NOTE: This version of the roster matrix is no longer current. It reflects the 2010-11 off-season actions and should be considered a historical reference document. For the active roster matrix covering 2011 spring training, click here.
The St. Louis Cardinals full system roster view reflects changes made during the entire 2010-11 off-season.
With the hot stove season upon us, it is once again time for a refresh of the St. Louis Cardinals system roster matrix. This version will reflect all changes made from the end of the 2010 regular season. The previous matrix reflects the rosters at the conclusion of last season.
If you are new to the blog and aren’t sure what the Cardinals organization roster matrix is all about, here is quick summary:
As the 2010 season came to its close, the St. Louis Cardinals had 320 players under contract from top to bottom, with 43 of them on the 40-man roster. The matrix places each one at his current assigned level in the system based on his assignment the end of last season as well as by position. It is kept updated daily or as transactions occur.
Nowhere else will you find this current and comprehensive single-page view of the entire Cardinals organization.
Don’t be concerned about the order of the players’ names within a team. They don’t signify anything other than often a rough approximation of alphabetical order.
The players on the 40-man roster are called out in bold.
Full team rosters and player profiles at The Cardinal Nation
Remember that to get detailed profile information on every single one of these 320 Cardinals players, simply check out their free player profiles freshly updated now at The Cardinal Nation.com / Scout.com. You can see bios, photos, videos, articles, news items, links to current season and career stats and much more – everything you need to know about a player in one place.
Click on the following links to be taken to one of the ten team pages at The Cardinal Nation:
Full-season clubs
St. Louis Cardinals
Memphis Redbirds
Springfield Cardinals
Palm Beach Cardinals
Quad Cities River Bandits
Short-season clubs
Batavia Muckdogs
Johnson City Cardinals
Gulf Coast League Cardinals
Dominican Summer League Cardinals
Venezuelan Summer League Cardinals
Once there, just click on a player’s name to be taken to his individual profile page. For example, here is Adam Ottavino’s profile.
Looking ahead and back
Now that you’ve found this page once, remember one of three ways to get back here. Bookmark the page, type “Roster Matrix” in the dark blue search box at the upper right or use the dropdown menu at the top of the page: “Players/Staff” > “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix”.
For details behind past 2009 and 2010 rosters and transactions, check out the earlier versions of the Cardinals organization roster matrix as follows.
Link to previous matrices: Jan–March 2009, April 2009, May 2009, June 2009, July 2009-February 2010, Spring camp 2010, Opening season 2010, First half 2010, Short-season 2010
2010-2011 off-season transactions
10/4: New matrix. Organization total 320.
10/5: 14 releases: RHP Trey Hearne (Spr), OF Rich Racobaldo and IF Colt Sedbrook (PB), RHR LaCurtis Mayes and RHR Chris Notti (QC), OF Jon Edwards, RHP Matt North, RHR Travis Lawler, RHR David Kington (Bat), C Yorbel Alcala, LHS Moises Colorado, OF Anthony Fonseca, OF Alberto Rivero, OF Joe Babrick (GCL). New total 306.
10/6: Mem LHS Evan MacLane declared free agency. New total 305.
10/12: OF Shane Robinson outrighted to Mem.
10/13: RHP Bryan Augenstein claimed off waivers from Arizona. New total 306.
10/21: VSL releases: Marlon Sucre, Hayrich Martina, Lainer Bueno, Tharick Martines and Limbert Rivas. DSL releases: Jorge Lopez, Luis Polanco, Victor Ferreira and Christian Concepcion. New total 297.
11/1: Nine MLB free agents: Ps Brad Penny, Jake Westbrook, Jeff Suppan, Dennys Reyes, Mike MacDougal, C Jason LaRue, IFs Aaron Miles and Pedro Feliz and OF Randy Winn. New total 288.
11/3: OF Joe Mather (STL) claimed off waivers by ATL. New total 287.
11/4: C Matt Pagnozzi outrighted. Eligible for minor league free agency. New total 286.
11/6: Five minor league free agents: P’s Oneli Perez, Rich Rundles, Josh Kinney and Matt Scherer and IF Ruben Gotay. New total 281.
