Cardinals Rumors

April 12, 2009

Happy Easter to those celebrating. Here are your Sunday links…

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addresses the ever-popular question, "What if the Pirates had drafted Matt Wieters" in 2007?
Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star did some number crunching and determined that forking over major cash for a free agent pitcher is often far too risky. 30 pitchers regressed after inking new deals, while only 13 improved.
The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan believes the Brewers might make a run at Jake Peavy later this season.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has abandoned the idea of hitting his pitcher eighth for the last three games, and his club is suddenly on a winning streak. "Hitting the guy ninth we've got a winning record," said La Russa. "I don't want to mess around with it." (Quote courtesy of Rick Hummel with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
Tyler Kepner of the New York Times examines the "evolution" of the trade that brought Nick Swisher to the Yankees. As Kepner notes, it "looks like a steal" at this point.
The Twins are considering a uniform design change for the opening of Target Field in 2010. Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wants your suggestions.
You're obviously a baseball buff if you're checking MLBTR daily, so let me direct you to a brand new site chock-full of streaming baseball-related content. It's NBCSports.com's newest darling, "Circling The Bases," featuring the writing styles of Aaron Gleeman, Matthew Pouliot and Craig Calcaterra.

Tim Dierkes · April 6, 2009

I think you would all agree that today should be a federal holiday. Monday links to tide you over until games start…

According to David Lennon of Newsday, Gary Sheffield expected to get a call from Albert Pujols about possibly playing for the Cardinals, before the Mets signed him.
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies' acquisition of Jason Hammel may mean Juan Morillo's time with the team is drawing to a close. Morillo throws in the high 90s with poor control, and he's out of options.
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic talked to John Dewan about The Fielding Bible and the D'Backs' defense.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says the Giants continue to try to work out a trade for Rule 5 pick Luis Perdomo, who will otherwise have to be offered back to the Cardinals.
Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star has a great profile of Zack Greinke.
Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the latest minor league transactions.
John Hickey recently wrote about Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre. Beltre, a Boras client, is entering his contract year.

Tim Dierkes · April 3, 2009

Links for Friday…

Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Orioles have "mild interest" in Josh Fogg. If Fogg can't find an appealing job elsewhere he'll report to Triple A Colorado Springs for the Rockies.
Via the Twitter feed of John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer…the Reds have talked about Geoff Jenkins and Frank Catalanotto but nothing is close.
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker has a Sports Hochi report saying recently released pitcher Ken Kadokura is reaching out to the Cardinals and Orioles.
Ryan Shealy cleared waivers and was sent to Triple A, clearing up the Royals' first base/DH logjam.
The website FINalternatives.com says Rangers owner Tom Hicks defaulted on more than $500MM in loans.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post looks at the payrolls for the Mets and Yankees.
Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says Hal Steinbrenner "told close friends he plans on hiring Lou Piniella as a consultant when his managerial contract with the Cubs runs out after the 2010 season."
According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Padres GM Kevin Towers said he still might add another starting pitcher.
Albert Chen of Sports Illustrated writes about the advanced defensive metrics that are becoming prevalent in the game.
Dave Cameron of FanGraphs writes about the ethics of service time manipulation.
SI.com's Jon Heyman noted yesterday that "The Giants like Xavier Nady and wouldn't mind bringing the University of California product home at some point."

Tim Dierkes · April 1, 2009

According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, the Cardinals and Tigers are discussing a trade for Ryan Raburn. Morosi says the Tigers may want to trade him for a pitching prospect. Reader Mitch L. wonders if the Cards' interest in Raburn is linked to the recent news that Troy Glaus doesn't have a timetable for his return. Raburn, 28 later this month, hit .236/.298/.368 in 199 plate appearances last year while playing all three outfield positions as well as second and third base. The Tigers previously had talks with the Mets about receiving Brian Stokes for Raburn. The Tigers optioned Raburn to Triple A Toledo today.

Morosi adds that the Tigers hope to trade for a big league pitcher as well. The Cubs' Chad Gaudin is on the radar, though his $2MM salary may be a bit much.

March 28, 2009

Your Saturday night links, with more to come…

Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com takes a look at the Cardinals' third base race. Brian Barden appears doubtful to win the job, however temporary it may be, despite a .344 spring record.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi could decide to start the season without a designated long reliever, according to Peter Abraham of The Journal News. Alfredo Aceves, Dan Giese and Brett Tomko would be the casualties of that decision.
Dmitri Young told Chico Harlan of the Washington Post that he plans to be on the Nationals' 25-man roster when the team heads north.
Josh Barfield has claimed the Indians' final roster spot. His versatility apparently won him the job.
Can't get enough of MLBTR? Follow the action on Twitter. And if you're feeling really adventurous, why not add me, your good friend Drew Silva?

Tim Dierkes · March 27, 2009

Robert MacLeod of the Globe and Mail has additional Blue Jays moves, beyond their trade of Curtis Thigpen to the A's. MacLeod says pitchers Mike Maroth and Rick Bauer have been released, and Matt Clement agreed to report to Triple A.

