Most of you will remember this from 2008 Olympics. It’s the perfect metaphor for the Cardinals’ remarkable run to the playoffs.
And as a friend kindly pointed out to me, lane 7 is the Cubs. They didn’t fare too well:
In the wake of his son being dealt north of the border to the Toronto Blue Jays, Tony Rasmus decided to unleash all the pent-up frustration he’s been bottling for three years since his son strapped on a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.
And he didn’t disappoint.
Much has been said about the relationship between between Colby, his father, and manager Tony La Russa. It’s been a common notion that La Russa took issue with Colby getting “outside hitting help,” presumably from his father.
After the trade, La Russa furiously denied those claims. As for Tony Rasmus? Well, he told the Toronto Sun a much different story.
I’m not sure when this quote was said, but the story cited this from La Russa:
“He’s (Colby) listening to somebody, he doesn’t listen to the Cardinal coaches much and that’s why he gets in these funks. If he would stay with what they teach, he would have … but I actually feel concern for him, because he hears it from so many places, he’s got to be confused.”
Rasmus’ dad called that claim “100% fiction.”
But let’s move on to some of the more intriguing things that Tony Rasmus had to say.
In June of 2010, the story writes, the father visited his son in St. Louis and worked on hitting:
“We didn’t do anything serious. Colby told Tony about it. After last June that was the end of that,” said Tony Rasmus, who said four weeks ago the Cards and Colby were involved in talks on a four-year deal. “Evidently Tony (La Russa) has absolutely made that stuff up. He’s got it on the brain. If I was working with my son I’d tell people.”
Did you catch that? Four weeks ago, the team and Rasmus were working on a four-year deal. That’s a big deal if that’s true.
So what happened in the meantime to change that?
Well, if you’ve watched the Cardinals any time recently, you’d know that their bullpen has struggled, to put it nicely.
How badly did they need pitching? I’ll allow Mr. Rasmus to answer that for you:
“Tony needed pitching and wanted to force the GM into making a trade, so he belittled Colby to the fans. Tony would like to have 25 pitchers…He thinks he has to put his stamp on every ball game. They had nothing else to trade. I think everyone is better off now.”
This plays into the notion that Rasmus was a misunderstood ballplayer. I once saw him referred to as a “head case,” and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. The guy doesn’t talk enough to give a reporter three good quotes for a story, let alone enough to constitute “head case” status.
In fact, Rasmus might be one of the most low-key baseball players I’ve ever seen. If anyone in this situation is a head case, it’s La Russa.
Now, I’m not here to condone helicopter parenting, which is clearly what Tony Rasmus is being accused of by La Russa. I think there’s some of that going on, but not the extent that La Russa and others have made it out to be.
What makes me think that? Well, Rasmus isn’t the first player to have butted heads with La Russa. Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, Brendan Ryan, Anthony Reyes, Kerry Robinson, and even Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith have all had problems with La Russa while playing for him.
That tells me that’s a trend with the manager, not with an individual player. This one is on La Russa, not Rasmus.
Tony Rasmus certainly agrees:
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t blossom, being out from under all this. There are three or four guys in the St. Louis clubhouse right now, thinking ‘oh-oh, who is the manager going to pick on next with Colby gone?’”
I’d have to say I agree with Mr. Rasmus.
Remember when John Mozeliak said the Cardinals could upgrade by not doing anything to their Major League roster, and insisted that Colby Rasmus wouldn’t be traded?
Well, he lied.
The Cardinals dealt the young outfielder, along with relievers Trever Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters to the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher Edwin Jackson, relievers Marc Rzepczynski and aging Octavio Dotel, and outfielder Corey Patterson.
It’s difficult to see how the Cardinals can benefit at all in the long run from this deal. They give up good young, cost-controlled centerfielder for two journeyman pitchers and a reliever who has a career ERA of 4.00.
Jackson will now be on his eighth team in nine seasons and Dotel will be on his 12th team in 13 seasons.
And Corey Patterson? He’s a career .253 hitter who has 14 home runs over the course of the last three seasons.
