Odds and Ends

Lots of different topics in here...

The morning show I sometimes listen to on the way to work (XX 1090 AM in San Diego) had a handicapper on this morning discussing the NCAA tournament. The dude (I think his name was Brandon Lang) picked Louisville to win it all (duh) but had them beating...

wait for it....

Yep. VILLANOVA in the final. Personally I think the dude's smoking crack. Although I would probably be unsufferably obnoxious if they did make it that far. For what it's worth, I picked Xavier to win that regional, beating Duke (who knocks out my Wildcats in the regional semifinal).

Lots of interesting stuff being discussed in the UCB topics. Today it was offseason moves by management. Yesterday was the 25 man roster. Monday we considered what number would be retired next by the Cardinals (I voted for 51). I plan to elaborate on some of these topics later on, but if you're not following the blogs as discussions are posted you're missing out. See Cardinal 70 for the complete schedule of blogs posting the discussions.

Chris Carpenter pitched today and went 6 scoreless. I am a crusty old Navy man, but I am giddy - yes, giddy - about how Carp has pitched so far this spring. Fourteen scoreless innings is nothing to sneeze at. As we get closer to Opening Day, and the lineups start to feature more Major League hitters (also the WBC fniishes), we'll know better if this is for real or just a mirage; but the early returns are VERY favorable. I have put my money where my mouth is and drafted Carp for my only 'All MLB' fantasy team. Believe it or not, he's the only Cardinal on my roster. So don't let me down, Carp.

Called into the UCB radio hour last night. Good discussion. If I ever figure out how to post files here, I'll post the audio file. You should call in or at least log on to the chat room - every Wednesday night at 8pm Pacific. There is some discussion about moving the time to allow more participation, so stay tuned for an update.

Finally, there's the World Baseball Classic. As I type this (and although it won't appear until tomorrow morning on the site) the Japanese lead Cuba 3-0 after 5. In foggy Petco Park. Most of the baseball has been pretty good, with some great games. Both Netherlands/Dominican Republic contests were classics. The US' comeback last night against Puerto Rico. It's unfortunate that all of those games were on the MLB network, which virtually no one gets.

The players, most notably Chipper Jones, have raised some issues with the format. I couldn't agree more. Even this is packaged by MLB to make the most money. Let's take a look at some of the areas that cause head-scratching.

- Round Robin play. Only MLB could devise a system where there are 4 teams in a pool, and you may not play the other 3. Why don't they do Pool Play like other major international tournaments do it, like soccer's World Cup for instance? That way, instead of playing beating the Dominican, then losing to Puerto Rico, and having to play the Dominican again, you would play Panama in that third game (this would be what happened to the Netherlands).

You ask how the winner and runner-up of the pool would be determined? Try this. Winners get two points. Games that go to extra innings are a point for each team, with an additional point awarded to the winner. If you beat a team badly enough to activate the mercy rule, you get a bonus point. The two teams with the most points advance. In event of a tie, head to head result is the tie breaker.

This would also eliminate the useless 'seeding' game. It was ridiculous that Japan went 2-0 in pool play in the first round and end up the #2 seed, all because they lost the 'seeding' game to Korea 1-0. Same for the US and Venezuela.

- Rosters. The roster rules need to be more clearly defined. The Dutch manager had a legitimate point when he complained about Brian Roberts being added to the US roster 30 min before game time. MLB is meticulous about roster configuration during the playoffs, and they should show the same kind of rigor for this event.

- Venues. With all the pretty ballparks in this country, Miami's Joe-Robbie-Pro-Player-I-Don't-Know-What's-The-Name-Today-Park-Stadium was the best choice for the second round? Really? What, the Tropicana Dome busy with a Monster Truck Rally? I would have thought Atlanta, or Houston, or Phoenix would be a much better choice - and all 3 cities have a sizeable Hispanic population.

Love the choice of Dodger Stadium for the final, however. Can we park a Camaro at home plate and do a pull-away shot as part of the opening ceremonies?

- Coverage. I was in the car tonight picking up a box at FedEx, and thought I would listen to the game on ESPN Radio. So I turned it on. Turns out, the game was simulcast (which means, for those of you under 30, the same broadcast is being heard on radio and TV). Which means the guy calling the game on TV has to talk to the action so those of us listening on the radio can keep up with what's going on. The guys doing the game have no idea how to cover a game on the radio. These two bozos are chatting away on some ancedote about one of the players, and in the background you hear the crowd start to cheer. This is because Curtis Granderson just singled to right. Only after the cheering gets loud do your trusty play-by-play guys casually mention, Granderson singles to right, before continuing with their conversation.

No number of outs, no score, no count, no 'fastball for a strike', nothing. It's as if they think the audience tunes in to hear them talk about the bunions on their feet and not the game. This is why I used to mute Padres games on local TV (that and I can't stand Matt Vasgerian. Now that he's gone I might turn the volume up again).

I would have thought MLB was flush enough to spring for a second announcing team on the radio. Three years from now, call me and I'll do it for free; so long as MLB pays for my travel, accomodations, and meals.

Consider these helpful suggestions from a concerned citizen.

Big East Tourmanent - Final

Last night was spent studying for finals, so no blogging. I taped the Villanova/Louisville game, because I knew I wouldn't get to watch it live, since the game ran during the dinner/playtime/bath/bed hours here at Chez Mike's.

That meant I had to avoid all stations that might report on sports, which for a sports junkie such as myself, isn't so easy.

It also meant I couldn't watch Syracuse/West Virginia until I'd seen the Villanova game.

Wanting to do both, I ended up watching Villanova on fast forward. Which, by the way, I recommend. You get all the action, and in a fraction of the time. Besides, making the players run around like ants on crack is kind of funny.

So, the first half, Villanova was the better team. Even in fast forward. Made me a little uneasy the number of open looks from beyond the arc Louisville got, but Cunningham was dominating inside, defensively turnovers were being forced and capitalized on, and the Wildcats went into the locker room up 8. Pitino was frustrated. Looked good.

Then the second half started. Louisville cut the lead to 2 in about 3 seconds. That's real time, not fast forward time. Then they took a 7 point lead. Villanova clawed, stayed in the game, and eventually tied the score at 50; to which the Cardinals responded by going on a 19-4 run to close out the game. 69-54 Cardinals.

Once that ended I tuned into the Syracuse game. Just in time to see it go to OT. Poor Syracuse. They must have been wasted in OT; it certainly showed as they walked the ball up the court possession after possession. I'm sure no one from this team who returns next season will complain about the conditioning work Boeheim puts them through. Syracuse found the will power to win that OT game, too, defying my fearless prediction from Friday that West Virginia would win.

Syracuse also reached their 14th Big East final, a league record. They've played in almost half of the championship games contested.

I didn't see most of the title game, or any of the first half, but it looked like a repeat of Friday. Syracuse took an 8 point lead into the half, Louisville ended up winning by 10. First Conference championship, er, Big East Tournament championship, for Louisville. Seeing as how they went through the Big East (including the tournament) 19-2, I believe they're a lock for a #1 seed. Memphis will be a #1 as well. The other two will probably be UNC (despite their loss today), and Michigan State. Pitt and UCONN should be no lower than #2's.

Some other items. I don't think Nova will get beyond the sweet 16. I've believed all year they're a soft top 10 team. Look at their record. Lost to Texas and Louisville on a neutral court. Lost to UCONN, West Virginia, and Marquette on the road; lost to Louisville and Georgetown at home. All their notable wins are at home (Marquette, Syracuse, Pittsburgh). Their best road win is at Syracuse. I don't think they're good enough to go deep into the tournament. And, they were exposed by a taller, more athletic team in that shutting down Scottie Reynolds really hamstrings this team.

The media also began (at least, the AP report) to say Villanova's exit Friday night 'continued a run of disappointing Big East Tournament performances.' I don't necessarily agree. They've won at least one game in the Tourney every year since 2004. This year they came in as the #4 seed and lost when they were supposed to, in the semis to the #1 seed. How exactly is that disappointing? 2005, the year they finished second in the league and didn't make the finals, that could be considered disappointing, but not this year.

I won't say this isn't frustrating for Jay Wright, however. Rollie Massimino went to 3 Tourney Finals; Steve Lappas went to two, including Villanova's lone win (1995). Wright hasn't made a final yet. I'm sure that weighs on him a little. They will be better next year; we'll see how they do then.

However, Villanova has made the NCAA tournament 4 years in a row, their longest streak since going 7 straight years under Massimino; won the regular season title in 2006, the fourth such Big East title (1982, 1983, and 1997 were the other years they did it); reached the Sweet Sixteen in 3 of the last 4 years, matching their previous best effort; and are now ranked in the top 25 consistently. All the last weekend angst, anxiety, and hope that characterized my undergraduate time there are gone for the current students. Villanova always goes to the NCAA tournament; it's just a question of what their seed will be and how deep they will go. So Jay Wright has been pretty successful. I doubt he loses much sleep over not winning the Conference Tournament.

I expect Nova will be a #4 seed. For their Sweet Sixteen chances to blossom, I hope they're a #3 playing in Philly. We'll know tomorrow night.

Cardinal blogging returns next week.

Update 3/15/09 1655: Villanova is indeed a #3 seed, playing in Philadelphia next weekend. GO CATS!

Big East Tournament Update #3

A "ho-hum"-er, an upset, a buzzer beater, and an epic.

Just your typical day in the Big East Tournament.

