So when my father was finally able to read my "best of" series, he mentioned managers - and I agreed that I should probably add one more addendum to the series...here it is.

There have been 15 people lucky enough to have managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 500 or more games - OR - made the playoffs as a manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Charlie Comiskey did both, although his World Series title does not count, as it occurred before the beginning of the true World Series - pre-1903.

Out of those 15, only four managers had a win percentage of less than .500. Those four were Joe Torre, Branch Rickey, Miller Huggins, and Roger Bresnahan. They are also the only who did not lead their teams to a single playoff berth. Out of the remaining men, Bill McKechnie managed only 217 games and went 0-4 in his lone playoff appearance. Coincidentally, the last 10 men standing all led their club to a World Series title (or 2) wearing the Birds on the Bat.*

*includes Charlie Comiskey, who led his team to a title, although his title does not count as a World Series win, as it occurred before the beginning of the true World Series - pre-1903.

We will now take a look at those 10 managers and where they place in Cardinals' lore. Now that the criteria are set, I would like to explain what I looked at in order to rate and place these managers on this list. The foremost things were World Series titles and regular season win %. After that I looked closely at regular season wins, longevity by games played, and percentage of games won in the playoffs. Lastly, I took a look at regular season losses, playoff appearances, playoff wins, and playoff losses. I then ranked everyone else against each other and came up with a total score for each manager - highest score wins.

10) Charles Evard "Gabby" Street played for 6 teams from 1904 to 1912. He then managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929-1933 after learning the craft in the minors. He led the Cards to two National League Championships - back to back - in 1930 and 1931, winning the World Series in 1931. He later became an announcer for the Cardinals and Browns - eventually working with Harry Caray. After his baseball career was over, he battled cancer; winning that battle before succumbing to heart failure in Joplin, MO in 1951. He finished his Cardinals' managing career with 312 wins, a .563 win %, and one successful playoff run - making him the tenth best manager for the St. Louis Cardinals.

9) Rogers Hornsby was previously noted as the best second baseman in Cardinals history. The Rajah then managed the Cardinals for a brief amount of time (1925-1926, a player-manager). He was the NL MVP in 1925 and won the World Series as the player-manager in 1926. Hornsby won 153 games and had a .569 win % as a Cardinals' manager. The Cards won the World Series in his only playoff appearance in the role. This makes him the 9th best manager for the Cardinals.

8) Johnny Keane was the manager of the most unlikely World Series Champions in history - at least until the 2011 World Series Champs came along. In 1964, it took the Phillies' massive losing streak and the Cardinals' massive winning streak - after Gussie Busch cleaned house (leaving Keane in place as the manager, but getting rid of numerous executives in the organization) for the Cardinals to pull off the NL Crown. The Cards beat the Yankees four games to three in the World Series that year...the only year Keane's teams made the World Series. Keane would leave the Cardinals to take over for the team he beat in that World Series after the season, but from 1961-1964, Keane was the 8th best manager in Cardinals history; he compiled a .560 win % with 317 wins in those three and a half seasons.

7) Frankie Frisch was noted in the Best of Series already, as well. "The Fordham Flash" was one of the top second basemen to play for the Cards, and then became the manager for just over 5 seasons with the Redbirds. He had a .564 win % in those years as a player-manager, winning 96 and 95 games in back to back years, the second of which was a World Series Title Season. Frisch's WS title (in the only time he made it there) and his 458 total wins helps put him at #7 on the list of all-time Cardinals managers.

6) The last of the men who won one title in one attempt is Eddie Dyer, the 6th best manager of all-time in the Cardinals' organization. Dyer was a true Cardinal. He played from 1922-1927; his only team was the Cardinals. He then managed them from 1946-1950. His World Series title was over the Brooklyn Dodgers in his first year as manager. He took over a team that had won 2 of the last four World Series and had been to three of the last four under Billy Southworth - who left for Boston to coach the Braves for an exorbitant amount of money. His capable skills gave the club their third WS title in 5 seasons - best ever for the franchise. He went on to have three more great seasons, finishing second in the NL before finishing fifth in his last season as manager. He went on to win 446 games, at a .578 clip in his five seasons with the club.

5) Moving right on into the top 5 brings us to Charlie Comiskey. Comiskey managed the two best Cardinal teams in history - the only two teams to win over 70% of their games (563 in all) - in 1885 and 1887. Sandwiched in the middle was the 1886 "World Series" championship club. 1888 was his 4th straight AA pennant winning team. He would finish his St. Louis Cardinals' (actually Browns back then) managerial career with a franchise-best .685 win % - astounding. Comiskey was later the owner of the Chicago White Sox, having overseen the building of Comiskey Park and having it named after him. He was also the owner during the 1919 "Black Sox Scandal" World Series...but that doesn't tarnish his legacy in St. Louis in the very early years of organized professional baseball. He helped give the St. Louis Cardinals' franchise the legs with which to build the best organization in National League history.

4) Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog is from New Athens, IL - just down the road (IL-15 to IL-13) from St. Louis, MO, home of the Cardinals. "The White Rat" never got to play for his beloved Cardinals, but in 1980 he left the Kansas City Royals' managerial position to become entrenched in the Cardinals' bench role for the next 11 seasons and 1553 games. He won 822 of those games (for a .530 win %). The Cardinals may have expected even more from the man, having won 57% of his games in Kansas City with the Royals - but his post-season success with the Cardinals far surpassed his lack of success, never making the World Series, with the Royals. Herzog came over for the 1980 season - while his Royals went to (and lost) the World Series in his absence. In 1981, a strike shortened season, he had a .600 win % before the season was shut down - 2nd in the league at the time. The Cards also finished 2nd in the second half of the season...missing the playoffs because of it (much to the chagrin of the Cardinals' faithful since they had the best record in the NL East overall.) "Whiteyball" was working wonders in St. Louis - even if it did not lead to a playoff berth in 1980 or 1981. By the time 1982 rolled around, the Cardinals were rocking and rolling - the pitching, defense, and speed (oh the SPEED) were in full effect. The 1982 Cards went to the World Series and upended the Brewers, who had won 3 more regular season games than the Redbirds. Herzog would lead the Cardinals back to the 1985 and 1987 World Series, but failed to dispatch of the Royals or the Twins in the same manner that he pushed aside the Brew Crew in '82. His 822 wins, at a .530 clip, occurred during my childhood and have a special place in my heart.

3) While I was sad to see Whitey finish outside the top 3, you'll see why it is a deserved ranking of #4. At #3 is one of the players/managers most commonly associated with the Cardinals' brand. Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 1965 to 1976, again for 37 games in 1980, and for 24 games in 1990. Schoendienst still is a part of the Cardinals' organization, as he has been since his 74 games in the D-league (minors) in 1942. His 70 years with the club has to be the longest tenure in any sports league - ever. I'm pretty sure it even beats out Joe Pa at Penn State. Under Schoendienst, the Cardinals had a .522 win%, the lowest of anyone on the list. However, based on the length of tenure, Red was able to accumulate 1,041 wins in 1,996 games. Schoendienst took over for #8 on this list, Johnny Keane, in 1965. Red led the 1967 squad to a 7-game World Series win before leading them to a 7-game World Series loss in 1968. He would never again make the World Series, finishing second in the league three more times before his main stint as manager with the Redbirds.

2) Billy Southworth managed the Cardinals for 88 games in the 1929 season - after leading the top farm team to an International League title in 1928. Bill McKechnie had led the Cards to the World Series that season, getting swept by the Yankees in four straight. Southworth was a hard-nosed manager, who imposed tough discipline, and it just didn't work with the 1929 team - he was nearly the same age as the players, having played with several of them and having retired from his playing days after the 1927 season. He went back to the minors (after a brief stint away from the game) to hone his craft and get some distance between he and the players he would be coaching - and came back just over a decade later, coaching the Cards from 1940-1945. (In his absence, Gabby Street and Frankie Frisch - both on this list - managed the club for the most part.) The second time around, Billy Southworth's hiring turned into absolute gold. He 69 of his first 109 games to finish the 1940 season. He improved to 97-56 the next year. He upped himself again, garnering 106 wins (a franchise record) in the 1942 season, bringing home a WS title. He would then lose the WS the following year, despite a 105-win regular season. He followed up that with an identical 105-win season, this time with his second World Series title as a Redbird. In 1945, he "only" won 95 games before leaving for the big money in Boston. His 5-season stretch of 508 wins is easily the best in team history. It was the only 5 year stretch in franchise history with 90+ wins a season (and averaging over 100 a season.) Eddie Dyer's first season stretched the 90+ win season streak to 6 in his first year. The only thing keeping him out of the first spot on this list is his longevity.

1) Truthfully, looking at the statistics, I thought that Billy Southworth might overtake our #1 man, but it was not to be...not after his second World Series title in 2011, right before his retirement. Tony LaRussa (TLR) honed his managerial craft for 8 years in Chicago with the White Sox and 10 years with the Oakland Athletics before bringing his brand of baseball to St. Louis in 1996. He took Joe Torre's perennially underachieving squad, added Dennis Eckersley from his A's teams to the back end of the bullpen, and led them to the NLCS (and nearly the World Series) in his first year at the helm. In 1997, Brian Jordan (who had led the team in WAR the previous two seasons) went down with an injury and played less than a 3rd of the season - and the team suffered mightily. TLR used his incredible influences on general manager Walt Jocketty to bring Mark McGwire to STL (in one of Jocketty's many shrewd moves during the TLR/Jocketty era.) There would also be much controversy surrounding Tony's infamous battles with players - leading to their ouster from the club at several times. I would argue that Tony's positive influence in the front office in bringing in players far outweighed his negative influence during his tenure in St. Louis. 1998 was the year of McGwire and Sosa. The Cards only finished 4 games over .500 and failed to make it to the playoffs for the second straight season - and it would become three the next year. However, Tony was just building up the arms in the rotation and pen, plus adding some more firepower in the lineup, for one of the best runs in Cardinals' history. From 2000-2005, the Cardinals would win 575 games (95.8 per season), before winning just 83 in 2006, but garnering TLR's first WS title with the club. La Russa would go on to make the playoffs in 9 of 16 seasons, make it to 3 World Series and win 2 World Series with the Cardinals. He was 50-42 in the playoffs in those 9 years (incredibly high numbers compared to the others due to the invention of the Wild Card). Tony had only 3 losing seasons in his 16 years in St. Louis, paling in comparison to his seven 90-win seasons, having two seasons in which he won 100+ games (2004, 2005). His 1,408 wins and 2,590 games played are most in franchise history and his 50 playoff wins (whilst inflated) are more than the next three top managers combined. TLR led 7 of his 16 teams to first place division finishes, and 2 more wild card entries into the playoffs, winning the WS once as a division winner and this past season as the wild card entry into the NLDS. In 16 years, there was 45 times in which his players got to attend the All-Star game as a Cardinal (34 position players and 11 pitchers). The batting order under Tony LaRussa finished in the top 5 of the NL in runs scored per game in 8 of Tony's 16 seasons (and finished in the top 10 of 16 all but two seasons). The pitching under Tony LaRussa (some would argue under Dave Duncan) finished in the top 5 of the NL in runs allowed per game in 8 of Tony's 16 seasons (and finished in the top 10 of 16 in all but 2 seasons, as well.)

Congratulations to those great managers of the St. Louis Cardinals!

As always, the rankings:

Tony LaRussa - 34.867

Billy Southworth -29.857

Red Schoendienst - 25.458

Whitey Herzog - 24.715

Charlie Comiskey - 24.162

Eddie Dyer - 23.058

Frankie Frisch - 22.946

Johnny Keane - 22.051

Rogers Hornsby - 21.560

Gabby Street - 20.685

There have been 32 men lucky enough to have thrown 150 or more innings in relief for the St. Louis Cardinals organization - and not throw more innings as a starting pitcher. Of course, since this is the relief pitcher edition, I had to throw out any players who threw more innings as a starter than they did as a reliever - taking 8-10 very good players out of the equation.

Side note: After going through the research for this exercise, seeing Jason Motte, Fernando Salas, Lance Lynn, Eduardo Sanchez, and more anchoring this current bullpen, we could be entering a Golden Era of relief pitchers here in St. Lousi!

From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• Saves
• Wins
• Losses
• IP
• Games Finished
• ERA
• ERA+
• FIP
• WHIP
• K
• BB
• HR
• H
• H/9
• K/9
• BB/9
• K/BB
• HR/9
• BAA
• K%
• BB%
• LOB% (left on base percentage)

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who was the best of the best.

In the spirit of MLB Network's "Prime 9" show, we'll do the top 9 St. Louis Cardinals relief pitchers of All-Time today:

9) Al Hrabosky is known to many St. Louis Cardinals' fans today as "The Mad Hungarian" or "Hungo" (and sometimes as that crazy announcer that we don't know why is still announcing games.) Hrabosky was a first round pick in the 1969 January draft and quickly made it to the majors in 1970 - with a September call up. He was not great in his call up and spent the next two seasons in the minors earning late season call ups again. In 1973, Hrabosky made it to the big league club to stay - and he did not reliquish his position until the Cardinals traded him to the Kansas City Royals for Mark Littell (21st best reliever all time) and Buck Martinez (who then was sent to Milwaukee for George Frazie - another relief prosepct) after the 1977 baseball campaign. In his 5 full seasons with the club, he threw 400+ innings of 128 ERA+ ball from the left side. He struck out over two for every one he walked, rarely gave up the long ball, and finished the 6th most games in franchise history. He struck out over 20% of the men he faced, held opponents to a .223 batting average against, won twice as many games as he lost (40-20), and saved 59 games. That lands him at #9 of our top 9 Cardinals relievers of all time.

8) TJ Mathews was quite a bit of an unsung youngster when he was with the Redbirds. He is probably best known for being a part of what brought Mark McGwire to St. Louis - in a 1997 trade, during his third season in the majors. When the Oakland Athletics released him partway through the 2001 season, St. Louis was quick to jump on it and sign him to a contract to finish out that season with them - and Mathews came through quite well for those 10 appearances, before signing with Houston to play his last season just a couple of months later. In 174 innings over 140 appearances, the right-handed Mathews had a 167 ERA+, the best of the 32 men on our list. He struck out 22.8% of the men he faced, while walking 8.6% and stranding 78.8% of the men that were on base in his time in St. Louis. His 8.5 K/9 IP is tied for second to only Jason Motte (see later on the list) on our list of 32. A bit surprisingly, Tony La Russa (and Jorgensen/Torre his rookie year) did not often give Mathews the ball in the crucial situations. Mathews only finished 50 of the 140 games in which he pitched and earned 8 saves, when he could - but he pitched well enough (when given the opportunity) to earn 8th on this list.

7) Bruce Sutter might be the most well known closer to Cardinals fans of the 1980s. His vicious split finger is one of the most recognizable pitches of all time. His strikeout to end the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers (then of the AL) is an image forever etched into the minds of St. Louisans - much like Waino's 2006 stirkeout of newly acquired Carlos Beltran to win the NLCS. After spending his best five years with the Chicago Cubs, Sutter traded in the losing ways of Chicago's north side for 2 great seasons, followed by 1 crappy season, followed by an incredible season in St. Louis. Sutter threw nearly 400 innings in the Birds on the Bat uniform of the Cardinals, finishing 203 of his 249 games played - and saving 127 of the 203 games he finished. He led the entire league in saves 3 out of the 4 years he was in St. Louis, and averaged 32 saves in those four seasons. In 4 years, he twice finished 3rd and once finished 5th in the CY voting - as a closer. He also finished 5th, 6th, and 8th in those three seasons in the MVP voting - again, as a closer! He did not have overwhelming other numbers. His K rate was a bit low on the list at 16.1%. His walk rate was fairly low at 6.9%, but not overwhelmingly so. His 78.6% LOB% was average on this list. Bruce Sutter simply got it done - and won a World Series in the process.

6) Jason "Applesauce" Motte closed out the St. Louis Cardinals' 11th World Series Championship this season with 5 saves in 12 post-season appearances. He struck out 8 and only walked 1 in 12 1/3 innings pitched in the post-season. He only gave up 5 hits in those 12 1/3 innings, although 1 of those was a home run in the World Series. Strangely enough, his best attribute is his fastball and his strikeout numbers were way down in the playoffs. Jason Motte leads our list of 32 with a 9.0 K/9 IP and K% of 24.6% (over 2 % better than the next best) in the regular season. He gives a new meaning to the word "Fireman" out of the bullpen, as he just throws 96 mph beebee after 96mph beebee after 96mph beebee. He does what "Wild Thing" in Major League wanted to do, except in real life. Over the last two seasons (120 1/3 innings), Motte has struck out 117 men and walked only 34. He has allowed only 90 hits in those 120 1/3 innings. His 2011 WHIP was under 1, at 0.956. This season he allowed only 49 hits and struck out 3.94 for every 1 that he walked. Another season like this - plus a full season of saves, as the de facto closer of the Cardinals, a label never given to him in 2011 - could catapult him higher on this list.

5) Todd Worrell could have been higher on this list. Much like Matty Mo (in the starters' category), Worrell's injuries and leaving St. Louis early hurt his chances to be higher. Worrell burst on to the scene in the World Series losing season of 1985 with 21 2/3 great innings in the regular season and 11 more very good innings in the playoffs. 1986 was his first full season in the majors and he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the NL, leading the league with 36 saves and 60 games finished - throwing over 100 innings in the closer role. He then threw 230+ innings over the next three years before getting injured and missing from September 5, 1989 until April 6, 1992. That's two full seasons (1990 and 1991 and the one month of 1989) missed with injury - and those two years were when he was age 30 and 31, pretty much the prime for a closer. Worrell became one of 3 setup men to Lee Smith (look further on this list) upon his return and pitched well enough to earn $17.25M over 5 years with the Dodgers to end his career. His 129 saves are still 3rd on the St. Louis Cardinals franchise leaderboard, just 2 ahead of Bruce Sutter and just one season (31) behind Lee Smith for second. The most amazing part about Worrell was that he stranded 81.7% of all runners - a Cardinal reliever best.

4) Bobby Shantz would be very hard for me to list at #4 if he weren't so darn good - the reasoning, he only spent one full season in the St. Louis Cardinals' uniform - 1963. He arrived early enough in the 1962 season to throw in 28 games (57 1/3 innings) and departed after 16 games (17 1/3 innings) of the 1964 season (which turned out to be his last.) First of all, in 2 of the 3 seasons he was in St. Louis he won the Gold Glove - as a reliever. He did that 6 other times as well. As expected, with such a short time in St. Louis, he led the list of 32 players in least walks allowed and hits allowed. However, Shantz held opposing hitters to Mendoza line numebrs - a .199 batting average against over 154 1/3 IP in St. Louis! That's 6.6 hits per 9 innings pitched! He did that while striking out over 20% of the hitters that came up to face the tough southpaw and walking just 7% of the batters. He also stranded 75% (3 of every 4) of the baserunners. He did it in very tough circumstances, too; he did it finishing 61 of the 99 games in which he pitched as a Cardinal. Welcome to #4 on this list, Bobby Shantz - and with the way you threw, I resent your short time here MUCH more than I do your being in my top 4.