11/16: Free agent RHS Jake Westbrook signs 2-year deal with 3rd year option. New total 282.
11/17: Five players added to the 40-man roster: Ps David Kopp, Adam Reifer, Eduardo Sanchez, SS Pete Kozma and OF Adron Chambers.
11/19: Two players added to the 40-man roster: P Blake King, C Tony Cruz. Four players outrighted (off 40-man): P Adam Ottavino, C Steven Hill, OFs Nick Stavinoha and Daryl Jones.
11/23: LHP Raul Valdes signed to minor league contract with MLB spring training invite. New total 283.
11/30: IF Ryan Theriot acquired from LAD for P Blake Hawksworth. Signed FA LHP Brian Tallet. New total 284.
12/4: FA OF/1B Lance Berkman signed. New total 285.
12/9: Washington selects RHP Brian Broderick (Spr) in Rule 5 Draft. StL selects LHP Jean Mijares from Min.
12/12: Seattle acquires SS Brendan Ryan for RHP Mikael Cleto. Both on 40-man. Cleto to Spr for this document.
12/14: StL signs FA C Gerald Laird. New total 286.
01/14: FA RHPs Miguel Batista, Ian Snell sign minor league deals with spring camp invites. New total 288.
01/15: FA IF Ramon Vazquez signed to minor league contract with spring camp invite. New total 289.
01/16: FA IF/OF Freddie Bynum signed to minors deal. New total 290.
01/21: FA IF Nick Punto signed to major league contract. New total 291.
01/24: FA LHR Rich Rundles signed to minors deal. New total 292.
01/28: FA IF Ronald Ramirez signed to minors deal and assigned to Springfield. New total 293.
2/3: FA RHR Wilson Matos signed to minors deal and assigned to QC. New total 294.
2/4: FA OF Jim Edmonds signed to minors deal with spring camp invite. New total 295.
2/8: Dominican RHP Fernando Gonzalez signed. New total 296.
2/10: Dominican OF George Araujo and Venezuelan SS Leobaldo Pina signed. New total 298.
2/12: VSL LHP Angelo Echeverria released. DSL RHP Luis Mata and OF Andres Beras released. New total 295.
2/18: OF Jim Edmonds retired. New total 294.
2/23: VSL RHPs Kevin Cueto, Geudy Guerra, Jose Perez, Edubray Ramos and SS Kevin Gonzalez released. New total 289.
2/24: LHP John Gast and RHP Scott McGregor given NRIs to MLB spring camp.
The St. Louis Cardinals Organization Roster Matrix (effective 02/24/11)
* 21 non-roster major league camp invitees
+ 19 early minor league camp invitees
| St. Louis (29) | 40-man (40) | ||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| C Carpenter | Franklin | Molina | Pujols | Schumaker | Theriot | Freese | Holliday |
| Lohse | McClellan | Anderson | Hamilton | Descalso | T Greene | Punto | Berkman |
| Westbrook | Boggs | Laird | Rasmus | ||||
| Wainwright | Motte | Jay | |||||
| Ja Garcia (L) | Tallet (L) | Craig | |||||
| Walters | T Miller (L) | ||||||
| Salas | |||||||
| Memphis (22+2) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Lynn * | Fick | T Cruz | R Vazquez * | Bynum | Solano * | Chambers | |
| Augenstein | Sanchez | S Hill * | Cazana * | ||||
| Dickson * | Samuel | Rapoport | |||||
| Ottavino * | Parise (DL) | Robinson (DL) * | |||||
| Valdes (L) * | Norrick (L) | Stavinoha * | |||||
| Snell * | Reifer | ||||||
| Batista * | |||||||
| Rundles (L) | |||||||
| Springfield (25+7) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Additon (L) | Delgado | Derba * | C Smith (DL) | Jo Martinez1(DL GCL) | Kozma | Curtis | Ant. DeJesus |
| Kopp | Eager | L DeLaCruz + | A Brown | Jo Garcia | Ramirez | M Carpenter * | Swauger |
| Thomas * | King | Cutler (DL) | Scruggs | Jones | |||
| Kulik (L DL) | S Freeman (L DL) | Pham (DL) + | |||||
| Mijares (L) | Frevert | Henley (DL) | |||||
| McGregor * | Buursma | Luna + | |||||
| Gorgen | |||||||
| Cleto | |||||||
| Palm Beach (20+5) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Schneider | Mulligan | Espinoza | Rivera (DL) | R Jackson + | Bolivar | N Vasquez | A Castellanos + |
| G Brown (L) | Bradford | P Vasquez (RL) | Beatty | ||||
