All posts by Brian Walton

Brian Walton runs The Cardinal Nation, covering the St. Louis Cardinals and minor league system.

Could the Cardinals have done better than Skip?

What might the St. Louis Cardinals have seen in the second base market next year had they not locked up Skip Schumaker for 2011?

    As most St. Louis Cardinals fans know by now, the club and second baseman Skip Schumaker came to an agreement on a two-year contract to avoid arbitration. The base amounts are $2 million in 2010 and $2.7 million next year with additional appearance-related bonuses that could take the total to $5 million.

    Skip Schumaker (AP Photo/Morry Gash)My initial view was slightly positive as it looks to be a case where both sides gave a bit. The Cards took two years at a decent price and Skip received another year of security, something he said was important to him.

    Based on the comps I posted earlier for The Cardinal Nation subscribers, I believe Skip had a decent chance of winning his arbitration case. Had he made over $2.4 million this year via arbitration, barring a collapse he would have made more next year ($3-$3.5M would not seem unreasonable). At that price, the Cards could have been tempted to non-tender Schumaker next winter.

    Instead, this way Skip knows he can stay and the club will at most spend $5 million over two years to cover the position. The alternative may have been to spend as much as $6 million to keep him for the two years going year-by-year or finding a new second baseman for 2011 that would cost $3 million or less.

    Another factor to consider is the lack of proven depth in the Cardinals outfield. Schumaker has demonstrated his ability to play all three positions, increasing his value to the club.

    According to The Biz of Baseball, the rate of multi-year contracts for arbitration-eligible players who exchanged figures with clubs is slightly up this year. In 2009, 11 of 46 eligible players received multiple years while here in 2010, 12 of 44 have gone that route, with 12 situations still open, heading toward hearings.

    As the discussion continued on The Cardinal Nation message board, another perspective was put forward. Among the legitimate questions posed:

    • Is Skip is good enough to warrant the need to lock him up for an extra year?
    • Is the potential of saving a million dollars worth giving up the non-tender option for the Cardinals?
    • Is Skip more than a platoon second baseman who struggles in the field?
    • Is Schumaker a value at this price?

    I decided to take a quick and dirty look at what the second base market might be like next year, using this year as a guide. This effort is not to suggest the Cardinals should not have signed Schumaker to a 2010 contract, but more to consider what their alternatives might have looked like a year into the future.

    I am assuming Skip’s immediate replacement would not have come from within. While Daniel Descalso is a fringe top ten prospect in the organization, he is not a sure thing with just one-half year of standout offensive performance in three professional seasons and a sub-.700 OPS over the remainder of his minor league career. There isn’t anyone on Descalso’s heels, either. Our annual Cardinals Top 40 Prospect List at The Cardinal Nation includes just one second baseman for the second consecutive year.

    This winter, there were nine free agent second basemen on the market. Eight of them have found homes for 2010, the lone exception being former Cardinal Felipe Lopez.  Most are in their 30’s. Five of the nine could be free agents again next winter. Though he was not a free agent, I included Schumaker in the group for comparison.

    I listed the 2009 contributions of each player, using OPS+ for offense and UZR at second base for defense. With those scores, I ranked each of the players from 1-to-10 in each category and added the two numbers. Like in golf, low score is better. The ten second basemen are listed in that sequence.

    Further, to the right, I listed the players’ 2010 and 2011 salaries, noting any additions, such as options or incentives.

    Free agent 2B 2010 team Age 2009 OPS+ 2009 UZR Score 2010 $M 2011 $M Other
    Felipe Lopez FA 29 111 7.8 2.5
    Marco Scutaro BOS 34 111 0.3 7.5 $6 $6.5 2012 option
    Craig Counsell MIL 39 105 5.0 7.5 $2.1 plus incentives
    Ronnie Belliard LAD 34 105 2.0 9.5 $0.85 plus incentives
    Freddy Sanchez SF 32 96 7.4 10 $6 $6
    Orlando Hudson MIN 33 109 -3.3 11 $5
    Jamey Carroll LAD 36 90 2.7 13 $1.35 $2.5 plus incentives
    Adam Kennedy WAS 34 101 -4.7 15.5 $1.25 $2 2011 club option
    Skip Schumaker * STL 30 101 -7.7 16.5 $2 $2.7 plus incentives
    Kelly Johnson ARI 28 83 -0.1 17 $2.35

    * Not a free agent

    Based on these measures of offensive and defensive contribution in 2009, Lopez stood substantially taller than any of the other nine. In between big-bucks signees Marco Scutaro and Freddy Sanchez are a pair of aging reserves coming off nice years, Craig Counsell and another ex-Cardinal, Ronnie Belliard.

    Amid questions about his wrist, his defense and second-half falloff, new Minnesota Twin Orlando Hudson leads off the bottom five. In a most interesting comparison, both of the second basemen paid by the Cardinals last year posted OPS+ marks of 101, Adam Kennedy with Oakland and Schumaker. The former had a less-negative UZR.

    Bringing up the rear is Kelly Johnson, who had a subpar year offensively with Atlanta and looks to rebound with Arizona in 2010. A year ago, some Cardinals fans endorsed a straight up trade of Johnson for Ryan Ludwick, an indication of Johnson’s prior success.

    Conclusions?

    A quick spreadsheet analysis like this of a single season has its obvious limitations, but if the 2009-10 free agent market is any indication of what 2010-11 will be like, then it certainly seems like a Schumaker replacement could be out there for the taking at a comparable price next winter.

    My question is whether the likes of Counsell, Belliard, Carroll, Kennedy or Johnson would really be any better than Schumaker in 2011. At least Skip has the chance of improving his defense this coming season, and in doing so, perhaps moving up in the scoring hierarchy. His offense probably is where it is going to be. Clearly the top tier of Scutaro, Sanchez and Hudson are out of Skip’s league price-wise.

    Then there’s Lopez, with the best 2009 UZR at second base and tied for the top OPS+ last season. Why is he still out of work?

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    Quad Cities River Bandits silence radio broadcasts

    Quad Cities River Bandits fans won’t be hearing Ben Chiswick’s familiar voice calling games in 2010. In fact, they won’t be hearing anyone talking up their hometown heroes.

    It was announced in December that Chiswick, Quad Cities Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations, had left the River Bandits after five years. The radio voice of the St. Louis Cardinals Class A affiliate for 140 games each season was the club’s longest-tenured full-time employee, going back prior to the ownership change following the 2007 season. Chiswick has since taken the similar job with Midwest League competitor West Michigan Whitecaps.

    The same day Chiswick’s departure was made public, his replacement was introduced, Tommy Thrall. Thrall had been the Director of Broadcasting and Communications for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League.

    It was not clearly stated that Thrall’s new position is simply Director of Media Relations. I have since received emails from Thrall, but did not catch the subtlety in his signature block, the missing Director of Broadcasting part.

    The blank was filled in for me when I happened upon the blog of South Bend’s broadcaster Owen Serey. As he recapped the various moves among his Midwest League peers, Serey noted that Quad Cities has discontinued radio broadcasts of their games for 2010.

    Finally, the light bulb came on for me; or should I say it went off? Obviously the Bandits don’t need a broadcaster if they aren’t going to be broadcasting games. Very disappointing news.

    Back in March 2008, the River Bandits and Miller Media Group, the owner of WYEC (93.9 FM, Geneseo, Illinois), had announced a three-year agreement to air the team’s 140-game schedule on the station. Games were also streamed on the team’s website.

    Ending the deal a year early seems especially counterintuitive as the Quad Cities baseball operation is definitely on the rise. Total attendance (236,401) and average attendance (3,694) last season were both the highest since 1995 and rank among the top five years the history of the franchise. Since the ownership change, attendance has grown 64 percent on a per-game basis (from 2,254 in 2007) and 59 percent on an annual view (from 148,773).

    A 2009 study by Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal ranked the Quad Cities #31 of 239 minor league sports markets, best of all Cardinals minor league affiliate metro areas.

    In confirming the news, Miller Media Group’s Kewanee, Illinois cluster sales manager Fletcher M. Ford was quite direct. He explained how the change was made and communicated.

    “Your Easy Choice 93.9 WYEC was served notice from Kirk A. Goodman, Vice President and General Manager in late 2009 explaining the intention of the Quad City River Bandits not having a radio broadcast partner in the upcoming season for its fans,” Ford explained.

    Ford wanted to make it clear that Miller Media Group was not a part of any evaluation process.

    “This decision was made solely by the management of the Quad City River Bandits,” Ford said.

    Goodman offered further details.

    “We are indeed discontinuing our radio broadcast,” Goodman stated Monday. “We were being charged a very high rate to be on a station located 55 miles from our ballpark and in addition to that cost and the expense of paying for the salary and travel for a broadcaster did not make fiscal sense for our team.”

    Apparently no alternatives that offered a match could be found.

    “We made an effort to bring the broadcast to a more local station but none of the formats of the stations for the two main radio groups in our market worked with what we were willing to offer in return.

    “It was strictly a financial decision…to pay what was necessary for our broadcast to be on the air was not worth the return we saw from having a broadcast,” Goodman said.

    At least one lower-level Cardinals affiliate in a smaller metropolitan area continues with radio, the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, a short-season club.

    All may not be lost for River Bandits fans with stronger radios or internet service as the team will still be heard as the opponent on some broadcasts. Other clubs in the 14-team Midwest League continuing with radio include South Bend and West Michigan (obviously) along with Fort Wayne, Burlington, Kane County and Dayton.

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    Cardinals-based Cubs commentary

    I’ve been noticing a number of interesting news items relating to the St. Louis Cardinals National League Central Division rivals from Chicago.

    Heavy debt load

    There is a segment of Cardinals watchers that never seem to be satisfied with the expenditures ownership allocates to the player payroll. One area often singled out is the over $20 million annual debt service required as a result of the construction of the new Busch Stadium. That is $20 million that could be used to buy free agents, goes one line of thinking.

    Generally speaking, I am pretty sure those complainers are from outside St. Louis, apparently preferring to have seen an increase in the local tax burden to build the new stadium instead. Then there are those that have no idea how to pay for anything and just irrationally complain. They are my favorites.

    Reaction to crumbling concrete, 2004 (AP photo/ Nam Y. Huh)It could be worse, folks. You could be in Chicago.

    The good news is that deep-pocketed Ricketts family of the TD Ameritrade fortune bought the Cubs in October. The bad news is that the LLC put in place for the acquisition is $900 million in the hole after the Ricketts loaned themselves $200 million for working capital and improvements to crumbling Wrigley Field.

    Forbes notes that the Cubs 2009 payroll of $134 million was third-highest in MLB but “stacked with high-priced players with no-trade clauses.” Their conclusion is that the combination of “high debt and bloated payroll makes it highly unlikely they will be able to improve any time soon.”

    It is also worth noting that having a wealthy name-brand family purchase your favorite team isn’t necessarily the ticket to success. Just ask Royals fans how David Glass and his Walmart money have improved the KC clan.

    Update: The Cubs have announced the Executive Club, an all-inclusive area on the Suite level, where seats are $300 per game or $24,300 for the season.

    2010 roster changes

    As Cardinals fans know, their winter roster changes included big steps like keeping Matt Holliday and signing Brad Penny, but also involved allowing a number of lesser players to leave.

    The Cubbies made one huge addition by subtraction move when troubled outfielder Milton Bradley and his bad contract were shipped off to Seattle. In return, they took on another ugly deal in pitcher Carlos Silva. At least I have never heard anything negative about Silva’s clubhouse demeanor.

    To that end, I have read several reports speculating that the Cubs recent addition of first baseman Kevin Millar was more about chemistry than baseball. The 38-year-old was a part-timer last season in Toronto and over the last couple of years batted .230 with an OPS of barely .700. Yet one of the self-styled “idiots” from the 2004 Red Sox is also known as a fun-loving, free spirited guy – just the opposite of the sullen, explosive Bradley.

    I wonder if Sweet Lou Piniella can deal with the other extreme?

    Here is a brief summary of the Cubs comings and goings this winter, courtesy of The Sports Xchange.