3) Jason "Izzy" Isringhausen's success in St. Louis has been slightly overshadowed by his late career failures in 2006 and 2008 with the Cardinals. We'll start with the bad. At the age of 33 in 2006, Adam Wainwright burst onto the scene late in the year. We all know how incredible he has become - one of the top 3-10 starters in the majors when healthy - and he was that good early on. Waino came out of the bullpen in that year, however, and Izzy lost his job to Waino during the championship run. In 2008, Izzy was 35 and his body finally broke down. Jason Isringhausen also had 5 of the best seasons at closer that St. Louis has ever seen. In his 7 total seasons in St. Louis, Izzy garnered 217 saves, which leads the franchise. From 2002 to 2004, when the Cardinals won 302 games, Izzy saved 101 of them. In those 3 years, Izzy had a 159 ERA+ and gave up 7 total home runs in 182 2/3 innings pitched. To put that in perspective, Salas gave up that many in 75 innings this year. Ryan Franklin gave up 9 in 27 2/3 innings this year. He gave up 0 HR in 2002 and 2 HR in 2005! His three year total was 0.3 HR/9 - a dead ball era stat - in the middle of the steroid era. In 2004, when the Cards won 105 games, he led the league with 47 saves. His 300 career saves are still in the top 25 all time for MLB, while his games finished are only in the top 40. That's a great rate of conversion and why he is at #3 on this list.

2) Lee Smith was a man who was larger than life as a Cardinal. Like others on this list, he left his best years in other cities, coming to St. Louis well after his prime. That doesn't mean that he did not have good - or great, or incredible - seasons here in the Lou. It does not sit well with me, looking back, that Smith only threw most of 4 seasons with the Cardinals - joining them near the beginning of the 1990 season and leaving near the end of the 1993 season. Lee Smith pitched in a time when closers were almost omnipresent (not to blaspheme here). He finished 209 of his 245 games in a Cardinal uniform and got a save in 160 of those 209 finishes. His 160 saves with the Cardinals are second to only Jason Isringhausen (#3 on the list). Not only was Lee Smith known for his blazing fastball, with the Cardinals he walked only 2.3 batters per nine innings. That was tops amongst our 32 contestants for "best reliever" and also gave him the lead in the K/BB category at 3.62. Wow. Smith left over 78% of the runners he either inherited or allowed to reach base on said bases. He also struck out 22.5% of the batters he faced - 2nd on the list to Jason Motte (#6). Great career - and great 4 seasons in St. Louis.

1) Joe Hoerner came to the St. Louis Cardinals for his 3rd through 6th seasons in the big leagues at the age of 29. He threw with the Cards from 1966 to 1969. This was an era in baseball where 20 saves was phenomenal. In the 4 seasons Hoerner pitched in St. Louis, he threw 61 innings per season. He finished 34 games a year, earning saves in 15 games per season. He struck out 3 men for every one that he walked. His ERA+ was 161 over those four seasons - or about what Jason Motte did in 2011 (his best season), but for four straight years. His WHIP was a miniscule 1.019. Out of the 32 men on this list, he had the best ERA, FIP, ERA+...oh, and he stranded over 80% of baserunners - one of only 4 men to do that. He was absolutely incredible with the Cards and tops our list of best Cardinals relievers of all time!

Congratulations to those great Cardinal firemen coming out of the bullpen!

The entire list of 32:

1. Joe Hoerner - 26.88
2. Lee Smith - 26.77
3. Jason Isringhausen - 25.59 (large drop off)
4. Bobby Shantz - 25.46
5. Todd Worrell - 24.73 (medium drop off)
6. Jason Motte - 24.50
7. Bruce Sutter - 24.27
8. TJ Mathews - 24.25
9. Al Hrabosky - 23.94
10. Diego Segui - 23.18 (medium drop off)
11. Lindy McDaniel - 23.02
12. Ken Dayley - 22.91
13. Ryan Franklin - 22.26 (medium drop off)
14. Steve Kline - 22.17
15. Buddy Schultz - 22.14 (no relation to Barney, according to b-r)
16. Barney Schultz - 22.02 (no relation to Buddy, according to b-r)
17. Dave Veres - 22.00
18. Mike Garman - 21.80
19. Mike Timlin - 21.75
20. Frank DiPino - 21.70 (okay, the continous "rounded numbers" ending in 0 and 5 are getting a bit ridiculous here)
21. Mark Littell - 21.46 (that's better)
22. Mike Perez - 21.34
23. Hal Woodeshick - 21.30
24. Cal Eldred - 20.94
25. Randy Flores - 20.56
26. Jeff Lahti - 20.46
27. Cris Carpenter - 20.35 (no, not THAT Chris Carpenter)
28. Kyle McClellan - 20.14
29. Ron Willis - 19.76
30. John Frascatore - 18.73 (large drop off)
31. Jim Kaat - 18.65
32. Brad Thompson - 18.61

There have been 32 men lucky enough to have started 150 or more games for the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Danny Cox is the only one of them to have thrown less than 1,000 innings as a Cardinal - ending his career at 985 2/3 IP with the Birds on the Bat. Of course, Bob Gibson has the most innings pitched at 3,884 2/3.

From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• Win %
• Wins
• Losses
• IP
• ERA
• ERA+
• FIP
• WHIP
• K
• BB
• HR
• H
• H/9
• K/9
• BB/9
• K/BB
• HR/9
• BAA
• K%
• BB%
• CG
• SHO
• CG/SHO

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who was the best of the best.

10) Steve Carlton is best known for his 15 years spent in Philadelphia as a Phillie, but he started as a St. Louis Cardinal before being traded for Rick Wise (in what might be the opposite of the Brock for Broglio classic I mentioned in another post). Before being traded, Carlton (only 26) had won 74 games in the previous 5 seasons. He was a 3 time All-Star in those five years, averaging 15 wins, 238 innings, 13 complete games, a 3.11 ERA (113 ERA+), and a 2.14 K/BB. Unfortunately, he had lost 19 games two years before being traded - however, he rebounded to win 20 the year before being traded. I am glad that I was not around then, because I might still be upset with this trade. (He went on to put up a 12.2 WAR season winning the Cy Young the next year - to go along with 3 more before he retired.) Despite only being in St. Louis, playing second fiddle to Gibson (more on him later), for 7 seasons; Carlton won one WS title with the Cardinals and lost another. If he would have stayed in St. Louis and had the same career, he would have made his way past at least 8 others on this list...but he didn't.

9) Harry (Harry the Cat) Brecheen is a mainly WII player (mostly 1940s player) - the one and only on this list. That is quite surprising to me considering went to four WS in the 40s and won 3 of them. Of course, I just have to think back to the other lists with Musial, Kurowski, Mize, Slaughter and others leading the way offensively for these clubs. Brecheen played all of his 12 seasons in MLB in the lovely city of St. Louis, MO. He played 11 of them with the Cardinals and the last season of his career across downtown with the St. Louis Browns (now Baltimore Orioles) franchise. From 1943-1949, Brecheen was at his best - garnering MVP votes and AS appearances in multiple seasons. It was the middle four years 1945-1948 that really served Brecheen well, being tops in WL% once, ERA once, Ks once, ERA+ once, WHIP once, HR/9 once, K/9 once, and SO/BB once. Harry the Cat earned victories in over 60% of his decisions as a Cardinal;winning about 13 a year, while losing about 8 a year. He threw complete games in 54% of his St. Louis starts, showing just what he meant to those 40s teams, known for their hitting. Great job Harry the Cat!

8) Matt Morris (Matty Mo) was one of my favorites growing up. He played his best baseball as a St. Louis Cardinal before being shipped off (via being granted free agency and not being brought back - mainly due to injury history and younger pitchers stepping into the rotation than anything). Matt Morris only led the league in wins in 2001 and shutouts in 2003 in his career. He made two All-Star teams, finished 3rd in the Cy Young once, and second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1997. He lost most of two years due to tommy john surgery in 1998 - coming back in the middle of the 2000 season. Morris is on this list because he put together a near RoY season in 1997, followed it up with a great start to 1998 before getting hurt. He finished off 2000 well before getting the Comeback player of the Year Award in 2001, his first full season after his 1997 rookie campaign. He then went to the All-Star game the following year and earned 17 wins (39 in two seasons). He had a better year, but not a better WL% the following year and was snubbed for the AS game. 2004 was his worst healthy year as a Cardinal, but he still provided 15 wins to a 105 win team. He rebounded (on a one-year contract0 the following year to get 14 more wins on a 100 win team. That set him up for a great contract offer from the Giants and he took it with the team getting more youthful in St. Louis for 2006. Unfortunately for Matty Mo, he left just in time to watch his friends get World Series rings. That could have bumped him up higher on this list.

7) Dave (Scissors) Foutz was a darn good hitter (with a darn good nickname) - .901 OPS over 448 plate appearances in his last season with St. Louis in 1887. In fact, he had a .728 OPS (112 OPS+) in nearly 1,250 PAs in his 4 St. Louis seasons. He may have been a better pitcher than hitter over that stretch. His 114-48 record (.704 WL%) is the best in St. Louis starting pitcher history. His 41 wins in are second in any St. Louis single season next to Silver King's (more on him coming up) and third in baseball history! He led the league (obviously) in both wins and WL% that season, along with ERA, saves (1), and ERA+. He had a 12.3 pitching WAR (according to b-r) that season. That's good for 7th on our list.

6) Charles Frederick "Silver" King was a St. Louis boy who threw his first 5 games for the Kansas City Cowboys of the National League in 1886. He then spent the 1887-1889 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. After those three seasons, he bounced around 5 different teams over the next 8 seasons. His three seasons with the Cardinals were very good. His 1888 season was completely dominant. He led the league with 45 wins that year, throwing 584 2/3 innings at 1.63 ERA ball. He threw in 64 games, starting 64 of them. He threw a complete ame in every start - shutout out his opponents 6 times. He also had a league leading WHIP of 0.874 and a 3.39 K/BB. He twice lost the World Series - which were much different back then. King went 1-3 in the 1887 WS lost to the Detroit Wolverines 10 games to 5. He also went 1-3 in the 1888 WS loss to the New York Giants 6 games to 4. King died in St. Louis at the age of 70 and is buried in St. Louis - home of his beloved St. Louis squad.

5) Jay Hanna Dean (Dizzy) was born in Lucas, Arkansas. The St. Louis Cardinals were the closest team to his home town and Dizzy got to come be a part of the Gas House Gang in St. Lou. He pitched the first 6 fuill seasons of his career in St. Louis leading them to one WS title in two tries. In his first game as a Cardinal - 2 calendar years before he was brought up for good - Dizzy threw a complete game three-hitter. Dizzy went to four All-Star games as a Cardinal, finished second in the MVP voting twice, and won the MVP in 1934.

Dizzy led the league in countless categories: Wins twice, WL% once, games pitched twice, starts once, complete games three times, shutouts twice, saves once (in the same year he led the league in complete games), innings pitched three times, strikeouts four straight seasons, batters faced twice, walks per 9 once, strikeouts per 9 twice ,and stirkeouts per walk twice. This led Dizzy into the Hall of Fame in 1953.

4) Bob Caruthers (Parisian Bob) started his career in St. Louis with the 1884 Browns at the age of 20. He stayed for 4 seasons before leaving town. He came back to end his career in 1892 with the St. Louis Browns at the age of 28. Caruthers played in an era where pitchers threw nearly twice as many innings as the best of the best in today's game. Caruthers threw 482 1/3 innings in 1885 as one of only 3 pitchers on the squad. He led the league with 40 wins, a .755 WL%, a 2.07 ERA, a 158 ERA+, and a 0.1 HR/9 rate that season. He again led the league in WL% in 1887 at .763 - he also led in WHIP that year. Caruthers is the WHIP leader of Cardinals' pitchers at 1.095 over his near-1,400 innings.

When not pitching, Caruthers played outfield for the Cardinals, and he played it well. In 1886 and 1887, he had OPSes of .974 (in 382 plate appearances) and 1.010 (in 436 plate appearances), respectively. He led the league in OBP, OPS, and OPS+ in 1886 - the same year he threw 387 1/3 innings and won 30 of 44 games pitched (starting 43 of them.)

3) Chris Carpenter came to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 at the age of 29. He threw three glorious seasons before getting hurt in the first game of the 2007 campaign. The 2007-2008 campaigns were spent on the DL throwing a total of 21 1/3 innings. The Cardinals teams greatly suffered while he was on the shelf. From 2009-2011, Carpenter was back and completely glorious again. Without those two seasons on the shelf, Carpenter could (and in my estimation would) very well be #2 on this list. Carpenter has won 15 games in 5 of his 6 full seasons with the team. He has gone 95-40 in the six seasons he was completely healthy and 0-2 in the other two series. He has once led the league in WL%, ERA, CG, SHO, IP, batters faced, ERA+, WHIP, and HR/9. He also twice led the league in games started - the last two years at age 35 and 36. Carpenter was the Cy Young winner in 2005, finished third in 2006, and second in 2009 - when he came back from his two-season injury. He is also a three-time all-star. He has struck out 3.66 for every person he has walked - leading all 32 other Cardinals' starters on this list. He also leads them in K% - striking ou 19.9% of the batters he has faced as a Cardinal starter! He has the least losses of anyone on the list, as well. Lastly, Carp throws a shutout in nearly 1/2 of the games in which he goes the complete game - and that does not include the 2011 NLCS game 5, in which he beat Roy Halladay in an epic 1-0 tilt for the ages. Carpenter led the Cardinals to their 10th and 11th World Championships in 2006 and 2011. He was injured for the World Series in the 2004 season, thus he has won every World Series in which he has taken part.

2) George Washington McGinnis, nicknamed Jumbo, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals' franchise back when they were the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882 and the St. Louis Browns in 1883-1886. He was a hometown kid who led his team to one second place finish (by just a game) and one first place finish in his four full seasons as a part of the St. Louis nine. In his only three healthy seasons with St. Louis, he had 25, 28, and 24 wins with over 350 innings pitched each year. Unfortunately, the only thing he ever led the league in was shutouts in 1883, with 6. His best attribute, as far as I can tell, was that he simply refused to walk people and he did not give up home runs. Granted, the rules were quite different back then. Anyway, he had a 1.4 BB/9, walking only 203 in 1,325 innings, at a 3.7% rate. He also gave up only 12 home runs in that time. Jumbo won 59% of his decisions as a Cardinal. These statistics led him to be the second best St. Louis starter on this list.

1) Bob Gibson, "Gibby", is my Dad's favorite player of All-Time (in any sport, in any time). Gibson seemed to throw a million miles an hour and might have thrown harder than that, according to the stories. Growing up on the "wrong side" of Omaha, NE made Gibson a fierce competitor. He was said to have never "fraternized with the enemy" before the game - never talking (kindly) to his opponent until the game is over. He once said, "When I was playing I never wished I was doing anything else. I think being a professional athlete is the finest thing a man can do." That shows his mindset. He was also athletic enough to have been a Harlem Globetrotter for a year.

Quite possibly first and foremost, Gibby led the St. Louis Cardinals to the 1964 and 1967 World Series Championships. He also led them to the 1968 World Series - in a season for the ages, in which he set the modern record for ERA at 1.12 for an entire season of over 300 innings pitched. He also led these 32 Cardinals in Wins at 251, innings pitched, strikeouts at 3,117, hits per 9 innins at 7.6 (6.1 all-time in the post season), batting average against at .224, complete games at 255, and shutouts at 56. Gibby had 5 seasons of 20 or more wins - leading the league once. He also led the league in ERA once (previously mentioned), complete games once, shutouts 4 times, strikeouts once, ERA+ twice, WHIP once, H/9 once, and HR/9 once. He was an 8 time All Star, won 2 Cy Youngs, won the MVP in 1968 as a pitcher, won two World Series MVPs (1964 and 1967), and won 9 straight Gold Gloves.

Nearly 30 years after his retirement, he still ranks 14th in strikeouts for a major leaguer in his career, 15th in pitching WAR, 13th in shutouts, and had two seasons with 5 home runs at the plate - in fact, he was good enough at the plate to have 1.0 offensive WAR in three seperate seasons. Lastly, Gibby is a Cardinal Hall of Famer and a Cooperstown Hall of Famer.

Congratulations to those great Cardinal starting pitchers!

The entire list of 32:

1. Bob Gibson - 31.12 points (then a huge drop)
2. Jumbo McGinnis - 28.28
3. Chris Carpenter - 28.23 (then a big drop)
4. Bob Caruthers - 26.51
5. Dizzy Dean - 26.34
6. Silver King - 25.96
7. Dave Foutz - 25.68 (then a medium drop)
8. Matt Morris - 24.63 (Whoa, Matty! Nice!)
9. Harry Brecheen - 24.51
10. Steve Carlton - 24.20
11. Max Lanier - 24.02
12. Mort Cooper - 23.90
13. Bill Doak - 23.58
14. Ray Washburn - 23.44
15. Joaquin Andujar - 23.433
16. Ernie Broglio - 23.430
17. Curt Simmons - 23.29
18. Slim Sallee - 22.87
19. Howie Pollet - 22.64
20. Jesse Haines - 22.60
21. Larry Jackson - 22.32
22. Bob Forsch - 22.29 (then a medium drop)
23. Danny Cox - 21.20
24. Lon Warneke - 21.16
25. Bill Sherdel - 21.10
26. Vinegar Bend Mizell - 20.96 (great name!)
27. Bill Hallahan - 20.68 (then a small drop)
28. Ray Sedecki - 19.81
29. Garry Staley - 19.73 (then a small drop)
30. Flint Rhem - 18.86 (another great name)
31. Bob Harmon - 18.66
32. Ted Breitenstein - 18.56

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' center fielders of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Willie McGee, Terry Moore, Taylor Douthit

Special note: I do have to say that this list of centerfielders was especially great for me because the top two came out in the order that I would have liked and Willie McGee (my 3rd choice off the top of my head before beginning) came in a very close 4th place, nearly on the list of 3. Yay!

3) There is a quite large discrepancy between #2 and #3 on this list, in terms of on the field achievements; but it is great to write about Curt Flood at #3 on this list as well, because his off the field achievements are more legacy-lasting than anything either of the two men ahead of him on the list could ever accomplish on the field. His monumental off-field achievement first: Basically, Curt Flood was the man who pioneered free agency. He was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1969 offseason and spent the entire year in 1970 fighting the trade and MLB's reserve clause. (Eventually the Cardinals gave up other players and sent him to the Washington Senator instead the following season.) The reserve clause meant that players who finished a contract with a team were bound to that team when the contract was over, as well, unless they asked and received a trade or an outright release. Major League Baseball would eventually adopt free agency in 1975; 4 years after Flood's playing days were over. Another interesting note is that, in Flood's only year as a Senator in 1971, he became the first MLB player to get a regular season hit in Canada, off of former teammate Larry Jaster, then pitching for the Expos in Montreal. Now, onto Flood's on the field achievements. Flood played 12 years as a Cardinal and led the league in plate appearances once, at bats twice, and hits once. He was a 3 time All-Star and won 7 straight Gold Gloves - always known as a great defender - while earning MVP votes in all seven of those Gold Glove seasons.

