The Second Half

After an amazing April, the Cardinals have fallen a bit on hard times. The biggest reasons for this have been injuries and a sub-par performance from the bullpen. Allen Craig has been on the DL twice and has practically averaged an RBI per game when he's been able to play. Lance Berkman only has had 42 at-bats so far this season, but is on the verge of coming back. The biggest blow of all, however, is probably the fact that Chris Carpenter hasn't pitched and we found out a little over a week ago that he won't pitch again until 2013 at the earliest.

As for the bullpen, it simply hasn't been reliable. Whether it's been Marc Rzepczynski walking too many batters, Fernando Salas allowing a hit parade, or Jason Motte thinking he has God's gift to fastballs, the Cardinals have allowed far too many leads to be squandered this season. The Cardinals have blown 14 saves a team so far this season. Only the Colorado Rockies, who are having a historically bad pitching season, have blown more saves. By comparison, the division leading Pirates have only blown five. If the Cardinals had converted just half of those blown saves, they would have the best record in Major League Baseball. This isn't that unreasonable  as they still wouldn't be perfect or even the best in the league at holding leads if they had managed this task. An improvement in this category is a must if the Cards are to make the playoffs. They blew way too many save chances in 2010 as well, and that cost them a playoff spot that year. There is no reason to think that this season would be any different.

General manager John Mozeliak made a trade last July to completely rework the bullpen. It took about a month for it to fall into place, but once it did, the Cardinals went on a tear, erasing the biggest September deficit in National League history to make the playoffs and eventually win the World Series. I don't think he needs to completely rework the bullpen this year. I think he may just need to add one pitcher and the bullpen can fall into place. The offense isn't a problem and hasn't been all season. There's no reason to believe that the offense will fade in the second half, especially with the addition of Berkman back into the lineup.

This offensive depth could be a way for the Cards to find that pitcher they need, as with the extra wild card spot, very few teams are completely out of the race. This could cause more trades where both teams are trying to improve for this season rather than the more conventional sell now/buy for the future type of trade. The Padres' Huston Street has been a name that has come up with the Cardinals being mentioned. This is an experienced closer who could thrive in either that role or be a setup man for Motte in the way that Francisco Rodriguez was for the Brewers when he was acquired last summer. The right side might be where the Cardinals need a bullpen arm most, as rookie call up Barret Browning has stabilized the left side for the time being. I will admit that Browning has a very small sample size of 4.1 innings, but if his success continues (he's yet to allow a base runner), it could allow Mozeliak to focus on a righty for the bullpen.

There has also been talk of the Cardinals adding to the rotation and possibly trading for Zach Greinke. I feel that the Cards would have to give up far too much to bring him in, especially within the division. Milwaukee gave up a lot to get him, so they're not going to ship him off for a group of second rate prospects.  It might take a player like Craig and a decent prospect and I'm not sure I'd like to do something quite that drastic, especially with the way that Joe Kelly has pitched since coming up and Jaime Garcia returning from the DL in the near future.

The other part of the equation, with the Cardinals sitting in third place, 2.5 games behind the Pirates and 1.5 behind the second place Reds, is how will those clubs respond in the second half? The Pirates are currently playing out of their minds. Andrew McCutcheon is the only position player that is an A talent. Everyone else is pretty average. They've been hitting great for the past month, but isn't it kind of likely to expect that if they don't go back to how they were in April and May, that they'll at least fall somewhere in the middle? Also, the Pirates could go out and get a bat to help them make a playoff push, but when was the last time this team actually spent money? I'm confident that the Pirates could help themselves if they wanted to, I'm just not sure that ownership cares enough to do anything.

That brings me to their pitching. Starter James McDonald has pitched like the ace of the staff so far this season, posting a 9-3 record and an impressive 2.37 ERA. He's also already thrown 110 innings. He only threw 171 innings in 31 starts as a rookie last season, so it's very possible that he could hit a wall in late August or September when the Bucs will still need to be piling up wins to fend off the far more experienced Cardinals and Reds. A.J. Burnett also has an impressive record of 10-2, but his ERA of 3.68 is fairly mediocre. Erik Bedard and Kevin Correia have been pretty average this season as well, and their fifth spot in the rotation has involved three different starters, which isn't the consistency that you'd hope for to make a playoff push. I feel like the Pirates are still at least one more year away from truly contending for a playoff spot.

