SB Nation User Blog: gsjefferies93

USA Today '09 MLB Payroll Gaffe

gsjefferies93 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:07:30 -0000

Hello all,

Excited for today. Hope the weather holds off.

Did anyone else seem surprised that we're listed as 17th in MLB payrolls this year? USA today published the stats and I thought that seemed low. I know we dropped somewhat, but not THAT much. Notice any discrepancies on the pay chart?

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/teamdetail.aspx?year=2009&team=30

Yep...if it looks like Glaus is coming a bit cheap, I think you're right. Last year Troy made 12.5 mill, and despite his injury, I don't think we're shaving him down to $ 1,213,700 this year. Long story short, our expenditures on personnel are more around 88-90 million, behind the White Sox at 13. Not a HUGE jump, but certainly a $10 million difference.

I am no De Witt apologist by any means, and wish we were up over 100 where we belong. However, if these numbers stick, I see this working to our advantage :-D

Crabtree (Michael, not Ms.)

gsjefferies93 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:31:39 -0000

Hi all,

Just visiting over from Viva El Birdos, the excellent Cardinals baseball blog. Love what's going on here too.

Just want to lament the losses of Torry and Orlando but hope for the best. I believe that once it's all said and done, they will both wear Rams colors in Canton.

Regarding this year's draft: I know it makes sense to draft a lineman, but with Smith's stock dropping I was wondering if we shouldn't seriously consider drafting Crabtree at 2, not only to fill the vacancy created by Torry's departure, but also to prevent the Seahawks from wrapping him up at 4 (where I've seen him mainly projected).

I get the feeling that he could step in and start with relatively little mentoring and he's got great size, enough to become our #1 quickly. Pair him with a talented Donnie Avery and I think we have a solid future in the receiving corps. He seems too talented to pass up to me, but I would guess Spags feels we have different obligations to fill. Depending on the depth of the o-linemen in the draft, I'm sure we could find a strong prospect early in the 2nd round.

Thoughts?

Thanks and looking forward to an improved team in '09!

Jaime Garcia

gsjefferies93 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:07:39 -0000

Hey all,

Just wondering what we're planning on doing with Jaime this year. I thought he got some seasoning last year and might be ready for at least a lefty job in the 'pen. Are we leaving him in Memphis to concentrate on starting? I'd like to see him competing for a relief job. I would also like to voice disapproval for pursuing Juan Cruz, let's let the kids fight it out and keep our first round pick. Any other bullpen talk welcome.

Glaus robbed of his gold?

gsjefferies93 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:37:56 -0000

Hi all,

Glad to see Yadi finally pulled his deserving hardware and I hope Albert's is still on its way. I looked at the stats today and noticed that our own Troy Glaus had a great year fielding shots at the hot corner. In 146 games at third he made only 7 errors for a fielding percentage of .982, while winner David Wright played in 159 games, making 16 errors for a percentage of .962.

Kouzmanoff also had a good year in San Diego, but in terms of actual fielding numbers Troy had the best numbers far and away. He made the least errors and had the highest FP of any player in the majors, yet got rejected; too bad, since we knew he brought a good bat to STL, but weren't sure about that glove. He certainly pulled his weight.

Unfortunately, it seems like the NY media was too influential and snagged the award for Wright, who did have a better year at the plate than Troy but not by much. It would be nice if Gold Gloves were still given to the players who play the best defense in their league, but it seems like it's a rare occasion these days.

MVEC?

gsjefferies93 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:33:38 -0000

Okay people, the time to announce the Most Valuable East Coaster is approaching soon. Get pumped! We all know our pride and joy Albert deserves this year's MVP, but who's it really going to go to? David Wright had a nice year...Carlos Delgado put up some big numbers too. But the Mets, like our Cardinals, didn't make the playoffs...hmmm. Braun and Fielder had similarly big years AND made the playoffs (by a hair), but they weren't a shadow of Albert's numbers and it is milwaukee. Well, that leaves Manny in LA who didn't play a full year but has big time split numbers, and our pal Ryan Howard in Philly. Howard trumped Albert in power and production, but Albert has .100+ points and -145ish strikeouts to his name. Chase Utley had a big year too, and unlike Howard and his DP partner Jimmy Rollins, hasn't received the award yet. So I leave it to you, my friends. Which Philly gets the prize this year?

bullpen question/tlr

gsjefferies93 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:32:19 -0000

does anyone know the final tally on blown saves this year? hate to think that we save half of however many and win the division while the cubs scrounge for the wild card.

