It will be an increasingly-busy season in 2010 around here as several excellent additional opportunities have presented themselves, along with the continuation of other great features, too.
New endeavors
Articles on FOXSportsMidwest.com: I am delighted to announce that selected articles from The Cardinal Nation site will be featured several times each week on the new, beefed-up FOXSportsMidwest.com website this season. In fact, the first one, “Three Cardinals Outfielders Make First Opening Day Roster,” is now posted. It is especially timely given Nick Stavinoha’s game-winning pinch-hit home run Friday night.
Globe-Democrat: Hopefully, by now readers are aware of my weekly “Minor League Notebook” column, appearing each Wednesday in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. I will also contribute features during the season and will provide game reports from selected road contests.
Facebook and Twitter: Then there are the daily Twitter and Facebook updates you can follow a number of ways including by subscribing via the links here or the links that are always at the bottom of my TCN articles and blog posts. You can also monitor my tweets via the special Twitter widget on the front page.
Continued bonus coverage
KSDK Channel 5: This Sunday from 10:00 – 10:30 A.M CDT., make sure to check out the weekly show, “This Week in Cardinal Nation” on KSDK NewsChannel 5. We are back as a regular contributor for a second season with our recent post on Albert Pujols’ historic four-run opening day performance featured in this week’s installment. For those outside the St. Louis area, we will post video clips afterward, though the capability may not be ready for the first week.
FOX Sports Midwest live blog/chats: I will continue to participate in FOX Sports Midwest’s regular in-game live blog/chat sessions, held during mid-week afternoon games. The first of 2010 will be on Monday starting at 3 P.M. CDT during the home opener. Around their other duties, some of the FSM announcers will join for several innings, and BJ Rains from the Globe-Democrat and I will participate as panelists. You will find the chat at FOXSportsMidwest.com and I will also post up the Cover It Live chat window here at TheCardinalNationBlog.com for your convenience in following along and hopefully, participating.
KXnO Radio: My spots on KXnO FOX Sports Radio 1460 in Des Moines will be weekly this season as the station has joined the Cardinals Baseball Network for 2010. I will try to post heads-ups here once exact times are slotted so those in central Iowa who want to tune in can do so. The station also streams live over the internet. Archived audio replays of my weekly segment, entitled “Cardinal Talk,” are usually available on the main site for subscribers.
Yardbarker.com: Through this blog’s association with Yardbarker.com, every TCN Blog post that goes up here is also featured on the extensive Yardbarker network.
FOXSports.com: TCN Blog posts are featured regularly in the Yardbarker.com box on the St. Louis Cardinals page of the main FOXSports.com website. Once in awhile, they also receive home page coverage on the mothership’s main MLB page as the featured blog of the day at the lower left.
The base
TheCardinalNation.com: The main site, The Cardinal Nation, in its sixth year in the Scout.com network, will continue to feature new free and subscriber content every day all season long. A list of the most recent posts with hot links can always be viewed in the special TCN widget here on the front page of the blog. Don’t forget the very active message board community as well.
TheCardinalNationBlog.com: For this blog, my target remains a new post every day. The discussion that follows remains up to you.
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Congratulations on moving toward national recognition Brain. I know many interesting folks are watching. If you ever decide to do an article on” why blogger’s do it” , I will send you my thesis (still unfinished) which might add some interesting insights…………….maybe even reveal some of the inspiration behind my recent “Rope-a-Dope” campaign.
One last thought. The mystery number just might be equivalent to the salary and disposal fees for CD, that number being so obvious that it could have proved embarrassing to certain prominent individuals. I would put that at .5/.6. …………. If such a number were known, and it wasn’t within those parameters, I’m thinking we are going to hear about it eventually.
Brain????????? Brian………
NP, it has happened since kindergarten.
Rope- a-dope campaign? You’ll never lasso me Westie
Brian, you do an exceptional job at keeping up with the entire system, no other scout.com site gives such in depth reporting on an entire team system.
