Calls get louder for Mo to make a move

You may be familiar with the word 'precipitous'. As an adjective, it means steep, and is typically used to describe long drop-offs (like half-dome at Yosemite). An alternate meaning for the word is 'extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt'.

I was introduced to this word while stationed onboard my second submarine, in a critique of a evolution gone bad (not one I was involved in, mind you) by our XO. His point was, just because you have to take action doesn't mean you should do the first thing that comes to mind; there is time to think (albeit a short time) and consider options.

As the calls get louder for Mozeliak to make a move and improve this Cardinals team, I'm reminded of that event. And word.

We had a spirited discussion during the UCB radio hour about this, both on the air and in the chat room. Bernie's post today gets more into the argument. Losing 9-3 last night, with Lohse leaving after 39 pitches, doesn't help the mood, and in effect turns the heat up a little.

There are real holes to fill on this team. Third base is an offensive vacuum. Schumaker, bless his heart, is one of the worst defensive second sackers in baseball. Our outfielders aren't hitting. We have two and a half reliable starters at the moment (Carp, Wainwright, and the Mr. Hyde personal of Piniero). So what should we do?

Most analysts believe Mo has been working the phones and trying to get a deal done. It is a good assumption. His whole job revolves around his ability to field a winner. I have not been a GM; I've never even walked through a Major League team's front office. But I know how my office would be set up if I sat in the big chair:

- On this wall, would be my current 4o man roster.
- On that wall, would be every minor leaguer I controlled who was projected to be ML-ready within 2 years.

Then there would be binders. Oh, lots of binders. Who will be free agents at the end of the year, organized by position (and in position, organized by age). Each organization's 40 man roster. Each organization's farm system, highlighting guys we think could help us. And most importantly, each organization's weak areas - so I know what players to offer in a trade. Because, with rare exception, we're not dealing with idiots out there, and you're not going to get Babe Ruth for cash anymore.

So I'm sure Mo's done his homework. And I'm sure he's as frustrated as we are with the team's skittishness recently.

Bernie makes the case to make a move now. I got into an argument on the chatboard last night - although I can't remember which blog Tom writes for - concerning when a move should be made. Tom advocated 'soon, very soon.' I don't.

Because here's the point: the Cardinals are only 1 game out of first starting play tonight. One. As bad as the offense has been since 1 May, with the defensive holes we have, with only 2 reliable starters, we're only 1 game out. Clearly this team, as currently built, isn't going to make a deep run in October - or perhaps not even make it to October. But we certainly aren't in a 'make a move now or we're completely buried' position. At least, not yet.

Remember 2004? The Cardinals got swept in the World Series. By and large, one of the reasons cited (in addition to scoring 3 runs the last 3 games) was the lack of a power pitcher in the rotation (remember, Carpenter missed that post season due to a nerve injury in his pitching arm). There were calls for the Cardinals to make a move.

Then on 16 Dec that year the Braves traded for Tim Hudson. I happened to be home visiting my family when that happened; it was the lead story on the news. KMOX talk shows lit up with people clamoring. What's Jocketty doing? Why haven't the Cardinals made a move too?

Two days later we traded for Mark Mulder. Anyone out there still think trading Dan Haren for Mulder was a good move?

That was a precipitous move.

We don't need to repeat that mistake again.

Take your time, Mo. Make the trade that makes us better for the long term. Flip one of our mediocre outfielders for a third baseman or starting pitcher. Please don't trade Mitchell Boggs for 4 months of Joe Crede's bad back (as an example).

(And, if you're not tuning into the Wednesday United Cardinal Blogger Radio Hour, you're missing out.)

The Ben Sheets Question

I keep hoping my schedule will clear up enough to take a detailed look at Ben Sheets (statistics, win share, injury history, recommended value), but it never seems to. I will continue to hope, but we'll see.

