Offering up some links to interesting St. Louis Cardinals-related reading around the web.
Kill the supervisors…
The problems with MLB umpiring run deeper than the supervisors, but there are unions and processes to follow. Yet there have been three firings.
Geek-a-palooza
This past weekend in Boston, the fourth annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was held, with over 1000 in attendance. Among the panelists discussing the use of analytics was Cardinals assistant GM John Abbamondi. Here is a very good recap.
Changing channels?
Though the blood of the Cardinals part-ownership of KTRS would seem to trump the history of the team’s relationship with KMOX, the subject of the radio broadcast rights shifting is at least being discussed again.
BP puts Cards at bottom
Baseball Prospectus has followed up their individual player rankings by system and their top 100 with their organizational rankings, with the Cardinals sitting at #30 of 30. Compared to some other rankings, this feels somewhat subjective, though there may be some methodology behind it that I cannot see.
HGH testing unclear
The commissioner says he doesn’t know if or when testing for HGH in minor leaguers will be ready. Doesn’t make you wonder why they announced it, then? (Also note Bud Selig’s comments defending MLB’s minority hiring near the bottom of the piece.)
In the spirit
This link was posted on The Cardinal Nation message board and the video is so well done I decided to share it here, as well. It should put any Cardinals fan in the right frame of mind for the upcoming season.
Follow me on Twitter.
Not sure why the new umpiring supervisors would give up union protection given the situation. Maybe supervising is less stressful or less travel (doubt it) but with the precedent of making them scapegoats seems like a questionable move.
The article about the analytics conference mentioned the Sportvision F/X thing. I first read about it in Popular Science a while back. Abbamondi is on top of it I guess. It seems like it will eventually make umpires obsolete.
Is Albert going to pick a reentry point? If I’m not mistaken, he is struggling with his personal crisis again. Fear of being frighted is a tenacious feedback mechanism. I see signs that this is possible.
I have rarely seen this phenomena so evident in sports. Of course it is there, but Albert’s unique self image and openness in expressing his religious convictions make it very apparent.
I’m pointing this out again, as I did when it started last year, because it is so fascinating to watch. These emotional thresholds or metanoia that Albert is used to enjoying or crossing, are now becoming impediments, apparently equivalent to the intensity in which they are utilized by the spiritual needs of the individual. Albert has blended sports and religion as few athletes have in my experience. He may need some help in this. These things most often manifest themselves in a physical injury in my experience.
Would one of our Veb readers kindly reprint this over there as a gift and reminder from the Opera Card.
Hmmm…. sounds like Westie got banned over at el birdos. Their loss, they obviously dont know good entertainment when they see it.
5 spring at bats and Pujols is washed up owing to mental flaws. Perfectly understandable that Cards fans would react poorly to such drivel.
I had real hope this was going to be the season Westie was going to fight through his own daunting mental challenges and have a break-through by making occasional sense. Its still early. He may still get it together. But he’s off to an ice-cold start and the early indicators are not auspicious. Eat lots of fish Westie.
Whenever you say something not everyone will like it. 99% of the comments on some of the comment boards say nothing at all. And certainly not anything that rocks the boat. I get a visual of somebody in a pulpit saying something followed by 14 pages of Amens and Hallelujias.
Bling wrote, “Whenever you say something not everyone will like it. 99% of the comments on some of the comment boards say nothing at all. And certainly not anything that rocks the boat. I get a visual of somebody in a pulpit saying something followed by 14 pages of Amens and Hallelujias.”
What you write about here is the large majority of cardinals fans in a nutshell, God love em. I like reading WC just because he adds a little black to a sea of cardinal.
I see JumBeau Shrimp as the GOD like figure sitting up high, the halo shining brightly, seeing only good and then there is WC sitting in the shadows, wearing his devil horns who speaks on conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory including everything from baseball conspiracies to political party factoids, Poetry, all the way down to “Opera for $200 Alex”. Incredible entertainment…
I saw Colby’s homer on the news, that was one of the nicest looking swings I’ve seen. I was watching a couple St. Louisans boxing on HBO the other night, I know the father of the cruiserweight kid who won. That swing reminded me of the kid’s left jab that goes from just standing there to a pop right in the kisser in a flash.
We won’t talk about the 3 K’s……………………….shhhhhhhh
A clip of Colby’s HR is on the MLB highlight site RC.
The true sign of a functioning sanctuary is it utility. Jumbo has crossed the gulf between the Samuel Longhorn quietude and reverence , returning to a Jumbo we are more accustomed too, in a very short period of time. His renewed interpretation of the function of the board, is a representation of his need for reinforcement and peer group recognition surrounding his declaration of a danger signal or perceived threat. This is most often found as a behavior in prairie dog colonies I believe. The measurement of qualitative differentials then would represent the actual size and structure of Jumbos functioning sanctuary. (in this case a short run and a head first entry into a small burrow or prairie dog hole as it were).
