The United Cardinal Bloggers strike again, this time with a recap of 2007. We each selected the five stories that we thought were the most important for 2007 in relation to the Cardinals. Check out CardinalNationGlobe, CardinalGM, Readin’ Redbird, Rockin’ the Red and Stan Musial’s Stance for their takes. (I’ll direct link to their stories when they are up.)
And, after the jump, my selections:
With the Cardinal offseason not providing much fuel for the hot stove, Cardinal Nation is getting warm with thoughts of the Next Big Thing, Colby Rasmus.
Derrick Goold had the piece in the Post-Dispatch earlier in the week and has amplified that with more stats in his blog.
He tops all the prospect lists over at Future Redbirds.
Larry broke down those that, like Rasmus may, jumped over AAA to the majors.
Various other media outlets have written stories or profiles of the outfielder.
So will he make it? Will he start out in St. Louis in ‘08 or Memphis? When will he take his rightful place as the heir of Edmonds?
With numerous players that can play a passable center field, players like Ankiel and Schumacker, I think that it’s likely Rasmus will start in Memphis next season, but I’d expect him up by June or so unless he really struggles at AAA. It’s possible his energy and fresh approach will help inspire the team as Ankiel’s callup did last August. Since besides the normal excitement that is provided by Albert Pujols there may not be much to watch on this team, the front office may feel a bit pressured to move him up quickly. Then again, if he hits well in Memphis, there’s really no reason to have him wait any longer.
I’m excited to see what he can do. I hope he plays his way on to the team from the word go. It’s been a long time since the Cardinals had a prospect this highly touted (at least in the field) and it’ll be a lot of fun to see him go to work.
Talk about a dead period. This time between Christmas and New Year’s is terrible for baseball news, it appears. Just running down the headlines on Pro Sports Daily’s rumor site, there was only one story yesterday (about the Reds still wanting to make moves) and most everything over there deals with Johan Santana, with an occasional dash of Eric Bedard.
Really more of the same at MLB Trade Rumors. Lot of rehashing of Santana. Doesn’t part of you wish that the Twins would either fish or cut bait? Take him off the market or send him somewhere, I don’t care anymore, just do something! Though if Santana winds up a Yankee or a Red Sox, it’s very disheartening.
We congratulate Deaner at CardinalNationGlobe for having heat in his house again. That also gets him back into the Cardinal blogosphere, which is a good thing as well.
Keep following Pip’s Twelve Days of Cardinal Christmas. It’s great already and there’s only been two days!
Looks like there are four of us so far for the next United Cardinal Bloggers project. Readin’ Redbird, CardinalsGM and CardinalNationGlobe have all indicated willingness to participate. Always looking for more, though!
Mark Prior is going to pitch for the Padres.
While I would have liked the Cardinals to get him, the fact that he just wanted a one-year deal–and, apparently, that’s what he got from San Diego–wouldn’t have worked out for St. Louis during their rebuilding year. However, if he has a strong 2008 (whatever portion he actually pitches) the Cards should keep him in mind for ‘09.
Before anything else, I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas. I spent four days off line for the first time in ages and just enjoyed the season and the family. I hope you got everything that you wished for and more besides.
I meant to note this last week, but over at Stan Musial’s Stance, there’s a discussion on the informally retired numbers and whether they’ll ever make it up on the outfield wall. Check it out and add your two cents.
As far as I can tell, the Cardinals took the holiday time off as well, as only the small news of Cliff Politte signing a minor league contract cracks the public consciousness. There’s no telling what they are working on behind the scenes, but I doubt there will be anything big happening between now and January. As for Politte, another arm that has a chance to make an impact in the bullpen. No risk, medium reward. Nothing to get excited about, but he could be another Percival type next year.
In case you have some grievances out there, Erik at Future Redbirds has up his Festivus Pole. I’ve got a feeling some at CCH would like to have at ownership this time of year. ‘Course, those are the ones who have at ownership every day of the year, so it’s not much of a stretch. Also, Pip at Fungoes has started the Cardinal Twelve Days of Christmas.
Generally, you may notice some snow at the top of the blog and throughout the page. WordPress has that as an option between now and January 2, and since it’s the closest thing to snow we’re going to get around these parts, I clicked the box.
Also, I have e-mailed those Cardinal blogs that participated in the last blogger project with a new idea. If you did not participate last time but are interested in this project, aimed for December 31, e-mail me (cardinal70 at gmail).
