SB Nation User Blog: musial6

An Open Letter to Billy DeWitt

musial6 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:03:06 -0000

Good luck to Mr Lamping. He will be missed. This club was a mess when he took over, and his tenure as Cardinals President has been nothing short of a renaissance. I wish him all the best in his new gig.

That being said, there is a good deal of angst in Cardinal Nation these days. I'm willing to give the new team president a chance to carve his own legacy, but he would be wise to earn back some of the goodwill that the club has blown these last few years.

my suggestions (for what they're worth) after the jump...

-First and foremost, cut down on the BS

I understand you're running a business, and you need to spew a little PR from time to time, but don't talk to us like we were born yesterday. Most of us have lived through at least one dark ages period with the club. We can live with rebuilding...we can live with injury decimated rosters...we can live with losing seasons...but please don't piss on our legs and tell us it's raining. This goes for everything from press releases to game broadcasts. Enough with the propaganda already!

-Don't drop the ball on Ballpark Village

I understand there's a lot of ins and outs and whathaveyous and it's near impossible to make everyone happy, but you created this mess when you demolished old Busch, now it's on YOU - not the taxpayers - to make it right.

-More games on FREE TV

Pretty self explanatory. In case you hadn't noticed, not everyone in this economy is doing so well at the moment. Plenty of Cards fans do not subscribe to cable or satellite, and you're tuning them out by cutting down on the free broadcasts.

-Freshen up the broadcasts with some young blood

I'm not trying to pick on anyone in particular, but I feel the broadcasts across the board have gotten pretty stale. Bring in a voice who speaks to those of us born after 1975.

All I'm really saying is, don't take the fans for granted. You can get away with a lot of crap when the club is winning, but if you want the fans to stick around during the lean years, you need to throw them a bone once in a while.

Now good luck to you, Mr DeWitt - you've got a tough act to follow.

Kennedy to DL = addition by subtraction

musial6 — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:12:57 -0000

I've long written off our chances for 2007, but Ankiel-mania has gotten to me and I'm starting to feel mild symptoms of pennant fever.

Kennedy is out. Brendan Ryan is in. We've replaced JuanEnc with Roy Hobbs. Edmonds is hitting. The rotation is showing signs of stability (knock on wood). The Cubs and Brewers are stuck in neutral.

Mind you up to this point 2007 is eerily similar to 1997 (always clinging to faint postseason hopes despite never being above .500, lots of ill-fated contract extensions for declining players following the previous year's miraculous postseason run, devastating injuries to the rotation, the emergence of a new young ace, the August arrival of a rockstar power hitter who revives hopes of a late season charge - and we all remember how 1997 ended - but unlike 1997, there's no powerhouse team in the NL Central - and just like 2006, the playoff birth is there for the taking.

If we can keep this up in these upcoming series in Milwaukee and Chicago, this race will get very interesting. This team has got nothing to lose - they've experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows - all they can do is go out there and leave it on the field. I'm by no means optimistic, but I like our chances a lot better now with Ankiel and Ryan in there instead of bums Kennedy and Encarnacion.

Weaver throws 4-hit shutout

musial6 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 04:36:59 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=270620112

I know it's the Pirates, but the man had an 0-6 record with 9.75 ERA and a 2.03 WHIP coming into the game.

Does he just tank on purpose at the beginning of each year? Is he high? There has to be some kind of rational explanation for this.

I guess his trade stock just went from 'junk' to 'don't buy'. Another good start and he'll be up to 'risky'.

Bring back Reggie?

musial6 — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:23:06 -0000

I know it's a small sample size and he's always one tricky flyball away from an extended trip to the DL, but I'd sure like to have him right about now.

16 AB .500/.500/.875

The Royals are not going anywhere in that division this year. Come June, assuming KC is 10+ games out and Reggie's not hurt, I think Walt should try and reacquire Reggie. He can still rake, the fans love him, and he's good for the clubhouse.

It'd be great if they could get someone like Dye, but I just think the asking price will be too high (for a 33 year-old career 110 OPS+ rightfielder who can walk at the end of the year). Plus, Walt should stick to dealing with GMs that don't know what they're doing (no more trades with Cleveland or Oakland please).

Poll

Bring back Reggie?

Yes

22 votes

No

35 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

My Letter to the Cardinals and MLB, re: Live Streaming In-Market Games

musial6 — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:44:06 -0000

[I'm posting this here in hopes of getting some dialogue going on this issue]

When are the Cardinals/MLB going to start offering fans the ability to purchase live in-market games streaming over the Internet? Every year you guys reduce the number of games on free television. I attend 40 games a year and I subscribe to the MLB.tv online package. I'm more than willing to pay to watch my Cardinals, but I refuse to be strong-armed into getting cable or satellite.

Why can't you offer a deal on MLB.tv where people can pay a surcharge (say $2/game, or $10/month, or $30/season) and let them watch live in-market games? The surcharge revenue then goes to whoever holds the local broadcast rights in that market.

Television is a media format on the decline. The Internet will be the dominant media in the 21st century. You should focus on making your product available to as many people as possible - that includes people who don't subscribe to cable or satellite who would like to watch their local team play.

Poll

Choose the one which best applies to you

I subscribe to MLB.tv already, and would gladly pay more to get in-market games live

11 votes

I subscribe to MLB.tv already, and I get by with the proxy spoof just fine.

6 votes

I don't subscribe to MLB.tv because I can't get in-market games live

10 votes

I'm a happy cable/satellite customer

11 votes

I'm a reluctant cable/satellite customer

7 votes

Shut up and buy a dish you ungrateful bastard!!!

7 votes

52 votes | Poll has closed

Weaver

musial6 — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:31:06 -0000

Now with Mulder signed, it seems unlikely the Cardinals will re-sign Weaver. It's unknown what kind of money Weaver is being offered, but when Marquis gets 21M/3yr, one can draw the conclusion that Weaver will be able to get more than we should be willing to pay.

He'll probably sign for 28M/3yr in the next week, and the Cardinals PR machine will say they wanted him back but he wanted too much guaranteed money and some fans will jeer Weaver for leaving when WE ALL KNOW he owes his career to Dave Duncan and will resume sucking as soon as he goes to another team.

So assuming we're confident Weaver will suck on another team, why don't we just wait for him to flop? Then we just wait for the phone to ring when that team tries to unload him (to the only club who could possibly have any interest in the bum).

Yeah, he could be awesome for his next team and we'll wish we had kept him...and Gil Meche could win the AL Cy Young and lead the Royals to the World Series...

even if he never comes back, we'll always have October 2006.

Poll

If you could have one of the following...

Jeff Suppan 42M/4yr

10 votes

Jason Marquis 21M/3yr

3 votes

Mark Mulder 13M/2yr + incentives

41 votes

Jeff Weaver for = or > than what Marquis got

48 votes

Jeff Weaver for < what Marquis got or none of the above

47 votes

149 votes | Poll has closed