I'm doing this a little early this month because I'm bored and I'll probably be pretty busy the next few days. Stats are updated through about 10 PM last night. Again, if I've forgotton anyone or if you know of the whereabouts of other former Cardinals let me know and I can include them next time.

Top Hitters:                            PA          AVG.           OPS          HR          RBI

Adam Kennedy  (OAK)           75          .388          1.020            2            13

Russell Branyan  (SEA)       170         .311          1.006          11            23

Felipe Lopez   (ARZ)             183         .323            .865            4             10

J.D. Drew  (BOS)                   170         .252            .840            6             21

Scott Rolen (TOR)                 178         .297           .811             3            16

Fernando Tatis (NYM)            88         .275            .758             2            10

Coco Crisp (KC)                    191        .233            .743             3            14

Placido Polanco (DET)         190        .263            .672             1            21

Edgar Renteria (SF)              164        .248            .671             2            22       

Jack Wilson (PIT)                   108        .252            .653             1            16 

David Eckstein (SD)              178         .239           .633              0            14

Cesar Izturis (BAL)                 140        .256           .624              1            13

Aaron Miles (CHC)                104         .204           .515              0              4

Ronnie Belliard (WAS)            72         .164           .476              1              4

Miguel Cairo (PHI)                   17          .118          .235               0             0

Minor Leagues:                         PA       AVG.        OPS          HR          RBI    

Hector Luna (LAD)                   154        .369      1.086             9            36

Mike McCoy  (COL)                   160       .375        .981              1            19

Chris Richard (TB)                   158        .275       .955            11            36

Eliezer Alfonzo (SD)                  103       .323        .939              7            19

John Rodriguez (NYY)             152        .297        .935              9            33

Miguel Cairo (PHI)                      29        .357        .915              1              5

Terry Evans (LAA)                     184        .292        .874            10           28

Dan Nelson (WAS)                   102        .271       .857               2             7

Adam Kennedy (TB)                   92        .280        .805              3             9

Abraham Nunez (ARZ)                49        .302        .760             0             6

Cody Haerther (TOR)                  81         .280       .729             1             6

Pablo Ozuna (PHI)                     171        .290        .726             0           14

John Gall (HOU)                        185         .244        .702            5            19

Daric Barton (OAK)                    185         .215       .676             2           24

So Taguchi (CHC)                       32         .259       .671             0             4

Sean Danielson (BOS)             125        .239        .623            1           13

Brian Barton (ATL)                     140        .211        .598             2           11

Reid Gorecki (ATL)                    124       198         .550             1             9

Independent League:                PA       AVG.        OPS          HR          RBI    

Abraham Nunez                           60        .314        .822             0             6

Alberto Castillo                              63        .309        .791             1             9

Preston Wilson                              81        .293       .773              2          15

Top Starters:                          ERA          WHIP        IP       K:BB         OPS Against

Dan Haren  (ARZ)                  2.57           .90         63.0      63:9           .580

Jason Marquis  (COL)          4.45         1.29         60.2      27:9           .679

Anthony Reyes  (CLE)           6.57        1.64         38.1     22:23          .826

Sidney Ponson (KC)             6.49         1.63         43.0     24:16          .827

Braden Looper  (MIL)            4.47         1.45        50.1      28:17         .841

Jeff Suppan (MIL)                   5.23         1.58       53.1      27:24          .905

Jamie Moyer  (PHI)                7.42         1.77       47.1       26:16       1.001

Minor Leagues:                      ERA            WHIP        IP        K:BB    

Kip Wells (WAS)                      2.45            1.00      11.0        11:2

Jorge Sosa (WAS)                  6.00            1.00         6.0          7:0

Chris Lambert   (DET)            6.14           1.53       48.1      42:19

Top Relievers:                         ERA           WHIP        IP         K:BB      OPS Against

Ron Villone (WAS)                  0.00               .94      11.2          3:5        .444

Kiko Calero (FLA)                    2.35            1.04      23.0       30:12      .461

Luke Gregerson (SD)             3.54            1.29      28.0       30:13      .610

Jason Isringhausen (TB)       3.60            1.80        5.0          2:5        .623

Randy Flores (COL)                0.00            1.00        5.0          5:0        .625

Darren Oliver (LAA)                  2.08            1.20      21.2       15:5        .669

