The Player To Be Named Later

Resurrection?

2009-07-11T03:24:22Z

I'm thinking of resurrecting this blog, just as the Cards have been resurrected to an extent under the hitting of Colby Rasmus and Ryan Ludwick.

We'll see where the next few weeks lead...

A new calling?

2007-05-11T02:03:32Z

I haven't written a post in awhile...I went to the Lou to see a couple of games against the Astros last weekend, and didn't have the means to do much blogging...and the Redbirds march to mediocrity is leaving me uninspired. But, no excuses.
However, in the spirit of laughing at ourselves and the team I love, I started a new blog called Josh the Bat Boy over at Wordpress. If it can be half as amusing as Cardinals Diaspora or The FYC, I'll be happy.

I'll try to keep this updated, but I'm going to focus on Josh for now. 30 year old bat boys rule.

Another tribute to Josh Hancock

2007-05-02T02:28:18Z

Because I felt this is one of the best things I've read about that tragedy, I let the author (Mollie, formerly of Daddy Raised A Cardinals Fan) know how I felt about what she wrote, and she's graciously allowed me to post it here on my humble blog. So without further delay by me, here's Mollie's thoughts on the weekend's events:
I realize it has been awhile since I last wrote, but too much has happened in too little an amount of time to possibly narrow things down to a series of emails.

I suppose the matter at the forefront of Cardinal hearts and minds is the passing of Josh Hancock. Is there such thing as an appropriate response? Do the right words or actions actually exist? And what does one do when the greatest emotions felt are not sadness or remorse, but instead a sudden wash of an inexpicable void. A ******* hole where a right-handed warrior once so valiantly and selflessly stood.

Of course, much could be written about the power of signs and omens, beginning with LaRussa's vehicular run-in with negligence behind the wheel, and ending with Josh over-sleeping several days ago and whose pre-game absence stirred the dark memories of the last time one of our pitchers failed to arrive at the clubhouse. An eerie parallel that sadly played itself out on Sunday morning.

There are plenty of ways to pay tribute to a life snuffed out far too soon. A body and soul full of life and talent with a bright future lit by hope and promise that will never get to realize that future.

We must also consider those left behind in the wake of tragedy. Josh was a building block in the structures of lives. He was a son, a brother, a friend, a neighbor and a teammate. The vacancy left by his death will undoubtedly be hard to fill, and the role he played as an individual will be impossible to replace, for we are all unique and the imprint we leave upon the world is singularly our own. There may be other men, other siblings, other sons, other relievers, other tenents... but there was only one Josh Hancock.

Those who need answers in order to make sense of the senseless will try to find ways to explain the workings of the cosmos, karma and God. Those who live lives with their vessels half full will certainly find a way to see the prism made from the cracks in the glass. And those with glasses half empty will die of thirst as they search for someone or something to blame.

But whatever road grief takes us upon, may we follow it diligently and stay its course. For every off ramp, may there be an on ramp to get us back on track. For every slow lane may there be a fast lane to get us on our way-- and vice versa to help us enjoy the scenery. For every red light we must sit through, may there be a couple of green lights to keep our lives flowing. And though we all must occasionally hit the road going eighty with the top down and the wind in our hair in order embrace the freedom and excitement of the world, let there also occasionally be a cop car hiding in the brush to remind us of our limits. (To prove that I am fighting the urge to buy that last ticket to ****, I tell you now that this "on the road" theme has sprung a leak of a million crass jokes in light of our recent tragedy and that I am battling to keep them in the back of my throat as opposed to the tip of my tongue... Or worse, away from the tips of my fingers that are currently tapping away at this computer keyboard. Repeat after me: Clever and funny do not equal appropriate... Clever and funny do not equal appropriate... Oh, give me strength.)

Sadly, despite our heartache and loss, despite our need for answers and closure, despite the hole left in our family and our lineup, time will not wait, the world will keep on spinning and our season will march on with or without us. So let's engage. Let's honor Josh in whatever ways we know how. Let's turn this season around and put some value into our loss.

