As others see us
SI’s John Donovan, acknowledging that the Cardinals are flawed, still picks them to win the Central (ellipses mine):

The defending-champion Cardinals are favored to repeat, but they’ll have to do it with a vastly different roster. The Cards lost a ton of players to trades, free agency or retirement over the winter … They’ve plugged those holes, for the most part, and they still sport a killer rotation … Pitching’s more than half the battle, so the Cards should be OK.

Replace “Cardinals” with “Braves” and you’ve pretty much got the story of the best team in the NL East lo these many years. The clubs are similar, too, in that each has a shrewd general manager who “plugs the holes” despite regular turnover and a manager who gets the most out of his players, though with markedly different methods. Lest anyone worry about the Cardinals’ corner outfield personnel, Jerry Crasnick (who, by the way, also picks the Cardinals in the Central) reminds us that the Braves won their division last year after beginning the season with Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan in the corner spots.

Enlightened writer watch

Wins are an overrated stat; let’s switch to win shares. Moneyball, guys. Anything Joe Morgan hates with such passion must have some validity.
– SI’s Ethan Trex

Great point. But why does it take a guy who looks like he’s in high school to make it?

Can you hear them now? Good.
Cardinals radio network strongest in team history — team press release

This just in
Cards shoot for 3rd straight title — Chicago Tribune headline

Unenlightened writer watch

Dempster finished with 33 saves, and led the National League in save percentage.

Carrie Muskat, call your office. Your editor needs a word with you.

Please, people, it’s 2006 already. Saves are so 20th-century. Why not try quoting a stat that actually has meaning: Dempster ranked 43rd among all relievers last year in ARP — Adjusted Runs Prevented from scoring — and he ranked 4th among relievers in WXRL (Expected wins added over a replacement-level pitcher). Isn’t that better?

Should I know who that is?
Angels sign Jeff Weaver — AP headline

Hit a homer for Homer
Greek god of walks finally gets chance — AP headline

Good thing he pulled over
Freel looking to get past latest arrest — AP headline

Daydream Believer
Speaking of Ryan Dempster, the Arizona heat may already be getting to him:

Obviously, we lost a lot of guys to injuries. Everybody says, ‘Oh, other teams had injuries.’ No. We lost Prior for a little bit, we lost Wood, we lost Nomar, we lost Aramis. You go to the Cardinals and say you’re going to lose Carpenter, Morris, Rolen — who they did lose — and Pujols, they won’t be the same team. This year, we’ve got the guys we’ve got, and if we stay healthy and with the additions we’ve got, we are a playoff team.

I’m not sure if Dempster is trying to recall the Cardinals’ injuries last year or simply state the hypothetic, but in either case, he’s a bit off. He’s conflating the “loss” of a free-agent signing (Morris) with the loss of games due to injury. But the injury excuse only goes so far when you consider that the Cardinals were injured last year, too. In terms of games missed, you could even make the argument that they were worse hit than the Cubs:

Granted, it’s hard to underestimate the impact of unhealthy starting pitchers. But Dempster’s comments raise a an important point: Though injuries are largely a crapshoot, they also can be managed, and at some point, the Cubs are accountable for the players they build their team with. The Cardinals, by the same token, seem to have healthier pitchers, by some combination of luck, usage and decisions on types of players to acquire. Relying on the perennially injured Wood has turned out to be a bad strategy (whereas the Cardinals, for instance, chose not to invest in a player like JD Drew, who, while not a pitcher, represents the same principle).

Cardinals played it smart this offseason
As any number of writers will tell you, the Cardinals didn’t make any exciting offseason acquisitions. But at least they didn’t make any of the most foolish ones, according to Ken Rosenthal, like the Giants’ signing of Matt Morris or the Blue Jays’ hiring of AJ Burnett, either of whom might’ve been a Cardinal if not for the team’s restraint.

This entry was posted by Pip on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.