    ARRIVALS: RHP Carlos Silva (trade with Mariners), RHP Jeff Gray (trade with A’s), OF Marlon Byrd (free agent from Rangers), 1B/3B Chad Tracy (minor league free agent from Diamondbacks), OF/1B Xavier Nady (free agent from Yankees), 1B Kevin Millar (minor league free agent from Blue Jays).

    DEPARTURES: OF Milton Bradley (traded to Mariners), RHP Rich Harden (free agent, signed with Rangers), INF/OF Jake Fox (traded to A’s), INF Aaron Miles (traded to A’s, then traded to Reds), LHP Neal Cotts (non-tendered, signed minor league deal with Pirates), RHP Aaron Heilman (traded to Diamondbacks), OF So Taguchi (released, signed with Japanese team), OF Reed Johnson (free agent, signed with Dodgers), RHP Kevin Gregg (free agent, signed with Blue Jays).

    Lou on Mac and hitting

    Speaking of Lou speaking, his recent comments at an awards dinner in the Big Apple were reported in The New York Times. The Cubs manager says he forgives Mark McGwire and thinks the support of Albert Pujols will go a long way for the new Cardinals hitting coach, who he thinks will “do a nice job.”

    A former hitting coach himself with the Yankees, Piniella also has some suggestions. He wonders whether McGwire will need to learn how to deal with today’s ballplayers and offered this interesting advice for working with major league hitters:

    “You don’t really need to change any mechanics.”

    Hmmm.

    The Times piece ends with a totally unrealistic view of how McGwire will be greeted at Wrigley this summer.

    “I think Cub fans will treat him fine,” Piniella said. “We have a great rivalry. He’ll be accepted well. I think they feel he confessed and it’s over with.”

    Yeah, right. McGwire might be wise to investigate whether any of the Wrigley hard hats pictured above are still for sale.

    La Russa on Chicago

    Like Tony La Russa, Piniella’s current contract ends after the 2010 season and Lou has suggested it might be his last in the Windy City. In the same interview from which I reported his White Sox-related remarks, La Russa also made it very clear he doesn’t ever see himself taking his friend Piniella’s job.

    “You’ve got a double-headed whammy there. I have a lot of friends and fans that I’m close to with the White Sox. And you know White Sox and Cubs, they don’t mix. I’ve got friends and fans that I’m close to in St. Louis, and the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cubs don’t mix. So I think if there is one place that I don’t fit, just because of my past, it would be the Chicago Cubs.”

    Spring training handout debated

    The Cubs made a preliminary decision on their spring training future, opting to stay in Mesa, Arizona rather than move to Naples, Florida. There is just one small problem – how to pay for the replacement for Hohokam Stadium.

    The idea on the table is a controversial “Cubs Tax”. Under the proposal, other Arizona spring training teams would be assessed a ticket surcharge to build up a kitty for the Cubbies’ new den. Not surprisingly, cross-town rivals the Chicago White Sox and the Arizona Diamondbacks have already come out against the half-baked idea.

    It appears that the next key date is in mid-July, at which time Naples could re-enter the fray if the Arizona folks cannot come up with a more realistic plan.

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    Will post-dugout La Russa return to Chicago?

    Recent remarks by Tony La Russa rekindle questions about his post-managing future.

      In Thursday interview with “Chicago Tribune Live” on Comcast SportsNet, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa discussed the possibility of returning to the Windy City to work again for Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

      (In the chat, La Russa also made it clear why he would never be a good fit to manage the Cubs, noting his White Sox and Cardinals roots, and quashed the likelihood of Mark McGwire playing again, an idea he first floated before backpedaling away from.)

      Here is La Russa’s quote about his former boss and close friend Reinsdorf:

      “I don’t ever think that is going to be an issue, because I think he’s got his (management) team,” La Russa said. “If I ever left the field and went upstairs, which I hope to do some time maybe soon, I’d like to work for an owner that I like and that I respect as much as I do Jerry, because I want to be motivated to make him happy.”

      Tony La Russa in 1980 (Getty Images)La Russa was already manager of the White Sox when Reinsdorf and partner Eddie Einhorn purchased the American League team in 1981. He had been hired by Bill Veeck to take over the reins of the big league club during the 1979 season.

      After La Russa supporter Roland Hemond was removed as Sox general manager, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson took over. He put considerable pressure on both La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan as the Sox got off to a losing record in early 1986. The media picked up the tension as well.

      Reinsdorf, as quoted in “Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission” by Rob Rains, was aware of the internal problems but hoped they would pass.

      “I just told Tony, ‘Give me to the end of the year,’ and we would work something out,” Reinsdorf recalled.

      It didn’t work. Just 64 games into the 1986 season, with the approval of his bosses, Harrelson fired both La Russa and Duncan. It was a move that Reinsdorf regrets to this day.

      “I was incredibly naïve,” Reinsdorf said. “Eddie [Einhorn] and I spent a lot of time with Hawk and he was diagnosing the team’s problems and he was right on. We thought he was the guy to fix the problems. He wasn’t. That was the mistake we made. We brought the wrong guy in to try to fix the problems. Hawk’s heart was in the right place.

      “I never should have allowed Tony to be fired. I’ve often said that was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I knew it was wrong. I knew it was a mistake. And I let it happen anyway,” Reinsdorf said.

      Just as when La Russa was hired in St. Louis, arriving with the support of a friend and former co-worker in GM Walt Jocketty, so was his move to Oakland well-greased.

      Before he allowed La Russa’s firing, Reinsdorf called then-Oakland president Roy Eisenhardt to see if there was interest.

      “I told him things weren’t going well here and I asked him, ‘If we make a change and let Tony go will you hire him?’ He said, ‘In a heartbeat.’ So I knew even before we fired Tony he was going to get another job right away,” Reinsdorf said.

      Fast-forwarding to today, La Russa only committed to a one-year deal to manage the Cardinals in 2010. I believe it to be his first one-year-only contract since back when he was with the White Sox 30 years ago.

      Whenever La Russa leaves the dugout, will he remain in St. Louis?

      His long-standing support from team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. seems as strong as ever and his working relationship with GM John Mozeliak appears good. DeWitt’s son, Bill DeWitt III, has been installed as team president. Yet the internal political tension and intrigue in some quarters remain, especially in relation to minor league operations.

      In the existing structure of the Cardinals front office, where would La Russa fit? None of the above would appear to be going anywhere any time soon. If there isn’t a job in St. Louis, La Russa could find one most anywhere, but where would he have strong past support?

      What type of assignment would be appropriate for a man with La Russa’s accomplishments? I question whether in his retirement La Russa would want to take on the rigors of a general manager’s job, but if not, what about team president?

      One logical thought would be in Jocketty’s new home in Cincinnati. Walt already holds both positions, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, but perhaps would consider bringing in La Russa as his GM. That doesn’t seem right for post-managing Tony, though.

      Where would be a better place to land than in Chicago? The Sox don’t have a president today. Their hierarchy consists of Chairman Reinsdorf, Vice-Chairman Einhorn, VP and GM Kenny Williams, and etc.

      While La Russa was careful in his Chicago remarks not to step on toes of those in the current Sox hierarchy, he is probably quite aware of this possibility as well.

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      Kyle McClellan looks for a return to 2008 this spring

      Trying to make the St. Louis Cardinals rotation in 2010, Kyle McClellan’s results in his first two major league camps were dramatically different.

        On KTRS Radio 550’s Hot Stove show Thursday evening, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle McClellan discussed his winter preparation for the 2010 season. While the right-hander is preparing for the second consecutive winter to come to camp as a starter, the difference this time is that his fate of remaining in the rotation will be in his own hands.

        Kyle McClellan (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)One year ago, McClellan was the safety net for Chris Carpenter, whose status was somewhat uncertain as the ace was coming off various ailments, most recently nerve transposition surgery in his elbow in November 2008. This time around, the 25-year-old has to be considered the front-runner for the fifth spot in the rotation, vacated by unsigned John Smoltz and another now ex-Cardinal, Todd Wellemeyer.

        Though his four-pitch arsenal and two years of major league relief experience are clear assets, McClellan doesn’t yet own the job. His competitors will include veteran Rich Hill, as well as farm system prospects Jaime Garcia, P.J. Walters and perhaps Mitchell Boggs, all with a bit of MLB time themselves.

        In his radio spot, McClellan mentioned he took off 15 pounds over the winter and focused on increasing his lower body strength. He is among the first wave of arrivals in Cardinals camp in Jupiter, Florida, almost two weeks ahead of the mandatory reporting date, reports Joe Strauss in a Post-Dispatch blog entry.

        While trained in the minor leagues as a starter, McClellan’s elbow problems in 2005 and 2006 drove him into a relief role with Palm Beach then Springfield upon his return in 2007. He began with Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery followed by nerve transposition surgery the following season (a procedure done two years later on both Carpenter and Albert Pujols).

        Despite never having appeared above Double-A, a strong and surprising performance in 2008 spring training camp (1.38 ERA in 13 innings) opened the way for McClellan to make the major league squad. He never returned to the minor leagues.

        Perhaps it was the uncertainty of his role a year ago, but his spring 2009 performance was quite the opposite. In fact, I seriously wondered at the time if McClellan would have made the Cardinals opening day roster had he not sufficiently proven himself in his rookie season of 2008.

        Last spring, he had just one start and made eight other Florida appearances in relief. McClellan was hit hard and often for 17 earned runs on 23 hits and eight walks in 17 innings. The math worked out to a tidy, though unsightly 9.00 ERA. In his defense, McClellan’s March troubles did not follow him north for the regular season as he slipped back into his familiar relief role.

        We will see between now and the start of April if McClellan is able to follow the clear path in front of him and solidify that fifth spot in the Cardinals rotation. While we don’t yet know for sure what his personal Plan “B” will be, if McClellan doesn’t make the rotation, I suspect he will be returned to his regular set up assignment rather than remain a starter down in Triple-A Memphis.

        A year ago, I backed the idea of the Cardinals making the full commitment to McClellan starting. Assuming the major league pen is strong this spring, I would still be in favor of continuing to let him start. Since the Cardinals believe McClellan has starter’s stuff, then why wouldn’t the best long-term approach for everyone involved be to allow him more than a month of spring training to either prove or disprove it once and for all?

        If one of the top five in the Cardinals rotation go down during the first half, an experienced major leaguer could be ready to be promoted and step in. Worst case, even if the experiment is still not working after a dozen or so Triple-A starts, McClellan could always be returned to the major league pen, serving as a nice, low-cost boost for the stretch run.

        Yet I don’t think they would consider having him intern as a starter in the minors this year any more than they did last. Even if he is not an immediate success starting, based on past work, McClellan will most likely remain one of the best seven relievers in the eyes of Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan. As such, his spot on the major league roster seems written in ink, even as his 2010 role remains open.

        In other words, while McClellan prefers to start, he may only have a month of play to prove he is up to the task.

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        Albert Pujols: On his contract

        Wanting to set the record straight about his contract status, the Cardinals first baseman takes his story directly to the fans.

          In an interview that is unusual in its length, 21 minutes, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols sat down with Katie Felts from KSDK NewsChannel 5 the other day and covered a wide variety of topics.

          Albert Pujols (KSDK)As this did not receive nearly as much coverage as some of the reports it intended to address, I am including the video here, as well as a brief summary.

          Set at his workout facility, Pujols begins with a review of his off-season training schedule and his winter routine. The discussion moves to the Cardinals prospects for 2010, his view of Mark McGwire’s return and some of his great teammates in the past.

          In an interesting reply, Albert avoided accepting the idea that the addition of Matt Holliday helped him personally, but did acknowledge the outfielder helped the team. Pujols relates how he told Jim Edmonds that the latter’s decision not to play last season was “a mistake” and offers a scouting report after having worked out with the new Brewers outfielder for two weeks.

          Pujols then joked about his retirement day in 10-15 years. At that point, about 17 minutes in, he reiterated his desire to retire as a Cardinal. He mentioned several times this is a business.

          Rather than risk misrepresenting Pujols, what follows are his direct comments concerning his future intentions and how the subject is being covered by the media.

          “…The fans have embraced me. Playing in front of the best fans in baseball, I don’t think I can play anyplace else.