Jackson is a free agent at the end of this year, and his agent is Scott Boras. The only thing that means is that Jackson and Boras are going to demand even more money than what’s in the 2-year, $12.55 million contract he has currently.
In an offseason where Mozeliak is going to have to give every remaining penny to Pujols, the chances of resigning Jackson are slim, thus making him a rental.
Dotel and Patterson also appear to be rentals as well.
Trading Rasmus never really made a whole lot of sense to me. He’s 24 years old and is a good young, cost-controlled centerfielder that is still developing.
It’s almost as if people expected him to peak at 24, but he’s still growing as a player.
He’s also one of the most misunderstood players in baseball, in my opinion. People see his stonewalled demeanor and take it to mean he doesn’t care. But look at the picture in this post. That tells a different story.
People wanted to see a demonstrative attitude out of him and that just wasn’t going to happen. He simply went out and played the game, similar to how Jim Edmonds did. It make look lazy, but he never got burned on balls and made countless spectacular catches.
At the end of the season, the Cardinals will likely be left with just Marc Rzepczynski from this trade, assuming Boras tried to break Mozeliak’s bank during negotiations.
The Cardinals will be left watching Rasmus’ career potentially take off while they revel in watching Rzepczynski pitch to five batters a week, at most.
The other question this trades raises is what does St. Louis do with their rotation now?
The likely candidate to be bumped from the rotation is Kyle McClellan, given that he has previous bullpen experience and has had success there.
Raul Valdes also looks like he could be gone from the bullpen as well.
So who closes games now? Fernando Salas has been solid since taking the role with 19 saves. I don’t see any reason for him not to get the ball in the 9th inning still, given that Rzepczynski and Dotel have one save between the two of them this year.
It would be tough to digest McClellan going to spot reliever role after how good he’s been this year, so you’d have to thing he’d pitch the 8th with Rzepczynski or Dotel pitching the 7th.
Also, with Lance Berkman potentially headed to disabled list and Allen Craig still nursing a knee injury, Rasmus’ departure leaves a gaping hole in the outfield. It looks like Skip Schumaker could potentially head out there until Craig or Berkman get healthy, with Jon Jay in centerfield and Matt Holliday in left field.
In the end, this was a poor trade by Mozeliak and the Cardinals management. They had a chance to get high value for Rasmus.
Instead, they low-balled themselves for three rentals and one player who could potentially stick around next season.
Mozeliak said he didn’t want to change the Major League roster or trade Rasmus, and both of those turned out to be lies. I hope I don’t hear him say, “We’re committed to winning.”
It’s almost as if the Cardinals are trying to sell the drama that was created between the St. Louis Cardinals Cincinnati Reds.
Everyone remembers the fight last season.
The one that came in the middle of a heated game, in the middle of a heated National League Central Race. It was fueled by Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips’ comments, followed up with his love tap on Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina’s shin guard.
It was a fight that many Cardinals fans thought would spark some excitement into the team — some energy that would propel them to close out the final leg of the season.
Instead the Cardinals were never the same after that series. Frankly, they were awful. The disappointment piled on, loss after loss, until the Reds eventually shut the door on the Cardinals and clinched the NL Central title.
No two people were more involved with that fight — even though neither were pitching in the game — than Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter and Reds starter Johnny Cueto. Carpenter shoved himself in the middle of the fight, getting into it with former Cardinal Scott Rolen. His next target was Reds manager Chris Carpenter, where 90% of the conversation involved words that probably aren’t suitable for children.
On the outside of the scuffle was Johnny Cueto, who said he was “defending himself” after being shoved against the backstop netting. His defense? Kick anyone in sight with his spiked cleats. He struck Cardinals back-up catcher Jason LaRue in the head with his cleats, placing him on the disable list for the remainder of the season with concussion-like symptoms.
Well Carpenter and Cueto square off tonight in a crucial mid-season series between the Cardinals and Reds.
If you’ve watched any of the Cardinals games on Fox Sports Midwest or listened to any of the radio broadcasts of the game, you might have heard a certain commercial come on several times.