After eight mostly pedestrian games, the top fourth of the conference got into the action yesterday. And things were definitely more interesting.

Providence came into their game with Louisville needing a win (IMHO). Didn't happen. The Friars led 3-2, then committed a Big East Tournament Record 26 turnovers, and lost by 18. Which was the expected result. I'm sure this game will leave a bad taste in the mouth of the selection committee. Although I hope Providence finds themselves in the NCAA field come Sunday, I don't think they will.

West Virginia/Pittsburgh. It is very difficult to beat a team three times in a single season. The Mountaineers proved that against the Panthers. WVA pretty much handled Pitt in this one. The Panthers led early, and then led again with about 4 minutes left in the first half, but that was it. WVA led by double digits for most of the second half, winning 74-60. Even with Beilein gone to coach the University of Michigan, this squad remains a difficult tournament matchup. And "Huggy Bear" is a battle tested coach from his salad days at Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh will probably not be a #1 seed based on this result. The Big East is the best conference in the land this year, no question; however losing in the tournament quarters, after having the first two days off, to an unranked team you beat twice in the regular season will take them off the #1 line. I see them as a #2. This will also free up a slot for someone like Michigan St or (gulp) Duke to slide on the #1 line (assuming the other 3 #1 seeds are Louisville, Memphis, and UNC).

I thought this next game was the best finish. I hadn't seen anything yet. Villanova blew a 17 point lead to Marquette, and were down one, 75-74, with Marquette dribbling in the half court and 40 seconds left in the game. Marquette missed the shot with 10 seconds left.

Villanova is out of timeouts.

Up comes the ball.

Scottie Reynolds is blanketed.

Reggie Redding drives the lane.

Dwayne Anderson cuts to the basket, and the man guarding him steps up to guard the ball.

Bounce pass.

Lay-up.

BALL GAME!

Wow. After trying to give the game away, they pulled off a great finish to advance. As was pointed out on ESPN.com's game recap today, Villanova hasn't won two games in this tournament since 2004. Obviously they'd like to end that trend tonight against Louisville. This will be a rematch of the 61-60 game Louisville won in Philadelphia.

I'll make the bold prediction that the winner of Louisville/Villanova will win the tournament.

The reason for that I'll state at the bottom.

Then the Epic. I didn't start really watching this game until there were two minutes left in regulation. I thought the referees did an outstanding job adjudicating Devendorf's last second shot in regulation, and got the call right. Did you know Syracuse led 71-69 with 1:13 left in regulation, and DIDN'T LEAD AGAIN until 113-110 in the sixth overtime? Just an unbelieveably gritty performance.

I also couldn't believe the number of calls in overtime where the referees put their whistles in their pockets, the fact that Thabeet didn't foul out until the 4th OT, and a multitude of other things. Syracuse wanted it more. Pure and simple. When they hit that 3-pointer to take the 113-110 lead, you could visibly see UCONN deflate. And that was it.

Having played past midnight EDT, Syracuse catches a break in that their semi final tonight is the late game (starting at 6pm EDT). But you gotta think they've got no legs left after playing 70 minutes last night. Even with guys getting additional rest after fouling out. That more than levels the field with WVA, who've played one more game.

I think WVA wins this one, just based on the Syracuse fatigue factor. The Orange(men) will fight, don't worry about that, but I think in the second half, after adrenalin has run its course, their legs will feel like rocks, they'll be running through jello, and WVA will win the game.

Why do I think Louisville or Villanova will win this thing? Because Louisville is the best team in the Big East. If Villanova somehow finds a way to beat the Cardinals, and they will be motivated by that one-point loss earlier in the season, then they get a WVA team that's playing its 4th game in 4 days. Not to mention WVA embarassed Nova at Morgantown during the regular season.

So I'll crown the winner of Louisville/Villanova as the Big East champ. My heart's with the Wildcats, but my money's on Louisville.

Enjoy your weekend.

Big East Tournament Recap #2

UPDATE 3/12 1541: Villanova 76, Marquette 75. Last....second...shot....prevents epic collapse. I need a sedative.

Yesterday's results returned the tournament to form. After one mild upset and one major surprise, the higher seeded teams reasserted control over the Big East Bracket.

Providence survived a gritty effort by DePaul and eliminated the Blue Demons 83-74. I think DePaul has to consider this tourney run a success, considering they entered with nary a win in conference and left 1-1. Providence remains firmly ensconsed on the bubble going into tonight's contest against Louisville. Personally I think a win over Louisville would put them into the NCAA field, providing no more Cleveland State-type teams win their conference tournaments.

My opinion of the conference tournament nonsense deserves it's own column, but let's just say I'm not a fan.

Providence finished 2-5 against the teams above them in the standings, and got blown out at Louisville by 27 three weeks ago. A win on a neutral court would seal their NCAA bid.

West Virginia rode a huge first half and beat Notre Dame 74-62. The Fighting Irish didn't really fight in that first half, scoring only 18 points to trail by 18. Notre Dame and Georgetown were the two teams exposed as overrated this season - high pre-season rankings, then el floppo during conference play. I'm glad it was those two Catholic schools and not Providence and Villanova, whom I expected it to be. WVA gets the Pitt Panthers today. WVA has played Pitt twice this season, losing by 13 in Pittsburgh and by 11 at home. I don't see any reason why Pitt won't win tonight. As an aside, I'm glad the Mountaineers are in the opposite half of the bracket. Along with Georgetown, there the one team consistently giving Villanova fits these days (UCONN doesn't count, well, because they always give Villanova fits).

Syracuse was in a dogfight with Seton Hall until some second half unpleasantness occurred on the court - a couple of technical fouls on the Pirates, and then a double technical on Eugene Harvey (SH) and Eric Devendorf (SRY). That last one fired up the Orange(men), and especially Devendorf, who collectively went on a 17-3 run and blew the game open, winning 89-74. As a reward, Syracuse matches up with Connecticut today; UCONN won their only meeting earlier this year by 14. Syracuse is in, so this is for pride.

That brings us to Marquette. The Warriors choked the life out of St John's, holding the Redmen to 10 first half points. No that's not a typo. Leading by 28 at the break, Marquette cruised to a 74-45 pasting. Their game with Villanova is the most intriguing one today. Both teams have been ranked in the top 10 this season; both teams held serve at home. Villanova won the second round bye because Marquette lost 4 in a row to close out the regular season. Interestingly, of the top 4 seeds only Villanova was beaten by Marquette, and that was the first conference game for both teams.... on New Year's Day. Nice scheduling, there.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Villanova win, and I would be equally nonplussed if Marquette prevails. At this point, the teams are playing for seedings. One will be a #3, and the other a #4 when the NCAAs start. I think the game means more to Villanova, because they have an outside chance to be the #3 seed playing in Philadelphia next week; the home crowd helped them out 3 years ago during their second round game against Arizona. That 'Zona team was really good; I don't know if Nova wins that game on a neutral court.

A note about past Conference champions. For the first 10 years of the league only three teams won the tournament (Georgetown, Syracuse, and St John's). Georgetown still has the most tournament wins at seven, even though they won 6 of those from 1980-1989 (the Ewing/Mourning years). The full list:

Georgetown - 7
Connecticut - 6
Syracuse - 5
St John's - 3
Seton Hall - 2
Pittsburgh - 2 (and the defending champs)
BC - 2
Providence - 1
Villanova - 1

The Wildcats have been to several finals (5, including their lone win in 1995), but none since 1997. Getting to the final this season is a long shot - I think they're the weakest of the top 4 seeds, and would have thought that if they'd finished higher in conference - but you never know.

Big East Tournament Recap

Let me first say - categorically - I am rooting for the Nederlands. I made a comment in yesterday's UCB thread about how Americans love an underdog, well, you can't get much more underdog than a country with only two major leaguers on the roster (and those being Sidney Ponson and Randall Simon). Wow. Beat the mighty Dominican Republic team twice.

So yesterday kicked off the Big East tournament. This is the first year all 16 teams made the post-season tournament. Since the league expanded to 16 teams, the bottom 4 had been ineligible for the post-season event at Madison Square Garden. To accomodate those other 4 teams, the tourney format now includes a first round bye for the top 8 seeds, and a second round bye for the top 4 seeds.

Not that it helps Cincinnati at all. They faced less-than-mighty DePaul, who had finished the season with a league worst 0-18 record. Yes, that's not a typo - the Blue Deamons lost every single conference game. I'm quite sure this morning Cincinnati wishes the format hadn't changed, for DePaul won their first (and likely only) conference game against Cincinnati 67-57 in the tourney's opening round (and opening game). How much does that sting the Bearcat faithful? As a guy with an Xavier alum in the family, I can't help but laaaaaaauuuuuugh at the Bearcat misfortune. Lovely, lovely.

Another team not digging the new format is Georgetown. Remember two years ago they were a Final Four team? Ranked as high as #9 this year? Nothing like the conference season to separate the wheat from the chaff. The Hoyas would have squeaked into this tourney anyway as the #12 seed, but they probably would have gotten exactly as far as they will this year. St John's, making their first appearance at this event since 2003, dropped G'Town 64-59. Georgetown can kiss whatever slim hopes they had of making the NCAA's goodbye. I doubt they'll be invited to the NIT, but you never know - they are above .500 overall, although well under that mark in the conference.

