SB Nation Blog: BTown Birds fan

Injury insurance...?

BTown Birds fan — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:19:19 -0000

Apologies for the double post, but I just put this on the morning thread then saw that a game thread was up, and it seems like a reasonable topic/question for a diary.

Does anyone know what sort of insurance teams usually have on their high $$ players? I vaguely remember an insurance-related issue with Bagwell a couple years ago, where whether or not Houston could recover any of his salary for the year (from the insurance company, not him) depended on if/how much he played in spring training.

Taking Carp's example, it looks quite possible that he's done for this year, and maybe 2008 as well. Do the Cards have an insurance policy on him? Can we recover anything if he only pitches one regular season game this year? Can we recover anything if he doesn't pitch at all next year?

Spring training games on the radio

BTown Birds fan — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:40:11 -0000

I just did some fancy internet sleuthing (OK, it took one google search, and I found everything at the Birdhouse) to track down the ST radio broadcast schedule, and I figured some folks here might be interested. The first broadcast will be the Mets game on Thursday; more info (including ST TV broadcast info) here:
http://stlcardinals.scout.com/2/612398.html
I hope this isn't old news on VEB....

On an unrelated note, there's a feature on Eckstein at Yahoo Sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=As6VPYjZjjhP9TVzkAcaxcQRvLYF?slug=ti-mlb_07_eckstein022707& ;prov=yhoo&type=lgns

What does 83 really mean?

BTown Birds fan — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:33:42 -0000

A number of folks here and elsewhere have stated or implied that 83 wins is representative of how good the Cardinals were last year, and often how good they'll be this year since they haven't made any big moves. But how many people really think that 83 wins is indicative of how much talent is on this team? A number of important players were injured or underachieved last year - Edmonds, Mulder, and Izzy had extended injury-related performance issues. Eckstein missed a bunch of games. Marquis was terrible. Ponson was a failed experiment. Molina can't possibly be as bad a hitter as his numbers last year suggest (and his BABIP bears this out; I don't remember what it was but it was atrocious). Rolen was solid but wore down. Pujols missed a few weeks and had about 60 fewer AB than in past years.

Now Edmonds and Izzy appear to be healed (or close to it for Edmonds), Pujols feels great, Rolen is another year removed from surgery and that much stronger. Marquis and Ponson are gone and replaced by pitchers who will almost surely be improvements even if they're not great. Molina's hitting will have to be better (OK, not World Series good, but not .595 OPS either...). We've got Duncan for a whole season, and Reyes and Wainwright have another year's experience. We'll see what happens with Mulder, but until July his replacement can't possibly be as bad as he was last year unless I get the call.

Don't forget, last year's team was on pace for 100 wins through the middle of June (42-26 on June 18, right before they lost 20-6 at Chicago and things turned ugly). I don't think they're a 100 win team, but I don't think they're an 83 win team either. Low 90s seems completely achievable. (And that seems to be the general consensus here too based on michajo's 2007 win prediction diary, so I think I just answered my own question. Well, I spent all this time typing, so I guess I'll post anyway....)

Matheny retires due to concussion aftereffects

BTown Birds fan — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:52:19 -0000

From http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Albjw3OTflYg45m1yc.e66ERvLYF?slug=ap-giants-mathenyretires& ;prov=ap&type=lgns

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mike Matheny's decision to retire was made for him. His doctor refused to clear the longtime catcher to play in 2007 after a concussion sidelined him for the final four months of last season.

Matheny's announcement Thursday that he is hanging up his catching gear after 13 major league seasons came as no surprise. He didn't play again for the San Francisco Giants after May 31 following a series of foul tips he took in the mask -- and doctors warned him that he was more susceptible to even further damage if he received another blow.

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Here's hoping he's back with the Cards as a coach soon.

Mike Matheny

BTown Birds fan — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:43:30 -0000

This is probably old news here, but I haven't seen it mentioned. I was curious what Mike Matheny's status was when I saw that the Giants had signed Bengie Molina to a three year deal. I finally did a little looking around, and was surprised to find that Matheny's career is probably done due to the concussion he sustained last year. I knew it was pretty bad, but I didn't realize just how serious it was. I'm sorry that this is how the career of the "Toughest Man Alive" may end. He's also one of the classiest men in baseball, as near as I can tell, and I'm sure just about everyone would agree that the Cards owe a lot to him for Yadi's talents behind the plate.

Potential former players on the radio

BTown Birds fan — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:02:39 -0000

Listening to Mike Shannon, I was wondering about other former players who might have made good broadcasters (or current players who might eventually be good ones). After an initial warming-up period I've grown to love Shannon, with his unique take on the english language and his unabashed but mostly fair-minded homerism. (And I love his "c'mon, you Cardinals, we need some runs!" when they're behind in the late innings and coming up to bat.) But who else might have made a good Cards broadcaster?

I can't offer much of an informed opinion on former Cards - I lived STL 1997-2004, and I grew up in Albuquerque mostly following their AAA team (at the time), the Dukes. From more recent interviews I've heard, Gibson says some really smart, interesting things but is way too reserved and private to be on the radio all the time. Torre is fairly interesting but obviously otherwise engaged. More recently, Van Slyke is very interesting (I know he used to do studio commentary after Cards TV broadcasts on WB-11; maybe still does), and Andy Benes would be good. Kline would be the low-budget Howard Stern of baseball.

I could mention a few more random names, but I don't really have any particular candidates in mind, and I imagine a lot of you do. Any suggestions?