          “Somebody wrote something a couple of weeks ago in an article about me that I don’t mind playing somewhere else. That is not what I said. What I said is that if I become a free agent, I am not going to sit down in my house. I love this game. I need to play somewhere. If the Cardinals don’t give me the opportunity to keep playing, it will have to be somewhere else to play.

          “The headline was ‘Albert Pujols doesn’t mind playing somewhere else,’ like that I want to leave. C’mon guys. That is getting old. I hope you can play this piece tonight. It is getting old about my contract because it is not about me. I still got a couple of years left here. Do I want to be here? Yes. I want to be here forever. I want to finish my career here… Why would I want to go somewhere else?

          “I think the fans need to understand that and sometimes don’t read too much what the papers say, you know, because they just want to create headlines to try to sell papers, you know. I feel sad that sometimes the fans get caught up into all of that…”

          Pujols reiterated what he said his agent had made clear earlier – that Holliday’s decision was not a part of his own decision. This was in the context of whether he played a personal role in Holliday’s signing, a suggestion he waved off. Pujols closed the contract discussion with this remark.

          “…Why keep talking about something that isn’t going to happen for two years? I mean maybe talking for about the last year and a half. Another headline about ‘Albert Pujols Leaving St. Louis’. I ain’t going nowhere for two years, and hopefully, I ain’t going nowhere for the rest of my career.”

          I could not find a headline similar to what Pujols quoted, but here is the link to the article to which I suspect he was referring. It was from the Post-Dispatch, dated January 18 and entitled “El Hombre in No Rush for Extension”. As a point of comparison, another very different account of Pujols’ remarks was posted the same day at the Globe-Democrat.

          The story continues as Joe Strauss noted in his weekly chat Wednesday that the Cardinals have “engaged Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano, in contract talks.” As one would expect, neither side immediately commented.

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          Cardinals to appear eight times on FOX Network in 2010

          FOX Sports will carry eight St. Louis Cardinals Saturday afternoon games during the 2010 season.

            MLB on FOX NetworkThough the St. Louis Cardinals official spring training and regular season broadcast schedule may be a week or more away from announcement, we are starting to get a partial view, led by eight confirmed games on the FOX Network.

            In addition, in 2010, FOX Sports’ 15th straight season as the national broadcast home of MLB, the network will cover the All-Star Game from Anaheim, California, the National League Championship Series and the World Series.

            2010 MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE (Cardinals subset)

            (Note: Schedule Subject to Change; All Times 4:00 PM Eastern Unless Noted)

            Saturday, April 10, 2010 (*3:00 PM ET)
            St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers

            Saturday, April 17, 2009
            New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals

            Saturday, May 29, 2010
            St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

            Saturday, June 5, 2010
            Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals

            Saturday, July 3, 2010
            Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals

            Saturday, July 17, 2010
            Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals

            Saturday, August 14, 2010
            Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals

            Saturday, September 11, 2010
            St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves

            Click here to see the entire 2010 FOX Network MLB schedule.

            Previously disclosed: In addition to opening day at Cincinnati on Monday, April 5, ESPN will carry these early-season Cardinals Sunday night games: April 11 at Milwaukee and April 18 vs. the New York Mets.

            For a preliminary view of Cardinals spring training broadcasts, click here.

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            Current Cardinals heritage spans eight decades

            Those working for and around the St. Louis Cardinals today reach back to the 1940’s.

              Nothing particularly profound coming in this post. I was just thinking about the recent departure of the longest-tenured St. Louis Cardinals player, Rick Ankiel. He just missed having been a three-decade Cardinal, and was the last link to the 1990’s as an active player. The newest member of the Kansas City Royals made his major league debut with St. Louis in 1999.

              Mark McGwire / Rick Ankiel Upper Deck 2000 cardAs one player from the 1990’s departed, another returned as a coach as Mark McGwire restored his tie to a pair of earlier decades of Cardinals history. To that end, I jotted down a list of people with and around the organization as part of their job today, in and out of uniform, and their first decade of major league Cardinals service.

              Albert Pujols, who joined the team on opening day 2001, has become the dean of the current players in terms of service with St. Louis, but of course Red Schoendienst has been around the longest. Red, a special assistant to the general manager, made his St. Louis debut in 1945. As such, he has now been with the organization at the major league level in parts of eight different decades.

              The first decade of appearance in the Cardinals major league uniform is noted below. There has been at least one arrival during each ten-year period since the 1940’s.

              1940’s: Red Schoendienst

              1950’s: Bob Gibson

              1960’s: Mike Shannon, Lou Brock

              1970’s: Al Hrabosky

              1980’s: Jose Oquendo, Rick Horton, Mike Jorgensen, Jack Clark

              1990’s: Andy Benes, Alan Benes, Mark McGwire, Tony La Russa, Dave McKay, Dave Duncan

              2000’s: Too many to count

              Did I miss anyone who once wore the major league uniform and is employed in some capacity around the team today? Sound off below.

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              Projected Top Five St. Louis Cardinals Stories of 2010

              A look ahead to the top projected stories across the Cardinal Nation in 2010.

                First, we looked at the top 20 stories affecting the St. Louis Cardinals this past year. Now it is time to predict the top story lines for 2010 as well.

                Cardinals clinch 2009 NL Central Division (AP photo)Right up front, I will set aside the easiest and most logical entry – the results of the 2010 team on the field. The nature of that story has yet to be determined, shaped by the items discussed here and many more plotlines not yet developed.

                Another top story I will not be including is the signing of Matt Holliday. It occurred on January 5, so technically would qualify as a 2010 story, but the reality is that the excitement was quickly over in this calendar year. Now, Mr. Holliday simply needs to produce – for the next seven or eight years.

                As I developed my list and their ranking, I considered the staying power of the story, how long it might remain in the headlines, as well as its potential impact on the 2010 Cardinals and the organization’s future.

                Without further ado, here are my projected top five St. Louis Cardinals stories of 2010. As always, your comments are welcome below.

                5. Continued closer concern?

                Ryan Franklin did a fine job closing games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009, far better than his career norms would suggest. He was an All-Star for the first time, was the August Delivery Man of the Month for MLB and came in second for the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year.

                Yet Franklin faltered down the stretch and through the far-too-brief post-season. Possible reasons offered up revolved around fatigue and overwork rather than a new contract. Yet to date, the team has not added any external proven relief help for 2010 and is making rumblings they may not. If a Plan “B” is needed for the ninth inning, its details remain cloudy.

                Perhaps Franklin will surprise as he did in 2009, providing stability to a questionable situation coming into the season. Or perhaps the law of averages will catch up with the veteran right-hander, who turns 37 years of age during the first week of March.

                4. Will Freese ice down third base?

                When compiling the Cardinals top prospect list at the main The Cardinal Nation site as I do each winter, it struck me that our rankings named five different individuals as the organization’s top third base prospect over the last five years.

                In the past, when Scott Rolen anchored the position in the majors every year, it didn’t matter, but times have changed. With now-departed Troy Glaus missing most of 2009, third base became the weakest link on the entire team offensively. It also had the most uncertainty, with seven different players receiving regular-season starts at the position – and that didn’t include Joe Mather, once the leader during spring training.

                David Freese heads into camp for the second consecutive spring as the favorite to take the job, but is hardly a lock. Many observers, myself included, believe the team needs to add a veteran as insurance in case Freese has a meltdown either on the field or off.

                While there are plenty of options around, including Allen Craig, Julio Lugo, Ruben Gotay, Tyler Greene and Mather, none are likely considered starting material at third base. Further, there is no obvious help at the position in the upper levels of the minor league system.

                On the other hand, if Freese demonstrates he can handle the job, the Cardinals could have as much as five more years of cost-controlled stability at an important position that was a major problem for them in 2009.

                3. La Russa’s future plans

                Now 65 year-old, previously-ageless Tony La Russa has begun to publicly admit the inevitable – that he will not manage forever. In taking several weeks to decide whether or not to return in 2010 and then accepting only a one-year contract, La Russa made that clear.

                Bringing Mark McGwire back into baseball provided a new vehicle for the fiery La Russa to keep his us-against-the-world competitive juices flowing. His ongoing, unwavering and at times, irrational support of his former slugger and new hitting coach is keeping him on the hot seat.

                By ownership shelling out the money to re-sign Matt Holliday and add Brad Penny, La Russa has been presented with a club that comes into the season with high expectations. If the team does well and presents La Russa with his third World Series championship, the temptation to ride out on top may be too tempting to pass up.

                Yet if the backfire from the McGwire move continues and/or his loaded 2010 team struggles, might La Russa decide to call it quits?

                The manager comes into the season 211 wins short of John McGraw for second on MLB’s all-time list. I tend to side with those who think La Russa will remain in the dugout at least long enough to achieve 212 victories.

                Another way to look at it is that Albert Pujols will presumably stay in St. Louis at least two more years. It is hard to come up with a strong case that La Russa would yet walk away from a player who one day may become the greatest in the history of the franchise and one of the best ever to play the game.

                2. The McGwire reaction

                The return of McGwire from self-imposed isolation was a risky move from the start. La Russa wanted it and ownership agreed. Despite high-profile external crisis-management assistance, the rollout of McGwire’s apology for steroid use did not go well. His credibility remains in question in many corners and as such, he remains a divisive figure both within the Cardinal Nation and across baseball as a whole.

                If the 2010 Cardinals get off to a fast start with their bats, the pressure may diminish a bit and if the hitters are viewed to be successful all season long, McGwire will be singled out for a considerable helping of praise. On the other hand, if the offense falters early, the entire season could tip over what on the surface was the simple hire of a hitting coach.

                If the going remains tough, could any of the principals involved, La Russa, Bill DeWitt/John Mozeliak or McGwire himself, decide to pull the plug? If La Russa decides to retire from managing after the season, what will McGwire do? Finally, as 2010 nears its close, national writers will again be faced with the question of whether or not to vote for McGwire for the Hall of Fame, rekindling heat on this story.

                1. Pujols’ pending payday

                With ownership’s commitment to spend at least $120 million additional on Holliday, Pujols’ previously-expressed concern over whether there will continue to be a competitive team around him in the future should have been answered. Granted, the first baseman has two more years on his current contract, but his post-Holliday signing comments were both encouraging (wants to remain a Cardinal, will consider a discount) and concerning (no issue with testing the free agent market if necessary) at the same time.

                Pujols said he is willing to entertain contract talks until the season begins but not during. As such, if a deal is not done soon, the buzz will quiet until October. By that time, as a player with ten years in the majors, five with the same team, Pujols could not be traded without his consent, an unlikely occurrence anyway.

                With the Cardinals already set to remain pretty much intact for 2011, the noise over Pujols’ future plans could reach a deafening level come fall. Unresolved, his contract status could become the biggest story of all for the 2010 Cardinals and has the potential to remain there for the next year, too.

                Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                Rochester group increases share of money-losing Batavia Muckdogs

                Each year Rochester Community Baseball operates the Batavia Muckdogs, they pick up five percent ownership – but there is a catch.

                  Batavia residents might have breathed a sigh of relief last week when the impending move of a New York-Penn League team to Norwalk, Connecticut for the 2010 season was finally announced and it wasn’t their Muckdogs packing their bags. Instead, the citizens of Oneonta, New York lost their minor league treasure, as the Tigers will be on the move.

                  Batavia MuckdogsAny euphoria in the upstate New York burg may have been extremely short-lived, however. On Saturday, at least one uneasy shareholder at the annual meeting of the Muckdogs’ funding source, Rochester Community Baseball (RCB), was asking tough questions about Batavia’s professional baseball future.

                  In their two years of operating the St. Louis Cardinals affiliate in Batavia, RCB has lost just under $400,000 in the venture, roughly $250,000 the first season and $150,000 in 2009. This has pulled the larger entity, which operates the Rochester Red Wings of the International League, into the red for the first time since 1997. While RCB leaders assure constituents the Triple-A franchise remains their priority, continued losses for both clubs will only increase the level of protest.

                  In a very interesting disclosure, RCB president Gary Larder explained that the Muckdogs’ owner, Genesee County Baseball Club, is ceding RCB five percent equity in the team for every season RCB operates it – if the team is sold. With a commitment already in place to operate the Muckdogs in 2010, the Rochester share of ownership will grow to 15 percent this year.