You also do a very good job at recognizing that there is much development in this business, there are ups and downs, and you do a very good job of being objective towards the players and their development, rather than making comments when they seem to struggle. Good job and thank you.
southeast, thank you. I will put the check in the mail today…
Seriously, there was a great example just last night of why I enjoy doing this so much. I was hooked by the Memphis broadcast and ended up staying up very, very late as the game went into the 18th inning. The hero was a young man who struggled mightily the night before, Tyler Norrick. I made him the player of the day on the main site. He deserved it. The opportunity for redemption is one thing that makes the game so great.
It’s almost like Colby is begging Tony to bat him second!
I was thinking that too, CC. He could have an incredible OBP this year. Its not like they are being extra careful pitching to him.
Once Ryan snaps out of it the lineup should be fairly stable I hope.
No problem Brian, you are a good guy.
What a great game to begin the season, tiring, but it brings the team together quickly. Good for Norrick!
I too was wrapped up in the game. It’s games like that when you wait for someone to become the hero, but going into 18 innings I couldn’t wait anymore, I missed it.
I think it may take the others to get going, much different playing the same teams over and over in the quiet backfields at Jupiter. Just hope that everyone puts that practice to good use, though there is still much of it going on a daily basis.
Something you might find interesting, my friends son is Tim Melville, I know he was a big card fan fav to draft him. Check out his first start in High A, I don’t ever remember seeing one of our starters in teh past few years struggle so much. But that’s a good example that some just don’t realize the diffferences between each level, the adjustments you have to make as you move along.
Good thing the organization is a bit more patient than the fans!
Colby is becoming a nightmare for opposing pitchers. Damned if you walk him, damned if you don’t. His challenge is to not over adjust or over compensate for the tactical adjustments that will be made. Small changes sensitive to the oppositions adjustments keeps the cat in the catbird seat. Its easy to forget sometimes why they needed to make those adjustments……. when your online shopping for a Ferrari………………….following Holiday doesn’t hurt either.
I would think they will sit Garcia after 95 pitches. It would be stupid not to.
Garcia looks strong. Curveball is still nice and he’s still getting it over.
Compared to riding the bench, hitting eighth should look good to Ryan. It shouldn’t be long untill he can go back up to second, or leadoff.
So far, so good. Out of the gates, headed toward 4-1, on the road. Send a pretty good pitcher to the mound each game. Pretty good lineup. Now we see we can win, guy may relax and heat up with the sticks.
Only 157 more.
In minor league games, Rich Hill allowed just 1 hit in 5 innings, but gave up 5 walks too, making Jaime Garcia look even better by contrast. Walks are why Sweet Lou booted Hill out of Chicago. Yet, if Hill gets steady work at Memphis, he may be able to sharpen his control.
Palm Beach lost at home. I can see how this squad could struggle. I like CF Pham, SS Garcia, and reliever Mulligan, but there may not be a lot of excitement there otherwise.
Quad Cities should be an interesting team, even without Shelby Miller. It was surprising OF Shepherd got assigned there. He is a tool shed. He last played in the Gulf Coast League in 2008. Now Shep has been jumped up three rungs. The Cards must want to challenge him.
One of the pitchers tonight, Rondon, was a July 3 signing out of Venezuela in 2006. An early July signing date can sometimes indicate a higher ceiling prospect.
Hill has now walked 6 in 6 innings. His problem is the same reason he struck out almost 200 guys in a ML season. A strong curve is a swing and miss pitch, but it has so much movement, its also hard to keep in the strike zone. The Cards had Degerman a couple of years back, similar issue. A curve ball pitcher who collected a lot of walks.
Daley is pitching for Springfield tonight. His wildness the past few years was not curve ball related. Its remarkable how he has recovered confidence. Good job.
Shepherd being at Quad Cities didn’t really surprise me. He is among the oldest players on the QC roster. He turns 23 in September. They need to figure out quickly what they have with him. He may have taken a year off, but his clock did not.
According to a comment by Brian on the gameday thread on TCN, the game was seen by 18% of the nation, with most seeing the yankees. ‘National TV’ isn’t what it used to be I guess. Interestingly, Pittsburg got the Yankees instead of the NL Central game.