(A cut and paste from WC’s notes)
You are getting your symbology and your geography in a tangle Westy. Prairie dogs are considered varmints in Eastern Montana, and routinely evicted or worse. But, as I understand it, you would have Jumbo a model citizen in those environs. The local sage even.
Its just a descriptive analogy BB. Jumbo isn’t a prairie dog.
How about that Alan Craig…………… They put Stavi in the hot seat. If he doesn’t produce here. He will go in the next cut…….or worse. The Colby/ Ludwick relationship is more significant. If Colby stays hot, he will hit 5th.
Albert and Matt must be pulling muscles carrying around those fat wallets. I was surprised Craig came to camp in muscle pulling shape, but sounds like he’s trying to make up for it.
I was glad to hear Wainy admit he wasn’t mentally prepared to pitch yesterday, and even gladder to hear TLR say that is unaccepable in an elite player.
Too bad about Kinney, probably will not end well for him. Another step closer to seeing Smoltz or Looper back. They should both be getting cheap and flexible as to role about now.
Looking at the rest of the unsigned free agent pitcher list is scary.
Craig is putting on a show. Franklin. Boggs??
Wonder who DD was pulling for when Chris faced Shelby, Chris’s team with tying and go ahead runs on 2nd and 3rd, two outs, getting late, looking for first win of ST. Cards prize prospect in debut pitched himself into trouble, trying to bare down, was a high school kid a few months ago. We all know DD was praying for a screamer into the palm trees.
I would have enjoyed seeing this game BB. There is the appearance the Chris D may not be long for the Majors.
I did see the game, WC. A bit sloppy, to be honest. Camp observations article up on the main site for subscribers.
His early stats aren’t any worse than Albert’s or Luddy’s. If he stays healthy all spring, who knows. If his health holds up, he should at least have a AAA job, and would bet he’d see MLB sometime this year.
CD’s mental state seems the same. Same type of result. Just a hunch………. Craig has got to stay focused. He is a very important element on this team…………………… I’m watching Ludwick. He must realize that if CR takes the 5th spot, all the cheap RBI’s aren’t coming his way. Its a career changing situation when you talk about contract expectations.
Albert was unsettled about his first appearance. He broke his own protocol and started a second game and hit the same wall. Now his back is feeling ” weak”. I’ve been there. I find the Holiday situation “interesting”. Are these two situations connected in any way. Is Tony managing it at all? That’s worth a look Brian.
I’m interested to see if Craig gets starts at third.
I would be very, very surprised, Nutlaw.
“I’ve been getting better. I went from tight and sore to better and loose, and I just feel weak now,” Pujols said. “It all depends on how I feel. It’s not where I wanted to be (to play Wednesday). I don’t want to force it. … I’ll be ready for opening day.”
LaRue, Lopez, Lugo, Mather, Craig. Compare that to last year’s bench. That’s assuming Ryan is a go and Freese is at third.
There is the problem of a weak backup SS, and makeshift backup CF. Short on left handed bat when Lopez is taking a turn at third or corner outfield. But even with that it’s way above last year.
The main problem is Tony will want to play Lopez a lot and I just can’t see him not having a lefty to come off the bench. If we were to get an innings eater like Looper as the #5, then maybe we can carry another position player.
The drawback to that is there would be one more guy for Tony to be sticking in there disrupting the lineup. A Jay, for example, would get a start in center every time Colby got on a roll. Don’t say it, I know, momentum does not exist.
You forgot Gotay………….
Thank goodness for the winless Nationals. The Cards eke out a win. Shelby Miller feasts on Chris Duncan. I hope there is a roster slot available for Chris at AAA. Allen Craig demonstrates what a bat is used for. Hope we get some more exhibition games against Riggleman’s troops.
Westie’s Spring Training kit:
Flashlight and gloves for looking under rocks – he thinks there is gold there but it is simply snails and slugs.
Odor detector – despite the fact that a reliable one doesn’t exists, he thinks everything smells.
Pop psychology book – used for explaining any situation where a player struggles (and some where they don’t).
Conspiracy Theory DVD and DVD player – a must watch every night so that Westie doesn’t loose the faith that Bud istays up late every night trying to figure ut how to manipulate the game.
If not Craig at third, then Mather should be seeing some time in CF, yes?
It is a shame Westie got voted off the island of VEB. Lots of negative thoughts there, so you would have thought he would have been accepted. Maybe it was anti-Pujols stuff or insistence on his philosophies of hitting; he can get real worked up about swings.