STL Cardinals fans come in

So where do you see this years team headed? Why won't be spend any money?
Are you as mad as I am that we lost miles to the cubs? Who else is waiting for Rasmus to be full time? Personally we need to still get some major work done in the pen. Greene was a solid pickup i just hope his batting comes around (still better than izturis any day though) I was really hoping we got fuentes and he didnt even get top dollar thoughts??

Lotsa stuff to touch on here craig

1. Rasmus had a lackluster 2008 and it may hurt his 2009 stock with how larussa is with young guys.
2. John M. is a **** bag and still has yet to make a significant move in my eyes. I hate him as a GM. He has let a few big names get away we could have had and continues to dangle names out there so it looks like he is trying. He sucks
3. Greene will come to life with Pujols' batting camp lol

I see us as a 2nd 3rd place team. We can't keep up with the Cubs with our current roster and Milwaukee may be tough. Cincy is getting better... We need something new.

Our pitching is not pretty in my opinion. I think it could be a so-so year bad if Pujols has any more elbow trouble

our owners are cheap. miles should have been retained.i heard fuentes didnt even want to come to st louis.i cant wait for rasmus to be up and starting in cf. if we could sign sheets and maybe hoffman id be ok with that

There's a lot to say about the offseason. First, I'm upset they did not retain Miles. He's a great utility player and while it may have taken some extra money to keep him, where are they intending to spend that money anyways? Miles is infinitely better than the combo of Brendan Ryan/Tyler Greene/Joe Thurston. Second, the pitching staff is a mess. I don't think Carp is ever going to be the same and I think the loss of Springer and Izzy offsets whatever gain Miller brings (how many innings will he pitch?). The team is counting on Albert to bring people to the game and hoping that some combination of Duncan, Ankiel, Ludwick, and Rasmus have big years or rebound to make up for the lack of pitching. I'm willing to give Mozielak one more year, but if they miss the playoffs for the third straight year after winning the World Series, I think a change is needed. He's made some good moves (originally signing Lohse last year, Glaus trade) but it remains to be seen how some of his more recent moves (Lohse extension, not making any trades/free agent signings) will work out. The Cubs didn't get any worse and I doubt the wild card will come from the central again. Hopefully this team can somehow scrap together a postseason berth.

Sadly i agree with all of you I sense i am not the only one that is ready for the larussa era to end

Aaron Miles kind of sucks.. it shouldn't be too tough to find a middle infielder that slugs around .375. Considering Miles was due for the biggest paycheck of his life, (and in 2009 he'll be back grubbing singles with 1 XBH every 20 at-bats,) I'm not too concerned.

Mozeliak dumped Scott Rolen for Glaus -- that trade seems to have worked out pretty well. Which GM have you seen come in during the first year and put together ridiculously bull-ish moves? And how many of the moves do you think went through LaRussa's hands first?

The bullpen should be more stable this year. Combination of Josh Kinney/Chris Perez should solidify the 8th/9th innings, assuming Izzy is gone. You still have Kyle McClellan to work with, and Ryan Franklin to kick around. Jesse Todd could find his way into the pen, too. Motte is a flamethrower with no real secondary stuff, and you have Miller, of course. Not sure who the other lefty will be on the roster, though. Will Charlie Manning see 75 games this year as the LOOGY? I hope not..

Solid lineup with Molina, Pujols, Ludwick, Ankiel, Glaus and Greene. Should be interesting to see if Mather can put up power numbers and overtake Schumaker. 2B is a black hole, as always, though.

SPs can't do much worse. Carp should be back (albeit in lesser form), and Wainwright is there. Wellemeyer and Lohse MUST do well. There are a lot of options for the fifth slot -- Pineiro, Thompson, Boggs.. hell, even McClellan might wind up in the 5 hole.

The rumors are that the Cardinals are pursuing Sheets.. we'll see.

Actually i think Kyle is great in the bullpen Larussa overworked him last year
leading to his bad numbers late in the year i dont get that we can afford sheets but could not get fuentes our starters were great last year bullpen was just sorry
i would like to move duncan creating a role for rasmus so you would have lud,ank, schumaker start and rasmus work his way in hopefully glaus will have a good year and molina will only get better ludwick will have another good year if healthy ankiel will blast since its his walk year i also like brad thompson if only larussa would quit playing mind freak and define his role he has excelled as a starter and bullpen guy

Uh, I almost don't care anymore.

I'm pissed we didn't get Francisco Rodriguez, Fuentes, Peavy, Penny, Escobar, Johnson, Fucal, and I'm sure we won't get Orlando Hudson.