It’s Cardinals announcer Dan McLaughlin previewing the upcoming series. The commercial is playing up the fact that Carpenter and Cueto are facing each other.
It’s selling the drama. It’s selling the fight. The one that effectively proved to be the end of the Cardinals season last year.
The reason? To sell tickets.
But the Cardinals can’t get caught up in that again. They sit just two games ahead of the Reds in the NL Central. They’ve been hit hard with injuries this season and are coming off two straight losses to the Tampa Bay Rays. Prior to their road trip, they had lost 12 out of 15 games.
The last thing they need to be worrying about is another drama-filled series in which they badly need wins to separate themselves in the division.
My guess is that Fox Sports Midwest, ESPN, and many of the other sports networks will continuously show footage of last year’s fight. That’s a given.
But it’s weird to me that the Cardinals would use that as a ploy to help sell tickets, almost alluding to the fact that more drama could happen again. That was the underlying message with McLaughlin’s tone in the commercials.
But that needs to be the last thing on any Cardinal player’s mind.
It sounds like Chris Carpenter has already subscribed to that notion.
In an interview before a game in Tampa Bay this weekend, Fox Sports Midwests’ Jim Hayes asked Carpenter about the upcoming start and whether he’s thinking about the fight last year.
“I’m not worrying about any of that,” Carpenter said. “My job is to go out and get Cincinnati Reds hitters out.”
Filed under:
Opinion
By now, Cardinals fans have watched the play from the 6th inning of Saturday’s win against the Kansas City Royals so many times that it’s made them sick.
You know the play.
Pujols stretched out for a wide throw by Pete Kozma and collided with Wilson Betemit, causing him to suffer a fracture in his wrist and sideline him for at least 4-6 weeks.
Maybe you haven’t watched the play. Maybe you’re in denial.
Well, it happened. Injuries happened, even to the best of them.
General Manager John Mozeliak said when he saw Pujols go down, writhing in pain after the collision, he felt “nauseous.” Understandably so. The Cardinals had just dropped seven in a row and blew what looked to be a comfortable mid-season lead atop the National League Central before winning two straight against Kansas City.
They now stand tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place. Already missing their best starting pitcher for the entire season, and having two of their “Big three” liable to land on the DL anytime, the Cardinals will have to fight through the next month to a month-and-a-half without their best player.
At the risk of being Captain Optimistic, this injury could be a blessing in disguise.
We all sat and watched the circus that was the off-season for the Cardinals. All the contract talks, speculations, closed lips, etc. There was a strict deadline set be Pujols for a deal to get done, and it never got done. The season started and all contract talks were to be halted.
Pujols’ reason for that? Because he didn’t want it to distract him or his teammates from playing.
Well Pujols won’t be playing for the next 4-6 weeks. Meaning there’s no chance of anything distracting him from playing.
See where I’m going here?
Mozeliak needs to use Pujols’ DL stint to open up contract talks. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be an option right now. As fellow Cardinal blogger Daniel Shoptaw said in a tweet, “it’s not like it’ll distract him from playing. Might as well be productive.”
Exactly.
Getting a head start on contract talks, or hell, maybe even getting them worked out during the next month while Pujols is out would sort of be the chicken noodle soup and Sprite that would help ease Mozeliak’s nausea, and the fans’ for that matter.
What better way to come back from an injury and finish the last 10 weeks of the season knowing where you’ll be the next year? What better way for the Cardinals to regroup as a team once he returns, knowing their cornerstone for sure ins’t going anywhere?
Don’t get me wrong, the burden doesn’t lie solely on Mozeliak. This is a two-way street, and Pujols is the other lane. He has to be open to this idea too. Unless there are other reasons than he gave before the season, there’s no reason for him not to consider talking about his contract.
It would be the kind of jolt the Cardinals could use for momentum once Pujols does return. The shot to the arm for the players and the fans. The penicillin for the nausea, if you will.
This only makes sense. Let’s see if Mozeliak and Pujols realize it too.
It’s been a long time since I’ve written about anything other than the Cardinals on here.
