SB Nation User Blog: That's a Winner

The Riverfront Times Aaron Schafer interviews Larry Borowsky

That's a Winner — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:04:53 -0000

The Riverfront Times Aaron Schafer interviews Larry Borowsky

the red baron interviewing lboros, how has this not already been posted as a fan shot on veb? although all the capital letters in larry's responses threw me a little. apparently when he talks aloud he speaks with caps. who knew? the kmox part is priceless.

The IQ Test

That's a Winner — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:26:11 -0000

I for one have never taken and would hate to find out how miserably I would do on any IQ test. Hell I would lose on that smarter than a 5th grader show. But I started thinking about who is the smartest person in the Cardinals organization. I thought this would be a good idea for a poll. Of course there is a difference between intellectual IQ and baseball IQ. I don't think Steven Hawking would make a very good manager just like Tommy Lasorda isn't going to find a unified field theory. Well, to be fair, maybe Tommy is working on it and I'm in the dark. Just don't think he will be the one to find it. But for this I'm thinking of a mixture of both. Who is the smartest Cardinal? Here are my candidates but I'm sure there are many more depending on what you find the most important attributes (street smarts for example).

Tony LaRussa: Our favorite barrister is an easy choice. He has that law degree and with over 3000 wins under his belt, the ticket to Cooperstown has already been punched. The man more then once has been described as a genuine genius. He even has his own theme music. No doubt he fits the criteria, but he has competition.

John Mozeliak: Being smart should be a prerequisite to be a GM, but it doesn't always seem to be. There have been some really dumb ones but I don't see that in Mo. Tony thinks he wears nice ties and those glasses do make him look smart. Since he's calling the shots lets hope he is the smartest one. But he might not have the highest score on an IQ test in his own front office.

Jeff Luhnow: The St. Louis Cardinals Vice President of Amateur Scouting and Player Development (he must have some really small print on those business cards) is one smart dude. He has an ubersmart collection of Ivy league PhD mathematicians and other saber guru's working for him. (is it just me or does saber guru sound like the baseball version of a Jedi Knight?) If you need to know more about him he will ,once in a while , do a Q & A. (am I the only person who doesn't have his E-mail address?) He is living the dream of every player of fantasy baseball. Getting Pujols for $10 in a keeper league his rookie year is impressive, but not as impressive as Mo going to Kansas City and actually getting Albert himself. We will see in the next few years how his fantasy skills and corporate knowledge translate to wins with the big club. He does have one big backer in the organization, our team president.

Bill DeWitt III: I wish I was smart enough to have been born rich.

We shouldn't limit this to just management since we have a player that must be put into consideration.

Brian Barton: Intellectually he is hands down the smartest player on the team, maybe in the game. If that helps in his play is open to debate, he seems to think so. He is the only one in the poll I would trust to launch me into space. As for baseball IQ he is also the only one in the poll to be currently playing the game at the major league level. Granted it's only because he was a rule V pick, maybe another argument for Mo or Jeff not sure which. I think the Cleveland Indians fans are still holding out hope we'll send him back, does when pigs fly mean anything to them. Brian has the knowledge to create something for those aviator swine, but he I doubt he will because I think he likes it here. His goal is to visit every country on earth and that got the hamster wheel in my head spinning, a dangerous thing for both myself and anyone around me. We know he did his internship at Boeing, but that's a big company. What did he do there? Did he work in their own version of Skunkworks? Could he have been recruited by the "The Company"? They tell him to keep playing ball because it's a good cover after all an aerospace engineer traveling to the Sudan might trigger some red flags. But a pro baseball player who looks like a rastafarian stoner can go anywhere without causing concern. (To those computers they have that read EVERYTHING that was a joke, if I was somehow right please don't black bag me, I don't think I would like Cuba that much.)

The next candidate may not be officially a member of the Cardinals organization, but the the team seems heed his sage advice.