I love the Khalil trade. Trever Miller is an okay addition. I still want Beimel.

They need to add another starter, but not long term. In my opinion, they need to save room for Jesse Todd, Clay Mortensen, and Jaime.

I like Mozeliak, but I'm tired of finishing 2nd place on every single guy they're rumored to be after.

I liked Aaron Miles, but I'm a HUGE fan of Brendan Ryan, so it really doesn't bother me.

You know, last year they didn't get their #2 starter until March, so I guess anything could happen, but I just want another addition. I thought Penny would have been a great addition.

TelePlayer22 said:

Aaron Miles kind of sucks.. it shouldn't be too tough to find a middle infielder that slugs around .375. Considering Miles was due for the biggest paycheck of his life, (and in 2009 he'll be back grubbing singles with 1 XBH every 20 at-bats,) I'm not too concerned.

Mozeliak dumped Scott Rolen for Glaus -- that trade seems to have worked out pretty well. Which GM have you seen come in during the first year and put together ridiculously bull-ish moves? And how many of the moves do you think went through LaRussa's hands first?

The bullpen should be more stable this year. Combination of Josh Kinney/Chris Perez should solidify the 8th/9th innings, assuming Izzy is gone. You still have Kyle McClellan to work with, and Ryan Franklin to kick around. Jesse Todd could find his way into the pen, too. Motte is a flamethrower with no real secondary stuff, and you have Miller, of course. Not sure who the other lefty will be on the roster, though. Will Charlie Manning see 75 games this year as the LOOGY? I hope not..

Solid lineup with Molina, Pujols, Ludwick, Ankiel, Glaus and Greene. Should be interesting to see if Mather can put up power numbers and overtake Schumaker. 2B is a black hole, as always, though.

SPs can't do much worse. Carp should be back (albeit in lesser form), and Wainwright is there. Wellemeyer and Lohse MUST do well. There are a lot of options for the fifth slot -- Pineiro, Thompson, Boggs.. hell, even McClellan might wind up in the 5 hole.

The rumors are that the Cardinals are pursuing Sheets.. we'll see.

Click to expand...

Link to the Sheets rumors? I really don't believe that.

And I'm hopeful for Carpenter, in the little he played this year, he was pretty darn good. If he has 25-30 starts I'll be absolutely overjoyed.

I posted this a few days ago so you can throw out the parts about Miles...


Here's what I'd do...and the frustrating part is I feel we are only a couple pitching moves away from competing...oh, and I'd re-sign Miles.

Lineup:

Miles 2b
Ankiel CF
Pujols 1b
Ludwick LF
Glaus 3b
Mather RF
Yadier C
Pitcher
Greene SS

* Mather could end up being a very good player considering his minor league stats...if he played almost every day and could get in a groove he may put up similar production that we saw in AAA.

* Rasmus should start in AAA...and his call-up should depend on him....show me you aren't a slow starter and be consistent.

Bench: Skip, Barton, Ryan, 2nd base candidate #2, and so on...

Staff:
1. Wainwright
2. Lohse
3. Wellemeyer
4 & 5 - clearly at least one hole here...tons of questions marks...

Carp? Boggs? Thompson? Pineiro?...

I'd say if Jess Todd does in AAA what he's done thus far, we bring him up at the all-star break...he is a Div. 1 college pitcher and doesn't need a ton of seasoning.

It would be nice if Hawksworth, Parisi, Ottavino...a surprise guy from the Farm System would stand up!

Pen:
We NEED to sign Fuentes.
I think we should resign Tyler Johnson...if he is back to 100% he is a good lefty to have.
Kinney is back.
Motte should be given a chance.
Will Miller even be healthy?
Franklin, McClellan...

When will Garcia be back??

All in All...if we could make a trade for a solid #3 or #4 starter, sign Fuentes and get some help from the farm...we could compete for the division. If we don't get another lefty pen guy or a starter...if will take a miracle from the farm to save the year.

If we don't compete, we are wasting a lot of talent.

Come on MO...show us winning is in the plans!!

also fuentes is gone to angels for 9mil per plus change

The Cardinals DO NOT have the money that you think they do. They have made it very clear, that they will in no way, make a long term deal 3yrs + with multiple millions as they do not have it. That is 100% why Fuentes, Burnett, K-Rod, Sabathia, Peavy, etc. were all basically unavailable from the get to. They had two choices...resign Lohse, or try and get a FA. I personally think they made the right move there---K-Rod, Sabathia, and Burnett got waaayyy more money than they are probably even worth. Fuentes probably a good deal at 9 Mil, but do we really want to pay him $9 mil when we got some younger options available. Peavy and Sheets, if we pulled a deal for them would completely deplete are farm system.......which right now is looking half way decent.