On Thursday, something prompted me to change that. Something so moronic, so childish and more importantly, frightening.
Last Wednesday, on May 25, baseball fans watched as Florida Marlins rookie Scott Cousins flattened San Francisco Giants star catcher Buster Posey on a play at home.
Posey’s left foot didn’t move on the play, thus causing him to break his ankle and tear several ligaments.
More importantly, after numerous significant injuries to key players on the Giants roster, Posey’s season was cut short and the Giants’ hopes of repeating as World Series Champions could be seen floating off into the banks of McCovey Cove.
But now that play is taking a backseat to new developments in the wake of that play.
Giants general manager Brian Sabean on Thursday released some pretty startling comments directed toward Cousins. He called Cousins’ play malicious and said he didn’t blame Posey for not calling Cousins back, even after Cousins called the reigning National League Rookie of the Year to apologize for the play.
Sabean added:
“If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy. He chose to be a hero in my mind, and if that’s his flash of fame, that’s as good as it’s going to get, pal. We’ll have a long memory. Believe me, we’ve talked to (former catcher Mike) Matheny about how this game works. You can’t be that out-and-out overly aggressive. I’ll put it as politically as I can state it: There’s no love lost and there shouldn’t be.”
Now, it seems as though Giants fans are taking after their GM and unleashing the hounds on Cousins, who was quoted as saying he “can’t say (enough) he’s sorry that it happened.”
But nevermind what Cousins said. At least, that seems to be what Giants fans are saying.
ESPN.com reported late Thursday night that Cousins had received death threats stemming from last week’s collision.
Cousins’ agent confirmed to ESPN.com that those reports were in fact true.
And that’s where this story hits the tipping point.
But first, the childishness of Sabean can’t be ignored. His quotes read like a mad sixth grader wanting to get back at a classmate who stole his girlfriend. It’s sickening how vindictive someone in so high profile a position as Sabean could be after a play that falls within the rules of baseball.
Let me repeat that just so that it sinks in: the play was legal.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like collisions at home plate. I don’t see them as necessary, and I don’t think they have a place in baseball.
But they’re there, and they are legal. Which means Cousins did nothing wrong.
Yet somehow, for some reason, Sabean has decided to take the approach that Cousins premeditated the play and conspired to injure Posey.
Are you kidding me? Grow up.
It’s pretty evident that the play was an accident, or at the very least not something that had malicious intent. Notice in the video how Cousins immediately checks on Posey. That doesn’t seem like someone who set out to hurt someone.
“I’ve said my peace,” Cousins told ESPN.com. “I feel horrible for Posey. The aftermath of this has not been fun.”
In fact, the aftermath has been ugly.
The fact of the matter is that Sabean is leading a charge of unnecessary hatred toward a rookie who was just trying to score the winning run in an extra-inning game, which he did. And this charge of vengeance needs to stop, because it’s gone way too far.
It’s sickening that Cousins is receiving death threats over this play. In fact, it’s frightening.
Really, Giants fans? You want to end this young man’s life all because of a legal baseball play that landed Posey on the disabled list for the rest of the season?
How did you feel after this play last season, then? Was Pablo Sandoval in the wrong for running over Ryan Doumit? He must have been, right?
Cousins’ agent Mike Sosnick summed it up best.
“It’s an emotional time for the Giants, and I understand Brian’s disappointment,” Sosnick told ESPN.com. “But his opinion is in the vast minority. It’s a play within the rules, and I imagine his opinion would be vastly different if Posey ran over [Marlins catcher John] Buck on a legal play and Buck was injured.”
For a franchise so rich in history, this whole situation is becoming an embarrassment for the Giants organization. On top of that, Sabean is making himself look like an immature fool who doesn’t understand that plays like that are part of baseball, whether he agrees with it or not.
What’s more, Giants fans are making themselves look like an incompetent, irrational group of lunatics who are fighting under the charge of their ultra-irrational leader, Brian Sabean.
If Posey’s career was in jeopardy after this play, that’s one thing. But he’s only out for the season. One season in what looks to be a very long and successful career.
