BP: Skepticism & Despair: St. Louis Cardinals

[robbotis]

Every team has positions held down by below-average players. Every team has question marks.

Not the Yankees. Their Lineup is ridiculous.

[Hungary Jack]

I didn't realize that losing Suppan, Marquis, and Weaver to FA constitutes bleeding talent.

No doubt! That's the first thing I thought.

And for that matter, what in the blue hell does losing starting pitching have to do with injuries in the outfield?

The BP crew, short of Kevin Goldstein, needs to just stick to posting their numbers and leave the analysis alone.

Agreed.

I think the big picture about the Cardinals is that they are in transition after a very good 10-year run. I think WJ is trying to hold the fort until guys like Rasmus, Garcia, Hawksworth, Anderson, etc. are ready, and he's tyring to do this without mortgaging the future in a crazy FA market.

I'd be surprised if the next Cardinal championship team features guys like Edmonds, Izzy, Juan E, Eck, and Kennedy. Hopefully it includes a lot of the guys who are in A/AA right now.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Give me a break. We'll be fine. Maybe not world killers, but in a weak division we will be just fine. Cardinal nation is filled with Chicken Littles. Its just a fricking game. And we ARE the reigning champions. Enjoy it for crissakes.

Skepticism & Despair: St. Louis Cardinals

by Nate Silver

So now the word is out that two-thirds of the Cardinals‘ starting outfield — Jim Edmonds and Juan Encarnacion — is likely to begin the season on the DL.

I don’t want to make too much of this. Neither player is expected to be out for all that long, though you have to wonder about Edmonds, who is recovering from two separate injuries (shoulder, foot), is 37 years old, and is no stranger to the Disabled List.

Still, these injuries are going to expose just how top-heavy the Cardinals are. The story I linked to above suggests that the Opening Day outfield might be Chris Duncan in left, Preston Wilson in center, and Scott Spiezio in right, which is not only a below-average offensive trio but might be the worst defensive outfield since the 1997 Oakland A’s. I don’t know whether injuries tend to snowball, but I do know they’re a bigger problem when neither your bench nor your farm system is ready to produce adequate replacements.

From my point of view, the most underreported story of the off-season is how Walt Jocketty — coming off a World Championship, and more than 3.4 million fans in his new ballpark — allowed the Cardinals to bleed talent when they desperately needed to add it. I’ve publicly disavowed PECOTA’s projection that the 2005 champs will finish with 90 losses, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if that’s where the 2006 champs wind up.

90 losses seems to be a bit of an overreation to me.

[sighyoung]

WWSS? (What Would Schleprock Say?)

[Joe Shlabotnik]

WWSS? (What Would Schleprock Say?)

WWED?

[sighyoung]

WWCD (What would Curmudgeon Do?)

[Laodocus8]

I seem to recall other writers at Baseball Prospectus not long ago praising Jocketty for identifying stop-gap bargains and showing restraint during this spend-crazy offseason.

Now a few weeks later, according to them, he apparently did all of Cardinal Nation a disservice over the last couple of months. Were we supposed to overspend on Carlos Lee, Soriano, or Gary Matthews Jr. to improve our outfield? Trade from the nonexistent depth in our minor leagues?

It reminds me of this quote from a Viva El Birdos interview with Sam Walker today:

Everyone has this weird desire to humiliate. The scouts have a desire to see the stats guys humiliated, and they have humiliated them. And then the stats people, the outsiders, really want to humiliate the guys who played the game and who continue to run it like a fraternity. And it carries over into Rotisserie, because you have those different perspectives --- you have people who are really fantasy people, and people who fancy themselves as serious analysts. And there's a deep desire to humiliate on both sides of that.

[doe_boy]

WWCD (What would Curmudgeon Do?)

He wouldn't pay no mind to all that fancy talk about OH-BLEEKS and whatnot. Yer dern tootin'!

[JL21]

Seriously. Bleeding talent. I can't get past that. They lost:

-Ronnie Belliard (.237/ .295/ .371)
-Jose Vizcaino (23 AB's)
-Timo Perez (31 AB's)
-Hector Luna (.291/ .355/ .417.... in 223 AB's)
-Jeff Weaver (5.18 ERA)
-Jason Marquis (6.02 ERA)
-Jeff Suppan (4.12 ERA)

Oh, and Ponson (5.24) and Sosa (5.28).

Woe is Walt! How dare the media not admonish him for letting that fleet of productivity get away!

[doe_boy]

Seriously. Bleeding talent. I can't get past that. They lost:

-Ronnie Belliard (.237/ .295/ .371)
-Jose Vizcaino (23 AB's)
-Timo Perez (31 AB's)
-Hector Luna (.291/ .355/ .417.... in 223 AB's)
-Jeff Weaver (5.18 ERA)
-Jason Marquis (6.02 ERA)
-Jeff Suppan (4.12 ERA)

Oh, and Ponson (5.24) and Sosa (5.28).

Woe is Walt! How dare the media not admonish him for letting that fleet of productivity get away!

Pish-posh! I can't believe your actually using facts to support a point. The BP guy's argument looks so much better if you don't consider facts like those.