2) Ray Lankford was one of those players that you loved to love, but loved to hate at the same time. I remember one play (my father and sister were at the game, but I was not - it was not "my turn" to go with Dad that night, I guess) where he bowled over a catcher and knocked the ball loose to win a game in extra innings at home. My dad and sister say that when they showed the replay, nobody had yet left their seats to go home, and the noise from the stadium was just as loud as when it had actually happened 5 minutes earlier. However, Ray Ray (as we called him) was part of the 1990's crop of players who struck out at a high rate, while still putting up fantastic numbers. That frustrated many fans, which saw his talent level as much more capable. Lankford spent parts of 13 seasons in Cardinal red, including a comeback as a 37 year old on the 2004 team that won 105 games and went to the World Series. He hit 20 or more homers 6 times as a Cardinal, with a high of 31 (twice). He had 20 or more steals 6 times as a Cardinal (with highs of 44 and 42). In fact, 5 of those 6 times, he was a 20-20 man (with 20 or more steals AND homers in the same season). He also doubled more than 30 times on six different occasions. He drove in 100 runs once and scored 100 runs once. He had an OBP over .400 once and a slugging over .550 once (over .500 four times). His OPS+ as a Cardinal was 123. Despite all of these gaudy stats, he was only an All-Star once, in 1997, when his season ended with an OPS of .996 and an OPS+ of 159! Ray Lankford simply played baseball at the wrong time - the beginning of the Steroid Era - to put up stats that were league leadable, I believe. I also believe that he was nowhere within shouting distance of being a user of steroids. He finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting (leading the league in triples that year) and twice got MVP votes. His 40.0 WAR over 13 years as a Cardinal ranks him second in CF behind our #1 man.

1) Jim Edmonds might be one of the most amazing athletes on any of these lists. Edmonds gets dogged about his style of play in centerfield, seen as someone who dove for everything, whether he needed to or not. However, Edmonds accomplished 44.8 WAR as a Cardinal in just 8 seasons in the uniform. He has the highest percentage of hits going for XBH (47.0%) of anyone ever to don the Birds on the Bat 3,000+ times at the plate; his total was even higher than "The Big Cat," "The Machine," and even "The Man." Edmonds' nickname came to be "Jimmy Ballgame," (or simply "Jimmy," by many) a hearkening back to "Teddy Ballgame" (Ted Williams) of the Red Sox around WWII times. While Edmonds will never be confused with Ted Williams - who some argue was the best hitter of all time, better than Musial, Gehrig, Mantle, even Ruth - Edmonds became an amazing hitter over time. Edmonds was seen as a defense first guy when coming up as a California (then Anaheim) Angel in the mid-1990's, but quickly found his stroke and averaged a 119 OPS+ over his 7 years in Cali. He then brought his frosted tips and surfer style to the expansive turf in centerfield in St. Louis in 2000, at the age of 30. Edmonds had been an All-Star once and won the Gold Glove twice, but really thrived in St. Louis, playing alongside Ozzie and McGwire, then Pujols, then Rolen and Renteria, then others. Again a victim of playing during the steroids era - although I'm not sure whether or not Edmonds was squeaky clean on this one? - He never once led the league in any offensive category, frequenting the top 10. Along with Pujols and Rolen, Edmonds became part of the MV3 in St. Louis' mid 2000's batting orders. He twice bested the 1.000+ OPS plateau and averaged a .989 OPS and 153 OPS+ his first six seasons in St. Louis, while playing Gold Glove centerfield defense all six seasons. He averaged 34 doubles and 35 homers in those 6 seasons, with 100 runs and 98 RBI per season as well. He bested the 40 home run and 110 RBI marks twice in that span, becoming a pure run producer in the middle of the order. He finished in the top 5 in MVP voting twice and garnered votes for MVP in 3 more seasons.

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal center fielders!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal corner outfielders.

1) Jim Edmonds - 12.965

2) Ray Lankford - 11.422

3) Curt Flood - 9.576

4) Willie McGee - 9.182

5) Terry Moore - 8.857

6) Taylor Douthit - 8.610

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Since "corner outfielders" encompasses two positions - left field and right field - there will be a Top 6 today. Without further ado, your top 6 St. Louis Cardinals' corner outfielders of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Jack Smith, Vince Coleman, and Tommy Dowd

I'm not gonna lie to ya - this list did not turn out at all like I had expected.

6) George Hendrick was the #1 overall pick in the 1968 entry draft - by the Oakland Athletics. He moved fairly quickly through their system before playing 100 MLB games over the 1971 and 1972 seasons with the A's. He was then traded (along with Dave Duncan - current pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals) to Cleveland. Four years later he was traded again to San Diego. He eventually ended up being traded to the Cardinals in 1978 with just over 100 games to play in the season. He stayed in St. Louis until the end of the 1984 season. Those 7 seasons were the longest he stayed on any of his 6 franchises that he played for. While in St. Louis he was not spectacular, but always solidly above average. He made two All-Star teams, garnering Silver SluggerAwards and top 11 MVP votes both of those seasons. He also finished with MVP votes in two other seasons. Sometimes called "Silent George," because he rarely talked to the media (if at all), he could have been named so because he was nearly silent on the basepaths and had a nearly silent arm - ranking dead last in SB/600 PAs and Outfield Assists/600 PAs on my list. Another bit of trivia: George was the first player to wear his pant legs down to his ankles - so we can blame him for the sloppiness in uniforms we see today! Despite not standing out in any one offensive statistic, he averaged a .345 OBP and .470 SLG with the club - good for an OPS+ of 125 as a Cardinal. His 33.2 XBH% ranks 3rd among Cardinal COFs. Lastly, George did drive in runs well, averaging over 85 RBI per season with the Cardinals, topping 100 twice in his 6+ seasons here.

5) With #5, we move into the most ballyhooed of all Cardinal corner outfielders. These five all have tremendous resumes, starting with Lou Brock. Lou Brock holds a special place in most Cards' fans hearts. Whether it is because we stole him from the Cubs for Ernie Broglio or because he had 888 stolen bases as a Cardinal or because he's a Hall of Famer or because his number is retired as a Cardinal Great - Brock's name is synonymous with Cardinal Baseball, much like others on these lists before him. Lou Brock had 50 steals in his career (3+ years) with the Cubs before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. He ended up getting 33 more in the 103 games the season he was traded here. He then bested 50 stolen bases for 12 straight seasons, getting 118 as a 35-year old in 1974. However, Brock was not just a slap hitting stolen base threat - like a Vince Coleman - in his first 1044 games as a Cardinal, he also ripped 95 home runs along with 290 doubles and triples! Brock scored the 2nd most runs in Cardinal history - leading the league twice in that category in individual seasons and scoring over 100 runs seven times. In 1968, he led the league in doubles AND triples - yet somehow led the league in steals! Think about this, Brock reached base 233 times that year. He hit 6 home runs and 14 triples. That takes him down to 213 times on first base or second base. He stole 62 bases. That's not nearly as amazing as 1974, when he was on first or second base about 220 times and stole 118 bases! Brock led the league in stolen bases 8 times in his career and was the MLB career leader in stolen bases until Rickey Henderson broke Brock's mark later on. Brock was also a 6 time All-Star and finished in the top 10 of MVP voting 4 times - finishing 2nd in 1974.

4) Enos "Country" Slaughter was a good ol' suthen' boy from North Carolina. Another of the Cardinal Greats who has his name etched everywhere the Cardinals place their best of the best, Slaughter was known for his tremenous hustle on every play. He would have been a Tony LaRussa favorite today, with much more talent than most TLR favorites. It is even said that "Charlie Hustle" (Pete Rose) took his cue to run out every single play no matter what from Enos Slaughter. Slaughter is said to have gotten it from his minor league coach, Eddie Dyer. Dyer caught him walking off the field and confronted him. ''(He) said, 'Son, if you're tired, I'll get somebody else.'" - from that day on, nobody in MLB could ever say that they saw Enos walking anywhere on a baseball field. "Country" played his first 13 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, and unfortunately lost 3 years to WWII. The year before leaving, he finished 2nd in MVP voting and the year he got back he finished 3rd. Those three years (his age 27-29 years) could have easily added another 555 hits, 300 runs, 330 RBI, and 30 SB to his resume. As it was, however, Slaughter settled to get just over 2,000 hits with the Cardinals, leading the league in 1942, the year he left for the war. He also led the league in triples that year and one other. He led the league in doubles, with 52, in his second season and RBI in the season he came back from the war. He was a 10 time (straight) All-Star, 5 times finishing in the top 10 in MVP voting. He is the all time leader in WAR by a Cardinal corner outfielder and has the most walks per strikeout as well. And even though I never got to see him play, as he retired 21 years before I was born, my guess is he never "walked" down to first base.

3) Charles "Chick" Hafey is another former Cardinal who is enshrined in the halls of Cooperstown, NY's Baseball Hall of Fame. While he did not have the longevity of a Enos Slaughter or Lou Brock, Hafey was much better than his peers of the 1920s and 30s. Hafey's first three years in Cardinals' red only saw him play a total of 195 games. Once he became a full-time starter in 1927, though, his next 5 seasons are nearly unparalleled. In those 5 years, his last 5 in St. Louis, he averaged an OPS of 1.009 and an OPS+ of 151! He averaged 93 runs, 39 doubles, 8 triples, 23 homers, and 100 RBI - all the while hitting .338 and slugging over .600. He led the NL is batting average once and slugging once. A similar player in today's game would probably be none other than the Cardinals' own, Matt Holliday.

2) James "Tip" O'Neill was one of those early greats, playing in pre-modern era baseball. He was a Cardinal (actually a Brown) from 1884 to 1889, then again for the 1891 season. As a Cardinal, he AVERAGED a 158 OPS+ for his career here - 58% better than his contemporaries. O'Neill led the league in hits, RBI, and batting average twice. However, in 1887, he led the league in nearly every offensive category - having what people nowadays call a "video game season." Here it is: In 1887, Tip led the league with:

167 runs, 225 hits, 52 doubles, 19 triples, 14 homers, 123 RBI, a .435 batting average, .490 OBP, .691 SLG, 1.180 OPS, 211 OPS+, and 357 total bases.

He also stole 30 bases that season, which did not lead the league. If you combine what EVERYONE ELSE did in the league and only look at the second best totals in each category, here's that line:

163 runs (his teammate, Arlie Latham), 220 hits,43 doubles, 19 triples (he actually tied 5 others for first in that category), 10 home runs,118 RBI, .402 avg, .464 OBP, .547 SLG, 1.011 OPS, 177 OPS+, and 299 total bases

Lastly, O'Neill was not great with the glove, but he led all Cardinal COFers with over 20 assists per/600 PAs. In an era where 100+ stolen bases was common to lead the league, there was a lot of running going on. The numbers are probably up because of that, but it's still nearly double most of his competitors in the category.

1) And the #1 Cardinal corner outfielder of all time by my formula is Joe "Ducky" Medwick. Ducky is another Cardinal Hall of Famer. He played in the 30s and 40s ('32-'40 with the Red birds before coming back to finish his career in STL in '47 and '48). Joe Medwick (in 1937) is the answer to the trivia question: Who is the last National League player to hit for the Triple Crown? Like Tip O'Neill before him, Medwick led nearly every offensive category that year, but the Triple Crown stat line was .374, with 31 homers and 154 RBI. Medwick won his one and only MVP that year, although he finished 4 times in the top 10. He also was an All-Star that year, making one of his 7 trips as a Cardinal and one of his 10 overall trips. Medwick led the league in at bats, runs, batting average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, triples, and homers once; hits twice; and doubles, RBI, and total bases three times. Medwick was also a very good defender, save for his 1934 campaign in which he led the league in errors. Medwick was top 5 in assists twice, to go along with leading the league in LF fielding % 3 times and range factor once.

Congratulations to those 6 great Cardinal corner outfielders!

Truly, the top four on this list could have gone in any direction. I wanted to uphold the integrity of my formula I had used for the rest of the lists, so I did. I personally would have Slaughter higher - probably 1st - 3rd, along with Medwick and Brock. O'Neill and Hafey were both great, but did not play here as long, so I would have had them as 4 and 5. In any case, have fun learning about or reminiscing on these players and let your debate begin!

1) Joe Medwick - 11.523

2) Tip O'Neill - 11.385

3) Chick Hafey - 11.245

4) Enos Slaughter - 10.885

5) Lou Brock - 9.566

6) George Hendrick - 9.049

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' short stops of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Marty Marion, Bill Gleason, and Dal Maxvill

3) Garry Templeton has the rap of being a high talent, low brain type of short stop. My dad was a batting practice pitcher while Templeton was in St. Louis. His politically correct take on Templeton is that he was consistently the last person onto the field and the first person to leave the field; all the while, leading the league in errors three straight seasons as a Cardinal. His talent level was enough to land him, not only on the list of shortstops with 3,000+ plate appearances as a Redbird but also, in the top 3 of Cardinal short stops of all time. He comes in at #3 on the list and extremely close to #2 (forty-three thousandths away from our #2, to be precise). The Cardinals got the first 6 seasons of Templeton's career and they were his best - at least in the batter's box. Templeton was a 2 time all-star, one time silver slugger, and twice got votes for MVP while in St. Louis. He led the league in hits once and triples three times, but got caught stealing the most in 1977 and led the league in errors the next three seasons. To be fair, he also led the league in putouts and range factor per game all three of those seasons, so he got to more balls than anyone else.

2) Edgar Renteria was a beloved Cardinal while he was here, and the talent level places him at #2 on the list. I believe a lot of people soured on Renteria because of the way he departed St. Louis (taking the Red Sox's offer, which was less than a million dollars more than the Cardinals' reported offer, just months after the Red Sox beat the Cardinals in the World Series). While Edgar Renteria never led the league in any offensive categories during his time as a Cardinal, he put up numbers that were about league average, while playing a very good shortstop - earning two Gold Gloves. His .420 SLG and .768 OPS as a Cardinal top the list of Cardinals' short stops during their STL careers, as does his 29.5% XBH. Quite amazingly, Renteria never stole less than 17 bases with the Cardinals, averaging 25 a season - amazing because Tony LaRussa hardly ever gives the green light to anybody. (Since Renteria's departure, the clubhouse leader has totaled 16, 11, 10, 24, 16, and 14 steals. Cesar Izturis was the only one to get to 17, Renteria's low.) In addition to Renteria's 2 Gold Gloves he earned as a Cardinal, he also got MVP votes twice, made 3 All-Star teams, and earned 3 Silver Sluggers. His best season, in the 2003 season right before the boom of 2004 and 2005 and the World Series of 2006, looked reminiscent of "the glory days" of baseball - a .330 average with 61 extra base hits, only 13 of them homers, 96 runs and 100 RBI and a 34-7 SB record, all the while walking more than striking out (for the only time in his career.)

1) Ozzie Smith started his career with the San Diego Padres. Many people forget that nowadays. His first four years were spent in SD, but his last 15 years were spent as a Cardinal. Like so many of the others finishing #1 on their respective lists, Ozzie is truly a Cardinal great. Young Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith showed glimpses of his potential in San Diego, making possibly the best play defensively that I have ever seen, as a rookie. Diving up the middle for a scorched ground ball off the bat of Jeff Burroughs, the ball hit a rock and took a bad hop, so bad that the ball caromed over and behind his head. Ozzie throws up his bare hand (since his glove hand has absolutely zero chance of getting it), and grabs on while plummeting quickly to the ground. Then, he gets up and is able to still throw out the runner, Burroughs, from well behind second base, still on the short stop side of the bag. (*link below) That play in just his tenth game as a big league baseball player was just a glimpse into the athleticism and the future of one Ozzie Smith. In the offseason between the 1981 and 1982 seasons, the Cardinals had a still young, All-Star short stop that was seen as someone not giving them enough effort. Ozzie had already won two (of his thirteen straight) Gold Gloves and was an All-Star in 1981 as well. However, San Diego wanted some pop in their lineup, and the Cardinals wanted a fair return, so San Diego agreed to acquire (#3 on this list) Garry Templeton from the Cardinals in exchange for the man who would come to be known as "The Wizard." Never known for his bat (an OPS+ of just 66 in SD - and 87 for his career, Ozzie was able to become serviceable with the bat - he had a 9 year stretch where 8 of the seasons were at least a 95 OPS+. He was also quite the speedster, averaging 35 steals with only 8 caught during his first dozen years as a Cardinal. He had a high of 57 steals in 1988 (also getting 57 once in SD). Besides the 13 straight Gold Gloves, Ozzie was a 15 time All-Star, the 1985 NLCS MVP (more on this later), 2nd in MVP voting in 1987, and earned MVP votes in a total of 6 seasons. As a Card, he never once struck out more than he walked, having a Cards career total of 2.07 BB for every K. In fact, while not earning a ton of extra base hits in his career, Ozzie had nearly one XBH per strikeout; he was so adept at making contact. Lastly - not so much about Ozzie himself but in speaking of him - his home run to help the Cardinals to the 1985 World Series and win him 1985 NLCS MVP was called by Jack Buck and is one of my favorite calls of all time - "Go crazy folks, go crazy!" (**Also linked to later)

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal short stops!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal center fielders.

1) Ozzie Smith - 11.851

2) Edgar Renteria - 10.556

3) Garry Templeton - 10.513

4) Marty Marion - 9.293

5) Bill Gleason - 8.222

6) Dal Maxvill - 5.897

**Ozzie's great play

**Buck's call (about 45 seconds in to the podcast at the bottom of the article)

Just missing out: Solly Hemus (2494 PAs, but 22.0 gWAR), Dick Groat (2055 PAs, but 12.0 gWAR), Bobby Wallace (1873 PAs, but 13.25 fWAR), and Charlie Gelbert (2653 PAs, but 10.5 gWAR).

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' third basemen of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Pepper Martin, Arlie Latham, Todd Zeile, Milt Stock, Terry Pendleton, Mike Shannon, and Ken Reitz

3) Joe Torre, today, is much better known for his managerial abilities than his play on the field. However, he was a fantastic player in his own right. Torre is one of the few Cardinals who played the majority of his career elsewhere to be found on these lists. He was a Brave for 9 seasons, where he was primarily a catcher, but he saved his best seasons for his time in St. Louis. In his 6 years as a Cardinal, he was a 4-time All-Star and one time MVP winner. In his MVP season, he led the league in hits, RBI, batting average, and total bases. Torre will never have his number retired as a Cardinal, nor go down as a Cardinal Great, but the Cardinals got him for 6 of his best seasons in the big leagues.

