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Your new Cardinals shortstop...Posted Friday, November 30, 2007, at 1:14 PM
is Cesar Izturis. One year deal. Details at the Post-Dispatch here, MLB.com here. The Post notes the team will most likely "sever ties" with David Eckstein.
The 27-year old Izturis won a Gold Glove back in 2004 while playing for the Dodgers. Here are his career numbers. Lifetime on-base percentage of .295 - don't expect much offense. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Finally a real defensive shortstop!
A Gold Glove caliber shortstop is worth the mediocre offense.
-- Toby Carrig
The cardinals can just go to hell for all I care.
Really mixed about this one.
Eck played the game the right way and the way we, St. Louis fans, like it to be played. He was a fan favorite and seen by many as the soul, if not the heart, of the team. He also, when in the line-up, was an offensive dynamo. He did more offensively than even his numbers suggest... little things, like knowing when to bunt and when to fake it... how to work a count... etc. It is very hard to see a guy like that go.
On the other hand, Eck has spent quite a bit of time on the DL. He didn't exactly help the poor pitching because his range and arm are both limited. Defensively, he wasn't a liability but he wasn't a help either. Oh... and he is looking for a longer and bigger deal. I hope he gets it.
I guess if the Cards use the savings on upgrading their pitching, I can swallow the move. I don't have to like it, but I can understand it. However, my fear is that they found another way to pinch pennies and increase their profit.
If the move is to re-allocate the money in an attempt to improve the club... okay. Just as long as the re-allocation isn't into the ownerships pocket.
Too bad we can't have him as 2B. He may not be as good as Kennedy, but he will probably play more than him.
With Eck's age, deteriorating arm strength, and poor range; he isn't going to be playing SS for too much longer.
It seems as though Izturis is there to groom Ryan into SS. If that is the case, then this is a good move.
Eck is looking for $9-$10 million per year. That is way too much. I like this signing. He is younger and a much better SS. The one year deal allows the team to evaluate then offer a long term deal or move on.
Molina, Kennedy/Miles, Izturis, & the pitcher slot have to give us the worst hitting 6-9 combination in the league. Albert Pujols is the only thing standing between the Cardinals being a lock to have the lowest scoring offense in baseball. At least we can look forward to the pitching!
I will miss hearing Ludacris' #1 Spot on the loudspeakers at Busch in '08 to lead off the bottom of the first inning.
are the Cards trying to be like the Rams?Show off one or two good players and not win any games?I guess we will have two Izzys unless they get rid of Jason before long.
Gold Glove...2004 what about the last three years...bench boy or what? Another has been??
rnc119 gets it. The guy is trending steadily downhill since 04. But hey, he's cheap! Check out Bernie's comments at stltoday.com for the whole story.
Cesar Izturis is a terrible, terrible baseball player. He, quite simply, isn't good at getting on base. And although he for some reason is thought to be a solid defender, he really isn't. As a Cubs fan, I can tell you that his defense is incredibly overrated. Not only is he not Gold Glove caliber, but I'd rate him average AT BEST.
The bottom line is that Cesar Izturis sucks on offense, and isn't good on defense. His career OPS+ is 67 (an OPS+ of 100 means you're league average; anything above is better than league average, and anything below is below league average). For comparison, Eckstein's career OPS+ is 89. Izturis sucks, and I'm very happy that he's a Cardinal!
Comments about bottom of the batting order are correct..terrible. Defense will be better...Eckstein wanted 4 years in the 20 mil range not 9-10 mil a year..unless they add a bat AND keep Rolen Cards will score less than last year..to the cubs fan no one can field on that diamond it is terrible.
Eck was not worth the money he wanted. Izturis is not a great baseball player, but neither is Eck. The Cards signed a mediocre ball player to replace another mediocre (and aging ball player). Moz was smart enough to see this and got somebody who could platoon with Ryan for SS. I think it was a wise move.
If Moz was smart he wouldn't have spent much more than the league minimum. There are easily two dozens guys trapped on AAA and AA teams that are at least as good as Izturis. At least a good 5 or 6 of those guys are going to be free for the taking during the Rule 5 Draft later this month.
Sure Eck wasn't worth the money & the free agent market for shortstops was devoid of talent but a truly wise GM would picked an equivalent shortstop up on the cheap that perhaps has at least a tiny glimmer of potential and then spent the 2-3 million extra in the budget on improving the club in positions where we can buy a level of talent that isn't freely available.
Nil, can you name an available shortstop of Eck's caliber that would ask for 3-5 million?
Even though Izturis' has been on the down side the last couple of years (look at the losers he has been playing for - Cubs and the Bucs), he still has more experience than the knee-jerk pup named, Brendan Ryan.
Moz can either get a mediocre cheap SS and hopefully sign a more than adequate pitcher. Or he could pay Eck more money than he is worth and then we get stuck with losers like Reyes in our rotation. If you though one Reyes was bad enough, imagine 2 or 3 more!
Izturis is not a "mediocre cheap SS." He's a terrible SS, and in fact was THE WORST in the National League last year. His OPS was 617. That's last in the league. Don't be fooled into thinking that Cesar Izturis is actually good at baseball. When you look at his numbers, you'll find that he's actually one of the worst players in baseball... and he'll be leading off for your St. Louis Cardinals! I love it!
Is Eck a better SS than Izturis? If so, then I find that revelation laughable and questionable!
mattstl77: My point was on all of the freely available shortstops which are better than Izturis not Eck. Eck is easily better than replacement level, just not far enough over that bar to be worth the 5-8 million a year he would want.
Given the market conditions we shouldn't have to spend a dollar more than the league minimum to get Izturis level production out of the shortstop position. And once the Rule 5 Draft occurs I will be able to point to at least half a dozen shortstops who are at least as good as Izturis that we passed up picking
Here are 20 shortstops that are 3rd or 4th on their teams depth charts and so I'd guess about half of them will be left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. No are great players but most are better than Izturis is currently.
For comparion purposes:
Cesar Izturis# ss 28 .252 .296 .318
Name/Position/Age/BA/OBP/SLG
Joaquin Arias ss 23 .271 .297 .352
Jorge Velandia ss 33 .248 .296 .345
Josh Wilson ss 27 .237 .292 .350
Reid Brignac ss 22 .243 .299 .369
Ben Zobrist ss 27 .252 .341 .362
Oswaldo Navarro ss 23 .247 .308 .311
Ivan Ochoa ss 25 .249 .307 .324
Chase Lambin ss 28 .235 .305 .369
Jason Smith ss 30 .241 .277 .382
Sean Rodriguez ss 23 .237 .312 .355
Chin-lung Hu ss 24 .260 .302 .375
Wilson Valdez ss 30 .243 .298 .311
Chris Basak ss 28 .242 .317 .393
Tommy Watkins ss 25 .246 .310 .344
Alberto Gonzalez ss 25 .261 .306 .340
Donnie Murphy ss 25 .252 .305 .413
Bobby Crosby ss 28 .240 .305 .353
Michael Garciaparra ss 25 .246 .321 .318
Danny Sandoval ss 29 .248 .281 .311
Thanks for rising to the challenge!
I will admit it. I wasn't exactly full of glee when I learned that we got Izturis. I was holding out for Wilson. He seemed to be a good platoon guy. So there was a little bit of disappointment when I saw that Izturis was signed.
Even though you listed several viable players, most of them are pretty young. I think you would know that TLR always leans toward older vets to help break in the younger guys. Believe me...Ryan needs plenty of help. But the kid has a ton of potential!