Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak conducted a Q&A session with fans this afternoon. Here are some highlights courtesy of Joe Strauss (via Twitter) and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as well as Matthew Leach of MLB.com…
- Mozeliak says that discussions with Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick – both of whom are arbitration eligible – are confined to one season. Ludwick had a down year in 2009 as he turned in an OPS of .775, his lowest as a Cardinal. The two parties avoided arbitration last year by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3.7MM. The figure was an even compromise as the outfielder requested $4.25MM and the organization submitted $2.8MM. Meanwhile, Schumaker is arbitration eligible for the first time in his career and should see a pay bump as he has had similar offensive production this season at second base after moving in from the outfield.
- The return of Rick Ankiel would be a "longshot" according to Mozeliak as the club cannot offer him the at-bats that he wants. We haven't heard any word of Ankiel being close to signing with a club, but his agent Scott Boras claims to be having "a lot of conversation" about the 30-year-old.
- St. Louis is not entertaining the idea of inviting Jim Edmonds to camp. The 39-year-old last played in 2008 for the Padres and the Cubs, where he posted .235/.343/.479 and 20 HRs in 401 plate appearances.
- Mozeliak confirmed that the club will watch Ben Sheets throw next week, though Leach writes that he's not likely to be a fit for St. Louis.
Why don’t the Braves invite Jim Edmonds to their spring training camp to platoon with Diaz as a lefthanded bat with some pop still? I mean 20 HR is nothing to shy away from for maybe the league min.
Braves wont even be able to use Edmonds. There’s just no point. If Braves sign an OFer, then it will be a starter. Cabrera can platoon with Diaz if need be.
Cabrera could be our everyday rightfielder which is what it’s looking like if Heyward isn’t ready
Alright, then if you MUST platoon Diaz, then use Henske. There is no point in adding pieces such as JE that aren’t needed. His spot on the 25 man is more important than him platooning with Diaz.
Yeah I guess
1. You shouldn’t have Schafer and Heyward on the team at the same time. You would have to send Schafer back down. I say, just start him in AAA, even if Heyward starts in AAA with him.
2. Schafer isn’t ready to lead-off in a Major League role yet.
3. You have 3 OF’s as back-ups, but only 1 guy for 2B. You may need Prado’s versitality, so someone like Thurston or Conrad would be good to keep on the bench.
4. You have Gluas, Yunel, and Prado batting in a row, all RH-hitters. Glaus, McCann, Yunel would fix that easily.
5. McLouth would be a great num 2, but Prado does well there and McLouth does great in the back of the line-up, where-as Prado would only be par. You get the most of the team by batting McLouth behind Yunel.
You can try Cabrera leading off at the start of the season, but he would be there full time without a Diaz Platoon. I think Diaz has earned his spot, at least against RHP’s not named Halladay. McLouth is still your only proven lead-off.
1. Heyward and Schafer wouldn’t be on the same team, Heyward would be in AAA to start the season just to be sure he is ready and his back is healed all the way.
2. Everybody keeps saying Schafer isn’t ready to be the lead-off hitter for a MLB team but how can you say that when he has only played not even a season in the majors and the time that he did it was with a hurt wrist.
3.I have three guys on the bench who can play the OF but they can also play other positions: Mitch Jones can play 1B, Eric Hinske can play 3B and 1B, and the Diaz, Cabrera, and Schafer are the only ones who can only play the OF. Plus Prado would only fill in at 3B or 1B which are both positions that Hinske can play.
4. McLouth isn’t a bottom of the order guy he has speed, he has good OBP, and he has some pop all good things for a #2 hitter. I like Prado there but I think Nate is better. I have to agree with you on the Glaus, McCann, Yunel part though it is better rounded.
How’d you edit so fast? That never works for me.
This is what I think the Braves opening day roster should look like if they want to compete
in 2010.
Line-Up:
#1 – RF – Schafer/Cabrera (Against LHP)
#2 – CF – McLouth
#3 – 3B – C. Jones
#4 – C – McCann
#5 – 1B – Glaus
#6 – SS – Escobar
#7 – 2B – Prado
#8 – LF – Diaz/Cabrera (Against RHP)
#9 – P – Pitcher
Starters:
#1 – Hudson
#2 – Jurjens
#3 – Hanson
#4 – Lowe
#5 – Kawakami
Bullpen:
RHP – Valdez
RHP – Chavez
LHP – O’Flaherty
RHP – Medlen
SU – Saito
SU – Moylan
CL – Wagner
Bench:
INF/OF – Infante
OF/1B – M. Jones
OF – Diaz/Schafer/Cabrera
OF/3B/1B – Hinske
C – Ross
Suprised kiko calero wasn’t mentioned.. He had a career year of 1.95ERA but probably could maintain a era in the high 2s with the cardinals.. And the cards are a pretty underrated defensive team.. I can’t think of one position were their is a player with AT LEAST average defensive.
FWIW, Schumaker posted a -8.5 UZR/150 last season.
Which is still close to the MLB 2nd baseman average, I never said they were all gold glove defenders. Just all average or better with 2 or 3 guys that are gold glove calibur defensive.
Actually, 0 would be around average.
link to fangraphs.com
And Schumaker is nowhere close. You said you couldn’t think of one that isn’t at least average, and I helped you think of one. He could get better, sure, but the only data we have is from last season and it measures him as well below average.
Schumaker had a very poor first 6 weeks of the season, then rebounded with league average 2B defense from May 7th on.
link to fangraphs.com
I remember reading that article and I can’t believe I didn’t recall it when I wrote the post above. Nice pull. Let’s see if he can put together a full season this time around.