| Diapoules (DL) | Rauschenberger | R Rodriguez | |||||
| Nieto | Simpson | Bogany | |||||
| Ri Castillo | M Tapia (DL) | Ingram | |||||
| Zawacki | Pichardo | ||||||
| Bittle (DL) | |||||||
| Hooker | |||||||
| Quad Cities (26+6) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Rondon | Novak (DL) | Stock * | Adams (DL) + | L Mateo + | Ahmady | Lara | |
| Fornataro | Calhoun (L) | Castro | Goodwin | R Smith | |||
| Bibona (L) | J Smith | Stanley + | Stidham (DL) | Swinson | |||
| Kelly * | Corrigan | Obregon | R Rosario | ||||
| S Miller * | Rada | Walsh | Parejo | ||||
| Cardenas (L DL) | Terry | Conley (DL) | |||||
| Blazek | |||||||
| Kiekhefer (L DL) | |||||||
| Greenwood (L) | |||||||
| Matos | |||||||
| Batavia (25+3) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Ju Edwards (L) | Butler | Klein | V Sanchez | Bergman | Y Castillo | J Rodriguez | Biserta |
| Moss | Avendano | J Castillo | Valaika | O’Neill | |||
| Gast (L) * | Swagerty + | A Perez * | Edmondson | ||||
| Russell | Wright (L) + | Longmire + | |||||
| Blair + | Reid + | Melker (DL) | |||||
| A Ferrara (L) + | Squatrito (DL) | ||||||
| McCully | Summers | ||||||
| Lyons (L DL) | |||||||
| Johnson City (33+1) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Copeland (L) | Benes | Tartamella | D Medina | S Rodriguez | Elkins | Cerreto | V Hill |
| H Hernamdez (L) | Corpas | Teran + | G Garcia | R DeLaCruz | S Ramos | ||
| Ang. De Jesus | Guzman | A Garcia | R Ruiz | Williams | |||
| Daugherty (L) | A Lucas | C Valera | Taveras + | ||||
| C Johnson | Nazario (L) | Rbto Reyes | |||||
| Jimenez | |||||||
| Rosenthal + | Revesz (L) | ||||||
| Nadeau (L) | Patterson (RL) | ||||||
| Whiting | |||||||
| Siegrist (L) | |||||||
| Jenkins + | |||||||
| Unassigned (1) | |||||||
| P | P | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| M Harris (MIL) | |||||||
| GCL (26) | |||||||
| P | 2010 P | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| B Martinez | B Freeman (L) | Montero | Pimentel | W Perez | Tuivailala | Cox | Bryant |
| A Castillo | Aguilar | Moscatel | Washington | Vargas | Martin | H Garcia | Dodd |
| Pasen | J Lucas | Vivas | |||||
| Santana | Mendoza | ||||||
| Uribe (L) | M DeLaCruz (L) | ||||||
| Brand | |||||||
| R Martinez | |||||||
| Nuernberg | |||||||
| DSL (28+6) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| A Tapia | A DeLaCruz (L) | Baez | Rblys Reyes | Gil (RL) | B Hiraldo (RL) | Araujo | |
| Paulino | A Gonzalez | L Perez | R Medina | Capellan | |||
| C Martinez + | A Toribio | Barbuena | Celestino | ||||
| S Lopez | Ceballo | Agustin | Encarnacion | ||||
| F Gonzalez | Bautista | J Pena | |||||
| D Rodriguez (L RL) | Ro Castillo | ||||||
| DeLeon | D Diaz | ||||||
| DeLosSantos | |||||||
| E Hiraldo | |||||||
| Estalis | |||||||
| JC DeLaCruz (RL) | |||||||
| Segundo | |||||||
| P Pena (L RL) | |||||||
| Rudecindo (RL) | |||||||
| VSL (22+2) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| S Garcia | Almeida | Velazco | B Valera | Pina | R Garcia | Acevedo | |
| Bier | Canache | J Gomez | Argenal | ||||
| Montanez | I Brito | Jo Martinez2 | |||||
| Villanueva (L) | De Aguas (L DL) | ||||||
| Ulacio | Escudero | ||||||
| Oraa (DL) | Gerdel | ||||||
| Jh Polanco | |||||||
| Planchart | |||||||
| Solarte | |||||||
| Villegas | |||||||
Codes
(DL): injured – on the disabled list
(TI): temporary inactive list
(SL): suspended list
(RL): restricted list
(MIL): military list
(TO): tryout player not under contract
(L) left-handed pitcher
bold: on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster
(#+#) number of active players on the roster plus number of inactive/not under contract (DL+TI+SL+RL+MIL+TO) players
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
With 38 on the roster we have room for a couple of FA or trade additions. Middle infield and LHP would be good.
