As many National League fans already know, right-handed pitcher Roy Oswalt has worn the number 44 for his entire big-league career, which began with 9 ½ stellar seasons with the Houston Astros before a 2010 deadline trade to the Philadelphia Phillies.
If rumors that the 36-year-old is on the verge of signing with the St. Louis Cardinals for 2012 come to reality, the question will arise as to whether his favored uniform jersey number is available.
Fortunately, the answer appears to be “yes.”
New Cardinals and former Oswalt teammates Carlos Beltran (#3) and J.C. Romero (#16) have settled on different digits. And frankly, having Oswalt, a three-time All-Star and winner of 159 career games sporting those number 44 threads would represent a considerable upgrade from its deployment in recent years.
Last season, the Cardinals broke spring camp with non-roster invitee Miguel Batista donning the number 44. After the 40-year-old pitched himself off the team, the uni was passed on to another high-mileage veteran, outfielder Corey Patterson, one of the throw-ins in the Colby Rasmus deal. Patterson was so unimpressive that he was left off the post-season roster and is unsigned for 2012.
The year before, another outfielder in the twilight days of his playing career, Randy Winn, was assigned 44.
The most famous Cardinal to wear number 44 in recent years is also looking for a place to play in 2012. Of course, that is former closer Jason Isringhausen. The 39-year-old returned to MLB last season with the New York Mets after a year away but is again a free agent. Izzy pitched for St. Louis from 2002-2008 and is the club’s all-time leader in saves with 217.
When I think of number 44, however, my mind goes to “The Zamboni Machine,” Ken Reitz. The defensive specialist manned third base for the Cards while wearing the digits for two stints totaling eight years from 1972 through 1980.
For nine years during the 1960’s, pitcher Ray Washburn, winner of 68 games with St. Louis, donned number 44. Even current manager Mike Matheny wore 44 for a brief time in 2000 (see photo) before returning to his familiar 22.
Of course, until Oswalt’s deal is done, it isn’t, but it appears one minor potential problem will not occur.
Then, there is that issue of six starters for five jobs. That may become a job for number 22 to sort out in Jupiter, Fla. starting in just three weeks…
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I like that the Cardinals are going for the throat here, and these short term deals for veterans make all the sense in the world.
We can pay Luhnow back for ditching us and raiding our front office by beating him to death with creaky former Astros.
Even if Oswalt earns $6.5 million (for example, with incentives), consider this equation.
Pujols @ $26 million = Beltran at $13M + Furcal at $6.5M + Oswalt at $6.5M
But is P>B+F+O ? Or is P<B+F+O ???
Those are incongruent equations, which are unsolvable.
Word is Selig is wanting to add a wild card to each league this year (ahead of schedule) but a problem might be fitting in the necessary games that might be needed at the end of the season.
When the new CBA was announced, MLB said they would decide by this March 1 whether the expanded playoffs would go into effect this year or next. It is only one game per league to accommodate the second wild card so I don’t see why scheduling should be a huge issue.
If these rumors come to pass, it will be an interesting story.
But it could simply be a ploy by Oswalt’s agent to try to get more money out of another team.
You hit the nail on the head. At least, that’s how I’m reading it.
In due course, the truth will probably emerge. Right now, its a lot of rumors.
I do not reject the possibility Mo wants to add Oswalt. It could happen.
There is a rumor Oswalt turned down $10MM from the Tigers. Why would he sign with the Cards for $5MM? Maybe the Tigers blew their budget on Prince Fielder, so the $10MM is not there for Oswalt by late January. He is going to have to take a smaller offer.
Oswalt’s agent insists he remains a starter. He is establishing this viewpoint in case there are later debates with a GM who wants to send Oswalt to the pen.
Last winter, the Cards invested expensively in Westbrook. The reason emerged in spring training: Wainwright was injured. If the Cards want to add Oswalt, it may be that Mo suspects another starting pitcher may be unable to go.
If we do add Oswalt, and if our other five starting pitchers are good to go, then Westbrook can move back to the pen or the Cards might trade another starting pitcher. Most players will waive a no trade clause, for cash.
There are also rumors that the Cards have kicked the tires on Edwin Jackson, too. If this is true, this suggests the Cards DO want to add a veteran starting pitcher. This reinforces the idea we would sign Oswalt, if possible.
Why would we want to add another starting pitcher? We have Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia, Lohse, Westbrook, plus McClellan and Lynn, etc.
We already have a lot of salary commitments for 2012. If we add Oswalt too, then Mo will have more reason to try to trade Lohse or Westbrook for salary shedding relief.
Mo seems more aggressive in making certain kinds of moves than did Jocketty. Walt tends to be more of a bottom feeder for bargains and a believer in waste not, want not. Mo will tend to make more changes.
