Around Cardinal Nation

It’s been a pretty busy week for me, so I’ve not been able to examine all the Cardinal related news and blogs like I would have liked.  But in the limited time I’ve been online, there’ve been a few things that have jumped out at me. 

The biggest one is this rumor with the Pirates involving Brad Thompson, among others on our side and players such as Jack Wilson, Matt Morris and Jason Bay on the other side.  Bay is the only one in that group worth getting.  Sure, maybe you take Morris on if the Pirates take a lot of salary and if it helps you get Bay, but other than that, there’s not much value. 

Tom over at CardinalsGM really broke this deal down.  I agree with him, if it’s Duncan, Thompson and Reyes going for Bay, Morris and Wilson, you can’t do that deal.  If you could get Bay for Reyes and Thompson, you’d probably have to do some serious thinking about it, even though outfield is where the Cardinals are overstocked at the moment. 

Wilson makes no sense with the glut of mediocre middle infielders we already have.  Why bring on another one, especially at that price? 

Also, over at VEB, they’ve started the community projections.  We did this at CCH last year and you may remember seeing the results.  We’ll start them up at the Clubhouse soon, but if you’ve not had a chance to put in your thoughts on what Matt Clement will wind up with (and I need to do that), head on over there and post them. 

Finally, there was no movement on Mark McGwire getting into the Hall of Fame this year.  He received exactly the same number of votes as he did last year, putting him around 23%.  Something is going to have to give, though.  Either players like Bonds and Clemens aren’t going to get in when they are eligible or people are going to have to give a second look to McGwire.  Heck, he wasn’t even named in the Mitchell Report as a steroid user, so why does he not get a little more benefit of the doubt?  I wish he’d come out and talk about it, but if he’s not going to, should that be held against him? 

Hopefully we aren’t still having this discussion 10 years from now, but I wouldn’t put it past the baseball writers.

Year In Review: Top 5 Cardinal Stories

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:

The Phenom

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.

Quick Hit

Just a short note, since I don’t have much time today.  Not a lot going on in Cardinal Nation anyway.

Cards are keeping an eye on Mark Prior, which is nice to know.  Of course, I’ve advocated for him in the past, though apparently he just wants a one year deal.  That’s not what the Cardinals need, since he won’t be around until June or so.  If there’s a team option with it, then that’s another thing.

Cards missed out on Carlos Silva, which is not a bad thing.  Silva would be an interesting Cardinal, since he’s very much a pitch-to-contact, ground ball type, but at those prices, St. Louis was smart not to spend much time looking.  Hopefully they are doing the same with Kyle Loshe.

May not get a post up tomorrow and who knows with the holidays when I will, so in case I’m not back until after Christmas, have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and always remember the reason for the season.

A Cardinal Thanksgiving

Tomorrow, as you all know, we stop to say thanks for the many blessings the Lord has given us.  This list below is what we as Cardinal fans can be thankful for.  Of course, there’s the family, friends, country bit and I’m not suggesting these take precedence.  But, strictly from a Cardinal perspective, thanks for:

Ownership.  OK, let’s get the controversial one out of the way first.  Lots of people don’t feel that this ownership is much of anything to be thankful for.  They feel that Bill Dewitt and company are cheapskates who know that the devoted fans of St. Louis will come to the ballpark no matter what product is out there, especially with the new stadium.  Let’s say that’s true.  I don’t believe it is, but I’ll even give you that.  When the team was up for sale, there could have been investors from another town who said, “Hey, who cares about tradition?  I want to see the New Jersey Cardinals instead!”  Keeping the team in St. Louis should give them some thoughts at this time of year, if nothing else.

Then, they spent enough to put a great team together in the middle part of the decade.  Cynics will say they did that to keep interest up to get a new ballpark.  Fine, believe that if you want.  It doesn’t take away from the fact that we saw two 100 win teams in a row followed by an improbable World Series title.  Some of the credit–and the thanks–have to go toward them as well.

Plus, they locked up Albert Pujols to a long term deal.  We’ll talk about him next, but anything that keeps El Hombre in Cardinal Red is a very good thing.