Normally a discussion of national TV in this context would make me angry over MLB’s stupid and indefensible blackout rules. However just now, I am watching the Bucs and D’Backs. Joe Garagiola is the guest commentator on the Arizona broadcast. Reminds me of the Saturday Game of the Week on NBC in the 1960′s in the days when Joe and Tony Kubek on Saturday afternoon was all there was.
If Stoppach (or whatever his name is) hadn’t gotten that hit off Sabathia with 2 down in the 7th things would have gotten exciting. Girardi says he would have taken CC out no-hitter or not due to high pitch count. Sabathia said “it would have been an interesting discussion”. I just bet it would. Girardi must have brass ones, or else he is just talking big now that it didn’t come up.
I switched over to the prospective no-hitter after the Cards game was over and was surprised the NY LF pulled up instead of trying to make a difficult catch to try to protect the no-hitter. His team had an 8-run lead, so why not take a risk?
I can remember those games on my dad’s black and white Zenith set just like it was this afternoon, Brian. My job was to jump up and adjust the tin foil on the rabbit ears when the snow got too bad. I suppose that was the good old days??
Yea, I let out an expletive at that limp wristed play. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if the LF doesn’t end up on the DL with some sort of freak mishap (resulting in, among other things, bruises curiosly shaped like knuckles). Johnny Damon, now that catch would have happened and Girardi would have come to his sences and we’d have CC come back out for the 8th.
For me, growing up listening to Cardinals games on the radio was likely enhanced by getting to see a game on TV once a week – even if it was usually other teams.
I don’t remember the Cards being on TV much at all. But the Ballpark was just a bus ride right on down Gravois and Tucker, and a short walk down Clark. Back then, a kid could mow lawns in the morning and have money to sit in the bleachers that afternoon or evening. I did it all summer long for many years, almost every home game from memorial day to labor day.
The Cards have ended up signing 5 among a pre-season Top 100 for the high school class of 2006. These were the guys most liked by scouts going into their final spring of high school.
#84 was catcher Travis Tartamella, went to Pepperdine U for 2 years, did not hit as a sophmore, transferred to a lesser LA college, and signed by the Cards last June.
#75 Jon Edwards, OF/RHP, Keller high school near Dallas, selected rd 14, 2006.
#70 Tommy Pham, SS/RHP, Durango high, Vegas, rd 16, 2006
#30 SS Ryan Jackson, Miami Springs, rd 5-2009, after 3 years at U Miami
and #19 OF Devin Shepherd, Oxnard High, rd 11, 2008, after 1 year at the Univ. of Oklahoma and 1 year at a Nevada juco.
Going into 2006, Shepherd was highly regarded by scouts. He is a tool shed. But he did not slug much at Oklahoma, the juco, or in the Gulf Coast League during 2008. He socked a double tonight. Good to give him some at bats, see what he can do.
I looked up a similar pre-season list of the Top 100 high schoolers for the 2005 graduating class. Colby Rasmus was #27, Kyle Russell #31, Jay Bruce was #44. Jarred Bogany #42, RHP Josh Wilson #46, 3B Brett Wallace #66, RHP Shaun Garceau #68, C Bryan Anderson #83, and OF Darryl Jones #95.
Nowadays, Rasmus and Bruce are in the majors, Anderson and Wallace at AAA, Jones and Garceau at AA, Pham at A+, Shepherd and Jackson at A-. Bogany, Edwards, and Tartamella are at EST.
Shepherd, Bogany, and Edwards personify toolsy high schoolers so there is something to work with.
At least they played baseball in high school. I am not sure this is the case with Rueben Sierra clone, Ryde Rod.
Baseball is a craft. A player needs to learn the craft, so acquring knowledge by playing the game is important.
Darryl Jones is a toolsy guy who struggled through a season at Quad Cities, but he must have learned something to break out at Palm Beach in 2008. Aldron Chambers was ho-hum at Johnson City and Quad Cities, but had a better campaign during 2009 at PB, suggestive of learning. Chambers came late to baseball after football. Its unclear Jones or Chambers will become ML players, but they work at the craft and show flashes of progress.
