Results tagged ‘ St. Louis Cardinals ’
2009 Season Outlook: Second Base
The second base job was originally slated to go to Adam Kennedy, but after his surprise release from the Cardinals, second base has become one position that will not be filled until Opening Day.
Brendan Ryan is front-runner heading into spring training as he played in 80 games while hitting .244 with no homeruns and only 10 RBIs. For the games that Ryan did play in, it was usually giving starters like Troy Glaus, Adam Kennedy, or any of the outfielders a day of rest as he was the backup for practically every position on the field.
However, this does show his versatility and that he can be an every day player. He is considerably one of the younger guys on the team, but has shown that he has good fielding ability to off-set his sometimes poor batting.
This season will probably be make or break for Ryan as he competes for the open second base job. If he does not get it, then he will probably play the same role as last season, which was only filling in for guys that were injured or needed rest. If that is the case, then Ryan could be trade bait come next offseason.
Skip Schumaker can’t seem to make enough headlines for the Cardinals this spring. Even though he is almost guaranteed a starting outfield job, he is listed second on the depth chart for second base.
Last year, Schumaker was one of the surprises as he worked his way into the lineup and played in 153 games while hitting .302 with only 8 homeruns and 46 RBIs. His numbers show that he doesn’t hit for power as much as he hits for average. Comparisons could be made to David Eckstein, as he’s able to put the bat on the ball wherever it is thrown.
As I said in the first base post a few days ago, Schumaker is very versatile and it is very rare that he will get injured. There are at least five positions on the diamond that he could potentially play which could be good news for La Russa if he doesn’t feel comfortable placing an unexperienced rookie into the lineup quickly.
Last but not least, there is Joe Thurston. Thurston played for the Boston Red Sox last season, but only played in 4 games with 8 at-bats. He didn’t record any hits, but his on-base percentage was .111, with only one strikeout. This shows that he can put the ball in play and if he has any speed, he might be able to beat out some slow rollers.
– John Thomas
2009 Season Outlook: First Base
This is the second in a series of posts previewing each position and the pitching staff before the start of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals season.
Albert Pujols. There’s not much else that can be said for the two-time NL MVP who won the coveted award last year. With first base another position that the Cardinals already have set, Pujols looks to have an injury-free season and improve even more on his already gawdy numbers from last year.
Last year, Pujols played in all but 14 games, hitting .357 with 37 homeruns and 116 RBI’s. These numbers are amazing given the fact that Pujols practically played with a sore elbow all year and only missed those 14 games due to a knee injury.
However, being the workhorse that he is, Pujols always works as hard as he can to stay healthy and help his team as much as possible.
Along with being considered by other Major Leaguers as one of the most feared hitters in baseball today, Pujols has shown he is not just a one-dimension baseball player. He showed throughout the 2008 season that he can play a heck of a first base. Look for Albert to make a case for a second Gold Glove of his career.
Basically, the biggest question with Pujols is his health. With his sometime troublesome knees and elbow, having him out of the lineup can be the difference in contending for the NL Central and not even being in the conversation for making the playoffs. With Pujols in the lineup, the Cardinals can count on him to carry them on his back and be playoff contenders all year long.
According to the depth chart, Chris Duncan is the second string first-baseman behind Albert Pujols. Even though he endured a rough year in 2008 playing in only 76 games while hitting .248 with only 6 homeruns and 27 RBI’s, the son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan looks to rebound and show he can still hit for power and average which is what he showed in 2007.
Duncan will be someone that will get limited playing time at first base if Pujols stays healthy, but with his ability to also play outfield, it will be tough for him to get playing time there as well with the Cardinals plethora of outfielders. Unless Duncan has an amazing spring, don’t look for him to get much playing time granted the majority of the team stays healthy.
It is also possible that Skip Schumaker could get some looks as first base. Even though he will be working this spring for the open second base job, his versatility shows that he could almost play anywhere on the diamond. If the second base job doesn’t work out for Schumaker, he could easily become Albert Pujols’ backup in a heartbeat.
