Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus (Update: Finalized!)

[haltz]

The Globe thinks we are sending cash.

Some time Monday, if he isn't busy finding a spare shovel to take to tomorrow's Congressional hearing on steroids for all the malarkey he'll be dishing out, commissioner Bud Selig will sign off on the $4-million the Cardinals will send the Blue Jays as part of the deal. There will be some money going the other way for accounting purposes, which means the net gain for the Blue Jays will be about $3-million.

[greenback44]

Personally, I don't think that a team can win a World Championship with a manager whose has seen the game pass him by, which was the way I interpreted your post. Maybe I read too much into it........

It's not a black-and-white thing. He doesn't automatically cause losses. The question is whether LaRussa helps or hurts, and it's not an obvious answer to me. By his numbers Tony LaRussa has been a successful manager, but it's very hard to evaluate what his individual impact has been. He doesn't hit the homer like Pujols or field the groundball like Everett (or not field the groundball like Miles), so I can't readily say what he adds or what he's supposed to add.

What I have heard and seen is that LaRussa comes with a huge freakin' pile of baggage. When you have Rolen and Miles constraints, then it's clearly not easier on paper to win ball games. Whether there's some accompanying and superior intangible that gets added with these constraints is something we effectively have to take on faith. I'd love to hear some explanation from one of those insiders on what exactly that intangible is, because my first instinct is that this a BS dump.

[ghostrunner]

I hope I never find out, but I wonder what the page count would be if Pujols were traded.

Can a mushroom cloud have a page count?

I don't know, but taking only your statement literally is funny in a sick way. I'm just imagining a nuke dropping and people arguing about it online.

[Socnorb11]

Personally, I don't think that a team can win a World Championship with a manager whose has seen the game pass him by, which was the way I interpreted your post. Maybe I read too much into it........

It's not a black-and-white thing. He doesn't automatically cause losses. The question is whether LaRussa helps or hurts, and it's not an obvious answer to me. By his numbers Tony LaRussa has been a successful manager, but it's very hard to evaluate what his individual impact has been. He doesn't hit the homer like Pujols or field the groundball like Everett (or not field the groundball like Miles), so I can't readily say what he adds or what he's supposed to add.

What I have heard and seen is that LaRussa comes with a huge freakin' pile of baggage. When you have Rolen and Miles constraints, then it's clearly not easier on paper to win ball games. Whether there's some accompanying and superior intangible that gets added with these constraints is something we effectively have to take on faith. I'd love to hear some explanation from one of those insiders on what exactly that intangible is, because my first instinct is that this a BS dump.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Rolen constraints".

Has Rolen played for a MLB manager yet that he's been able to get along with? Has he played for a team yet that he hasn't wanted to leave? How does that land squarely on Larussa?

You don't want to believe that there are "intangibles" (and I agree), because you can't measure them. Likewise, you can't measure Larussa's influence on the front office, so is it fair to throw that into the equation?

[planet planet]

I wish there were a way to phrase a poll to determine what percentage of blame for the current state of the Cardinals people would attribute to each of the following: Jocketty, Mozeliak, LaRussa, DeWitt/ownership.

[tenniseleven]

as of this second LaRussa isn't managing a successful ball-team, considering they lost more than they won last year...

we'll see how it goes this upcoming season...

and for the record I am a fan of LaRussa, just not absolute certain he's the best manager for this particular team at this particular time...

[UK]

Blame?

That track record of this decade hasn't been spotty at all.

Unless ownership directly said we aren't going to spend more on scouting and development, them having an inability to rely on the farm starts at Jocketty and trickles down to the scouting/development depts.

[planet planet]

Blame?

That track record of this decade hasn't been spotty at all.

Unless ownership directly said we aren't going to spend more on scouting and development, them having an inability to rely on the farm starts at Jocketty and trickles down to the scouting/development depts.

UK, you well know what I meant by "current state of the Cardinals" and their relatively bleak future.

[Socnorb11]

Blame?

That track record of this decade hasn't been spotty at all.

Unless ownership directly said we aren't going to spend more on scouting and development, them having an inability to rely on the farm starts at Jocketty and trickles down to the scouting/development depts.

I think you nailed it.

Many here will refuse to blame Jocketty, however. He's not here to kick around anymore, so that's no fun.

[planet planet]

Blame?

That track record of this decade hasn't been spotty at all.

Unless ownership directly said we aren't going to spend more on scouting and development, them having an inability to rely on the farm starts at Jocketty and trickles down to the scouting/development depts.

I think you nailed it.

Many here will refuse to blame Jocketty, however. He's not here to kick around anymore, so that's no fun.

That was the point of my original post. Our current state directly links back to Jocketty, whether it's the farm system, the Mulder trade, the ill advised extensions, etc. Although Socnorb, I thought you were adamantly against Jocketty being let go?