Notre Dame kept their very slim NCAA hopes alive with an 11 point win over Rutgers. The Irish didn't have a good shooting night, but played suffocating defense to get the job done. They face West Virginia today in what very well might be a 'win and you're in' game for the NCAA. The Mountaineers beat Notre Dame at Morgantown, 67-58, in their 18 Feb conference matchup.

Most prognosticators put seven Big East teams in the NCAA tourney. That list does not include either Seton Hall or South Florida. In the final first round game, the Pirates beat S. Florida 68-54. As a reward, they get Syracuse today.

So your second round matchups are:

DePaul vs Providence, St. John's vs Marquette, Notre Dame vs. West Virginia, and Seton Hall vs Syracuse.

I would put these 6 teams as locks for the NCAA field: Louisville, UCONN, Pitt, Villanova, Marquette, Syracuse. I think if Providence beats DePaul, and they should be thanking the big Friar in the sky they don't have to play Cincinnati, they get in. I also think, as mentioned above, the Notre Dame/West Virginia winner will get in as well. I think 8 teams from the toughest conference in the country is about right. This league has had 4 or 5 teams in the top 10 rankings all season long.

We'll talk a little more about Villanova in tomorrow's post. The Cardinals have a bunch of off-days this week, so a bit of a hiatus there.

Is it too late to ask MLB to swap the teams around, so the USA and Dutch squads play here next week? I really don't care to see Japan/Korea/Cuba and whoever (Mexico or Australia) again at Petco. 3 of those 4 teams played here in 2006 (the other being the Dominican, whose players are returning to their MLB spring training complexes as we speak. Ha Ha Ha).

Odds and Ends

Oh, there's sooo much going on right now...

Cardinals played the Dominican Republic National team (less AP and A-Roid, of course) and won 4-1. Nice. Wellemeyer started, gave up a first inning run, and nothing after that. Franklin apparently dominated in his two innings; in fact, the entire staff pitched well. I mentioned last night on the UCB radio hour I thought this team could be a 90-win one with a healthy Carpenter in the mix; beating an All-star team with the likes of Ortiz, Tejada, etc, certainly supports that hypothesis.

Cardinals tried to address their lefty relief issue by signing Dennys Reyes to a two year, $3 million dollar contract. You remember Reyes - he gave up HR #60 to Mark McGwire in 1998. Reyes has been a very good left handed reliever the last 3 years. So, he's got that going for him.

A-Rod has a cyst on his hip. That's going to really mess with my AL only fantasy baseball league. Anyone got a spare 3B they can trade to New York? Think the Yanks would take Freese for Sabathia straight up - and pay, oh, $110 million of his salary?

Manny signed with the Dodgers - for the terms he wanted at the beginning. Two years, $45 mil, option to opt out after the first year. Why, again, did we go through all the nonsense between the end of the season and now?

United Cardinal Blogger Radio Hour

Each week the UCB runs an hour of Cardinal Talk. This has been going since, oh, about November I guess, but I've not been able to dial in and participate in any of the shows due to (a) Master's Degree homework workload, and (b) uncooperative children who don't want to go to bed. In fact, the little one has become quite good at climbing out of his crib. I swear he's going to be a BASE jumper when he grows up - the kid is fearless.

Our weekly time block is Wednesday's at 8pm Pacific. The link to the site is here.

Anywho, the stars aligned last night and I was free to dial in. Unfortunately I caught the host, Chet from 4 the birdz, slightly off-guard; I had RSVP'd as a maybe, but since I was the only 'maybe' to dial in, he can be forgiven for not expecting it. However I thought he handled it well. Josh from the blog Redbirds Row also dialed in; Redbirds Row is a new Cardinal Blog I haven't had a chance to visit yet.

Last night's keynote speaker was Cardinal farmhand Jonny Bravo. Jonny recently graduated from Azusa Pacific University and is a left-handed starting prospect, currently slated to start in Johnson City. Before he dialed in, we discussed how the spring training is going for the Cardinals, who we thought were the most surprising pitchers, Chris Duncan, left-handed relief, and so on.

Once Jonny Bravo dialed in the conversation really bounced around, and he was a champ for putting up with our meandering questions for over 30 minutes.

The Talk Radio site records all the sessions and allows downloading the files. Rather than have me try and transcribe the whole conversation, I had intended to post the audio file here, but here we run into conflict with their business model - using the site to host shows is free, but if you want the audio it will cost you a couple of bucks. So, I haven't downloaded it yet (I'll probably do that via iTunes Friday night, just for posterity; I like listening to the melodious sound of my voice - call me narcissistic, I don't care).

However, if you're interested in listening to last night's conversation (it's an hour long), follow the link above, look for the 3/4/09 edition - you'll have to click on the description button below each file to find it, but I believe it's the second one in the middle column - and you can listen to it through your computer by hitting 'Download'.

Considering I wasn't prepared, and didn't know what to expect, I thought I did pretty well; however feel free to ridicule me in the comments. I thank the participants and dial out at about the 40 minute point.

I said it on the air last night, and will repeat it here: Many thanks to Jonny Bravo for calling and putting up with our questions. Best of luck to him in his professional career.

United Cardinal Blogger Roundtable

Since 20 Feb, the illustrious bloggers known as the United Cardinal Bloggers have been posing questions, and soliciting answers, from each other. Yesterday it was my turn to pose the question.

There has been an undercurrent of acrimony laced throughout this recent off-season from some corners of the Cardinal fan base. Buster Olney alluded to it in an article on ESPN.com some time ago; Cardinals GM Mozeliak experienced it to a degree in his last chat with fans. The pet theory is this: the Cardinals are cheap, ownership won't cut loose with the moolah to sign players capable of filling holes in the lineup/roster, this team is doomed to not contend for the near term.

So I asked the following question to the UCB group:

"There's been a lot of talk this off-season about the Cardinals' payroll. On the one hand, we have the non-arbitration offer for Looper, the failed Fuentes signing, the lack of interest in pursuing Sheets (this is before his medical issues came to light), the non-signing of an impact bat to protect Pujols, the insistence in keeping payroll around $100M. On the other, we have Lohse's contract, Pujols' deal, Carpenter's heavily back-loaded contract, Piniero's (ugh) $7.5M for this season.

The ownership group has been accused of not spending the money necessary to field a competitive team. Do you agree or disagree, and why?"

Various folks weighed in with their opinion.

Dan (C70 at the bat):

"I've been on ownership's side most of the offseason and I don't see any reason to switch sides now.

The only thing I held against them was not pursuing Sheets, and it's very possible they had more medical info than the general public. Other than that, what would we have them do? They made a run on Fuentes that most of us were not excited about. Edgar Renteria might have been nice, but the Giants way overpaid for him. There just wasn't a whole lot out there this offseason, especially at the times when they were doing their shopping.

I look at what payroll is compared to this market size. I look at the fact that they locked up Carpenter before they had to (which may not have been the best idea, but no one could say it was the move of a cheapskate). I look at the Lohse contract.

I think that management is walking a fine line between fiscal responsibility and competitiveness and doing a pretty good job of it on the whole."

Chet (fourthebirdz):

"Because of a winter of low-budget "moves," a fan would've gotten just as much excitement out of watching a winter of low-budget "movies."

If the Cards are playing up their farm system, it's probably because they have no choice but to actually use it for its intended purpose, because the FA market was volatile.

All bets were hedged this past cold-stove season, and by more organizations than the Cards, save this one New York group of which you may have heard.

But prospects? Good ones? Yeah. Lots of players that actually fit the "prospect" description, rather than the word "prospect" used as a synonym for "minor leaguer." Due to the tentative attitude toward player acquisition, we're seeing more "prospects" will a real chance of making the parent club. I predict the media outside St. Louis will be doing a lot of talking about three or four Cards' "freshmen" before May."

Sarah (La Beisbolista):

"Admittedly, I have been a little wishy-washy on the subject. Sometimes it's hard to take a step back when you see other teams (like the Cubs, 'cause remember their huge spending spree after 2007?) buying up FAs and doing what could be construed as "improving the team" (whether or not that's actually the case) and your team seems to be content doing nothing.

Once it's all said and done though, I really think the smart thing for a team to do is move slowly. Throwing money around doesn't necessarily bring home the hardware, and I think it would alientate a lot of fans if the team operated with a revolving door of free agents instead of nurturing young talent and relying on the farm system.

Comeptetive is a relative term, as well, and it's hard to say that just because a player makes $100 million he's automatically the best option. Even the guys with the huge paychecks were making the league minimum at one point. They have to start somewhere. When I'm thinking rationally, I truly believe that it's possible to have a competetive team without breaking the bank. All things equal, you can't be a Cardinals fan and have any doubt that a young, unassuming group of players can win it all."

Matt (Whiteyball):

"You can’t say the ownership group is cheap when they’ve consistently been in the top third to top half of major league clubs in payroll over the past decade. That doesn’t mean that they are not progressively sliding down from the top third towards the middle of the pack.

They lock up key players such as Pujols, Carp, Molina, and Wainwright currently and Edmonds, Rolen and Izzy in the past. This doesn’t necessarily stand out like a big free agent signing, but it does mean the club will take care of business. I think the Cardinals are a little gun-shy when it comes to free agent signings. For every big dollar free agent who earns their money, there is a Zito, Schmidt, or even Carpenter who have made a lot of money that past few seasons, with their teams getting nothing in return.