Could still be some more moves coming. Could also pick up a player or two in Rule 5 draft if some guys they like are left unprotected.
Brian -Who do you feel is closest to the chopping block on the roster?
Stavinoha?
Daryl Jones?
others?
Daryl Jones has been stuck at AA for a couple of years and seems to have been passed by Adron Chambers………………………….
Stavi offers PH ability and can play 3rd catcher.besides the PH what else does he really offer?
The only thing keeping Stavi on the roser is his right-handedness. If Chambers were right-handed, for example, I think Stavi’d already be gone. Chambers seems like a superb 5th outfielder.
I hope we either keep Hamilton as a bench bat – or we trade him. I think he is more valuable than many people think.
This could be Hamiltons make or break season.Matt Adams has hit a both levels so far.Xavier Scruggs big HRs and big K rate.Curt Smith and Medina.Cards have some decent 1B options down the road.I don`t see why Hamilton couldn`t be kept as a Lefty PH and backup OF if he shows he casn be adequate in the OF.
JC Bradbury things Pujols is worth 8 years, $350MM.
http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2010/11/albert-pujols-the-first-40-million-man/
I don’t often disagree with his reasoning – but I sure do here. He forecasts his 2019 value at $59MM!!
If that proves true, we are all in for one hell of an awful decade.
Watching Hamilton hit last year when he came up with the September call-ups, I was amazed to notice how much he looks like Chris Duncan at the plate. But that’s where the comparison ends. He looked very sharp defensively.
Here is my ‘weak-sisters’ list for the 40-man… Stavinoha, Tyler Greene, and Bryan Anderson. Agree with easton and Bw52 about Nick the Stick. He’s a RH pinch hitter with no pop. One wag called him ‘Big Miles’, a large-bodied singles hitter. Tyler Greene becomes expendable when the club signs another SS or two. Same with Bryan Anderson if Mo lands a new catcher to back up Yadi. Any of those three might be throw-ins on a trade.
Augenstein might be a candidate also.
Nice work Brian!
Depends on which Chris Duncan Hamilton looked like. If it was the pre-injury Chris Duncan with the .900 OPS that would be great!
Augenstein is definitely vulnerable after signing Westbrook. Jones would probably claimed if passed through waivers but not sure it would be a great loss. And, he might not even be claimed.
Stavinoha most likely goes as soon as we sign a RH OF bat to replace. I wish they’d kept Mather instead, he is at least versatile and a decent defender.
I’m not ready to give up on Tyler Greene.
CC — On the Duncan-Hamilton comparison I was just talking swing mechanics, not results.
I think the team may be ready to give up on Tyler. Don’t see where he fits (maybe 3A) if Mo can sign Uribe and/or Tejada. I see him as trade bait, but I could be wrong. Not impressed with his play at all for a 1st round pick. Others in the class of ’05 (Jaime, Colby & Boggs) have passed him by. The others on my weak sister list (Anderson & Nick the Stick) were also ’05 draftees.
Four players dropped from 40-man and two added. Changes summarized above with detailed article now on the main site.
“With obvious needs in at least three spots at the major league level, left-handed reliever, left-side of the infield and veteran reserve outfielder, the two available roster . . . ”
Has the idea that Tony and Dave want a veteran catcher to spell Yadi lost traction?