As for the Reds, they've won the division before, have a GM in place who can pull off a big deal with some solid prospects to trade if that's the direction they'd like to go. The big rumor for a while was that they were going to bring home an Ohio guy in Kevin Youkilis to play third, but now that he's been dealt to the White Sox, that's obviously not going to happen. There's really not much on the market anymore in terms of impact hitters at third base, so the Reds will likely have to look for an outfielder. They could use a little more pop, but also a leadoff hitter, so there will be several options. They've also been linked to looking at Greinke, who could help round out their already solid rotation.

If the Cardinals can get their bullpen settled like they did last year, they should be in great shape to make another run. The Pirates are young, the Reds have their problems, and the redbirds are starting to get healthy. They also have more motivation to make it to the World Series now, as they know they'll have home field advantage again if they make it. Thank you, Justin Verlander!

#FireTLR Campaign Reignites

Before I go on a rant about how awful today's loss to the Mets was, I figured I'd touch on something positive.The Cardinals resigned Lance Berkman today to a one-year deal. With bringing both he and Chris Carpenter back before they hit free agency, it means that when free agency does come, the Cardinals will be able to focus much more on their most important free agent: Albert Pujols. 

I must admit, bringing Berkman back does merit a few concerns. First, part of the deal is that he has full no-trade protection, meaning if the team were to tank next year, they'd be stuck with the remainder of his large salary. Secondly, he's already 34 so the odds of him repeating this season are pretty low, but I'd be more than happy for him to prove us wrong again. Third, if Berkman is going to play the outfield next year, he'll be a roadblock for Allen Craig getting in the lineup. Craig has showed fantastic power in his limited chances and it would be great to see what he could do with a full major league season. He even seems to have decent range in the outfield and in a season filled with defensive blunders, it would be nice to upgrade on that, even if it is a minor upgrade.

Now, as several of you may know, I got out of work quite early today and decided to attempt to get into the Cardinals game for free following a two hour rain delay. My plan succeeded as even though the gates weren't open, I managed to sneak past an usher and got inside during the bottom of the fourth. I used the smokers re-entry near first base, just for future reference, and then in Han Solo fashion, I blended in with the rest of the garbage and floated right into Busch Stadium. 

I arrived in time to see Pujols rip his 37th home run of the year and for the game's first eight innings, things were going swimmingly. Jake Westbrook made a quality start even with walking in a run, the redbirds earned us our 25 cent drinks for tomorrow by scoring six runs, and Corey Patterson was even batting 1.725, at least according to the scoreboard. Anyone who was sober (and there weren't many of us after a two hour rain delay) would clearly realize that this was 1. Impossible and 2. Even more impossible for Corey Patterson and got quite a laugh out of it. I tried to rationalize the existence of the number and thought maybe it could be his batting average (.239) added to both his on-base percentage (.271) and slugging percentage (.359) all added together, but then it still barely got over halfway there. At this point I just decided that it was complete gibberish and that those running the scoreboards may have let loose during the rain delay as well.

This then brings us to the ninth inning. The Cardinals entered the ninth with a 6-2 lead, having completely dominated the game. And although it's not a save situation, manager Tony La Russa decided to bring in his recent closer of choice, Jason Motte. Motte threw 24 pitches on Wednesday night and this would be his ninth appearance in 13 days (thanks to Mike Techner for pointing that one out). Motte walked the leadoff man, but then appeared to redeem this fact by getting a grounder hit right to Rafael Furcal at shortstop. Furcal went to start the double play, but never got a great grip on the ball and ended up not getting a single out on a play that clearly should have been two. Motte settled down, got a fly out to center by the next batter, but then walked the next two to bring home a run and bring up Jose Reyes before La Russa removed Motte from the game. La Russa then brought in lefty Mark Rzepczynski who ran into some bad luck, sawing off Reyes but allowing a hit just out of Ryan Theriot's reach nonetheless. Long story short, the Mets came back from four down to win by two and with the way the season's gone, even an optimist on happy pills should have seen it coming.

This kind of mismanaging of a bullpen from a "Hall of Fame" manager is unacceptable. It's the kind of crap that has had me wanting La Russa to retire or be fired for years. And I figured since he managed like he was bombed out of his mind today, a cheap shot like using his DUI mugshot was acceptable. The Cardinals have tons of losses that they can point to from this season as the reason that they did not make the playoffs if they indeed miss them. But with this one being in the last week of the season and probably the worst loss of them all, it certainly sticks out and could be pointed to as THE reason among many reasons. I'm really glad I didn't pay to see it. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the shower crying and holding myself, just like Tobias. And oh, I'll be wearing cutoffs.

