I posted this over at my blog yesterday and got a good response, so I thought I'd repost it here.  Hope you enjoy it!

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Mozeliak."

The general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, John Mozeliak, looked up from the paperwork on his desk.  Running a baseball team might be enjoyable and have great perks, but it never stops.

"Thank you, Molly.  I hope you have a nice holiday as well.  Are you visiting family?"

Molly nodded.  "My parents are in town and we are having a nice family gathering.  How about you, sir?"

"Well, tomorrow will be, but tonight the wife and kids are visiting her family while I work on this paperwork and make some calls."

Molly frowned.  "Christmas Eve, alone?  That can't be fun."

Mozeliak smiled.  "True, but the job's the job, I'm afraid."

As the day wore on, more and more people came by to extend season's greetings to their boss before they slipped out the door, off to whatever the evening held for them.  One by one, the office lights were extinguished until it was just Mozeliak there, poring over paperwork and calculating numbers.

Suddenly, the phone rang.  Mozeliak glanced at the caller ID and, with a smile, picked up the phone.

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Last year, I did some approval ratings for those related to the Cardinals.  Players, announcers, management all came in for their share of the scrutiny.  Everyone gave their approval rating (on a scale from 0 to 100) and I averaged them out to get the total.

Instead of the numerous posts I did last year, this year I've made up a handy-dandy form for submissions.  You can register your opinion, then use this FanPost to discuss and debate, if you want.  I'll keep it up until next Friday (March 12) and then the week after that announce the results on my blog.

So register your opinion and let's see how Cardinal nation feels about these guys!

According to Bruce Sutter in his interview today with the United Cardinal Bloggers, he stated that he and the other living Cardinal Hall of Famers are scheduled to throw out the first pitch at the All-Star Game.

While it's not huge news, it's not something that I've seen anywhere else.

You can listen to that interview here and you can listen to some of our past shows (as well as last week's interview of Ozzie Smith) at Blog Talk Radio as well.

I want to express my appreciation to everyone that has participated in these the last couple of weeks.  It's been very interesting to see the differing opinions on people.  I was a little surprised at some, if not the overall results then some of the individual responses.

I had planned to do another player today, Ryan Ludwick, but I figured he would probably wind up in the 80% range without a lot of interest.  So instead I figured I'd go with someone sure to spark a conversation or, at the least, provide some feedback.

Bill DeWitt has been the face of Cardinal ownership since they bought the team back in '95.  Do you give him points for rescuing the team from the Brewery?  Do you knock him down for the apparent unwillingness to spend?

As always, 0-100.  Again, thanks to all!

Just two more approval ratings to go. I hope that you have been enjoying them.

Today's subject may be a little difficult to grade.  Do you give Rasmus points for his potential?  Do you look at his minor league body of work?  Does his dad's internet presence and comments about the organization mean anything to you?

Rating the center fielder of the future may be a tough one, but I'm very interested to see what y'all come up with.

 

The action returns to the field and, with Puerto Rico being eliminated last night, perhaps it's fitting today's scheduled subject is Yadi.

Really, I'm not sure of much of Yadi's downside.  I've not heard nasty off the field stories or seen him consistently fail on the field.

Still, perhaps you don't care that much for Yadi for whatever reason.  Or maybe you are a big fan.  Put your percentage in the comments and totals are, as always, here.

Sometimes, I just like to serve up the pitches and let you take a whack at them.

Al's got quite a reputation on the net, and from what I see most of it's not that good.  Does his career as a Cardinal temper that at all?  Are you one that actually kinda likes hearing Dan and Al banter during games?

Or are you, well, not a fan.

0-100, as usual.  Again, results over here.

One more week of the CN Approval Ratings, if you will indulge me.  Five more and then we'll call it a day, unless there are others you want to rate.

The next couple of days, we'll step back off the field and move into the broadcast booth.  Today, the radio side, as we look at Shannon's counterpart, John Rooney.

How do you feel about this most recent occupant of Jack Buck's seat?  Express your admiration or frustration in the form of a percentage between 0 and 100.  All results, as always, here.

For the weekend, a person sure to get plenty of responses.  I'd say he's polarizing, but that would mean people were on the extremes on both sides.

You don't have to look far for reasons to downgrade, whether it's the defense or his general reputation for uncouthness (as symbolized by his famous WS trophy picture).  He also, though, has a power lefty bat and has occasionally carried the team.

0? 100? In between?  Cast  your vote and remember the totals are up here.

Well, yesterday's was fun, wasn't it?  Nice to have one of those celebratory ones with the greatest player in baseball.

I'm sure today's subject won't receive quite the same adulation.  As with most people, there's pros and cons to Mr. Duncan.  He's been almost Scotty-like in his ability to be a miracle worker, but he's also been known to focus on his way even if his way doesn't seem to work.

So what rating do you give the pitching coach?

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for a mid-week break.  So we'll do an easy one, especially since it ties in to yesterday's news about the SI cover.

What kind of rating do you give Mr. Pujols?  I think we'd all stipulate he's one of the top 5 or so Cardinals of all time, which obviously factors in.

However, he's been known to have times where he's not too personable with fans and can drive people crazy with his baserunning.

So what say you?  Where does El Hombre rate on your 0-100 scale?

Remember, you can find all the results at my blog.

Today's subject is a little different than the past three.  (In case you want to see the results of the prior voting, you can check out the sidebar over at my blog.)  The last three have been long-time Cardinals, while Kyle Lohse is a more recent addition.

So how do you rate him?  Do you give him extra credit for pitching well under a cheap contract?  Do you knock him down for his new contract, plus that he's a Boras client?  Where does he fall in your estimation, between 0 and 100?