Also, last year the season opened with Craig, Mather and Stav as reserve outfield. I don’t think there was a veteran unless I’m forgetting something. Is it common wisdom that something like that is going to be avoided in 2011?
Nice article on the main site, also I really like the chrono list of transactions with the matrix, i’ve used it often.
bb — The only vets off the bench at the start of the year were Lopez and LaRue. After the general failure of that OF group, one hopes the experiment of relying on that many young guys off the bench won’t be repeated… but you never know.
The young bench was unusual at the time and Winn and Miles were quickly gobbled up later. They’ll want cheap vets, sure.
Ref #13, your point is valid, bb. Though I said “at least three,” since I listed three positions specifically, I should have mentioned reserve catcher, too. I will fix that.
At one point, I believe Mo was quoted as saying he wants a veteran RHH OF, a good bat but doesn’t necessarily have to be strong with the glove. Anyone else remember seeing that? First name I thought of at the time was Jermaine Dye.
Catching up on posts from earlier…
Nice work on your predictions in #3, Bw52. Didn’t need me. You had much of the answer. Regarding Hamilton in #6, where and when has he displayed adequacy in the OF?
Ref #7, easton, which Bradbury was that? Maybe it was Ray?
One of my favorite books—Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury.
Pirates have designated Zach Duke for assignment. Could Dunc make a decent reliever out of him? Sabermetric guys let me have it, I want to start something. I’m bored.
Dye has made a lot of money in his career. I can’t see him working for what the Cards would pay. That is going to be the problem with any of the aging slugger types. Might as well call Jimmy ballgame.
crdswmn, your mention of Duke made me think of Elija Dukes, late of the Nats, and last I heard playing indy ball in the Atlantic league. Now there is just what I’d like to see Mo plop down into the miidle of the clubhouse, right between Tony and Albert. That’d teach them to whine about Brendan.
I have no problem with Zach Duke. He always had potential and he got unlucky last season with all of the home runs that he gave up. He has good control, but if a pitcher can’t either rack up strikeouts or keep the ball on the ground, I’m not sure what he hopes to accomplish on the mound.
I’m thinking a little presto-chango from Dunc, Nut. Make a ground ball loogy out of him.
Unlucky? That is a page out of Jumbo’s book. I do like crdswmn’s idea though.
Speaking of the pitching staff, what are the Cards going to do with PJ? At this point, I’m not sure it is reasonable to hope he becomes something that he is not already. He’s a serviceable depth guy to have at AAA, but I hope he gets a chance in the bigs somewhere. Sink or swim.
Andy LaRoche …………worthless??????? work with him?
There are a few similarities between the Justin Upton situation and the Colby situation……..
How many can you name???????????????
I’m not a walking encyclopedia like our friend, but I know Upton was drafted high in 2005 like Colby. He is streaky both at the plate and in the field, has had some injury problems and is thought by some to not have lived up to his potential yet. There is, I believe, a school of thought which holds he may well not turn into a superstar after all, and so the idea is the snakes are looking to off him while his value is at its peak.
BB, when I say that a pitcher was unlucky to give up as many homeruns as they did, I mean that his homerun per fly ball rate was significantly higher than his career norm. In 2010, 9.4% of Duke’s fly balls went for home runs compared to only a 6.7% rate for his career. Pitchers can control fly ball rates, but they can’t really affect how far a batter hits those fly balls.
Sorry that I wasn’t clear.
WC, you sure seem intent on repeatedly suggesting that the Cardinals will trade Colby for no particular good reason. You didn’t adopt him when we weren’t looking, did you? RC might get angry at you for muscling him aside.
Duke’s career K/BB ratio against lefties is a stellar 3.71 vs. a 1.59 mark against righties. Opposing slugging percentage against LHB is a monsterous .577 (vs. .493 against RHB). If he could keep the ball down, he could probably cut it as a LOOGY.
Nut, I can’t agree that batter’s success rate at centering it on the sweet spot is a matter of luck. Put another way, how far they hit the fly balls depends on hitting it solid, which is a matter of centering it on the spot. Preventing them from doing that is what pitching is all about. I agree keeping it down would help. Less homers but more line drives and screamers.
