SB Nation User Blog: The Ghost of Todd Burns

Former Cardinal Report - May

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:13:46 -0000

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.

Canseco's MMA Fight

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:46:25 -0000

Canseco's MMA Fight

I don't even know what to say about this

Adam Loewen....You're No Rick Ankiel

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:46:01 -0000

Adam Loewen....You're No Rick Ankiel

21 K's in 45 AB's.....the conversion is not going well. On May 8th he went 0 for 5 with 5 k's

Former Cardinal Report - April

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:02:29 -0000

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.

Gregerson Makes Padres opening day roster

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:52:38 -0000

Gregerson Makes Padres opening day roster

He joins Anthony Reyes, Dan Haren, and Braden Looper as the ONLY pitchers in the major leagues drafted by the Cardinals playing for a team other than the Cardinals.

Tony's Guys

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:25:44 -0000

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.

Offseason Recap

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:40:14 -0000

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?

Hot Stove - until roughly 400 posts

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:10:44 -0000

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?

Poll

What is your preferred 2B scenario?

Sign Hudson to a moderately priced 1 year deal and eat kennedy's contract

32 votes

Send as many prospects as it takes to land Roberts

12 votes

Adam Kennedy is the starter while Skip is groomed for '10

41 votes

Send as many prospects as it takes to land Uggla

21 votes

Try to sign Hudson to a multi-year on the cheap

11 votes

Let Kennedy play out the last year and try to sign Roberts as a FA

37 votes

Something else

48 votes

202 votes | Poll has closed

Payroll Reduced in '09?

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:10:40 -0000

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:

Carpenter
Wainwright
Wellemeyer
Piniero
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.

your ideal opening day roster - hitters only

The Ghost of Todd Burns — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:21:58 -0000

So we are a week into ST and I can't help but think about what I'd do if I was in charge of the Cards roster. Much has been discussed about what to do about the outfield. We've talked over and over about who should be the odd men out. I know most of us aren't happy about the middle IF situation (Kennedy/Izturis). It seems we are all fans of our young guys who have worked/are working their way through the minors. Like it or not the pitching staff seems to be mostly set (except the 4th/5th starter battle). If you were in charge how would you shake this roster out? Here's what I'd do:

Starters:

1B - Pujols
2B - Miles
SS - Ryan
3B - Glaus
C - Molina
LF - Barton
CF - Schumacher
RF - Ankiel

Bench:

1B/3B/OF - Mather (Spezio Role)
OF - Ludwick (would be in somewhat of a 3-way platoon with Skip and Barton)
C - Larue (I actually like this signing, tons of experience if Yadi gets hurt)
2B/SS - Izturis - (expensive late inning defense)
2B/SS/3B - Jimenez - (love the OBP and hits from both sides of the plate)

What to do with the rest:

Duncan - This guy has gotta to be traded for a SP and he's gotta go somewhere where he can play 1B or DH. How neat would it be to see him launching homers into McCovey Cove back home in the Bay area?

Gonzalez - I just can't give this guy an opening day roster spot. Trade him if you can. If not, I'm okay with sending him to Memphis if he's willing to go. We could wind up needing a veteran slugger if Albert goes down. Overall, I'd prefer not seeing him wear Cardinal red.

Kennedy - In the words of Weird Al, "Just Eat It!". Easy for me to say since it's not my checkbook.

Rasmus - Starts in the minors. Call him up if Slick Rick gets hurt, or just when he's punished AAA enough.

Phelps - Starting 1B for Memphis. Emergency depth.

Hoffpauir - starting 2B at Memphis. He'll be up at some point during the season to make his case for '09. I love this guy and want to see him as the starter someday, but if he's just gonna be Aaron Miles Version 2.0 ...I'd rather have Miles.

Barden - Starting SS for Memphis. Emergency 3B depth if Freese/Craig aren't ready.

The main problems I see with this is the obvious fact that the guy (Noah Lowry) we could get from S.F. for Duncan is hurt and there is zero pop from the left side coming off the bench. The latter is a problem that the cards have anyhow with Spezio's release. I wonder if the Giants have any prospects the A's would take to complete a 3-way deal for Joe Blanton (the Cards would probably have to chip in a prospect or two, also)....I'm sure the Giants would rather have Dunc than Dan Johnson if they are looking for a 1B (which they should be). The trade would look something like this:

Cards get: Blanton
Giants get: Duncan
A's get: 2 Giants prospects & 2 Cardinals prospects

For the record, I have no idea what kind of prospects the Giants have and I don't really feel like looking it up.