2) Whitey Kurowski was a treat to learn about. I had rarely heard his name before this exercise. Kurowski played his entire 9 year career (more like 7 years, his first and last years combined to have 25 plate appearances) in St. Louis as the third baseman. Because of a disease called osteoyelitis, he was mssing part of a bone in his right forearm, yet he still was able to make it as a ballplayer. He happened to play third base for the Cards during one of their golden times - the 1940s. Kurowski was able to go to the post-season 4 times as a Cardinal and win the World Series three of those times. Kurowski was a 5 time all-star (not playing one season) and finished in the top ten of MVP voting twice. Kurowski was seen as a good defender (top 5 in range factor five times, top 5 in assists five time and led the league once, top 5 in putouts six times and led the league three times). Unlike Torre, Kurowski was never "the best" in any offensive area, despite his excelling on defense. Whitey got on base at a .366 clip for his career, including one year at .420. He slugged .455 for his career, only twice over .500. He had over 100 RBI twice, scored over 100 runs once, hit 24 or more doubles five times and 20 or more homers three times. Apparently, arm and elbow problems ended his career early, however. He went on to become a minor league manager for nearly two decades.

1) Kenny Boyer was always one of my father's favorites growing up. I had assumed this was partially because his favorite was Bob Gibson and Boyer made things a lot easier for Gibby over at the hot corner, being a 5 time Gold Glover. Then, I realized that Boyer did not really get a chance to help Gibby too much during Gibby's reign atop the leaderboards as a pitcher because Boyer: 1) got older and presumably slower; and 2) got traded. So, why did my dad enjoy Ken Boyer so much? Well, this Missouri native played his first 11 years as a Cardinal, came back to manage the team for 3 years later, and has his #14 retired by the team, as well. He was also known as "The Captain" on those early 1960's Cardinal ballclubs. Despite only leading the league in RBI once as a Cardinal (and that's it in terms of statistical leaderboard material), Boyer finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times (winning the award once) and was an All-Star 7 times. As I mentioned before, he was a great defensive player, especially early in his career. He was so athletic, that he was a key piece as a center fielder in his 3rd season with the club, and he played some there and at short later on as a Cardinal, as well. His 269 doubles and 61 triples, as a Cardinal third bagger, are second all-time. His 255 home runs more than double the second best Cardinal third baseman. Lastly, he is the only Cardinal third baseman to get over 1,000 RBI.

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal third basemen!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal short stops.

1) Kenny Boyer - 11.724

2) Whitey Kurowski - 10.485

3) Joe Torre - 10.317

4) Pepper Martin - 9.755

5) Arlie Latham - 8.795

6) Todd Zeile - 8.583

7) Milt Stock - 7.817

8) Terry Pendleton - 7.710

9) Mike Shannon - 7.567

10) Ken Reitz - 6.228

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' second basemen of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Miller Huggins, Jimmy Brown, Tom Herr, and Jose "The Secret Weapon!" Oquendo

3) Albert "Red" Schoendienst is quite simply a Cardinal Great. His #2 is retired and displayed on the left field wall and in the backdrop of center field, quite proudly. Red is still with the organization as a special assistant to the General Manager, but let me start at the beginning. Red came to the Cardinals in 1945 to fill in for "The Man" as Stan was serving duty in the US Army. Red played most of his career in STL, spending a year in LF, a little time at 3B and SS, but mainly becoming a good second baseman. He left for a short time, being traded, before coming back as a free agent 5 seasons later. Red then became the then-longest tenured manager for the St. Louis Cardinals (for 12 years). As a manager he led the Cardinals to one World Series title and a .521 win %. He came back twice later to fill in during managerial vacancies, piling up another 31 wins and 30 losses in 61 games. As a player, Schoendienst did a lot of things right, however he did not do things at an incredible level like others on the list. The switch-hitter led the league in at bats twice, doubles once, and steals once - as a Cardinal. He played on 10 all-star teams, winning the 1950 All-Star game with his first ever right-handed home run, a walkoff winner in extra innings. He was a quite competant defender, finishing in the top 10 in dWAR 7 times and finishing first in fielding percentage 5 times, as a Cardinal. While his playing statistics alone did not earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame, he was eventually voted into the Hall of Fame in 1989 by the Veteran's Committee as a player/manager.

2) Frankie Frisch not only is the 2nd best Cardinal second baseman of all time, he may have the best nickname on this list. "The Fordham Flash" (he went to Fordham University before entering the majors) played the final 11 years of his 19 year career with the Cardinals. Many of you will be familiar with the name Tom Herr. Frisch was an excellent version of Tom Herr, playing 50 years earlier. Both Frisch and Herr stole around 21 bases per 600 plate appearances as a Cardinal, Herr was caught 25.1% of the time, no data on how often Frisch was caught. They both walked more times than they struck out, but Frisch was better (3.37 K:BB to 1.13 K:BB). They both hit more than 20% extra bases, but Frisch was better (25.2% to 22.4%). They both got on base at a good clip, but Frisch was better (.370 to .349). The Cardinals missed out on a few of Frisch's better seasons with the Giants, but still were able to get an MVP season out of him and a second-place finish in the MVP race out of him. He led the league in steals twice as a Cardinal. Frisch was also a 3 time all-star with the Cardinals. The reason he goes ahead of Schoendienst in my book - even though I think Schoendienst would be placed higher the Frisch as a "Cardinal Great" is that Frisch had 782 less plate appearances (more than one full season's worth) and still was able to finish with a higher cumulative WAR than Frisch.

1) The obvious choice at #1 in Rogers Hornsby. Aside from his ridiculous stats for a typically defense-first position, which we'll get to in a moment, Hornsby had some great quotes:

• "Any ballplayer that don't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a communist."
• "I don't like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitcher."
• "I hustled (on how he was able to hit .424) on everything I hit."
• Those are three great quotes above, but my all-time favorite is this: "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

On to Hornsby's statistcal greatness. The 1920's was a great time to be hitting a baseball. In the American League, everyone has heard of Murderer's Row and the Bronx Bombers - the Yankees with Ruth, Gehrig, and more sluggers. However, Rogers Hornsby owned the National League during this time. Playing on the Cardinals for the first 12 years of his big league career, Hornsby had a 178 OPS+. That's 8 points higher than the best Cardinal ever - Stan Musial. Think about that. Hornsby led the league in games played once, runs three times, hits four times, doubles four times, triples twice, home runs twice, RBI four times, walks once, batting average six straight times, on base percentage AND slugging percentage seven times (six straight), OPS 8 times (six straight), and total bases six times. A third of his hits as a Cardinal went for extra bases. In the six years from 1920 to 1925 he led the league in AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and OPS+. He earned exactly 1 MVP and finished 2nd once. That'd be a travesty, but the NL was not handing out the award until 1924, when he finished 2nd. Hornsby led the league in WAR 7 times as a Cardinal. This is how far ahead of his competitors he was:

1917 - Hornsby 9.2 WAR (next best 7.2)

1919 - Hornsby 6.5 WAR (next best 6.2)

1920 - Hornsby 9.4 WAR (next best 7.0)

1921 - Hornsby 11.7 WAR (next best 8.1)

1922 - Hornsby 10.7 WAR (next best 5.9)

1924 - Hornsby 13.0 WAR (next best 8.0 - this was Frankie Frisch, #2 on this list, who beat him in WAR in 1923)

1925 - Hornsby 10.0 WAR (next best 6.9)

In summation, Hornsby was easily the best second baseman as a Cardinal, and is quite possibly the best second baseman ever to play that position - at least from a purely hitting standpoint.

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal second basemen!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal third basemen.

1) Rogers Hornsby - 14.139

2) Frankie Frisch - 12.298

3) Red Schoendienst - 9.292

4) Miller Huggins - 8.820

5) Jimmy Brown - 8.286

6) Tom Herr - 8.180

7) Jose Oquendo - 7.144

8) Julian Javier - 6.366

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

This is the next piece in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. As always, I will be following a set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' first basemen of ALL TIME!

Honorable Mention goes to: Charlie Comiskey, Jim Bottomley, Keith Hernandez (Muck the Fets), Ripper Collins, Ed Konetchy, and Bill White.

Special mention to Mike Laga, who was the only player ever to hit a ball out of Busch Stadium II (the old, circular, cookie-cutter Busch of my youth). Yes, the ball was foul, but DAMN - out of that stadium? Are you kidding me?

3) I was absolutely astonished that #3 came as close to #2 and #1 as he did. I had no idea that Johnny "The Big Cat" Mize was an absolute BEAST at the plate as a Cardinal. Mize was signed by the Cardinals in 1930 and played his first 6 seasons in the Birds on the Bat before we traded him to the New York Giants for 3 players and cash. Mize had 4 incredible seasons outside of St. Louis, all surrounding him losing his age 30, 31, and 32 seasons to World War II. However, all 6 of his seasons in St. Louis would be categorized as incredible, to me. In his 6 seasons as a Cardinal, he led the NL in doubles once, triples once, home runs twice, RBI once, batting average once, slugging percentage three times, OPS three times, OPS+ twice, and total bases three times. He was an All-Star in four of his six seasons and finished second in the MVP voting twice (to go along with three other top 12 finishes.) In those six years, he also led the league in WAR once, finished second twice and third once. When you look at baseball-reference's similar players list, you see fantastic names like: Hank Greenberg, Chuck Klein, Dick Allen, Todd Helton, Duke Snider, and Joe DiMaggio. 42.2% of his 1048 hits went for extra bases in his six years as a Cardinal. For most other teams, "The Big Cat" would easily be their top first baseman ever. For the Cardinals, he was pretty close statistically, but miles apart in lore.

2) Said with his distinct Dominican accent, the second best Cardinal first baseman of all time is called "The Mang," although he would prefer not to be called that. Others call him "Prince Albert." Still others have nicknamed him "Phat Albert." My favorite are the ESPN commercials that call him "The Machine." Yes, second place on the list is reserved for none other than Albert Pujols. You have heard all the numbers before. He is the only player in history to hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBI in each of his first 10 seasons. He scored 99 runs in 2007 or he would be the first player to have hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 runs and RBI in each of his first 10 seasons instead. On to the nitty gritty, Albert has led the league in many categories: 5 times in runs, once in hits, once in doubles, twice in homers, once in RBI, once in batting average, once in OBP, three times in SLG, three times in OBP, four times in OPS+, four times in total bases, and four times in IBB. Albert has hit a preposterous 44.5% of his hits for extra bases - the second best of any Cardinal in this entire series of posts. He was the rookie of the year in 2001, has finished top 4 in MVP voing in 9 of his first 10 seasons (9th the other year), winning it only three times - I say "only" because he's led the league in WAR 7 times. He is a 9 time all-star, 2 time gold glover, and 6 time silver slugger. He has broken the record for assists by a first baseman in a single season. He is the active career leader in range factor for first basemen and total zone runs for first basemen. He is already a likely Hall of Famer by all four of baseball-reference's prediction methods. Oh, and he's just into his 11th season at age 31. How, might you ask, is he not the best first baseman ever for the Cardinals - as he might go down as the best right-handed hitter of all time? Because...

1) Albert does not want to be called "The Man(g)" in St. Louis. That title, he says, is reserved for our #1 player on the list. Stan "The Man" Musial. An article, by Joe Posnanski, about Stan Musial sums up why he is "The Man." (Article is linked to at bottom of page.) My thoughts are that Stan Musial started and ended his career in St. Louis, and came to bat over 5,000 more times than Albert has so far in his career. Albert very well could pass this left-handed batter as the best hitter (and player) in St. Louis history - but Albert would have to end his career here like he has continued it so far. By baseball-reference's Fan EloRater, Musial is listed as the 5th best baseball player of all time, behind Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig, and Williams (Pujols is already at #15, less than 11 full seasons into his career.) According to wikipedia, when Musial retired, he shared or owned 17 major league baseball records, 29 National League records, and 9 All-Star Game records. Wow. Speaking of records, he still owns Cardinal records for nearly every offensive counting statistic - and he has been retired for over 50 seasons. He led the league in plate appearances twice, at bats once, runs five times, hits six times, doubles eight times, triples five times, RBI twice, walks once, batting average seven times, OBP six times, SLG six times, OPS seven times, OPS+ six times, and total bases six times. He was a 20 time All-Star and 3 time MVP - actually, there used to be more than one all-star game a season, so he played in 24 All-Star games in 20 seasons. He is also second in career shares of MVP voting. Even though he only won 3 MVPs, he led the league in WAR 4 times and offensive WAR 6 times. He was selected to the Hall of Fame in 1969 by 93.2% of the BBWAA. That is why "The Machine" still calls this Cardinal great "The Man" and he is #1 on my list of Cardinals' first basemen.

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal first basemen!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal second basemen.

1) Stan Musial - 13.429

2) Albert Pujols - 12.788

3) Johnny Mize - 11.828

4) Charlie Comiskey - 10.480

5) Jim Bottomley - 9.921

6) Keith Hernandez - 9.303

7) Ripper Collins - 9.295

8) Ed Konetchy - 8.993

9) Bill White - 8.307

Note #1: Article about Stan "The Man" Musial: http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/01/31/musial/

Note #2: It was slightly more difficult re-reading #2 that it was writing it in August...

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

This is the first in a series of posts in which I will look at the BEST St. Louis Cardinals of all time. I will do so by position. I will be following a very specific set of criteria. The criteria that affects this the most is that I only took a look at players with 3,000 or more plate appearances AS A CARDINAL. (So, Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Darryl Porter, Mike Matheny, and others - sorry, you're out!) From there, I used a very complicated formula involving:

• WAR (a mix of fangraphs" and baseball-reference's WAR statistics)
• WAR/PA*600 (600 plate appearances is a very near approximation to a complete season, so it's basically WAR/season
• batting average
• on base percentage
• slugging percentage
• on base plus slugging
• OPS+ (takes OPS and converts it to a comparison to league average for that season or career and adjusts for ballpark)
• % of hits that are extra base hits
• BB:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• XBH:K (I could not compare 3rd basemen, shortstops, or corner outfielders on this statistic due to lack of data)
• SB/PA*600 - basically SB/season
• for catchers I looked at how many players were caught stealing or picked off compared to how many people stole bases off of them
• for outfielders I looked at how many outfield assists that they got per 600 plate appearances (or per season) as well

I then took this data and ranked the players at each position against each other, accounting for small or large differences in each statistic in able to see who the best of the best was.

Without further ado, your top 3 St. Louis Cardinals' catchers of ALL TIME!

Honorable mentions: Del Rice (probably the 2nd best defensive catcher ever for the Cardinals by my numbers) and Tom Pagnozzi (the Cardinal catcher of my youth)

#3 - Drafted in the 4th round of the 2000 Amateur Draft, this current Cardinal catcher is widely regarded as the best defensive catcher in the game today and possibly ever. As of this writing, Yadier Molina has caught stealing or picked off exactly as many base runners as he has had steal a base on him. That's a 50% caught rate. Only one other catcher out of the 5 possible options had a number over 40% in that category. Yadi has led the league in CS% 3 times, total zone runs as a catcher 5 times, and assists as a catcher twice - all of this in just his first 7 seasons behind the plate. Once thought to be atrocious at the plate - playing solely for his ability to field the position - he has been nearly league average over his last 1900+ plate appearances (after being more than 30% worse than average for his first 1400+.) Yadi's hard work and pure baseball skills land him 3rd on this list.

#2 - Tim McCarver (signed as a rookie free agent because the amateur draft did not begin until 1965) reached the major leagues at the ripe young age of 17. He came to St. Louis to be a Cardinal in 1959. He only played in 40 games in the majors between 1959 and 1962, however - he even spent the entire season in 1962 in the minors. In those games, he was absolutely atrocious statistically, but when he came back up, he was a much different catcher. While St. Louis did not get Tim McCarver's best seasons statistically, they got his only 2 all-star campaigns - one of which nearly finished in an MVP Award (he finished 2nd in 1967, when the Cards beat the Red Sox in the World Series). Even though McCarver did not steal many bases, in 1966 he led the National League in triples, with 13. His edge in extra base power and lack of strikeouts outweigh Yadier Molina's superior defensive abilities for now. Disclaimer: I fully anticipate that Yadier Molina will flip flop with the current Fox announcer on this list before his career is over.

#1 - The title of Best Cardinal Catcher of all time goes to none other than Ted Simmons. He spent part or all of 13 years in a Cardinal uniform. He also played for the Brewers and the Braves in his 21 year career. The only knocks I could find against the former 1st round pick were that 1) He came back as a Brewer to beat the Cardinals in the World Series in 1982; and 2) He allowed a large number (and large majority) of potential base stealers to meet their goals. The good news is that, unlike with Tim McCarver, the St. Louis Cardinals definitely got Simmons' best years out of him. 6 of the 7 years in which he earned votes for MVP were in Cardinal red, as were 6 of his 8 all-star appearances, his 1 silver slugger award win, the two years he led the league in putouts and assists as a catcher, and the two years he threw out the most potential base stealers. His 6-year peak from ages 25-30 was as good as it gets for a catcher on the offensive side of the ball (unless your name is Mike Piazza.) Simmons averaged 31 doubles, 3 triples, 19 homers, 74 runs scored, 89 RBI, 69 walks, only 38 strikeouts, and a 138 OPS+ in those 6 seasons. In those 6 seasons, he was in the top 5 of offensive WAR four times.

Congratulations to those 3 great Cardinal catchers!

The next post in the series will be Cardinal first basemen.

1) Ted Simmons - 17.620

2) Tim McCarver - 14.742

3) Yadier Molina - 13.177

4) Del Rice - 11.454

5) Tom Pagnozzi - 10.988

This series was originally researched in early August, so statistics of current players may be slightly off now.

So somewhat lost in all of the moves that have happened to the Cardinals in the offseason has been the departure of Jeff Luhnow. A former Vice President within the Cardinals organization, he has moved on to take the General Manager reigns in Houston - to turn around the flailing Astros organization and transition them into the all-of-a-sudden fierce AL West during his time there.

Luhnow is somewhat responsible for many things within the Cardinals organization. He seemed to be John Mozeliak's right-hand man in the statistical data and scouting department. Luhnow is from Mexico City and re-opened the Latino market to the St. Louis Cardinals (think Fernando Salas), opened up lines of thinking that were previously unthought-of (think moving Motte from C to P and Tony Cruz from 3B to C - also Skip Schumaker from OF to 2B, which I don't believe worked out quite as well). Lastly, he helped to draft a few people quite responsible for this most recent World Series winning team (think Allen Craig, Jon Jay, and Lance Lynn).

So, in a slight homage to Luhnow, I want to look at some Mexican League players' statistics to get thinking about the next steal for the organization in a market opened up to us by Luhnow himself. The Mexican League is seen like a AAA League in terms of size and attendance; however the talent is comparable to AA in MLB (according to B-R). In looking at the 2011 statistics, the Mexican League might be the best hitters' league in the world. The average OPS was .828 this season (compared to around .720 in the majors, and .735 in AA. Like I said, it is quite the hitters' paradise.

Therefore, I think it would be easiest to find pitchers who stand out. I'll start there. Since the average AA player is only 24 years old, I will look at players only under the age of 24 to find the diamonds in the rough.