Dave and Yadi’s strategery could help even more, but if Duke’s arm is dead, not much movement, and he’s not fooling them with velocity change, he won’t get good hitters out.
I’m not arguing against him being a DD project loogy. If he can’t get a fifth starter job it would be interesting.
the backup catcher situation looks odd to me. i can’t see a clear organizational direction. is this due to the gm and manager having different views on the available players for backup in 2011?
when yadi went down, there were 12 games remaining. pagz received 10 starts and anderson 2 from the manager. contending for a postseason birth was over, we were 8 back w/12 to play, went 9-3 and finished 5 back.
if pagz was a legit possibility to be yadi’s backup in 2011, i then understand those starts. but evidently he wasn’t, he was on of the first out the door this winter. so why didn’t anderson get those starts, does he not have a legit shot at backup in 2011 either?
did the manager want pagz as the backup in 2011, and the gm said no, not gonna happen, he’s already gone. were those 10 starts to allow pagz an audition to mlb, that both the gm and manager agreed he deserved?
does the manager not want anderson to backup yadi in 2011, so he blocked his exposure with pagz? it currently seems stl will go outside the org for a backup. has anderson now become trade bait? is anderson really not ready to be a mlb backup? is another season in AAA really necessary? confusing.
Its a big topic today in the Rumors Nut……………….there is quite a bit information available on Upton.
Things to notice………… 49 large left on a 5yr deal………….. notice the exclusionary list of no-trade teams……….the answer is really there………. and that AZ would have been among them if they could have.
AZ social climate is changing. Fan base morphing……… two years with the phony coach……… they will trade him………..who is equipped to take and work with his attitude problem?
Bip……………….with the money invested in the Cardinal rotation…………Anderson doesn’t catch them.
Paggs was the lesser of evils by a long way………….if no one signs him…….they will bring him back I think.(long shot) Anderson coming up, do to injury, at a bad time isn’t going to work…………..
Since my Zach Duke suggestion is not garnering much interest I’ll take a swipe at the backup catcher situation.
Maybe they are looking outside the organization. If the Dodgers non-tender Russell Martin maybe we can make a go at him. I haven’t heard the latest situation with Torrealba or Barajas so I don’t know if they are even available. Not much out there from what I can see.
Crdswmn-i like the idea of Zach Duke getting a LOOGY bchance.The big question is would the FO be interested? Why not? Probably depends on what kind of a deal he would want.Being a LHP Duke should get several offers.
As for backup catcher-Gerald Laird is probably best defensive guy available and he hits a bit.Had a poor offensive last yeat and made over 3 million last year.Probab;y too pricey.
Rod Barajas-would be affordable and he hit okay last year.Defense so-so.
Not a whole lot catchers to get excited about.
Mozeliak has said recently that the Cards were looking for a catcher who can contribute both on offense and defense and take more of a load off Yadi than has been done in recent years. He placed emphasis on that catcher being an offensive contributor, rather than just a catch and thrown type.
bip — Late last year there was extensive commentary on FSM about Anderson’s abilities as a defensive catcher. The main point against him was that he doesn’t have ‘soft hands’. That is, when receiving a pitch where he has to move the mitt he tends to lunge or stab at the ball rather than catching it smoothly and drawing pitches off the plate softly back toward the strike zone. The gist was that this robs pitchers of borderline strikes or even turn strikes into balls as many HPU’s interpret a catcher’s glove movement in calling balls and strikes.
I remember Hrabosky doing most of the talking and I had the distinct impression that he was relaying information he’d picked up from Cards pitching coaches… Duncan or Marty Mason.
Neither Andy or Pags did well throwing the ball last year. Pags was 1/11 (9%) throwing out base runners and Andy was 1/6 (17%)… quite a drop-off from Yadi’s league-best 49%.
In a larger sample with Memphis this season, Anderson and Pags each threw out 31 percent of runners. Whether or not you believe there is any merit in catchers’ ERA, Anderson’s was 4.50 while Pags’ was 4.07, again with Memphis. (Without reviewing game logs, I don’t have stats on whether there are significant patterns on who caught who.)
