in anticipation of the rabid/thedamned family's imminent move (in two months), and for the sake of readability, i am changing the blog into it's road grays. please let me know if the change is to your liking (or just comment on something; i don't care, i just like feedback).
if schumaker isn't switched out for ryan ludwick soon, i'm going to have to call in the goon temp agency my company uses for collections and have him placed on the dl. i love the defense, skip, but this is not a lineup that can afford to carry a .185 obp outfielder. we need some pop (hell some contact, even) in the worst way. since so taguchi has tony's vote for the "aging fourth outfielder with something to prove award," he's here to stay. sorry, skip.
Showing posts with label wishful thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wishful thinking. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Friday, December 22, 2006
merry something
merry christmas to those who lean that way. never been much of a fan myself, but, hey, who am i to get in the way of someone else's good time.
my x-mas wish list
a serviceable starting pitcher who doesn't cost the remainder of our payroll (weaver? narveson?)
a 4th outfielder who bats right handed
a healthy izzy
somewhere to dump rincon (not his body)
more tickets than the one game we have so far.
if anyone wants to give rabid redbird any of these things, please let me know.
happy holidays
my x-mas wish list
a serviceable starting pitcher who doesn't cost the remainder of our payroll (weaver? narveson?)
a 4th outfielder who bats right handed
a healthy izzy
somewhere to dump rincon (not his body)
more tickets than the one game we have so far.
if anyone wants to give rabid redbird any of these things, please let me know.
happy holidays
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
viva el streako
ok, well three games may not constitute a streak to everyone, but it sure does to me after an eight game slide.
that was the weaver we paid virtually nothing for. if he had shown some measure of consistency, i'd be more comfortable with the fact that he's probably going to take anthony reyes spot in the rotation when mulder comes back. to be fair, though, it isn't like reyes has shown any consistency either, except to consistently not live up to cardinal nations overly high expectations for him (in the off season, as i recall, he could walk on the water he had just turned into bud select and feed forty thousand spectators with only six hot dogs and twelve pretzels).
j'enc and yadi busting dingers in the last two games has me grinning pretty big as well. i make no secret of the fact that i like juan encarnacion in right, and i've felt all season that yadi was a far better hitter than his average showed. last two games have given some credence to those thoughts.
is it a dodgers-style 10 game streak? well, not yet...
that was the weaver we paid virtually nothing for. if he had shown some measure of consistency, i'd be more comfortable with the fact that he's probably going to take anthony reyes spot in the rotation when mulder comes back. to be fair, though, it isn't like reyes has shown any consistency either, except to consistently not live up to cardinal nations overly high expectations for him (in the off season, as i recall, he could walk on the water he had just turned into bud select and feed forty thousand spectators with only six hot dogs and twelve pretzels).
j'enc and yadi busting dingers in the last two games has me grinning pretty big as well. i make no secret of the fact that i like juan encarnacion in right, and i've felt all season that yadi was a far better hitter than his average showed. last two games have given some credence to those thoughts.
is it a dodgers-style 10 game streak? well, not yet...
Friday, August 04, 2006
looking forward
we're in first place in our division, yet, i'm already entertaining thoughts of next year... what does walt need to do in the offseason? a few thoughts from a newish fan...
rotation:
carp
serious pitching acquisition/healthy mulder (tbd this season)
reyes
wainwright
#5 guy better than weaver/ponson
i can even deal with suppan or marquis as the #5 guy, but we can't carry this many mediocre pitchers and expect good things come october 2007.
relievers:
replace flores
fill wainwright's spot competently
i'm not sure what izzy's contract length is, but i like keeping him as long as it doesn't cost us more than he's getting now ($12 mil this year, i think, or 13% of payroll?)
lineup
restructure and resign edmonds
a hard hitting left fielder (that isn't chris duncan) so we don't have to rely so much on edmonds' streaky bat
lose so, duncan, and jrod. i like them all, but we have to do better than this. if we have to keep one, make it jrod, who is getting better in the field and is better off the bench than the other two.
lose gollum and belliard, replace with a honest to god short stop
move eck to 2nd (his [all-american] college position)
keep yadi, but get a better hitting back up catcher than gary freaking bennett.
next off-season is also the time to start negociating future contracts with rolen, pujols, and carp.
perhaps it's time the secret weapon was our manager.
now that i've got this down, maybe the team will get back from the slide, get mad (not frustrated), and start kicking ass again.
rotation:
carp
serious pitching acquisition/healthy mulder (tbd this season)
reyes
wainwright
#5 guy better than weaver/ponson
i can even deal with suppan or marquis as the #5 guy, but we can't carry this many mediocre pitchers and expect good things come october 2007.
relievers:
replace flores
fill wainwright's spot competently
i'm not sure what izzy's contract length is, but i like keeping him as long as it doesn't cost us more than he's getting now ($12 mil this year, i think, or 13% of payroll?)
lineup
restructure and resign edmonds
a hard hitting left fielder (that isn't chris duncan) so we don't have to rely so much on edmonds' streaky bat
lose so, duncan, and jrod. i like them all, but we have to do better than this. if we have to keep one, make it jrod, who is getting better in the field and is better off the bench than the other two.