The King Has Returned (Ryan Means Little King) and So Have the Cardinals

I haven't written much this baseball season. I'm partially glad for this, as this season has been incredibly frustrating. Lance Berkman has returned close to his prime form, Kyle Lohse has a 13-8 record, and Yadier Molina is having a career offensive year including 13 bombs. And yet, the Cardinals sit 5.5 games behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead and 4.5 back of the Braves for the NL wild card spot. And sure, lots of things have gone wrong too. Adam Wainwright hasn't thrown a pitch for the team this year due to needing Tommy John surgery. The Cardinals have blown 23 saves. If games were only eight innings long, they'd be running away with the NL Central. Even with just half of those games back, they'd have a sizable lead over the Brewers and we wouldn't even be watching the Braves and Mets on the scoreboard. Oh, and hitting into 160 double plays and counting hasn't exactly helped matters either.

As those of you that read me regularly (when I post regularly) know, I was ready for Tony La Russa to call it a career after last season. Sticking with Ryan Franklin as the closer at the beginning of the year was a terrible maneuver that cost the team at least the difference in the wild card race, but probably more as it caused the team to sputter terribly out of the gate. A 2-4 home stand to begin the year against the Padres and Pirates, two teams that are currently a combined 38 games under .500, is not the way to start a season.

Of course, La Russa's biggest mistake of this season was probably believing that Ryan Theriot would be adequate defensively at shortstop. The Cubs and Dodgers were aware of this, but somehow the manager that ranks third all time in wins wasn't? No, I'm sure he knew that Theriot was subpar at defense. What he didn't know was that his offense that started out hot would greatly diminish and could no longer overshadow how poor his defense has been. It's also worth noting that the defensive specialist that we dumped for some low level prospect, Brendan Ryan, is only batting 24 points lower than Theriot, with two more homers and three fewer RBI. Ryan's also done this in the lower part of the Mariners' lineup while Theriot has been in one of, if not the best, offensive lineup in the majors. And while I love the Mariners (they're my favorite AL team), I'm not blind to reality like La Russa. I know they suck and I know their lineup sucks. But their defense at shortstop does not. And the redbirds took far too long to address this problem.

Rafael Furcal has done a great job since coming over from the Dodgers. He made an over the shoulder catch against the Brewers to send a game in Milwaukee to extra innings that to my naked eye, appeared to defy physics. The Cards went on to win that game. He's also shown that he still has some pop, hitting six bombs in 41 games with the Cards, compared to just one in his first 37 games with the Dodgers.

Retaining Furcal would be a huge plus for the team going into next season and should be more of a priority than resigning Berkman. We can always throw Allen Craig in right field and probably get 25 bombs with a little below average defense. We can't throw anyone on the roster or in the minors over at short and get defense that will protect the pitching staff other than Furcal. I'd be for a one year deal if he's willing, but he might be happier with a two-year deal. The fact of the matter is, that shortstop is probably the most important position on the baseball field and the Cards haven't had a plus player there since Edgar Renteria left after the 2004 season. I know everyone loves David Eckstein (myself included), but he was below average on defense due to his range and while he was a solid lead off man, getting some power from a shortstop that can't play defense at a high level certainly helps the team. Furcal can hit for average, power, play defense, and even steal  a few bases. Aside from retaining Albert Pujols and getting Wainwright back, keeping Furcal is the key to a successful 2012 season.

As for the 2011 season, it's still not over. The Braves mild collapse and a recent hot streak by the Cards has made things interesting. Due to an angry tweet after yet another game that the Cards blew late, I have agreed to run a marathon next year if they can make the playoffs. I'm totally up for it still, but they have a lot of work to do if they want to get me running. They have a four game set with the Phillies, which they're currently leading the opener of 2-1 in the eighth, followed by three at home with the Mets, three at home with the Cubs, and three in Houston. Realistically, they can afford one more loss, two tops. Aside from the Phillies, those are three extremely beatable teams. And with the Phillies being so far ahead of the Brewers and Diamondbacks for home field throughout the playoffs, they're not even the team they normally are as they're resting some starters. Ryan Howard didn't start tonight, for instance. I've done some stupid things in my day for my fandom, including saying I'd dye my Chris Carpenter playoff soul patch red if we made the World Series in 2006, matching the facial hair of Scott Spiezio. Well, they did and I did. I'd love an excuse to do something else stupid, like run run 26+ miles at one time. I hope the Cardinals make me do it. Oh, and if they do, Ashley Rupkey, you can feel free to tell me you told me so. And so can all the pro-Colby Rasmus trade people. That would be some magically delicious humble pie.