I was enjoying my morning coffee (mmmmmm hot) to take the chill out of my bones (it was FORTY EIGHT DEGREES this morning! My GOD that's cold!) and surfing around the Cardinal web. Something C70 said today caught my eye:

"Ben Sheets apparently wants a guaranteed contract. Of course, we can't always get what we want, as some obscure rock group sang. That said, if he'd go with an $7-8
million guarantee with some incentive clauses built in, I still think it makes sense for the Cardinals. Even if he goes down, the odds of getting their money back on the contract are pretty high."

$7 to 8 Mil for Sheets? That would be a pay cut; he hasn't been paid that little since 2005 (you'll have to scroll down to find Sheets, the link is in alphabetical order). Even given the current state of the economy, and the slow free agent market we've experienced this off-season (101 free agents still out there, some really good players with out a home yet), I'm not sure Sheets would be happy taking that little.

Then again, I'd be very happy if my employer compensated me for my time with a Seven Million Dollar salary. Especially if I'd made upwards of Forty Million Dollars so far in my lifetime playing baseball for a living. But that's me.

A modest pay cut has got to be better than sitting on the sidelines all year with nowhere to play. Maybe Mo is playing poker again, like he did with Lohse; that worked out pretty well for us last season.

So who knows what will happen.

I will say this, though: Ben Sheets' injury history remains a big red flag for me. However, IF we could sign him for less than Joel Piniero is going to make ($7.5M to suck - God Bless America) that's a win in my book. And something that should be seriously pursued.

Pitching and Defense, Boys, Pitching and Defense

First, I've made some improvements to the blog by finally figuring out how to upload pictures to my layout. This only took 20 months. You want to know how to do it? Layout -- Add page element -- select Photo. Yep, a real technical challenge there.

Cardinals won yesterday 7-4 behind adequate pitching from Braden Looper, Yeoman's work out of the bullpen, and more stellar defense. Cardinals will do no worse than split with Pittsburgh; they go for the series win tonight.

(By the way, why are 4 game series over the weekend now running Fri-Mon? What happened to Thurs-Sun, which was the standard for at least 3 decades? What idiot came up with this schedule? Three-game road trips (ex: Padres completed a 10 game homestand, spent the weekend in San Fran, and are home for 6 more), and weird series scheduling? I'd like to slap the scheduler. Mondays and Thursdays should be travel days, and this should be inviolate. Also, there should only be day games on Thursdays. And every game at Wrigley before 1 July should be played in the sunshine.)

Back to the column.

It's so nice to see this Cardinal team return to the standards that marked the successful Cardinal teams of my lifetime, in emphasizing pitching and defense. There are lots of metrics out there to measure performance on the baseball diamond, and it seems to me the decision makers in MLB have gone way, way overboard trying to quantify offensive production in order to build a winner. USSMariner recently put up their opinion on how much offense (50%), pitching (35%), and defense (15%) contribute to a team's winning. I don't give a hoot how well you hit the ball. If you can't throw strikes, and you can't catch the ball, you will be mediocre - period.

This team's pitching, I think, will never be compared with the great staffs of the past. But their defense makes up for a lot of the failings of the pitching staff. The Cardinals don't give up unearned runs (13 so far this season). Yesterday the Pirates did a good job of putting the ball in play and getting their hits, but the Cardinal defense on more than one occasion snuffed out the rally by making the play on a batted ball (Ankiel, Izturis, et al).

This is the major reason the team is 10 games over .500, especially considering Ludwick and Pujols have been the only consistently dangerous bats in the lineup.

You give me a team of passable major league hitters than can play defense, and I'll contend for a playoff spot every single year. Mozeliak deserves a lot of credit for re-emphasizing this part of the game, something the Cardinals had gotten away from in 2006 and 2007.

The Cubs are in SD for a 3-game set starting tonight, so I'll get a good look at them on the TV over the next 3 days. I may sully this blog with some Cub analysis; you need to know your adversary (and the Cubs are the class of the NL right now, as much as it pains me to say that).