Jamey Wright (KC)                  3.86            1.46       23.1       17:7        .701

Julian Tavarez (WAS)              5.68            1.58      19.0       18:14       .717

Luis Perdomo (SD)                 4.70            1.30      15.1          7:7         .739

Jeff Weaver (LAD)                    3.63            1.48      22.1      14:10        .742

Kip Wells (WAS)                       6.35            1.54      22.2      16:15        .743

Russ Springer (OAK)              5.89            1.85      18.1         20:7        .901

Brett Tomko (NYY)                   4.15            1.62        4.1           0:2        .952

Troy Percival (TB)                     6.35            1.68      11.1          7:5        .972

Mike Lincoln (CIN)                    9.56           2.19      16.0         6:12      1.151

Minor Leagues:                        ERA             WHIP         IP         K:BB 

Ron Villone (WAS)                    2.35               .78         7.2          5:2       

Brett Tomko (NYY)                    0.64               .86       14.0       17:4

Jeff Weaver (LAD)                     3.55             1.03       12.2       12:2

Chris Narveson (MIL)                4.76            1.27       28.1      32:10

Randy Flores (COL)                  5.51            1.29       16.1       13:5       

Jason Isringhausen (TB)          4.06            1.36       11.0        3:6

Carmen Cali (LAD)                    4.24            1.47       17.0       19:6

Tyler Johnson (SEA)                  4.50            1.50         2.0         0:0

Ben Julanel (COL)                      6.35           1.59       17.0       14:9

Kelvin Jimenez (CWS)               5.52           1.74        29.1      16:3

Independent League                ERA           WHIP          IP         K:BB  

Ron Flores                                 2.77              .93          13.0          9:4

Esteban Yan                              3.60            1.13          30.0       22:8

Troy Cate                                    4.11            1.26          30.2       19:8

Andy Cavazos                            8.38            2.39            8.2        6:12

Also, Stu Pomeranz was spotted on the inactive list for the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League.....I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that he's injured.

Does anybody else keep close tabs on former Cardinals?  I thought it be neat to roll all the stats into one report.  If you guys like this kind of stuff I can try to do an update each month.

Top Hitters:                 PA          AVG.          OPS          HR          RBI

Fernando Tatis           30          .370         1.068           1               2

Russell Branyan        63          .333         1.029            4            10

Felipe Lopez               94          .318           .901            3              6

J.D. Drew                     75          .234           .847            3            10

Coco Crisp                102          .244           .840            2             9

Scott Rolen                  92          .318           .803            2             9

David Eckstein            86          .299           .791            0             6

Edgar Renteria           77           .275          .786             2           11

Placido Polanco         94           .256          .681             0           15

Jack Wilson                 51           .255          .633             0             7

Cesar Izturis                72           .232          .593             1             8

Aaron Miles                  51           .167          .404             0             2

Ronnie Belliard           25           .167          .367             0             1

Miguel Cairo                  8            .000          .000             0             0

Minor Leagues:          PA             AVG.        OPS          HR          RBI    

Hector Luna                  63            .327        1.015            3            12

John Rodriguez            78            .314          .957            4            11

Eliezer Alfonzo              49            .326          .875            2               6

Mike McCoy                   59            .321          .843            1               2

Cody Haerther              10            .300          .800            0               0

John Gall                       85            .289          .795            2            12

Adam Kennedy             72            .238          .739            3              8

Chris Richard                71           .190          .688             3            10

So Taguchi                    33            .259          .671            0              4

Terry Evans                    72           .232          .670            3             10

Pablo Ozuna                  85           .244           .592           0               9

Sean Danielson            50           .208           .522           0               5

Reid Gorecki                  73           .186           .518           1               8

Brian Barton                   69           .194           .497           0               3

Daric Barton                   77           .149           .483           0             12