Not to mention it was skip’s first year at 2nd base, of course he is gonna make a few novice mistakes. But that also means he can improve.
I’m surprised Ankiel doesn’t have a job yet. If I were the GM of a team like, I dunno, the Royals, I’d sign Ankiel to a 1 year / $3 million deal with incentives before I even thought about going after Podsednik. Sure, we know what we’re getting with Podsednik, that’s true – a whole lot of mediocrity. Ankiel is just 1 year removed from an 840 OPS season and a solid RF with a great arm, with the ability to fake CF. Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen? He gives you a 700 OPS and solid defense, then goes on the DL after half the season? Is the sPod really much better than that?
How do I read comments in past entries? The page loads and it says 110 comments but then it refreshes and says 2 comments.
was this post DISQUS?
My posts are, but I didn’t post in the thread I’m interested in. I just wanted to read the comments in the Phillies-Jays-Mariners trade (a little late, I know).
Sorry, I meant Post-DISQUS. Because the new system had been implemented after that thread was put up, I don’t think you will be able to view them.
One player down, one player to go. I am glad they sign Ludwick, even that it is only for 1 year. I am glad they will entertain to watch Sheets. It does not main they will sign him, but it is nice to see Sheets pitching for the birds if they do sign him.
Anyway, Cards still looking good. Don’t see anyone else in the Central really sticking out.
Yeah, man, the look great! I think they are the sure-fire NL Central champs and they’re very well-balanced everywhere. I mean, look at the 40-man roster!
Starting Lineup
C Yadier Molina (25-man)
1B Albert Pujols (25-man)
2B Skip Schumaker (25-man)
SS Brendan Ryan (25-man)
3B David Freese (25-man)
LF Matt Holliday (25-man)
CF Colby Rasmus (25-man)
RF Adam Ludwick (25-man)
Bench
C Jason LaRue (25-man)
C Matt Pagnozzi
C Bryan Anderson
2B/SS Julio Lugo (25-man)
IF Mark Hamilton
2B/3B Ruben Gotay (25-man)
2B/SS Tyler Greene
OF Allen Craig
OF Shane Robinson
OF Nick Stavinoha (25-man)
OF Joe Mather (25-man)
OF John Jay
OF Daryl Jones
Starting Rotation
SP1a Chris Carpenter (25-man)
SP1b Adam Wainwright (25-man)
SP3 Brad Penny (25-man)
SP4 Kyle Lohse (25-man)
SP5 Jaime Garcia (25-man)
Bullpen
RP Mitchell Boggs (25-man)
RP P.J. Walters
RP Blake Hawksworth (25-man)
RP Josh Kinney
RP Ben Jukich
RP Charlie Zink (knuckleballer) (25-man)
RP Adam Ottavino
RP Francisco Samuel
RP Tyler Norrick
RP Trever Miller (25-man)
Setup Jason Motte (25-man)
Setup Kyle McClellan (25-man)
Closer Ryan Franklin (25-man)
Now keep in mind, that’s the 40-man. The 25-man icon means they’ll probably end up on the 25-man squad come Opening Day.
Were in trouble in mcCllelan is the SU man.. He is quite inconsistent. Same with motte, though I hear he has been polishing his cutter and slider this offseason to go with the 98mph fastball.
Btw, whose Adam ludwick LOL?
We also picked Charlie sink as depth in the minor league system, he won’t be on the 25msn roster
I thought McClellan did very well last year. Anyway, send down Mather for a future bench signing, and Boggs and Zink for Dennys Reyes (who you completely forgot about) and a future bullpen signing, and it’s about right.
Mccllelan was doing pretty good but he either got overworked the last month or so or he just lost it. He will be another year older and another year wiser, but I still wouldn’t trust him with the 8th inning yet.
BTW, Trevor miller is a lefty not a righty.
Mccllelan was doing pretty good but he either got overworked the last month or so or he just lost it. He will be another year older and another year wiser, but I still wouldn’t trust him with the 8th inning yet.
BTW, Trevor miller is a lefty not a righty.
Hopefully, Ludwick’s next two years are going to be closer to 2008 than 2009. Even with two more years of his numbers from 2009, I don’t think the Cardinals will be able to keep him with the Holliday contract and needing to resign Pujols and Molina by then.
If Ludwick does rebound (relatively speaking, as he was still pretty good last year), the Cardinals will have the best 3-4-5 hitters as well as one of the two best 1-2 pair of starting pitchers (along with the Giants) in the league. I’m really excited about the Cardinals chances this year.
i think a slash of .285 AVG 28 HR 105 RBI’s seems pretty reasonable with ludwick. its a compromise between his mvp calibur 08 numbers to his good but not as good 09′ numbers. this is me being optimistic, but even if we did lose ludwick, we have Allan Craig coming up to the bigs in 2010 if not then for sure 2011. He will essentially replace Ludwick’s bat in 1 or 2 seasons in the big leagues. Not to mention that by then, Rasmus will have either sunk or swam. If he sinks, he will be a platooner who only faces righties, if he swims, he will be the .290Avg 30 SB 25HR 90Rbi guy that we would need.im not to sure ludwick’s future after his current deal is with the cardinals as he will probably be seeking his payday. But i do recall a few interviews where he was extremely grateful to the organization to let them make a name for himself and come out of mediocroity. Maybe that bods well for a fair discount? maybe not..but if not no biggy.