- John Thomas
2009 Position outlook: Catcher
This is the first in a series of posts previewing each position and the pitching staff before the start of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals team begins the season.
While several positions on the 2009 Cardinals’ roster have not been determined yet, several are easily and by far manned – and have been for some time. One of those spots where Cardinals’ fans can expect a familiar face is at catcher, where perennial backstop Yadier Molina stills owns home plate.
Molina is known as a purely defensive catcher, but the Puerto Rico native hit a career high .304 at the plate last year. He also had career highs in at-bats (444), hits (135), RBI (56), runs (37), on-base percentage (.349) and slugging percentage (.392).
All that being said, Molina still won his first career Gold Glove award in 2008 – showing that he did not lose any of his defensive skill in finally becoming a presence at the plate.
2009 looks to continue to be a great year for Molina, as he once again has a dependable backup to give him rest and no stress when he can’t be behind the plate.
LaRue turned out to be a great pickup for the Cardinals – and he would have looked a lot better if St. Louis had half a bullpen last year.
-Brady Holzhauer
QuickBlast: Ankiel Update
Matthew Leach just reported over at http://yourenotagolfer.mlblogs.com/
that Rick Ankiel and the Cardinals have settled on a deal and no arbitration will be necessary. Details of the deal can be found on Leach’s blog.
This is great news for the Cardinals, and Ankiel will once again be the center fielder for the Cardinals.
-Brady
Video Blog Update: 2/12/2009
If you would like to download the video, you can do so with the following link:
Brewers continue to take Cards’ pitchers
Does it strike anyone else as interesting that the Cardinals every year manage to steal under-producing and frequently-injured players away from other teams, only to see them find the utmost success in St. Louis (Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter, Jeff Suppan, Braden Looper, etc.)?
Then there’s the opposite end of this, where other teams continue to take these players away in the offseason, only for them to disappoint on a ridiculously high level. Weaver, as well all know, was a playoff superstar in 2006. As soon as he left, the then Mariner’s ERA skyrocketed. Suppan pitched like a Cy Young winner in the 2006 playoffs, but the day he stepped in at Milwaukee, the Brewers got themselves an average pitcher.
Now, it’s happened again. The Cardinals turned around Braden Looper’s career and made him a starter – and it paid off. He provided much needed depth in the rotation and pitched very well at times, but that magic must have worn off, because I’m hearing Milwaukee has signed Looper to a one-year deal.
The ramifications of this are pretty high, actually. Releasing Kennedy was one thing, because it opened up room for Colby Rasmus in the outfield, with Skip Schumaker moving to second base.
But losing Looper to a division rival is unnacceptable. Carpetner isn’t even for sure ready to go, and they just took away a legit starter from the Cardinals.
The supposed one year deal has an option for 2010, but who knows if they’ll ever pick that up.
Best of luck to Looper, but this one falls on Cardinals management.
Eventually, other teams WILL find St. Louis’s players as diamonds in the rough, and it will come back to haunt the Cardinals in the season – especially when Looper outduels whoever the Cardinals throw at him on the mound all season long.
-Brady
Some Recent News
Since we got the blog started tonight, I’d like to take this opportunity and write about a couple of things that have happened in the major league baseball world over the last month. Please post as many comments as you’d like, I’d love to see what some of you think about these topics.
1. Former Yankees manager Joe Torre (now with the Los Angeles Dodgers) has a new book that he co-wrote with Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci. Torre’s book, The Yankee Years, is a 500-plus page book that details his stay in New York, dealing with the pressures of managing the Yankees and all of their high-profiled players, including Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, etc. I’ve watched and listened to several interviews that Torre has conducted with the national media about his book over the last couple of weeks and I find it really interesting that he even decided to do this book. I have not read the book, but supposedly, he gives lots of details about certain players and even talks about the day he was basically fired from the Yankees. I think insight books like this are always fun to read and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the New York Yankees are all about through the eyes of Joe Torre, one of the most respected people in baseball today.