League averages pitching: 5.19 ERA, 1.619 WHIP, 10.6 H/9, 4.0 BB/9, 5.9 K/9, 1.50 K:BB

22 year old relief pitcher, Enrique Gomez, pitched his third season in the Mexican League in 2011.

Career: 97 IP, 4.92 ERA, 1.485 WHIP, 9.5 H/9, 3.9 BB/9, 7.4 K/9, 1.90 K:BB

2011: 48 1/3 IP, 4.84 ERA, 1.428 WHIP, 8.8 H/9, 4.1 BB/9, 9.9 K/9, 2.41 K:BB

Gomez's ERA was 7% better than average; his WHIP was 13% better than average, and his K:BB was 61% better than average. He is doing it as a 22 year old. His innings pitched have gone from 17 1/3 to 31 1/3 to 48 1/3 each of his three seasons. His WHIP, K/9, and K:BB have all gotten much better each season.

23 year old relief pitcher Alan Guerrero pitched in his sixth season in the Mexican League in 2011.

Guerrero went from Tijuana to Reynosa after his first three seasons. He was primarily used a starter with Tijuana, but has been used exclusively as a reliever with Reynosa. He has thrown about 65 innings a season the last three years (all three years at 60 IP or better.) All three years have had a 1.500 WHIP or slightly better. All three years have been better than the league average of 4.0 BB/9 and have seen a K/9 of 8.1 or higher (9.1 and 9.3 the last two seasons). His 3.68 K:BB in 2010 was incredible.

Those two pitchers could be brought in and pitch in the hitter friendly Texas League right away, I believe...and quite possibly have better numbers because the Texas League pales in comparison as a hitters' league to the Mexican League.

League average hitting: .299/.374/.454/.828

21 year old center fielder, left fielder, and second baseman Leonardo Heras, played in his fifth season in the Mexican League in 2011.

In the last three seasons, Heras has averaged over 400 at bats a season. In 2009 and 2010, Heras had a .806 and .803 OPS (with a league average OBP, but slightly lower SLG) respectively. His OBP jumped to .399 in 2011 and his slugging to .536 (OPS to .935). He had 18 of his 25 career HR this season. Heras also had 25 of his 58 career stolen bases in 2011. He has a career .318 batting average that jumped to .342 last season. As long as the kid is simply building strength (like most 21 year olds) and not on steroids or some other performance enhancer, I'd say this kid is starting to become legit. The only question that I really have is that he moved from Reynosa to Mexico (the team) last season. Is the hitting environment just that much better in the home ballpark for Mexico, or did he make a leap.

21 year old outfielder, Sergio Perez, played in his third season in the Mexican League in 2011.

As a 19 year old in Chihuahua (2009), Perez had 351 at bats. Since going to Monterrey, his at bats have gone down from that career high of 351 to 189 and 245 in the past two seasons, respectively. His first two years showed OPSes less than .700. His OBP was subpar and his SLG was non-existent. Last season, Perez took a leap - similar to Heras. His .839 OPS was slightly above league average; Perez's OBP jumped to .406 (above league average) and his SLG jumped as well, but was slightly below league average at .433. So far, the 21 year old has shown very little speed or power, but his BB:K ratio last year was getting much better and his OBP rose greatly. Since that is one of the best offensive skills you can possess, he might be worth a look.

Let's go all Jeff Luhnow on the Astros here and steal those guys before he can rebuild our current division rival with those very same players.

I don't think that Mizzou intended to play an incredibly easy schedule this season. They have run into good programs in down years - or have simply handled easily those teams that aren't in down years.

Notre Dame is coming off five seasons in which they went 120-50 (.706) in the Big East. They're only 10-6 (.625) this year. Missouri beat them by 29 on a neutral court close to home.

Cal, including this year, is 76-41 (.650) in the last 4 years under Mike Montgomery. Missouri beat them by 39 on a neutral court close to home.

Villanova has been consistently good for nearly a decade. In the last 7 years, they have gone 172-73 (.702). This year they are 7-8. Missouri beat them by 10 on a neutral court close to Nova.

Illinois is a huge rival game every year. It is always close. Illinois has been very good lately, but not elite. They've had three straight 20-win seasons and have won 20 or more in 11 of the last 12 years. They're not the six straight 25+ win teams of the early 2000s, but they're still decent and are 14-3 (their best pace since their 37 win team in 04/05. Missouri beat them by 4 on the same neutral court they use every year.

Old Dominion has won 25+ games in three straight years, going 72-26 (.735) over the past 3 seasons. At 8-8 this year, they're having their worst season since 03/04.

That's four of the top five teams they have played that are in down seasons. They can't help that since these games are sometimes scheduled 2-3 (or more) years in advance.

Allen Craig, THE man crush and man of two first names, deserves to have a prominent role in the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for the next 5 years. There is no question about this. There is no argument against it. His bat is too valuable. Born July 18, 1984, Craig is already 27 and will be entering his age 28 season. Five years puts him through his age 32 season. A baseball player's career is just not that long, in the grand scheme of things.

Does Allen Craig have his problems? Sure he does. Allen Craig is 1) a butcher with the glove at second base, 2) not much better at third base, and 3) he is a right-handed bat in a lineup that has a Matt Holliday and, newly appointed hero of St. Louis, David Freese in it. Of course, Allen Craig superbly outperformed David Freese in the regular season last year - even if Freese just barely got the best of him in the playoffs - and please don't quote Freese's record RBI totals at me on that, Craig knocked in some of the biggest runs in the post-season with back-to-back game leading hits in the first two games of the World Series.

In response to those main concerns above: 1) He was thrust into second base solely because Tony LaRussa and John Mozeliak, and the other coaches desperately wanted his astounding bat in the lineup. 2) David Freese will be manning third base whenever healthy - and knock on wood fully healthy for a full year or decade. 3) Who said that having too many good right handed bats is a bad thing?

In his last two full seasons, 871 PAs, in the minors (that number does not include this year's 12 games of rehab), Craig put up .321/.380/.548/.928 line. He's walked once for every two strikeouts - while cutting his strikeout rate and improving his walk rate in the second of those two seasons. Add on 50 doubles and 40 homers in a pitcher's park in Memphis and that gives him a damn fine resume. In an injury riddled 2011 season in St. Louis, despite being shoved off on several different positions and spots in the order, Allen Craig was quite possibly the most consistent offensive force on the human side of Lance Berkman.

When you look at Allen Craig's numbers from last year and compare them to others in the organization and the team, the numbers simply look more and more impressive. Those of you who frequent this site are familiar with the St. Louis Cardinals. Lance Berkman led the team with a .959 OPS last year. Matt Holliday was third at .912 and Albert Pujols was 4th at .906. Who was second you might ask? Allen Craig at .917. Yes, he beat out the $33M sitting in left field and at first base - at least when Craig was not subbing in for those positions in the lineup. You might say, but Ben, he did that with a .344 BABIP! It's true; his BABIP was well higher than any of the others I just listed there. He may have gotten slightly lucky. In those two seasons in the minors that have already been referenced, Craig had BABIPs of .353 and .351. Now, it would be very difficult for me to imagine Allen Craig being a true .344 BABIP hitter in the major leagues, since those players are few and far between. However, Allen is in his prime years RIGHT NOW. He has done it for three straight years now - including over 1000 ABs between AAA and MLB.

Craig, in the minors, has also shown the propensity to learn and do better the longer he is at a particular level. He did it in AA; he did it again at AAA. That fact leads me to believe he can keep up his production next year - and do even better when healthy. In particular, I would like for you to take a look at the walk rates and the strikeout rates that Craig achieved in his last four full years in the minors.

2007 A+ - 7.5% BB% and 16.9% K%

2008 AA - 8.5% BB% and 15.3% K%

2009 AAA - 7.1% BB% and 18.2% K%

2010 AAA - 9.7% BB% and 16.9% K%

Now I want to throw last year's statistics in those two categories at you: 2011 MLB - 6.8% BB% and 18.3% K%

If he can even put up a modest gain to 7.5% and 17%, just think of what he could do putting that many more balls in play - while getting 500 at bats.

Everyone here knows that an extra base hit is much better than a single, which is better than a walk. Since I love looking at the numbers, here are some more astounding 2011 Allen Craig facts. There were 355 people in major league baseball that had at least 200 plate appearances last season. Allen Craig was one of them. When looking at the ISO statistic*, Allen Craig's was .240. It is a good power number. Allen Craig was tied for 23rd in the league. There were only 10 players who topped the .250 mark. Pujols topped Craig at .242 and Berkman topped them both at .246. I expect that Berkman's power numbers will fall off slightly this year and that Craig has a serious shot at leading the 2011 Cardinals in ISO. Of course, as the eternal optimist and homer, I totally want him to finish 4th on the team at .255 or so.

*For a primer on ISO, go here: http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/offense/iso/

Allen Craig led all rookies (with over 200 PAs) last season in Slugging % and ISO - two very important power numbers. He was also third in on base percentage - probably the most important statistic in baseball - not making outs. Craig was 4th in WAR amongst rookie hitters, with only 219 PAs. The others ahead of him had 376, 435, and 658 PAs. While hitting for more power than any of them, he still struck out less often than two out of three of those rookies. Allen Craig also is a fairly good base runner - at least he showed that last season. He stole 5 bases in 5 attempts last year. Tony LaRussa does not usually allow many people to run, until said player has earned his trust. For a rookie to have done that is remarkable. To not have gotten caught while doing that is even better. Now, his minor league numbers show that he will never be a base thief in the Edgar Renteria mold even, but that he could become like Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday or, at least, Yadier Molina - where he can take bases when needed and when necessary - using the surprise factor.

Allen Craig will also be a plus defender for the St. Louis Cardinals. I truly believe that, without equivocation. In 190 2/3 innings in left field last season, Craig was undeniably good at 7.0 UZR/150 - see more on UZR in the Yunieski Betancourt post. Craig only played 29 innings in centerfield last year and had a remarkable 16.5 UZR/150. That being said, I would NOT play him in center field unless he is hitting even better than last year to make up for - what I see as - his skills being lacking as a defensive center fielder. Craig also played 106 innings in right field last year. He had an 11.0 UZR/150 in right. Lastly, he had 3 outfield assists last year in 325 2/3 innings played, while making zero errors.

Lastly, I'll take another step into the world of sabermetric stats here and look at fWAR. In only 219 plate appearances last year, Allen Craig accumulated 2.6 fWAR. (Note: b-r has Craig at even better on defense, so his bWAR was 2.9 in those 219 plate appearances.) Let's say he drops off 10% this year and is at 2.3 fWAR per 219 plate appearances. Here is what his fWAR total would look like with different amounts of PAs, first if his WAR production falls off 10%, secondly if it stays the same, and lastly if it actually raises 10% to 2.9 fWAR/219PAs:

300 PAs = 3.2 WAR, 3.6, 4.0

400 PAs = 4.2 WAR, 4.7, 5.3

500 PAs = 5.3 WAR, 5.9, 6.6

600 PAs = 6.3 WAR, 7.1, 7.9

Let's put those numbers into perspective. The only people with 500+ plate appearances for the Cardinals in the last 6 years (since the season of their last WS win) that accumulated even 5 WAR or higher follow:

1. 2011 Albert Pujols 5.1

2. 2011 Matt Holliday 5.0

3. 2011 Lance Berkman 5.0

4. 2010 Albert Pujols 7.5

5. 2010 Matt Holliday 6.7

6. 2009 Albert Pujols 9.0

7. 2008 Albert Pujols 9.1

8. 2008 Ryan Ludwick 5.6

9. 2008 Troy Glaus 5.2

10. 2007 Albert Pujols 8.4

11. 2006 Albert Pujols 8.5

12. 2006 Scott Rolen 5.6

It's pretty incredible. If you take out Albert Pujols in each of the 6 seasons, then only 5 position players in 6 years (Matt Holliday twice) have put up 5.0 fWAR for the St. Louis Cardinals. Everyone remembers how incredible Matt Holliday was in the 270 plate appearances that he had as a Cardinal in 2009 when he came over from the Oakland Athletics, accumulating 2.6 WAR in that time. Well, Craig did that in only 219 plate appearances last season. Does that mean that I think Allen Craig is 18.7% better than Matt Holliday? No, of course not. But I think that it definitely means that the Cardinals will truly be missing out if they do not give him the chance to sink or swim at the majors as soon as possible.

As Bernie Miklasz likes to write:

FREE ALLEN CRAIG.

Note: This was originally for another site, so please ignore things like the primer for ISO, which most of you know, and the plug for the Yunieski Betancourt article and primer for UZR.

As of today, the statistics are set for the All-Star Break. At this time, I am going to look at who I think the best 25-man team in baseball is this season. These are "stlfan's All Stars 2011."

Brian McCann and Alex Avila are two of only 11 players who are qualified for the batting title at the moment. In other words, they are two of 11 catchers who are full-time catchers in MLB and don't share a job. Really, the number is 10, however. Victor Martinez is listed as a qualified catcher, but has played a grand total of 226 innings in the field this year, mostly he is a DH. Not including Martinez, McCann and Avila are the only catchers this season with an OPS over .800 - and both are over .875. Both of them have OBPs at .370 or higher and are SLG over .500. Most teams would take this out of any position on the field; luckily for the Braves and Tigers, respectively, McCann and Avila are providing it for their teams out of a position normally relied on for a defensive prowess.

As much as it burns me up to give a guy with an 8.7% walk rate, when the three guys behind him on the OPS list have 15.1, 17.0, and 16.1% walk rates, the nod at first base, Adrian Gonzalez deserves the honor of the top first baseman of the first half of the year. He is hitting .354 (albeit helped by a .394 average on balls in play), has an OBP of .414 (only 4th best for 1B), and has the highest slugging percentage and OPS (at .591 and 1.006) of all 1B this season. This is due, in large part, to playing a majority of his games in Fenway Park this year rather than Petco Park, which nearly every pundit agreed would skyrocket his statistics. It has. Adrian has 128 hits this season. 29 of them have been doubles, 3 have been triples, and 17 have been home runs. 49 of his 128 hits have been for extra bases - that's 38%. In and of itself, that's not a ridiculous number. He has done so in 403 plate appearances and is the only 1B with an OPS north of 1.000.

For me, second base comes down to three players: Robinson Cano, Dustin Pedroia, and Rickie Weeks. All three of them are having terrific years. It was very difficult for me to break these three down. Their OPS's are all within .025 of one another, but their OBP have a variance of .053 and their SLG have a variance of .079. Cano has the highest slugging and lowest on base. Pedroia has the opposite. Weeks is the medium in both categories. The difference maker for me, in this case with all of them so close (yet so different) is walks and strikeouts. Cano walks less than 5% of the time. Weeks strikes out more than 1 out of every 5 at bats. Pedroia is the constant on both. He has walked in over 15% of his plate appearances this season and has struck out in 12% of his PAs. I go with Dustin Pedroia.

Shortstop was an obvious one for me. As a manager, I would want to construct a team with two people who can play this position at a high ability and there have been two players, one from each league, who have been head and shoulders above their peers. Jose Reyes is having a career year in a contract season - go figure? - with a line of .354/.398/.529/.927. Just like the catchers, this is a line you would like to see out of corner players where you care more for their offense than about their defense. In this case, it's coming at a primo defensive spot, shortstop. The other player I would take at short is Jhonny Peralta - a player I was really hoping that the Cardinals would go after when trading either Anthony Reyes or Chris Perez to the Indians. Instead...nevermind, not going there. Peralta has an identical .529 slugging percentage as Reyes, but has a .312 avg and .362 on base. Those numbers are great. They pale in comparison to Reyes'. The last thing I'll say here is that Reyes has 15 triples this year already. His career single-season high is 19. If he can get to 25 triples this season, although he's still a LONG SHOT to do it, he'd be the first player since Kiki Cuyler in 1925!

Kevin Youkilis "The Greek God of Walks" of the Red Sox is an easy choice for third base this season. He's the only 3rd baseman within 30 points of .400 OBP (at .399) and is the only 3rd baseman over .500 SLG this season (at .512)! 40 of his 84 hits this season have gone for extra bases - that's 47.6%! WHOA!

My other infield choice came down to 3 first basemen: Joey Votto, Miguel Cabrera, or Prince Fielder. They are all generally the same player this season, except Joey Votto can play defense. Since Gonzalez already plays good D at first base, though, I go with Miguel Cabrera - who, like Pedroia, does a great job of cutting down on his Ks and picking up more walks than the other two.

In the outfield, I found more easy choices to make. The top 5 players in OPS are all at or over .935. I like having more than one player capable of playing centerfield, 2 of them can. I like players who can walk, all 5 of them walk 10% of the time or more. I like players who can flat out get on base and four of them have OBP of .398 or above. I like players who can drive the ball and four of them have SLG .575 or above. These 5 players are (in order of OPS) Jose Bautista, Lance Berkman, Matt Kemp (CF), Ryan Braun, and Curtis Granderson (CF). The only thing this outfield does not have is great defense. In looking at my pitching, I do not believe great defense would be needed, especially when the team can hit like this team does.

As far as starting pitchers go, I only looked at players who had accumulated 3 or more WAR as a starter this sesaon. That included 17 players. I can only have 5. The first way of narrowing them down any further was to look at how many innings they pitch (since I know that I have all great pitchers from whom to choose.) The reason I did this was because if the later a starting pitcher can effectively go into a game, the more rest they can give a bullpen. Since I'm talking about a 25 man team here, I am thinking of this team over the course of a season, not just for one game. By taking out the pitchers who failed to get 20 outs per game on average (6 2/3 IP), I brought my total down to 12 players. Next, I know that if a player cannot hit a ball and they are not given free passes to first base, then it is much harder to win. I looked next at K:BB (or strikeouts and walks.) From there, there was a multitude of ways to go. By simply taking the top 5 in K:BB, I would have one heck of a staff; so I started with those numbers first. Roy Halladay averages over 7.5 innings a start and has a K:BB of 8.1 (best in either league by 2.42 K:BB!) He's an easy #1 starter. Two other players had a K:BB over 5 at this point in the year. That's flat out ridiculous, still. Those two players are Dan Haren and Cole Hamels. Since none of the other 9 were in those three H's league of K:BB, I decided to look elsewhere to bolster the back end of my rotation. I could still go a number of ways with this. I decided to look at their FIPs (better than ERA, in my book) and found that Jered Weaver, while being quite lucky with his home run rate, has been ridiculous this year. He has the lowest ERA of the 12 and is under 2.00 on the year! His FIP was 2nd to Halladay, who is already on the team. That made him my 4th starter. Lastly, I looked at xFIP - players' expected FIPs for the rest of this season based on their statistics with their HR/FB rate normed out. Clayton Kershaw's was the best after (you guessed it) Halladay again. He also has the highest amount of strikeouts per nine innings (10.13) of any starter in the big leagues this year. He's my #5.