Top Starters:               ERA          WHIP          K:BB         OPS Against

Dan Haren                   1.54               .74          36:5           .463

Jason Marquis            4.10             1.37        13:11          .705

Braden Looper            2.45             1.50        16:11          .731

Jamie Moyer                 5.09            1.57         15:6            .865

Sidney Ponson            7.16             1.66       18:11           .867

Jeff Suppan                  5.88             1.46       15:12           .877

Anthony Reyes             7.58             1.68        9:11            .899

Minor Leagues:              ERA            WHIP           K:BB    

Chris Lambert                 4.76             1.28            18:8

Top Relievers:                 ERA          IP          WHIP      OPS AGAINST

Kiko Calero                     2.61         10.1        .87           .415

Kip Wells                         1.42           6.1       1.42          .416

Russ Springer                1.74         10.1       1.16          .568

Jamey Wright                  2.08         13.0         .85           .581

Jeff Weaver                      0.00          4.0        1.25          .646

Darren Oliver                   2.35          7.2        1.30          .668

Julian Tavarez                 4.50         10.0       1.30          .713

Luke Gregerson              4.73        13.1       1.50          .736

Luis Perdomo                 5.40          8.1        1.32          .768

Troy Percival                    3.38          5.1        1.88          .900

Mike Lincoln                   15.12         8.1        2.88        1.234

Minor Leagues:               ERA          IP        WHIP

Ron Villone                       1.50          6.0         .67

Randy Flores                    2.89          9.1         .75

Brett Tomko                      0.87        10.1         .97

Jason Isringhausen        2.25          4.0        1.50

Chris Narveson                6.23        13.0        1.62

Ben Julianel                      7.56          8.1        1.68

Carmen Cali                     5.68          6.1         1.89

Kelvin Jimenez                 6.75        12.0         2.00

Am I forgetting anyone?  Is there any other info or stats you'd like to have included?  For the sake of easiness....minor league FA that never played for the Cardinals will not be included, but players drafted by the Cardinals but currently with another organization will be.  So that means no Edgar Gonzalez or Jolbert Cabrera, but Mike McCoy and Reid Gorecki will remain on the tracker.

We all know that there are certain players that Tony LaRussa favors (C. Duncan, K-Mac, Franklin, Izzy) and certain players that he doesn't favor (Kennedy, Rolen, A. Reyes, B. Ryan, etc). I thought it would be interesting to take a look and see if this effects the Cards roster for better or worse.

Exhibit A: Scott Rolen

Yeah, yeah....I know that this riff was the fault of both parties involved. Ultimately the inability to bury the hatchet led to a trade for Troy Glaus, and the eventual drafting of Brett Wallace. Result....Team improved when Non-Tony guy removed.

Exhibit B: Anthony Reyes

We all know the story. Reyes gets traded for Pedermo who is taken in rule 5 draft by the Giants. As of right now, we have nothing to show for A-Rey unless Pedermo is offered back to us. Even if we don't lose Pedermo its hard to see how this makes the team better. Also, because of Reyes' departure we are subjected to 19 starts in 2008 by the likes of Mitchell Boggs, Brad Thompson, Mike Parisi, Jaime Garcia, Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder. Meanwhile, Reyes starts 13 games in AAA with a 3.15 ERA and 6 more with the Indians with a 1.83 ERA. (pick whatever stats you prefer but the point is still clear. In addtion, we are now staring down the barrell of another Pineiro/Thompson 5th starter situation. Pineiro may have never been re-signed if they had a little bit more faith in A-Rey.
Result...Team got worse when Non-Tony player removed.

Exhibit C: Adam Kennedy

This one is a little bit less clear for now. As a supporter of the Skip to 2nd movement, I would personally like to declare this a major victory for Tony. Of course, we know that this remains to be seen until we get to see how Skip handles being at 2B for the next several months. Last year, however, we saw Aaron Miles get a good chunk of playing time and hit for a good average, until the acquisition of Felipe Lopez who was awesome in his short period of time here. Either way, I always felt the team was better with Kennedy on the bench and I think they are better with him out of the clubhouse all together. Result: Team improved when Non-Tony player removed.

Exhibit D: Brendan Ryan

Most of us dreaded the acquisition of Cesar Izturis before the beginning of last season. A lot of us thought Brendan would be able to handle the position on a regular basis, based on his '07 performance. Turns out Cesar was superior to Brendan both offensively and defensively and now we have a potential stud (Khalil) at SS. Result: Team improved at the expense of Non-Tony player.

