Dear Milwaukee Brewers,

Congratulations on your NL Central Division Pennant for 2011. We'll take it from here. Tell Nyjer Morgan we said hi. I'm not going to say that him and his horrible mouth are entirely the reason we're going to the World Series this year, but karma is a bitch. Thanks again and special thanks to Prince Fielder for earning us homefield advantage with his performance in this year's All-Star Game. We will do our best to bring home a championship in his honor!

Love, Tim (A St. Louis Cardinals Fan)

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Hey all. First of all, I am stoked on Westbrook being signed to a contract that doesn't seem like a complete ripoff. Granted I'm going to be nervous for every million dollars we put towards signing someone before we've finalized a new deal with Pujols, but we essentially traded Penny's contract for Westbrook's.

While I feel that Pujols should be the next thing we do even if it means we miss out on signing a has-been shortstop like Edgar Renteria or Miguel Tejada, I did have one idea and was wondering what you all thought of it. HINT: It's in the subject line.

I feel Jeff Suppan should be signed; although he'd have to do so on our conditions, to basically fulfill the role he got last year when we brought him on for the minimum at the end of the season. I think he'd be just fine as a long reliever and occasional spot starter if only for the right price. However the issue is that there's probably a small chance some team somewhere might be interested in signing him as a starter. And it's understandable that starting is the role Suppan would be searching for if possible. It's what he's used to, it's what gets you recognition, and more importantly starters make more money than relievers.

However if no one bites, preferably near this offseason's end, I'd like to think Suppan would face the facts that no one would trust him as a full-time starter after his last few years in Milwaukee. If he truly feels he has some more years in him and wants to be a full-time starter again, he'd have to earn it with a solid performance as a long reliever/spot starter.

 Think about it, guys. If the price were right, would it honestly be worse than giving that type of role to Blake Hawksworth or PJ Walters again? We saw signs of life out of Suppan. It was a small sample size but it made me think that maybe it was as simple as returning back to his fond memories of wearing the birds on the bat for him to get on the road to recovery from his horrifying stint with the Brewers.

One year, $1 million? Not sure if that's even within the realm of possibility considering the huge money he had with his last contract. But he'd have to understand, this wouldn't be like taking a flyer on Ben Sheets, Rich Harden, Brad Penny, Brandon Webb, or Chien-Ming Wang. He doesn't have an injury to use as an excuse for his skill dropping off the face of the Earth. And he wasn't ever an ace, either, despite the Brewers giving him ace money in 2007. Signing anyone from that group I just mentioned (I'm pretending it's still the 2009 offseason for most of them, I know) is what is known as "low risk, high reward." Suppan should be considered "low risk, mid-ranged reward" at this point.

What do you guys think? If you're interested in bringing back Suppan, what do you think the contract should look like?

Heh.

Did any of you think this would happen?

So, what happens to him now?

Wish we would have gotten Cliff Lee for him.  Funny how things work out.  He's only 3 years removed from his game one of the world series win against the Tigers.


It's depressing to think what might have been.  Wonder where he goes now.

Oh hey, this post still needs some more words for me to be able to post it.  I hope these words will cover what is necessary.

According to Derrick Goold.  Oh well.  I'm gonna be honest and say I think we'll be fine.

He showed some promise initially but I doubt he does much in the majors.  Hopefully I'm not wrong about that.  As much as I want him to have some success down the line, he is now a Cub.


By the way sorry if someone else mentioned this here already but I couldn't find a post mentioning it.  Then again, I didn't really look too hard...

Let's get serious here.  We've got strengths and weaknesses.  I would like to express my opinions on a lot of different things at this time.

Albert Pujols is awesome.  Hope we start contract discussions this Winter.

I am stoked that we decided not to trade away Colby Rasmus and/or Brett Wallace for Roy Halladay or Matt Holliday or the Christmas Holidays.

Speaking of Rasmus, he's our CF for years to come and I hope he wins Rookie of the Year for the NL considering I can't really think of anyone else worthy of it.  I dunno though there's probably a pitcher somewhere who deserves it.  Hey, did the All-Star team have any rookies?  I can't remember for the life of me.

Speaking of Wallace he's our 3B for years to come.  His defense is getting better.  Hope he's ready for 2010 although we have options if he isn't.

Mark DeRosa will come around.  He's not Khalil Greene.  He hit a slump and got injured immediately upon joining this team, but the trade cannot be called a bust yet.  If anything, he's made some slick defensive plays since joining.  And really, I'd rather he work out his kinks offensively and play 3B everyday instead of giving more time to Joe Thurston.

If Rick Ankiel's hurt then he's been hurt since September 2008.  The guy has meltdowns, we know this.  This just happens to be a season-long meltdown for him.  He's done, guys.  I'd say DL him and not bring him back until September.  Then use him for late-inning defense.  I wish him the best after this season but I hope we don't re-sign him.  Dunno who'd take him though.  Watch him become a Cub?

