![[semoball.com]](http://semoball.com/images/nameplate.png)
|
Login | Register |
 Email link
 Read comments (11)
 Blog archive
Share:
Remember Terry Evans?Posted Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 9:43 AM
Until July 5th of 2006, Terry Evans was a farmhand in the St. Louis Cardinals system. On that day, the team that drafted him dealt him to the Angels for pitcher Jeff Weaver.
The Cardinals went on to win a World Series with Weaver pitching the clinching game. Evans was just another minor league outfielder with a dream of getting to the big leagues. That dream turned into reality this week when outfielder Garrett Anderson hit the disabled list and Evans got the call. He hit his first major league home run last night. It marked the culmination of a long journey. As the Los Angeles Times points out this morning, just two seasons ago, the 25-year old Evans hit 221 at Class-A Palm Beach. "Coming off of 2005, my worst season, I told myself I've got to do something to get my career going in the right direction," Evans told the paper. "I wasn't looking for a way out, but I had to focus on turning my career around." Evans was hitting .327 with 10 home runs and 45 ribbies at Salt Lake City, the Angels Triple-A team, when he got the call. You can never knock a trade that gets you a World Series title. The Cardinals took a chance on Weaver and it paid off in an October celebration. You can't ask for anything more than that. But those same types of tradeoffs will be present again this season if St. Louis can hang in the race. Do you sacrifice the future for the present? General managers have to ask and answer that question all the time. A World Series championship vindicated this particular deal, but looking at the 2007 Cardinals outfield, Walt Jocketty is reminded on a daily basis of how another right-handed bat would be a nice addition. The pitching woes on this year's team were made even more painful by the trip to Oakland last weekend and the performance of Dan Haren ("he's walking with the Gods," says Dayn Perry). It's never easy to make a trade -- especially when the ghosts are so visible.
Jeff Weaver won his first game of the year for the Mariners last night. He shut out the Pirates in a complete game performance. But while Weaver claimed his first victory of the season, Kip Wells was busy racking up win number three. Take that, Scott Boras. Wednesday was a big day for former Cardinals. Evans' home run, Weaver's victory, Haren is now 9-2 after beating the Reds, and Jason Marquis ensured his place in baseball immortality by giving up Sammy Sosa's 600th home run. Marquis wears Sosa's old No. 21 jersey. Jason hasn't won a game since May 9. He started fast and is now doing a fast fade. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
Hot topics Cheap Tickets and Free Parking(8 ~ 10:35 PM, Jul 3)
The first place Cards: It's early. Dream big.
Football is not a track meet - Mizzou slaughters Hogs
Cardinals baseball - the Bad News Bears
Cards opening series What a difference a year makes
|
![[Feed icon]](http://semoball.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon}
Sorry...I still think he needs some more experience. He is too much of a player's coach. I don't think coaches should be their player's best friend. He is their captain, whether they like him or not.
Jose Oquendo...there is a man who would be a great manager. Why? Because he has worked for many years under LaRussa.
The Manager of the Year last year "lacks managerial experience"??? He did good things with a talent deprived Marlins team and I think he would be a good fit in St. Louis.
I am just skeptical about pushing for the release of a GM, Head Coach, and Pitching Coach because of a lackluster 3 months of baseball. We have had great teams for a long time (some were better than others). I think it is wrong to throw in the hat on them.
Managers should take some of the credit for their teams successes and failures. However, I think more credit should fall on the players than the managers. It is not Tony that is casually strolling into the left field corner to get a ball (it is Juan). It is not Tony that is in an offensive slump (Rolen, Edmonds, and Pujols are). It is not Tony that is being injured (it is the the numerous people on the DL). Tony has to try and manage the faults.
If the DL is empty by mid August (with the exception of Wilson and Kinney), I think we would be singing a different tune. In a sense, the Cards will be the typical under-acheiving Astros. They always stink in the first half of the season, but come Aug. 15th, they pull it together and put on an impressive run.
Would Joe Girardi be the manager? I hope not. He lacks managerial experience that I would want to lead the Cards. I would hope Jose Oquendo would be seriously considered. I think Dusty Baker is still available! :)
If I had a bet it would it would be if either Jocketty or LaRussa go, the other will follow closely behind. And Dave Duncan isn't going to coach without LaRussa either.
Peter Gammons reported on Baseball Tonight last night that Jocketty may be on the move after the season. Would LaRussa be willing to work for a new GM?
LaRussa isn't going to be around much longer, but that is by his choice. If he is here in 3 years I will be shocked!
Also if someone other than Jose Oquendo is his replacement (given that he hasn't already found a managerial job) I would be shocked.
This is an interesting line.
"the game is changing rapidly, particularly in a gm's two main areas of influence --- economics and player evaluation. it might be that his way of doing business is less well-suited to the years ahead than it was to the years behind."