One thing the Oswalt rumor tells us is both Oswalt and the Cards think they have a good team for 2012, despite Albert leaving. Oswalt will want to sign with a contender. The Cards want a contender too and think Oswalt can continue to win and help them.
The amusing thing about why Matheny had to wear #44 for a while in 2000 is because we had picked up Will Clark and *he* claimed #22 during his short time with us.
Brian, one must readily admit that any real Cards fan contemplating uniform number 44 would immediatly think of Cris Carpenter. A first rounder after all.
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1583583463391&id=c3d4a4ac229d1a3c13c44a04641bd4c1&url=http%3a%2f%2fshop.sportsworldcards.com%2fekmps%2fshops%2fsportsworld%2fimages%2fst-louis-cardinals-cris-carpenter-39-rated-rookie-donruss-1989-mlb-baseball-trading-card-39417-p.jpg
(yes, that is a link)
Great point!
There is a new strategy in play this year……….. Roy (rumors) = season ticket sales x dynamic pricing fears………… it is in these moments that they are calculating the effect of “plausible posturing”……. he wants to play here………. they know it…………. they started at 2.75……they are probably around double that now…..well behind the teams he doesn’t want to play for………… they know this game well now….they are profiting every moment this goes on ………….. I would think just the observable activity would qualify the investment……….if baseball was the objective ……
I’m interested, but would like a link to back up the “they started at 2.75″. And how are “they profiting every moment this goes on”? Are they betting against themselves in Vegas?
Just come out and say, you think the club is posturing for a move to Montreal.
yes, Cardinal fans are stupid. They buy season tickets based on rumors of the possibility of acquiring a guy that is probably only marginably better than who he would replace.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that the whole defending World Series champions thing sells itself.
Mo denied a deal was in the offing. What a klutz. He is hurting ticket sales.
Can this be a case of implausible posturing?
Dumb…dumb and dumber………….. What is really stupid…….is the believe that the guys that pulled off what just happened with AP…….described by me….. for over a year……..isn’t able to game the system…..or haven’t planned to……… Roy hasn’t decided……….he has offers 4 to 5 million over the Cardinal offer………but he wants to join the boys club…………everyone can see how hungry we are to repeat…………….. people buy 15 thousand dollars worth of tickets impulsively…..how not? ……. they are profiting from there position……………… baseball logic has nothing to do with it……….. making money does………and they are going to make a bundle……the fewer available tickets per game drives the price higher…………every guy with a Red shirt wants to be one of the Cardinal “winners”……. to have it appear that he would jeopardize an 8 million dollar investment Westbrook to have a better (supposedly) team makes BD seem like a “wild and crazy” sports guy……….not a cold blooded killer……………… and whats best///////////I could give Sht…….. without AP..we are the best team in the division already……… I don’t want to see Roy in here……if anything the might off the Garcia contract ……. its the only out they have……how would you feel about that?????????
So the guy who told us that getting rid of AP was part of a plan to go cheap (and make more money) is now telling us that we may actually up the payroll to make more money. On top of that, he wants to imply that we might shed the only truly affordable starter we have as part of the process.
If anyone has ever doubted Westie’s game of trying to predict all possible outcomes so that he can then risk hurting his arm patting himself on the back no matter what happens should look no further than the above post to see how he plays the game.
Personally, I am still waiting on that $80 million payroll that is part of the great Cardinal strategic plan that Westie implied he was privie to.
After two years of watching these exchanges, I must come to the conclusion that:
1. You really don’t realize you are being played.
2. You do realize it, but are getting your jollies doing this just like WC is.
Care to share which?
Like the Cardinals, my strategies and objectives are secret. But rest assured, they are not about baseball……or are they?
But here is a hint…..Like the movie JFK, the complaint was not that the movie wasn’t entertaining. It was the presentation of fiction as that of fact.
Well, if you believe that WC presents fiction as fact (i.e. that WC actually believes what he posts) then #1 is the correct answer.
That is an illogical assumption. Just as I have no reason to believe Oliver Stone actually believed the story that he told in JFK, I have no reason to believe Westie believes his tales he presents here. On second thought, I do have some reason to believe he believes at least some of it. I’ve been in enough high powered board rooms to recognize a guy who thinks he is the smartest guy in the room and is screaming for others to acknowledge it (whether it is true or not).
You have just answered my question.
I forgot to congratulate you on your set up of a false dichotomy there, neither of which states my position. Did they teach that in law school? Given you state that is the conclusion you have come to and your illogical conclusion you developed below, i am left to wonder if this is some sort of (poor) tactic on your part or you reasoning ability is out of practice.
Channel 5 says Cards/Oswalt deal close-pending results of physical on his back.
Lohse says don’t believe everything you hear.
Where is this news BB?????????