                  If one assumes the franchise is worth $4 million to $5 million, RCB could net $600,000 to $750,000 from a sale of the Muckdogs next winter. That would be enough to cover a potential third year of continued losses in 2010 and perhaps even allow for a small profit if the flow of red ink can be stemmed this season.

                  As reported by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Larder said the following. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen with Batavia.”

                  Apparently nobody does. There is no indication the Batavians want to sell their team anytime soon and unlock RCB’s slowly-growing share. At this rate, they will still own the majority of the team for six more years.

                  It is unclear what RCB gets if they decide to walk away before then. Are they essentially stuck in an arrangement that forces them to operate the team until they gain over 50 percent ownership before they could collect their ownership stake and get out? Would they and their shareholders be willing to endure potentially ten years of losses?

                  Apparently none of the shareholders posed these questions on Saturday.

                  Perhaps Genesee County Baseball Club remains satisfied to watch their share erode at the rate of five percent per year. Maybe the local community will get sufficiently behind the team that it finally makes money for RCB, alleviating some of their shareholder pressure.

                  Even if so, this arrangement seems only to be buying Batavia ownership time until the day finally comes when they can no longer live off their equity.

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                  Reviewing the predictions: TCN Blog’s top five Cardinals stories of 2009

                  A look back at the top projected stories across the Cardinal Nation in 2009 from one year ago.

                    A little over a year ago, last January 3, I published my predictions of what I thought would evolve into the top five stories across the Cardinal Nation in 2009. With the benefit of full hindsight, including the top 20 stories of 2009 countdown finally in the books, this is a look back at my initial forecast.

                    The original top five projections follow, along with where the stories actually ended up, including links to the before and after articles. I won’t be repeating my 2009 summaries here, so click on the links if you’d like to read the detailed stories.

                    2009 prediction story Prediction rank Actual rank 2009 actual story
                    Lame duck La Russa 1 5 The successful odd couple – Mo and TLR
                    Chris Carpenter’s health 2 3 Cy close and closer
                    Calm or chaos at the closer’s position? 3 8 Franklin the finisher
                    The future of Rick Ankiel 4 16 Change in centerfield
                    When will Colby Rasmus arrive? 5 16 Change in centerfield

                    Generally speaking, none of the five stories I thought would grab the headlines in 2009 turned out to be as big as expected. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Let’s review each as several stories morphed into others.

                    1. Lame duck La Russa

                    Oddly enough, unlike in 2007, when Tony La Russa’s expiring contract seemed to hold an unusually-strong level of interest with the local scribes all summer long, it was not nearly as big of an issue in 2009. This was the case despite the fact his contract was again up following the season.

                    The relative calm may have been due to a combination of several factors, including the fast start of the 2009 team, which went 16-7 in April, as well as a divestiture of several veteran players over the last two years who clashed with the longtime skipper.

                    Certainly, the saga of the family Duncan (2009 story #12) added to the La Russa uncertainty but also in a way diverted attention from La Russa personally. When push came to shove, Tony took his first-ever one-year contract to return for 2010.

                    With the controversy over the return of Mark McGwire added to the mix, La Russa’s future should again remain a curiosity during the 2010 season and into the fall.

                    2. Chris Carpenter’s health

                    While this was a non-story, a good thing, the fact is that Carpenter’s health was a major factor in 2009. Because the ace missed about five weeks due to an oblique strained in his second start of the season, he ended up making just 28 starts, compared to 32 to 34 for his Cy Young Award competitors.

                    Those voters who left Carpenter off their ballots entirely cited this as a reason for doing so and this most certainly affected other voters’ placement of Carpenter second or third instead of first or second.

                    As such, given Carp finished just seven points short of winning his second Cy Young, it is not a stretch at all to say his health cost him the award.

                    Of course, in the bigger picture, the injury was relatively insignificant. It was early in the season, during a time when the team was consistently winning and most importantly, neither lingered nor was connected to his past shoulder, elbow and nerve ailments. He still won 17 games, second-most in the NL behind teammate Adam Wainwright, and captured the league ERA title.

                    In his age 35 season, Carpenter’s continued well-being will remain a critical success factor for the 2010 Cardinals.

                    3.  Calm or chaos at the closer’s position?

                    Not only was the identity of the 2009 closer unknown last January, it still was unresolved as the season began. The main question was “Which of the young contenders would take the job, Jason Motte or Chris Perez?”

                    As we quickly learned, the answer was “neither”.

                    Motte owned the job for one game, a blown save on opening day. Perez was given his chances, but his inconsistency soon put him back in Memphis before being traded away. 36-year-old Ryan Franklin, the last man standing, took over and put together a fantastic season.

                    Yet a contract extension followed by a final-month failure which continued in the National League Division Series re-opened questions about the stability of the position in 2010. The Cardinals have reportedly assured Franklin that the job is his, but have also expressed concern over his supposed late-season fatigue and have at least thought about other options.

                    This story may be back in 2010.

                    4. The future of Rick Ankiel
                    5. When will Colby Rasmus arrive and who will play centerfield?

                    These two stories became intertwined. Yet even together, they placed just 16th in my final countdown.

                    Compared to the acrimonious end to 2008 spring training for Colby Rasmus, followed by an ineffective and injury-plagued season with Memphis, 2009 seemed calmer for the 22-year-old. His making the big league roster did not seem to be in jeopardy this past spring, but the concern was replaced by an uneasy competition with Rick Ankiel, a stated favorite of his manager and beloved by the fan base for his revival from numerous past setbacks.

                    As the season went on, illness and fatigue affected Rasmus as injury hampered Ankiel, yet their trajectory was very different. The latter continued in a downward spiral that ended in him leaving via free agency with no real attempt made to keep him after 13 years in the organization.

                    The former doubled Ankiel’s starts in centerfield, 104 to 52, and was one of the team’s post-season standouts. Rasmus is clearly the present and future, while Ankiel will forever hold memories of the past as well as the wonderment of what might have been.

                    Next up: In the final article of this series, I will outline my predictions for the top five Cardinals stories of 2010.

                    Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                    The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #1: The big trades

                    The addition of Mark DeRosa, then Matt Holliday defined the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals season.

                      Seeing a very legitimate chance of going deep into the playoffs and perhaps taking their second World Series in four years, the St. Louis Cardinals took a major risk on July 24 by trading for outfielder Matt Holliday. One month earlier, the club had added Mark DeRosa, who offered the promise of stability at third base and some immediate long ball pop.

                      Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)In acquiring the two veterans, both impending free agents, the organization paid a high price, giving up in return five players taken in the first two rounds of the 2006 through 2008 drafts. All were considered top organizational prospects, with three having made their MLB debuts, one in Triple-A and the other in Double-A at the time.

                      They included relievers Chris Perez and Jess Todd, sent to Cleveland for DeRosa plus starting pitcher Clayton Mortensen, outfielder Shane Peterson and the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2008, third baseman Brett Wallace, who went to Oakland in return for Holliday.

                      The return was immediate and noticeable.

                      When the former Cubs fan favorite DeRosa was added on June 27, the Cardinals had lost their first place status and were trending south. Though the third baseman contributed, he hit the disabled list by July 1 due to a wrist injury that required post-season surgery. Despite slamming eight home runs in his first 22 games with the club, DeRosa skidded to a .228 average by season’s end.

                      By the time the Holliday deal was announced on July 24, the team had a precarious lead of just 1 ½ games. The Cards would go on to win 39 and lose 25 over the remainder of the regular season for a post-Holliday winning percentage of .609. They were the first to clinch and their final divisional cushion was a comfortable 7 ½ games after having reached a high-water mark of 11 1/2 games out front in early September.

                      Holliday offered what the Cardinals had been lacking and what caused manager Tony La Russa to campaign for his addition for several years, a legitimate clean-up hitter behind Albert Pujols.

                      Pujols’ rate of intentional walks had been an increasing problem as more and more National League managers decided to avoid giving Pujols a chance to beat them. That changed once Holliday arrived. The rate of Pujols’ intentional walks was more than cut in half once Holliday was batting behind him.

                      Pujols could not be pitched around as Holliday was on fire, batting .357 with 13 home runs and 57 RBI in just 63 games with St. Louis. Holliday’s total of 12 game-winning RBI was second-highest on the team. Pujols had 19, but it took him all season to accumulate them. At his new home, Busch Stadium, Holliday was even better, batting .385 (50-for-130) with nine home runs and 35 RBI in 34 games.

                      The success did not continue in the post-season, however. With Los Angeles manager Joe Torre avoiding Pujols, Holliday didn’t make the Dodgers pay. He batted just 2-for-12 (.167) in the three NLDS defeats, and did not immediately atone for his game 2 fielding error that turned a sure win into a loss. In the season-ending game 3 at home, Holliday went 0-for-4 with three left on base.

                      On the other hand, DeRosa, still dealing with the wrist problem, went 5-for-13 (.385) against the Dodgers, second to Colby Rasmus among the Cardinals starters.

                      Following the season, St. Louis offered both free agents arbitration, but they declined as expected. The Cardinals never seemed serious about re-signing DeRosa, instead likely using him as part of a fallback plan had they been unable to lure Holliday back.

                      Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, DeRosa signed a two-year contract with San Francisco prior to Holliday’s decision to remain a Cardinal for the next seven or eight years.

                      The Cardinals receive a compensatory pick in the 2010 draft for DeRosa’s departure, softening a bit of the blow of having yielded Perez and Todd. Yet the aggregate impact of the trades clearly weakened the Cardinals farm system with several years likely required to reload.

                      The acts of the trades as well as the subsequent financial commitment made to Holliday should have settled the lingering questions of some over Cardinals ownership’s commitment to win.

                      All in all, in my view, these bold trades and their subplots became the top story across the Cardinal Nation in 2009.

                      Next up: A look back at how my prediction from 12 months ago of the top five Cardinals stories of 2009 came to pass, followed by my look ahead to the top five Cardinals stories of 2010.

                      Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                      Counting down The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of 2009

                      Cards celebrate 2009 NL Central title (AP photo)It is once again time for my view of the top 20 stores across the St. Louis Cardinals Nation during this past year. The countdown begins with story number 20 and will continue until number one.

                      I will then wrap up the series with another repeat feature, my prediction for the top five Cardinals stories of 2010.

                      This placeholder post will carry the links to all 20 stories as well as last year’s articles.

                      The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of 2009

                      20. Wagner Mateo
                      19. Minors coaching turnover
                      18. Shelby Miller
                      17. John Smoltz
                      16. Change in centerfield
                      15. Shortstop shuffle
                       14. Whitey to the Hall
                       13. Memphis and Springfield success
                       12. Duncan’s disc, discord and departure
                      11. Third base turmoil
                       10. Kennedy’s final season Skip-ped
                      9. The return of Big Mac
                      8. Franklin the finisher
                      7. Penny for Pineiro
                      6. The successful odd couple – Mo and TLR
                      5. The failed finish
                      4. Holliday’s free agent romp
                      3. Cy close and closer
                      2. The repeat MVP
                      1. The big trades

                      Reviewing the predictions: TCN Blog’s top five Cardinals stories of 2009
                      Projected top five St. Louis Cardinals stories of 2010

                      From January 2009

                      Top 20 Cardinals Stories of 2008: #16-20
                      Top 20 Cardinals Stories of 2008: #11-15
                      Top 20 Cardinals Stories of 2008: #6-10
                      Top 20 Cardinals Stories of 2008: #1-5
                      Projected top five St. Louis Cardinals stories of 2009

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                      Descalso to get shot at third base?

                      One report has St. Louis Cardinals second base prospect Daniel Descalso joining the spring third base scrum, but it seems an isolated thought.

                      I have received several queries regarding a comment from the most recent installment of his always-informative Wednesday weekly chats in which Post-Dispatch writer Joe Strauss made this statement:

                      “Descalso and David Freese are the only LISTED third baseman so far due in camp.” (caps are Strauss’ emphasis)

                      If true, this position change would be new and significant news, as several minor league-knowledgeable readers noted.