Larry Borowsky: That's right, lboros the illustrious founder of this site. His baseball knowledge in unquestioned and with all the statistical analysis he has shown his intellectual prowess. Why else would SB nation make him the manager over all their MLB blogs? (LB, can you take bleed cubbie blue offline during our games against them? That way we can really shut up those annoying cub fans.) I know a few people on this list listen to what he has to say. Tell the team sign Kyle Lohse, done. They should start Ryan Ludwick everyday, done. Tells them to give me a job in the front office, done. (Well maybe not the last one, but we won't know until he tries. Suggest it in a post, please.) Like all savants he does have his idiosyncrasies, a paranoid distrust of small sample sizes and strange aversion to the shift key that I'm naming lborosaphobia. He does have many commendable traits. Lover of the environment, political activist, novelist and apparently an aspiring documentary scriptwriter. Is there anything this man can't do? Little known fact is that on top of all that he has a thriving medical practice. (That is you, right Larry? Because I set up a appointment for Friday, this gas is just killing me.)

That leaves just one more for your consideration.

Monty Brewster: The title character from the movie Brewster's Millions ,played by the late great Richard Prior, was a baseball man. Cubs fan (nobody's perfect) and pitcher for the Hankensack Bulls. But his real genius came when he ran for Mayor of New York. His platform was for everyone to vote None Of The Above. So if you didn't see your guy on the list this one's for you. Just vote Monty and tell us who you would pick and why. There are a lot to choose from Red, Whitey, the guy who came up with the birds on the bat logo, whomever.

Well that"s my list, the poll follows below. I guess I should have warned everyone from the start that reading this post may lower the readers IQ by a few points but what's done is done. Hopefully to much damage wasn't inflicted.

Poll

Who is the Smartest Cardinal?

The Shady One

19 votes

Mo

6 votes

The Jedi Master

23 votes

The Silver Spoon

2 votes

The Secret Agent

24 votes

dr. lboros

25 votes

Monty Brewster

2 votes

101 votes | Poll has closed

2009 Free Agents

That's a Winner — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:18:32 -0000

Dear Diary,

Magic Mo seems to have done all he can this off-season and not a half bad job of it. But the FA list is almost done so I thought it would be a good time to look ahead to next off-season.

We should have money to spend, but what to spend it on. Below (If I did this right) is a list of 2009 Free agent lifted from MLBTR. He categorized them by position; the player's 2009 age is in parentheses. If he saw someone as a possibility at more than one position he put them at both.

Some players will resign before next year and some will retire but there are some good names that could help the cards alot. Some of them will be on the trade market mid-season.

OH BOY Cesar Izturis is a FA, I've been wanting to get him since '04.

Catchers
Michael Barrett (32)
Johnny Estrada (33)
Kenji Johjima (33)
Jason Kendall (35) - club option for '09; vests with 110 games played in '08
Paul Lo Duca (37)
Ivan Rodriguez (37)
David Ross (32)
Jason Varitek (37)
Gregg Zaun (38) - $3.75MM vesting option for '09; vests with 160 games played in '08

First basemen
Ben Broussard (32)
Carlos Delgado (37) - $16MM mutual option for '09 with a $4MM buyout
Nomar Garciaparra (35)
Jason Giambi (38) - $22MM club option for '09 with a $5MM buyout
Scott Hatteberg (39)
Kevin Millar (37)
Richie Sexson (34)
Mark Teixeira (29)

Second basemen
Mark Ellis (32)
Mark Grudzielanek (39)
Orlando Hudson (31)
Tadahito Iguchi (34)
Jeff Kent (41)
Felipe Lopez (29)
Mark Loretta (37)

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera (34)
David Eckstein (34)
Adam Everett (32)
Rafael Furcal (31)
Cristian Guzman (31)
Cesar Izturis (29)
Felipe Lopez (29)
Edgar Renteria (33) - $11MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Juan Uribe (30)
Omar Vizquel (42) - $5.2MM club option for '09 with a $0.3MM buyout

Third basemen
Casey Blake (35)
Hank Blalock (28) - $6.2MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Joe Crede (31)
Nomar Garciaparra (35)
Wes Helms (33) - $3.75MM club option for '09
Chipper Jones (37) - $8-11MM vesting option for '09