Time to delve into the players for a bit.

We all know Rick's story, from pitching prospect to starting center fielder.  He's had plenty of exciting moments, though had problems in clutch situations last year as well.

So, what approval rating percentage do you give Mr. Ankiel?  Remember, you can take into account anything you want, on the field, off the field.  Just your personal opinion of the guy, expressed in a percentage.

If you didn't participate yesterday, the concept is laid out here.

We move on from the manager and go up into the booth for the weekend.  Mike Shannon has been around the team a long time, as a player and as a broadcaster.  So what do you think about him?  Do Shannonisms drive you crazy?  Or can you not imagine Cardinal baseball without him?  (Or, heck, both?)

Give me a rating between 0 and 100 for the MoonMan.  We'll leave this up all weekend and total the votes up on Monday.

This is a project I'm starting to see how Cardinal Nation views the players and other figures in Cardinal Red. Here's the relevant part from my blog entry today:

Today I'm kicking off a project and I hope that all of you will help me with it. I was listening to ESPN Radio a couple of days ago and the host was talking about "approval ratings" for players. How he gave a certain basketball player a 90% because of what he did on the court but that certain tendencies (like flopping or acting) drug it down a little bit.

I want to take that concept into Cardinal Nation. What is your approval rating on certain Cardinals? There are two things to take into account when you are coming up with your number. Weight them however you want, of course. There's nothing objective about this exercise.

The first part is, of course, their play on the field. I imagine most of you would give Albert Pujols a 95 or higher on that part of his rating. Maybe his baserunning drives it down from 100 for you, though, or maybe he pops up too much for your taste.

The second part is your impression of them off the field. Some of you may have had contact with them and that influences your rating. Perhaps you ran into Pujols on a surly day, so you'd give him a 50 on his personal aspect of the rating because that's always lingered with you and shaded how you look at him.

Put them together and maybe AP gets an 85 in your book.

I want to start today with Tony LaRussa.  Maybe you think he's a good manager but you hate the sunglasses. Maybe you think he couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag but you give him points for ARF.

Come up with your percentage from 0% to 100%, however you want to do it, and post it here. I'll average the answers from here, my blog, and CardsClubhouse and report back with the first Cardinal Nation Approval Rating tomorrow.

Over at my blog today, I pondered the question of whether there was a player that was held in such low esteem as Bill Buckner was in Red Sox Nation before the 2004 and 2007 Series.

There were a couple that were not well liked (like Tino in his time here, perhaps Renteria right after he jumped to the Sox), but the only one I could really come up with was Garry Templeton.  Any other thoughts?

I know that it's not much of a problem around here, but some places ownership gets the "cheap" label slapped on them pretty regularly.  I just did a four-part series on my blog about that, and I would like a little feedback on the methodology and results.  (What I could have done better, what doesn't make sense, etc.)  Since I know there are plenty of statistically-minded people here, I thought I'd ask.  Thanks!

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Over at my blog, I asked the question of which Cardinal would you be for Halloween if money, race and gender were no object.

Would you be the superhero, Albert Pujols?  The mad scientist Whitey Herzog?  The truly scary Jeff Brantley?  And if you were macabre enough, would you go as Danny Jackson, with one arm detached from the shoulder?

Many various choices.  Who would you be and how would you put together your costume?

Torre says no to the Yankees.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3069115

Sounds to me like he said, "One year?  To do this all again plus have the threat hanging over me all year?  I don't think so."

If Cleveland wins tonight, I think we know what will fill the airwaves during the five day layoff before the Series starts.

Is there any place on the Internet to find out how many options a player has left?  

A rotisserie league that I am in is thinking of tying our minor league system to that, but I can't find anywhere that shows that Player X has 1 option or Player Y is out of them.  I know that service time (which I can find) is a big component of that, but that's not all of it.

Thanks in advance!

First off, thanks to lboros for letting me post the links here.

Over at CardsClubhouse, we play a game called YNOT.  (Some of you may have played before.)  Basically, it's a prediction game on (usually) the upcoming series, though we occasionally use it differently.  At the end of the series the cards are graded and results posted and we go to the next.  Numerous awards and titles to win, both cumulatively and each game.  No prizes, just the invaluable bragging rights.  

I won't post the links for every game, but they are usually up the day before the next series is to start.  (Ex: the Houston series will likely go live April 5.)

I'm not much on figuring out the codes to shrink these down, but here are the links to the active games we have going right now.  You will need to set up a CCH account, but it's free and easy.

The Mets series: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=377
A bonus YNOT just about Opening Night: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=378
Our season-long prediction YNOT: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=372

We also have a couple of general MLB ones going, if you are interested:

Season-long: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=373
Opening day: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=379

Hope to see you over there!  Post any questions/comments here and I'll do my best to answer them.  This is my sixth year to run YNOT at either the Clubhouse or FanHome and it seems to really have a following.

Anyone interested in a March Madness-type pool?  I can grade the picks and award the points, if so.  One of the few things I'm decent at is running board games, as any that have been at CardsClubhouse for any length of time know.

I'd assume the standard 1 point per correct pick in the first round, 2 per correct in the second, and so on.

'Course, if the reseeding happens, that could create a glitch in trying to do that.

Those that may be posters at CardsClubhouse or have seen me over at Fanhome/Insiders/Scout/Nameoftheweek have probably played YNOT before.

Those that haven't, YNOT is a predictive game we do before each series at the Clubhouse.  No prizes or anything, just the reward of knowing you kicked people's butt this time around.

If you are interested, the NLCS YNOT is now up at the following link.

http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/ynot/game_info.php?game_id=345