The Cardinals have finally put a log on the fire, because the hot stove is putting off a little bit of warmth now.
First off, the Redbirds signed another lefty. Royce Ring isn't quite the prospect he was when he was included in the deal that sent Roberto Alomar from the Mets to the White Sox in 2003. In fact, most people will point to the fact that he was pretty awful last year. As Bernie Mikalsz points out, though, a lot of that is control issues. If that could be solved, he looks like he'd be a servicable LOOGY and for a very cheap price.
Before I leave Bernie's blog entry, though, something in it bothered me. Bernie talks about the Cubs signing Milton Bradley, how it'll hurt their outfield defense and could have explosive issues in their clubhouse...but then gives the Cubs credit for "spending money" and moving away from the Cardinals. Really? C'mon.
Just spending money doesn't mean you are a better team. Ask the Yankees from the last few years. Bradley may help their offense, but he could hurt their pitching staff. I guess what I'm trying to say is he may make the team better, but it's not because they spent $30 million on him, which seems to be what Bernie is implying.
OK, off that tangent. The other piece of hot stove goodness is the possibility raised by Tony LaRussa that they may be targeting "the next Dennis Eckersley," a long-time starter that could turn into a closer. Which seems only fair, given how many relievers TLR and Dave Duncan have turned into starters in the last few years. Time to give something back.
LaRussa stated that he doesn't think it'd be best for Chris Perez or Jason Motte to close, thinking that it'd hinder their development. I'd think there could be some debate on that score, but if you aren't bringing in a top-dollar closer for a long-term deal, I think I could go with it. A transitional guy to help them along.
A lot of names have been floated around. Pedro Martinez seems to be a popular guess, though I've seen Mark Prior's name come up. I still wonder why they'd go after these injury-plagued pitchers and leave Ben Sheets alone, especially with a cheaper market. I realize that they'd pitch less, but there's different stresses on the arm. We'll see if anything happens on that front.
Also found at Bird Land's Facebook group, a link to a comparison of Hiroki Kuroda, the Dodger pitcher, to Kenshin Kawakami. It looks like they are pretty similar, at least in results, which would be an encouraging thing.
Lastly, the big news, at least from my point of view. The UCB Radio Hour will be airing tomorrow night at 10:00 CST, getting back into the groove after the holidays. This first show is going to be special, because Matthew Leach, the Cardinal writer for MLB.com, has agreed to join us for the first portion of the show.
We only have him for a few minutes, so we're looking for questions you might want to ask him. No promises that we'll get them all in, but we'll try to take the best two or three. Leave them in the comments and then listen tomorrow night!
8 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dylan Sharek 6 months ago
How do you feel about TLR's stubbornness to make Motte or Perez closer? In August, when Perez took over the sole reigns as closer, he was lights out. 0.00 ERA, 6 for 6 in save opportunities. He was a rock. Like all rooks though, he suffered a little bit in September and LaRussa gave him the boot. Perez then pitched miserable for the rest of the year, looking completely uncomfortable. Tonight I saw that TLR was actually leaning towards having Carpenter do the duty...
I think it's a bad move. I wrote an article about it a few days ago and would love if you would check it out and leave a comment. It goes into more depth than you did, and I would love to see someone with intimate Card's knowledge give me some feedback:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/100777-larussa-tabs-carpenter-as-possible-cardinals-closer
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Daniel Shoptaw 6 months ago
I definitely wouldn't run Carp out there. If he's healthy enough to pitch, he needs to be a starter. If he's not healthy enough to start, he doesn't need to be pitching.
I think TLR believes he's protecting the careers of the young guys by not throwing them into anything. I don't agree with him on that, but that's what he seems to believe. And since he's been in baseball longer than I've been alive, you have to listen to that somewhat. I still think they'd be fine in the role, though.
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Dylan Sharek 6 months ago
I'm in pretty much the same boat with you. I understand that he wants to protect them, but I think he's actually doing them a giant disservice by pushing them aside.
Granted, you're probably right. He's been in baseball for two of my lifetimes, so I guess I gotta listen.
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Derek Coffelt 6 months ago
A LITTLE heat is right..a VERY little. Hoffman (who isn't much of an addition) is about get signed by the Dodgers and St. Louis is still sitting on their hands and still don't have a closer.
I think the best free agent closer out there right now is Chad Cordero. How awful is that?
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Daniel Shoptaw 6 months ago
That may be true, depending on Cordero's health. Saito is out there as well.
I'm not sure why Hoffman never was in the Cardinals plans. He would seem to be an ideal fit, a guy that could come in for a year and help the youngsters along. But there's something the front office doesn't like about him.
As for the closer role, they have Motte, Perez and Franklin (though I'm not big on Franklin). Even if they mix and match, they should still do better than last year's problems. The middle of the pen is stronger as well, which should help.
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Derek Coffelt 6 months ago
Saito has even bigger health problems than Cordero, so I don't see either of them landing on the Redbirds roster in 2009.
The mix of closers you're referring to allowed the most blown saves in the majors last year..I don't see how using the same players would result in a better formula. The additions of lefties in the bullpen does help..but again, we still don't have anyone that can slam the door shut in the ninth.
With that said, I'm cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. Lots of potential..but everyone knows how that can go wrong...*cough* Mets *cough*
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Daniel Shoptaw 6 months ago
Well, because we don't have Flores or Villone or Isringhausen, which means that a lot of the blown saves won't be on the roster next year.
Because the pen got better down the stretch with the youth infusion, even though they occasionally had their troubles.
Because the young ones have more experience now and hopefully McClellan will be used more judiciously so he won't run out of gas in August.
And because, hopefully, the new lefties will be used correctly and not be stretched to facing righties. Miller might be able to handle it, Ring can't.
I also hope they find a starter to take a few of those bullpen innings and turn them into starter innings!
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Matt Collins 6 months ago
Spending money doesn't always mean a RING. It does however mean you have less money in the future to spend on a REAL free agent. While Bradley may help the Cubs offense he's a liability in the field. In 19 games last season he had 3 errors and because of injuries he DHed most of the year. I for one am happy if they want him I'ld rather the Cubs have an often injured malcontent than a solid player like Adam Dunn. I would rather do nothing in the off season than make a signing just to make news. I don't want to come off negative but lets be realistic, he's not TO but if he hurts the team what difference does it make. The fielding percentage of a team makes a difference to the pitching staff. The Cubs hung there collective hat on that staff last year and while they do have more playoff experience than last year does he get them a step futher than they were. I don't think so. I'm not saying that he's a bad guy but 6 teams in 9 year tells me alot about all I need to hear.
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