Exhibit E: Chris Perez

I know its still early, but I'm ready to officially declare YP a Non-Tony guy. Chris barely got a sniff of the closer role last season despite season-long struggles by Izzy and Franklin (both Tony-guys).  Of course, its not exactly like Chris was lights out during his brief stint, but he did show flashes of dominance, which is more than can be said for Izzy and Franklin.  This season, we have seen him fall below the likes of Kyle McClellan and Brad Thompson on the depth chart for the BS reason that we need to have another long-relief guy.  I understand needing a long relief guy, but it should be either K-Mac or Thompson, not both to go along with Franklin.  This feels a whole lot like A-Reyes again.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.  Result:  Team got worse when Non-Tony guy removed.

Exhibit F:  Brian Barton/Joe Mather/Brian Barden/Brendan Ryan/Joe Thurston

Let’s face it…Barton and Mather basically lost their jobs so we could have 5 MIF’s,  well 4 ½ if you aren’t willing to count Skip.  I  really don’t think that Barton was going to be seriously considered regardless of what he did in spring training.  Mather being sent down is more confusing as he has absolutely nothing left to prove in AAA.  In the end I think it will likely be Mather coming back up to replace Brendan Ryan (Non-Tony guy), even though it would make more sense to send out Thurston and keep Ryan on the team for defensive purposes.  I don’t think there is going to be too much difference in offensive production between Thurston and Ryan, except that Joe can bat lefty.I don’t think Barton will be considered even over Jon Jay.  I just get the impression that he is buried on the depth chart,  and won’t be returning unless the Cards’ outfield becomes completely shutdown with injuries.  This section is more about Thurston being a Tony-Guy and it costing another player, albeit not necessarily a Non-Tony guy, a job.

If you ask me, here is how the Cards roster SHOULD look:

Starters:

Chirs Carpenter
Adam Wainwright
Kyle Lohse
Todd Wellemeyer
Anthony Reyes

Relievers:

Jason Motte
Chris Perez
Josh Kinney
Ryan Franklin
Kyle McClellan OR Brad Thompson
Trever Miller
Dennys Reyes

Lineup (not batting order):

Albert Pujols
Skip Schumaker
Khalil Greene
Troy Glaus (David Freese)
Yadier Molina
Colby Rasmus
Rick Ankiel
Ryan Ludwick

Bench:

Chris Duncan
Joe Mather
Jason LaRue
Brian Barden
Brendan Ryan OR Joe Thurston

I guess its just part of dealing with Tony as boss, but it would be really sweet if he, Dunc, and Mo got all the personnel decisions right.  All in all, I'd have to give Tony credit for getting the most out of his team, but its frustrating when you consider that the team COULD be better.

Basically we'd have:

Reyes instead of Pineiro

Perez instead of  Thompson or K-Mac

Mather instead of Thurston or Ryan

Pineiro could wind up having a better season than A-Reyes. But I don't think there is much debate as to whether Perez would be better than K-Mac or Thompson or whether Mather would be better than Ryan or Thurston.

Now that we know that there will not be anymore signings, I think its a good time to take a preliminary look at how we feel about the Cards offseason.  (I think that's an okay way of wording it)

