Redbird Report
It’s time for another edition of the St. Louis Cardinal’s report. Within the past month, the Cardinals have made several more additions to the team by signing several more players.
The most recent signing was Thursday when the Cardinals signed first basemen/catcher Josh Phelps to a 1-year minor league deal. Whether he will play with the Cardinals off the bench or in the minors is uncertain, and will largely depend on how he does in spring training. He would most likely be only used at catcher in an “emergency”.
Phelps, 29, is known for his power off the bench. He hit a career high of 20 homeruns in 2003 in 112 games, but since 2005, he has yet to hit more than 7 homeruns in a season, which he hit in 2007. He played his first 3 full seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, in which he hit 42 homeruns.
Back in December, the Cardinals non-tendered second baseman Aaron Miles, but last week, he was re-signed by the Cardinals to a 1-year $1.4 million dollar deal. By re-adding him back onto the roster, the Cardinals have a much more solid lineup in the infield.
Miles, 31, has spent the last 2 years in St. Louis after being traded for Ray King in the 2005 offseason. He split 2007 at second base, shortstop and pitcher (85 at second, 40 at shortstop and 2 games at pitcher). He did very well in 2007, with a .290 batting average. At the moment, the Cardinals have Caesar Izturis, Brendan Ryan, Adam Kennedy and possibly minor leaguer Jarrett Hoffpauir in the infield for 2008.
Speaking of the field for 2008, this is how it is projected to be:
Against right-handers:
1. Skip Schumaker, RF;
2. Rick Ankiel, CF;
3. Albert Pujols, 1B;
4. ?, 3B;
5. Chris Duncan, LF;
6. Yadier Molina, C;
7. Adam Kennedy, 2B;
8. Pitcher;
9. Ceasar Izturis, SS.
Against left-handers:
1. Brian Barton, CF;
2. Rick Ankiel or Ryan Ludwick, RF;
3. Albert Pujols, 1B;
4. ?, 3B;
5. Chris Duncan or Ryan Ludwick, LF;
6. Yadier Molina, C;
7. Adam Kennedy, 2B;
8. Pitcher;
9. Brendan Ryan, SS.
If you were paying attention to that lineup, you should have noticed two strange things. The first thing is that the pitcher’s slot is in the 8th whole in the lineup. Yep, the 8th. As one of the Cardinals described it “It’s just how we do it here in Redbird land”. If this seems familiar, you are right. The Cardinals batted the pitcher in the 8th slot throughout most of the second half of the 2007 season. Also, back in 1998, the Cardinal’s lineup was done the same way. The logic behind that is that with the pitcher batting there, the lineup will get back to the top faster, there for getting Albert Pujols back to the plate faster, or in the case of the 1998 Cards, Mark McGwire. Whether this logic works or not is anybody’s guess.
The second thing you should have noticed is that I simply put a question mark at the 4th spot, the Clean up role, because the third baseman for the ‘08 Cardinals is unclear. There is no doubt that the Cardinals third baseman for the past few years, Scott Rolen, wants to get out of St. Louis and has been feuding with Cardinals manager Tony La Russa for some time. His offensive numbers have gone way down since he hurt his shoulders by having a collision with Heep Seop Choi in 2005. So the obvious answer to that is to trade him, and, as it appears, the Cardinals will be trading him, though where to and for whom is unclear also.
But one thing is fact, the Cardinals and Blue Jays are seriously talking about a Rolen for Troy Glaus deal. The deal is rumored to be completed in the very near future, but as Card’s General Manager John Mozeliak says it “I’m working on a number of things”. Glaus, 31, would add some pop in the clean up whole behind Albert Pujols, but he would with no doubt have the type of defense that Rolen brought the St. Louis. I will get back to this later, when the facts begin to clear up.
Now that we’ve discussed the lineup, let’s talk about pitching. Heading into the offseason, pitching was defiantly the Cardinal’s #1 priority. With the ace, Chris Carpenter, not being fully healthy until after the All-star break and Mark Mulder possibly not ever fully recovering from his shoulder problems, the staff needed some help.
It got that help this month when the Cards signed pitcher Matt Clement to a one-year $1.5 million dollar deal. The addition to him will boost the starting rotation to at least 4 full time starters, and one slot to be fought for in spring training.
Clement, 33, missed all of 2007 after having shoulder surgery. In his most recent full year of playing, 2005 with the Redsox, he posted a respectable 13-6 record with a 4.57 ERA. He has a career record of 87-86 in 9 major league seasons. His lowest ERA was in 2002 with the Cubs in which he had a 3.60 ERA with a 12-11 record. In a full season, he can be a solid 200 innings pitcher.
So along with him in the pitching staff, that give the Cardinals a rotation of Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper, Joel Pineiro, and Clement. The 5th spot is really a toss up. If he comes back healthy, Mark Mulder could be a possible candidate. Another is Anthony Reyes, but his Spring Training performance will highly effluence his future on the pitching staff.
So the pitcure of the ’08 Cards is starting to become clearer, but it is still incomplete, for sure.
(c) Copyright 2007. K.B. is a writer and founder of the International Association of Baseball Writers.