vaball

As Catman pointed out over in Rivalries, the Cards have the weakest schedule because they don't play themselves. This whole strength of schedule gripe is really beside the point.

I don't remember my vow, but whatever it was I'm not worried. I'd also love for the Cards to sign Morris for $32M over 4 years, and I'd be happy about it for a different reason than Cardinal fans would be. It was something like, "If Morris does better than 22 wins and a 3.16 ERA I will call myself an idiot 100 times in this thread." This was in response to my predictions that Morris would have a near-career year. Even if he continues his pace, which I doubt he will, Morris will have fewer wins and a higher ERA. I wouldn't be concerned if I were Truffle. Also, I doubt he continues to get 6.8 runs of support per game. He has more wins than he should. Yeah, he probably won't beat those numbers, but he might get close. In which case Truffle will be right but I will claim a moral victory. I don't think he has more wins than he should. There's been a few games where the offense has bailed him out, and a few where it's let him down. I think he's right about where he deserves to be.

I know gut feeling is to think of Lee as far and away a better defensive first baseman. All I can say is look at the numbers.

Thank you very much. I enjoy posting here a great deal. I wish there were a Cardinals forum as good as this one.

I don't remember my vow, but whatever it was I'm not worried. I'd also love for the Cards to sign Morris for $32M over 4 years, and I'd be happy about it for a different reason than Cardinal fans would be. It was something like, "If Morris does better than 22 wins and a 3.16 ERA I will call myself an idiot 100 times in this thread." This was in response to my predictions that Morris would have a near-career year.

Just get on base. Anything beyond that is bonus. Speed is great but you can't steal second without getting on first, first.

If we end up trading Wainright or Reyes or both for an outfielder this season I say that Walt definitely needs to resign Morris.

Memphis radio reporting that the Reds have been scouting Wainright and Reyes. Read it on another forum so take it as hearsay but the poster is usually right and very up on Cardinals minor league happenings. I hope it's not for Wily Mo or Kearns.

While I will say that Morris has pitched well, only 1 of his wins comes against a team that was above .500 at the time that STL played them (Jun 6 against BOS), of the four teams that were above .500 when they played STL the cardinals lost three of those games (LA, SD, ATL) so is he really having that great of a season or just beating up on the weaker teams? In that game against Atlanta he gave up 1 ER through 6 and in the game against SD he gave up 2 ER through 7. He has been very good against just about everyone, not just weak teams. Remember your vow Truffle? Are you starting to get worried?

What is the motivation to trade Matsui or Mench from their respective teams? I'd say its incredibly unlikely they'd come here either as well. Their motivation would be to get young pitching. I don't mean necesarily those three players. I was using them as examples of the kind of impact players that Walt might get. Those just happen to be the three players I would most like to see in a Cardinals uniform. And what young pitching would you have the Cards give up? Because I look at your cupboard as being farely bare and what little you do have to give up, parting with now would only further hurt you down the line. What players are you willing to give up and/or would you realistically see being traded for an "impact player"? Anthony Reyes, Adam Wainright, Blake Hawksworth, Stuart Pomeranz, Chris Lambert, Brad Thompson, maybe even Jason Marquis. It takes a lot to get a big-time player. I think Walt is prepared to do that. We are looking at losing both our corner outfielders next season. This season we have a RF who can be great when healthy, but who can only play part time because of his age. I don't think it's likely that he will trade both Reyes and Wainright, but he will likely trade one of them along with some combination of other pitchers on that list. Or we could see Marquis traded. You always sort of grin and bear it when your team parts with young pitching. But we need an outfielder, so it's a risk we need to take.

