"The Rockies' interest in Cody Ross is based on whether they trade Seth Smith, writes ESPN's Buster Olney."

Should the Cardinals attempt to help facilitate this trade? The Rockies are looking for big league ready pitching as they look to contend this year in the NL West.

A three way trade could send Kyle McClellan to COL, Seth Smith to ATL, and Martin Prado to STL

All three players are arbitration eligible, and will each earn a fairly similar salary in 2012, while also being under team control in 2013. Seth Smith will be under team control one additional year though 2014.

Kyle McClellan would slide into the back end of the COL rotation.

Atlanta appears to be interested in Seth Smith since they are going to play Prado in Left Field anyway, but Smith projects to have more power with an exploitable platoon split (playing everyday vs RHP).

Bill James projects a .822 OPS for Smith vs .762 OPS for Prado. If Atlanta is going to play Prado in Left Field why not trade for a better hitting Left Fielder in Seth Smith? Of course Prado could spell Chipper Jones at 3B, but he can't play LF/3B at the same time (he is not Mark DeRosa, who could actually play 3 positions at once)

The Cardinals could use Prado for about 140 games at second base, boosting their offensive production at the position, and still find some playing time for Greene and Descalso off the bench.

Remember our hero David Freese has been prone to injury so there may be some available innings at 3B for Descalso. The injury risks also apply to Furcal who may only be good for about 120 games a year at this stage of his career. Tyler Greene could backup SS and get and occasional start at 2B even with Prado in the fold.

An STL bench of Greene, Descalso, Schumaker, Cruz/Anderson, and one of Jay/Craig/Beltran/Berkman on any given day would be one of the best in the NL and a real strength over a 162 game season.

Is this a reasonable trade for Mo to pursue? Would it boost the Cardinals win total in 2012?

It would be great to have a chart that tells us all how rested or abused each relief pitcher is going into each game.

Here are some general guidelines for how it would work, but they are not set in stone.

 

A reliever who has not pitched in at least two days has a "Green Light"

A reliever who pitched a least once in the last two days has a "Yellow Light"

A reliever who pitched two days in a row or two of the last three days has a "Red Light"

Here's an example for Thursday night's game-

Thursday @ Nationals-  Boggs vs D. Cabrera 6:05pm FS-M

Red Light- Motte

Yellow Light- Reyes, Franklin, McClellan, Perez

Green Light- Walters, Miller, Boyer

The Cardinals Caravan came to SIU Carbondale before the SIU vs Bradley mens basketball game on Sunday.  Jason Motte, Joe Mather, Brian Barton, and Brett Wallace were all in attendance.

I got a chance to get 1 on 1 interviews with each of these guys, so I thought I'd share them here with the VEB community.

Click on the links below to listen to the interviews.

First up was Jason Motte, who talked moving from catcher to pitcher, hitting 100mph on the gun, having faith in his slider, and the chance to pitch in the 9th inning this season.

Joe Mather- talked about his "Joey Bombs" nickname, and responds to the talk about potentially playing second base.

Brian Barton talks about the Rule 5 draft, and how his knee held up after his first big league season

Brett Wallace- Talks about staying at 3rd base, and what his playing weight might be in upcoming seasons.

All four guys were cool to talk to, and enjoyed watching the end of the Arizona Cardinals game after the interviews were finished.  Mather is a big gridbirds fan since he grew up in Pheonix.  Wallace is also a Cardinals fan after going to Arizona St.

...And the Salukis beat the Braves

Below is a email I just sent to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  If/when he gives me a response I will post it here.

Good Afternoon Tom,

I know you are probably getting many nasty letters today asking why you awarded Albert Pujols a 7th place vote in the MVP race.  However, I would like to avoid any condescending words until I can get a full explanation.  

I read your article today (I've quoted it below) that attempted to explain why you picked Pujols 7th, but I do need a little further explanation. 

"With the Cardinals finishing fourth, I voted Pujols seventh on my ballot. I don't consider MVP to be "the most outstanding player" award and therefore don't just go by who had the best stats. I like to credit players for lifting their teams to the post-season or at least keeping them in the race until the very end.

I understand that the Cardinals would not have been even close to the wild-card berth without Pujols, but I still like players who elevate their game in crunch time and lift their teams to new heights. And I thought Ryan Ludwick had just as much to do with keeping the Cards in the hunt as Pujols did. St. Louis did stay in the wild card race until mid-September, but mainly because the Brewers and Mets were gagging at the time."

Very well then Tom.  If, by those standards, you want to put key players from playoff teams ahead of Pujols then all I can do is disagree with your logic and call it a day. 

However, you also put Carlos Delgado, from the "gagging" Mets ahead of Pujols which is mind-blowing.  Delgado had a .353 OBP compared to Albert's outer-worldy .462 mark.  OPS was not even comparable- Pujols hit a Ruthian 1.115 while Delgado's finished with a respectable but unimpressive .871.  Defensively, it would be difficult to argue against Pujols being the better player. 

So please Tom, will you give me the real reason you put Pujols 7th on your ballot?  The Cardinals finished only 3 games behind the "gagging" Mets so I cannot accept his team being better as a reasonable excuse.  If you like players that "lift their teams to new heights" then you LOVE Albert Pujols.  So please help me understand why you would put the best hitter I have ever seen 7th on your ballot in a year when he completely dominated the national league. 

Thank you in advance

EDIT: 7:45PM-  Here is his response.  I will post my reply along with any follow up dialog below.

I probably should have put Pujols ahead of Delgado. Otherwise, I stick by the reasoning I expressed for my ballot. Listen, everybody has their own opinion as to what makes a player "most valuable." If we want to call this the Best Offensive Player award, then let's give it to Pujols every year. I like to vote for players who raise their team up to otherwise unattainable heights. I thought Delgado almost single-handedly kept the Mets in the playoff race until the final day of the season. But I'll agree with you that Pujols probably should have been above him on my ballot. There are 32 voters with 10 names each, which takes into account differences in opinion. My 7th place vote certainly didn't hurt Pujols in the overall balloting.

On another note, I could have not posted my ballot online. I did it because I knew it would spur discussion and debate, which is what the blog is all about. If people want to attack me, I can handle it. Brad Lidge got two first place votes!! That shows you how differently people can interpret this award.

TH

My Reply

Tom,

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.  There are a few follow up points I would like to make.
 
1.  The MVP award is indeed interpreted very differently by different people.  That's no doubt why this award sparks so much great debate each year.  Let's face it, I'm a Cardinals fan and you're a Brewers writer... we're not always going to see eye to eye but I do want to give you credit for posting your ballot online and explaining your answers.

2.  As things turned out, your ballot did not cost Pujols the MVP award.  However, If the results had been closer, putting Pujols behind Delgado could have made Ryan Howard the MVP, altering baseball history forever.

3. Personally, I hold the National League MVP award to be very sacred. Lot's of baseball fans feel the same way.  I certainly hope that you didn't list Pujols so low just to "spark debate" on your blog.  If that was not your intention, my apologies.

4.  Finally, I would like to offer my services to ensure that a mistake similar to the Pujols/Delgado debacle of 2008 does not occur ever again.  Next season, you can feel free to contact me when you are preparing your picks and I will be available to consult you on your decision. 

Thanks again