                      Daniel Descalso (Brian Walton photo)Spring training rosters released this week by the Cardinals only group Daniel Descalso with the infielders, without specifying position. The 23-year-old will be attending his first major league spring training camp after having been added to the 40-man roster in November.

                      Our 10th-ranked Cardinals prospect at TheCardinalNation.com/Scout.com does have some experience at the position defensively, but it was three years ago. In his 2007 professional debut, Descalso spent about 2/3 of his time at third base (47 games) with the rest (23 games) at second between Batavia and Quad Cities. That is the last time he had meaningful time at the hot corner.

                      The next season, he was almost exclusively a second baseman between Palm Beach and Springfield (110 games), with a bit of time at short (a dozen contests) and a pair of token appearances at third. In 2009, he was exclusively a second baseman with the exception of 21 at-bats taken while a fill-in at first base. Descalso also played second base with Team USA and in the Arizona Fall League after leaving the Memphis club.

                      Daniel Descalso (Brian Walton photo)Offensively, Descalso would seem to be lacking in what is traditionally expected from a third baseman. Short of his very hot first half in 2009 with Springfield, he has not stood out with the bat. His career minor league OPS is .746 and he has just 18 home runs in 1277 plate appearances as a professional.

                      In a Thursday off-line exchange, Strauss referenced an item at the ESPN site labeling Descalso at third base. I was unable to find that in a brief search, and in ESPN’s Keith Law’s top ten Cardinals rankings coincidentally released Thursday (ESPN Insider content), Descalso is listed at his normal second base position. It may not matter as Strauss acknowledges whatever he read may simply be someone’s projection.

                      Actually, as Strauss pointed out, Descalso not being at third would only strengthen his central point. Other than Freese, there is not another player on the major-league roster or invitee list with third base as his primary position. Of course, there is still time to address it, though I doubt it will be with Descalso, who is realistically a year away. At this point, he is the longest of long shots to make the 2010 Cardinals out of spring training at any position. Just to make sure though, I have a query in to the Cardinals. If I receive an unexpected positive response, I will ensure I share it here.

                      In-house reserve options in big league camp may include Joe Mather, Allen Craig, Ruben Gotay, Julio Lugo and Tyler Greene. Starting third baseman Brendan Ryan also has played some third base in the majors. None are likely considered third base starting material if Freese fails or is injured.

                      Some combination of the above along with recently-signed minor league journeyman infielder Kevin Howard will likely man third base in Memphis in 2010. Howard did not score a big league camp invitation.

                      Free agents still on the market capable of playing third each have questions. They include Joe Crede (health), Felipe Lopez (money) and Melvin Mora (age and money). Others without jobs for 2010 now listed as first basemen who played third in their younger, healthier days include Russell Branyan, Hank Blalock, Nomar Garciaparra and Greg Norton. Hardly an inspiring lot.

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                      The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #2: The repeat MVP

                      The continued greatness of Albert Pujols was not taken for granted as he earned his third NL Most Valuable Player Award in 2009.

                        One year ago, Albert Pujols’ status for 2009 was under question. He had undergone nerve transposition surgery in his right, throwing elbow before officially collecting the 2008 National League Most Valuable Player Award, his second. By January, pain in the same elbow due to bone spurs led him to require a cortisone injection.

                        Albert Pujols (AP Photo/Al Behrman)Just as always since Pujols’ 2001 arrival, the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals needed their first baseman to have a competitive club. He did not disappoint, getting out of the gate quickly, winning the April NL Player of the Month honors while leading the Cards to a 16-7 start.

                        Pujols added one more chapter to his growing legend by breaking the letter “I” in the Big Mac Land sign in left field with a May 21 home run. He put together a record-breaking first half that culminated in him being voted to start in the All-Star Game at Busch Stadium.

                        Pujols led the Cardinals offense as he has done for nine seasons. In 2009, he was first in the major leagues in runs (124), on-base percentage (.443) and slugging (.658).

                        Though he endured a career-long home run drought that began on September 9, Pujols still hit a career-high 47 home runs, becoming just the second Cardinal (Mark McGwire, 1998-99) since 1940 (Johnny Mize) to lead Major League Baseball. His .327 average paced the Cardinals for a ninth consecutive season, something no other player has ever done.

                        Perhaps most impressive was Pujols’ 2009 production with the bases loaded. He batted 10-for-17 (.588) in that situation, setting team single-season (five) and career (11) records for grand slams.

                        Especially prior to the arrival of Matt Holliday, Pujols was pitched around often. Albert collected a team single-season record (44) intentional walks, surpassing his record 34 from the 2008 season. This also set the MLB record for right-handed hitters.

                        Defensively, Pujols continued to stand out, breaking the MLB record with 185 assists as a first baseman, despite continued elbow soreness due to bone spurs that required post-season surgery. He secured the record on the final day of the season, surpassing Boston’s Bill Buckner (184 in 1985).

                        On the bases, Pujols led the Cardinals club and all MLB first basemen with 16 stolen bases. He became just the second player in MLB history to have 100 RBI in each of first nine seasons, joining Hall of Famer Al Simmons (11).

                        In fact, Pujols is the National League’s Triple Crown winner for the decade, leading in batting average (.334), home runs (366) and RBI (1,112) despite playing in just the final nine seasons.

                        Concerns over Pujols’ elbow resurfaced on October 21, as he made the decision to undergo surgery to have the bone spurs removed from his right elbow. It was feared by some that Pujols might require immediate Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, which would have knocked him out of action for at least the first half of the 2010 season.

                        Instead, famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Alabama said Pujols’ ligament was in good enough shape that he would not need replacement surgery. This was great news, and contrary to previous belief that it would be required at some point to address the problem that first surfaced in 2003.

                        His post-season awards were numerous, including Player of the Year Awards from Sporting News and Players Choice, The Hank Aaron Award, another Silver Slugger Award and of course, his second consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Award. All 32 voters placed Pujols first on their ballot. In the process, Pujols tied the great Stan Musial with his third MVP Award, most ever by a Cardinal.

                        For a look at Pujols’ 2009 compared to the rest of his stellar career, check out my October article at The Cardinal Nation entitled, “Scout.com Cardinals 2009 Player of the Year”.

                        Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                        Cardinals spring training rosters and numerology

                        New and changed uniform numbers for players invited to St. Louis Cardinals major league spring training.

                          On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that 17 non-roster invitees (NRIs) will be attending spring training camp along with the 38 players already on the 40-man roster. As always, there are two places to get the ongoing scoop on which players are where.

                          The roster pages at The Cardinal Nation/Scout.com have a wealth of free information. For example, here is the St. Louis 2010 page. Generally, the players there are the ones that are either on major league deals or ended the 2009 season in the majors. The other spring invitees are sprinkled throughout the Memphis and Springfield roster pages.

                          Be aware that Scout has not flipped the default view of rosters over to 2010, so you will have to use the dropdown box to get the current year. I have freshened the free player pages for 2010 for all 300 Cardinals players under contract. You’ll see all articles related to the players, links to stat sites, scouting video for many players, current bios and multiple years of season highlights and many photos. I continue to believe this is an underutilized resource as there is nowhere on the web where this much information about a player can be found in one place.

                          The other ongoing source is the roster matrix, still maintained right here. At this point of the year, I am not worried terribly about minor league levels. I am more focused on keeping every name current. All of the 38 players on the 40-man roster are in bold and the 17 NRIs are in italics. The matrix will come in even handier once the season begins when you want to see the entire system in one place.

                          For those interested, here are some spring training uniform numbers of interest for those attending the MLB camp. By default, many of them, especially the NRIs, will be on the move soon, so most of their player pages have not been changed to reflect these transient numbers:

                          40-man roster (where there are high numbers and/or changes)

                          54 Jaime Garcia
                          65 Ben Jukich
                          71 Tyler Norrick
                          75 Adam Ottavino
                          33 Brad Penny
                          73 Francisco Samuel
                          62 P.J. Walters
                          67 Bryan Anderson
                          83 Mark Hamilton
                          66 Allen Craig
                          7 Matt Holliday
                          68 Jon Jay
                          84 Daryl Jones
                          22 Joe Mather
                          64 Shane Robinson
                          34 Nick Stavinoha

                          NRIs

                          48 Rich Hill
                          70 Lance Lynn
                          76 Evan MacLane
                          77 Pete Parise
                          78 Oneli Perez
                          72 Fernando Salas
                          79 Eduardo Sanchez
                          99 Charlie Zink
                          80 Tony Cruz
                          81 Charles Cutler
                          82 Steven Hill
                          86 Robert Stock
                          87 Daniel Descalso
                          3 Ruben Gotay
                          88 Pete Kozma
                          89 Donovan Solano
                          74 Tyler Henley

                          For those subscribers interested in the minor leagues, I have posted the minors spring training schedules and notification of four new signees on the main The Cardinal Nation home page. Next up for The Cardinal Nation subscribers will be the minor league spring camp invitees.

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                          When Musial didn’t wear number 6

                          A search through baseball history is underway to identify a most unusual Stan Musial photo.

                            Albert Pujols, spring training 2001 (Getty Images)What if the greatest St. Louis Cardinals player ever, Stan Musial, didn’t always wear number 6 as has been reported for the last 70 years? It would be akin to catching Albert Pujols sporting something other than 5, a number that seems destined one day to be retired alongside Musial’s 6.

                            Actually, the latter did occur. It was during in spring training 2001 when the then-relatively unknown Pujols was assigned number 68. The attached photo offers proof. Of course, that didn’t last long as Albert soon stormed onto the major league scene, assigned his familiar number 5 forever more.

                            My Monday and Tuesday was turned upside down upon receiving a note Mike Oasheim sent to SABR member Mark Stang. Oasheim enclosed a photo from The Baseball Magazine supplement of young Musial. It was taken by well-known photographer William C. Greene of The New York World-Telegram and copyrighted in 1942.

                            Stan is not wearing number 6.

                            The mystery Musial photoGreene is very familiar to Stang, the latter being the author of numerous books, including a Cardinals photo history entitled “Cardinals Collection, 100 Years of St. Louis Cardinals Photos”. Based on having viewed hundreds of the Greene’s photos, Stang observes that the photographer did all of his work in New York at either the Polo Grounds or Yankee Stadium.

                            Number 18 or 19

                            This sent an army of SABR members and researchers scurrying off to access Cardinals schedules, scorecards, box scores and rosters to try to determine when Stan would have been photographed in New York’s Polo Grounds against the Giants in late 1941 or during 1942 and when he might have worn number 18 or 19.

                            This seems an impossible task. That is about the time I joined the search.

                            When Musial came up to the Cardinals late in 1941, he was immediately assigned number 6, never to wear another jersey. I have seen this written about in many places, including at least three books. I re-confirmed with Cardinals Museum curator Paula Homan Tuesday morning that Stan always wore number 6 with St. Louis.

                            To date, all information unearthed by SABR members affirm Musial’s use of number 6 when playing in New York. Further, 1942 scorecards identify Cardinals Lon Warneke and Harry Gumbert as having worn the numbers in question in the games in question, Stang notes.

                            The Rochester theory

                            Musial’s uniform looks like the standard issue Cardinals wools from that timeframe, but the front is obscured by his swing. Something else looked odd to me. As I zoomed in on the cap logo, it was clear that it is not the standard “StL”. It is a bird.

                            I immediately wondered it might be a Rochester Red Wings cap. Just prior to joining the Cardinals late in the 1941 season, Stan played for the International League Red Wings, then St. Louis’ top minor league affiliate.

                            After Musial joined the Wings, I found a reference to him playing in Jersey City in front of GM Branch Rickey. In addition, Stang noted the Wings faced Newark in the 1941 IL post-season. Photographer Greene might easily have been dispatched from nearby New York, especially to cover the playoffs. The Newark Bears were the top Yankees’ farm club and had a most-impressive 100-54 record heading into the post-season.

                            The Red Wings are still in business today and though they are no longer associated with the Cardinals, they are a member of the family in a way. Rochester Community Baseball, the parent of the Wings, the Twins Triple-A affiliate, operates the Cardinals New York-Penn League affiliate, the Batavia Muckdogs.

