St. Louis Cardinals

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Chris Fry

Chris Fry created this group on SportProjections.com.

2008 St. Louis Cardinals Preview and Predictions

Contributor: Eric Seidman, mvn.com/mlb-stats

2007 Record: 78-84

2007 Summary: The Cardinals followed up their 2006 world series title by finishing under .500 for just the second time in the last ten years. The season got off to a disappointing start as Chris Carpenter was lost after just one start for the entire year and the disappointments took off from there. Injuries and age caught up with Jim Edmonds, injuries, age, and a feud with Tony La Russa slowed down Scott Rolen, and superhero Albert Pujols found himself in the midst of a "down year." Sure, a line of .327/.429/.568 w/32 HR and 103 RBI, is tremendous for anyone else but not for what we expect from Pujols.

Adam Wainwright emerged as a potential premiere starting pitcher which greatly aided the rotation featuring arguably the two worst NL starters in 2007 - Kip Wells and Anthony Reyes. They combined for a 9-31 W-L record and, based on the amount of well-pitched games, were even worse than that.

Jason Isringhausen had a tremendous year as the closer which went largely unheralded because he did not post Bobby Thigpen-saves numbers. Despite that, he appeared in just about every savable Cardinals game and only blew two of them.

Oh, and Rick Ankiel looks pretty good. Let's hope he doesn't get the "ipps" with his swing.

2008 Key Additions: Troy Glaus, Cesar Izturis, Matt Clement, Kyle Lohse. Jason LaRue is an addition though I would not necessarily say he was key, and Kip Wells is addition by subtraction.

2008 Key Losses: Rolen and Eckstein are in Toronto, Edmonds is in San Diego.

2008 Starting Lineup:
1. Barton
2. Ankiel
3. Pujols
4. Glaus
5. Ludwick
6. Molina
7. Izturis
8. PITCHER
9. Miles

2008 Starting Rotation: Wainwright, Lohse, Clement, Looper, Thompson/Wellemeyer

2008 Closer: Jason Isringhausen

2008 MVP: No matter what anyone else says in terms of picking someone obscure who needs to step up, Albert Pujols needs to have a monster year similar to his 2001-2006 for this team to have any hope whatsoever.

The Cardinals will be successful if: Wainwright can build upon his 2007 success, Ankiel can prove he is not a fluke, and Pujols regains his form. They've quietly upgraded or stayed the same at each position through their moves and Lohse/Clement will perform far superior to Wells/Reyes.

2008 Season Prediction: The Cardinals will get off to a hot start and be largely ignored due to the media's obsession with the Cubs and Brewers. When the All-Star break rolls around and people begin to recognize them as potential division winners the likes of Lohse, Clement, and Looper will begin to struggle. Carpenter will return and re-injure himself within three starts. Despite all of this they will still win 80-86 games, which, in their division, could be good enough to win.

stltoday.com

Miller visits as agent, Cards work on 'language' of deal

Lefthanded reliever Trever Miller, targeted as the first offseason addition for the Cardinals' retooled bullpen, came to St. Louis for a physical Thursday but did not end his visit with a finalized deal from the club.

Steinbrenner passes control of Yanks to son

George Steinbrenner's 35-year reign as boss of the team has ended, as he has passed control of the club to his youngest son, Hal. The elder Steinbrenner has gradually withdrawn from the Yankees' day-to-day operations in recent years, and brothers Hal and Hank were appointed co-chairmen in April.

Deal for Miller not done

GM John Mozeliak declined to say if Trever Miller's physical was the cause of the delay, saying only there was "language" that still needed to be worked out.

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mlb.com

Cardinals Hot Stove report

Cards continue talks with lefty Miller

Cardinals outright Parisi to Minors

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cardinalsdiaspora.com

Holliday season

I’ve been too bored and burnt out on the Cards to care for the last few months, last whole season really, but this Matt Holliday thing has stoked the embers of fan passion again. I’m back baby…and I’ve got a few things to say. Hooks is 100% right. Do it Cardinals. Make it happen. Market valuation [...]

Matt Holliday? Yes, Thank You.

Matt Holliday? Yes, I’ll take some of that please. The Cardinals are purportedly trying to trade for the Colorado slugger and have emerged as a leading contender to nab this fine slab of man meat. Please don’t wake me up now. I’ve been calling Holliday the Cardinal killer for some time now mainly because he’s batted [...]

Cardinal Haiku

Delicate Redbirds. Pujols, Carpenter Knifed Up. Pinched Nerves Abounding. Free Agency Soon. Watch As All The Big Names Pass. Hi Reclamation. No Sabathia. No Burnett, Lowe, Sheets, Dempster. Shop Low Hanging Fruit. All-Star Game Coming. Home Run Derby With Big Bats. Into Lake St. Louis. Ankiel’s Winter. Bang. Stuff. Cram. Hump. Nail. Jam. Lay. Ladies be Forewarned.

