beer_man

You guys crack me up! :D (in a good way). You made fun of us Cards fans for loving Jimmy so much and he won you over in just half a season. He provided us with years of memories. I'll always wish him the best, but it is REAL hard to see him in another uniform.

Here is the full statement: Text of the statement Mark McGwire issued Monday, admitting he used steroids during his career: "Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five years ago. I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season. I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era. During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too. I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry. Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up. The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did. I'm grateful to the Cardinals for bringing me back to baseball. I want to say thank you to Cardinals owner Mr. DeWitt, to my GM, John Mozeliak, and to my manager, Tony La Russa. I can't wait to put the uniform on again and to be back on the field in front of the great fans in Saint Louis. I've always appreciated their support and I intend to earn it again, this time as hitting coach. I'm going to pour myself into this job and do everything I can to help the Cardinals hitters become the best players for years to come. After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. No not mad but Ludwick was a second round pick with a lot of promise. I do not believe Hoffpauir was drafted in the first 10 rounds. All this points out is he was highly rearded and not some undrafted player...Barden was highly touted before he had the hernia issues as well. The Cards have been good about looking at players that others have neglegted to care about. Ludwick had a great year in the minors before the Cards got him. But come on. Nothing in this description suggests that Ludwick would become the hitter he's become. It could have been projected that he'd hit like 08 Ankiel or maybe a little better than that, but the level he's on right now comes completely out of nowhere. You are right. My only point was he had talent early on that we are seeing today. In no way am I saying I knew he would be this good.

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. No not mad but Ludwick was a second round pick with a lot of promise. I do not believe Hoffpauir was drafted in the first 10 rounds. All this points out is he was highly rearded and not some undrafted player...Barden was highly touted before he had the hernia issues as well. The Cards have been good about looking at players that others have neglegted to care about. Ludwick had a great year in the minors before the Cards got him. We're not talking about the potential some player had in 1998. We're talking about how said player was regarded the year they came up to the bigs and got their first real shot at playing everyday. Ludwich wasn't among the top 11 prospects in the Cards organization coming into 2008, thus he wasn't a high regarded prospect. Show me where someone projected a 1.000+ OPS for Ludwick anywhere. Even on the day he was drafted. It doesn't exist because he wasn't expected to do it. He was probably just as likely as Hoffpauir to randomly explode and hit 37 HRs I am not arguing it was expected. Just stating the talent was there early on and injuries got the best of him. I believe he had a hip replacement. He had a great minor league season with Detroit, I believe, the year before. The Cards signed him as a minor league free agent...ohhh he just hit his second of the day. Must have been magic...

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. No not mad but Ludwick was a second round pick with a lot of promise. I do not believe Hoffpauir was drafted in the first 10 rounds. All this points out is he was highly rearded and not some undrafted player...Barden was highly touted before he had the hernia issues as well. The Cards have been good about looking at players that others have neglegted to care about. Ludwick had a great year in the minors before the Cards got him.

Another Cards fan here...I was surprised by Soto but not mad. Ludwick was a second round draft pick who just had bad luck with injuries. Very talented player.

This rotation is not supposed to make it through the season. Piniero will probably be replacing Thompson as early as next Sunday (Thompson to the BP). Mulder is supposed to be looking really good and should be the next to return...We'll see but it sounds good so far. I have not heard a firm timeframe on Clement and then Carpenter will be back in the second half. All those things will not work out I am sure but that is the plan. These guys are just supposed to keep things competetive until others are healthy. It has been fun to watch so far but there is a long way to go...

Mckeon was not the Marlins manager to start the year...I believe it was Torborg and they were way under .500 when Mckeon took over in May...it was one of the greatest comebacks after a bad start of all time if I remember correctly...