For relievers, I only looked at reliever statistics. Fangraphs will show you a player's statistics as either a starter, a reliever, or overall - it's pretty neat. That means, if a player started 2 games and did horribly, but has been great out of the pen, we're not worried about those two starts. That doesn't indicate very well how he does an inning at a time later in a ballgame (see Lynn, Lance - St. Louis Cardinals, for example).

I know that I only have 7 players to pick out of more than 200 players who have pitched a baseball this year out of a bullpen, so I went straight for my favorite statistic for a reliever - K:BB, again. As far as I'm concerned, relievers on this staff are going to average a grand total of less than 2 innings per game (with my 5 starters combining to average over 7 IP/start) the relievers will be able to come into the game at their very best and throw their hardest, most concentrated pitches. If the hitters can't touch it, they aren't going to be able to do anything with it. This led me to also look at % of pitches swung at and missed (also on fangraphs.) Therefore, I first looked at players with more than 1 strikeout per every inning pitched. That left me with 35 pitchers. I only needed to cut that down by 28 instead of 190+. Once I eliminated anyone with a K:BB under 3.00, I was down to 13 pitchers. Then I looked at their swinging strike %. These do not take into effect whether a batter swung at pitches in the zone or out of the zone. I don't mind either way. If they are swinging at pitches out of the zone, it is because they cannot recognize a ball very well from that pitcher. It could be for a variety of reasons, but for whatever reason, the pitches work. If it is in the zone and they swing and miss, then it just means it's a really good pitch that would be a strike either way! Once I did that, I could eliminate one off the bat. Chris Resop's been great this year, but his swinging strike percentage (SwS%) is the only one under 10% out of those 13 players. In fact, 8 of the 13 were at 12% or higher, so I could eliminate the bottom 5. Out of the final 8, three were definites, with K:BB over 6. Sergio Romo's K:BB is a league best 10.75. Koji Uehara and Jonathan Papelbon's were the other two between 6 and 7.(Need 4 more) With 5 left, instead of choosing four, I set out to eliminate one. Ryan Madson was the only one with a WHIP over 1.05 (at 1.19), so he ended up being my final cut. Making the team (and one impressive statistic each) were Craig Kimbrel (13.7 K/9), Vinnie Pestano (12.69 K/9), Tyler Clippard (0.86 WHIP and over 17 SwS%!), and Matt Reynolds (3.67 K:BB).

Congrats to "stlfan's All-Stars 2011"!

C Brian McCann - Atlanta Braves

C Alex Avila - Detroit Tigers

1B Adrian Gonzalez - Boston Red Sox

1B Miguel Cabrera - Detroit Tigers

2B Dustin Pedroia - Boston Red Sox

SS Jose Reyes - New York Mets

SS Jhonny Peralta - Cleveland Indians

3B Kevin Youkilis - Boston Red Sox

CF Matt Kemp - Los Angeles Dodgers

OF Jose Bautista - Toronto Blue Jays

OF Lance Berkman - St. Louis Cardinals

CF Curtis Granderson - New York Yankees

OF Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers

SP Roy Halladay - Philadelphia Phillies

SP Dan Haren - Anaheim Angels

SP Cole Hamels - Philadelphia Phillies

SP Jered Weaver - Anaheim Angels

SP Clayton Kershaw - Los Angeles Dodgers

RP Sergio Romo - San Francisco Giants

RP Koji Uehara - Baltimore Orioles

RP Jonathan Papelbon - Boston Red Sox

RP Craig Kimbrel - Atlanta Braves

RP Vinnie Pestano - Cleveland Indians

RP Tyler Clippard - Washington Nationals

RP Matt Reynolds - Colorado Rockies

Without getting into how much I dislike the Cardinals probable starting middle infield of Ryan "The Riot" Theriot and Skip "No nickname needed when your first name is Skip" Schumaker, I want to ask you guys about a trade idea I have for Brendan Ryan, since the Cardinals seem intent on him leaving the ball club.

According to Brendan Ryan's page over at Baseball Reference, http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ryanbr01.shtml, Ryan is arbitration eligible through the 2013 season and will not be a free agent until 2014.  He had a flat out atrocious year with the bat in 2010.  His OPS (.573) was worse than Barry Bonds' OBP alone in both his 2002 and 2004 seasons.  That being said, Brendan Ryan was worth roughly 1 win over a replacement value player (WAR) last season because of how ridiculously fantastic his defensive skills were.  In 2009, when Ryan had a quite respectable .740 OPS (for a defense-first shortstop especially), he was worth nearly 3.5 WAR.  In his 1332 plate appearances and nearly 3000 innings in the field, Ryan has been worth a shade over 6 WAR in his brief career.

Alex Gordon is a Kansas City Royal.  He is a former #2 OVERALL draft choice by the Royals.  He was their next "face of the franchise" when being drafted, as a 3rd baseman, and was supposed to replace George Brett in the city's eye. He is also arbitration eligible through the 2013 season and will not be a free agent until 2014. In 4 seasons in Kansas City, he has played 408 games, just over 1600 PAs.  He has played nearly 3500 innings in the field, 2800 of them as a 3rd baseman, but has been switched to the outfield as of this past season because of the Royals next "3rd baseman of the future" being close and Alex's shortcomings thus far as a major leaguer.  Speaking of his shortcomings, Gordon had a very realistic rookie season in 2007, as a 23 year old.  He had a .725 OPS.  He was able to raise that, in his sophomore season, to a .783 OPS; however, in the past two seasons he has played 49 and 74 games, respectively, and had .703 and .671 OPSes, respectively.  He has been banished to a new position, yet has not seemed to fall too far out of favor with the executives of the ball club.  In terms of WAR, Gordon had a high-WAR of 3.1 in 2008, but only has a career 4.0 because of the other three seasons' failures (for lack of better term).

So, why would I think Gordon is worth trading away one of my Cardinals?  In 138 games at AA, Gordon hit .328 with a .429 OBP and a .593 SLG for an OPS north of 1.000.  In 86 AAA games, Gordon's slash line was .315/.441/.560/1.000.  He had 48 homers in 235 minor league games, along with 30 steals, only 5 caught.  He walked 155 times and only struck out 212 times - a great ratio.

The Royals currently have an atrocious shortstop (Yuni Betancourt has a career 3.5 WAR in 7 seasons - compared to Brendan Ryan's 3.4 in 2009 alone) but probably an even worse outfield, so it might be very difficult for them to part with Alex Gordon, whose POTENTIAL impact bat at a corner outfield spot would be a HUGE plus for them.  The Cardinals, meanwhile, could use another left-handed bat.  Alex Gordon could be a very good backup at both corners in the infield and both corner OF spots.  Lance Berkman will not play more than 120 games, I believe.  Also, our third base position is as up for grabs as any position in the majors at the moment.  I could see Alex Gordon playing over 100 games for the Cardinals under LaRussa's helm, and it would be played at a far better clip under Gordon than under Aaron Miles, Randy Winn, Nick Stavinoha, or Pedro Feliz - to name a few from last year alone.  Plus, Gordon has been moved around a lot, but is still only entering his age 27 season.

Because of those reasons I just listed, Gordon's potential, lack of outfielders, and age, I believe the Royals would be hesitant to trade Gordon for Ryan alone, but I also believe that because of Gordon's shortcomings in translating a fantastic minor league career into a major league one the Cards would hesitate to part with much more.  I am struggling to figure out what would be needed to make it a "fair deal," but I believe that this would be a good deal for the Cardinals IF they are INTENT on trading Ryan immediately.

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Since the NFL seems dead set on expanding and making the league more global, I thought I would give my take on how to do it right.  I think that, for a long time now, the league has needed to redo their divisions and leagues.  It’s not like baseball in which there is a DH and non-DH league which you could not mess with.  Any of the 32 teams could be NFC teams or AFC teams.  They are all NFL now, there is no chance of the two leagues splitting up.  My suggestion would be to expand out to 36 teams, adding teams in Mexico City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (because they’re already building a new stadium there), and London (since this is the direction it’s all going.)

See Divisions at Bottom

I know that some teams (Dallas and Kansas City for sure) will ultimately be quite upset about some of the decisions made here because of rivalries lost, but some things had to be done.  You will see that I try to address these as best I can.

There are now 9 teams per division, so each team could play 2 games a season against each division foe and have a 16 games schedule.  If that is the case, the way I would remedy the rivals situation would be to (in the final week of the season) each team play a rival (it could be different each year, for example: Dallas could play Washington and NY Giants in alternating seasons.)  Another option would be to play two rival games per year.  This would be a 17 or 18-game schedule, but I think that the NFL will be expanding schedules sometime in the near future anyway.  Football is the shortest season out of every professional sport in any case, and they play way less games.

The other option would be to play each team in your division once, play every team in one other division each year, with those games rotating year in and year out, once every three years (at home once, then away the next time.)  I would add a similar "rival game" in the last game of the year in that case, to make it an 18-game schedule once again.  (I like even numbers.)

I would say that the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, thus leaving 12 playoff teams; however, that would take away from the wild card concept.  It might be more practical to let the top 2 teams in each division into the playoffs; and then allow the wild card to come down to the best 4 teams in the entire league that aren’t already in the top two in their division.

I do not know if the players’ association would go for it, but with such an expansive expansion (11% of the league as new teams) I would love to see all the players go into a draft.  That wouldn’t happen, however, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the four expansion teams going through the same process as the other expansion teams, but then giving those 4 teams first shot at all the free agents (say, a week to discuss deals with them before any other team is allowed to make contact.)

My New Divisions

West

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Las Vegas _____

Los Angeles _____

Mexico City _____

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

East

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

London _____

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Redskins

North

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

St. Louis Rams

South

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Since the NFL seems dead set on expanding and making the league more global, I thought I would give my take on how to do it right.  I think that, for a long time now, the league has needed to redo their divisions and leagues.  It’s not like baseball in which there is a DH and non-DH league which you could not mess with.  Any of the 32 teams could be NFC teams or AFC teams.  They are all NFL now, there is no chance of the two leagues splitting up.  My suggestion would be to expand out to 36 teams, adding teams in Mexico City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (because they’re already building a new stadium there), and London (since this is the direction it’s all going.)

See Divisions at Bottom

I know that some teams (Dallas and Kansas City for sure) will ultimately be quite upset about some of the decisions made here because of rivalries lost, but some things had to be done.  You will see that I try to address these as best I can.

There are now 9 teams per division, so each team could play 2 games a season against each division foe and have a 16 games schedule.  If that is the case, the way I would remedy the rivals situation would be to (in the final week of the season) each team play a rival (it could be different each year, for example: Dallas could play Washington and NY Giants in alternating seasons.)  Another option would be to play two rival games per year.  This would be a 17 or 18-game schedule, but I think that the NFL will be expanding schedules sometime in the near future anyway.  Football is the shortest season out of every professional sport in any case, and they play way less games.

The other option would be to play each team in your division once, play every team in one other division each year, with those games rotating year in and year out, once every three years (at home once, then away the next time.)  I would add a similar “rival game” in the last game of the year in that case, to make it an 18-game schedule once again.  (I like even numbers.)

I would say that the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, thus leaving 12 playoff teams; however, that would take away from the wild card concept.  It might be more practical to let the top 2 teams in each division into the playoffs; and then allow the wild card to come down to the best 4 teams in the entire league that aren’t already in the top two in their division.

I do not know if the players’ association would go for it, but with such an expansive expansion (11% of the league as new teams) I would love to see all the players go into a draft.  That wouldn’t happen, however, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the four expansion teams going through the same process as the other expansion teams, but then giving those 4 teams first shot at all the free agents (say, a week to discuss deals with them before any other team is allowed to make contact.)

My New Divisions

West

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Las Vegas _____

Los Angeles _____

Mexico City _____

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

East

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

London _____

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Redskins

North

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

St. Louis Rams

South

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Currently is that time in the off-season in which I am still interested in what is going on.  Not in the playing baseball sense of the word, I could(n't) care less who wins between New York and Philadelphia.  Now, if the Angels pull it off, I might root for them, but then I probably would not watch 4/7 of the games because of them being west coast 9:00 PMers.  I am, instead, talking about what the home town Birds on the Bat will be doing in the off-season.  Since so many people have already chimed in on what they would like the Cardinals to do with what money is perceived to be available, I decided to take a different route and look at what a team of free agents would look like.

I decided, that to make this more real, I would not include anyone that has an option, whether it is a team or player option.  That way, everyone chosen is truly, at this moment, a free agent.  I am also assuming 700 AB at each position, and an NL club, thus no woosy DH position.  Lastly, I am assuming a one-year deal for everyone and no limit on payroll; I'm pretty much trying to see how much I could win right now with who's available in free agency.  In essence, I gave Mark Cuban an expansion team and one season.

Catcher:

At the back end of the battery position, after much serious thought, I am going to go with Benjie Molina and Greg Zaun.

Benjie - $5 million - 500 AB, .280/.300/.440/.740

Zaun - $2.5 million - 200 AB, .250/.340/.410/.750

Catcher total - 700 AB, .311 OBP/ .431 SLG

1st Base:

At first base, it came down to Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson for me.  I also looked at the aging, injury-prone Carlos Delgado and Aubrey Huff, but decided quickly that AL and NJ would both be better choices.  After looking at what I would project the two at, I went with Nick Johnson.

Johnson - $6 million - 500 AB, .290/.420/.465/.885

First Base total - 700 AB, .390 OBP, .459 SLG

2nd Base:

I looked extensively at Placido Polanco and Orlando Hudson.  The way I figure it, I want 3 MI anyway, so I'm going with both.  Polanco can fill in at SS in a pinch, or at 3B.

Hudson - $5 million - 500 AB, .285/.360/.440/.800

Polanco - $4 million - 200 AB (2nd), 100 AB (SS), .300/.350/.410/.760

Second Base total - 700 AB, .357 OBP, .431 SLG

Shortstop:

This one comes down to Marco Scutaro or Orlando Cabrera.  Cabrera is a sure-fielding .720 OPS guy at SS.  Not a bad guy to have as long as you have some hitters.  Scutaro is an average-fielding .720 OPS guy for his career...then comes his outlandish .790 OPS of this past season.  If you're a believer in Brady Anderson and other one year wonders...then this is the guy for you.

Orlando Cabrera - $6 million - 500 AB - .285/.330/.390/.720

Shortstop total - 700 AB, .341 OBP, .392 SLG

3rd Base:

Mark Derosa we all know (and some of us love) here at VeB.  Mark DeRosa is a highly probably .800 OPS player at 4,  positions, (2B, 3B, LF, RF) none of which he plays very well defensively.  Chone Figgins is a .750-.770 OPS guy who has serious speed and a decent glove at 3B.  While he's been a 3B for the last 3 years, he has logged 800-4500 innings in the field at 3B, 2B, CF, OF in his career.  Adrian Beltre, the non-steroid era version, is a .760 OPS hitter with a great glove at 3B.  He is the only true 3B in the group above.  I want two of these guys.

Beltre - $8 million - 350 AB (3B), 200AB (1B) - .265/.315/.445/.760

Figgins - $5 million - 350 AB (3B),100 AB (SS) - .300/.385/.385/.770

Third Base total - 700 AB, .350 OBP, .415 SLG

Outfield:

Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Bobby Abreu, and Johnny Damon are all type A left fielders who rock in one sense of the word, or more.  Vladdy Guerrero is another type A free agent outfielder.  Dave Roberts, Randy Winn, Reed Johnson, and Mike Cameron look like the best true free agents who can play CF.  Out of all of those players, I need to come up with 5 of them to play the outfield on a regular basis.

Cameron - $5 million - 500 AB (CF) - .250/.340/.460/.800

Johnson - $1 million - 200 AB (CF) - .280/.350/.410/.760

Abreu - $12 million - 350 AB (RF) - .290/.380/.450/.830

Holliday - $16 million - 250 AB (LF), 350 AB (RF) -.325/.400/.560/.960

Bay - $10 million - 450 AB (LF) - .280/.380/.515/.895

Left Field total - 700 AB, .387 OBP, .531 SLG

Center Field total - 700 AB, .343 OBP, .446 SLG

Right Field total - 700 AB, .390 OBP, .505 SLG

Team total (minus pitchers) - 5600 AB, .359 OBP, .451 SLG = .810 OPS as a team

That is $85.5 million wrapped up in the offensive side of the ball.  I said I was going to have unlimited payroll.

Obviously the outfield defense leaves plenty to be desired (even with Cameron in CF for most of the innings) and the infield defense isn't the best, but isn't horrible.  The left side should be good, whereas the right side shouldn't.  Any Molina behind the plate defensively is good.

Starting Pitching

Looking at the Type B free agent starters that are truly availble, I only see: Erik Bedard, Doug Davis, Rich Harden, Randy Johnson, Jason Marquis, Carl Pavano, Andy Pettitte, and Joel Pineiro.  Randy Wolf and John Lackey are obvious signings, IMO.  Justin Duchscherer was also there, but his high in IP is 141.  No thanks as a starter.  I'm also of the opinion that Rich Harden should be moved to the closer role (as has been thrown around here a bit.)

Lackey - $10 million - 200 IP, 163 K, 47 BB, 3.56 FIP

Wolf - $7 million - 200 IP, 158 K, 67 BB, 4.02 FIP

Bedard - $5 million - 160 IP, 160 K, 62 BB, 3.72 FIP

Pineiro - $7 million - 190 IP, 95 K, 38 BB, 3.83 FIP

Pettitte - $8 million - 205 IP, 141 K, 66 BB, 3.92 FIP

The starters' averages would be: 191 IP @ 3.81 FIP

That only adds up to 955 IP out of my starting rotation, and typically staffs throw around 1450 per season.  My bullpen will have to work 500 IP or so.  Therefore:

Bullpen:

I will start out with Justin Duchscherer because he can be a workhorse out of the pen, I would assume, based on him throwing 140+ innings this past season, and him having worked out of the pen before.  He would also fill my "Brad Thompson" role of spot starter when someone goes down with an injury.  Rich Harden would be my closer.  I think he'd be a rock in that role, assuming he could stay healthier with it.  Other than that, I go with all the Type A's...and for a reason after looking at stats.

Spot Starter/Long Relief

Duchscherer - $4 million - 100 IP - 83 K, 22 BB, 3.76 FIP

Middle Relief

Darren Oliver - $2 million - 75 IP - 58 K, 23 BB, 4.18 FIP (L)

Kevin Gregg - $3 million - 75 IP - 75 K, 33 BB, 4.39 FIP

Jose Valverde - $4 million - 70 IP - 78 K, 26 BB, 4.01 FIP

Setup Men

Mike Gonzalez - $4 million - 60 IP - 73 K, 27 BB, 3.48 FIP (L)

Rafael Soriano - $4 million - 60 IP - 77 K, 20 BB, 3.52 FIP

Closer

Rich Harden - $5 million - 60 IP - 73 K, 23 BB, 3.53 FIP

The relievers' averages would be: 71 IP @ 3.86 FIP

The pitching staff's totals: 1450 IP @ 3.84 FIP

$63 million was spent on my pitching staff.  It has a lot of power arms, which would help out the defense incredibly, with 6 players (5 in the pen) with a K/inn or more.  In 1450 innings, the defense would only have to make 3,115 outs (out of 4,350).

