When Clemens was mentioned, LaRussa said that he would have been a good fit last year, but this year he doesn’t think he’s in good enough shape.

Reyes sharp, Wainwright set to start opening day

Matthew Leach of MLB.com and Yadier Molina are saying that Anthony Reyes looks good. He was spotting his fastballs and his breaking balls, but then again it’s just batting practice. I’d like to see Dave Duncan let Reyes pitch like he wants a little more, instead of having him work the 2 seamer, but then again, there’s a reason Duncan is one of the best pitching coaches in the game and I’m sitting at my desk writing about him.
It also looks like Adam Wainwright is set to start opening day, which everyone expected to happen anyways. LaRussa also says that Duncan and Ankiel are competing for the cleanup spot with Troy Glaus.

The Purple Iguana

Cardinals Player's Sites

I just added a list of the Cardinal's Player's sites on the side of my blog. Most of them are scout.com, which lists any news article about the players. If you have any updated websites of any players, feel free to leave a comment with the site address and I will put it up on the side....

Thanks,

The Purple Iguana

New Colors

Somebody mentioned to me that the colors I had been using (red backround, white words) was hard to read. Let me know what you think of these new colors.....I'm not sure if I like these ones either....let me know if you have any ideas.....

Cardinals rotation, '07 vs '08

I recently did a comparison of the Cardinals lineups in ’07 and ’08, which can be found here, as well as a defensive comparison, that can be found here. Now I’m going to look in depth at the Cardinals rotation, and see if we can improve any on a sub par ’07.
The first person to look at is the ace for both years, Adam Wainwright. There’s no reason to expect him to not improve off of his first year as a starter in the bigs, especially since he improved his ERA from 4.66 before the All Star break to 2.71 afterwards. You can expect Wainwright to be a legit ace for the whole year.
The number 2 last year was Braden Looper, and I guess he’ll be the #2 this year as well. Looper was also in his first year as a starter in the bigs, but unlike Wainwright, I expect his numbers to drop, which won’t be good. He had been a reliever the first 8 years of his career, never pitching over 87 innings before last year, and then throwing 175. That can’t be good, as was obvious by his 6.35 ERA in September.
I have no clue who to say was the Cardinals 3rd starter in ’07, but I guess you could say Todd Wellemeyer???? He came over from the Royals and made 11 starts for the Cardinals in 20 appearances, and had a 3.11 ERA. But he did only have 11 starts for the Red Birds. Joel Pineiro projects to be the third starter, but he’s a very high volatile pitcher-he could be a very solid 3 or even 2 pitcher, but he also could pitch like Kip Wells.
The #4 from last year would have to be the before mentioned Kip Wells. Whenever you have to say that someone with a 5.70 ERA, 26 starts, and a 7 and 17 record was your NUMBER 4, you know your rotation sucked. Depending on his health, it looks like Matt Clement will be the #4 for the majority of the year. If he’s healthy, he could help out the back end of the rotation a lot. If not, he can throw with his left hand and still be better than Wells.
Last year, the #5 pitcher was a revolving door, with Anthony Reyes getting the majority of the starts. With a (hopefully) improved Reyes and possibly Mark Mulder getting some starts, it’ll be hard not to improve on the 6.04 ERA Reyes put up in ’07.
Overall, the back end of the rotation looks a lot more solid. Wainwright should continue to improve, as well as Reyes. The effectiveness of the rotation, however, will most likely come down to the health of Mulder, Clement, and Chris Carpenter, who’s out until at least June, and probably longer. If the Cardinals can stay in contention until Carpenter comes back, and he can be effective, it’ll be like trading for an ace. But don’t count on it.
I'll get a Bullpen comparison up soon.....

Clutch Hitting for Cards

Great article on http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/ about the cardinals being a bad clutch hitting team in '07, and the chances of them improving in '08. Must read in my opinion.

Edmonds, not Pujols, anchor of the lineup?