It’s a broken foot, for crying out loud. He’s not paralyzed.
There’s the argument that Posey won’t be the same catcher when he returns, and I get that. But “ifs” like that are still not grounds to give Cousins the middle school-esque cold shoulder and the “I’m not talking to you” attitude, let alone send him death threats.
In all honesty, there aren’t any grounds to send someone death threats, especially over a fair, legal play.
Sabean and Giants fans are embarrassing Major League Baseball over this case to an extreme degree.
Cousins has come to peace with it. It’s time Sabean and Giants fans grew up and did so too.
Filed under:
Opinion
If this were poker, Cardinal fans would be telling chairman Bill DeWitt, Jr., to ante up.
By now, the situation regarding Albert Pujols’ contact is no secret to even the most casual Cardinal fan. His contract is set to end after the 2011 season, and as stated by Pujols and his agent Dan Lozano, the Cardinals have less than a month to work out an agreement for an extension. If the two sides don’t come to a compromise by the start of spring training, Pujols has requested that the talks come to a halt until after the season.
First, let me say that the Cardinals need to pay up. But we’ll save that for later and address the first issue, which is Pujols and his agent’s approach to this entire situation.
For nearly two months, talks between the two sides were “private,” and there seemed to be little concern about that from Cardinal fans. After all, this is how Pujols has always operated, saying he doesn’t want to be a distraction. The same can be said about his reasoning behind not wanting the contract talks to spill over in to the season. That too has been an annual battle cry from the Pujols camp.
Despite the vow of silence, Mozeliak saw it fit to announce that a deadline for getting the deal done had been set.
While it’s easy to understand Pujols’ reasoning for setting the deadline, is doing so really necessary? Say the two sides make headway in the coming weeks and get close to an agreement, but then Feb. 18 comes and the talks are forced to stop suddenly, not to be resumed for at least seven months.
Does that not seem counterproductive?
And does Pujols really believe that the media will forget about it as well? Surely not. While local media may grow weary of talking about it, New York and Los Angeles media outlets will feed off of it. ESPN surely will as well.
It won’t go away. In fact, once the talks officially “stop,” they might become an even bigger distraction than they ever were.
Perhaps it’s just Lozano’s way of lighting a fire under Cardinals ownership to get the deal done as soon as possible.
In hindsight, this really should be a non-issue. DeWitt, Mozeliak, and every other person that makes up the Cardinals ownership saw this day coming two, even three years ago. That’s when the talks should have started, not in the winter leading up to the last season on his contract.
The current situation is just one side effect of their procrastination. During that time, the market value for a player like Pujols has skyrocketed.
Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard signed a five-year contract worth $125 million and pitchers Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee got contracts that will pay them around $20 million and $24 million a year, respectively. Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth got a seven-year, $126 million contract and Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford got a seven-year, $142 million contract.
That equals out to $18 million a year for Werth and roughly $20 million a year for Crawford. And for three-time MVP Albert Pujols, the asking price is without question going to be much higher than any of those five players.
Also, the Cardinals didn’t help themselves by raising the bar on themselves when they offered outfielder Matt Holliday a seven-year, $120 million contract prior to the 2010 season.
Miklasz also said that had DeWitt and Mozeliak been proactive two or three years ago, this situation could have been avoided and the collective market price could’ve been set much lower. By waiting, they have now forced themselves in to a corner where they’ll have to pay him more than all of those players.
In all honesty, the Cardinals owe Pujols that kind of money out of pity. According to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Pujols has been vastly underpaid in his 10 seasons with St. Louis, especially for the kind of production and success he’s brought to the franchise.
Miklasz writes:
Only once in his 10 years has Pujols ranked among the game’s top 25 highest-paid players in a season, according to the annual salary survey done by USA Today. A decade of Pujols has cost the Cardinals an average of about $9 million a year — a rate lower than what the team is paying pitcher Kyle Lohse on an annual basis.
No matter how you slice it, Pujols deserves the money.
No other player in the history of baseball has hit 30 or more home runs in their first 10 seasons as a Major Leaguer and was just the second player in history to drive in 100 or more runs per season in the same amount of time.
