Have I mentioned how thrilled I am with this pick?  I was upset we didn't take him in round 2, to be honest.  Wasn't sure he'd slip to us in the 3rd.

For anybody that is still a doubter about this pick, I ask that you go watch some YouTube vids of him.  Being a Sooner fan, I've seen a lot of this guy over the past few years, and I can honestly say he runs some of the best routes (out of the slot) and has some of the best hands I've seen in some time.  Two years ago he had 11 catches for over 100 yards with a TD, and 2 punt returns for over 100 yards and a TD.  And that was a pretty salty OU team.

Shipley has no business being a #1 receiver in the NFL, but if you pair him up with some other talent (Ocho, Bryant, and Gresham), he is going to be tough to defend.  He isn't going to burn you on the deep routes, but here is what excites me most:  You put Shipley and Gresham in at the same time, and I don't see how a team can defend the middle of the field and still double a guy like Ocho.  SOMEWHERE, there will be a sizeable mismatch in our favor.

MLBRumors.com seems to think that the Card's are going to be one of the front-runners for this stud closer, and that the interest is mutual.

I'm not sure what to think.  On one hand, having a stud like that closing games out is exactly what we need, and plays into the way TLR manages.  On the other hand, the contract figures thrown out are 5/75M.  That is alot of coin for a closer.

I'm no expert on what that would do to STL's payroll next year, as in, how much cash that would leave us, blah, blah, blah.  Seems like it would tie up an awful lot of what we have to go after a SS.

That said, if we pretty much keep the offense intact and sign some kind of SS, resign Looper to be the 4th SP, add K-Rod to a pen of Perez, possibly Motte, Franklin, Thompson, Kinney, etc.....how much better of a team are we, and does that work financially?

So I went to the Memphis game in OKC last night.

Some thoughts:

- I hope I just caught them having a bad game, as nobody played particularly well.

- Rasmus.  First time I had seen him in person.  He was "thinner" than I had imagined.  Didn't look real sharp at the plate.  Showed a good arm from the outfield, but did air mail one into the 3rd base dugout, when a two hopper probably would have nailed the guy.  He also got picked off by the catcher at 1B.  Just a bad game, I hope, but based on what I saw, he could use a few months in AAA.

- Mather/Phelps.  Both of them looked thin as well.  Team has some good height though.  Mather has a nice swing, hopefully he'll be able to contribute as a backup in STL at some point.

- Hawksworth.  Good stuff.  Nice fastball, nice looking curve, and has some offspeed stuff.  Control.  Control.  Control.  Kid was all over the strike zone.  If he can figure out how to throw strikes, could be a 4/5 SP in the bigs.

- Castellanos didn't impress me a ton either.  Nice minor league guy, but I really don't see him having prolonged success at the ML level.

- Freese.  Didn't get to see him.  Was a little disappointed in that.  Same with Motte and Perez.