2010: New Decade, Same Name

Without belaboring the point, the 2000s were a very good decade for the Cardinals. Seven playoff appearances, six divisional titles, two world series appearances, one world series victory. Further, it will be known as the Decade of Pujols; since his improbable emergence in 2001, Pujols has in fact won the triple crown for the decade, leading the NL in HR, RBI and batting average. This is a decade, of course, where Barry Bonds would regularly hit 60-70 HR in a season.

I'm writing because Spring Training kicks off in 5 short days. With football over and basketball doing its interminable, endless thing, I need el beisbol more than ever. I'm not quite ready for a 2010 preview yet, as there are still probably some roster moves yet to be made and some freak injuries (hello, Brendan Ryan's wrist surgery) yet to occur.

But in a nutshell: the 2010 Cardinals are, on the whole, as good as the 2009 Cardinals that won the Central with ease. And the Central looks worse than it did a year before. Sorry Mike, prepare for another patented Astros season o' futility.

Pujols. That's it. Just Pujols.

Hey blog. It's been a long time since I blogged at you. But this morning I had a conversation with my dentist, a die-hard Cardinals fan displaced in central Texas just like me (big ups to Dr. Cordera!), about my lack of cavities and about The Pujols. At this point, he needs to be referred to exactly that way, just like you would some sort indomitable of force of nature, ie, The Tsunami, or The Himalayas. It's tough to quantify what he's doing, both in his career and in this season.

Let's start with career. Good news: two guys who are perhaps the best baseball writers alive, Bill James and Joe Posnanski, recently tackled this subject for Sports Illustrated. It's short and worth reading. Essentially, they conclude that there's never been a player who has opened his career with 9 seasons of dominance the way Pujols has, and in fact there have been two players who have ever put together 9 consecutive seasons at any time like he has thus far. Most recently, Paul Waner (1926-1934).

Within this unique career, 2009 may go down as his finest. What does the finest season by perhaps the best right handed hitter of all time look like? Through 81 games (half a season), 31 HR, 82 RBI, .336 BA. That half of a season would put him in MVP consideration most years.

But more interestingly, a friend of mine, Theosqua, wondered what half of Pujols' production would look like, including his slash stats (Batting Average, On Base Percentage, On Base Plus Slugging). Obviously, 16 HR and 41 RBI would be decent figures at the all star break. Is he truly twice the player of other guys in the league?

Here is the slash stats of Half-A-Poo

.168/.230/.370/.600

So, a 600 OPS - not very good. But stunningly, as good or better than a lot of players:

.168/.230/.370/.600 - Half a Poo
.234/.242/.359/.602 - Nick Stavinoha
.203/.240/.260/.500 - Aaron Miles
.219/.261/.324/.585 - Tyler Greene
.158/.256/.249/.505 - Andrew Jones (2008)
.232/.321/.278/.600 - Jason Kendall
.224/.276/.353/.628 - Jimmy Rollins
.267/.330/.337/.667 - David Eckstein
.214/.286/.359/.645 - Kelly Johnson
.244/.288/.301/.588 - Willy Taveras
.191/.277/.271/.548 - Brian Giles
.225/.302/.335/.637 - Garrett Atkins
.243/.276/.337/.612 - Jeff Francoeur

Another preseason note on the '09 Cardinals

Our former phenom pitcher will be the starting center fielder.

Last year's left fielder, who hasn't played any other position since he was a freshman in college, will be the starting second baseman.

And a guy who was a minor league catcher until a few years ago looks to be our closer.

And I just today discovered that our likely backup thirdbaseman has the nickname "Joey Slapdick."

All sorts of wonderful things can, and probably will, go wrong with this season. But it will be an entertaining kind of catastrophe. In conclusion, baseball: (expletive) yeah.

The 2009 Cardinals: Treading Water Fast!

The story of the 2009 Cardinals is a lot like the story of the 2008 Cardinals. That's because we didn't do much of anything this offseason, despite assurances from management that the team would "Be Aggressive" on the free agent and trade market. After making failed runs at Rockies outcasts Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes, the aggression seems to have vanished.