All I ask is the ownership group be up front with the fans. How many years in a row has it been said that not spending in the off-season will translate into flexibility to bring in someone big at the trade deadline. When there is no big trade deadline acquisition, the club says it gives them the ability to be aggressive in the free agent market. The cycle continues year after year and is getting old. Why can’t they just say that they are happy with the young kids they are bringing up and want to give them a shot over going out and paying much more for a veteran, who might not be better. All I think any knowledgeable Cards fan asks for is a little honesty.

There is a key concern in camp right now that will really show the ownerships hand. The left handed side of the bullpen has looked pretty bad and Ohman and Beimel are free agents still waiting for a team. If these 2 sign elsewhere for under the $2-3 million price tag and the Cardinals bullpen still looks as shaky from the left side as it does today, then I think the ownership group is heading more and more towards the cheap end of the spectrum."

The consensus seemed to be ownership is willing to spend the money to field a competitive team. There was some negativity aired, namely on the ownership's continual spin to how their dollars are spent and why, but overall the folks who responded were satisfied in the DeWitt group's analysis of the market and restraint where called for.

As for me, I believe ownership is doing what it can to field a competitive team. If they weren't, we'd see payroll contract much like it did for the 1998/2004 Marlins, or this year's Padres, and guys like Pujols, Wainwright, Molina, Carpenter, Piniero would be traded away for prospects. Although we can still hope they move Piniero.

I think this undercurrent of dissatisfaction is the work of a very few vocal fans who probably wouldn't be happy with anything this ownership group does. That they have been successful in venting their frustration is apparent as some National Media have picked up on their outrage and given it some veneer of credibility. Cardinals fans I talk to, be it on line or face to face (and yes, there are other Cardinals fans in SoCal besides me - you just need to know where to look), aren't in that vocal minority.

You want to hear someone vent some frustration? Talk to a Cubs fan re: DeRosa leaving and Bradley coming in. Cry me a river, fellas.

To sum up: Ownership is doing a competent job in fielding a competitive team, a team with a chance to contend.

My thanks to those who contributed to the discussion.

Carp throws two scoreless, sun shines brighter

Yes, it was only 18 pitches, but Chris Carpenter threw two scoreless innings on Saturday against ML hitters. It was his first such outing since 2 Sept 08. According to reports, he was able to locate his breaking ball well, and his fastball, and other than a hit batter it was a good outing.

LaRussa and Duncan were understandably giddy following this outing.

Carpenter has been brought along carefully this spring, and it is still very early in spring training to get really excited. What has happened, though, is he's met all the wickets set for him to date. Carpenter has 5 or 6 more starts to make this spring; there is always the chance of regression, but as he throws more, it appears his arm is sound this spring. For the first time since 2006.

He will begin to throw with more confidence, and throw more innings.

Cardinal fans everywhere are suddenly much more excited about this season. If Carp is able to return to the form of 2005-2006, which is a lot to ask of him but possible given his progress so far, the St Louis rotation is pretty formidable:

Wainwright #1 pitcher
Carpenter #1A pitcher (only because of the 2 year layoff and still recovering from injury)
Lohse #3 pitcher with #2 stuff
Wellemeyer #3 pitcher with #2 stuff
Piniero.... #5 pitcher with #3 stuff (which, in a contract year, I hope he finds a way to throw consistently).

If those guys make 25-plus starts each, this is a 90 win team. Even with Glaus on the shelf for the first month (at least).

Maybe not quite division-champ caliber, but certainly playoff caliber (Wild Card?)

Yes, a reason to be giddy. It definitely seems brighter around here today.

Just a short note from the wilderness...

Actually Manassas, or Bull Run. The Wilderness is closer to Charlottesville. What you call this area used to be based on where you were from in relation to the Mason-Dixon line; now there's a town called Manassas VA, and a road called Bull Run Post Office Rd.

The 2009 season officially started today. I know, it's only spring training, but the boys in Red played their first game since slapping Pittsburgh 11-4 to closeout the season last September. Periodically throughout the season I hear a certain baseball song in my head, but no more so than the first game of the year, be it spring training or Opening Day:

"Let's GO! Batter Up! We're taking the afternoon off!

It's a beautiful day for a ballgame
For a ballgame, today.

The fans are out to get a ticket or two;
From Walla Walla Washington to Kalamazoo-

It's a beautiful day for a Home Run,
Or even a triple's OK.

We're going to cheer -
And boo-
And raise a hullabaloo-
At the ball game, TODAY. (lyrics by Jon Wiesman)

Of course, it wasn't a real game - and the Cardinals had lots of trouble driving in runners, ending the affair against Florida tied 5-5. 3 for 17 with RISP. Ugh. Good thing this is spring training.

More MLB nonsense

There was a story on the Saturday local news about Little League Baseball in the San Diego area.

In it, they profiled one Little League that had abandoned the use of ML team names for their teams in the league. They are either going with colors (Kearny Mesa Blue, Red, etc), or college teams. Can you imagine being 10 years old and playing for the Oklahoma Sooners as your little league team?

Why is this?

Because in their infinite attempts to grab as much revenue as they possibly can, MLB charges a fee to Little Leagues across the country to use MLB team names/logos for their teams. MLB claims this is because of their exclusive licensing agreement with Majestic. So, leagues who still want to use MLB team names are forced to buy their equipment from a Majestic dealer, which, as you might expect, costs a little bit more than the t-shirt screening shop down the street.

While this may make sense from a business perspective, it makes absolutely no sense from a marketing perspective.

They are poisoning the well for these kids, the future fans of MLB. What fun is it to play for the Kearny Mesa Blue, when you used to play for the Kearny Mesa Padres (sponsored by, perhaps, Dairy Queen)? So you become a fan of the Blue Man Group or Blue Monday or Blue Period instead of the Padres. Nice going, MLB.

This doesn't just apply to replicating the exact uniform shirts of major league teams. You write "Giants" on a shirt that's a little league team jersey, and MLB will come calling for it's fee.

I'm not trying to scare up new revenue streams for MLB, but you know there are parents out there who wear the apparel of the team their son/daughter plays for. To show support, to be involved. All that potential revenue lost.

And, kids are exposed at an all-too early age to the greed and callousness of contemporary life in these United States. You can't wear the White Sox logo because your league can't afford to pay the already overly rich MLB organization their prohibitive licensing fee.

I don't know if we can fight this, but I'm going to try. I ask all the Cardinal blogs out there to link to this story. Email MLB telling them, politely, what schmucks they are. Tell your friends too so they can get involved. Tell other team blogs. Tell anyone who cares.

This kind of nonsense has to stop.

What Kind of Leader Are You?

I took a week off, as previously mentioned, due to illness (mine and the family's).

In the interim, we learned:

- Selig doesn't want us to blame him for the steriods debacle;
- MLBPA former head Marvin Miller stated steroids never hurt or killed anyone, so what's the big deal;
- A-Roid held a press conference, at which he described taking a steroid he bought in the Dominican Republic;
- A-Roid was linked to a known steroids-tainted trainer;
- A-Roid was caught in a lie when the steroid he 'bought' in the DR wasn't available in the DR between 2001-03, with or without a prescription;
- BBWAA decided not to revoke A-Roid's 2003 MVP award; AND
- Lots of evidence got thrown out in the Barry Bonds trial unless the wife of his trainer testifies at the trial (trial begins a week from today).

Most of this stuff didn't surprise me (Selig's weaseling, A-Roid's caught in another lie, a liberal San Fran judge throwing out key evidence in a case against a favored adopted son). What did was the depth of the involvement, and lack of consciousness, the MLBPA had in this whole affair.

For years I believed the real evil in MLB was the owners. Greedy owners. Architects of the reserve clause. Constantly raising ticket prices. It's only since the steroids story broke this time around that I've realized the MLBPA are just as culpable, if not more so, than the owners.

They fought against testing.

They fought against punishment for positive steroids tests.

They allegedly warned players of upcoming tests so they could hide their drug use.

They only cared about how much money they could rake in and very little about the well-being of their players physically.

The whole thing stinks.

Steroid abuse had been long rumored at the MLB level, but back in 1998, when the first 'concrete' evidence of that abuse turned up (McGwire's can of creatine), baseball consistently refused to believe there was a problem, much less do anything about it. This continued for 4 more years before the Commissioner's office was finally, with pressure applied by CONGRESS, able to force testing of players, and ultimately to institute the steriod testing program as we know it today.

The blame for that lack of action rightly belongs to Selig. But not him alone. Donald Fehr and the rest of the union leadership are just a cupable and should be held in just as much contempt for what's happened to the game.

Selig had a singular chance to do something positive for baseball when this all appeared back in 1998. He did nothing.

Selig has gotten a do-over thanks to the leaking of A-Roid's positive test result. He, again, has a singular opportunity to do something positive for baseball.

He could make a stand.
He could suspend A-Roid, invoking the 1971 Commissioner decree that no drug use without a prescription is allowed.
He could release the rest of the 103 names into the public record.
He could revoke any post-season awards for any players who test positive for illegal substances.
He could ban for life all those with positive tests.

Public support would back him; the union would fight, but once exposed as the Machiavellian men they are, they would have to back down and accept what the Commissioner did.

And the Commissioner's office would wrest back some control over the game, control that has been slowly ceded to the players union over the last 40 years until now they are the ones running the league.

But he won't do a thing.

And Major League Baseball will continue to lose credibility, and with it will go the fans.

Cats Peel Orange

Backed by Derrick Anderson's 22 points, Villanova held off the Syracuse Orange(men) 89-86 to win the season series, win at the Carrier Dome for the second year in a row, and win their third in a row from Syracuse for the first time since I was a student.