                            Chuck Hinkel, the very helpful Wings PR director, has no record of what number Stan wore in 1941, but after reviewing the cap and jersey, he verified they do not match Rochester garb of the era. Hinkel also contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for assistance, but they have no photos of Musial as a Red Wing that indicate his uniform number.

                            The spring training theory

                            After I unearthed several other photos of Musial wearing a similar bird-logoed cap in spring training 1942 and Stang checked other archives, he gravitated to thinking that was the date of the photo. Stang cited the wooden supports of the grandstand roof in the background suggesting a minor league setting rather than a major league park.

                            Certainly trying to identify the background would help, but lacking specifics, we don’t know if the minor league park was in Florida rather than New Jersey. If the former, then we would also need to solve the mystery of why the New York photographer would have been in Florida when there is apparently no other record of him having shot photos there.

                            Then, of course, there is the question of why Musial would be wearing a number other than 6 in 1942 spring training after he had already played the final weeks of the 1941 major league season with 6 on his back.

                            Yet the idea of Stan wearing a higher number in spring training is hardly out of the question. What if it wasn’t in 1942 when he was already a major leaguer, but was earlier?

                            The Man’s man

                            I contacted Dick Zitzmann, Musial’s personal representative. He asserts the major league team wore the bird-logoed caps in that era and believes the photo is from spring training 1941.

                            Like the rest of this hunt, I am not so sure.

                            It seems less likely to me that Musial would justify an individual photo shoot in spring 1941, as he was considered a struggling low-level minor league player at the time. Musial, who was in the very early stages of trying to handle a conversion from pitching to the outfield after injuring his arm the previous summer, was reportedly worried he might be released. Biographies note that he was unwanted by the Cardinals’ A and B level clubs coming out of spring training 1941.

                            At best, Musial seemed destined to return to Class D for a fourth season after having pitched there the previous three seasons until Springfield’s Ollie Vanek agreed to take Stan for his Class C club in 1941. Vanek helped teach Stan how to play the outfield. Musial would excel most of the summer there (MO) before being promoted to Rochester, then ultimately St. Louis before the 1941 season ended.

                            I am hoping we can get Musial’s own view, but I don’t yet know about that.

                            More to come….

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                            The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #3: Cy close and closer

                            Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright led the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff all season long but fell short in individual recognition.

                              As St. Louis Cardinals fans know too well, their co-aces, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, finished second and third in the 2009 National League Cy Young Award voting, collecting 94 and 90 points respectively. In one of the closest three-way races ever, San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum won with 100 points in the Baseball Writers Association of America balloting.

                              Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) The Cardinals two were absolutely crucial in the 91-win season posted by their over-achieving 2009 club. The two are at opposite ends of the career spectrum. Carpenter is 34, having become a professional back in 1994 while the 28-year-old Wainwright just completed his third season as a major league starter.

                              With just one more win, Wainwright would have reached the magic 20-win plateau that could have iced his Cy Young. He came very close. In fact, had Wainwright not been let down by his teammates in his final start, he would have been just the ninth major league pitcher this decade to win at least 20 games, fan 200 or more and post an ERA of 3.00 or less. He achieved two of three, but finished with 19 wins.

                              Those 19 victories were tops in the league as were his 233 innings pitched. It was the first time in a quarter century that a Cardinal led the NL in innings (Joaquin Andujar in 1984). Wainwright’s 34 starts were a career high.

                              Wainwright’s 2.63 ERA was fourth-lowest in the league and his home ERA of 2.05 also ranked fourth. He had an impressive 26-game run of working at least six innings and a 13-game quality start streak.

                              As the season lengthened, Wainwright only got stronger. In his 18 starts from July 1, he went 11-3 with a 1.90 ERA. Over his last 22 starts, the team won 16 times and lost just six.

                              With his 2.24 ERA, Carpenter was the first Cardinals pitcher to take the NL ERA title since Joe Magrane in 1988. He allowed just seven home runs all season long, the lowest ratio per nine innings in the majors (0.33). His 1.78 walks per nine innings was the third-stingiest rate in the NL.

                              In arguably the most important contests, in the NL Central Division, Carp was a perfect 11-0. In those tilts, his ERA was 1.58 and he held opposing hitters to a collective .205 batting average.

                              Carp was also most effective during the heat of summer, ripping off an 11-game winning streak from July 5 through September 7. Overall, the Cardinals starter finished second in the NL in wins with 17.

                              Carpenter’s spectacular season was diminished in the eyes of voters because of an early-season oblique injury. He sat out exactly 30 contests after pitching in game nine of the Cardinals’ season and returning to the mound in game 40. As a result, he made just 28 starts compared to Wainwright’s 34.

                              Best of all, the two are under team control for at least the next three seasons, ensuring they will have the opportunity to continue to excel together.

                              Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                              McGwire needs to separate coaching from the Hall

                              Diffusing the ongoing outrage over Mark McGwire may require a clarification of the end objective.

                                As the divisive battles rage on over the status of former home run king-turned St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire, there is one perspective that I do not think is being fully understood.

                                McGwire's hallway press conference (Dustin Mattison photo)I see two main issues here that are tangled together. One is the acceptance of McGwire as the Cardinals new hitting coach. The other is his legacy in the game and his standing for Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

                                Personally, I think he has done enough to satisfy the former and I sense many agree. I think many in the national media are hung up on the latter because though that prism, McGwire did not do enough in their eyes to clear his name – not as a hitting coach, but as a former home run hero.

                                To date, Mac has been coy about the Hall of Fame, saying he is leaving it to the voters to decide. The writers then understandably want to know more about what he used, when he used it, etc. to try to determine how to assess his results.  They are clearly unconvinced by McGwire’s assertion that steroids did nothing to help his numbers. That is understandable.

                                Unless/until he can separate the two, the job and the Hall, I believe the controversy will continue.

                                Of course, that is easier said than done. McGwire has already made his statements and clarifications. He should have said that he has no way of knowing how steroids affected his results. That would have been believable, but it would have put his numbers into question (as if they weren’t already). There does not seem an easy way to backtrack. At this point, perhaps there is nothing McGwire can say to help his cause, especially if the past details he is avoiding are too damning.

                                That doesn’t mean there isn’t a way out.

                                Assuming McGwire does not want to provide specifics at the level the national press demands, one way to try to cut the ties would be to say, “I will not talk further about my past steroid use just to try to improve my Hall of Fame chances. I believe I have said enough to be allowed to become the Cardinals hitting coach. That is all I want.”

                                That would most likely cement his low vote totals into the future, but would return him to the more familiar world where “I am not here to talk about the past.” This would offer a safer port for Big Mac in the storm and perhaps allow him to carry out his new hitting coach assignment in some semblance of peace.

                                Having suggested that, we have no idea if McGwire is willing to chance giving up what remains of his legacy for this job. Yet the entire Cardinals community in its broadest sense (including ex-players, fans, etc.) has both dealt out and taken a lot of heat on his behalf with no end in sight. It may be time for McGwire himself to do something more to turn down some of that heat.

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                                The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #4: Holliday’s free agent romp

                                For the ongoing services of outfielder Matt Holliday, the St. Louis Cardinals and agent Scott Boras carried out an intricate dance for months.

                                  Making a quick playoff exit was not what the St. Louis Cardinals had in mind when giving up three top prospects for the final two and a half months of Matt Holliday’s expiring contract. Making matters even worse was the reality that the outfielder’s agent, Scott Boras, was plotting the course, a man with a well-deserved reputation for finding top dollar for his clients via free agency.

                                  John Mozeliak, Matt Holliday, Bill DeWitt Jr., 01/07/10 (AP/Jeff Roberson)The situation would remain front and center on the minds of the Cardinal Nation from July through the end of 2009. In fact, it remained topical right up until January 5, when Holliday came to terms on a new, seven-year, $120 million deal with an eighth-year option to remain with St. Louis.

                                  It was a long and painful journey to get there.

                                  From his very first meeting with the press as a Cardinal, a session I attended on July 24, Holliday was asked, then later asked and re-asked about his future plans. The now-30-year-old made it clear from the start that he was in no hurry to discuss a long-term contract.

                                  As the Cardinals season moved toward its close, it was unclear whether or not Boras and the club had yet spoken regarding the matter. On September 24, Boras laid down the law by telling the media he was looking for a Mark Teixeira-like, eight-year, $180 million deal for the man he labeled a “blue-collar superstar”.

                                  Holliday Cardinals futures took a severe beating in fan markets as a result. Into the off-season, Boras hoped to interest the deepest-pocketed teams in New York, Boston and Los Angeles in the bidding.

                                  By early November, when Holliday officially filed for free agency, the Cardinals had seemingly lost whatever small advantage they previously may have enjoyed. Holliday was rumored to have said he would not be giving the club preferential treatment. Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. acknowledged his Cardinals would not be the high bidder even as the Angels, Giants and Braves stated they were not interested.

                                  The Cardinals offered Holliday arbitration at the start of December, which was rejected as expected. Boras toughened his stance, pulling the St. Louis future of Albert Pujols into the fray. By mid-month, the Cards made their first reported formal offer, rumored to be five years at about $16 million per year, but apparently received no reply.

                                  As the Jason Bay talks with the Red Sox stumbled, that club expressed interest in Holliday. In fact, it later came out that Boston made him a five-year, $82.5 million offer before giving the same deal to pitcher John Lackey, who accepted. Their AL East competitors from New York never got into the mix, though the Mets at least tried to leverage Holliday in their own Bay negotiations before finally landing their initial target.

                                  As December came to a close, a rumor surfaced that Baltimore offered Holliday eight-years, $130 million guaranteed. A number of other sources, including the Orioles team president, shot down the report. In hindsight, a number of industry-watchers felt the Cardinals gave the outfielder too many years, therefore spending too much in total. Perhaps the Baltimore rumor hastened that.

                                  After a meeting between Cardinals executives and Boras in Austin, Texas the first weekend of January, it took only a few more days to lock down the deal, thus ending one of the most up-and-down free agent sagas the Cardinal Nation has ever had to endure – until Pujols nears free agency, that is…

                                  Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                                  The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #5: The failed finish

                                  The 2009 St. Louis Cardinals won their division handily, but carried a final-month slump into a quick post-season exit.

                                    Following the bold acquisition of outfielder Matt Holliday on July 24, the St. Louis Cardinals seemed virtually unstoppable. For the remainder of the regular season, the Cards would win 39 and lose 25 for a winning percentage of .609. They were the first to clinch and their final divisional cushion was a comfortable 7 ½ games. All seemed well.

                                    Yet in reality, there were two very different periods within that timeframe. From Holliday’s signing through a July in which only one opponent had a winning record at the time, the Cardinals would reach their high-water mark of the season on September 9. At that point, the club was 84-57, 27 games over .500 and 11 ½ games ahead in the division, both season-bests. The Holliday-led Cardinals were 32-11 (.744).

                                    From there through the end of the regular season, the Cardinals limped home with a 7-14 (.333) mark. The stretch included stinging losses such as the bullpen failure that cost Adam Wainwright his 20th win and likely the National League Cy Young Award. Closer Ryan Franklin, coming off being named the top NL reliever for August and celebrating the signing of a new contract, fell apart, picking up three blown saves and two losses during September.

                                    As a team, the Cardinals continued a disturbing pattern in 2009, still having not posted a winning September/October finish to the regular season since 2004. In taking the 2006 World Series, they were able to overturn their 12-16 final month as injured players came back online.

                                    The 2009 club had no such boost entering the National League Division Series against the 95-win Los Angeles Dodgers. Just a few more September victories would have enabled the 91-71 Cardinals to hold home-field advantage instead of the Dodgers.

                                    Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan had re-worked their rotation such that their co-aces, Chris Carpenter and Wainwright, would work games 1 and 2 in Los Angeles with 15-game winner Joel Pineiro ready to start game 3 at home.

                                    Dodgers manager Joe Torre neutralized the Cardinals offense by having his pitchers avoid confronting NL Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols. No one seemed able to pick up the slack. Matt Kemp’s two-run first-inning home run off Carpenter put the Cardinals in a game 1 hole from which they could never crawl out.

                                    Matt HollidayIn game 2, a tremendous start by Wainwright and the lead were wiped out by Holliday’s crucial error with two outs in the ninth inning when he dropped a ball lost in the Dodger Stadium lights. A Franklin lapse that followed seemed to finish off the Cardinals’ LDS chances.