The season is young, and so was Josh, for that matter. I, for one, will remember him as golden... as golden as those late fall afternoons that bask in the glow of World Series dreams in October. Kind of like the ones he dreamt with us last year.

--Mollie (colmocal@hotmail.com)

Mollie currently authors a Cardinals-centric email chain of banter that she'd be happy for you to join in on, if you so choose.

Thanks

2007-04-30T02:44:38Z

I'd personally like to thank the fans of most of the other MLB teams who presented fans of the St. Louis Cardinals warm thoughts, wishes and prayers over the death of Josh Hancock early this morning.
It's times like this that makes me proud to be not just a fan of the Cardinals, but a baseball fan as well.

While we cheer for our own team, and maybe boo the opponents, the vast majority of fans realize that it's a game, and while the outcome of every game is important to us, it's still just a game. Even the players realize that.

Take time tonight or tomorrow to tell your parents, and your wife, and your children that you love them, because that time may be your last. You think not, and you hope not, but nobody knows when they're time to move on will come. Josh Hancock didn't, I don't, and you don't.

Live life to it's fullest, and live in the moment. It's all we have, in addition to our memories.

As I've borrowed from the wonderful reading Christine Buck gave at her father's memorial at Busch Stadium II in July 2002 all day, I'll do so again...

Go crazy, heaven. Go crazy...for God's new RH long-reliever.

Rest in piece, Josh. Say hello to Jack and Darryl for us. And thanks for taking the ball when we needed you to do so.

RIP, Josh

2007-04-29T15:14:22Z

Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident early this morning in St. Louis.

Please pray for Josh and his family in this difficult time for them.

Tonight's game against the Chicago Cubs has been postponed until a later date.

And at moments like this, baseball takes it's true place of importance in the grand scheme of things. It's just a game.

Go crazy, heaven...go crazy.

Well, that was an improvement

2007-04-22T22:45:09Z

The hitting looked great for the most part, although the pitching left a little to be desired.
Wainer struggled, although the weather was for the hitters today.

However, the 2-5 hitters went a combined 12 for 22, with 4 HRs and 1 3B, along with 10 RBI. Nice.

Let's put together a nice homestand for a change, and re-take the NL Central...

The Cardinals

2007-04-22T16:03:39Z

currently are a team performing as a collection of replacement-level players. As defined by sabermetrics, a replacement-level player is the worst-level of performance that a player can sustain while maintaining his job in Major League Baseball. We'll use Equivalent Average, or EqA to define what's replacement-level or not.
A 0.260 EqA is standard major league-average performance. Replacement-level performance is about 0.230 EqA. Historically, according to Baseball Prospectus, players who can't maintain an EqA of at least 0.230 will not keep their major league jobs.

To expound upon this definition, we'll use a series of ranges to define performance, as far as EqA goes:

Minor Leaguer: 0.170 to 0.230
MLB Fringe (Replacement-level): 0.230 to 0.260
MLB Regular: 0.260 to 0.300
MLB All-Star: 0.300 to 0.330
Hall of Famer: 0.330 +

A look at the Cardinals regular lineup, plus a couple of key bench players reveals the following, with statistics as of Friday, April 20th:

Player EqA VORP
------- ----- -------
Eckstein 0.233 -1.4
Duncan 0.337 +7.0
Pujols 0.255 +1.2
Rolen 0.200 -3.5
Edmonds 0.176 -3.8
Wilson 0.156 -2.2
Molina 0.269 0.0
Kennedy 0.182 -3.5
Spiezio 0.230 -1.3
Miles 0.239 -0.6

I've included Value Over Replacement Player, or VORP, to provide a comparison to EqA. VORP measures the value of a position player to a replacement-level hitter at the position he plays.

As the crude chart (my apologies for lack of TypePad expertise) shows, Chris Duncan is playing at Hall of Fame level, or more appropriately, he's doing the kinds of things with the bat that Albert Pujols should be doing. Yadi Molina is hitting (finally) at MLB regular level. Pujols is showing solid MLB fringe-level performance...which is a darn good thing for a man making 12M+ a season. Aaron Miles, bench-level infielder is playing at his abilities...which is fringe-level MLB performance. Eckstein and Spiezio are on the low-end of the fringe, hitting well below their recent performance, excepting Spiezio's injury-riddled Seattle tenure.