I'm sure it will come out that Chris Duncan is playing hurt too.  Today he was 0-3 with two strikeouts.  He's batting like Joe Thurston.  If he's out of options I'd say we need to DFA him.  I'd rather give LF to Stavinoha or maybe call up Jon Jay.  Or if Troy Glaus becomes servicable at LF (which I am thinking will probably go over about as well as the Khalil Greene at 3B experiment)...

Khalil Greene?  Ugh.  Keep him on the DL until he remembers how to hit.  Same with Ankiel.  Or release him.  At least we got 5 home runs out of him (of course the last 3 came on days we were leading anyway).

Brendan Ryan is awesome.  Hope he's our SS for the next few years.  I like him over Tyler Greene for now.

Skip Schumacher has become league average at 2B.  And his batting average is up, too.  No one should complain about his job on the team anymore.

Joe Thurston actually probably should be on the team but only off of the bench.  I'd say he makes me miss Aaron Miles but seeing how terrible Miles has been this year as a Cub I think we made the right decision regarding him.

What are the odds that Adam Kennedy would remember how to hit the year we release him?  Too little, too late I guess.

GET RID OF TODD WELLEMEYER.  Do not replace him with Brad Thompson, either.  Let someone who may be a future starter for us have some shots, such as Boggs or Mortensen.  Shame Boggs hasn't impressed at Memphis after his short stint as a Cardinal this year.  I really thought he was here to stay after that.  Or that he'd be back sooner than later.

P.J. Walters needs more time to marinate in the minors.

I hope Jess Todd isn't the PTBNL in the DeRosa deal.

I hope we find a way to keep Joel Pineiro after this year.

Kyle Lohse will rise again like the sun.

Chris Carpenter should be among the leaders in ERA now.  How many more IP does he need to be counted?  I'd say he is a Cy Young contender but I think Dan Haren might have this one.  If Carpenter pitches this way the next two years or at least one more year I'll say his contract extension was worth the money, even with 2 years down the drain with no results.  At least he isn't Jason Schmidt.

I love Carpenter>Wainwright>Pineiro>Lohse.  Very effective.  My only beef is #5.

Ryan Ludwick is back!  I knew he'd come back around.  I hope he's solid the rest of the year so people realize last year wasn't a fluke.

Molina is awesome.  It'd be cool if Matt Pagnozzi became the backup next year.

Ryan Franklin is incredible.  Truly an all-star worthy of recognition.  I can't say enough about how amazed I am by him and his beard.  Funny that his only real blemish is a homerun from Micah freakin-Owings.  However he's not alone there, Wainwright gave up a HR to him as well.  Anyway, I'm sure we extend Franklin for at least next year.  The thing is, if Motte becomes a truly effective set-up man over time, maybe we don't have a real closer-in-waiting beyond Franklin.  Hmm.

Ok guys that was a lot to get off of my chest.  Sorry this post was schizophrenic in nature.  Will do my best in the future to think things out better.

Go Cardinals!

Just noticed this tonight: http://www.halosheaven.com/2009/4/11/830722/our-baseball-family?login=1239602678

Thought it was very nice of Halos Heaven to recognize everyone who stopped by to pay their respects in regard to the passing of Nick Adenhart.

Thanks to all who did, we as St. Louisans understand what it's like to lose someone.  We must always do our best to represent St. Louis in the most positive of ways..  Makes me proud to be a Cardinals fan when we all come together :)

Just wanted an excuse to poll everyone on who you think the Cardinals' new closer should be?  Ever since I saw Josh Kinney close out game 3 of the 2006 NLCS vs. the Mets I have always been an advocate of him being the closer of the future, or at least our 8th inning man.

Ryan Franklin's been doing great this spring, and even though Tony will probably give it to him because of his age, I'm starting to think maybe he should be our long relief guy like Brad Thompson sometimes is.  He did pretty well the other day in this role.  Plus he blew too many saves last year.

Jason Motte's been perfect.  I'm worried he doesn't have enough tools for the job, however.

And as for Chris Perez, he isn't exactly setting the world on fire.  Maybe Perez should be setting up Motte, and not vice versa.

I even read one time Tony was talking about giving it to Trever Miller, but this isn't really a great idea.  He's old, he's not the way of the future, and he's better as a left-handed specialist.  I'd sooner go with Dennys Reyes, but I'd also rather use him as a specialist, or at least long relief.

My overall pick is Kinney, but he's the dark horse at this point for the job.  What do you all think?

...is failing, at least in Joe Strauss' opinion from the Post-Dispatch.  It's even up on mlbtraderumors.com.

I am shocked I haven't seen more discussion on this site about Skip's errors.  He just made his fourth today.  It's getting to the point where something's gotta give, and according to Strauss, Tony's considering having Skip as the DH tomorrow.

I've been excited throughout ST because of Skip at 2nd.  The thought of having his bat in the lineup everyday and also having Ludwick, Ankiel, a platoon of Duncan/Barton/Rasmus in the outfield having their bats in the lineup everyday is a great thing.  However Tony is dissapointed in how Skip's doing so far.

