http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/do-cards-have-the-goods-to-land-another-furcal-or/article_6b96660c-77d0-5ede-b3cd-f4cd6b3b8a02.html


I thought the info on Alex Castellanos was interesting.

It's a tough call. Their needs are, in this order: lefty reliever, righty reliever, starter. I think the first two are essential. The starter is a tough call. I don't want to see them give up Cox, Wong or Miller for, say, another Edwin Jackson who won't be much of an upgrade over Kelly, who certainly hasn't been awful. Garcia's return is also a consideration, but I think it's foolish to count on a guy who was shut down because of shoulder issues.
Besides the bullpen, thing that worries me is the workload on Lynn and Wainwright. Hrabosky may dismiss the number of innings Lynn has thrown, but I think his recent slump is mostly due to fatigue.
Now, if you can go out and get Hamels or Greinke, there's a whole different mentality involved.

I don't think lefty relief is that big of a need. Not to overreact to Barrett Browning, but these guys are more often than not sitting in a dumpster somewhere.

I think starting pitching should be the biggest priority. First, I'm not that big on Joe Kelly as a starter. He has one really good pitch. A starter would move Kelly to the bullpen, where he is an upgrade over Cleto and Salas, and could probably be as good as Boggs.

Where that starter comes from, I'm not sure.

Also, I wouldn't be worried about Lynn, either. If he were wearing down we'd see some sort of velocity drop. He averaged 93 mph on his fastball against Colorado, back where he was against Chicago on June 13 when he struck out 12. I really do believe his issues were mechanical.

APIAD wrote:

Who is Barrett Browning and were did he come from.  He just kind of appeared on the team.

Per CBSSports.com (I'm weaning myself off Yahoo): "Browning is a 26-year-old left-handed reliever who the Cardinals picked up in the minor league part of the Rule 5 draft from the Angels. He has a 1.89 ERA in 30 appearances out of the bullpen for Memphis, with 36 strikeouts in 38 innings. "

I assume one of his parents is a fan of Victorian English poetry.

"The Cardinals are interested in trading for Athletics left-hander Brian Fuentes, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). Oakland designated the reliever for assignment on Tuesday after he posted a 6.84 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 26 appearances.

The Cardinals currently have two left-handers in their bullpen but could benefit from adding Fuentes to the mix as Marc Rzepczynski (5.52 ERA) has struggled and Barret Browning has only pitched 4.1 innings in his entire Major League career. Fuentes, 37 in August, is in the second year of a two-year, $10.5MM contract he signed following the 2010 season. He'll earn $5MM this year and his contract includes a $6.5MM club option for 2013 ($500K buyout)."

I am not real big on this idea.  Will Ohman has cleared waivers.  His lefty split batting average is .186.  Fuentes is .265.

Yeah well it is the Cardinals way.

Dumpster diving is one thing, but when they indicate interest "in trading" for a guy like this I see more potential stars being shipped out in exchange for a three month postponement of the inevitable reckoning. But at least I no longer have the nagging feeling that the main driver is La Russa's need to show he's in charge.

"Cardinals rumored to be targeting Huston Street"

Right church, wrong pew. I didn't read the story, but does it report whether he has ever played an entire season without going on the DL?