"Only if hte next level includes the words "all you can eat"

That's a rec. On behalf of their franchisees in the St. Louis area, the corporate bigwigs at Sizzler issued a press release this morning saying they are relieved the Cardinals signed Laird instead of Bengie.

I see in the helpful list of daily transactions AP posted that the Dodgers snagged Matt Guerrier. No idea what the terms were, but he might have fit in well here.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (12/16/2010 9:40 pm)

I wouldn't have minded the Cardinals giving Guerrier a 3-year contract, but the last time I suggested that with Downs I was harshly reprimanded by Fors.

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

I wouldn't have minded the Cardinals giving Guerrier a 3-year contract, but the last time I suggested that with Downs I was harshly reprimanded by Fors.

Yikes.  If you took it that way, I'm truly sorry.  I was simply trying to point out that the Cardinals haven't historically paid big money for a set-up pitcher.

This inflection thing gets lost on a message board. It would take a lot more than that to get me pissed off at you, if I could ever get pissed off at you at all.
(Geez, I hope Cowboy isn't going to read this ...)

Last edited by artie_fufkin (12/17/2010 10:49 pm)

APRTW wrote:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/round-two/article_d166747e-18f8-11e0-9662-00127992bc8b.html


Once angain Larry Borowsky gets it right.

Yeah.  I thought his analysis was pretty realistic.  La Russa can be petty stubborn about trying to hammer square pegs into round holes if what he implied to the world (or what was implied to him) was that the Cards had acquired a round peg, and so I wouldn't be surprised to see La Russa batting him 5th and starting him against lefties well into June, if Berkman stays healthy that long.  But eventually something will come up and La Russa will start platooning Berkman, and probably batting him 2nd, too . . . all assuming that Berkman is healthy enough to play at all.  But that said, I think that Berkman's lack of wheels will work become a factor as soon as he is getting on base in front of Pujols and Holliday, and people will see the double-edged sword that is a high OBP, no-power, no-wheels bat in the line-up.  He'll be like Ortiz with no power.

APRTW wrote:

Borowsky comes from the fans side of things and the writers are spokesman for the team.  That seems to be backed up by them leaking the Pujols signing just like the team wants.  The fans expect Berkman to have less RBIs and HRs then his career stats have been.  While the club seem to expect his career average.  It only seems logical to expect less and prepare that way.  Sitting him against lefties isnt a bad idea either considering that we all feel keeping Berkman healthy is going to be an issue.  That and I think we would all like to see Craig get some playing time.  So platooning him seems logical because it reduces his playing time and put him on the bench against pitcher he cant hit.  Of course the club seems to be headed the other direction.

The other thing about platooning Berkman is that he has the potential to be a late career Rusty Staubb type pinch-hit specialist.  If they start a lefty, by the later innings we will likely see a righty reliever, and then having Berkman on the bench becomes something of a weapon, the sort of  weapon we haven't had on the bench for a while.

"Is anyone else worried that Berkman has two injuries already."


Nahhh. LaRussa says all he needs to do is hit the cutoff man and everything will be swell. Christ, if the Cardinals paid me $8 million, I'd run the fucking ball in and hand it to the second baseman.

Max wrote:

APRTW wrote:

Is anyone else worried that Berkman has two injuries already.  I think the highlight of the 2011 season will be in december.

I think this guy is closer to breaking a hip while chasing those rotten kids off his lawn than he is to anything close to an MVP season, but then again, I am just a contrarian who disagrees to disagree.

Careful, or I'm going to leave a flaming bag of poop on your front porch.

Max wrote:

For the record, Berkman batted .248 (rounded up) last year, with 14 HR and 58 RBI's. 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Berkman is DONE, and this is a move of Wrigleyian stupidity.

Bump

Last edited by forsberg_us (5/05/2011 4:01 pm)

I dunno, I thought it was pretty clear. I'm just getting frustrated because people are way too gloom-and-doom on this, IMO. I think he'll be awful in the field -- no doubt about that -- but he's entering a new season with a new team that actually has playoff aspirations, he gets to play alongside BFF Albert Pujols, he joins a lineup that doesn't have Kaz Matsui, he's already doing his part to get in shape...I can just see a freshly motivated Lance Berkman with a manager who knows how to get the most out of his players having a very good season.

Berkman is still, and always will be, an injury risk. Hopefully he stays healthy because I'd love for him to prove me right. They could win about 90 games if he hits like a human being for the next four months.

alz wrote:

I have to be on the .... "Huh?" side of things here. Comparing it to Werth's contract, we got Berkman for a steal, but playing him will be interesting. It's not like we're used to greatness out there in the outfield (Duncan? Anyone?) but Berkman will need to be effective. It's not a short porch with Crawford Boxes out there in left.

I like how the outfield shapes up at the plate (assuming Berky is healthy all year long), but in the field, I will cringe everytime the batter puts one in the air. Course, I did that shit all year last year too, and a few years before with Durky-Duncan out there fumbling over his goatee and chaw all season.

Moz is at least making moves (I hate being stagnant in an offseason, makes me feel like the GM doesn't think we can get better), but Berkman isn't one I personally would have made. Let me check my nametag here... yep, I'm still NOT the GM for the Cardinals, so I'm going to pray he knows something about Berk that I don't.

Yay I wasn't too hard on Berkman when we signed him, you fuckers should be ashamed!!!