Beltran is going to be better than Craig unless he gets hurt. I've been steering the Craig bandwagon since 2009, but he just isn't Beltran.

forsberg_us wrote:

Even if Beltran is a better player than Craig?

I want to see Craig get more playing time.  I think if he got 500AB he could be a 20/80 guy.  I dont see Beltran as any better then that.  They needed to do something to get another outfielder to bat in the middle of the order with Craig's injury.  I give them credit.  They got the best one on the market.  I just hope it isnt a complete roadblock for Craig if he is able to come back from injury and play at the level he played last year.  If Beltran can play CF I can see Jay being the one to get suffled to the bench. 

Furcal
Beltran
Holliday
Berkman
Craig
Freese
Molina
Delscalso

That is a lineup I can look forward to.

tkihshbt wrote:

Excellent! My faith in Mo has been restored for the time being. Depending on what the Brewers do, this team should have a very, very good chance of winning the division next year.

Not overwhelming, but this is a good signing. That they got him for two years instead of three is probably a good move. The division has already been rubber stamped for the Reds, but they could sneak in and grab the wild card again.

Yeah, I highly doubt the Puma plays past 2012. Craig can start at first in 2013.

The best part of this is that the team is set up for a two-year window where they could win another championship. After 2013, they will be wide open. Consider they'll have parted with Carpenter, Berkman, Furcal, Beltran, possibly Molina and Lohsebrook (after 2012!). They'll have the money to re-sign Wainwright with Garcia locked up through the middle of the decade. The only players making significant money will be Wainwright and Holliday. That's a terrific position to be in.

This is really the perfect scenario. I'm feeling pretty good about the long-term prospects of the franchise.

tkihshbt wrote:

Yeah, I highly doubt the Puma plays past 2012. Craig can start at first in 2013.

The best part of this is that the team is set up for a two-year window where they could win another championship. After 2013, they will be wide open. Consider they'll have parted with Carpenter, Berkman, Furcal, Beltran, possibly Molina and Lohsebrook (after 2012!). They'll have the money to re-sign Wainwright with Garcia locked up through the middle of the decade. The only players making significant money will be Wainwright and Holliday. That's a terrific position to be in.

This is really the perfect scenario. I'm feeling pretty good about the long-term prospects of the franchise.

I agree with all that, but if Pujols is still a star in 2014, and the young players develop, people are going to be saying: "My God, the money was there.  DeWitt simply got a case of the vapors at the sight of a big contract, and his tendency toward risk avoidance cost the Cardinals the chance be the lifetime home of the greatest player of the age."

Last edited by Max (12/23/2011 12:45 pm)

but if Pujols is still a star in 2014, and the young players develop, people are going to be saying: "My God, the money was there.  DeWitt simply got a case of the vapors at the sight of a big contract, and his tendency toward risk avoidance cost the Cardinals the chance be the lifetime home of the greatest player of the age."

I doubt it.  We're all sitting here thanking our lucky stars that we're only paying Beltran until he's 36.  Rational people will not lament not paying Pujols twice as much until he's 41.

I didn't hear it, but one of my friends heard an interview either with Beltran or someone who had interviewed Beltran. Long story short, Beltran has apparently been saying all the right things. Knee feels great. 1st off-season in a while he has been working out rather than rehabbing. Feels he could play a full season in center and it was his impression the team plans to use him a lot in center. It's like deja vu. I swear we heard the same things from Berkman last season.

My own skepticism aside, if Beltran ends up playing even half the games in CF, this team could be real good (health permitting). Basically, they've traded Pujols and Jay for Beltran and Craig. Pujols is obviously the most dynamic hitter in that group, but I'm not sure Beltran and Craig aren't equally productive to Pujols/Jay. 

Not that anyone is asking me, but here's the lineup I use:

Furcal
Craig
Berkman
Holliday
Beltran
Freese
Molina
Descalso
Pitcher

Maybe it's the 16 years of Larussa, but by spreading out the switch hitters, you avoid having a bunch of right-handed hitters in a row. Makes it a little harder on late inning match-ups.

After 16 years, it reached the point where you could almost predict TLR's unpredictability. We have no idea what Matheny will do. For all we know he'll settle on one lineup and let it roll. But it does appear that when the pieces are healthy he'll have options to work with.

We have to be favorites to take the division, but that's not saying much, seeing as last year's divisional champ lost all of fielder and 50 days of braun, and haven't added much.

All I said is that it does not say much to state that we should be favored to win the NL Central.

If Wainwright comes back strong, that's like adding a Cy Young winner to the rotation.  I think there is a reasonable chance that the Cards are very strong next year . . .

which will be key in forgetting Pujols.  If, for example, the next ten years produce only one or two good Cardinal teams, DeWitt's marketing company probably told him to make sure those years are 2012 and 2013, as opposed to, say, 2020 and 2021.

So what kind of guy is Beltran?  The post has a very charming story on him but I dont remember hearing much about his character thoughout his career.  I always pictured him as a stand offish kind of guy.  Is this the media pimping there new beloved start after the departure of Pujols or what?

APRTW wrote:

So what kind of guy is Beltran?  The post has a very charming story on him but I dont remember hearing much about his character thoughout his career.  I always pictured him as a stand offish kind of guy.  Is this the media pimping there new beloved start after the departure of Pujols or what?

The sense I got is that most of the info we're getting was coming from Berkman who speaks very highly of him. I did, however read guys like Rosenthal and Olney speak pretty highly of Beltran before we signed him.

Anyone else get the sense that after only a season, this is as much Berkman's clubhouse as it is anyone's?

APRTW wrote:

So what kind of guy is Beltran?  The post has a very charming story on him but I dont remember hearing much about his character thoughout his career.  I always pictured him as a stand offish kind of guy.  Is this the media pimping there new beloved start after the departure of Pujols or what?

He's been in the majors for a dozen years, and I don't think I've ever heard him speak. I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing. And Berkman will do enough talking for both of them.