Jim Edmonds talks about how much he matured while in St. Louis in this article by Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, he also says he’s looking forward to the new adventures he hopes to meet compared to what happens year in and year out when you’re on the same team since 2000. He also talks about how he was only going to waive his no trade clause to the Padres, and that he wanted a chance to play every day. Michael Barrett also said in the article that Edmonds was the anchor to the lineup, and not Pujols or Rolen. Another Edmonds article worth checking out……

The Purple Iguana

Izzy's new hip

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about what went into Izzy’s surgery in September of ’06 here. Izzy talks about how he took less money to stay with the Cards, and how he hopes to stay in St. Louis, but that he realizes it’s a business. He also likes what the new GM John Mozeliak did in the off season, saying he would rather not overspend this year, but rather wait for a better free agent class at the end of this season. He also talks about the Rolen and Edmonds trade, and how it’s going to be fun to watch the OF this year. It’s a pretty good article…..

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Shumaker with tough day at camp

Link

Scott Shumaker had a bad day at spring training. Not only did he have to avoid 2 batted balls from former MVPs that he said were traveling in excess of 100 MPHs, he also got hit in the neck by a throw from Brendan Ryan. Tough day there…..

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Rolen happy with time in STL, Eckstein mad

Link

The article goes into what went down in STL from Rolen's view and how he percieved it. It also goes on to talk about how Eckstein was mad at the way managment lied to the fans in the paper, which obviously is not right.....

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Rolen Happy?

Link

It looks like Rolen is finally going to turn the corner and actually like a manager. The trade to Toronto can only help his defense by playing on field turf. And for the record, I was on Rolen’s side with the whole Rolen-LaRussa debate; I’ve never seen Rolen NOT play hard.

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Carpenter, Mulder throw

Link

Notes from article:
Mulder threw 24 pitches
Carpenter threw long toss
No date set for when they’ll be ready


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Rolen, Eckstein Tributes

Link

Great article on what Molina, Duncan, Carpenter, and others thought about Scott Rolen and David Eckstein. They talk about the best plays they ever made, or the biggest hit, or how each them played their asses off. Worth a look.

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Rick Ankiel-relaxing!

Link

It looks like Ankiel can finally relax, and he’s enjoying it. Hopefully he can recover from the slip up after the steroid allegations came down. I don’t think there’s another talent this day in age that can be a star as both a pitcher, and now possibly as a hitter like Ankiel is trying to do.

Molina 15 Pounds lighter

Link

Molina has “lost 15 pounds” in the off season. Maybe it won’t take him 2 days to get down to first base anymore. Hopefully he doesn’t get screwed out of a gold glove again this year, and he gets the recognition he deserves. And he loves dominos- that’s always good….

The Purple Iguana

Defensive Comparison, '07 vs. '08

Here's a defensive comparision of the '07 and '08 teams.

3B Glaus vs. Rolen

No comparison here, even with Rolen hurt for most of the year. Rolen is one of the best if not the best defensive 3rd baseman ever.

SS Izturis vs. Eckstein

Izturis has a gold glove and supposedly defense is the reason he was brought in; also, as much as I liked Eckstein, it’s always good when your SS doesn’t need to skip 12 times before he makes a throw to 1B

CF Rasmus vs. Edmonds

Edmonds has lost a step the last few years, and his defense has suffered. Rasmus is a very capable defensive center fielder, but you’d have to think Edmonds did better last year than Rasmus will do in his first year in the league.

RF Ankiel vs. Encarnacion

Ankiel had an absolute GUN from right. In my opinion, Encarnacion was pretty damn lazy, and Ankiel’s got range to go along with his arm, so the advantage definitely goes to this year.

It looks like basically a push, but if Kennedy can get back to normal, Duncan can continue to improve, as well as Molina, this defense could improve a lot. But it would be hard not to improve on the 2nd worse D in the league last year.

Clemens a Cardinal?

Link
Buster Olney thinks that Roger Clemens would be a good fit for the Cards. First off, the Cardinals don’t need another pitcher that won’t pitch until August (to go along with Carpenter and possibly Mulder), especially at the price that he’ll want. Second, why would he want to play for a team that most likely will not be in the playoffs? 3rd, do the Cardinals really need another player linked to steroids, if he even decides to play? Not a good idea in my opinion.