Meanwhile, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says lefty reliever Royce Ring accepted his Triple A assignment.

Tim Dierkes · March 26, 2009

Next up in our Offseason In Review series, the Cardinals. Here's what we wrote about the team on October 8th. Changes for 2009:

Additions: Khalil Greene, Dennys Reyes, Trever Miller, Royce Ring, Jason LaRue (re-signed). Midseason: Charlie Manning, Kyle Lohse extension

Subtractions: Felipe Lopez, Cesar Izturis, Braden Looper, Russ Springer, Ron Villone, Jason Isringhausen, Adam Kennedy, Tyler Johnson, Randy Flores, Aaron Miles, Mark Worrell, Luke Gregerson, Mark Mulder. Midseason: Josh Phelps, Matt Clement, Anthony Reyes

The Cardinals needed help in the middle infield and bullpen. GM John Mozeliak's solution was to trade for Greene and sign about $4MM worth of lefty relievers. Many of the departed played significant roles (good or bad) last year, so the Cards may be hoping for addition by subtraction to a certain extent.

Last year's offense scored 4.81 runs per game, 4th in the NL. Using CHONE projections and Baseball Musings' lineup analysis tool, the '09 lineup projects at 5.00 runs per game. This particular simulation doesn't include Colby Rasmus, has the pitcher batting ninth, and doesn't account for time missed by Troy Glaus. But even if Ludwick takes a step back, the team may score more runs than last year.

The '09 rotation features familiar names Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer, and Joel Pineiro. The difference is that Braden Looper's 199 innings of 4.16 ball are gone, and Wainwright, Carpenter, and Pineiro will hopefully double last year's 292 combined innings. Last year the Cards had 16 starts from Mitchell Boggs, Brad Thompson, Mike Parisi, Jaime Garcia, and Mark Mulder at a combined 7.31 ERA. This year's backup crew seems more capable. The 4.20 collective ERA of last year's rotation was pretty good, and if Carpenter makes a big contribution they should be able to at least match it. The Lohse extension, signed on September 29th for four years and $41MM, doesn't look good. On the other hand, the Cardinals are presumably still happy they have Lohse to pencil in for 33 starts.

The bullpen will be better for the losses of Villone, Isringhausen, and Flores, but they didn't do much to replace Springer. Mozeliak did add two decent lefties, and from the right side it'll be up to youngsters Jason Motte and Chris Perez to step up.

Defensively, the Cardinals ranked 2nd in the NL according to The Fielding Bible II. The success of the rotation will be closely tied to the team's ability to repeat its stellar defense. The Cards figure to lose ground defensively in the middle infield, though, replacing Kennedy/Izturis with Schumaker/Greene.

With last year's run prevention the Cardinals look like an 89 win team. The concern is that a defensive slip or rotation injury could shave 4-5 wins off that projection.

Bottom line: The Cardinals switched up their middle infield and added lefty relievers, and hope a healthy rotation can keep them in contention in '09.

Tim Dierkes · March 25, 2009

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, lefty Royce Ring was placed on waivers by the Cardinals. If he clears, he'll have the option of heading to Triple A or electing free agency. The Cards don't have a need for Ring given the presence of Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes.

Tim Dierkes · March 23, 2009

Links for Monday…

Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the minor league transactions, including the Dodgers' signing of J.D Durbin.
Marc Lancaster of the Tampa Tribune says Rays Rule 5 pick Derek Rodriguez, a reliever, has been returned to the White Sox.
Yahoo's David Brown talked to Carlos Pena about many topics, including his agent Scott Boras.
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Padres received pitcher Luke Gregerson as the player to be named later in the Khalil Greene deal. The other player the Padres received, the now-injured Mark Worrell, was also a minor league closer. Given the state of the Padres' pen, Gregerson could reach the Majors this year. UPDATE: Here is Paul DePodesta's take on Gregerson.
MLB.com's Ken Gurnick noted yesterday that the Dodgers cut pitcher Shawn Estes, and he's yet to decide whether to accept a Triple A assignment. UPDATE: Estes will head to the minors and attempt to reinvent himself as a lefthanded specialist.
Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald quizzed Hanley Ramirez about Boston's attempt to reacquire him in November.
MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan wonders about Frank Catalanotto's future. Useful player, but the Rangers would have to eat most of his $6MM to move him.
Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post talked to Nationals president Stan Kasten about the six-year, $50MM Stephen Strasburg rumor. We all know how Boras works…if he wants $25MM for Strasburg, he starts at $50MM.
South Side Sox and Sox Machine comment on the Gavin Floyd extension, as well as the offers to John Danks and Carlos Quentin.
Talking to David Lennon of Newsday, Tom Glavine responded to Pedro Martinez's distaste for signing a "Glavine-like" contract.
Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun spoke to Aubrey Huff, who "doesn't even understand the concept of a contract push."
Ivan Rodriguez explained to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez why he didn't sign with the Marlins.

March 18, 2009

If things go better they can adjust accordingly. If things go worse (economy, attendance) then it could go the other way. But he hopes to be able to make a move if they need it.

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