                                    The offense continued its listless ways in game 3 at home against Vicente Padilla, a pitcher dumped by the Texas Rangers in August. The Cardinals tallied just one run in the final game of the Dodgers sweep, plating just six in total over the three losses.

                                    Since the Cardinals clinched the NL Central, they went a total of 1-9, including the post-season. They were swept for the first time ever in NLDS or NLCS play and for only the third time overall in the postseason. The 2009 Cardinals joined the 1928 club that was swept by the Yankees in the World Series as the only teams in franchise history to fail to win a playoff game.

                                    It was an extremely disappointing finish to what had appeared to be a most promising season.

                                    Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                                    The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #6: The successful odd couple, Mo and TLR

                                    Working together, the manager and GM brought great results for the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals.

                                      The two men with the highest-profile jobs running the St. Louis Cardinals on the field and off come from very different backgrounds.

                                      Tony La Russa and John MozeliakOne is a 65-year-old who has worn the uniform of a major league manager for over 30 years and is a future Hall of Famer. He has a pair of World Championships and over 2,500 career wins in the dugout, approaching half with St. Louis.

                                      The other is a quarter century younger, a man who worked his way up through the system to become the general manager of one of the most storied franchises in the history of Major League Baseball.

                                      It now seems longer ago than just two years when the former boss of both Tony La Russa and John Mozeliak was summarily fired. Then-general manager Walt Jocketty was responsible for bringing both men to St. Louis. La Russa arrived as field manager prior to the 1996 season, having worked with Jocketty in Oakland. Mozeliak served under Jocketty in Colorado and traveled with him when he joined the Cardinals the year prior to La Russa’s arrival.

                                      After internal political pressure over investment and protection of the player development pipeline hastened Jocketty’s departure following the 2007 season, an external GM search was fruitless. In-house candidate Mozeliak was charged with bringing all parties together while keeping the organization moving forward.

                                      Though the club missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2008, Mozeliak made great headway in laying the groundwork for the future. He signed co-ace Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina to smart long-term contracts and resolved a very challenging situation with Scott Rolen by swapping him to Toronto for Troy Glaus.

                                      No one can make perfect moves every time as Mozeliak gambled and lost on troubled shortstop Khalil Greene and seems to have overpaid for Kyle Lohse. Yet he also diffused two other potential clubhouse situations by moving Adam Kennedy and Chris Duncan.

                                      In 2009, Mozeliak’s in-season adjustments helped the Cardinals take their first division crown since 2006. He acquired Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa and Julio Lugo via trade, added John Smoltz and signed relievers Ryan Franklin and Trever Miller to contract extensions.

                                      While the organizational tension could have crushed their relationship, instead Mozeliak offers a calming influence behind the fiery La Russa. Sometimes it requires tact to diffuse La Russa dreams like signing Barry Bonds or having 46-year-old Mark McGwire appear as a pinch-hitter, yet Mo seems up for the job.

                                      Because La Russa has the decorated career and works for a perennial contender, it is more difficult for him to contend for game-wide recognition. Yet he was close to receiving the Manager of the Year Award in a sixth career season in 2009.

                                      Though Colorado’s Jim Tracy received the 2009 NL nod, La Russa came in second. He took a club that most experts placed second or third in its division prior to the season and brought it in with 91 wins and a 7-1/2 game cushion in the NL Central. In the process, he coaxed career years from stars as well as the unlikely before falling uncharacteristically early in the post-season.

                                      Starting his 32nd season in a job that many can’t hold for more than a couple means La Russa is a true survivor. As with anyone in such a public role for so long, the manager has his detractors. Yet his players are the first to defend him as always having their backs.

                                      While La Russa remains one of the premier managers in the game, he is hinting his time in the role is nearing its end. He took several weeks following the conclusion of the 2009 season deciding whether or not to return for 2010 and when he did, it was only via a one-year contract, his first since joining the Cardinals.

                                      Perhaps La Russa has even a little more fire in his belly to try to bring the 11th World Championship to St. Louis in 2010. It would be his third crown as an MLB manager and Mozeliak’s first in the head role.

                                      Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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                                      Wainwright fires at sabermetric voters

                                      St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright tells those who value baserunners more than runs scored where they can stick their views.

                                        St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright must have remembered what his manager Tony La Russa tweeted back on November 25 about the 2009 National League Cy Young Award voting process.

                                        “Respect Tim, but Adam & Chris earned CY. Computer data best when aid to personal observation & analysis.”

                                        In a Monday radio interview on 101 ESPN in St. Louis, Wainwright teed off on several voters’ thought processes for the Award. The 28-year-old finished third behind San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum and his Cardinals teammate Chris Carpenter.

                                        Adam Wainwright (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)“I was bothered that two guys didn’t vote for Chris Carpenter. I think that is absurd. Of course, they are entitled to their own opinion, but there is no possible way that you can look at numbers and see that he wasn’t one of the top three pitchers. I think there were three deserving candidates and I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them,” Wainwright said.

                                        After remarking that wins apparently no longer matter to voters, a category in which he led the NL in 2009 and Carpenter finished second, Wainwright was asked if he thinks sabermetrics is overrated in the voting process.

                                        “I think it is overrated because it doesn’t matter how many people you get on base or whatever, if you don’t give up runs… If I walk one more guy an inning than Tim Lincecum or Javier Vazquez, it shouldn’t matter if they don’t score.

                                        “They can take all that sabermetric stuff and stick it where the sun don’t shine, as long as you don’t have people that score. The name of the game is going as long as you can, keeping your team in the game, winning ball games and not letting people score. And if you are not letting people score, then you are doing your job.

                                        “I don’t care if you walk the bases loaded every inning and strike the side out, or get out of it every time without any runs scoring, you are doing your job – as long as you are going deep (into games).

                                        “So if you are going out there and throwing a ton of innings, which Tim did anyways, if you are going out there and keeping your team in the games, which Tim did, he is a deserving candidate.

                                        “But the sabermetrics argument is just a bunch of hogwash to me,” Wainwright concluded.

                                        Link to audio

                                        Looking back to November, ESPN’s Keith Law had left Carpenter off his ballot, placing Vazquez second. His logic was partially based on Carp having thrown fewer innings and Atlanta’s Vazquez pitching in what he feels is a more difficult division, the NL East.

                                        Stats he used to justify his rankings included FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), VORP and WAR. In FIP specifically, Vazquez ranked second in the NL, just ahead of Carpenter. Carp was second in VORP, with Vazquez seventh. In WAR, Carpenter was sixth among NL pitchers, with Vazquez second.

                                        Law specifically noted he does not consider wins. Link to explanation (ESPN Insider article)

                                        Injury expert Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus was the other voter who did not include Carpenter in his top three. He placed Wainwright and Lincecum ahead of Dan Haren. Carroll also considered Jair Jurrjens.

                                        Like Law, Carroll cited Carpenter’s fewer innings pitched as a factor. Though Carroll’s article included a table with stats categories including WARP3, SNLVAR and SNWP, he did not specifically mention their role in his thought process.  Link to explanation

                                        Carpenter led the NL in the most traditional measure of run scoring, ERA, but like wins, it was not cited as a factor by these two voters. In re-reading their articles, I did not sense the high level of focus on baserunners over runs scored that Wainwright emphasized, however.

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                                        Can Edmonds follow Lankford’s sequel?

                                        Just as his Cardinals centerfield predecessor Ray Lankford did, Jim Edmonds wants to return after a year out of the game.

                                          Jim Edmonds’ ambush of Tony La Russa’s ARF “Stars to the Rescue” benefit on Sunday night to announce his desire to come back after a year out of the game and challenging La Russa to hire him was one of Monday’s biggest stories across The Cardinal Nation.

                                          Unlike La Russa’s recent dream of sending new hitting coach Mark McGwire up to the plate as a late-season pinch-hitter, this proposal was neither of his making nor immediately completely shot down by general manager John Mozeliak. That didn’t mean that both the manager and the GM weren’t surprised.

                                          The only commitment given the 39-year-old was that the idea would get a fair hearing in organizational meetings scheduled this week in St. Louis. While the club needs a reserve centerfielder, Edmonds hits left-handed like starter Colby Rasmus, so isn’t a perfect fit.

                                          Edmonds did all he could to eliminate objections, though. He first volunteered to play for free, but then modified his stance. Edmonds still said he is willing to play for the major league minimum salary.

                                          Ray Lankford and Jim Edmonds (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)Edmonds’ move reminded me of a similar situation six years earlier when former Cardinals centerfielder Ray Lankford returned to the club after having been out of the game for a year.

                                          Another similarity is that both players left St. Louis via trades to San Diego. After a season and a half with the Padres, Lankford did not play in 2003. As 2004 spring training camp was about to open, the Cardinals announced the signing of the then-36-year-old Lankford to a make-good deal. He earned a spot on the club as a non-roster invitee.

                                          During that 2004 season, Lankford ended up leading the club in starts in left field with 43, but his involvement declined as the season went on. He suffered a wrist injury in late July that just preceded the arrival of Larry Walker from Colorado. Lankford returned when rosters expanded at the start of September but was not named to the post-season roster. He then became a free agent but retired for good.

                                          Lankford first qualified for the Hall of Fame balloting this year, but failed to receive a vote and will be removed from future ballots. Whether it is in four years or perhaps six, Edmonds is assured of collecting more support in his first year of eligibility.

                                          Lankford’s final season didn’t add much to his long and distinguished Cardinals ledger, but at least he ended his career wearing the Birds on the Bat. If for no other reason other than to do the same, I would be in favor of bringing Edmonds to spring training and if he could actually contribute to the 2010 Cardinals team, all the better.

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                                          Cardinals arbitration, spending and more dry powder

                                          The St. Louis Cardinals wouldn’t have to wait until their arbitration cases are settled to make their next move, but they may have good reasons for doing so.

                                            Here in mid-January, the St. Louis Cardinals payroll management strategy for 2010 still remains under question.

                                            One milestone occurred in early December when during a presentation at Webster University, team president Bill DeWitt III hinted his club might not spend up to their total player budget, expected to be around $100 million.

                                            “Clubs have a tendency — and we’ve been guilty in the past — of putting every resource into the team in the offseason. That just doesn’t leave you any flexibility,” DeWitt III said.

                                            Showing restraint would be a repeat of an approach that was widely ridiculed during the previous winter. The term “keeping powder dry” in reference to holding back money was first coined by his father, team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.

                                            As we saw in 2009, if game attendance exceeds the Cardinals planning numbers, they could also choose to apply additional financial resources to players. Some combination of “dry powder” plus new expense money opened the door to trade for and take on the salaries of Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday in June and July, respectively.

                                            About ten days ago, back on January 7, as the club digested the Holliday re-signing, general manager John Mozeliak was quoted as saying the following:

                                            “[Assistant GM John] Abbamondi, myself, Jeff [Luhnow, scouting director and farm director] and the group will sit down tomorrow. I’ll then also get with Tony [La Russa, manager] over the weekend and we’ll kind of prioritize what we think, if we had a bullet to use, what would we use it on. Once we get to that point, then we’ll look at what’s out there and how to use that resource if it’s there. We may stand pat. But we’ll see.”

                                            In the process, Mozeliak outlined the two primary outcomes for some or all of the remaining budget – either acquire one additional significant player using their so-called “bullet”, keep dry powder or perhaps a combination of the two.

                                            How much money are we talking about?

                                            Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick (AP photo)The Post-Dispatch offered a graphical summary following Holliday’s re-signing. In it, they suggest the Cardinals will have $7.4 million remaining to spend. One of the few assumptions required was an estimation of the 2010 salaries of arbitration-eligible players Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick.

                                            Though Schumaker is hinting he is close to coming to terms, completely resolving both players’ 2010 salaries may not be happening soon. At Winter Warm-Up, Mozeliak said the Cardinals would like the contracts of both Schumaker and Ludwick completed before his club dips back into the free-agent pool.

                                            This sequencing doesn’t completely hold together to me.

                                            In his first season of arbitration eligibility, Schumaker should be the easier of the two to sign. The real question is how big of a raise Ludwick is looking for coming off a season in which he made $3.7 million, but delivered declining results compared to 2008.

