GatewayRedbirds.com

I didn't even know Dave Stewart had a blog...

Basically, he says that the season started bad (TLR and Carp getting hurt) then writes off the team for the rest of the year.

Nothing any of us couldn't have written, but it's interesting to see an outsider's perspective.

There's a lot of baseball left to be played this season, but the Cardinals are obviously off to a very poor start. I didn't pick St Louis over the Tigers going into the World Series last year and I didn't have high expectations for this team this season either. The Cards were a good team last year. However, a lot of their guys had career years last season, and as a result they overachieved. And, I can't say that I'm surprised that they're currently last in their division due to the variety of factors this team has had to overcome so far this season.

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Who had a career year last year except AP?

Who had a career season with us last year? I suppose Chris Duncan, but it was his first year, so *anything* would have been his "career year"; likewise Adam Wainwright, Josh Kinney, Randy Flores, etc.

Methinks Stewart is thinking of the MV3 season of 2004.

G. Keenan wrote:Who had a career year last year except AP?

Skip Scott?

I can't say I disagree with any of that except the "career year" part.

G. Keenan wrote:Who had a career year last year except AP?

Scott Spiezio

Nope - Scott had a career-reviving season, but he had better seasons from 2001-2003, before he signed with Seattle and got hurt.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/spiezsc01.shtml

obucard wrote:I can't say I disagree with any of that except the "career year" part.

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Jmodene wrote:Nope - Scott had a career-reviving season, but he had better seasons from 2001-2003, before he signed with Seattle and got hurt.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/spiezsc01.shtml

I disagree.

He didn't have as many as bats obviously since he was a starter back then for Seattle, resulting in less home runs and rbi's for the birds.

But in his limited playing time he produced more in the at bats he was given, than at any point in his playing career.

Highest OPS + was last year. IMO, his career year was last year.

You make a reasonable argument, but I think his 2002 season was better - a higher BA, a higher OBA, and more walks than K's - his SLG in 2006 for the Cards was, to be sure, higher, and that is probably what made his OPS+ higher in 2006 than 2002.

I think, though, that he was a better overall player in 2002, if only because he maintained that production over a full season's worth of AB's (491) instead of a little more than a half-season's worth (276).

Addendum: I do think it's significant, though, that in both of those seasons, Speez's teams won the World Series.