• Kyle Lohse - Re-signed for 4 years/$41 million.  Of course, this is a bit pricey and it probably would have served the Cards well to be a bit more gun shy, but then again he is a Boras guy so this doesn't look as bad compared to the deals Silva, Meche, etc received. 
• Khalil Greene - Acquired for Mark Worrell and PTBNL.  An absolute steal in my opinion.  There was a time when I was a bit concerned who the PTBNL would be, but after watching Khalil play, I'm comfortable with it regardless of who it winds up being.  I think we'll get that Khalil who is somewhere at the midway point of the 2007 and 2008 versions of himself. Also, HUGE upgrade from Izturis' bat.
• Jason LaRue - Re-signed for $950,000.  Not a bad deal. I like his defense, but he doesn't offer too much offensively (not that he's supposed to).  Still, he did hike his batting average 65 points from 2007 (.148) to 2008 (.213). That's gotta be worth an extra hundred thousand.
• Dennys Reyes -  Signed 2 years/$3 Million.  Again, I have to say, this looks like a bit of a steal.  Reyes has been one the best lefties in the game for 3 seasons now.  Especially good deal when compared to Affeldt (2 years/$8 million). 
• Trever Miller - Signed for 1 year $500,000 + incentives.  I think it was a very wise move on Mo's part to restructure the original offer.  I'm somewhat suprised Trever accepted, given the fact that he said the injury hasn't affected him at all.  Either A.) he knew that his arm would eventually blow out, B.) he knew the economy would prevent him from getting a better offer, or C.) He really, really wanted to be a Cardinal.  No matter, he's better than Flores.
• Joe Thurston - Signed to minor league contract.  Tony should love this guy because he can play the outfield, too.  It's interesting that he's getting chances at 3rd base, considering he's never played there before, but I take that as Tony looking for more reasons to justify a spot for him on the team. Though, it would be better if he could play a little SS.  I'm concerned that a roster spot for Thurston means 4 MIF's again. I'm a little up in the air on this one, but I like the depth he provides better than say...Rico Washington. 
• Skip Schumaker - Converted to second base.  A lot of us pushed for this idea for a while and I was extremely suprised when they announced they were gonna try it.  We've seen some good and we've seen some bad from him, but I think we can all agree that this is worth a try.  If he can be decent at 2B than this is a major offensive upgrade from Kennedy.  And it creates room for a major offensive upgrade in the outfield.  We will basically be swapping out Adam Kennedy for Chris Duncan/Colby Rasmus. 
• Aaron Miles - Signed with Cubs 2 years/$4.9 Million.  I may be in the minority on this one, but I think Aaron was worth that money.  I was disappointed that he left (especially for the Cubs).  It concerns me that the Cardinals don't have a proven starting 2nd basemen if Skip fails to convert.
• Jason Isringhausen - Signed minor league deal with Rays.  I breathed a major sigh of relief when I heard about this.  I would like to see him back in a Cards uniform someday as a coach, but 2 of his last 3 seasons were absolutely dreadful.
• Adam Kennedy - Released and signed minor league deal with Rays.  We all know about his defense, but there was no way this was gonna work.  He had to go and I think the Cards made the right move (the only move?) to release him.  Like Miles, I would've liked to have had him around in case Project Skip fails.
• Russ Springer - Signed with A's for 1 year/3.5 Million.  I hate to see him go, but I really don't think he was necessary for this team.  I think age is gonna catch up with him this season, so I think the Mo dodged a bullet on this one.
• Braden Looper - Signed with Brewers for $4.75 Million.  Possibly another dodged bullet.  Looper hurt himself sneezing this spring.  I'm not sure of the severity of his injury, but I know thats 1 more injury than is being reported by the cards current starting 5.
• Matt Holliday - Traded to A's.  I don't know why the cards were inquiring on him in the first place, but I'm glad he's not heading this way.  Too much disparity in the home/road splits for me to feel comfortable paying him $13.5 million.
• Brian Fuentes - Signed with Angels. In a perfect world he would have been saint louis bound on a one year deal.  From what I understand the cards actually offered more money for him than the angels.  Either way, glad this didn't happen for multiple years.
• Kelly Johnson - No way would I have traded Ludwick for him.
• Ben Sheets - We are sorry, Mo.

All in all, not a great offseason, but certainly not a bad one.  I think this team is improved enough to make the playoffs.....If Carpenter stays healthy.  So, it basically feels a lot like last season,  I would've like to have seen them acquire a durable #2/3 guy for the rotation to provide protection, but who knows maybe Joel Pineiro takes the league by storm.....(pause for effect).....(crickets).....  I think I'd give them an overall grade of a B- for making some nice moves but not doing enough to put themselves over the top...what do you guys think?

A couple of names have been taken off the board recently, but it's still moving slow as hell.   Oh yeah....Ben Sheets will miss most of 2009, thus making Braden Looper the best starting pitching option remainIng, now that Petitte, Wolf, and Garland have signed.  Any guesses as to whom Mozeliak may be referring to when he says there will be pitchers available by trade in the spring?  In other news...A-Rod tests positive for steroids - 6 years ago.  The hot topic around here still seems to be 2B.  What would you like to see the cards do?

Don't panic...this isn't really a bad thing at all.  While considering the 2009 roster recently, it occurred to me that this is a very real possibility.  The Cardinals have a significant amount of cash coming off the payroll after this year, and I don't really see much chance of them re-signing any of their free agents. 

