STLCards.NET

The Cardinals lost today. As sad as it is, this is the first time all year the Cards have produced a result so a loss is better than no game, at least during spring training, right? Joe Mather had a couple of hits and David Freese was 0-3 with a strikeout. Its a little early to start talking stats but when there is only one box score, it is what it is. After a week of games patterns will begin to emerge and decide who gets the rotating 3rd base job and who is the backup outfielder, etc. On the pitching side of things, despite giving up 17 runs, the only pitcher I recognize from the Cardinals side, Adam Ottavino, only gave up one un-earned run in two innings of work. I’m not sure he has a chance of making the bullpen, he might need a little more time in AAA but its good to see a 1st round draft pick in the box.

In fantasy watch the following players homered: Hunter Pence 2, Ryan Ludwick, David Wright, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Derrek Lee. On top of these being ST HRs, it is very windy down in Florida right now. Also Jose Reyes was scratched from the Mets lineup.

Opening Day is 31 days away!

It’s too easy for a pitcher without a track record to run off a single season of 15+ wins, see 1999: Bottenfield, Kent. For the Rockies, Jorge De La Rosa had 16 wins, Ubaldo Jimenez had one less, but Jimenez is 3 years younger and his stats have been trending upward. I tried to mostly look at strikeouts and ERA over wins because wins can be very fickle to the whims of the offense of your team. Lincecum was the strikeout leader by far last year, but c’mon, Chris Carpenter missed a few starts and was downright dominant when he did pitch giving up very few runs. If you need further justification for his name being above Timmy’s, remember this is a Cardinals blog!

I think the elite starters end with Josh Johnson. There are a few more good solid closers that have good job security AND ability, but the guys I picked all have track record, stuff and lack of very recent injury. Half the fun of playing fantasy baseball is finding out who will close next. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Billy Wagner returning to his old self very soon. Keep an eye on him through spring training and you can probably steal him in your draft. And with all due respect to this being a Cardinals blog as referenced earlier, there is no way I’m going anywhere near Ryan Franklin.

Today: The Hitting Infielders

I decided to make a list of the top 5 at each position and league. Obviously #4 in one league could be better than #3 in the other, etc. And it goes without saying, Albert Pujols is the best.

Some leagues are a bit thin, you’d probably be best with an American League catcher and an AL 2B aside from the king, Chase Utley or Uggla. There seem to be a large number of reclamation project 2B and SS in both leagues and players that are consistently moving from one side of the infield to the other. I’ve tried to put everyone in the position they will be playing this year as opposed to last year, Gordon Beckham being the best example of this. There are a lot of SS coming off of really bad years, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins especially. I don’t think Jimmy is gonna be as good as he used to be but more on those that aren’t who they used to be later. (I’m paying extra attention to this after taking Garret Atkins in my draft last year.) There are always lots of power hitting first basemen and third basemen so if you can get an elite or great middle infielder or even a great catcher and you’re looking at Kendry Morales or James Loney in the 1B slot go with the middle infielder every time. Even though Morales or Loney might have better stats and will prove that year after year, there is a much bigger drop off with middle infielders and one who can hit really is harder to replace than James Loney is with say Todd Helton.

I don’t look at projections or predicted stats and obviously I’m making my own predictions but I base them on previous years stats and trends and have gone with players who are younger than thirty rather than older. Outfielders and Pitchers still to come and a stat based look at all players regardless of position.

I am planning on doing a more developed MLB/fantasy preview at some point but just thinking at the moment, a few players who I think will have better years than the last in 2010:
Jake Peavy
Jose Reyes
Curtis Granderson
Dontrelle Willis

Baseball, this blog and Felipe Lopez that is. They’re all back. That’s the order of excitement from most to least that I have, btw. I didn’t think many Cards fans liked Lopez when he was a Cardinal before but then there seemed to be a clamoring for him this offseason. He’s a little bit scarier than Julio Lugo in the lineup but now Tony La Russa can roll out the dreaded 3 middle infielder lineup again. BR says he made $3.9M in 2009 after leaving the Cardinals and we signed him for $1.7 or $2M depending who you believe.

I’ll be back to blogging and see if I can make it through the whole season this year. Who will make it farther, Ryan Franklin as closer or me as Cardinals blogger?? Stay tuned!

I like the guy in focus. Though I’m not sure he’s the favorite. I’m afraid we might be disappointed by a split vote and Tim Lincecum.

To play third base. I think he’s great really. Need I say more?

Matt Holliday – its not my money

Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Mariano Rivera – we’ll take ‘em

Chone Figgins – how many months would it take Mike Shannon to get that right?

Troy Glaus – why not for a low cost?

Erik Bedard – he’s getting older and ready for some Duncan magic

The Cardinals need 1 great power hitter (Holliday) or 2 high avg/obp hitters and a Closer, a real closer, your take John?

Well the Cardinals got Julio Lugo, Matt Holliday went on a winning spree in August and limped through September and into the postseason. They lost to a Dodger team they easily beat during the regular season and if they could have hit the ball they could have been in the NLCS fairly easily. Unsurprisingly to me, Ryan Franklin blew the one chance at a win they did have against the Dodgers. Brian Fuentes who the Cardinals (tried?) to get over the winter (last winter) didn’t fare much better for the Angels against the Yankees. But Tony LaRussa is back, Mark McGwire is ‘back’ as the hitting coach and maybe stlcards.net is back!