Cool.

So they are 10-4 in the conference, although the road they took there was a little different than I expected.

W vs Rutgers - check.

W at W. Virginia - uh, got THAT wrong. I should have known. This game was a must for the Mountaineers, who are fighting for an NCAA berth, hadn't beaten a meaningful opponent in the Big East all season, had Nova at their place, play good defense... just a horrible call on my part.

L at Syracuse - happily, got that wrong too.

So, they have the worst team in the league (DePaul), the rapidly disintegrating Hoyas, and Notre Dame left. 13-4 is still possible. 13-4 will probably not move them out of 5th in the conference, but who cares? They're a lock for the NCAAs at this point. The only suspense remaining is what their seed will be.

Family Down With a Nose; Listed as Day to Day (aren't we all)

It appears I've managed to transmit the cold I was fighting to the rest of my family - so blogging is taking a back seat for a couple of days. I'm the healthiest one in the family right now.

To recap: Mike was Typhoid Mary, now he's Florence Nightingale.

Intent is to have something up late this week; but if all else fails, Monday.

Ankiel Settles, Ludwick Next?

Just moments before going into the hotel room at the Days Inn, the Cardinals and Ankiel agreed to a 1 year contract for $2.83M. Details of the deal weren't released, so we don't know if this is his entire base salary, or what the contract could be worth if he meets all his incentive clauses. My guess is this is the total value of the contract.

Ryan Ludwick is also scheduled to go to an arbitration hearing on 17 Feb. He's asked for $4.25M, and the Cardinals offered $2.8M.

Before the agreement was reached and reported, I made a comment here on what I thought would happen in this arbitration hearing. One of the other commenters pointed out the decision reached by the arbitrator would be one salary figure or the other. I looked it up, and guess what? That guy was right.

To summarize what's in that last link, at the arbitration hearing the arbitrator listens to arguments from both sides, which can present the following:

- The player's contribution to the club in terms of performance and leadership

- The club's record and its attendance

- Any and all of the players 'special accomplishments,' including All-Star game appearances, awards won, and post-season performance

- The salaries of comparable players in the player's service-time class and, for players with less than five years of service, the class one year ahead of him.

The parties may not refer to team finances, previous offers made during negotiations, comments from the press, or salaries in other sports or occupations.

(It would have been interesting to hear the comparable players arguments, since Ankiel was a pitcher until 2 years ago.)

I gotta ask. Since the result of the arbitration will be one of the two values submitted, why even hold a hearing? Why not certify someone as an impartial coin flipper and just flip a coin? Its the same 'go/no-go' criteria, and it doesn't waste the hour or the palatial hotel accomodations. Everyone could get in an extra round of golf. It's a win/win.

I would think an arbitrator would look at the offer sheets, listen to arguments, and arrive at a conclusion, which could be (a) the high number, (b) the low number, or (c) some number in between. I'm sure these guys go through an extensive training process to become an arbitrator, and probably sit in on a number of hearings as on-the-job training before being handed a case to try on their own.

Speaking of 'The Hammer'...

Bud Selig is reportedly considering:

a) Suspending A-Rod for his positive steroids test in 2003, and
b) Re-instating Hank Aaron as the all-time HR king.

Here's the link.

I'm absolutely speechless. No, seriously - speechless.

Oh, and Tejada might get deported for lying to Congress.

Jay Winik wrote a great book about April 1865. Someday someone's going to write a book about Feb 2009 and its impact on baseball. What an earth-shattering week this has been.

Arm and Hammer

We got some good news and some ho-hum news yesterday.

First the good news: Carp threw off the mound for about 10 minutes and reported no discomfort. That's the best news this week for Cardinals fans. Of course, with the adrenalin pumping and the excitement of being able to throw from the mound, everything feels great; how he feels physically this morning will be the real test. Duncan correctly pointed that out in the article.

The Cardinals aren't taking any chances with Carp. Kyle McClellan is prepping as if he'll be a starter this spring, and his workouts are the same day as Carp's. Nice planning. If Carp suffers a setback that prevents him from starting the 28 Feb game, McClellan will be ready to step in.

Next step, according to Carp, is to mix in some off-speed stuff and see how the arm responds.

If (and although yesterday's news was encouraging, it's still a big IF) Carp is ready to start the season with the big club, the rotation may shake out to be

Chris Carpenter
Adam Wainwright
Kyle Lohse
Todd Wellemeyer
Joel 'punching bag' Piniero

One thru four were pretty good last season. Not to drink the Kool-Aid, but all indications are Piniero worked his butt off getting ready for this season (oh yes, it is the final year of his contract), so he could be much improved over last season, which would make this a very good rotation.

The ho-hum news is all the banter about Rick Ankiel's arbitration hearing, scheduled for today. Seems the Cardinals offered him $2.35M and he wants $3.3M. I'll tell ya, in this economic environment I'll take the $950K difference and be quite happy thank you very much, but that's not how this cookie crumbles.

So it's Scott Boras and his stat-heads against the Cardinals. The Cardinal front office apparently has a couple of guys who worked arbitration issues for MLB in the past (John Abbamondi specifically, and he specialized in this stuff for 4 years). Boras is 3-5 in his past 8 arbitration hearings, and is widely considered to be an ass, so I'm sure that won't help Ankiel.

Rick is in Phoenix today for the hearing.

Yes, Phoenix. Apparently the hearing's in a hotel.

I find this incredibly funny. MLB is a multi-billion dollar operation, but they don't have an arbitration room/wing/floor in their coroprate offices to hold these kinds of hearings? Does the MLB players association not have an office building where they could do this kind of hearing? They have to do it in a hotel room?

I wonder if this is the notification Ankiel got: "Hey, your hearing is 12 Feb 09 at the Days Inn. Take 10 West out of the airport past Avondale. It's the first Days Inn you see off the highway. We're in the room with the Mystery Machine parked in out front."

8 guys crammed into a room with 2 queen-size beds deciding how much Ankiel gets paid next season. That would be hilarious.

World Series Press Pins

There is an awful lot of stuff that can be considered memorabilia. Programs, ticket stubs, old soup cans, gum (gum?), movie posters, and of course, bats, balls, caps, jerseys, and autographs. One of the more obscure are press pins, which I've been interested in since 2004.


What is a press pin? It's what identified men as members of the press, and allowed them entrance to World Series games without a ticket. The first press pin was created in 1911 for the Philadelphia Athletics; since 1912, each team in the World Series has commissioned a press pin. Today members of the fourth estate are credentialed in other ways, and the press pin is, well, just a pin that has little intrinsic value.


Unless, of course, you collect them.


I'm no longer sure what caused me to become interested in this little niche area of collecting. I've never been a big autograph hunter, not a jersey collector either. I have some baseballs, but they were gotten the old-fashioned way, either by standing in the bleachers during BP, or by inheriting them (my Dad had an old ball with red and blue seam stitching). Baseball cards? Sure, however, that hobby has gotten just ridiculous over the past 15 years. I have some good cards, some good rookie cards too, but now everything has to be GRADED to get full value for them; and I don't trust the grading companies enough to send them my good cards and get the same card back.


At any rate, I thought the 2004 pin looked pretty cool:



So I picked up one. And that led to a few more. And a few more. After all, the Cardinals have won 17 NL titles.


At this point, I've managed to acquire one pin for each Cardinal World Series from 1964 to the present. Those were reasonably priced.


The rest are for the 9 NL titles from 1926-1946. Those aren't so reasonably priced. Due to the depressed economy, people are forced to part with some of their treasures to raise money, which means more of these pins will come up for sale. Due to the depressed economy, I haven't got the moolah to take advantage of these opportunities. So, the collection may stop here. But it is fun as a way to pass time for me.


Besided, enough ink has been spilled on the latest steroids nonsense, and Kennedy's release has been exhaustively covered by my fellow Cardinal reporters and bloggers. I thought I'd post a 'fluff piece' today for your reading pleasure.

We pause in our preps for spring training...

...to turn to college basketball for a moment.

I've somewhat purposely ignored my Villanova Wildcats this season. Initially I thought they were overrated. Granted, they did make the sweet 16 last year, before getting trounced by Kansas (correction: eventual National Champion Kansas), and had the nucleus returning this season. But they didn't play anyone in the non-league schedule, and their only tough non-league game, was a loss against Texas.

Then I thought they were very overrated. I saw their Big East opener against Marquette by accident. It was on New Year's Day, and I was waiting for the Rose Bowl to start. Nova couldn't shoot from outside at all against the Warriors (er, Golden Eagles), and the Marquette players were bigger, faster, and better. Cats ended up losing by 9. They followed that by starting 2-3 in the league, and 0-4 against ranked teams.

But since a funny thing has happened. They beat a good Pittsburgh team by 10. They hung with UCONN at Storrs, losing by 6. They clobbered Syracuse this weekend. And they've managed to stay in the top 25 all season.

This week's finds them #13 in both polls. They are 7-3 in the league, and of their 6 remaining games, 5 are very winnable:

tonight vs Marquette - the ol' "Return the Favor" Game (20-3, 9-1 league)
2/13 at West Virginia (16-8, 5-6)
2/19 vs Rutgers (10-14, 1-10)
2/22 at Syracuse - the ol' "Get the Favor Returned" Game (18-6, 6-5)
2/25 at Depaul (8-16, 0-11)
2/28 vs Georgetown (13-9, 4-7)
3/2 at Notre Dame (12-10, 3-7)

Granted, Georgetown and ND have disappointed this season but are very good teams, and the Mountaineers are always tough at home; but other than the almost assured loss in the Carrier Dome, Villanova quite possibly could finish the league season by winning 5 of their last 6 and have a 12-4 record overall in the league. That will clinch the #5 seed in the Big East tourney at a minimum, and probably get them a #4 or #5 seed in the NCAAs (depending on their Big East tourney finish).