Sheperd, Bogany, Edwards, Ryde Rodriguez are likewise toolsy, but not as far along. The Cards seemed unconcerned Ryde was 19 when signed, like unconcerned Amaury Cazana was 28 going on 32. Age is not a problem, provided a guy has motivation to work at learning the craft and harnessing his gifts.
Glad to see you are getting more work and visibility Brian, hopefully it is making the bill paying much easier, you deserve it. By the way, your photo at the Globe site is a pleasure as it portrays a
non-photoshopped, fit sportswriter, unlike the garish, cartoonish, smooth out the wrinkles and flab of the writers pictures at the P-D. In other words you look like a real person!
Go Cards!
Looking at the QC roster, bonus baby Ryde Rodriguez is listed as a right swinger, no longer a switch-hitter like Rueben Sierra as when signed. If so, too bad.
Two CFs: Parejo and Ingram. Parejo got 339 ABs last season, with an OPS of 600; 2 steals in 7 tries is not encouraging for CF. Ingram had a 654 OPS in 118 ABs, 7 steals in 12 attempts, better, not good. Both get a second chance to lift their games.
Three corner OFs, all right swingers. Conley is 6’4″, had a couple of successful seasons slugging at the Univ. of Washington; beat up pitchers last summer for Batavia; he should do well at QC and could have been assigned to Palm Beach. Shepherd is 6’3″, 225, a little younger than Conley. He did not slug in two years of college and did not compete in 2009; has 30 HR power in batting practice, needs to apply this during games. Ryde is also a load at 6’3″, 232. Last year, his OPS was a lousy 566 at QC, a decent 812 after bumped down to Batavia. Ryde seems ready for the Midwest league in 2010.
Interesting to see how these 5 OFs do.
I admire the energy it must take to follow so much minor league activity. Eventually I’ll be able to recite at least have of the team cities and names. The minor leagues represent one of the most challenging domains or habitats if you will in the animal kingdom.
I will add this one thought. Whether this seems pleasant or not, there is inevitably a direct correlation between money invested and survivability. If a player with a high signing bonus has a hot month, regardless of his history, teams will tend to advance that player to augment his visibility in a system where trade potential is often more important than a big league team need. I see many signs of this reading everyone’s posts concerning releases and advancements.
I’m sure Stava’s home run shot through the heart every single A and double AA outfielder. Tough to keep hope alive on that bus. Unless you were paid well to be there.
Thanks, chief. The photo on the Globe-Democrat is very current, newer than the one on FOX Sports Midwest that is included above. As that great philosopher Popeye once said, “I yam what I yam and that is all that I yam.” I am doing it spinach-free, though!
Westie, there is correlation between bonuses and potential, thought its imperfect. Bonus money does not decide everything. The Cards added rookies Craig, Freese, and Garcia who did not get big bonuses, but reached the majors on their own.
I agree its a nice picture Chief, but how do you know its not photoshopped? Who knows, it could be the result of hours of work by a team of experts.
All true Jumbo. The idea of roughly equal competitions producing always the best product is by definition “survival of the fittest”. When the fittest are the” wallets”, it just helps create the most incredible “diversity”.
If I recall, one of the Cardinal pitchers was 3-17 in AA and was still promoted to AAA. Sometimes you have to make a situation for a player or lose your investment by just releasing them. It is a topic in the front office I’ll guarantee.
There was a 3rd rounder who won 11 games at AA in 2007; got released the next spring training. The Cards dumped Lambert, Ferris, released Herron even though he was not pitching poorly at AA. The Cards do not hang onto a guy long at AA or AAA merely because he once got a nice bonus. The minors are tough survival of the fittest. If 70 get signed per year and 5 make the majors, then 65 others are released/quitting to make room for newcomers.
Sitting Rasmus is a mistake. When is a better time to have him deal with his problem than when he is red hot? Molina hitting 5th…………………………… Tony pressing his Yadi fetish may directly impact this game. They will leap at a chance to avoid Holiday. He won’t see a pitch.
For anyone’s information, Herron was not released for non production, but rather for off the field issues that had been ongoing and remained unresolved. I guess sometimes you just got to say enough is enough and cut the cord. He must have been given another chance with the Bucs, but I think he was released in the fall.