I have attached a poll to this post because I am curious as to what you all think the next step should be.  Personally, I want to keep Skip at 2nd because I still feel the good outweighs the bad.  I'm probably in the minority on that one, however.

Keep in mind though; if Skip goes back to the outfield then you can bank on Colby Rasmus being the starting CF for AAA Memphis for certain where they will probably keep him until September, hoping to groom him to be Ankiel's full-time replacement in 2010 when Ankiel's contract is up.

Well the Angels signed Fuentes.  Did anyone else see this coming?  I'm sure both sides of that equation are overjoyed.  Meanwhile the Cardinals are left at the altar.  Oh well.  It's not like he would have made much of a difference over Perez/Motte/Kinney.

I just hope we don't get desperate and re-sign Izzy.

Kinney's my choice, by the way.  I was at the NLCS game 3 in 2006 vs. the Mets when Kinney closed out the game perfectly.  And after his practically flawless comeback at the end of last year (which no one seemed to notice) I am convinced that if given a chance Josh Kinney could be our man for the 9th.

2 yrs.. 2.2 million.. go to www.mlbtraderumors.com for more details..

This kind of breaks my heart, ya know?

I still don't know why we nontendered him in the first place.  I hope Joe Thurston works out.  The Cubs just traded DeRosa to the Indians, which is good I guess since DeRosa has always been a Cardinal-killer..  Guess Miles will be their starter now?

We'll just have to see what happens..

Taken from the Cardinals' mlb.com page:

"The Cardinals also signed left-handed reliever Ian Ostlund to a Minor League contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. He was a free agent from the Detroit Tigers' organization.

Ostlund was 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA last summer for Triple-A Toledo. He had 77 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 69 2/3 innings. In 299 career Minor League games, he has a 28-21 record, 26 saves and a 3.15 ERA."

Anyone else have a good feeling about this?  Maybe he'll be our new Russ Springer?  Thoughts?  Anyone have info on this guy?

Just for fun, I decided to give each player we've had all year a grade.  I tried to include every player that has donned the birds on the bat this year, even only temporarily (I threw Clement in just for fun).  Feel free to critique this or ask questions.  Didn't feel like including explanations.  I feel the grades are self-explanatory.

Rick Ankiel - B

Brian Barton - B-

Mitchell Boggs - C-

Chris Carpenter - B+

Matt Clement - Expelled

Chris Duncan - D

Randy Flores - D-

Ryan Franklin - D

Jaime Garcia - B

Troy Glaus - B+

Jason Isringhausen - F

Cesar Izturis - C+

Kelvin Jimenez - C-

Adam Kennedy - C

Jason LaRue - C-

Kyle Lohse - A-

Braden Looper - B+

Felipe Lopez - C+

Ryan Ludwick - A+

Joe Mather - B

Kyle McClellan - A

Aaron Miles - B

Yadier Molina - A-

Mark Mulder - F-

Mike Parisi - D+

Chris Perez - B+

Joel Pinero - C

Albert Pujols - A+

Anthony Reyes - Truant

Brendan Ryan - C-

Skip Schumacher - A-

Russ Springer - B

Nick Stavinoha - D

Brad Thompson - B+

Ron Villone - C

Adam Wainwright - B+

Rico Washington - D-

Todd Wellemeyer - B+

Mark Worrell - C

Dave Duncan - B+

Tony La Russa - A-

I'm pretty sick of our twin save-blowers, Izzy and Franklin, as I'm sure you all are too.

I don't see us making a trade before the deadline for the answer, either, be it Fuentes or Sherril.

Chris Perez isn't ready yet, and even if he were, LaRussa wouldn't give it to him.

Here's an idea that won't happen but I think it should:

Braden Looper.  He was a closer years ago and he was a decent setup man for us in 2006.  He's been halfway decent as a starter, but we are going to presumably have reinforcements in Wainwright and Carpenter coming within a month or so. 

I trust Looper can get through 1-2 innings without giving up a homerun, at least most of the time.  I mean, he's no K-Rod, but he'd be a slight upgrade over our alternatives.

Anyone wanna give their opinion on this, why it should/shouldn't happen?

P.S.- And the idea is that Chris Perez would be ready by 2009.

Hey all.  I have a couple ideas that I am wondering what you all think about..

What happens if Mulder doesn't pan out as a starter, which is the most likely possibility?  Do we stick with him in relief until the end of the year, DFA him, or will he inevitably become fake-injured again and go to the DL/rehab assignments (where he will thrive at AA and fail at AAA)?

Another possible scenario is what happens if Wellemeyer has another bad start and it is discovered that he needs to go on the DL for his elbow?

I mean, I am hoping Wainwright comes back before we'd need to resort to Thompson, Boggs, or Reyes again.  And I'd like to think that Chris Carpenter will start at least one game before this season is said and done.

But I think we need to consider Kyle McClellan.  It won't hurt him to make a spot start if necessary.  Next year he should be one of our starters.  He has some serious potential.

Otherwise, trade for someone?

The rotation is so confusing right now.  Thanks for any input on my ideas.