                                            (For my detailed views of how comparable players’ salaries might be applied, The Cardinal Nation subscribers can read my January 7 article, “How Much Will Schumaker and Ludwick Make?”. At the low end, I have the two coming in at $6.9 million combined, while the P-D estimates they will make $8.5 million in total when all is said and done.)

                                            Here’s my concern. The Cardinals surely have a planning bandwidth for the two arbitration cases and would seem to be position to have at least $6 million remaining once the two arbitration deals are done. (This assumes the Post-Dispatch estimates for the two will turn out to be $1.4 million too low, which I strongly doubt is the case.)

                                            Both sides will formally know how far they are apart on Tuesday, when club and player arbitration amounts must be filed. Though the parties could come to terms at any time, if disagreement remains, the conclusion could drag on until a hearing scheduled as late as the third week in February – the time pitchers and catchers are due to report for spring training.

                                            Again, either way, with conservatively $6 million or more in their chest, why would they be waiting, unless they are planning to save dry powder?

                                            The P-D reports the Cardinals have been in contact with pitcher John Smoltz’ agent but they would like the veteran to wait for a potential offer until they have a better feel for their payroll. The paper has been in contact with the future Hall-of-Famer, who says he has heard nothing substantive from the Cardinals. Smoltz went on to say that while he would like to return to St. Louis, he is preparing to move on.

                                            At 43 years old next season, Smoltz offers at least as an intriguing relief alternative as he would be a fifth starter. His likely contract would include a base deal of several million dollars with incentives for several more, seemingly within the amount of money the Cardinals have remaining.

                                            High on the list of other possible options could include a right-handed hitting outfield reserve who could spell Colby Rasmus in centerfield and veteran depth at third base behind untested starter David Freese.

                                            There is one other possibility for waiting – the knowledge that as spring training nears, prices for the remaining unsigned free agents will go down. Though Mozeliak isn’t saying it, using some of that dry powder over the next six weeks wouldn’t necessarily keep them from gaining and deploying more later.

                                            Even if the Cardinals decide not to make another significant signing this winter, they have already done enough to position themselves as National League Central Division favorites for 2010. Without immediate additional spending, not everyone will be content, however. The annual resurrection of the “DeWallet” loonies, armchair critics of ownership’s player payrolls, is quite possible if the Cardinals head into the season with a mid-$90 million payroll. Instead of applauding player development and efficient spending, the simplistic minds of the habitual complainers can only compare annual bottom lines.

                                            After last year, I have become a believer that if the Cardinals need help during the season and they play well enough to deserve it, ownership will come through. In the meantime, the primary pressure should be on the players and coaches to win.

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                                            2010 Cardinals spring radio and television

                                            Preliminary spring training television and radio plans for the 2010 St. Louis Cardinals.

                                            Note: This post has been superceded by a newer version of this information.

                                            As I do each spring, I will maintain a post with the most complete and current plans for St. Louis Cardinals radio and television coverage. This list varies from the official site in that it covers all known sources, including away team television coverage as well as satellite radio.

                                            Keep checking this page as I will update it as more information is known. It is also always accessible from the task bar at the top of the page via “Events/Info” > “Television and radio”.

                                            First confirmation of two televised 2010 spring games

                                            The ESPN schedule for MLB spring games include two Cardinals Florida contests on March 25 and 29. Opponents are the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins, respectively.

                                            Spring schedule reminders

                                            For those with satellite radio and television, I will also be watching the Cardinals’ spring opponents’ plans as they announce which games they plan to cover. In addition to the two from ESPN, I have very preliminary, unconfirmed word that five spring contests may reach the television airwaves this spring. One overlaps with the 3/25 ESPN game. They are penciled in below.

                                            Spring radio plans not announced

                                            On the radio side, in past years the Cardinals have originated broadcasts for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday games. Though there has been no announcement yet, I expect the pattern to continue.

                                            WWU coverage on FS Midwest

                                            Fox Sports Midwest is planning two post-Winter Warm-Up shows starting Monday, January 18. For those who can’t attend the real thing, this will be the next best alternative. Dates and times here.

                                            The regular schedule

                                            In case you don’t have your 2010 Cardinals one-page printable schedule for the regular season, you can download a copy here. While game times are known, some of the weekend contests are subject to the whims of the television networks.

                                            Regular season TV schedule not yet available

                                            None of the regular season televised games are listed yet. We may still be several weeks away from confirmed schedules. As soon as they are released, I will get them posted.

                                            Spring 2010 Date Home Visitor Time (ET) Radio GDA$ XM& TV MLB Net%
                                            Thursday 4-Mar Mets Cardinals 1:10 SNY
                                            Friday 5-Mar Cardinals Mets 1:05
                                            Saturday 6-Mar Marlins Cardinals 1:05
                                            Sunday 7-Mar Cardinals Marlins 1:05
                                            Monday 8-Mar Red Sox Cardinals 1:05
                                            Tuesday 9-Mar Twins Cardinals 1:05
                                            Wednesday 10-Mar Cardinals Nationals 1:05
                                            Thursday 11-Mar Marlins Cardinals 1:05
                                            Friday 12-Mar Cardinals Red Sox 1:05
                                            Saturday 13-Mar Cardinals Astros 1:05 KSDK?
                                            Sunday 14-Mar Nationals Cardinals 1:05
                                            Monday 15-Mar Mets Cardinals 1:10 SNY
                                            Tuesday 16-Mar Cardinals Nationals 1:05
                                            Wednesday 17-Mar open
                                            Thursday 18-Mar Cardinals Braves 1:05
                                            Friday 19-Mar Marlins Cardinals# 1:05 FS Florida
                                            Nationals Cardinals# 7:05
                                            Saturday 20-Mar Cardinals Mets 1:05 WFAN KSDK?
                                            Sunday 21-Mar Braves Cardinals 1:05
                                            Monday 22-Mar Astros Cardinals 1:05 FS Houston
                                            Tuesday 23-Mar open
                                            Wednesday 24-Mar Cardinals Orioles 1:05 BAL 105.7 FS Midwest?
                                            Thursday 25-Mar Cardinals Mets 1:05 ESPN
                                            FS Midwest?
                                            Friday 26-Mar Nationals Cardinals 1:05
                                            Saturday 27-Mar Cardinals Marlins 1:05 FS Midwest?
                                            Sunday 28-Mar Mets Cardinals 1:10 WFAN WPIX – NY
                                            Monday 29-Mar Cardinals Twins 1:05 ESPN
                                            Tuesday 30-Mar Mets Cardinals 1:10
                                            Wednesday 31-Mar Cardinals Nationals 1:05
                                            Thursday 1-Apr Cardinals Marlins 11:05
                                            Friday 2-Apr Twins* Cardinals 5:10 (CT) FS North
                                            Saturday 3-Apr Twins* Cardinals 1:10 (CT) FS North
                                            Times are local
                                            # split squad
                                            * in Minneapolis
                                            Jupiter dates in bold
                                            $ MLB Gameday Audio
                                            % MLB Network & .TV
                                            & XM Satellite Radio

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                                            The Cardinal Nation Blog top stories of 2009 #7: Penny for Pineiro

                                            Will Brad Penny become the 2010 St. Louis Cardinals’ version of 2009’s Joel Pineiro, the unsung hero?

                                              Ever winter, it seems the same thing happens. The Cardinal Nation works itself into a frenzy speculating over moves rumored, only to have the club do something completely unexpected.

                                              Brad Penny (Getty Images)So it was on December 7 when at Baseball’s Winter Meetings, St. Louis announced that free agent right-handed pitcher Brad Penny agreed to terms on a one-year contract with a $7.5 million base plus $1.5 million in incentives. The right-hander, most recently of the San Francisco Giants, was not even rumored to be a target of the Cardinals.

                                              Once again, the Cardinals moved quickly and quietly to secure a free agent, this time a fourth veteran for their rotation, with the 31-year-old Penny effectively replacing free agent Joel Pineiro and joining Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Kyle Lohse.

                                              According to the terms of the contract, Penny will receive the full $9 million if he reaches 204 innings. In addition, in an accommodation to ease his potential re-entry into the market following the 2010 season, the Cardinals agreed not to offer Penny arbitration if he performs well enough to become a Type A free agent. It seems a stretch given that two years of stats are used and he was not even a Type B this year.

                                              Still, the upper 90’s-thrower and two-time National League All-Star offers intriguing potential for the 2010 Cardinals rotation. Like 2009 late-season addition John Smoltz, Penny had been released by the deep-pocked Red Sox during the season. After being dropped by Boston on August 27, Penny drew interest from a number of clubs including Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, the White Sox and the Yankees.

                                              Ultimately, Penny cast his lot with the Giants for the major league minimum and pitched so well during the final month, he likely priced himself out of San Francisco’s plans for 2010.

                                              On the downside, Penny hasn’t thrown a complete game in three years. Two of his former managers in Los Angeles, Joe Torre and Jim Tracy, now with Colorado, were rumored to be against having Penny on their respective clubs. Yet the Cardinals have had success with others who had arrived in town with “me first” reputations and there is no reason to believe Penny can’t follow.

                                              Penny broke the pattern of recent Cardinals rotation additions in that he had resurrected his value elsewhere and signed with the Cardinals for more than he had been paid the previous season.

                                              Joel Pineiro (AP photo(His predecessor Pineiro had also flamed out with the Red Sox. The Cardinals added him at the 2007 deadline in return for a minor leaguer. Pineiro pitched so well that by October, he earned a two-year contract to remain that was surprising to many, both because of the money ($13 million) and duration.

                                              Despite making 25 starts around a pair of stints on the disabled list in 2008, Pineiro managed just seven wins and posted an ERA over five. It seemed his $7.5 million salary for 2009 would never be earned. Yet, Pineiro did that and more.

                                              The 2009 Cardinals featured both unexpected team success and a commensurate number of individual standouts. A club picked by most to be a second- or third-place finisher instead won 91 games while dominating the National League Central before a quick post-season exit.

                                              NL Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols and mid-season acquisition Matt Holliday offered star power on the offense while Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright each just fell short of the Cy Young Award. First-time closer Ryan Franklin finished second in the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award tally.

                                              Yet the Cardinals player who may have overachieved most, and in doing so provided the greatest boost to the club’s cause, was a well-traveled veteran that some fans wanted to see disposed of prior to the season – Pineiro.

                                              Much was made in spring training about Cardinals third base coach and Team Puerto Rico manager Jose Oquendo leaving the 31-year-old out of his World Baseball Classic rotation. Some believe the perceived snub motivated Pineiro, while others look to his new found sinker, a pitch he calls a one-seam fastball, for his 2009 success.

                                              The right-hander was consistent and efficient all season long, picking up 15 wins, one off his career best, while tossing a personal-high 214 innings. Pineiro spun three two-hitters.

                                              His control was impeccable. Pineiro ranked first in the major leagues with his 1.14 walks per nine innings. He had 13 outings in which he walked no one and pitched three nine-inning complete games, facing fewer than 30 batters in each – quite a contract to Penny’s inability to finish his starts.

                                              Pineiro helped himself by keeping the ball down. He led the majors with his 2.73-to-1 ground ball-to-fly ball ratio and placed among the top five MLB pitchers in inducing ground ball double plays with 1.22 per nine innings.

                                              The Puerto Rican native finished the regular season 15-12 with a 3.53 ERA, his most wins since 2003 and lowest ERA since 2002, both achieved when he was with Seattle. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Pineiro pitched so well that he priced himself out of the team’s future plans, not unlike Penny and the Giants. But Pineiro’s future sights were set higher.

                                              Despite being branded by some a product of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan’s tutelage, Pineiro set out to find at least a three-year contract in the $10 million dollar per year range. Due to market realities, he may have to settle for a two-year deal for half the amount or less, $15 million. In other words, it may be about the same annual value as Penny’s 2010 base. The Mets and Dodgers are rumored to be most interested in Pineiro’s services.

                                              No matter how you slice it, the 2010 Cardinals would have to be delighted if they could achieve a comparable return from Penny as they received from Pineiro in 2009.

                                              Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown

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