And, oh yeah. I guess the Dodgers were pretty smart when they hired Torre last year, because they put a clause in his contract that states he’s not allowed to ever write any books about his years of managing the Dodgers. Does anybody else know any “weird” clauses in manger or player contracts, because I’m wondering how many teams will start putting this clause in every manager’s contract …
2. Alex Rodriguez — need I say more? Last Saturday, it was reported on Sports Illustrated’s Web site that he, in fact, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. To date, A-Rod is no doubt one of the biggest names to come out of this whole Steroid Era mess, and in a way, it’s really sad to see so many great players get busted. SI columnist Joe Posnanski recently did great column about players like Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens and if they should be voted into the Hall of Fame for their “apparent” involvement in the Steroid Era. Verducci also recently wrote a column where he claims A-Rod’s interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons was a complete joke. Both columns are really good reads.
3. When the story about Roberto Alomar broke Wednesday afternoon, I was actually pretty shocked. This is a pretty serious case — and if you haven’t read the story, check it out here on the NY Daily News’ Web site. When I read that Alomar apparently has AIDS, the first thing I thought about was MLB umpire John Hirschbeck. Hirschbeck got spit on by Alomar in 1996 after Alomar disagreed with a call he made at third base. I don’t know about you guys, but if I’m Hirschbeck, I think I’d be getting tested for HIV really soon!
4. Last, but not least, Cardinals spring training games are literally only days away. The first game is on Feb. 25 against the Florida Marlins at 11:05 CST. I know this a bit ridiculous to do, but the Cardinals play 32 spring training games — how many do you think they’ll win? What’s the over-under? I think I’m going to go with 20-12.
– Nathan Allen
The Redbird Media have arrived
It’s a chance for journalists to do things they can’t do in the workplace – be fans, give their opinion, talk trash, and do it all with the readers paying close attention. We all here strive to bring you the best, most informative, most entertaining posts on all blogs out there – for free!
Yet this is no ordinary blog. We plan on bringing you more than just writing. We will be including in our blog video updates as often as possible, as well as a weekly online talk show devoted to the Cardinals and the fans who want to listen. We will bring all our talents to the table, as well as our weaknesses…after all, what fun is a blog without readers disagreeing or making fun of us?
Some of us have blogged before, others have not. But all of us share two things in common for sure: we love Cardinals baseball, and we love to write. Luckily, we all bring uniqueness to the table. Take for example John Thomas, a broadcast journalism student at the University of Arkansas. He brings youth and a true yearning to work hard and be a great journalist. He works in radio and also was a one-time co-host of a sports talk show in Northwest Arkansas.
Next there is Brandon Harris, a former sportswriter and a one-time intern with Major League Baseball. He’s been inside the driving force of the blogging network before, and he knows his baseball. On top of that, he lives in Memphis and will be bringing us top-notch updates on the Memphis Redbirds farm team.
There is Nathan Allen, another longtime Cardinals fan and writer for The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, a highly respected regional newspaper in Springdale, Arkansas. Nathan is also a senior at the University of Arkansas, and is in his final year as a journalism major. He has been on various radio shows before, has tons of blog experience and absolutely brings a lot to the table in terms of sheer talent and personality.
Last (and probably least) is myself, Brady Holzhauer. Some of you might know me – I used to blog here myself on the blog “In the Cards.” I had a lot of fun with it, and that’s why I’m back. As of right now, I’m currently working for KFSM Channel 5 News in Fayetteville and am a freshman at the University of Arkasnas. I also work for Arkansas Sports 360, a magazine and website, but my internship is nearly completed.
I decided to create this blog with a lot of my closest journalist friends and fellow Cardinals’ fans to bring something new and different to the table. MLBlogs is where it’s at, and we hope to bring you the Cardinals’ coverage you enjoy the most!
On the other hand, don’t let this stop you from reading the other great Cardinals’ blogs out there. We read them, too.
When pitchers and catchers report, we’ll report here too. Until then, keep waiting with us, baseball season is just around the corner.
-Brady Holzhauer
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