A reserve catcher costing anywhere from 400K to 1.5 or so is not going to compare to a top starting catcher. Not across the board at least. Ability to call a game, adjusting to the pitcher’s stuff, the umps zone, the hitters, game situation, times thru the lineup, tiring arm, etc is paramount to DD. A backup has to be a top hand in that regard. What is next most important is a question. Is hitting more important than controlling the running game? Soft hands? Fielding the position? A reserve won’t have it all.
The self image structure created by the Cardinal rotation personalities, is formidable……not quite like anything else in baseball…………… it is one of their great strengths…………. and that by necessity and the laws of the universe makes it one of their weaknesses……………..
It could be interpreted as a “clique” generated by righteous intentions and a “just” projection of “territorial intentions”………………. Dave’s projection of tactic and “purposefulness” helped create it……… Tony’s emotionality shelters it and nurtures it………………….. Insincerity by another Cardinal “faction” undermined it…………. It will likely regenerate itself…………. Anderson won’t be catching it……………… he has been rejected…….. Mo can’t push all of the available buttons…….he is just threatening…… at times.
BB, as important as that position is………especially concerning the peculiarities and insecurities of YM……you would thing that money wouldn’t be an object………………… if you wanted to win………..
Agree Westy. Yadi’s virtues do not help when he is on the bench bunged up or wore out. The stat guys have no doubt seen that the team did ok without him at the end of the season.
Certainly it will not be anyone who might compare favorably.
so hill was part of a roster crunch on the 40man, as a 5th catcher Mo couldn’t warrant on there. he’s chose cruz over hill, as the 4th 40man catcher.
to upgrade at catcher, beyond what la rue offered, we’re looking at 3mil.
BD is going to have to bump the player budget up. the lineup needs two bats (3B/SS), a backup catcher, and a loogy. 5/5/3/2….gonna take 15mil more, or it’s pretending.
BB, I can’t seem to find a good article proving why HR/FB rates aren’t controlled by the pitcher because it’s widely seen as common knowledge amongst the sabremetric community, but here’s a short recap:
http://saberlibrary.com/pitching/hrs/
Appreciate the link. I’m sceptical when conclusions seem counterintuative to me. Back in the olden days of deep fences, dead balls, ash bats and no weight rooms, a ball had to be hit square on to go out. Not so now.
HB–i mute fsmw broadcasts and trust my eyes. i prefer to not know what hrabosky thinks.
bip — Despite himself, Al occasionally says something interesting that someone else told him.
Glad to see the Cards make some of the roster adjustments this off-season. They seem realistic. This could owe partly to the elevation of Vuch to farm director and to TLR’s influence (D).
It was hopeful to open last season with Mather, Stavinoha, and Craig, but not realistic. Too many similar rookies. Now, the Cards have accepted Mather looks like he cannot bounce back to his power before hand injuries; this is sad, but the way it is. They also prioritized Craig over Stavinoha; no room for both.
The team has long been hopeful about Darryl Jones. Two undistinguished years later at AA, it was time to get real and promote somebody who has been improving in Chambers.
Hill is a fine hitter, but if Cruz is the better defender, its realistic to protect the latter.
Ottavino’s sore shoulder warrants different use of his roster slot.
One statistical oddity of the roster is keeping Augenstein (who had a rough year at AAA) over Cotton Dickson (who had a good year at Memphis). The difference between the two is increased by park effects. Apparently the Cards are not sold on Dickson as a ML starter.
Brian – Shouldn’t the total number be 285? Broderick on 12/9 should have brought the number to 284 + Laird = 285.
Let’s see. Hmmm. No that’s not right either.
Lost Broderick, gained Mijares. My fault.
No problem. Glad you are paying attention. I appreciate any corrections.
[...] July 2009-February 2010, Spring camp 2010, Opening season 2010, First half 2010, Short-season 2010, 2010-11 Off-season, 2011 spring training, 2011 regular season, 2011 short-season, 2011-2012 off-season, 2012 spring [...]
[...] July 2009-February 2010, Spring camp 2010, Opening season 2010, First half 2010, Short-season 2010, 2010-11 Off-season, 2011 spring training, 2011 regular season, 2011 short-season, 2011-2012 off-season, 2012 spring [...]