The heart of the lineup is where the giant gaping chasm exists:

Rolen: 0.200 EqA -3.5 VORP
Edmonds: 0.176 -3.8
Wilson: 0.156 -2.2

Granted, to depend on P-Dub for much would be like expecting a free lunch. Probably not going to happen. However, Rolen and Edmonds are currently ******* the life out of the lineup. They're both hitting well below replacement-level. In other words, the Cardinals could bring up their Memphis (AAA) center fielder (Rick Ankiel!) and third-baseman (Travis Hanson) and expect to improve quite a bit.

Isn't that scary? Of course, looking at their performance at Memphis, maybe not:

Ankiel: 0.780 OPS (only 12 hits in 57 AB, but 8 are of the extra-base variety)
Hanson: 0.442 OPS (that's anemic)

So clearly, the big club doesn't have any dramatic solution other than to hope that Rolen, Edmonds, Wilson, Kennedy, and Pujols begin some steady, if not dramatic improvement, in their production at the plate.

The 2007 season depends upon it.

Another way of looking at how poor the offense is right now, relative to the pitching, is the pythagorean record, or expected win percentage based upon the runs scored by the team and the runs against.

With 50 runs scored through 17 games, and 65 runs against, the Cardinals' expected winning percentage is 0.372, or 37.2%. Through 17 games, that's 6.32, or rounding off, 6 wins. So, Tony La Russa would be justified in saying to his team, "How'd we ever win 7?"

Of course, he won't. They'll just keep playing a hard nine and see what turns up. This year, at this moment, that's just not good enough.

42

2007-04-15T13:49:51Z

The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
Also the uniform number of Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman, Jackie Robinson.

Coincidence? Probably...but today, Major League Baseball is honoring Jack Roosevelt Robinson because this day, 60 years ago, Jackie broke the color barrier in the game of professional baseball. He withstood taunts, insults and harassment...from players on other teams, fans, and even some players on his own team...with class and grace and not only changed the game, but American society as well.

Jackie was a great athlete, but more importantly, a great and courageous human being.

Thanks, Jackie. We could use your example today on how to handle personal and societal challenges with grace and excellence.

Jackie's Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Jackie Robinson Day coverage at MLB.com

Jackie's Wikipedia page

The Jackie Robinson Foundation

It's like thunder...

2007-04-11T23:08:57Z

lightning...the way your love is frightning...
I had written a beautiful (for me) post, and apparently, MLBlogs isn't good about creating drafts without manual intervention on my part, so when the power went out in my hotel...I lost it.

Good grief, to quote the diagonal-sweater kid.

Meet the Mets

2007-04-01T19:29:08Z

Greet the Mets, hopefully with a broom.
Well, it's on...in 4 hours anyway. The Metropolitans are getting their chance at revenge for the National League pennant that should have been theirs, by their reckoning, or at least that of many of their fans.

That's why the play the games. Even Cardinals fans would admit that a lot of times the better team doesn't win (see 1985 WS Game 6 or 1968 WS Game 7). However, the delusion that the Mets were a much better team than the Cardinals at that point really should end. The Cards' pitching was good enough to win in 7, and aside from one game (Game 4 in St. Louis), the Mets potent lineup was nullified.

And, oh by the way, Carlos Beltran is still dreaming about that called third strike. And he still can't swing at it. That being said, good luck this season to Mets' fans. Let's hope there's another Mets-Cards NLCS. It's the way it should be.

Back, and probably not better than ever

2007-04-01T14:20:07Z

However, since today is opening day...and the Cards are starting the MLB season with the title defense tonight, I figured it's better than never to start blogging Redbird baseball again.
Seems like a few Cards bloggers have left MLBlogs, or have been inactive...I, being one of them...but Cardinal Nation has to represent, so here we go...