So this is the first Villanova story of the season. Go Cats!

More 'Roids, and Kennedy shown the door

Ya know, some days you spend watching the second hand sweep the clockface while wondering, 'MAN will this day ever end?', and some days you're up to your waist in activity.

Today is one of the latter days.

Since my last post:

1. A-Roid admitted to using steroids while with the Texas Rangers from 2001-2003, in an interview with Peter Gammons. This was not during the Canseco years (in fact, Jose was out of baseball by then).

2. The Cardinals told Kennedy, "Thanks, but we're better without you. In fact, we're so sure we're better without you, we'll pay you $4 million to NOT be on our squad."

So there will be an open competition for the second base job.

Most observers were pretty down on Kennedy's time in St Louis - good glove, no bat. He did hit better last season, but not like what some projected. Here's what I find interesting:

- LaRussa is being reported as being the major driver in this personnel decision.
- Apparently things between Kennedy and LaRussa were worse than reported or suspected. This partially explains his lack of playing time last year, and why he allowed some frustration to be reported in the media. Also, for a club complaining about not having the money to sign folks like Sheets, being willing to throw $4M out the window with no return on investment just to get rid of this guy is very telling.
- Three members of the 2002 Angels played for LaRussa - Eckstein, Edmonds, and Kennedy. They've each left the team (via free agency, trade, and designation for assignment, respectively) in successive years. In the name of rampant speculation, I wonder if there's an underlying reason for the pattern.

Update to latest steriods debacle

Curt Schilling is recommending the remaining 103 players from the 2003 testing be identified publicly sooner rather than later.

I couldn't agree more. It isn't fair to make A-Rod twist in the wind, and it is better for all to have the names come out as a group rather then one at a time over the next - well, who knows how many months.

I'm sure the MLBPA and Commissioner's office will fight this, based on their confidentiality agreement; but since neither organization destroyed the test results, allowing themselves to get into this predicament, it seems to me to be too late to cry foul.

That's a lot of 'to' at the end of that last sentence, isn't it?

Some admin notes, then A-Roid

A couple of things:

- I've changed the email address associated with this site to the much more obvious 'stanmusialsstance@yahoo.com'. I can still be reached at the previousl email address, at least for a while.

- I've joined the 21st century and entered the unfettered world of facebook. It's been an interesting weekend poking around on the site. I've managed to find some folks I'd lost track of, not to mention some interesting people who spell their names phonetically.

- I've also re-organized the Cardinals links to the right. I've gotten all the UCB links I could remember (and find while sifting through email) onto that list, as well as a few others, and purged the deadwood. If I've left anyone off, let me know soonest and I'll rectify the situation; if I've inadvertently deleted someone, let me know that too and I'll add you back on.

*******************************

On to the fun.

Alex Rodriguez popped positive for steroids during the 2003 testing. This revelation was all over the news this weekend. Apparently someone leaked his name to the press. What I find mind boggling about this whole situation is the arrogance of the players union.

As you remember, the 2003 testing was done as a trial, under agreement between the Commissioner's Office and the MLBPA, to see how prevalent the steroid problem was in baseball. Individuals would be tested with complete confidentiality, their names never to be revealed. 104 people tested positive for banned substances; as a result, MLB instituted a mandatory drug testing program in 2004 which has gotten progressively more stringent since.

Why hold onto those samples? What was the reason, seeing as they had served their real purpose?

As has been pointed out in other stories, these samples (and the documentation linking them to individual players) would have never seen the light of day had it not been for Barry Bonds and BALCO. That gave the federal government the pretext to supoena those tests, results, and samples under their ongoing investigation against Bonds. However, the union screwed up; and instead of just getting their hands on the stuff pertaining to Bonds, the Feds got their hands on EVERYTHING.

Cue the panic in locker rooms everywhere. Especially now that A-Rod has been outed.

This is going to turn into the Salem Witch Trials and the blacklisting of Hollywood types during the Cold War. Players will be surmised to be guilty just because their name comes up in conversation about steroids. Remember how overblown the mere allegation of Albert Pujols doping was 3 years ago? He managed to fight that off. Players implicated in this round of innuendo will be guilty forever in the court of public opinion, even if they manage to prove their innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Back to A-Rod. He's never been the most beloved Yankee, and he's reviled in several sectors of the league (most notably Boston). You think he's dreading his first trip to Fenway this season? You think those tickets just became the hottest ticket in Boston? Can you imagine the vitriol that will spew from the Fenway Faithful whenever he takes the field, in that and all successive games against the Red Sox?

I hope ESPN, or FOX, or ABC, or Lifetime, or the Spice Channel, or someone televises that first game. I can't wait to see what the notoriously pithy Red Sox fan comes up with to taunt A-Rod. A-Roid will probably be the tamest thing we see.

The 103 sleep in a cold sweat, fearing their names will come up eventually. On a personal note, God forbid Albert Pujols is one of the 103. I'm not sure my fan-dom for the great game of baseball could survive that nuclear detonation.

Hey Check this out

Rob Neyer's story today included a link to an injury report site on Pitch F/X.

The site lists dates on/off the DL, and specifics about the injury (ex: For Ben Sheets, it has: On DL 7/15/07, off DL 8/29/07, 45 days, Right Hand Sprain (middle finger)). It also has injury history summary for the past 1, 3, and 5 years, and a body part list (number of times a specific part has been hurt enough to land the player on the DL). For example, again with Sheets, he's been on the DL 3x for his shoulder.

With all the discussions about whether or not the Cardinals should sign Sheets, I had wondered if teams kept a catalog of medical issues on potential free agents, and why that data wasn't readily available on the internet. Now it is.

This is cool.

Not to Poke my Friends in the Eye, but...

Today Ben Sheets reportedly reached an agreement with the Texas Rangers on a 2-year deal. All that remained was for him to pass a physical.

At which point a torn flexor tendon was discovered. So much for passing that physical. Or getting the 2-year deal. Or a deal from any team, for that matter.

Now, I could sit here and tell you I knew all along there was something really, really wrong with Ben; that it was obvious from watching him try to pitch in late September and October. But I didn't. What I did know, however, was that he is injury prone. I don't know if its due to his mechanics, or the bad luck to have a high pain tolerance which means he hurts himself worse than us normal humans.

However, a guy who's always hurt isn't worth the $12Mil he was seeking. I've said that all along, and it turns out I was right.

Aren't you glad we didn't sign Sheets now?

While he and the Brewers discuss who will pay for his surgery, I now have a thought: Sign him to a 3 year deal - league minimum this season, $5-6 Mil for 2010 and 2011, but heavily incentive laden - so that if he does pitch, he's a real bargain, but if he doesn't, we don't throw Mark Mulder money at him.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Not much Cardinal news to speak of. Dan over at C70 at the bat pretty well covered the salient points from Dave Duncan's interview (published in the post-dispatch yesterday).

The big news is two fold: Manny rejecting a 1-year, $25M offer from the Dodgers, and the ongoing Barry Bonds saga.

Some people are all up in arms about Manny's contract demands. I'm not. Yes, the money these guys get to play a kid's game (or what once was the kid's game) is ridiculous, but it has been so for years; this is not new. It was ridiculous when Kevin Brown got $15M a year from the Dodgers; it was ridiculous when Dave Winfield got $2.3M a year from the Yankees; hell, it was ridiculous when Mike Schmidt got paid $1M a year.

And this skewing of how much compensation one should get to play a sport isn't unique to baseball players. Remember when Latrell Sprewell famously said, "I've got a family to feed" regarding the NBA strike? I believe he was making upwards of $15M a season at that time. Makes you wonder who the family was he needed to feed - the greater St Louis area?

Although I agree Scott Boras feeds on the souls of the damned, this isn't something to get fired up over. The market will correct; Manny will accept some more reasonable terms (I can't believe I'd think $20M is more reasonable; that's still outrageous), or he won't play in 2009.

The more interesting story, to me, is the Barry Bonds saga. The judge presiding over his perjury trial has unsealed some documents (the trial starts 2 March). Here's what they said:

- Bonds tested positive for steroids in 2000 and 2001, his two highest HR years.
- Samples collected in 2003 were re-tested; steroids were found in those, too. Not surprisingly, this sample was tested by MLB in 2004, and passed; that should tell you all you need know regarding the standards MLB had for doping back then.
- Other ancillary evidence regarding taped conversations, etc.

All of it makes the government's case look far, far stronger than it did. All if it makes the argument Bonds is being persecuted because he's black much weaker. It makes me wonder what, if anything, MLB will do if the courts find Bonds guilty of perjury - will they place an asterisk next to his records? Will they expunge them entirely from the record books? And will this influence voters when he is eligible for the Hall in 2012?

The title of this post refers to a pretty good short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I wonder if Barry hears it beating whenever he walks into a room with baseball 'stuff' in it.

More MLB Crap for your Office/Sanctuary

One of the things you discover about kids is they are the consumers that drive the economic wheel. Especially young kids; they grow so fast you seem to be constantly buying new clothes for them. Not to mention all the things they need to be safe and comfortable (diapers, various kinds of baby wipes and powders, medicine, tylenol/oralgel for teething, food, and so on).




