After losing five of their first seven games, the Cardinals went 14-5 to finish April with a two-game lead in the NL Central. As the Cards attempt to extend their current winning streak to five games this afternoon behind Jaime Garcia, here's a roundup of today's NL Central-related links:
- The ninth inning carousel in St. Louis has been the team's achilles heel so far, says Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ryan Franklin is out as the closer and is in the final year of his contract, but GM John Mozeliak doesn't know who the Cardinals' closer of the future is yet. "This season will dictate if [Mitchell] Boggs or [Jason] Motte or [Eduardo] Sanchez is the answer," he said. "It's a little early to render that verdict."
- Farm director John Vuch tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the Cardinals have placed an emphasis on acquiring power arms in recent years.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports digs into the specifics of Ryan Braun's long-term contract extension with the Brewers.
- Carlos Pena isn't the first big free agent bat to get off to a slow start for the Cubs, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Despite a poor April, Pena still believes he can be a "huge contributor" in Chicago.
- The promotion of former fourth overall pick Danny Moskos gives the Pirates two left-handed relievers, something that manager Clint Hurdle was hoping for heading into the season, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
I cringe whenever I see Moskos’ name and think about how they could have had Wieters instead. Damn you Littlefield.
Or jason Heyward
UGH! Like in 02 when they could have had Greinke or Fielder or in 06 when they could have had Lincecum or Kershaw. I could do this all day.
Either way they would not still have any of them. Sadly…
The minor leagues and supermarkets across America are littered with top draft picks who didn’t make it to the show. The MLB draft is the biggest crap shoot in pro sports. I wouldn’t be too hard on your GM for making the pick he did. The draft relies more on the scouting department than on the GM’s decision-making abilities. GM’s do little to no scouting of amateur players on their own. They are presented with data collected by their scouting teams.
Look at all the other talent they missed out on: JP Arencibia, Jason Heyward, Madison Bumgarner, Matt LaPorta. Those are just the guys I have heard of. How did they not take Jason Heyward? Scouting.
Every draft, every season is exactly like this. Players are missed or overlooked for any number of reasons. There are very few Alex Rodriguez-types in the world. Most have to grow into their skills as they work their way through the minors.
Ya, but the pirates have made some questionable draft choices like Bullington over Upton in ’02 and the Van Benschoten fiasco. A decade of draft frutility is hard to ignore as ‘bad luck’, sooner or later some one has to take the fall weather its the scout’s or the GM.
That’s certainly true, but that said it should get easier and easier to get it right the higher you pick, and the Pirates have been picking consistently high for quite some time now. When you consistently make worse decisions than your contemporaries, with at least the potential for having the same information at your disposal to make those decisions, chalking it up to losing a crap shoot is overgenerous.
The Pirates have been spending chump change on their payroll for a while now. If they’re somehow lacking in their scouting department, it is because they are either hiring the wrong people or not providing adequate resources — both problems of their own making and both problems they deserve criticism for.
I think that by now, you’re just gonna hafta Get. Over. It.
You don’t wanna get an ulcer, do you?
yeah except the explicitly picked moskos for his “signability” and no one drafts a college relief pitcher 4th overall because they think its the right baseball decision
Moskos was a SP in college. In fact, Littlefield said that Moskos was “A good #3 Starting Pitcher”.
They weren’t drafting a RP. I’m just saying…
If I’m not mistaken, Moskos only started one year in college. He was pretty much projected as a closer from day one. Let’s hope he does well.
thats just as bad. You don’t use #4 overall picks on guys who have a ceiling on being average.
The Pirates are a bit of a special case too. Their finances are some of the weakest in pro sports. MLB needs to revamp the CBA next time to somehow force drafted players to sign with their drafting team. Cap it at five years or something like that.
Like this: Drafted amateurs are not eligible to be drafted by another MLB team for five years after first being drafted. Signing bonuses and initial contract must be capped. These players are coming out of high school/college and becoming instant millionaires. Then a lot of them just give up. Capping the amount of money a new draftee can make would instill some hunger in these kids. It would force them to work for the money they think they deserve.