Around the horn
Olney likes Cards’ ‘Pen
ESPN’s Buster Olney lauds the addition of Jeff Nelson, noting how he adds another ROOGy component:
Nelson becomes part of what could be a good bullpen in St. Louis. The Cards have guys who could be good in matchups, Nelson and Looper; it’ll be interesting to see whether they can develop someone who consistently can get out both righties and lefties in the eighth inning, leading up to closer Jason Isringhausen.
Hope he makes a good impression this Spring
Apparently, Albert Pujols is following his typical offseason fitness program, “which includes rigorous conditioning and regular workouts with a group including former Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny.” This kinda sounds like how the veteran Carlos Beltran took Mets’ youngsters David Wright and Jose Reyes under his wings and invited them to work out with him last offseason. If this Pujols guy ever makes it to the bigs, perhaps he’ll put up some good numbers in a few years.
Why not Weaver?
VEB helpfully pointed out that Walt “just said ‘no’” to the idea of Jeff Weaver. But after pursuing AJ Burnett to the point of offering a four-year, nearly $40 million contract, why wouldn’t the team at least have a fleeting interest in the poor-man’s Burnett? Admittedly, the only reason that I’ve cottoned to him in this space is because of his numbers — he doesn’t exactly seem to be as likable as, say, David Eckstein — but aren’t numbers important? Or maybe I misunderstood Billy Beane… It begs the question of whether there’s something personal going on here. Perhaps I’m damning my argument by quoting Buster Olney for the 189th time in the last week, but he likes Weaver, too:
And there is Jeff Weaver, who is going to make somebody look smart. With all the big dollars already spent around baseball, hard to imagine Weaver is going to get the $40 million deal others got (like the stunning contract of Jarrod Washburn). If not, the next-best option for Weaver is probably to sign a one-year deal with a contender, re-establish his value and hit free agency again next fall … He’s pretty good. He’s not in the same conversation as Chris Carpenter, Roger Clemens or Dontrelle Willis, but he still could help a contender if he was slotted as a No. 3 or No. 4.
The Cardinals already have a Chris Carpenter (actually, the Chris Carpenter), and they qualify as a contender; sounds like the right match. Olney goes on to enumerate Weaver’s positives:
- Weaver is still seven months from his 30th birthday.
- He racked up 224 innings last year; he has failed to reach 200 innings in only one of six years in his career.
- He allowed 43 walks in those 224 innings in ‘05.
- He was 7-3 with a 3.97 ERA after the All-Star break, averaging almost exactly seven innings per start.
- Opponents hit .249 against him in the first six innings of games, with an on-base average of just under .300.
Give me some time to compare those numbers with Jeff Suppan’s and Jason Marquis’s, but I’m guessing Weaver comes out ahead.
Bye-bye, Boras
MLB Trade Rumors reports that Cub pitcher Carlos Zambrano has fired agent Scott Boras. The move may or may not ultimately benefit Zambrano, who in my opinion (and VORP’s), has been the Cubs’ best pitcher over the last three years. But whether you’re a Cubs fan or not, isn’t it refreshing to hear that someone fired Boras?
Updated: Minor-league Database
David Malamut has updated his minor-league database. He writes:
Im still working on updating and fixing the player pages, I’ve got everything from A-F finished. I also put up some old rosters and by the numbers for Quad City, Clinton, Quad City, plus I added some for Madison and Waterloo. Plus there’s a whole bunch of other new stuff up there.
Dear Mr. Fantasy Leaguer
No word on whether Mr. Alito was questioned on his view on this case, but hopefully it’ll be resolved before it goes that high:
CBC Distribution, a St. Louis based company that operates fantasy leagues, is suing Major League Baseball for the right to use players names and stats without a license.
CBC claims baseball stats become historical facts when the game is completed. Major League Baseball claims it should have control over that information.
I’m all for private-property rights, but can MLB own baseball statistics? Let’s hope not. By the way, does anyone remember when they used to be called rotisserie leagues?
Court Upholds St. Louis County Stadium Funding Deal
Those of us who live in St. Louis County will officially be able to say we helped finance Busch Stadium III. The State Court of Appeals has rejected efforts by a group to keep St. Louis County from contributing money toward the construction of the new St. Louis Cardinals baseball stadium. Missourinet reports:
The Court says the agreement between the County and the Cardinals is legal. The Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums says a voter-approved proposition barring the County from paying off bonds used for the stadium shoujld prevail. The Court says the funding agreement was arranged before voters approved the proposition.
Well, glad that’s settled. Since we’re paying for it, perhaps we should be allowed to name it. I know that people like the whole “continuity” of keeping the Busch Stadium name, but it fails on two counts. First, if we’re going to commemorate an A-B product, can’t we do better than the Official Series Sponsor for NASCAR (not to mention one whose logo is easily confused with another baseball venue’s beerish namesake)? Second, now that we’ve demolished the concrete doughnut, we finally have a real park, not a stadium. Ballpark, field, anything but the NFL-like stadium.
My humble suggestion: Sportman’s Park. Then again, they could decide to play 90% of their home dates during the day. In which case they could name it Natural Light Field …