Let's take a quick look:

• Jason Isringhausen - $8M
• Mark Mulder - $7M 
• Juan Encarnacion - $6.5M
• Braden Looper - $5.5M - It's possible he could be re-signed, but I wouldn't do it.
• Kyle Lohse - $4.25M - There's a slim chance, but I don't think the Cards really need to spend $40M ++ on this guy
• Russ Springer - $3.5M - Russ is getting up there in age, I think they'd be pushing it to get another solid year out of him. Especially at 4M +
• Cesar Izturis - $2.85M - He's been great with the glove and mediocre with the bat (as expected).  I don't think any of us will be demanding he gets re-signed, nor do I think he will be.
• Jason LaRue - $.85M - While, I have enjoyed having him and the porn stache on the team, I wouldn't pay him a million dollars for probably about a half-season until Anderson is ready to be called up.  I think he can be replaced with another less expensive disposable back up catcher.

Also, Jim Edmonds is currently being paid $2M by the Cards this season, so between these 8 players, that's $40.45M coming off.  Now, factor in salary increases for several players and the imminent re-signing of Aaron Miles, and this comes to roughly $30M...at least $25M, anyway.

So let's see how the roster shapes up without these guys around. 

First of all, I demand that Skip Schumaker be converted to 2B.  He's a former infielder,  a good hitter, and he's getting pushed out of the everyday OF with Rasmus on the horizon.  I think he'd be able to make the transistion and this would form a really solid platoon with Miles (Skip is batting .349 vs. Righties and Aaron is .316 vs. Lefties - though lefty seems to be his "power" side).  I also think that David Freese should be given an opportunity to win the "Speizio" role coming out of spring training if given a little time at first and in the OF. As far as the OF is concerned, Mather, Ankiel, Ludwick and Rasmus get the bulk of the playing time while Jon Jay and Brian Barton battle it out for 5th OF in spring training. 

So far the position players look like this:

• 1B - Albert Pujols
• 2B - Skip/Miles
• SS -
• 3B - Troy Glaus
• C - Molina
• OF - Ankiel, Rasmus, Ludwick

Bench

• Miles - 2B/SS
• Skip - 2B/OF
• Mather - OF
• Freese - 3B/1B/OF
• Jay/Barton - OF
• Scrub backup/Anderson - C

SO...basically all we need this offseason is a starting SS and a scrub back-up catcher.

Now the pitchers:

Carpenter, Wainwright, and Wellemeyer  (per Mozeliak in recent radio interview) are locks for next years rotation. You'd have to figure that Piniero will be penciled in based on his salary.  That leaves one open spot.  My idea would be to have a good ol' fashion competition for the 5th starter's spot between Kyle McClellan, Jaime Garcia, and Jess Todd.  If Todd wins, K-Mac and Jaime are bullpen bound, if Todd doesn't win he goes to Memphis and the other guy goes to the pen. My money would be on Jaime to win out.  If Pineiro sucks,  Todd or K-Mac could be moved back in.

Which leaves us with a starting staff of:

Starters:

1. Carpenter
2. Wainwright
3. Wellemeyer
4. Piniero
5. Garcia

The bullpen is kind of a mess right now. We won't have a lefty reliever going into the offseason, unless you count Flores or Villone, which I do not.  Thompson makes a better starter than a reliever, but I don't really know if has a spot on the team other than "spot starter" or "long relief for Pineiro".  Jason Motte looks like he'd be able to make the jump. I would hope we see him in September. I refuse to include Tyler Johnson or Josh Kinney in this discussion; if they come back effectively, it will be a bonus.  I would quit using Franklin in the late innings and go with a Motte-McClellan-Perez set up.  Franklin can be switched to the Thompson role, since he has so much starting experience anyhow.

Here's what I've got so far:

Relievers:

• Franklin
• McClellan
• Perez
• Motte

So basically we need 2 lefties and a righty for the pen.

Which leaves at least $25 million to get a starting SS, a scrub catcher and 3 middle relievers.  I'm sure a lot of fans will be up in arms if payroll decreases by $1, but I don't view this as a bad thing.  It means our player development system is working, something that we aren't all too used to just yet.

By the way...in that same radio interview Mo stated that he wanted to pursue a veteran starter. I think we know how this story ends...5th starter competition in ST, which is why I included that part of it....but I also don't think its a bad idea and it would be really exciting to watch.