Pujols also ranks in the top 15 in MLB history in four statistical categories: On-base percentage (12th), slugging percentage (fourth), on-base plus slugging percentage (fourth), and adjusted on-base plus slugging percentage (tied for sixth).
In Pujols’ first 5,000 career at bats, Pujols tallied 372 doubles, 358 home runs, and 14 triples for a total of 744 extra-base hits – the most in National League history.
He did all of this by the age of 30.
To put it simply: pay the guy.
Don’t believe me? Cardinal minor leaguer C.J. Beatty thinks so and didn’t mind sharing his thoughts about it on his Twitter page earlier this week:
Miklasz put it pretty simply:
Pujols is already making $16 million, so what we’re really talking about here is an extra $10 million to $15 million a year for the three-time league MVP. In that context, it’s not as dramatic as it first seems.
In Cincinnati, DeWitt’s father, Bill Sr., attained baseball infamy by being the executive who traded Frank Robinson to Baltimore. In his first season (1966) with the Orioles, Robinson won the Triple Crown. And the Orioles won the World Series.
Does DeWitt Jr. really want to be remembered as the guy who let one of the best players in baseball history walk as a free agent? Some legacy.
If money is the issue, then the Cardinals’ offseason moves make little to no sense. In November they signed reliever Brian Tallet to a one-year contract and in December they signed catcher Gerald Laird to a one-year contract.
They rang in the new year by signing pitchers Ian Snell and Miguel Batista, as well as infielder Ramon Vazquez to minor league contracts.
While most of these contracts are for relatively small amounts of money, is it money that absolutely needed to be spent? Were any of these pick-ups — with exception of Laird, who was likely signed to replace retired back-up Jason LaRue — really necessary? How much will Snell or Batista be used? The same can be said for Vazquez.
That’s all money that could be put toward the “Pujols Fund.”
Although this imposed deadline was predictable, it seems to be throwing Cardinals fans for a big loop. They’re having a hard time wrapping their heads around a situation that involves a player demanding high amounts of money when he’s always said that it’s not about the money.
Pujols has also always been the one to play down any comparisons to Stan Musial, saying that Musial will always be “The Man” in St. Louis, both literally and figuratively. But he’s not been shy in saying that he’d like to become as much like him as possible, which also meant playing his entire career with St. Louis.
Sure Pujols may want to stay in St. Louis, but it’s becoming evident that there’s an “if,” and that’s if he gets the paycheck he wants.
If you’re a player and you mention Musial to Cardinal fans, that tells them you’re serious about what you’re saying. If Pujols goes back on that, he becomes a blasphemer in the eyes of Cardinal fans.
Pujols has a great history with the Cardinals and their fans, one that certainly should be a factor throughout this entire process.
So if Pujols and his agent are serious about this deadline, they need to let it go. If talks are moving along well and the two sides are close to a deal when Spring Training starts, then by all means they should keep them going until a deal gets done.
There’s no reason to wait and start the entire process over once the season ends, especially if St. Louis is where Pujols wants to play.
If not only for common sense purposes, Pujols owes it to the fans to not halt the talks in mid-February if the progress is made.
Pujols has a perfect situation in St. Louis. Would the few extra dollars that he’d get elsewhere be worth the hassle of starting all over in a new city, with new fans, new ownership, and an entirely new perception of who he is as not only a player, but also a person?
It could ultimately have the LeBron James effect on him, in a sense that his public perception would decrease so much that the general public develops a disdain for him. That would become especially true if it becomes apparent that it truly was all about the money.
Unfortunately, that’s what appears to be happening, at least at this stage of the game.
If the deal doesn’t get done by Spring Training, every other team will spend most of the season preparing their budgets for the “Pujols Sweepstakes.”
It seems they’ve already gotten a head start, though. On Jan. 18 alone, 68 players were signed to one-year contracts, involving 28 of the 30 Major League teams. Between Wednesday and Thursday, eight more players were signed to one-year contracts.
