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By Jeff Todd | at
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bobbybaseball
I agree the Cardinals have made some good, low risk moves, but remember, they did lose Beltran.
teufelshunde4
The real question is does Adams take a step forward and provide more then last season? And how soon is Taveras going to be a factor? Seems like 2012 all over. Who to replace Pujols production? Nows its how to replace Beltran’s production? With the answers likely in house for Cards. But if not they have the pieces to fix the issue.
chad 6
Long term I think that Craig has to play first, his bat is too important in that lineup now to be absent. I see Adams as a platoon/pinch hitter on the cards or another squad. Tavares is the long term answer to RF which I doubt he will start the season in MLB, in my humble opinion
yarritsblake
Isn’t Craig able to possibly play LF? I know that would displace Matt Holliday, but the big question is going to be, what do they do with Craig/Adams? It appears Craig is no longer the Cards choice at 2B with the acquisition of Ellis and the hopeful emergence of Wong. Craig isn’t athletic enough to play SS and they already have signed Peralta to man that position. Carpenter has 3B locked down. I mean, it would make sense to move Craig to LF and Holliday to RF because I mean, they put up with Beltran’s defense there last year, Holliday may be a tad worse, but hey, you have to get Craig’s bat in the lineup. I’m not a Cardinals fan, so I don’t know what management is doing on that whole front.
Lanidrac
Craig is expected to take over RF while Adams takes 1B. There will be some shifting around with Taveras expected to get some playing time in both CF and RF, while Craig will shift to 1B on occasion, but that’s the general plan for the moment.
Dark Knight
So ! No great loss! He couldn’t run or play defense anymore! Was turning 38 this year & wanted a 3 year deal which he got & 45 mil! We saved a lot of cash & now have a better player in right field with Allen Craig OR Oscar Taveras & it made the team better & PLUS we got a draft pick! Win Win all the way around! Bye Bye Beltran & Good Luck! See Ya!
Jeffy25
Exclamation point day I see
bobbybaseball
I agree with the decision not to give him a multi-year deal and that his defense is declining. But his offensive production waa still pretty good. All I’m suggesting is that they will need to replace those numbers.
RyÅnWKrol
No great loss? That’s what you think. But the Cards still need to replace that production.
billydaking
Allen Craig, Matt Adams, and, at some point, Oscar Taveras.
Lanidrac
Between his age and injury history, Beltran’s not expected to produce at a similar level for much longer, anyway.
Cyyoung
Mozeliak is a Great GM.
murph180
The Padres payroll could be more than the Mets….
johnsilver
I’d love to see Ramirez back to the 2009 form consistently once again, yes he was that way last year I realize. If LA could get that guy under contract for a few years? They would have one of the best players in the game overall, not one of those way overhyped 5 tool guys, but one that has proven it over the course of a few seasons on the field.
There was a period of 3-4 years that nothing was beyond this guy, his only issue was the infamous “double clutch” at SS where he held onto the ball before throwing it to a base. He could do anything with the bat. Trader Jack began working with him, like he did Bonifacio with the mental part of the game, but he only had them half a season. It’s all that was wrong with both.. Confidence. He fixed Bonifacio’s issues while he was with the Fish, but not all of Hanley’s.
I want to see Ramirez anchor down that LA lineup, sandwiched with AGone and Puig. Get him back to where he was around ’08-09 and this lineup will be what Detroit and Boston has any day of the week and far better than anything in the NL with a rotation unequaled in the NL.
BlueSkyLA
I don’t see Ramirez as the classic “five tool” player. His defensive work is never going to be better than just average. He still does that double-clutch thing quite a bit, and his speed isn’t what it was once. But the man can hit, and that more than makes up for his mediocre defensive skills.
Jeffy25
Gurnick still writing about baseball?
Figured he gave up on the sport with his hall of fame vote.
And no, Hanley shouldn’t be the priority over tanaka
Matt He.
Yes he easily should, but the Dodgers got so much money that they shouldn’t have a problem getting both done if they really want both.
BlueSkyLA
Exactly. Kasten made it clear again just this week that the first priority for the Dodgers is fielding the best team they can, not reaching some salary line. I don’t understand why so many in the sports media have such a hard time getting that message.
Tony 17
Guys — is there any team in baseball that would not LOVE to have the “problems” that the Cardinals have? EVERY team is subject to the injury bug — and Craig’s injury last September was a freakish thing caused by the first base umpire.
Let’s break things down. Peter Bourjos may be right now the best defensive outfielder in the game. He can steal bases, lots of them, which Jon Jay can’t do. That will easily make up for whatever slight offensive advantage you give to JJ, and I’m not sure there is that, either. Bourjos is a player with a lot of upside.
Jhonny Peralta is a huge offensive upgrade at SS. Even if he is only average, it’s still huge.
Matt Carpenter is still on the upswing. And now he moves to his natural position.
Yadier Molina and Matt Holliday are horses. Holliday will be less exposed in LF now that Bourjos is in center.
Allen Craig is an excellent player and still underrated. His hitting with RISP was not a fluke; it’s instead his OK batting with nobody on that is a fluke. I don’t think there’s any reason to suppose that he will regress.
Matt Adams is a beast, and Oscar Taveras is a beast in the making.
Mark Ellis has been a fine MLB player for many years, and will take the pressure off Kolten Wong, who has succeeded everywhere he’s been, until the pressure of last September.
What’s not to like about the team? That Honus Wagner isn’t starting at shortstop?
RyÅnWKrol
They need to replace Beltran’s production. Craig’s BA w/ RISP was 100% a fluke. It was 139 points higher than his overall BA. That will never happen again. Chances are he doesn’t even hit .300 in that split in 2014. After enough years, most players’ BA w/ RISP closely matches their overall BA, same with postseason stats. Career averages show up in all splits after enough years. In fact the team’s BA w/ RISP was a fluke, and that will probably never happen again either. They need to replenish their losses as much as any other contender.
Drew M
Craig has always had a BA of .400 or over with RISP throughout his career in the majors and minors. The teams RISP average was a fluke. Craigs was not.
Lanidrac
Baseball players are not machines. I’ve seen too many examples (Craig’s included) to doubt that there are mental adjustments that allow some players to be great clutch hitters.
Besides, even if you expect Craig’s clutch hitting to revert to form, so should his power. He’s still a .306/.358/.492 career hitter. A full season of starting from Adams, the addition of Peralta, and the imminent arrival of Taveras should make up the rest of the difference.
Ryan Stall
Padres need hitters, not another pitcher. We already have 3 lefties in the bullpen (Erlin, Luebke and Schuster). Even though I see Luebke and Erlin as more starters than relievers.