Other notables of the last day:

Boston at home can play spoiler for the Yankees, and if there's a way, there's a will.

Kansas City at home can play patsies for the Rays, any bets?

Jeff Suppan might be making the last start of his career, and if it is, it will have been at Busch in a Cardinals home uniform. 

The Cubs are playing what is shaping up to be a very interesting and relevant game in Houston . . .
BWA-HAA-HAA-HAA-HAAA!



What did I miss?

Last edited by Max (10/03/2010 11:38 am)

JV wrote:

It'd be nice to see [Pujols] get a couple of hits today and get his BA to .315 and pass Votto for the lead in OPS so we can have a legitimate beef when the latter gets the MVP as the pundits think he will.

Let's see, Pujols has scored 10 more runs, has 6 more RBI's, 5 more home runs, 24 more walks, 7 more hits, played in 9 more games, and has the identical slugging percentage compared with Votto.  So, sure, I can see Votto being the consensus favorite for MVP . . . I guess.

Let's hope Aaron Miles decides to call it a career as well.

Max wrote:

APRTW wrote:

Looks like Jay was held out of the game to keep his BA at .300.

I don't think it will accomplish much, other than to give Jay something to brag about once he's out of baseball.  As much as I would like for Jay to flourish in majors, playing for the Cardinals, I am not expecting it at this point.  Nor does he have any real trade value, I suspect.  I am not baseball man, but this whole experience has the ring of a guy who hit the league with a bang, and who then should have been shielded and used as trade bait.  Instead, we needed him, he was exposed, and now he probably wouldn't even warrant being included as a player TBN.  Sad to say, but that my two cents now.

Maybe we could try him at second base?

Jay has value to the 2011 Cardinals as a 4th outfilder who can play all 3 OF positions. If he has to do anymore than that, the front office failed.

Max wrote:

APRTW wrote:

Looks like Jay was held out of the game to keep his BA at .300.

I don't think it will accomplish much, other than to give Jay something to brag about once he's out of baseball.  As much as I would like for Jay to flourish in majors, playing for the Cardinals, I am not expecting it at this point.  Nor does he have any real trade value, I suspect.  I am not baseball man, but this whole experience has the ring of a guy who hit the league with a bang, and who then should have been shielded and used as trade bait.  Instead, we needed him, he was exposed, and now he probably wouldn't even warrant being included as a player TBN.  Sad to say, but that my two cents now.

Maybe we could try him at second base?

This is probably an idiotic question because there's no way I'm going to get a straight answer, but would you have been happier if the Westbrook trade hadn't been made, and the Cardinals had played August and September with Suppan and Lohse starting 40 percent of the games down the stretch?

APRTW wrote:

I think we have overlooked the value of Brad Thompson.  They went into 2010 without a guy who could bounce between bullpen, starter, St. Louis and Memphis.  You cant have just 5 starting pitchers in the whole system or you end up having to make stupid trades like the Ludwick deal.   I wouldnt have been happy with Suppan and Loshe but I am not happy that the Cardinals will likely not address the need for a starting right fielder like the one they traded.  Beening unhappy is a good theme for 2010.

I dont know, AP. You wouldn't have gotten much more out of Thompson than you got out of Hawksworth. Right field and starting pitching are going to be their two biggest needs. They're probably going to settle for a JuanTino type of guy for the former, and the latter depends upon what happens with Westbrook. I'd bring him back, but he's going to ask for more money and years than the Cardinals are willing to offer.
After that, you look at second base, third base and the bullpen. You can live with Skippy's defense if he's going to hit .300, but not if he's going to hit .265 with little power and only a handful of stolen bases at the top of the lineup.
They're not going to go out and get a high-end closer, and I'm OK with what they've got setting up on the right side, but the left side needs to be addressed. Miller and Reyes were fine for most of the past two years, but they're getting along in age.

Incidentally, Ludwick went .214/6/26 with a .637 OPS for the Padres. I don't know what they gave up to get him, but I'm pretty sure they expected more production than that.

artie_fufkin wrote:

This is probably an idiotic question because there's no way I'm going to get a straight answer

Are you asking me?  If so, why on Earth would you think I wouldn't give you a straight answer?

Max wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

Jay has value to the 2011 Cardinals as a 4th outfilder who can play all 3 OF positions.

If he's batting in the .230 range?

I don't believe Jay is a .230 hitter anymore than I believe he's a .380 hitter.

Jay is a career .301 hitter in the minor leagues.  Also, his progression when he remained in the same league from one year to the next suggests he understands how to make adjustments.  In 2007, he finished the season with Springfield and hit only .235.  The following year he started in Springfield and hit .306.  In 2009, he hit .281 at Memphis.  Before being called up this season he was hitting .321.

I think Jay will hit somewhere in the .280 range.  If so, I could totally see him filling a So Taguchi-like role on this team.  The biggest key is whether he can adapt to playing less than everyday.