Clearly, teams are holding off on their spending in an effort to give themselves a chance to sign Pujols if he does in fact become a free agent.
Pujols and Lozano know this, too.
That being said, does it really look like they’re trying to avoid distractions? The answer is no. It’s about getting the most money.
There’s no doubt that Pujols deserves the money, and DeWitt and Mozeliak need to empty out their pockets and pay him.
But this cat and mouse game between Cardinals ownership and the Pujols camp needs to stop. Get the deal done as soon as possible, but don’t forgo any progress that’s been made because of a silly deadline.
While most of the Cardinal organization was at the annual Winter Warm-Up this weekend, a few Cardinals – both former and present – were in Evansville, Ind., for the annual “Night of Memories” on Saturday night.
For those unfamiliar, Night of Memories is a charity event sponsored by former New York Yankee great and current Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly in conjunction with an Evansville-based organization called the “Hot Stove League.” Each year, several former great athletes are invited to Evansville – some with Evansville connections and some not – to tell stories about their playing days.
The idea is to help raise money through silent and live auctions, as well as raffles and other bidding opportunities. The money that’s made is donated to youth sports organizations in the Evansville area.
But for most people, it’s an opportunity unlike any other to sit and hear athletes like Mattingly and former Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese tell stories about some of their fondest memories in their respective sports.
For Cardinals fans, this year was a good year to go. Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith and former pitcher and current broadcaster for Fox Sports Midwest Al Hrabosky were present to talk about their playing days. Also, MC’ing the event was former Cardinals broadcaster Wayne Hagin.
Ozzie explains how the backflip started
Many Cardinal fans already know this story, but I actually didn’t so it was interesting to hear him talk about it. Basically one year in the late 80s or early 90s – I can’t remember the exact year – it was fan appreciation day and Ozzie was trying to think of a way to entertain the crowd. He had shown his teammates the backflip before, and someone suggested that he do it for the fans when they announced his name in the starting lineup. The crowd loved it and thus started what eventually became one of the most memorable characteristics of Ozzie Smith.
Ozzie recalls Jacks Buck’s famous call
With Mattingly recently being named the Dodgers manager, there was a lot of Cardinals/Dodgers ribbing going on. And with Ozzie Smith present, there’s no way his memorable home run on Oct. 14, 1984 in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Dodgers was going to be forgotten. Smith came to plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out and the score tied 2-2. Right-hander Tom Niedenfuer was brought on to face the switch-hitting Smith.
Smith, who was homerless in his previous 3,009 left-handed at-bats, took an inside fastball out of the park to give the Cardinals a 3-2 win.
Here’s Jack Buck’s call, which has been voted by Cardinals fans as the most memorable moment in Busch Stadium history:
Wayne Hagin asked Smith to simply give a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” and asked him, “Did Jack get that call right, or what?”
Smith shook his head with a big smile on his face and gave a thumbs up to the crowd that had erupted in applause.
Wayne Hagin captures the Cardinals/Cubs rivalry
Former Cardinals reliever Steve Kline was always an interesting personality when he was with the Cardinals. He pretty much said and did whatever he wanted with a little bit of humor along with it. When Hagin said this story was about him, I knew it would be funny.
It happened during a Cardinals vs. Cubs game at Wrigley Field several years ago. Since the bullpens at Wrigley are right along the foul line fences, fans have easy access to heckle players the entire game. There happened to be one fan in particular that day that seemed to come just for doing that – heckling the players. Around the seventh inning, Hagin said he was sitting in the broadcast booth when he heard the large section of fans by the Cardinals bullpen erupt in applause and noticed Steve Kline had started to warm up. After the game, Hagin asked Kline what that was all about.
Kline said when he got up to warm up in the top half of the seventh inning, the fan who had been heckling them all game yelled to him, “Hey Kline, what’s your record?” Kline, without missing a beat in his warm-up stride or making eye contact with the man, responded by saying, “45 minutes with your girlfriend.”
Hrabosky returns to event for second straight year
Earlier in the night, Hrabosky just with the audience saying, “I’m a little concerned about some of the people here in Evansville, because usually when I’m invited to these events I’m never invited back. Maybe there’s some people here that are crazier than me.”