Left fielders
Moises Alou (42)
Garret Anderson (37) - $14MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Milton Bradley (31)
Pat Burrell (32)
Carl Crawford (27) - $8.25MM club option for '09 with $2.5MM buyout
Adam Dunn (29)
Cliff Floyd (36) - $3MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Raul Ibanez (37)
Jacque Jones (34)
Jason Michaels (33) - $2.6MM club option for '09
Craig Monroe (32)
Jay Payton (36)
Wily Mo Pena (27) - $5MM club option or $2MM player option for '09
Manny Ramirez (37) - $20MM club option for '09
Juan Rivera (30)

Center fielders
Rocco Baldelli (27) - $6MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout
Jim Edmonds (39)
Jacque Jones (34)
Mark Kotsay (33)

Right fielders
Bobby Abreu (35)
Casey Blake (35)
Milton Bradley (31)
Brian Giles (38) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Ken Griffey Jr. (39) - $16.5MM club option for '09 with a $4MM buyout
Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Jacque Jones (34)

DHs
Milton Bradley (31)
Pat Burrell (32)
Adam Dunn (29)
Jason Giambi (38) - $22MM club option for '09 with $5MM buyout
Vladimir Guerrero (33) - $15MM club option for '09 with a $3MM buyout
Raul Ibanez (37)
Manny Ramirez (37) - $20MM club option for '09
Juan Rivera (30)
Frank Thomas (41) - $10MM option for '09; vests with 376 PAs in '08
Jim Thome (38) - $13MM club option for '09 with $3MM buyout
Jose Vidro (34) - vesting option for '09

Starting pitchers
A.J. Burnett (32) - can opt out after '08 season
Paul Byrd (38)
Ryan Dempster (32)
Jon Garland (29)
Tom Glavine (43)
Orlando Hernandez (43)
Randy Johnson (45)
John Lackey (30) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $0.5MM buyout
Esteban Loaiza (37) - $7.5MM club option for '09 with a $0.375MM buyout
Braden Looper (34)
Derek Lowe (36)
Greg Maddux (43)
Pedro Martinez (37)
Matt Morris (34) - $9MM club option for '09 with a $1MM buyout
Jamie Moyer (46)
Mark Mulder (31) - $11MM club option for '09 with a $1.5MM buyout
Mike Mussina (40)
Brad Penny (31) - $8.75MM club option for '09 with a $2MM buyout
Oliver Perez (27)
Andy Pettitte (37)
Kenny Rogers (44)
C.C. Sabathia (28)
Johan Santana (30)
Curt Schilling (42)
Ben Sheets (30)
John Smoltz (42) - $12MM club option for '09
Tim Wakefield (42) - perpetual $4MM club option
Woody Williams (42) - $6.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Randy Wolf (32)

Closers
Joe Borowski (38)
Ryan Dempster (32)
Brian Fuentes (33)
Eric Gagne (33)
Trevor Hoffman (41)
Jason Isringhausen (36)
Todd Jones (41)
Brad Lidge (32)
Joe Nathan (34)
Al Reyes (38)
Francisco Rodriguez (27)
Rafael Soriano (29)

Middle relievers
Doug Brocail (42) - club option for '09
Juan Cruz (28)
Alan Embree (39) - $3MM club option for '09
Scott Eyre (37)
Kyle Farnsworth (33)
Aaron Fultz (35)
Tom Gordon (41) - $4.5MM club option for '09 with a $1MM buyout
LaTroy Hawkins (36)
Matt Herges (39) - club option for '09
Bob Howry (35)
Steve Kline (36)
Brandon Lyon (29)
Damaso Marte (34) - $6MM club option for '09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Guillermo Mota (35)
Will Ohman (31)
Darren Oliver (38)
Juan Rincon (30)
Russ Springer (40)
Mike Stanton (42) - $2.5MM club option for '09 with a $0.5MM buyout
Mike Timlin (43)
Salomon Torres (37) - $3.75MM club option for '09 with a $0.3MM buyout
David Weathers (39)
Dan Wheeler (31)
Kerry Wood (32)