Saying this is getting swept under the rug is way off...what is being swept under the rug is when this happens in the NFL...they are getting a free pass... can you say Rodney Harrison http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20641776/from/RS.1/

Here's the latest on Ball Park Village...They are not in trouble yet. These things tend to go to the very end... http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/BA7408E461B53F9D862572E4000E6FB2?OpenDocument

That's code for From your article: DirecTV uses statistics that only 5,000 of the 500,000 subscriptions would not have access to DirecTV. That's all well and good. Did they factor in the number of people prohibited by lease agreements , neighborhood associations, or simply access to the proper direction in the sky from installing a dish and/or utilizing it? Just for the sake of argument let's assume that 45,000 of those households fall into at least 1 of those 3 categories. According to their published statements DirecTV claimed to have 230,000 of the 500,000 subscribers already. At $100mil/year assuming they get ALL of the previous subscribers, that comes down to $222 per household in fees and advertising revenue, just to break even. Not factoring in their costs in installing systems in each home who switches, their custom programming on the extra innings package, etc. And they are convinced that by their exclusivity and content they're going to get more subscribers than when the package was available from all 3 sources. That's sheer arrogance. Yes they'll likely convert more of their own previously existing subscribers into the package, but they're not likely to see a huge boom of new subscribers switching from alternate sources. In today's day and age of package deals, not many people have the money, let alone the desire to disrupt the package pricing to switch their TV to something else and pay full price for what's left behind. DirecTV isn't the bad guy here. Sure, they'll take advantage of their monopoly and jack up their rates, as well as ridiculous surcharges for HD content. But that is capitalism. MLB, is looking out for it's interests, namely profits. And that to, isn't against the law. Saying a big old screw you to those who can't/don't want their service, that's no different than any other business. I don't fault them for what they're doing. Just think it's gonna backfire pretty good for baseball and directv in the long run. I hope Congress revokes MLBs anti-trust exemption as a result of this. I think they solved that problem by giving cable and Dish the right to match the offer...If they decide not to pay then it is their choice not to...

Naturally that's true, but that's not the point I was making. My point is that despite his success as a reliever, Wainwright has yet to prove himself a capable starter, and therefore his immediate placement in that 2-3 spot in the rotation makes for risky business. Shush, let baseball7897 pick Wainwright in the next round of our draft. Wainwright needs to develop a changeup if he wants to remain a starter. He could get away with having having only two pitches in the bullpen, because you only need two pitches when you're a relief pitcher. He showed he could command his breaking pitch in any count he was in, and he also showed the ability to locate his fastball in the 4 and 1 spot. He has 4 pitches. He has a good slider he used to close out the WS and he does have a change he didn't have to use much as a reliever. LAst year was the first year he was ever used in the BP. He has been a starter his whole career other than that...Even without him in the BP the Cards have a surplus of BP arms going to battle it out in ST this year. I am exited to watch him and Reyes pitch this year (vs. the awful feeling I would get watching Marquis pitch last year). Overall the Cards starting pitching was awful for most of the season other than Carp. It will nopt take a lot to improve upon it. I would be a lot more nervous if we did no have TLR, Walt, and Dunc running the show...they have shown year after year the ability to get the most out of their players...

you know, all I heard (not necessarily from you of course) when the Braves traded him to the Cards was what a coup it was to get all this great young pitching talent for that bum JD Drew. I also heard so much 'Duncan was able to straighten him out' talk for his first two years as a Card when Cubs fans all predicted his eminant decline. now Cox and Duncan couldn't straighten him out? will someone provide me with a link to anybody ever saying that Cox and/or Duncan couldn't straighten him out? or is this all just a conclusion reached without any exploration of cause and effect? well the Cards do still have Wainwright from that trade(that will probably end up being the best coup) Marquis did decent the first couple of years and he was young and CHEAP. There is nothing wrong with him mechanically he just shakes off pitches and does not trust his sinker enough...his worst trait last year was that he did not keep the Cards in the game...he gave up a lot of runs early and just looks defeated. Like I said you will see flashes of hope but no consistency in his quality of starts...

he sucks...good luck. It wasn't just his era, he led the league in long balls for a reason and with all the pitching questions the Cards had going into the post season everyone knew the Cards did not trust him to pitch...he is a headcase that arguably the 2 best pitching coaches in the game had to give up on. He will show some flashes of what could be, and you think man this guy can pitch and then bam...it is like he forgets what he is doing out there...

This is being reported by Leach... Cardinals just announced they signed Carpenter to an extension. His 2007 incentives are now guaranteed, his 2008 option is guaranteed, and he's signed through 2011 with an option for 2012. Don't have dollars yet. Stay tuned. -M. http://yourenotagolfer.mlblogs.com/