My total salary ends up being $148.5 million for the season, but I think we put together a pretty decent team.  I wouldn't know how to go about figuring out what each player's WAR or how many wins this team should get next year, (so if anyone wants to do that (hint, hint) please go ahead) but I would be willing to wager that if everyone were to stay healthy playing at this level, the team should do more than just "alright."

To bring this full circle:

There are some pretty decent options out there this season on the free agent market.  Obviously, the Cardinals have a salary cap put into place by Bill Dewitt and the other owners.  Obviously, the conjecture around here is $90-100 million will be that cap.  We cannot be sure.  There are many options listed above and many possible ways to put these pieces together with what the Cards already have.  I am not going to project, here, what we are going to put together in St. Louis; however, there are quite a few options out there.

Somebody posed the question of how Chris Carpenter does after 5+ days off a long time ago on a game thread.  I had time this morning, so I looked it up thought this was worthy of a fan post...so here goes:

This does not including games coming off of the DL or opening day games because I believe it would throw off the numbers a bit since those are closely monitored pitch count type games, usually.

2009

5 days rest

June 20 - STL @ KC - 7 2/3 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 6 K, 2 BB (105 pitches)

August 7 - STL @ PIT - 8 IP, 9 hits, 4 ER, 4 K, 1 BB (111 pitches)

6 days rest

July 17 - ARIZ @ STL - 8 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 7 K, 1 BB (103 pitches)

2008

5 days rest

August 5 - LA @ STL - 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB (51 pitches)

2006

5 days rest

April 14 - CIN @ STL - 8 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 6 K, 3 BB (114 pitches)

July 4 - STL @ ATL - 5 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 2 K, 1 BB (74 pitches)

July 25 - STL @ COL - 7 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 4 K, 3 BB (112 pitches)

August 15 - CIN @ STL - 9 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 6 K, 0 BB (107 pitches)

August 26 - CHC @ STL - 8 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB (100 pitches)

September 1 - PIT @ STL - 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 8 K, 0 BB (102 pitches)

6 days rest

June 13 - STL @ PIT - 7 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 13 K, 3 BB (111 pitches)

2005

5 days rest

April 16 - STL @ MIL - 6 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 5 K, 3 BB (101 pitches)

April 27 - MIL @ STL - 7 2/3 IP, 8 hits, 3 ER, 12 K, 0 BB (118 pitches)

May 18 - STL @ PHI - 6 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 7 K, 4 BB (99 pitches)

May 29 - WASH @ STL - 7 IP, 8 hits, 3 ER, 8 K, 0 BB (108 pitches)

June 14 - STL @ TOR - 9 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 10 K, 1 BB (95 pitches)

June 20 - STL @ CIN - 8 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 8 K, 2 BB (109 pitches)

July 1 - COL @ STL - 7 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, 9 K, 2 BB (112 pitches)

July 28 - STL @ SD - 7 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 BB (109 pitches)

August 13 - STL @ CHC - 9 IP, 8 hits, 2 ER, 8 K, 0 BB (109 pitches)

August 19 - SF @ STL - 8 IP, 9 hits, 4 R (3 ER), 5 K, 0 BB (94 pitches)

10 days rest (first game after All-Star Break)

July 17 - HOU @ STL - 9 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 9 K, 0 BB (97 pitches)

2004

5 days rest

April 29 - PHI @ STL - 7 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 7 K, 3 BB (89 pitches)

May 15 - FLA @ STL - 7 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 5 K, 2 BB (92 pitches)

May 21 - STL @ CHC - 6 IP, 8 hits, 3 ER, 4 K, 0 BB (88 pitches)

June 18 - CIN @ STL - 7 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 7 K, 1 BB (103 pitches)

June 24 - CHC @ STL - 8 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 9 K, 1 BB (120 pitches)

July 5 - CIN @ STL - 7 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 8 K, 0 BB (100 pitches)

July 11 - CHC @ STL - 3 2/3 IP, 9 hits, 6 ER, 6 K, 2 BB (72 pitches)

July 30 - STL @ SF - 6 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 3 K, 2 BB (86 pitches)

August 5 - MON (WASH) @ STL - 8 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 7 K, 1 BB (108 pitches)

August 26 - STL @ CIN - 8 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 11 K, 1 BB (122 pitches)

September 1 - SD @ STL - 7 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB (104 pitches)

September 12 - STL @ LA - 5 IP, 8 hits, 6 R (5 ER), 6 K, 1 BB (109 pitches)

September 18 - ARIZ @ STL - 3 1/3 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB (47 pitches)

---(got injured for remainder of year/playoffs in previous game)---

6 days rest

May 28 - STL @ HOU - 8 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 4 K, 3 BB (115 pitches)

7 days rest

July 19 - STL @ CHC - 8 IP, 12 hits, 4 ER, 5 K, 0 BB (97 pitches)

8 days rest

April 23 - STL @ MIL - 6 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB (85 pitches)

9 days rest

August 20 - PIT @ STL - 7 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 9 K, 2 BB (108 pitches)

Here are the averages for the following amounts of days rest between starts:

Based on this data, I would conclude that Carpenter is significantly better than normal (a third of an IP more per game, more than half a hit less, more than a quarter of an earned run less, and over 1.5X the K:BB) with 5 days rest, however the effects do not always carry over when pitching on more than 5 days rest.

I saw a study similar to this done either last offseason or one before, but I hadn't seen anything about this since.  I wanted to take a look at five major statistics for a starting pitcher to see what makes a great starter.  Since there are 30 teams, I am going to look at 60 pitchers, 30 of which should be #1 starters and 30 of which should be #2 starters.

The five categories that I am going to look at are: innings pitched, ERA, FIP, WHIP, and K:BB.

(Note: I only used players who qualified for the leader board.)

In 2008, the top 30 (#1 starters), the top 60 starters (#1 and #2 starters combined), and the 31-60 starters (#2 starters) had an average of these stats:

• IP - 211 2/3, 202 1/3, and 193
  
• ERA - 3.22, 3.59, and 3.97
  
• FIP - 3.43, 3.78, and 4.14
  
• WHIP - 1.170, 1.242, and 1.314
  
• K:BB - 3.64, 2.97, and 2.30

In 2007, the top 30 (#1 starters), the top 60 starters (#1 and #2 starters combined), and the 31-60 starters (#2 starters) had an average of these stats:

• IP - 215 2/3, 205 1/3, and 194 2/3
• ERA - 3.39, 3.79, and 4.20
• FIP - 3.58, 3.97, and 4.35
• WHIP - 1.183, 1.268, and 1.353
• K:BB - 3.48, 2.82, and 2.17

In 2006, the top 30 (#1 starters), the top 60 starters (#1 and #2 starters combined), and the 31-60 starters (#2 starters) had an average of these stats:

• IP - 219 1/2, 209 1/3, and 199 1/3
  
• ERA - 3.58, 3.96, and 4.35
  
• FIP - 3.68, 4.02, and 4.37
  
• WHIP - 1.210, 1.282, and 1.355
  
• K:BB - 3.58, 2.87, and 2.17

The three year average for the 5 categories are as follows:

• IP - 215 2/3, 205 2/3, and 195 2/3
• ERA - 3.40, 3.78, and 4.17
• FIP - 3.56, 3.92, and 4.29
• WHIP - 1.188, 1.264, and 1.341
• K:BB - 3.57, 2.89, and 2.21

In other words:

A #1 starter should throw approximately 215 2/3 IP, with a 3.40 ERA (3.56 FIP), a 1.188 WHIP and a K:BB of 3.57.

A #2 starter should throw approximately 195 2/3 IP, with a 4.17 ERA (4.29 FIP), a 1.341 WHIP and a K:BB of 2.21.

Someone who throws 205 2/3 IP, with a 3.78 ERA (3.92 FIP), a 1.264 WHIP and a K:BB of 2.89 would be a #1/#2 "tweener."

The problem with these averages is that they are nearly unattainable.  In those 3 seasons I looked at above, only 12 individual seasons met the above goals (one by our own Chris Carpenter in 2006).  In the last ten years, only 37 individual seasons have met those goals set by a #1 starter above (Carpenter in '05 and '06 actually).

As for the "tweener" pitchers, there have been 28 in the past 3 seasons (including '06 Carp) meeting the numbers above. In the past ten years, there have been 79 pitchers that fit the bill (including '01 Matt Morris, '05 Carp, and '06 Carp).

As for the #2 starting pitchers, there have been 69 pitchers in the last three years to meet the numbers for a #2 starter (including our own '06 Carp, '08 Lohse, and '08 Looper).  In the last ten years, 220 pitchers have fit the bill (including '00 and '01 Darryl Kile, '01 and'02 Morris, '01 and '03 Woody Williams, '05 Carp and the 3 seasons mentioned earlier in this paragraph.)

That means that over the last 10 years:

The Cardinals have had two seasons in which they had a clear #1 starter: '05 Carpenter and '06 Carpenter

The Cardinals have had one more season in which they arguably had another #1 starter: '01 Matt Morris

The Cardinals have had 7 more seasons in which they had clear #2 starters: '00 with Kile, '01 with Kile and Williams, '02 with Morris, '03 with Williams, and '08 with Lohse and Looper.

10 players fitting the bill in 10 years (for a clear #2 starter) does not seem like much, but when you take into account that only 220 players met all of the criteria, that means the Cardinals have had 1/22 the players, and by the averages they should have had 1/30.

Lastly, looking at all of the years in the history of the game (from 1885 on) only 152 players have met the criteria above to be a #1 starter and only 425 (including the 152 above) met the criteria to be "tweeners."

Thanks, if you got through all of that.  Let me know how I can make this better!

I noticed in a thread recently someone said that the Cardinals have 9 off days in the next 9 weeks.  This would lead to the Cardinals being able to use their 5th starter less than everyone else using theirs.  I figured it would be a good time to check out which starters could/should start which games.

Obviously, you want your best to start as many as possible.  Right after the All-Star Break with a completely fresh bullpen, i would choose to start Carpenter since he usually pitches shorter than Wainwright, thus allowing the bullpen to use their plenty rested arms.  My rotation down the stretch (minus any trades that may or may not occur) would be:

Carpenter

Wainwright

Pineiro

Lohse

Wellemeyer/Thompson/Boggs/Mortenson/etc. (whomever they decide to keep/put in the rotation)

Carpenter would pitch on the following dates vs. the following clubs:

7/17 v. ARIZ, 7/22 @ HOU, 7/27 v. LAD, 8/1 v. HOU, 8/7 @ PITT, 8/12 v. CIN, 8/17 @ LAD, 8/22 @ SD, 8/27 v. HOU, 9/1 v. MIL, 9/6 @ PIT, 9/11 v. ATL, 9/16 v. FLA, 9/21 @ HOU, 9/26 @ COL, and 10/1 @ CIN.

That's 16 more games for Carpenter.

4 against HOU, 2 against LAD, CIN and PITT, 1 each against ARIZ, COL, FLA, ATL, MIL, and SD.

9 of his final 16 games would be against the division.  He would also then be set to pitch any time after 10/5, thus starting a playoff series should we make it.

Wainwright would pitch on the following dates vs. the following clubs:

7/18 v. ARIZ, 7/23 @ WASH, 7/28 v. LAD, 8/2 v. HOU, 8/8 @ PITT, 8/14 v. SD, 8/19 @LAD, 8/25 v. HOU, 8/30 v. WASH, 9/4 @ PITT, 9/9 @ MIL, 9/14, v. FLA, 9/19 v. CHC, 9/25 @ COL, 9/29 @ CIN, and 10/4 v. MIL.

That's 16 more games for Waino.

2 against HOU, LAD, MIL, WASH, PITT, and 1 each against CHC, COL, CIN, ARIZ, SD, and FLA.

8 of his final 16 games would be against the division.  Hopefully, we would have the division wrapped up before his 10/4 start, so that he could get extra rest and be ready for game two of the playoffs.  If not, then he'd be ready by the 9th at the latest, by game 3 or 4 of the first round.

Pineiro would pitch on the following dates vs. the following clubs:

7/19 v. ARIZ, 7/24 @ PHI, 7/29 v. LAD, 8/4 @ NYM, 8/9 @ PITT, 8/15 v. SD, 8/20 @ SD, 8/26 v. HOU, 9/2 v. MIL, 9/7 @ MIL, 9/12 v. ATL, 9/18 v. CHC, 9/23 @ HOU, and 9/30 @ CIN.

That's 14 more games for Pineiro.

2 against MIL, SD, and HOU.  1 each against ARIZ, PHI, LAD, NYM, PITT, ATL, CHC, and CIN.

7 of his final 14 games would be against the division.  He would then be set to pitch any time on or after 10/5.  If there is a one game playoff, he would probably be the guy to go on the 5th.  If not, he's ready for game 2 of the first round.

Lohse would pitch on the following dates vs. the following clubs:

7/20 @ HOU, 7/25 @ PHI, 7/30 v. LAD, 8/5 @ NYM, 8/10 v. CIN, 8/16 v. SD, 8/21 @ SD, 8/28 v. WASH, 9/3 v. MIL, 9/8 @ MIL, 9/13 v. ATL, 9/20 v. CHC, 9/27 @ COL, and 10/2 v. MIL.

That's 14 more games for Lohse.

3 against MIL.  2 against SD.  1 each against WASH, HOU, PHI, LAD, NYM, CIN, ATL, CHC, and COL.

6 of his final 14 games would be against the division.  He would be set to pitch any time after 10/7.  If we need a 4th pitcher in the first round, he's our man and he'd be ready.

That leaves one man to go.  5th pitcher/combo would only have 11 chances to pitch down the stretch, on the following dates vs. the following clubs:

7/21 @ HOU, 7/26 @ PHI, 7/31 v. HOU, 8/11 v. CIN, 8/18 @ LAD, 8/23 @SD, 8/29 v. WASH, 9/5 @ PITT, 9/15 v. FLA, 9/22 @ HOU, and 10/3 v. MIL.

That's 3 against HOU and 1 each against PHI, CIN, LAD, SD, WASH, PITT, FLA, and MIL.

6 of those 11 games would be against the division.  Those 11 games, in my opinion, should be started by whomever TLR believes has the best chance of winning the game that day.  This should especially be the case because of the lack of consistency in days off between starts.

Endnote: Obviously, I was a little late in getting this up, as we have already won the series against the D'Backs to start the "second half" of the season.  Those first three games sized up about how I thought they would go.  I think getting 46 starts from the big 3 (Carp, Waino, and Pineiro) down the stretch would be absolutely HUGE for this ballclub and could definitely land them in the crapshoot known as the postseason.

Within today's main post someone made an interesting point; or at least it seemed interesting to me. The poster asked the question (and I paraphrase) "When was the last time the Cardinals were sellers?" I figured that I would take a look at as many trades as I could for as long back as I could handle.

2009 season
December 4, 2008 - Traded 2 PTBNLs (Mark Worrell and Luke Gregorson) to San Diego for Khalil Greene. Buyers.

2008 season
July 26 - Traded Anthony Reyes to Cleveland for Luis Pedermo. Neither buyer nor seller.
January 14 - Traded Scott Rolen to Toronto for Troy Glaus. Neither buyer nor seller.
December 15, 2007 - Traded Jim Edmonds to San Diego for David Freese. Neither buyer nor seller. Seller, if I had to choose one there.

2007 season
July 31 - Traded a PTBNL (Sean Danielson) to Boston for Joel Pineiro. Buyers.
June 22 - Traded a PTBNL (Chris Lambert) to Detroit for Mike Maroth. Buyers.

2006 season
July 31 - Traded Rich Scalamandre to Atlanta for Jorge Sosa. Buyers.
July 30 - Traded Hector Luna to Cleveland for Ronnie Belliard. Buyers.
July 5 - Traded Terry Evans to Anaheim for Jeff Weaver. Buyers.
December 7, 2005 - Traded Ray King to Colorado for Larry Bigbie and Aaron Miles. Neither buyers nor sellers.

2005 season
December 18, 2004 - Traded Daric Barton, Kiko Calero, and Danny Haren (ouch) to Oakland for Mark Mulder. Buyers. (or so we thought...)

2004 season
August 6 - Traded Jason Burch and PTBNLs (Luis Martinez and Chris Narveson) to Colorado for Larry Walker. Buyers.
March 21 - Traded Matt Duff to Boston for Tony Womack. Buyers.
December 31, 2003 - Traded JD Drew and Eli Marrero to Atlanta for Jason Marquis, Ray King, and Adam Wainwright. Both buyers and sellers.
November 21, 2003 - Traded Tino Martinez to Tampa Bay for PTBNL (John-Paul Davis) and Evan Rust. Sellers. This is the first example I could find going back. Davis and Rust never made the bigs. Martinez went on to put up an .823 OPS for Tampa that year and hit 23 homers and had 20 doubles. This was a salary dump, BUT the big thing here is that it was in the offseason. It still was not a trade deadline dump.

Before that, the next salary dump/sale I could find was trading Dustin Hermanson to Boston for Dustin Brisson, Luis Alfonso Garcia, and Rick Asadoorian. None of them made the majors as well. Again, this was an off-season deal. (December 15th, 2002.)

The most recent trade deadline dump could be July 31, 2001 when we traded Jason Christiansen to San Francisco for Kevin Joseph. Joseph threw 11 innings in 2002, his only major league experience. The next season was his last in professional baseball. Jason Christiansen, at the time of the trade, had thrown 30 games for the Cardinals that season (and 21 the previous season in a partial season with the Cards). He was having a good year with the Birds on the Bat and finished even better with the Giants later.

I believe that the Cardinals should move Albert Pujols to 3rd base.  There, I said it.  I figured it would be the easiest way to say it...to just come out and start with it.  I believe that the Cardinals should move Albert to 3rd base because it would enable us to improve the third base position's production by adding a first baseman instead.  It would also give the team a lot of flexibility defensively.

• I would assume that Pujols, within 2-3 years, would become a very good defender at third base.  All the man does is impress in everything he puts his mind to doing.
  
• Defensively, Chris Duncan is a decent option at first base.  In the outfield, where he currently roams, he is a bad to mediocre option at best.
• Defensively, Skip Schumaker is a good to great option in left field.  At second base, where he currently roams, he is a bad option.
• Defensively, the Walrus, Brett Wallace, projects as a first baseman or a DH, not as he is currently being used at 3rd.  Moving Pujols would allow Wallace to be brought up at some point and not have to worry nearly as much about playing defense.  He could just, then, learn to rake the MLB pitchers.

Then, the Cardinals could go a myriad directions with trades.

• Adam Dunn has been mentioned elsewhere on the site as a trade option.  He is in the same boat as Duncan defensively.  Dunn brings a bigger name and a bigger bat than Duncan can give us, at least at the moment.  I'd prefer to play him at first than clog up an already crowded outfield.
• Mark DeRosa has been rumored to be coming to St. Louis, most recently here.  He would be a pretty good defender at 2nd base, which would be open by moving Skip back to the outfield.  I think his bat projects much better as a second baseman than a 3rd baseman.
  