At least the team made one good deal before giving up for the winter, citing "economic concerns" as justification for a payroll that will actually shrink by $5 million from last year. A minor league reliever and a player to be named were sent to the Padres for Reggie Cleveland All-Star shortstop Khalil Greene. Greene is a power hitting shortstop who fields at least average and has 25 HR power. The question is: was his .213 average (and more worrisome, .260 OBP) last season a product of injury and frustration on an awful team, or a sign of decline? It's tough to imagine the Cardinals with a shortstop who posts a worse OPS+ than Cezar Izturis (67), but last season Greene was 3 points woefully lower.

Otherwise, the team is the same. Isringhausen and his blown saves are gone, replaced by...nobody. Braden Looper and his total averageness in the 5th rotation spot is gone, replaced by....nobody. Aaron Miles was thankfully overpaid by the Cubs. And most notably, a week before spring trianing, the team cut its underperforming but fairly highly paid starting second basemen, Adam Kennedy, in order to replace him with absolutely nobody. Light hitting career outfielder Skip Schumaker (the namesake of the "maker" in this blog's name!) was handed an infielder's glove this week and told to try to figure out second base. Now that's a plan! It's either him or a magical assbag of rotating career-minor leaguer second baselets.

the good news for this team: The core of the lineup, which produced a 111 OPS+, tops in the NL, is unchanged and could be improved with the addition of Greene and possibly top dog center field prospect Colby Rasmus. Pujols is the reigning mvp and best player in baseball, regardless of A-Rod's current wisterol cycle. Ludwick and Ankiel should combine for 55 or more home runs again. Glaus is hurt, but in his wake are two of the team's best prospects - third basemen Freese and Wallace.

Really, despite the inaction and lack of substantive improvement, this team can compete under one very specific and fairly unlikely scenario: Chris Carpenter is healthy for all or most of the year. The former Cy Young has made something like 5 starts over the past 2 seasons, having had tommy john and some sort of nerve relocation surgery in his $55 million right arm. If Carpenter and Wainwright combine for 50 or more starts, that's a potent top of the rotation, which can be adequately rounded out by Kyle Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer, and a fifth guy like Piniero, Brad Thompson, or Mitch Boggs, whomever is working out. Without Carpenter, or if a fluke injury befalls Wainwright like the finger injury that cut half his season last year, suddenly those #5 guys are taking up the majority of the rotation, and doom abounds.

It'll be a fun season. The Cubs are still the team to beat in the NL Central, with a solid rotation and the offensive talents of Soriano, ARam, Derrek Lee, Soto, and now Milton Bradley (who should get along with Pineilla in a highly entertaining manner). Mike will probably preview the Astros, with comedic results. I can't even make fun of that team anymore. It's just too sad to watch.

In conclusion, thank Jesus, Yahweh, Vishnu, Buddha, Allah, and Hamuran that baseball is finally on its way back.

Cardinals Assured 2009 NL Central

Aaron Miles Signs With Cubs.

Oops

It looks like I haven't posted anything since June 2, 2008. Oops. Sorry about that. I didn't get to write about the rest of the season, which is a shame because we saw some interesting things: Ryan Ludwick continued to somehow have a .950+ OPS, Pujols tore up the league with only one functional elbow, Wellemeyer as a decent starter, and Chris Perez showing promise as a closer of the future.

But nobody is reading this now. Not even me. I think I spelled "the" wrong somewhere up there. Maybe Mike and I can renew our blog rivalry for '09. In the meantime, now is the baseball winter of our discontent.

Oh, and if Aaron Miles is back next year, I'm gonna be pissed.

I don't know anything about baseball.

Todd Wellemeyer: National League Player of the Month.

The same Todd Wellemeyer who last year, midseason, was cut by the Royals after he couldn't hack it as a middle reliever for the worst team in baseball. The one who'd never started a game in his major league career.

And now, in 23 games for the Cardinals, all as a starter, is 9-2 with a 3.36 ERA.

Yep, I knew that was coming.