indifferent

More fodder for the "Jones had to carry his team" theorists: Here is Atlanta's AVG/OBP/SLG without Andruw Jones: .265/ .331/ .418 Here is St. Louis' AVG/OBP/SLG without Pujols: .263/ .327/ .401

My argument all season, the "Goldilocks theory". Most Braves fans are livid because they are positive they wouldn't have won without Jones and we would have had no problem without Pujols. One, I don't vote on should've/would've/could'ves, two, take a look at win shares before you make that argument.

Lee got Clemens'd. Congrats to Albert!

Is Dan O'Brien still their GM after the change in ownership? A new GM would hopefully have the smarts to start dealing their offensive talent in exchange for some pitching. The new Reds ownership group is made up of minority Cards owners, Castellini and the two brothers, can't remember the name of the brothers.

Good post, no need to kill a fly with an elephant or whatever the phrase is. One move for a leadoff hitter would more than fix the situation provided Baker will use Murton or Walker in the two slot.

I must say I was a little surprised. I, along with Stark, thought the voters would go one way or the other, traditionalists vs. sabermetricians. Can't say I'm complaining though. I hate to see a guy's chances ruined by two horrible games (Phillies at the beginning of the season, Brewers at the end) with that 17 game, dominating win streak he put together. And I know you can throw out everyone's worse games, throw out the best games, etc. Just sayin'.

That's a reasonable point. Do you want a guy who helps you score 10 runs in May, but only 2 in August, or do you want a guy who helps you score about 5 runs, consistently? This is an extremely weak point, actually. The flipside of it is equally true - I'm too lazy to do it, but if you look up the pre-all star break stats, I'm sure it will favor Lee just as much (in fact, moreso) as these favor Pujols. So Lee was significantly outperforming Pujols for the first 3/5 of the season, and Pujols outperformed Lee for the last 2/5 of the season. What's the big deal? It's only a weak point if Lee's numbers didn't come back to earth right when the Cubs needed the extra help (tight race for the Wild Card). The other point is that Pujols was more consistent throughout the season.

Finally. A religion I feel comfortable tithing to. Can I tithe to it too, as a Cards fan? Even though Matt Morris is on UK's list of most loathsome baseball players? I always appreciate UK's baseball wisdom.

Who cares. He should have thought about this a year ago. Walker's not the sharpest knife. Hendry knew about Walker's defense when he signed him. It's Hendry who isn't the "sharpest knife." What a moran! As a side note, how did the Cubs come by Walker in the first place from the Red Sox? At the time the Cubs had Grudzielanek at 2nd base. Was he brought in as a utility man and was it a trade or FA signing?

I'm sure this post will be received with derision, but I'm prepared. Many jokes are made about Suppan, Morris, and Marquis. Is it only the lack of injuries that allowed Cards pitching to become 1 and 1a the past two years in ERA? I'd argue that within payroll constraints and only one homegrown pitcher, Morris (who was arguably the Cards worst pitcher this year), Walt Jocketty has done a great job in obtaining ground ball pitchers that play to the strengths of our defense. Grudz plays above avg. D to be sure, but was it defensive prowess that resulted in leading the league in double plays this year? One would think it was an abundance of opportunies. And I agree, lack of injuries to starters was a big part of it, but the makeup of the Cards staff was key.

Not to be insensitive or anything, but I can only imagine what this will do to Grudz's market value (or any other middle infield on the market). Thanks, Hendry.

What about Craig Wilson as long as we're talking about long shots? His season was marred by batting injuries this year, Ks quite a bit, but has never posted an OBP lower than .350.

Tony Clark looks like the best deal on the list. Cards fared very well with Eckstein (.87) and Grudz (.43). Interesting list, glad the Cards said farewell to Womack and Renteria.

Vance, what's Addison dressing up as for Halloween?

Blaming Reggie for his broken leg caused by his collision with Edmonds is like blaming Prior for the come backer. Had nothing to do with his age. Rolen on the other hand, starting to become a pattern...

No. Maybe in 9 years? The Cubs HAD their chance in 2003, and they blew it. And the Cards had their chance in 2004 and 2005. Is their window closed? I thought we had a better run for it in 05, but what do I know?

I agree with you 100%. The field almost resembled, dare I say, an NFL playoff crapshoot with the White Sox looking like the Patriots.

I actually picked up Rowand as a sleeper on my fantasy team. He is useless if you ask me.

Yeah, and as a Miami alum in your conference, your team needs to show a little something.

Easy to say after the leadoff hit, but do you agree with pulling Backe after 7 innings of shut out ball at 100 pitches? I think Backe should still be in there.

Maybe the rest of us have no way of knowing if the Astros players are masochists, but as an objective observer, I don't see the harm in questioning his in game moves.

I think you give managers in general too much credit. When the other team is pitching as well as you and hitting your pitchers, there's not much a manager CAN do. And I'm not sure how much blame you can put on Garner RE: Clemens' two inning performance or Oswalt looking like crap. I do agree with indifferent, though, that he could take a few more risks. He can order things like try a squeze, hit and run, steal, intentionally walk certain hitters, make pitching changes at the right time, get the best matchups possible out of his bullpen and off his bench late in the game. To me, Garner seems bad at doing any and all of that. I think he's a poor in game manager, basically. I agree that if his players don't execute there isn't much he or any manager can do, but Garner can't even do what a manager in theory can do (above) to get/prevent runs. In short, Garner sucks. People look at the WS game score and see a blowout, but in reality, these have all been close games. Garner making the right moves could have changed the outcome of one, maybe two games. Who knows? But his ineptitude is especially disappointing given the close nature of the games. I know we're talking about Roy Oswalt, but I would have been fuming had Tony not pulled the starter in the 5th inning, even if it was Chris Carpenter. Let us not forget this is the same manager who pulled Berkman in the 9th against ATL for a pinch runner in a tie game (along with expunging various starters - Ausmus was playing 1st base) and who had no bench or pitchers with the exception of Clemens in game 4. Cuse Cubs, you give the manager the benefit of the doubt if you assume he knows what he's doing or what's best for his players. I don't think he gave much thought to it personally. I think it was an off the cuff, emotional reaction and any manager in any field should know better.

I know, but I agree with Verducci in that Garner made not one move to stop the bleeding. Manufacture a run with the squeeze, talk to Oswalt, pull Oswalt after a career high 46 pitches in the 5th, something! I guess it's easy to not take the blame in the post game conference when you make absolutely no moves to question (other than non-moves)!

Didn't see this posted anywhere. What's your take, abhorrent backstabbing or overreaction by SI? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/tom_verducci/10/26/astros.game3/index.html

Maybe not but more teams may be after Bradley then we know. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Cards get him and Giles (if he is a free agent). I know how much money the Cubs have to throw around this offseason, but how much do the Cards have? I dread Giles going to Busch too, but do their resources allow it? http://forums.stltoday.com/viewtopic.php?t=306782&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 The approx. estimate is $22 mil, but no one knows for sure until the new payroll is confirmed. BTW, thanks for the info guys. Since I'm not making any moves, I don't consider this espionage.