• Apparently Adrian Gonzalez could be on the block in SD, along with Jake Peavy.  Adrian Gonzalez would pretty much keep the 1b defense the same as it is now...and add much more pop than we've seen at third since 2006 with Rolen reasonably healthy.
• Matt Holliday has been rumored to (and I paraphrase) "not caring about staying in Oakland."  Holliday would represent a big bat in the lineup and the biggest name that could probably be gotten to appease Tony.  Holliday is a plus defender.  I am assuming that if Holliday is brought in, that one of our current outfielders, not named Ludwick or Rasmus, will be dealt as part of a package deal.  I would be fine if both Duncan and Ankiel were sent off for Holliday, leaving us with a Ludwick, Rasmus, Holliday, Skip platoon out there.

   I know that there are minuses to moving Pujols.  The biggest, first and foremost problem is that nobody but Albert really knows what is up with his right arm.  He seems to be healthy right now.  I think that now is the time to do it, if there ever is a time.  I believe that to keep Albert past 2011 the club will have to be competitive.  Albert has expressed the desire to move to 3rd if it helps to keep the team competitive.

   Thanks for reading, stlfan.

PS - I do not mind if this becomes the dumping ground of all trade discussion so that we can keep it all in one place...

So, over at Vivaelbirdos, I was talking to a few of the Cardinals faithful about the draft.  The topic of middle infielders and catchers (which I believe to be our biggest needs in Cardinal Nation, in terms of prospects) that can rake came up.  I looked up some basic stats (mainly SLG, OPS, and XBH) on the NCAA.org site and came up with the following people. 

Has anyone seen any of them in person?  Does anyone go to the school and get to see/hear about them constantly?  What do you all know about these kids?

Are they kids who will stick in their current positions, or are they (like Pujols and possibly Brett Wallace before them) kids who will need to change positions in the majors based on their not so hot fielding prowess?  Does their power project to the majors?  Do they have any speed?  etc.

Thanks for any responses that I get.

Bryan Marquez – 2B – NMSU
2009: 215 AB, .414 – 83 runs, 14 doubles, 22 homers, 85 rbi, 49:29 BB:K .534 OBP, .795 SLG

Gary Helmick – 2B – Towson
2009: 228 AB, .430 – 72 runs, 12 doubles, 9 triples, 17 homers, 51 RBI, 32:23 BB:K .502 OBP, .785 SLG

Tommy Nurre – INF – Miami (OH)
2009: 202 AB, .406 – 53 runs, 18 doubles, 1 triple, 17 homers, 54 RBI, 28:34 BB:K .498 OBP, .757 SLG
16 steals, 1 caught

Jordan Kreke – SS – Eastern Ill.
2009: 188 AB, .394 – 50 runs, 16 doubles, 3 triples, 13 homers, 59 RBI, 8:22 BB:K .433 OBP, .718 SLG
5 steals, 0 caught

Nate Freiman – INF – Duke
2009: .352, 47 runs, 15 doubles, 20 homers, 59 RBI .463 OBP, .703 SLG

Hayden Johnston – INF – Ohio
2009: .393, 61 runs, 25 doubles, 16 homers, 47 RBI, .448 OBP, .701 SLG

Matt Vern – INF – TCU
2009: .369, 56 runs, 15 homers, 45 RBI, .474 OBP, .699 SLG

J.T. Wise – C – Oklahoma
2009: .374, 17 homers, 61 RBI, .703 SLG

While everyone else is busy being disappointed by the St. Louis Blues early playoff ouster at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks or celebrating the incredible comeback that the St. Louis Blues were able to make to even get into the post-season for 4 meaningful contests, John Davidson, Larry Pleau, Al MacInnis, Doug Armstrong, Andy Murray, et al will be figuring out (starting today) how to make this team better for next year.  They'll be figuring out how to get the St. Louis Blues to play like they did for the last 38 games of hockey instead of the first 44 games of hockey.  I figured that I would take a stab at what the team could look like, barring freak injuries, come October.

First off, let's look at who is leaving.  According to this site, as of right now, Keith Tkachuk is no longer a Blue.  He does not have a contract going into next season.  Manny Legace will, most likely, be joining the scrap heap.  Dan Hinote and Brad Winchester are the other two UFA's on the roster at the moment.  On another site, it is stated that Mike Weaver and Trent Whitfield are free agents as well.  Those two sites only show UNrestricted free agents (UFAs).

For the Blues, there are several restricted free agents, as well.  This means the Blues have the option of matching any offers made to these players.  I'll list players that I think could make an impact on the 2009-2010 roster only: BJ Crombeen, Chris Holt, Jay McClement, Roman Polak, Chris Porter, Steve Regier, Marek Shwarz, Steve Wagner, and Jeff Woywitka.

At goaltender, Chris Mason has earned everything he's ever wanted: A starting goaltender's job in the National Hockey League.  57 games with a .916 save percentage, plus 21 out of the last 25 games (not including the playoffs) giving up 3 or less goals, will give you a good chance to play every day the following season.  Ben Bishop, I believe should and will be backing up Mason.  I could see Chris Holt giving Bishop a run for his money, but I'd rather see Holt in a full season starting in Peoria, personally.

On defense, the Blues have a lot of talent.  There are 5 guys who, in my mind, are sure bets to make the team on defense.  Erik Johnson should be back in form by the time October rolls around.  If that is the case, he very well could be the top d-man.  Alex Pietrangelo, especially for a 19 year old, played well in his "cup o' joe," to steal a term from baseball players getting a quick look at what the big leagues are like.  He should be a top 4 defenseman.  Barret Jackman has had a rough couple of years, compared to the beginning of his career.  I think that with two other really good defensemen (and a good surrounding cast back there), he will step up his play in a reduced minute role.  He will be in his age 28 season and should be rounding into his prime for the next 3-5 years.  I hope that the toll of 18-23 minutes per night for the past 3 years playing on a bad team (minus the tail end of this season) won't scar his future seasons.  Carlo Colaiacovo led all Blues defensemen with 29 points this season.  He had a rough playoff run, but most of the Blues players did.  Eric Brewer is still the Captain of this team for the moment, so there is no way to keep him off the ice either.  The rest of the defensemen are battling for one spot every night.

Jay McKee was the top d-man in +/- this year, with Tyson Strachan finishing 2nd in only 30 games played.  Jeff Woywitka was third in +/- and 3rd in points (for Blues d-men).  Other than them, Roman Polak played some good minutes (and some bad) in the playoffs, and Steve Wagner and Mike Weaver played a bit in the regular season, with Weaver seeing time int he playoffs, too.

At forward, Brad Boyes led the team in goals, assists, and points.  David Backes was second on the team in goals and points.  David Perron was second on the team in assists and third in points.  Add in a healthy Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald and you have a pretty decent top 5.  Either Patrik Berglund or TJ Oshie round out a good top two lines, while the other will start at center on the 3rd line (unless Andy Murray decides to split up this top 7 talent and go with a 3-line rotation to keep players more fresh.)

Jay McClement, BJ Crombeen, and Alex Steen make another pretty good line, but that only gives you a top 10 and, of course, 12 forwards are needed.

Unless FA acquisitions are made, I could see DJ King and St. Louisan Cam Janssen battling out for a regular lineup spot on the fourth line, especially in the grind of a long season and someone taking a cheap shot at a top 7 player from above.

Someone else who knows the minor league talent better than I could help me out here.  Going off of who played in St. Louis this year, one spot will be left wide open to be won by one of the following: David Koci, Steve Regier, Cam Paddock, Chris Porter, and Yan Stastny.  I can't say that I'm thrilled with any of those options.

Onto the Free Agents.  This site shows one version of the Top 30 free agents in the summer of 2009 and this site I believe could list everyone.  Dominic Moore looks like a St. Louis Blue.  He is a checking liner in effort.  Enough said.  Alex Burrows, with whom Blues fans are now familiar, could be a force on offense, especially with Oshie, Perron, Backes, etc clearing the boards and crease for him.  I don't think the Blues will go after the Sedins because they'll cost too much money.  Steve Bernier is a restricted free agent, meaning Vancouver could match an offer.  For some reason, I thought they re-signed him last year to a 2 or 3 year deal.

The biggest impact on the defensive end could be Jay Bouwmeester.  I would love to see him round out our top 6 defensemen.  That would be an incredible defensive corps.

If anyone knows anything different than I, or if you agree or disagree, I would love to see comments and have a chance to forsee next year's roster.  Thanks!

So I know it is way to early in the season to say anyone is going to stay this hot or cold over the course of the season, but as the Royals you really need to stay hot.  You need to make this team (and this fan base, in particular) believe that they can win and will , THIS year.  The AL Central is not putrid, but is going to be a winable division by ANY of the 5 teams, if they get hot.

That being said, I think that this is the lineup that must be played at the moment until they cool off.

Alberto Callaspo - 2B - .433 OBP, .898 OPS (Switch hitter)

Coco Crisp - CF - .396 OBP, .990 OPS (Lefty)

John Buck - C - .476 OBP, 1.476 OPS (Righty)

Mark Teahen - 3B - .413 OBP, .888 OPS (Lefty)

Mike Jacobs - 1B - .629 SLG, .962 OPS (Lefty)

Mike Aviles - SS - second leadoff hitter (if that makes sense)

David Dejesus - LF - second second hitter (ditto)

Billy Butler - DH - second three hitter - (he can play 1st and Jacobs can DH, if you like)

Willie Bloomquist/Mitch Maier/whomever - RF - fills out the lineup...whoever you think can give you the best game that day.

I think that this lineup would give you the best chance to win day in and day out at this point in the season.  You keep pushing the defensive side of the ball because with the way the starters are going, you just need to keep playing good defense behind them and build their confidence more.

First fanpost in a while, don't rip me too hard.

Go Royals!

Hello St. Louis Game Time readers,

I have been following along on this site for about a month now, but have yet to really post anything significant, because I have refused the urge to post anything until now, when I think I have something significant to contribute.  I looked through the archives and did not see anything about this topic.

The topic I’m here to discuss today is this:  If you could put together a team (20 players – 12 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 2 goalies) from St. Louis Blues past as a team, who would be on it.  Now, I’m going to make a limitation or two.  Looking over at www.hockey-reference.com, I found out that 108 players have played two full seasons (164+ games) in a Blues uniform.  Only 69 players have played three full seasons (246+ games).  Even though I would have to knock out some of my all-time favorites, I think at least three seasons (or 246 games played as a St. Louis Blue is needed in order to make this team.  Starting goaltenders usually play less games, so I’m using 3 years at 60 games played = 180 minimum games for a goalie.)

FORWARDS:

1st Line – Brendan Shanahan / Bernie Ferderko / Brett Hull

2nd Line – Jorgen Pettersson / Pierre Turgeon / Joe Mullen

3rd Line – Brian Sutter / Garry Unger / Jamal Mayers

4th Line – Wayne Babych / Doug Gilmour / Pavol Demitra

The first line averaged, respectively, 1.1/1.16/1.26 points per game as a Blue.

The second line averaged, respectively, .91/1.09/1.11 points per game as a Blue.

The third line averaged, 2.29/1.12/1.27 PIM per game as a Blue, and still could put the puck in the net regularly.  I could not put Sutter or Unger on line 4, so this line goes here.  Another note: Mayers made it over Keith Tkachuk (and others) because he is one of only 7 Blues to play a decade of hockey in STL.

The fourth line averaged, respectively, .87/.92/1.00 points per game as a Blue.

DEFENSEMEN: (or defencemen, as those tricky Canadians would say. J)

1st Pairing – Al MacInnis / Chris Pronger

2nd Pairing – Barclay Plager / Bob Plager

3rd Pairing – Jeff Brown / Barrett Jackman

I think the first two are two of the best defensemen ever, so there was no doubt in my mind that they deserved the top pairing.  The second grouping went together because they were both in the Blue Note for 10 or more seasons and played fantastically when they were.  Plus, you can’t split up the brothers if you can avoid doing so.  The third pairing was very difficult for me to decide.  Jeff Brown actually leads all Blues defensemen ever with .89 points per game.  Part of that, I’m sure, was being on a power play with Brett Hull to pass to.  He held his own, though, scoring 80 goals in 4+ seasons as a Blue.  Barrett Jackman is probably my favorite post-lockout player on the Blues roster, so that was my deciding factor there.

GOALTENDERS:

Curtis Joseph & Grant Fuhr

My reasoning is this: CUJO was my favorite player growing up in the Brett Hull era.  He made more ridiculous glove saves than any goalie I can remember.  Patrick Roy had the butterfly, Dominik Hasek had the stacked pads, Joseph used the glove as well as Ozzie Smith.  He carried the team in a time where top line defensive defensemen did not really exist here in St. Louis.  My apologies go out to Murray Baron, Rick Zombo, and Garth Butcher…but they are fantastic 2nd and 3rd line defensemen.  Grant Fuhr had the luxury of Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger clearing the way for him.

(Note: even with the 180 games played caveat for goalies, only 4 played as a Blue long enough to be on this team – the two I chose, plus Mike Liut and Greg Millen.)

stlfan

In case everyone missed it, as I'm sure nearly everyone did, the Royals claimed Jairo Cuevas off of waivers from the (guess who) Atlanta Braves this week.  He has spent 5 years bouncing between Rookie ball and AA, all in the Atlanta system.  He is a 24 year-old right-handed starting pitcher.  In 81 games (72 starts), he has thrown 377 1/3 innings, allowing only 329 hits.  He has struck out 357 and walked 180 (not quite a 2:1 K:BB.)  He posts a 4.05 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP.  He only has given up 23 homers in those 377+ innings.

Unfortunately, his numbers have gotten progressively worse on his way up the ladder through the minors.

After the 2007 season, I took an extended look at the Cardinals injuries in that season.  If memory serves, I believe 22 of 25 opening day starters were hurt at some point throughout the year.  That was 88% of the roster from Opening Day.

In 2008, the Cardinals were similarly hurt.  Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright (the club's two aces) missed time due to injury.  The rotation also had Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper miss a little bit of time to the injury bug.  The bullpen was in shambles because of injuries to Josh Kinney, Tyler Johnson, Jason Isringhausen, (and others?).  Also, nobody needs to be reminded of Mark Mulder's season(s).

In the field this season, Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, and most of the outfield was injured for parts of the season.  It is not nearly as extensive a list this year as last.  That is a good thing.

Lastly, in the minors/majors department, one Colby Rasmus went down with an injury AND we already know that Jaime Garcia and Mike Parisi are probably lost for the entire season in 2009.

My questions, then, are:

Why are the Cardinals so injury plagued?  Are we targeting players with higher risk of injury somehow?  Are we not doing a good job of preventing injuries?  Are our GM's gullible in trading for injured players?  Are we taking riskier chances on free agent acquisitions?

How can the Cardinals franchise, as a whole, become more preventive in health care of their employees?  There is not much use in having a Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds etc. to long-term contracts in which we pay players to sit on the bench (thank goodness McGwire retired when he did and pretty much gave the Cardinals salary cap to work with.)

In essence, what is going on and how can we fix it?

Here at the end of the season, I am very conflicted on what I would like to see happen.  Truthfully, Honestly, I do not think this team has it in them to pull of a miracle run like the 2006 team did.  The 2006 team had a lot of injuries that all seemed to be coming back to get healthy at the right time, right when the playoffs were about to win.  This year, the injuries keep on coming and the players are not coming back from them on any reasonable time table for consistent winning to occur.

At catcher, Molina is hurt for at least a few days after the collision last night.  That leaves career backup Jason LaRue and Johnson from AAA.

At first base, Pujols is injured, but playing...presumably because he is having an MVP type season and he would like to keep it up and win.  He also believes (so he says) that he will be back early next year if he has surgery after the season is over.

At second base and shortstop, the combination of Lopez, Ryan, Izturis, Kennedy, and Miles are all healthy.  /sarcasm OH BOY!!! /end sarcasm

At third base, Glaus is now injured, so one of the middle infielders has shifted over to play even more.  All we have left is Barden and he isn't playing.  LaRussa has refused, pretty much, to bring up Freese and/or Wallace.

In the outfield, Mather and Duncan are on the DL.  Ankiel is too injured to start.  Barton has been on the DL and isn't playing much since coming back.  That leaves us Skip, Ludwick, and a MI or Phelps or Stavinoha.  None of them are good options at this point.  I believe Jones is technically up as well, but he hasn't been mentioned much and definitely isn't going into a game any time soon...so it seems.

At pitcher, Carpenter is still hurt, he won't be starting any games for sure.  Waino is back, but is he at full strength? Welley has pitched more than ever before, ditto Looper.  Lohse is fine.  Pineiro is Pineiro.  Garcia's down for this year and next.  Izzy is done.  Tyler Johnson is done for the year.  Kinney is just coming back.

So you might ask...stlfan, what are you going to suggest with all this bitching and moaning?

My suggestion is to be done with this season and move toward next year, which is supposedly when we're supposed to be retooled and back on track anyway.

I would suggest to set down any player that is injured at all (anything somewhat serious) and allow youngsters and/or players that we do not plan to sign/ will not be bringing back finish out the season.

C - LaRue and Johnson

1b - Phelps

2b - Miles/Lopez/Kennedy

SS - Ryan/Izturis

3B - Barden/Ryan - I would also bring up Freese.

LF - Play Stavinoha and Jones.  We need to know for next year if they can play.

CF - Skip - we need to know if he can play every day and hit lefties

RF - Ludwick - we need to get good ABs from him whenever he is actually healthy.

Also bring up Rasmus (IF the team plans on him having a realistic shot at starting next year with the big league club.  If LaRussa has already decided he will be in Memphis, then don't tease him.)

Pitchers: I shut down anyone hurt or thrown way more than before (Welley/Looper?)

SP

Waino (if COMPLETELY healhty)

Lohse (finish out the year)

Looper (until he hits 200-205 IP then shut him down)

Welley (give him 3 more starts or so...until he hits 180-185 IP and sit him down - unless you don't plan on keeping, then throw him as much as you want)

Boggs (give 4-5 more starts after Welley gets sat down)

To fill in for those above, I give Thompson and Pineiro starts in the rotation.

In the pen, I see Perez, Franklin, and Motte finishing out the year closing and in the setup role.  I would sit Carpenter down and see if (once again) he could possibly be healthy by the spring.

Left in the pen are: Villone, Flores (and pull both LOOGYs once they walk the first batter they face), Springer, Parisi, Jiminez (bring both up if they aren't), Kinney, Mark Worrell (bring him back up in case needed).

I really just believe that this season is over and we need to get people healthy for next year.  I really have thought this over for days now, and believe it to be the best course of action.  I don't think that anyone (not just Cardinal fans, but BASEBALL FANS in general) wants to see a playoff team sport a lineup like tonight's (game 3 of the Cubs series).  It would not be good for baseball.