also, anyone else optimistic that tony will leave before 2009? i admit he did well with keeping everyone fresh off the bench, but some of these kennedy in right/lopez at third/miles in left calls cost us games, and don't get me started about bullpen management...it would be my primary filed grievance against his return. i just seemed to disagree with him so many more times this year than in the past, and to think with some responsible bullpen maintenance this team could have won 100...just testing the waters of public opinion.

haslett and this schedule

gsjefferies93 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:06:16 -0000

hi all,

my first post on TST, glad to find a respectable rams blog. first off, i think jim haslett has a chance to make this a strong and much more aggressive team. really liked some of the lines from the press conference about the team needing to find a swagger/cutting down the playbook to make things more energetic. plus maybe we've found the next belichik/dungy in his second head coaching job. fingers crossed.

my biggest question though, and i'm sure this has been talked about before...IS THIS THE SCHEDULE EVERY 3-13, SECOND WORST NFL TEAM HAS ALWAYS HAD TO PLAY? these outside of the nfc west games are unbelievable. both super bowl teams, almost every nfc team worth a damn, and a few other strong opponents (jets, possibly dolphins, etc). logic tells me we're just playing the east teams but how is that fair? is that how the scheduling is determined now? i could be out of the loop, but i thought previous season record was at least considered.

thanks all and here's to the new and improved jim haslett era.

worth of papa duncan?

gsjefferies93 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:03:30 -0000

hi all,

this is my first post on VEB, love the site. nowhere else have i found such dedicated cards fans. anywho, i've been really giving this bullpen issue some thought lately, and i think you have to look to the resident pitching expert on the team for some answers. we know the guy's a pro when it comes to rec projects, especially starters. worthy contributions here seem to be made almost yearly: darryl kile, jeff suppan, jeff weaver, the list goes on (we'll exclude kip wells, there's a dud in every lot, but what went wrong with $mulder?). developing young arms within the organization has to be considered a weakness, however, as we all remember the struggles of alan benes and rick ankiel, and the problems with keeping matt morris and jason marquis sharp, although both had enjoyed major league success before their personal fallouts. overall, i'd say dunc has a positive record with starters, especially when playing mr. fix-it.

however, when reviewing the bullpen, it seems that dunc has much less influence over these guys. as independent and crazy as a few of them may be, it has to be agreed upon that our motley crew is his responsibility. outside of the injuries to johnson and kinney this year (both admittedly big blows to what had been a strong pen) we've been pretty healthy. but, how does an established randy flores end up being sent down to work on mechanics? franklin had composure in the first few saves he recorded, but it seems like his confidence has been shattered from a combo of overuse and rough outings. this, from a guy who closed in seattle and as your set-up man, has to be ready when your closer goes down. which leads us to the biggest puzzle of the year, mister enigma himself, jason isringhausen.

izzy's had his struggles, his ups and downs, as all closers have. i was heartbroken in 06 only because he didn't get his ring as our go-to-guy in the ninth. but then with a strong rebound in 07 things seemed to be righted, only to crumble again this year. doesn't he fit the bill perfectly, of an aging but talented vet who needs a few mechanical tweaks? one would think so.

yet, i would propose that the reason dunc has such problems with an ankiel, and an izzy, and marquis as well, is because he doesn't have a pitcher's mentality. i think that because he spent his years in the MLB as a catcher, he's been taught to look for discrepancies in delivery and mechanics, but lacks the know-how and empathy really needed to get inside a pitcher's head. i'm not saying that he doesn't know a lot about pitching here, but suggesting that a physical knowledge of pitching is only half the battle of being a good pitching coach.

almost every move this year has puzzled me when it comes to relieving our starter or putting another reliever in after one has proven himself to be effective (ahem, pulling villone after getting a lefty out when he has proven himself as a starter who can handle righties just fine.) is there no consideration of "the hot hand"? maybe you use a guy for a full inning if he's throwing well, instead of stretching franklin over two innings and causing him to blow yet another save? (i was there for the last milwaukee game and witnessed that SHOT ryan braun hit off of a visibly fatigued franklin, asked once again to get 5 outs for the save.)

i don't trust tony to make the right pitching decisions. he's a mastermind at using the bench well and keeping guys fresh, but nothing else. i would love to know if anyone knows for certain how much duncan influences the pitching change decisions. just for fun, i'd also like to see commenters rate duncan's overall job performance, 1 being dismal and 10 being phenomenal. i'll give him a generous 6.