Westie, I saw it on the newscast when I got home from work early this morning. Still nothing, though. Maybe Doctors don’t work on Sunday.
I wonder if the leaked news that Roy meets with the Rangers Monday is meant to draw Mo’s last best offer.
I also wonder if Mo treated Roy like a low hanging fruit and ‘insulted’ him.
Think six man rotation.
The word at the moment is that Mo is trying to shop McClellan in order to fit Oswalt in the budget. Maybe to Baltimore.
I’m into mid June……….watching Franklin struggle……….. nice guy………sad times……… he is pitching for an organization that is HUNGRY for a playoff birth………but its Tony that just keeps hanging on????thats what you were led to believe…….right?……….But suddenly Pujols is gone…maybe for 6 weeks………and the team suddenly comes alive………. Tony fights back against the 60 day DL designation…….and then…mysteriously…….the Colby pogrom begins, and its open warfare……………..
Interesting use of the word pogrom, maybe a little extreme and a tad tasteless, but nonetheless interesting.
I would have said Cluster Frick, since it takes two to tango. Pogrom indicates one side and his family got bamboozled. Most don’t see it that way.
The whole thing was a clear Cluster Frick. Sad it happened that way, but we move on, we move on.
RC knew what he was doing…………there was a plan……………from the beginning…….
Have you got to the part where the Mang doesn’t make the all star team roster?
McClellan was slumping, so was Rasmus. Mo made a smart decision to replace McClellan with Jackson and Rasmus with Jay, leading to an 11th WS win and Mo won Executive of the Year. Neat the way it all worked out.
1
Matthew
Suffered martyrdom in
Ethiopia ,
killed by a sword wound
2
Mark
Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by
horses through the streets until he was dead
.
3
Luke
Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous
preaching to the lost.
4
John
Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of
boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome .
However, he was
miraculously delivered from death. John was then
sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos .
He wrote his prophetic
Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was
later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in
modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle
to die peacefully.
5
Peter
He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross.
According to church tradition it was because he told his
tormentors that he
felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6
James
Just The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown
over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle
of the Temple
when he refused to deny his faith in Christ . When they
discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat
James to death with a fuller’s club.
* This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken
Jesus during the Temptation.
7
James the Great
Son of Zebedee , was a fisherman by trade when Jesus
called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader
of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem .
The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed
as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer
walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome
by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and
knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian
8
Bartholomew
Also known as Nathaniel Was a missionary to Asia .
He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey .
Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia
where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9
Andrew
Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras , Greece .
After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied
his body to
the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers
reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew
saluted it in these
words: ‘I have long desired and expected this happy hour.
The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ
hanging on it.’ He continued to preach to his tormentors
for two days until he expired.
10
Thomas
Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his
missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent
11
Jude
Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his
faith in Christ .
12
Matthias
The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot,
was stoned and then beheaded.
13
Paul
Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor
Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment
, which
allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he
had formed throughout the Roman Empire . These letters,
which taught many
of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large
portion of the New Testament.
5
Albert Pujols
Gulp………went to the city of Angels……..where he ????????????????
Tough gig………………………..
Took you a long time to get there, WC.
And there was still nothing of consequence brought when he got there.
2000 yrs Nut………………………. My Cardinal memoir is up to 43 pages now………….. its going to be something to remember for everyone here ……………… decoded this time ………… with offshore account numbers and the works ……….. if need be……… its sure going to change Brian’s life….
Westie, you could shorten the memoir and appeal to more readers if you cut out the “……….”es or the words.
Imagine the memoir on tape and the narrator reads: dot dot dot dot and yet another dot. In conclusion, dot dot dot dot. Sounds like a best seller!
Every fictional novel needs a hero and every hero needs a nemesis. I look forward to be featured prominently!
I want an autographed copy when it’s finished. But,…is that even possible?
I guess ‘shopping’ McClellan means finding somebody to take the $2.5 and not expect us to take some payroll back.
Surely that doesn’t have to coincide with signing a starter. Once ST is underway teams will have pitchers go down and there will be more demand. The danger with waiting is if he sucks, then we’re stuck.
Agreed. Maybe McClellan falls apart, but you’d think that they could easily find a way to move him. I wouldn’t hold up Oswalt for that.
Mo is not the boss of Greece, Spain, France, Belgium, or Italy. He tries to live within a budget.
You could add the U.S. on that list. We have a pretty sizable deficit.
Its strange whats going on with the Cubs. They paid the Marlins a lot of money to be rid of Carlos Zambrano. Aramis Ramirez left. And they have signed LHP Trever Miller (released 3 times during 2011 by Cards, Jays, and Red Sox); Joe Mather (Cards prospect whose promise was hampered by a hamate injury); and AAA IF Edgar Martinez, among others. A dumpster dive. The Cubs may struggle in 2012.