Friday, February 29, 2008
Cardinals-94 wins?
"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
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
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
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:
- Brian Barton, CF
- Chris Duncan, LF
- Albert Pujols, 1B
- Troy Glaus, 3B
- Juan Gonzalez, DH
- Ryan Ludwick, RF
- Yadier Molina, C
- Aaron Miles, 2B
- Brendan Ryan, SS
Wainwright gets the start.....
The Purple Iguana
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Reyes shuts down Mets
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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.
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
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.
The Cardinals are Jimenez’s 5th 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 2nd, 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…..
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Free baseball cards!
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
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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
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:
- Colby Rasmus, CF
- Brian Barton, DH
- Joe Mather, RF
- Josh Phelps, 1B
- Cody Hearther, LF
- David Freese, 3B
- Brian Barden, SS
- Matt Pagnozzi, C
- 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
“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
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pitcher to bat eighth
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 IguanaLaRussa 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
Larry Walker on Steroids
Larry Walker thinks that he might get into the
"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…..
Monday, February 25, 2008
Same old, Same old
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….
The Purple Iguana
David Wells Calls
Derrick Goold of the the
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???
The Purple Iguana
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……
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Bonds/Clemens rumors shut down
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
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
Thanks,
The Purple Iguana
New Colors
Cardinals rotation, '07 vs '08
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
Edmonds, not Pujols, anchor of the lineup?
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Izzy's new hip
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Saturday, February 23, 2008
Shumaker with tough day at camp
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…..
The Purple Iguana
Rolen happy with time in STL, Eckstein mad
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.....
The Purple Iguana
Rolen Happy?
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.
The Purple Iguana
Carpenter, Mulder throw
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
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.
The Purple Iguana
Friday, February 22, 2008
Rick Ankiel-relaxing!
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
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
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?
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.
The Purple Iguana
Management wants to go young, but no Ryan
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…..
The Purple Iguana
LaRussa, Middle Infield D
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.
The Purple Iguana
Comparison of Lineup
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
This year with Rasmus
Rasmus CF
Ankiel RF
Pujols 1B
Glaus 3B
Molina C
Kennedy 2B
Pitcher/ Izturis SS
Izturis
Without Rasmus
Ankiel CF
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
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