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vivaelbirdos.com

LOOGYs, Defensive Stats

Line of Defense

In Which the Author Struggles Mightily to Find Suitable Subject Matter

Albert Pujols fans lower their pitchforks and reflect

Most Plays for Playoff Teamable Player

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cardinal70.com

My 2008 Cardinal Blogger Award Selections

Last week, the second annual Cardinal Blogger Award nominees were posted in this space.  Today is the day of decision.  Voting takes place today across the Cardinal blogosphere as the great bloggers of this nation cast their ballots to recognize...

Dipping Into The Free Agent Pool

The Cardinals are expected to announce their first free agent signing of the season and it is a name that hasn't been on the radar screens, though the position definitely has.It appears that next season's lefty specialist will be Trevor...

General Stuff

Before I forget, I was remiss in not noting in yesterday's entry that CardinalsGM was having a radio show last night.  If you missed it (as I unfortunately had to), you can listen to it whenever you want on this...

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futureredbirds.com

Looking for the DFR?

We’re moving in over here!!! The .com address will repoint there also automatically shortly, but in the meantime, head on over to futureredbirds.net.

Daily Farm Report - 7/10/08

Erik chiming in here with a quick update: Friend of the blog Keith Law will be on with Jeff Gordon on 590 The Fan at 12:30pm today. This is old, but I had not seen it before. The Hardball Times analyzes the top draft picks, including scouting video. The bit on Brett Wallace is interesting, [...]

Q and A with Ben Chiswick

Ben Chiswick is the director of broadcasting and media relations for the Quad Cities River Bandits. He handles the play-by-play which you can catch for free at the River Bandits site. Some of you may have also read his post game recaps at milb.com, which provide some much needed color to the box scores, and [...]

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mvn.com/mlb-cardinals

Hot Stove report: Bay Area lures Sabathia, Pedroia builds case for big money, free agent predictions

Just a few weeks away from Major League Baseball's winter meetings, "The Pitch" fans the flames of the Hot Stove by shuffling through all of the latest CC Sabathia, Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixera and Jake Peavy reports.

Hosts Joe Aiello and Brandon Rosage also evaluate the MVP and Cy Young Awards and how the winners might be affected in the market today and down the line, including Boston's rising star Dustin Pedroia.

Listen in and participate via e-mail (thepitch@mvn.com) or in the comments.

And don't miss Brandon Rosage's new web video talk show "Boom, Outta Here," which spends its latest episode discussing Pedroia's shot at a new Red Sox deal.

LOOGY love

You asked who the Cards might pursue for lefty help? Looks like a couple of true LOOGYs top their list, according to the PD.

Will Ohman, 31, with the Braves last season, had an ERA+ of 116. Through his career, he's held lefties to .197/.285/.319 while righties have hit him better than Cardinal middle infielders to the tune of .262/.359/.397. He's reportedly looking for a 2 to 4 year deal worth $4 million per.

Arthur Rhodes, 39, older than dirt in baseball terms, Rhodes would be cheaper than Ohman. He's pure LOOGY too, holding left-handed hitters to a .157/.253/.200 line while righties hit .309/.381/.327 against him last year.

LOOGYs are fine, but not worth overpaying for.

Chasing lefties

The Cards are in the market for lefty relievers. That's a fact. But they missed what might have been the best catch in the sea, certainly the top bargain.

They should have chased LHP Jeremy Affeldt, who signed with the Giants yesterday at a fairly bargain rate of 2 years, $8 million. There could be a lot of reasons the Cards passed on Affeldt, and I suspec the fact that he's not a typical LOOGY might have something to do with it. Against left-handed hitters last year, Affeldt allowed a modest .269 AVG but a stingy .301 OBP.

But that's a case of how you frame it. Affeldt's numbers against righties were about equal, giving him an overall line of .260/.324/.410 and an ERA+ of 135. In short, he's a lot better than just a simple LOOGY. He was better than Ryan Franklin last year; in fact, his ERA+ would have ranked as the second best regular Cardinal bullpen-er, behind only Springer's 183 ERA+.

Here's a great profile of Affeldt's emergent 2008 season at Fangrpahs, and why even ESPN's Keith Law ranked him as the second best free agent relief pitcher on the market this year. He may not have been the answer at LOOGY, but he could have been a good set up man for the Cards or even the regular 7th inning guy. After watching the bullpen eat it so many times this season, the sight of a Franklin, Affeldt and Perez in the last three innings would have been a nice pill to help us forget the ignominious end of the Izzy Era.