I agree with that. In a response yesterday, I wrote about the efficiency of the market, teams are getting better at evaluating trades and talent, this works to Jocketty's detriment. He was a great GM for his time - but the times are changing.
http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/story/2007/6...
So according to mattstl77's logic, a manager or coach should never be fired for a lack of his or her team's success. I fail to understand the rationale for that train of thought. There are lots of franchises that evidently didn't get that memo...
I'm not pushing for the Cardinals to get rid of LaRussa. I'm merely posing the question that if LaRussa should retire, would Joe Girardi be a viable candidate?
Why would we get rid of LaRussa? He is not the one losing.
When does LaRussa's contract run out? If it's the end of this year, what are the chances that he will retire and the Cards will hire Joe Girardi? Joe doesn't seem to eager to jump on board during the middle of the year since he just turned down the Orioles and I think he'd enjoy working for a franchise such as the Cardinals.
So, have we already written this year off? I ain't give up the ship just yet. And I see some contributions from the youngsters they have called up this year. Duncan is only in his second full year. Just like last year, give me the team that is winning in August and September. Go Cards!
But this division hides weaknesses and it doesn't change the fact this team has played mediocre - at best - for quite some time.
Check out their record over the last 162 games (as of a few days ago)
http://vivaelbirdos.com/story/2007/6/19/...
Good baseball teams don't go 73-89. This team has some glaring inadequacies and I don't see them getting addressed anytime soon.
With big dollars and multiple years committed to guys like Rolen, Edmonds, Mulder and maybe even Carpenter (depending on how bounces back from his injury), they've boxed themselves into a corner.
That quartet is getting roughly $35 million this year - and they've received little in return.
They can still win this thing. But that speaks more to the inadequacies of division rivals than the talent and production of this team.
Mike, you stated:
"Do you sacrifice the future for the present?"
It is indeed a question that general managers ask all of the time. In the case of the St. Louis Cardinals, it is the difference between Jeff Luhnow and Walt Jocketty. From what I have read, Luhnow is a big proponent of growing your own talent. It is seen with his fantastic scouting skills and his constant drive to nurture young players with a lot of minor league time. Jocketty is more of proponent of finding proven ballplayers. He is the one who trades away the so called talent of the minor leagues. It is prevalent with the emergence of Evans (although, I am not too jealous yet. He hasn't proven himself any more than Ryan, Ankiel, and Schumacher).
I am more of a fan of Jocketty's strategy. I think the margin of error is significantly lower than that of Luhnow's. With Jocketty at the helm, we have had some of the most prolific and potent Cardinal lineups in the history of the franchise.
Of course, DeWitt is a fan of Luhnow. With Luhnow and his strategy, the younger players are cheaper and dispensable. We all know that DeWitt cares about one thing: money. He has a World Series victory (and I am sure he is proud of that). The victory brought him an enormous amount of money for the franchise and DeWitt's pad-locked wallet. However, DeWitt will make more money in the long run with cheap players than a the MV3 and proven vets. And that is why Jocketty is almost out of the door. Nothing but money is pushing him to do it. And that is not bad, but you cannot believe a man that says that he is doing what is in the best interest of the team. He is doing whatever is best for himself. If the team benefits, then great. But he is only thinking about himself.
Haren/Mulder trade: the only trade I regretted happened was the Mulder trade. He didn't impress me before he came and he has stunk it up (in my book) since he has been here. I would rather have Haren anyday. However, there is an argument that Haren would not be as successful as he is now if he had stayed with the Cards.
Weaver: I do wish Weaver would have stayed here. I think he would have excelled. He pulled the whole, "They ain't giving me what I was worth" bit. Nobody bought into that except the Mariners. In this case, Boras crippled Weaver. Like DeWitt, Boras only concerned about how much money he will get out of the deal; not the well-being of his client.
Wells: I was happy for him last night. I have always thought he would be better for the bullpen. He is pretty solid through 3 or 4 innings...the perfect time frame for a long reliever. It is good that he has some success last night. He needed that.
Marquis: Good riddance! He will be the same selfish Jason come Sept. 1. He will continue to deteriorate with the Cubs. Sometime in the next two years he will be traded from some scrub and a minor league catcher.
That's an interesting point. Not sure I agree with it - but it's well worth debating.
Two things come to mind for me. One, I think the market for baseball players is far more efficient, much greater than even just a few years ago. Clubs are more savvy about talent and trades, for the most part. This, I think, works to Jocketty's detriment.
Second, at some point, the bill comes due. You can only live off your credit cards for so long. I'm sure Jocketty would love to make a trade, but he just doesn't have that many tradeable chips. The minor league system is being restocked - but it's still a few years away from providing dividends.
The Cardinals are in that transition phase - the worst of all worlds. They lack talent and options at the big league level - and they lack resources at the high minor league level.
It's going to take a few years for this imbalance to work itself out. Not sure that next year will be any better than this one. 2009 and the Colby Rasmus era look promising - but it's a long road to get to that point.