As for the moves that we did make---I think Miles, and Eckstein last year, were 2 guys the Cardinals could have kept. But, the point on both of them was that they were going to command bigger dollars than the Cards wanted to pay. Greene was a decent signing as long as he remembers to bring his bat with him. Glaus was a GREAT move as Rolen has not done anything and Glaus had a very respectable season. IF the Cardinals can pull one more deal and move some of the excess weight in the OF....Schumaker, Duncan, Ludwick---we would have Mather/Ankiel/Rasmus in the OF---and dont forget the year Jon Jay had too...might be another up and comer. Fact is Duncan can hit but probably the worse glove in the majors, Schumaker is decent but expendable in any deal to land a SP, Bat, or 2B. Ludwick had a GREAT year, but he was plain out AWFUL when Pujols was not in the lineup. Makes you wonder what would have been if he didnt see a healthy diet of number 1s right down the middle of the plate. I for one think the Cardinals would be wise to move Ludwick now while his stock is high.


TK

I think this all comes down to albert pujols. He's the best player the organization is going to have for a long time, he's our babe ruth. We need to put the team around him to win championships! If we need to dump a few prospects to get a dominant arm it is well worth it. The time is now.

That being said here is how I see us, with no big additions:

1. Rasmus cf. Just give it to him already
2. Ryan 2b. Good with the glove, when given consistent time his on base is great.
3. Pujols 1b
4. Glaus 3b
5. Ludwick lf. 2008 just screamed "trade me"
6. Ankiel rf
7. Molina c
8. Pitcher
9. Greene ss. If 2007 greer shows up, this was a great deal

1. Wainwright
2. Lohse
3. Piniero
4. Boggs
5. AAA guys fight it out

If I had my way we'd unload Ludwick along with a prospect or 2 for starte. Then put mather out in left or right.

The Cardinals' farm system will be ranked 8th overall in the 2009 BA Prospect Handbook, for what it's worth.

Just a few random thoughts/predictions:

I don't see the Cardinals picking up a big time closer, so Motte and Perez fill be the flamethrowing back end of our bullpen.

Rasmus,Mather, and Schumaker will fight for the CF job in ST. Schumaker will win.

Adam Wainwright will win at least 15 games.

Mark McCormick will finally stay healthy all year for the first time and get called up in September. (He still has TONS of potential, IMO)

Brendan Ryan will be our starting 2B.

Khalil Greene will become a fan favorite.


The Cardinals will win the Wild Card.

- John

stlalways94 said:

Just a few random thoughts/predictions:

I don't see the Cardinals picking up a big time closer, so Motte and Perez fill be the flamethrowing back end of our bullpen.

Rasmus,Mather, and Schumaker will fight for the CF job in ST. Schumaker will win.

Adam Wainwright will win at least 15 games.

Mark McCormick will finally stay healthy all year for the first time and get called up in September. (He still has TONS of potential, IMO)

Brendan Ryan will be our starting 2B.

Khalil Greene will become a fan favorite.


The Cardinals will win the Wild Card.

- John

Click to expand...

I think right now...there will be a battle between schumaker and Mather for the 3rd outfield job. If they don't bring up Rasmus or trade Ankiel...Ankiel will be in CF until Rasmus gets the call.

I'd like to see Ankiel turn into that young stud pitcher we all thought he'd be...if you get my drift.

rookieaddict said:

I think this all comes down to albert pujols. He's the best player the organization is going to have for a long time, he's our babe ruth. We need to put the team around him to win championships! If we need to dump a few prospects to get a dominant arm it is well worth it. The time is now.

That being said here is how I see us, with no big additions:

1. Rasmus cf. Just give it to him already
2. Ryan 2b. Good with the glove, when given consistent time his on base is great.
3. Pujols 1b
4. Glaus 3b
5. Ludwick lf. 2008 just screamed "trade me"
6. Ankiel rf
7. Molina c
8. Pitcher
9. Greene ss. If 2007 greer shows up, this was a great deal

1. Wainwright
2. Lohse
3. Piniero
4. Boggs
5. AAA guys fight it out

If I had my way we'd unload Ludwick along with a prospect or 2 for starte. Then put mather out in left or right.

Click to expand...

I'd be fined with Ryan at second. I think you forgot about Wellemeyer.