Prospect alert: Daniel Calhoun
I also got a chance to talk to current Cardinals minor-league pitcher Daniel Calhoun. The Evansville, Ind., native and Murray State product is relatively unknown to many Cardinals fans because he was overshadowed by Shelby Miller in the 2009 Draft, but it’s time people start paying attention.
Calhoun was drafted in the 29th round, but don’t let that fool you. With the numbers he’s posted in his first two professional seasons, it’s very likely that Cardinal fans could see him in St. Louis before they see Miller.
The 6-foot-3, left-handed pitcher has yet to taste defeat, posting a 12-0 record in 12 starts with a 3.12 ERA for the Batavia Muckdogs and the Quad Cities River Bandits. His 10 wins in 2010 were the fifth highest total among all nine of the Cardinals’ minor league affiliates. He said he’ll be moving up to play for the Palm Beach Cardinals, their Class A Advanced affiliate, in 2011.
After suffering a great deal of injuries to its pitching staff throughout the course of the 2010 season, the Cardinals made two moves on Friday in efforts to help prevent that from happening again in 2011.
Right handers Ian Snell, 29, and Miguel Batista, 39, were signed to minor league contracts – both close to a base salary of $750,000 – with invitations to Spring Training.
At first glance, these acquisitions tend to raise an eyebrow.
Snell is coming off an injury-shortened season where he made eight starts, going 0-5 with a 6.41 ERA. His career ERA is 4.80 over the course of seven seasons – nothing to write home about.
His season-best ERA came in 2007 when he post a 3.74 ERA, going 9-12 that season in 32 starts. To be fair, Snell spent the majority of his career in Pittsburgh – not exactly a hot-bed for starting pitching success. He didn’t get much run support playing there, but didn’t help himself either with his high ERA.
He’ll likely be a bull-pen arm, possibly a long relief pitcher/innings eater, if he does in fact make the Opening Day roster. But with a team that starts injury-prone Kyle Lohse and recently repaired Jaime Garcia, Snell could very well see some spot starts if these two, or any other starters, go down with an injury throughout the season.
He’ll have to compete with recently acquired Brian Tallet for that role though. With just one left-hander in the starting rotation, that being Jaime Garcia, Tallet is a little more intriguing for that role considering he’s also left-handed. If Garcia were to be placed on the disable list, Tallet would likely be the first to fill that spot in the rotation.
Tallet spent the majority of his career with Toronto and has made 36 career starts, posting a 16-23 record with a 4.65 ERA. Not much to brag about either, but he’s instantly more valuable simply because he’s left-handed.
Perhaps the best thing about Snell is that he’s young. At 29, they Cardinals can afford to keep him around a few years and see if he materializes in to a quality pitcher.
Batista, on the other hand, might be making his last stop in Major Leagues – perhaps one last chance to win another World Series (he won one with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001). He’ll turn 40 in February and will be playing for his ninth Major League team since making his Major League debut in a one-game stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992. His next appearance in a Major League uniform wasn’t until 1996 with the Florida Marlins. In total, Batista has played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues.
Although he spent much of his career early on as a starter, he’ll most likely be used as a reliever in St. Louis – much like has been for the past two seasons in Washington and Seattle. He appeared in 58 games last season for the Nationals, all but one coming in relief. He posted a 3.70 ERA and struck out 55 batters.
Batista possesses a very good cut fastball that he generally throws most of the time. It’s got solid movement on it and usually tops out at 86 mph to 87 mph. If he can still throw that pitch effectively, he could end up being a solid late innings reliever, especially in double play situations.
But perhaps the main thing that attracted the Cardinals to Batista was his durability. He’s never suffered any serious injuries throughout his long Major League career. That could prove to be a huge benefit for the Cardinals this season.
With the youth of Snell and the durability of Batista, these two acquisitions could prove to be very worthwhile for St. Louis.
And with the help of pitching coach Dave Duncan, the sky is really the limit for how much they’ll improve while with the Cardinals.