1) I think the Cardinals will repeat as Central Division Champs this year, however they won't get past the NLCS, or perhaps even the NLDS. I'm willing to give them a bit of a pass this year with the first World Championship in 24 years. Re-tool, re-arm, play a hard nine and see where it ends up. I just can't see them going deep in the playoffs...and not because of the rotation turnover. I think the starting lineup is potentially weak, especially if Edmonds can't return somewhat to form...Duncan takes a step back...and Adam Kennedy gets off to a slow start. The Encarnacion/Wilson/Taguchi platoon is what it is, and to expect much production from it is a chimera.

2) That being said, I think the starting rotation will do exceedingly well. They'll have to in order for the team to stay in contention for the playoffs in the "Dodge City, KS" that is the National League. I expect Anthony Reyes to be the 5th starter by performance. Too many fly balls yields too many home runs. However, I think his ERA will be around 4.20...Suppan-level performance from Flat Iron, as it were.

3) Scott Rolen will return to form. He'll have to as well. If not, Albert will be lucky to get pitched to at all.

4) Really, a lot of things have to break right for the Cardinals to have a great to outstanding team. I think they'll be a pretty good team, and make the playoffs...I just can't see much past that. Regardless, every game, I'll be expecting them to win...and I'll actually believe that my interest in the team will have an impact on their on-field performance. Like most baseball fans. Nothin' wrong with that, huh??

As I predicted...

2006-09-01T18:08:21Z

so far anyway...the Cards are 5-1 on their current homestand. A sweep of the Pirates stands in the way of an 8-1 stretch as I hoped would happen. With Carp on the mound tonight, it should be 6-1. Knock on wood.
Anyway, nice couple of games for the team not formerly known as comeback kids. Marquis still bites, but I'm back on the Suppan bandwagon, in fact I think I'm driving it. He deserves to be back next year. I think he's a good cost-effective 5th starter.

I'm off to Chicago for a wedding...not my own. I should be able to keep abreast of happenings while I'm gone. In a couple of weeks I'm heading to Baltimore and have already bought tickets to an Orioles-Sawx game on the 13th. I can't wait to see Camden Yards for the first time!

I want to believe

2006-08-30T11:36:43Z

that Mulder is not done, but after last night's shelling, let's admit that it's over. At least for this season.
Sign him to a one-year, incentive laden deal. After his inevitable surgery, he might come back with a clean bill of health, and a good arm slot. Or not. But his career is now a reclamation project.

On the plus side of the margin, the team is actually thinking of going after Babe, Jr. Sounds like a good 4-5 regular season starts, and a couple of playoff-starts. Why the heck not? Of course, they won't get him anyway. The management won't give up enough...and they better not give up too much. Especially for a rental.

OMG!!!

2006-08-28T02:34:34Z

That is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen...
A game-winning, walk-off, grand-slam home run by Gary Bennett. I can't even say how happy I am right now. That was amazing.

It reminded me of Jim Edmonds' Game 6 walk-off homer in the 2004 NLCS. Same kind of emotion. Intense. Finally, this team is starting to feel like a team. Like they care. This might be the start of something good.

I predicted a home stand of 8-1, and so far they're 3-0. So they just have to win 5 out of the next 6 versus the Marlins and Pirates. Marlins are playing well...so that'll be easier said than done. But I believe they'll sweep the Pirates. I'm sure some payback is in order after the sweep in P-burgh.

Despite my other worries, I'll go to bed happy tonight!

Wow...a winning streak!

2006-08-26T19:26:43Z

Against the Cubs for cryin' out loud!

Carp doesn't get the decision...but a Cy Young type performance regardless. The bottom end of the lineup produces today, solely in the form of Gary Bennett. I'd almost rather he start most of the games the rest of the season, and I'm not just talking about his hot streak. Seems more calm behind the plate, and isn't a total black hole in the 8 spot. Has been better at blocking balls in the dirt too.

The "core" guys need to start hitting, though. Weaver is going to give up more than 1 run tomorrow night. I guarantee it.