Not to start an arguement here (I agree that Pujols has been and probably will be the better player), but I don't think FPCT, RF and ZR are good statistics for judging first basemen. Lee's RF is low because he has played on teams that have pitchers who strike out a large number of batters. Those statistics also neglect the fact that Lee is one of the best in the business at digging out balls in the dirt and is fantastic at making the play to second base. Pujols is a good first baseman defensively, but I don't see how you can rate him above Lee. You're right about FPCT and RF not being super important for first baseman. Still, they are some available criteria we can use to compare players. ZR is a better statistic in this case. I do not assert that Pujols is a better first baseman than Lee. What I am saying is that Lee is not that much better than Pujols. Fans who watch Pujols play first every day see that he digs balls out of the dirt with the best of them, and that he has a very good infield arm and can make great throws to any base at the right times. This is only Pujols' second year playing first so he is still imrpoving at the position. I know this sounds like sheer homerism to Cubs fans, but Pujols may well win a gold glove at 1st some day, and not because of his offense.

For real, he was just looking out for his ex-teammates. :D

Congratulations to the many Cardinal fans, Al Hrabosky excluded, who voted for Lee because he clearly deserved to start.

Put the phone down and nobody gets hurt. :D

Career defensive statistics at 1st base: Player A: FPCT-.994 RF-9.21 ZR-.862 Player B: FPCT-.993 RF-10.33 ZR-.892 Career Hitting: Player A: .275/.362/.494/.856 Player B: .334/.415/.621/1.036 Player B is significantly better in each category than player A except for FPCT. Which would you pick? It's not even close. Career defensive statistics at 3rd base: Player A: FPCT-.944 RF-2.61 ZR-.735 Player B: FPCT-.966 RF-2.92 ZR-.804 Career Hitting: Player A: .276/.327/.475/.802 Player B: .285/.377/.518/.895 Player B is significantly better in every category. Again, it's not even close.

What is the motivation to trade Matsui or Mench from their respective teams? I'd say its incredibly unlikely they'd come here either as well. Their motivation would be to get young pitching. I don't mean necesarily those three players. I was using them as examples of the kind of impact players that Walt might get. Those just happen to be the three players I would most like to see in a Cardinals uniform.

You know that picture of the Card's fan holding up the sign that says,"Get a brain, Morans!"? Yesterday I saw this guy at Fair St. Louis who looked just like that: Graying biker mullet, same sun glasses, and he wore a t-shirt reading, "St. Louis, my kind of town." I wish I'd had my camera cause' I would have posted that picture here and everyone could have had a good laugh.

I won't be surprised to see Walt make a major trade for the outfielder we need. We aren't looking for just a rent-a-player for this season. We are looking for somebody to be a starting OF next season and beyond. It's really hard to speculate about who Walt might get, but he is a trade master. It's probably unlikely, but I wouldn't be too surprised if Walt goes big and gets Matsui, Mench, Wells, or someone of that caliber.

I think Walker's play is getting lost against the backdrop of all-star game hoopla. Not to mention that it was in a Cards-Rockies game in July and not a Yankees-Red Sox ALCS game, or even a Cubs-White Sox interleague rivalry game. It was pretty cheap on Walker's part but I think he's getting off easy for the aforementioned reasons, and because he has a reputation as a consumate pro. Personally, I don't think he was trying to be a jerk and push Jennings over. Jennings' leg was sticking across the base, and his butt was kind of intruding into walker's running lane as well. After Rolen's collision at first I don't think Larry was taking any chances, so he just stuck his arm out as he crossed the base and Jennings fell over. I don't think there was any cheap shot intended.

Is it possible for a Cubs fan to troll on his own forum? Or is that called baiting?

Midwest League player of the week baby!

For us this season it seems to be the Rockies and the Phillies. Thank god we are done playing the Phillies. They owned us.

Beltran made the all-star team! :evil: Oh that makes me mad.

Walt says his priority is to trade for an impact bat in the form of a young outfielder that can help us now and in the future. Maybe they'll get somebody who can hit lefties. So who's he going to trade to get that? Reyes or Wainwright? Likely one of those two. He said that in trade talks teams are asking for pitching from us and that right now we have pitching depth at all levels of the organization. It would be nice if we could keep both those guys but getting a serious outfileder will probably take moving one of them. It will be very interesting to see how it shakes out.

Walt says his priority is to trade for an impact bat in the form of a young outfielder that can help us now and in the future. Maybe they'll get somebody who can hit lefties.