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Management wants to go young, but no Ryan

Link
The management supposedly wants to go young, yet the thinking (at least from this article) makes you think that they aren’t going to have Ryan play that much this year, which is too bad. I believe Ryan is better at this point than any of the other middle infielders that we have, and, at the very least, is a lot better of a prospect. If management wants to go and get decent free agents and play them over the youngsters, then fine. But when they get crap players like Izturis, Kennedy, and Miles, and then have them start over a younger player, it makes you wonder whether or not they’re serious about going young…..
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LaRussa, Middle Infield D

Link
I honestly think that if the defense can step it up, that the pitching staff could be greatly improved. Errors will kill a pitcher a lot more than most “experts” admit. Hopefully the middle infield can improve like LaRussa is stressing.

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Comparison of Lineup

I'm going to assume that Rasmus starts for the sake of argument here. Now for the comparison:

Rasmus vs. Eckstein

Rasmus has a lot more speed and power, and will basically be a better lead off hitter. Eckstein had an OPS of .738 last year, with 10 SBs. Rasmus has yet to go under .830 in his pro career, and was at .932 in AAA last year. Big difference there. Rasmus' lowest SB total was 13, so there is another spot where he'll help this lineup out. It's been awhile since we had any type of base stealing threat in the lead off spot.

Ankiel vs. Duncan
This will be virtually the same person: decent amount of HRs, a lot of Ks, and a lot of ups and downs. I'm a little bit scared, however, about Ankiel's nature- obviously everybody knows about how he blew up in those playoff games I believe in 2001. He also went into a tailspin after the steroid allegations came out last year. If he can get his head on straight, he'll put up very good stats, but that might be a stretch.

Pujols vs. Pujols
Last year Albert had a down year, but I'm not sold that his elbow is back to normal. I remember reading an article awhile ago about how he couldn't extend his arm, and that if he had the same type of pain as last year, that he wouldn't play. That would be major trouble.

Glaus vs. Edmonds
Edmond's OPS dropped to .728 last year, and it'd been dropping since '04. Glaus on the other hand has been pretty consistent since '01, and if he can stay healthy, you can count on at least 30 HRs, something Edmonds hasn't done since '04.

Duncan vs. Rolen
Duncan was injured most of last year, like Rolen. If Duncan stays healthy and LaRussa plays him everyday, look for him to bop at least 35 HRs, and an OPS over .900, something Rolen hasn't done since '04 (sounds like Edmonds, doesn't it).

Molina vs. Encarnacion
Molina has been improving offensively, but he won't be able to put up the stats Encarnacion did. Look for more improvement by Molina, but he's still nothing special.

Kennedy vs. Molina
Last year was by far Kennedy's worst year, and I honestly think that Brendan Ryan would be a better option here. However, I expect him to get back to where he was before last year. Molina was solid last year, and was most likely better than Kennedy will be this year.

Izturis vs. Miles
Both suck(ed), and I know Ryan would be a better pick for this spot.


Overall, the top of the lineup is a lot better this year, especially in the power department. The bottom of the order drops off a bit, but if Rasmus can meet expectations and starts, this will be a decent lineup, and a lot better than you'd expect with Rolen and Edmonds being traded in the off season. I'll be getting a defensive comparison later......

The Purple Iguana

Projected Lineup

Here is what I project the Cardinals 2008 lineup to be, with and without Colby Rasmus:

This year with Rasmus

Rasmus CF

Ankiel RF

Pujols 1B

Glaus 3B

Duncan LF

Molina C

Kennedy 2B

Pitcher/ Izturis SS

Izturis

Without Rasmus

Ankiel CF

Duncan LF

Pujols 1B

Glaus 3B

Ludwick RF

Molina C

Kennedy 2B

Pitcher/Izturis SS

Izturis

Needless to say, the lineup looks a lot more formidable with Rasmus in the lineup than without. I'll have a comparison of this years lineup(s) compared to last years up soon.....

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Cardinal's blog

This will be the Cardinal's part of my blog....There's going to be a team preview, minor league updates, trade reviews, game summaries/previews, and much more coming later....
The Purple Iguana