My understanding for starting pitchers (for the cardinals) is that if they don’t make their adjustments at the AA level playing one full year they are more than likely gone, as it is a tough league for pitchers. AAA becomes the parking lot for future guys (and trades) and reserves.
Right SE, the Pirates had no need for Herron either.
http://www.buccofans.com/2009/11/pirates-release-yoslan-herrera-and.html
Right on brother Westy, what better time to face a tough lefty. I don’t agree with sitting a guy who’s hot for any reason, certainly not because the manager lacks confidence. Hopefully Colby didn’t just take it sitting down. Good time for one of those interesting discussions like Sabathia was talking about.
Lets see how the Luddy 2, Yadi 5 lineup works out. Maybe brendan will snap out of it tonight.
Cardinal could lose this game tonight BB. Colby will pinch hit as soon as Tony want to complicate the reliever sequence. Watch Molina hit into a least one double play……….it takes 2 doubles and a single to score him from first if he gets on.
This game is not too pretty. Wolf won’t last to much longer thougt. I bet Brewers stay lefty. Freese should be chaperoned tonight.
It just got beautified. Now it’s all about the bullpen. Yikes, better have another cold frosty one.
Stavi catching, gotta love that.
Still no starter has lost. Trevor has a little cotton mouth after Holiday. Notice Pujols going to right, relaxing and taking a ball deeper to LC. He and MM were talking it over. MM wants him to remember.
Look at Stavi move back there.
You gotta love K-Mac………..hangs a breaking ball and gets away with it………..so he does it again.
Well, looks like Albert and Matt killed off some of those demons tonight. Would have killed more if we had pulled out the W.
The Brewers escaped this evening, but they now know they are fighting for second place this summer.
At least we didn’t go down without a fight. Even when our ace gets pounded for 5 and our 3rd baseman gives them 2, we’re still not done. I agree about Albert’s at-bat. Nice. The swing was as it was in the happy time. Matt’s blast to center was impressive. Freese had one of those games that warms hearts in Memphis.
We unquestionable damaged Hoffman………….he is in trouble. Positives………. Albert Goes to right with an outside pitch……..and then takes a textbook swing on a ball deep in the Zone without over rotating. MM and he were chatting about that on the bench…………….. both Alpha’s react to blood in the water…….that is big.
Letting Wolf throw to Albert that last time shows what they think of his problems………he solved them nicely. Holiday has a funny way of crushing that low stuff. Anybody want to pitch him up? No thanks………………………K-Mac does not respond to the call. He is isolated by team expectations. Not so good.
Expectations? His job description is throw strikes and keep it in the park. He laid that one right in the guy’s wheelhouse like a batting practice pitch. Just like Hoffman with Albert.
I feel bad for Hoffman, Legends die hard. When he lost his nerve with the change-up, he had nothing else. 15 Rounds to that fight…….12 to go.
Its all just entertainment until the playoffs. We are to weak to play for money. Franklin needs to be the set up man…. we need a closer and a kid to start with an attitude.
I think Albert and MM had a break through tonight. We Albert stood in against Hoffman, he knew he had to stay back against the possible change up. He did nicely. Wolf pitched him top of the Zone away when he was defending………that is stupid. Made him a good hitter.
Positives are that K-Mac is exposed…..again…….either he gets over it, or he becomes the long man. No hiding his issues till a more critical time.
This was a thread in which Devin Shepherd was mentioned above. Last night he went 4 for 5, with 5 RBIs and his first pro homer.
Shepherd was a 5th rounder of the Twins out of high school. A tool shed, 6’3″ 225, batting practice slugger. He opted to go to the Univ. of Oklahoma. As a freshman, one home run. He transferred to a juco near Vegas for his second year; batted .343 with one home run. Shep reportedly had a scholarship from powerhouse Oregon State, but signed with the Cards as an 11th rounder in June 2008.
In summer 08, he played in the Gulf Coast League, no home runs. In 09, he was on the Batavia roster, before taking leave of absence. So now its 2010, assigned to Quad Cities. Off to a good start, but needs lots more at bats.