lose gollum and belliard, replace with a honest to god short stop
move eck to 2nd (his [all-american] college position)
keep yadi, but get a better hitting back up catcher than gary freaking bennett.
next off-season is also the time to start negociating future contracts with rolen, pujols, and carp.
perhaps it's time the secret weapon was our manager.
now that i've got this down, maybe the team will get back from the slide, get mad (not frustrated), and start kicking ass again.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
three day withdrawal
three days with no baseball in the middle of the summer is great for our players, but for me, it's like trying to hold my breath for the same length of time. ok, maybe a better analogy would be not eating for three days, which i might actually be able to survive; thinner, desperate, but still going. the all star game was fine (except for phil garner putting cabrera in at third as a defensive replacement instead of rolen... makes as much (defensive) sense as tlr putting yadi in center, and it cost the nl home field advantage), but hardly memorable, and didn't quite fulfill my need (the all star game is like methadone, to use yet a third simile to describe the same thing).
some post-break thoughts
aubrey huff to the astros... i know a lot of cards fans and bloggers were hoping to snag this guy, but it doesn't seem that big a loss to me. true, they traded him for some bags of sunflower seeds, but still, i don't think it pushes them over the top or anything.
rotation woes... i'm not exactly an optimist, but when it comes to the cardinals, i guess i generally expect things to go pretty well. the last two years have spoiled us in terms of win totals. the rotation should regain some footing in the second half. reyes is strong, weaver is an improvement on ponson, and eventually, mulder might be able to throw a ball better than they did in my third grade coach pitch league twenty years ago. carp has taken some bad breaks, but is still dominant, and i think we're hitting marquis' good stretch he seems to have every year at a good time.
trade deadline... we need to trade for a real left fielder. i'm perfectly content with luna, gollum, and luna at second, but the left field travelling roadshow has got to stop.
wow, this might be my longest post. go second half cards!
some post-break thoughts
aubrey huff to the astros... i know a lot of cards fans and bloggers were hoping to snag this guy, but it doesn't seem that big a loss to me. true, they traded him for some bags of sunflower seeds, but still, i don't think it pushes them over the top or anything.
rotation woes... i'm not exactly an optimist, but when it comes to the cardinals, i guess i generally expect things to go pretty well. the last two years have spoiled us in terms of win totals. the rotation should regain some footing in the second half. reyes is strong, weaver is an improvement on ponson, and eventually, mulder might be able to throw a ball better than they did in my third grade coach pitch league twenty years ago. carp has taken some bad breaks, but is still dominant, and i think we're hitting marquis' good stretch he seems to have every year at a good time.
trade deadline... we need to trade for a real left fielder. i'm perfectly content with luna, gollum, and luna at second, but the left field travelling roadshow has got to stop.
wow, this might be my longest post. go second half cards!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
tourniquet of errors
thank god for errors... if you can't hope for good play, at least hope for the other guy's mistakes. last night was ugly, but i was hanging on shannon and rooney's every word. i've never been so happy to hear about a bad throw, even if it allowed the game winning run to cross the plate, as i was about this one.
the bullpen still needs some help.
the starters still need some help.
this win is like the first food a man starving for eight days gets to eat. even after he has consumed it, he is still technically starving, though he damned sure feels better.
where did albert leave his bat? ok, that really isn't fair, as he did just come back from an injury, and if the production he's had since the injury had come from say, yadier, we'd be thrilled. however, i worry that perhaps he is trying to push too soon and playing at less than 100%. i'd rather have a 100% el hombre in september/october than a 85% el hombre for the remainder of the year. true, since he's the best player in the game, at 85%, he's still amazing, but it's more like jeff francoeur amazing. we won't be hanging our championship hats on a jeff francoeur type player. on the other hand, if we can kick the pitching in the ass to get things back to normal, we can ride the (100%) pujols gravy train to at least a pennant.
but damnit, i'll not be satisfied by a pennant. this season was supposed to be our world series winner. if they don't spend, we don't win. i don't advocate throwing money at a problem, but with walt jocketty, that wouldn't be the case anyway.
the bullpen still needs some help.
the starters still need some help.
this win is like the first food a man starving for eight days gets to eat. even after he has consumed it, he is still technically starving, though he damned sure feels better.
where did albert leave his bat? ok, that really isn't fair, as he did just come back from an injury, and if the production he's had since the injury had come from say, yadier, we'd be thrilled. however, i worry that perhaps he is trying to push too soon and playing at less than 100%. i'd rather have a 100% el hombre in september/october than a 85% el hombre for the remainder of the year. true, since he's the best player in the game, at 85%, he's still amazing, but it's more like jeff francoeur amazing. we won't be hanging our championship hats on a jeff francoeur type player. on the other hand, if we can kick the pitching in the ass to get things back to normal, we can ride the (100%) pujols gravy train to at least a pennant.
but damnit, i'll not be satisfied by a pennant. this season was supposed to be our world series winner. if they don't spend, we don't win. i don't advocate throwing money at a problem, but with walt jocketty, that wouldn't be the case anyway.
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