Kids are also a blank canvas on which to place all the things you like (and some of your hates and fears, although any responsible parent (like me) tries to minimize the damage there). Like, say, sports teams.



Well, Pottery Barn isn't dumb. The Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrived in the mail yesterday, with this photo on the cover:




Looks like Pottery Barn has joined the MLB family of merchandise outlets. Let's see what they've got for sale, shall we?

Well among other things (mostly bedding), they had these throw pillows on sale, although not actually called a pillow:




This is a kids store, but good grief there's some wierdness going on here.


- Since when are the White Sox represented by a Dinosaur?


- What the hell is that thing underneath the Indians hat? looks like a yam with bad acne.


- Apparently the Angels (how are angels not kid-cute?), Braves (a brave is a child - no one can draw a child Indian in Atlanta?), Cubs (at least they included a bear), Yankees (I guess a drunk fan shouting obscenities didn't make the cut), Giants (Paul Bunyan not available?), Dodgers (too busy scrounging nickels to sign Manny to include a surfer dude?), and Padres (where's the Friar?!?) couldn't be bothered to come up with a cutsie character for the sham.


- A Diamondback is a snake (or a bike), but there's a cat on that pillow?

- Is the Nationals character a bald eagle, or a chicken? Bald eagle would obviously fit the team in our national capital, and a chicken would obviously fit the actual team.

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.

Jay McGwire's an IDIOT

I've been purposefully mum about the reports Mark McGwire's brother Jay is shopping a tell-all book in which he describes introducing Mark to steroids in 1994. But I have a couple of things I'd like to offer, as public comment:

- Deadspin broke the news, so I wasn't sure if it was real or a really good spoof.

- For those who believe Mark used steroids, this new allegation will come with the 'I told you so' tag.

- Several publishing houses have passed on the project. This from an industry that once green-lighted OJ to write a book describing how he would have killed his wife and Goldman kid if he had done it. So if these people, who will publish anything, won't touch this manuscript it's probably false.

- Jay and Mark are estranged, which again questions the veracity of the manuscript.

- This quote from Jay:

"My bringing the truth to surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to
live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom
-- which is the only way to live. "

What a pompous ass.

My comment? Jay's an IDIOT, and I don't think we need to give Jay another thought.

San Diego SABR meeting - 24 Jan 09

There hasn't been much said on this site about the San Diego SABR branch that I am a part of. That's because in trying to complete my Masters (which will FINALLY finish 1 Apr), I've really pared down on the things I do outside of work, so I have enough time to complete the coursework. This has put a crimp in my SABR style, to the point where I went to last January's meeting and haven't been to a single function since.

Which has made my life poorer as a result.

However, the clouds parted long enough this weekend for me to attend most of our Winter Meeting, which was Saturday. On the agenda, in addition to the normal research presentations, was a question and answer period with Merv Rettenmund, Major League baseball player and coach, and Warren Miller, Director of Media Relations for the Padres. I was able to stay for all of Mr. Rettenmund's comments, but not for Mr. Miller, which was unfortunate, because I had some questions I wanted to ask him. Maybe some other time.

Because Mr. Rettenmund was the Padres hitting coach until 31 Aug 2007, and therefore had some insight into Khalil Greene, I was really looking forward to hearing him speak. Some interesting things that he offered during his 45 minutes with us (NOTE: These aren't exact quotes unless so indicated, rather, my interpretation and paraphrasing what was said):

- A long, slow swing means you're probably a good fastball hitter, not a good breaking ball hitter (I always thought it was the opposite).

- Older generations of hitters might have gotten 8000 minor league at bats; now you're lucky to get 800. The number of broken bats we see may be due to players not having taken enough swings to really learn how to hit.

- On inside pitches, don't shift your body to get your shoulder out of the way, get your hands through sooner (I've been shifting my body. Good tip)

- There is no such thing as 2 strike hitting. What can you do? Get ready earlier, swing slower, get to the ball? Hitting's all about timing.

- Choking up makes no sense with today's lighter bats. Players 50 years ago using 35-40 oz bats, you could choke up and have some bat left. Now, you choke up and have what, 20 oz? You got no bat left.

- Hardest parks to hit in: Comerica, old Arlington Stadium in Texas, Oakland Alameda, and Petco. He loved to hit in Tiger Stadium. He REALLY likes the new ballpark in St Louis.

- Petco: DEAD in Apr/May. When the weather heats up, the ball jumps better. You can hit it out to CF if it's to straightaway CF. Wind will knock it down in the gaps. RF - that's ridiculous.

- He likes Khalil Greene - called him one of the smartest ballplayers he's ever worked with.

- Didn't have much good to say about the current state of the Padres. They are a bad team (99 losses last year, that's no secret) with a bare farm system. He wouldn't be surprised to see the Padres trade Peavy (that's the worst kept secret in the league) and Adrain Gonzalez for prospects (that's interesting, and makes sense).

- Being a good hitter is all about timing, not so much mechanics. Getting ready at a good pace.

- Tony Gwynn thought the extra weight he put on gave him better balance at the plate.

- He had a lot of interesting things to say about hitting. Don't hack, have a plan. Look for a certain pitch at a certain speed in an area. When you get it, hit it. Count doesn't matter so much. He stated that lefties were high-ball hitters and righties low-ball hitters, but that's shifted 180 degrees the last 20 years.

- Greene can't hit a breaking ball. He had positive things to say about Hal McRae, and that Greene needed a change of scenery, but he still can't hit a breaking ball.

- You hit a breaking ball with your eyes. If you see a guy swinging at a breaking ball while looking at the centerfield camera he's got no shot.

- He things the big clubs draft too many players, because there aren't enough teams for them all to play on (this was interesting also. Too many guys splitting time at positions to get into games, so no one gets enough at bats or reps to really improve. He believes you get better by playing the game regularly, and I agree).

- Not a fan of players taking a lot of BP from coaches, because it doesn't simulate a game.

- MLB players suck at running the bases. Quote: ".220 hitters aren't on base enough to work on it."

All in all, a great 45 minutes. Did nothing to assuage my misgivings about Greene, though.

Another One Bites the Dust

Just a quick note before my hellacious day starts.

Troy Glaus is having surgery to fix a nagging shoulder ailment from last season. Complete details are here. Affected shoulder?

His right shoulder.

His throwing shoulder.

While today's report states this is a muscle tear in the muscle holding his shoulder to his chest (you know, the one helping prevent his arm from falling off or at least dangling at an obnoxious angle), and not the labrum, this is serious.

So serious, that in 24 hours the estimate of the amount of time he'll miss went from the first 2 weeks of the season, to a month, to 5 weeks, to 5 weeks being called "extremely optimistic".

A clean MRI after the season, and now a torn muscle in his chest. There are two possibilities:

a) The guy who read the MRI in October is the same bonehead who read my skull X-ray in 2004 and concluded I didn't have a broken jaw (which I actually did; try eating for 3 weeks when it hurts to bite a scrambled egg. MOTRIN = GOOOOD) ; OR

b) he hurt himself during his off-season work routine.

a) would further reinforce the widely held perception the Cardinals Medical staff commutes to work together in a Clown Car. b) is bad luck.

Either way, the projected left side of our infield now consists a third baseman who will miss at least a month, and a shortstop who is guaranteed to miss a month when completes his annual 'gotta break a finger, but which one?' tasker. Great.

David Freese was floated as a potential replacement for Glaus. I guess we'll see how well Mo did when he traded Edmonds away (all reports indicate this was a steal of a deal, BTW).

THe 'Cardinal Fans are Restless' saga gains steam

Well now Jerry Crasnick is reporting we Cardinals fans are upset with the moves the team has made this off-season.

I'm not the wanderer of sports pages and Cardinal Blogs I was even 12 months ago, but I haven't been able to find any real, tangible evidence fans are angry with the tact Mozeliak has taken to improving the roster. Other than me with the Lohse and Greene deals, which are easily attributable to my 'grumpy old man' persona (and fiscal conservatism, and mistrust of players who are always injured), that is.

I can only imagine the bile spilling out of KMOX and other sports talkradio stations around the greater St Louis area. If its anything like what was said in San Diego during the Padre and Charger seasons on the radio, it must be long on emotion and short on rational thought.

So I wanted to share my opinion with Mr. Crasnick. There's a link at the bottom of his post, saying he can be reached via email. I even composed the email in my head as I was waiting for the page to load:

Mr. Crasnick,

Not all Cardinals fans are angry or impatient at the way Mozeliak has
handled this off-season. Those of us capable of rational thought support
the moves he's made, and the restraint he's shown. Put me squarely in the
camp support Mr. Mozeliak and his efforts to improve the team.

As an aside, I can't believe some would support the acquisition of Ben
Sheets. Haven't they had enough of oft-injured elite pitchers (Carpenter,
Mulder, Stottlemyre, Andy Benes, Danny Cox)?
(I hate to include Carpenter here, but facts are facts).

Cheers, Mike
Stan Musial's Stance (http://www.perfectknight.blogspot.com/)

The World Wide Leader is a devious organization, however; when you click on the email Crasnick link, you get sent to the Insider page, and are asked to sign up for an account/membership.

AARGH!!! CURSE YOU ESPN.COM!!!!!!!

So I'm left to my humble little forum here. Enjoy.

Pujols and the WBC

Today's Post Dispatch headline article discusses Albert Pujols. Because I'm constantly accused of having an opinion on everything, here are some thoughts:

- Albert's ready to go this season, and claims he's physically healthy. GOOD.

- Albert expects to get paid when he's a free agent next, is open to continuing to play in St Louis, but doesn't rule anything out. I think AP sees the fiscal reality of the times. The Cardinals, although making moves to improve the team, have made an organization decision not to spend ridiculous amounts of money on players. I don't have a problem with this strategy at all. I do think, however, for those few players that are the very very best at what they do (and AP certainly qualifies as one of those guys), the team should open the coffers to pay that guy fair market value. Especially when he's the face of the franchise, as AP is right now.

Who knows what AP will be worth on the open market in 2012. Since Texieria got $180M for 8 years this offseason ($22.5M per season), you can expect AP to be worth between 25 and 30 million a season, even though he'll be 32 at the end of the 2012 season. Think of him as a younger Manny Ramirez as far as free agent dollars goes. I don't know if the Cardinals will be willing to pay him that much for 5 more years, but they need to consider it, and I'm sure Mo is running the numbers even now.

I've watch the Padre debacle (RE: Peavy, Hoffman) with detatched bemusement. I'd really like to avoid that type of soap-opera scenario (jettisioning a productive member of the team, a franchise face-type guy, due to monetary reasons) with Pujols.

As far as his 'they could trade me' comments, well, noted. That's life.

- Albert wants to play in the World Baseball Classic. Cardinals don't want him to play without insurance provided by MLB. This one is interesting.

The Rincon saga was mentioned in the article. I think the Cardinals should DEMAND MLB indemnify them against injury to AP if he plays in the WBC and gets hurt. In a lot of ways, AP is our most important player; losing him to an injury suffered in this event would be devastating, both to the team and to the ownership. That only makes sense.

What I found most interesting about this discussion was AP's desire to play for the Dominican Republic. Especially in light of his becoming a US Citizen in 2007. The USA certainly isn't hurting for quality first baseman (Derrek Lee and the aforementioned Texieria among them, although I don't know if they're playing for Team USA this year), but why wouldn't AP play for this country? After all, he's lived most of his life here.

This isn't meant to imply he should be ashamed of being from the Dominican, or downplay his heritage. Far from it. And I don't know if he holds dual citizenship in the US and the DR. But does anyone else find it curious that he would rather play for that team than for ours? The DR has some guys who can play, but so does the USA. Come on AP, represent the red white and blue.

Eckstein's a Padre

David Eckstein has signed a 1 year, $850K deal with the Padres, apparently to play second base, as reported by mlb.com (among others). On the one hand, good for David. On the other hand, as a casual Padre observer (mostly because I get bombarded with San Diego Padre news since I live in San Diego) it doesn't make sense, since Edgar Gonzalez had a good year with the bat in 2008 (one of the few Padres who did) in about 4 months of work, and he demonstrated some competency at the bag.

You could stretch the truth and say the Cardinals traded Eckstein for Greene (ignoring the reality of Eckker playing for Toronto and Arizona last year), which is a net upgrade in range and power for us. And a commensurate loss of a leadoff hitter and OBP guy.

Whoo Hoo.

Hall of Fame Results

Rickey Henderson is a Hall of Famer. As he should be.

Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer. A good ballplayer, not great. He should remember the sports reporters in the NE area with a Christmas card for the rest of his life. If he could get an accurate address list for every Red Sox Nation fanatic, who lit up phone lines whining about Rice not being in the hall, a fruit basket to each of them would be a nice touch, too.

McGwire lost 10 votes from last year, and is stuck at 21%. Which is frustrating, but won't really REALLY piss me off until Sammy Sosa is voted in.

Dawson didn't make it, again. Good. I always thought he was overrated. Rob Neyer wrote an excellent article today torpedoing the Hawk's HOF credentials when compared to Tim Raines. You should read it.

Top Five Cardinals Stories of 2008

And so we come to the final page of the Year 2008, which, by the Gregorian Calendar, marked the 2008th year since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. And you thought this was just a baseball blog.

As we prepare to ring in the New Year, let us look back at the year that was from a Cardinal perspective.

Well, that's a lot of ground to cover. How about we limit ourselves to the Top 5 Cardinal stories? Yes, I think that would be better. Less writing for me. Less reading for you. And, the United Cardinal Bloggers recommended capping the list at 5 as well.

So, here are my most important stories from the past year, ranked from 5 to 1:

#5 - Mark Mulder's arm falls off, released by Cardinals.
This is a big story in my mind, although a tragic one (mildly funny byline notwithstanding). Obviously Mark's arm didn't actually fall off. However, after fighting for 3 years to restore the strength in his pitching shoulder so he could return to the throwing arm position that marked his successful years in Oakland, his return to the Majors was a 16 pitch effort against Philadelphia where he didn't get out of the first inning. Mark's tenacity was commendable and is admirable, however, the Cardinals got nothing for the 2 year deal they signed him to following the 2006 season.

We thought he would again become a mainstay of the rotation for 2007-2009. He didn't. Recognizing the mistake, and moving on, was a big story. Cutting him loose for $1.5 million allowed them to use the option year money on his contract more wisely, in this case, to fund Kyle Lohse's $41M contract.

Which, in light of the ridiculous money the Yankees threw at Sabathia and Burnett, now looks like a bargain signing. I'm not above saying I may have been wrong in my panning that signing earlier this off-season.

#4 - Khalil Greene traded to the Cardinals, to play short stop for 2/3 of the year.
Cardinals have had a dearth of power hitting from the middle infield positions since Renteria left the club after 2004. Although they will continue to employ a banjo hitter at second base, whoever that turns out to be, Greene represents a significant upgrade at the plate from Izturis, Miles, and the band of merry men used in 2008.

Now if he can only figure out how to not break a finger during the season....

#3 - George Kissell Dies.
This Baseball Reference article is succinct and says it all. Employed by one Major League Baseball club longer than anyone in recorded history. Widely credited with protecting, and passing on, the 'Cardinal Way' of playing baseball.

When someone who teaches the young players how to play the game right passes away, that's big news to me. He will be missed by the organization.

#2 - Albert Pujols wins Second NL MVP award.
BBWAA members belied their not paying attention, 'what have you done for me lately' reputation, looked past their infatuation with Ryan Howard's lone good offensive month and voted the award to the best player in the NL. I was fully prepared for Albert to not win the award, and was pleasantly surprised when he did.

#1 - Cardinals finish 86-76, stay in playoff hunt until last 2 weeks of the season.
Let's face it, we all predicted this would be a sub-500 season. In fact, I'm pretty sure I prognosticated the team winning only 74 games this season. But look at all the positive story lines from this year:

- Ryan Ludwick's career year
- Isringhausen stepping aside for Perez at the back of games
- Ankiel's great first half (including two of the most ridiculous outfield throws to cut down runners you'll ever see)
- Kyle Lohse pitching like an All-Star
- McClellan a right handed anchor in the seventh/eighth innings (until he was exhausted)
- Molina's bat
- VASTLY improved team defense
- Troy Glaus being better than expected all around (robbed of a Gold Glove, by the way)

This team fought, scratched, had one of the best offensives in the NL, and far, FAR exceeded expectations. That's the biggest story of 2008 - a spring of resignation turned into a summer of hope, and a fall of satisfaction, that the team played competitive baseball all season.

Renteria to the Giants

2 years, $18.5 mil.

$9.25 mil per year.

Well, they wouldn't pay him that much in 2004, so that explains why he didn't come back to St Louis.

Khalil Greene at SS. BLEEECH.

Khalil Greene to the Cardinals?

Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.

Greene has never played a full season for the Padres, breaking a variety of fingers on both hands either while playing in the field or punching water coolers. He had one good year in 2007. His numbers are pedestrian other than that.

I'd rather have Renteria. Or even have Izturis return.

Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb.

Greene's a bum.

Your 2008 NL MVP is...

For once, the BBWAA got it right. My anger is stilled; my sagging faith in this organization is buttressed.

Congratulations, Mr. Pujols, and WELL deserved.

Gold Glove Awards are out...

Yadi won - finally. Yeay.

Pujols didn't win - again. What else is knew?

Glaus didn't win, with the best defensive season for an NL third baseman. What a crock.

After Russell Martin won a Gold Glove last year, nothing surprises me anymore.

Managers and coaches vote on these awards, like the BBWAA vote on MVP/Cy Young/ROY, because they see every game. This may have made sense in the era of radio and newspaper as the only means to get game coverage, with a TV baseball game once a week. In today's world, there are PLENTY of folks who have the means and interest to watch every single game their team plays; in some cases, multiple games involving multiple teams a night. Why, even I was once one of those guys - watch the Cardinals game starting at 5:10 PDT, and that game would be almost over when the West Coast games started at 7:05.

So here's a thought: How about MLB allow fan input into the Gold Glove Awards? I'm not saying turn it into the All-Star ballot; even if Alfonso Soriano won an award every year, it wouldn't be much sillier than it is now. But empanel some of the best blogs on the net - ones with readership, and actual baseball related statistical content/analysis like Viva El Birdos and U.S.S. Mariner - to weigh in. It would help keep debate alive during the hot stove months, it would provide a forum for the blogger community to get involved, and it would allow MLB to reach out to its fans.

Win Win.

And who knows, maybe guys who actually deserve the awards would win them.