Opening Series News and Recaps
Opening Day was quite a disappointment for Cardinal Nation, when Franklin blew the save in the ninth on a one-run lead. The next day, Cardinal fans were stunned when they found out that Holliday blew his appendix. The sadness returned on Saturday, when the Padres stomped the Cardinals 11-3. Then on Sunday, the Cardinals got the first win of the season out of the way with a shutout.
2011 Divisional Predictions
In 2011, a lot of people have pretty good ideas as to where teams are going to finish, standings wise, in the regular season. While San Fran has been dominated the Cactus League, can they keep it up when the games start to count? What about the Braves, who top the standings in Florida? Well, in this article, I’m going to give my opinion on what teams will finish where. By the way, like the new design? I decided to switch things up a little for the regular season.
Off-Season Recap; 2011 Projections
The 2010-11 off-season for the Cardinals sure has been a busy one, with many major deals being completed. But the one deal that still has not yet been completed, the one that this off-season has been focused around, continues to leave Cardinal fans at a cliffhanger. Pujols still has not yet had his contract extended, with his deadline less than a month away. Even if the deal doesn’t get done this off-season, we still have him for 2011, possibly his last year as a Cardinal. Crazy, right? Absolutely. For the first portion of this article, I’m going to recap the Cardinals off-season, from Westbrook to Punto.
Award Season Coming to a Close, ROTY and AL GG Covered in this Article
We were told that the 2010 award season was going to be a good one, and so far, I’m impressed. Throughout all the awards, there’s been a mix of veterans and first-timers. Speaking of first timers, let’s start with rookie of the year.
2010′s rookies of year were no surprise to anybody. Well, maybe not everybody, like Braves fans, but they were definitely my first picks.
Buster Posey caught his Giants to their first World Series title in quite a while. Was that a factor in his rookie of the year trophy? Possibly. If the Giants didn’t make the playoffs, and the Braves did, it would have been a much tighter race, with maybe even Heyward coming out on top. While Posey played quality playoff ball, his regular season stats certainly backed up the award. He played just 108 games, because Bengie Molina wasn’t traded to the AL champions until about mid-season. Buster hit .305 with 18 homers and 67 RBIs in his debut MLB year, while throwing out a pretty decent 37% of base runners. Posey definitely deserved this award.
The AL champions’ closer, Neftali Feliz, took home the AL rookie of the year trophy. Isn’t it funny how the two league champion rookies took the award? While he did lead the Rangers’ bullpen at 22 years old to the World Series, he saved 40 games in the regular season with 71 strikeouts and a 2.73 ERA, well earning the award.
The Gold Glove and Silver Sluggers, the two positional awards, were the mix of young and old I was talking about.
Three Yankees highlighted the AL Gold Glove infield, with Teixeira, Cano, and Jeter all winning gold gloves. Jeter and Teixeira are veterans to this award, while Cano earned his first. The infield outcast was Evan Longoria, winning his second Rawlings award, and being one of two Rays to win the AL Gold Glove award. While the Yankees took the infield, the Mariners took the outfield. Gutierrez won his first, while Ichiro won his tenth straight. A newbie and a veteran. The outfield outcast was Carl Crawford, who has honed great fielding skills his entire career, but just now getting recognized. Mark Buehrle and Joe Mauer won the battery, a first-timer and a third-consecutive winner.
Wainwright poses Triple Crown and Cy Young Threats
Adam Wainwright, co-ace of the St. Louis pitching staff, is having arguably his best career year so far; and it looks like he will get better every year to go on. Wainwright won game number twenty the other night versus the Cubs, his first twenty-win season, which he almost achieved last year however he fell one game short. Wainwright is currently tied with Roy Halladay of the Phillies in leading the league with wins; both have twenty to this date. Though Wainwright may be dominating in wins, that’s not the only category the starter is producing in. Wainwright is, once, again, tied with Halladay in strikeouts. Both aces have racked up 213 Ks so far, which is second in the league to Giant’s starter Tim Lincecum. The final triple crown stat for pitchers is ERA, and once again Doc and Wain-O are close. Josh Johnson leads the league with a 2.30 earned run average, but Adam is twelve points behind with 2.42 and Roy is in third place with 2.53. Right now, the Cy Young race is very close between the two pitching dominants. However, the Cardinals’ staff leader poses a larger threat when it comes to the triple crown. We all know how baseball can go. But whatever happens, we’re all rooting for you Adam! Go Cards!
Lopez Re-Signs With St. Louis
Today, February 27, 2010, the St. Louis Cardinals signed infielder/outfielder Felipe Lopez to one-year deal apparently worth about $2 million. Lopez will wear number 8 in 2010, and he says he is happy to be back with the Cardinals.
Edmonds Signs with Milwaukee
On Thursday, January 28, 2010, Jim Edmonds, eight time gold glove and one time silver slugger, signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. Edmonds played seven years with the California/Anaheim Angels, and eight years with the St. Louis Cardinals. Edmonds was a fan favorite, along with Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen at the time. Edmonds was a 2006 World Series champion with the Cardinals. Jim was going to play for league minimum in 2009 to back-up the outfield for the Cardinals, due to his eagerness to play baseball again after missing the 2009 season. Edmonds also announced that he wants to retire with the Cardinals.
So far, this can’t be done.
Edmonds signed a contract for around $800,000 to play in the minors, however he will report to Spring Training and fight for a spot on the bench.
Edmonds just wanted that last year with the Cardinals, but he still might get it. If 39-year old Edmonds does good enough in 2010, he could sign with the Cards in 2011, if he is not too age-fatigued.
Albert Pujols wanted to play with his old teammate again, but so far the chances are not looking too good. With Albert’s last year as a Cardinal coming in 2010, and Edmonds playing for the Brewers in 2010, they probably will not end up together again. But if they both re-sign with the Cards in 2011, it could be possible.
If Edmonds does make it to the majors, he will make another return to play in Busch Stadium. Like they did when he returned as a Cub, Jim will probably recieve a major standing ovation from the Cardinal fans in St. Louis. Either that, or a sea of boos.
But knowing Cardinal Nation, the latter probably won’t happen.
Who knows. Maybe everything will work out great: Pujols re-signs for seven years, and Edmonds will get traded over from Milwaukee. Hopefully.
Edmonds Plannning on Returning to St. Louis
On Sunday during intermission at Tony LaRussa’s benefit concert for the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF), Jim Edmonds was backstage talking with former teammates, including new hitting coach Mark McGwire. When he was asked if he would be visiting spring training this year, Edmonds responded with, “I hear number 15 is available.”
This is no joke.
Jim Edmonds, former gold glove and silver slugging center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals who played from 2000-2007, wants to wear his old number fifteen again. Edmonds was traded to the San Diego Padres in December of 2007 for prospect David Freese. Edmonds had a year that could be barfed at in 2008, sharing time with the Padres and with the arch-rival Cubs. Edmonds missed the 2009 season, but never officially retired.
It began with Jim sending a few text messages between him and manager Tony LaRussa. At first, LaRussa took it as a joke. Edmonds, who was at the ARF event, asked if he could come on stage with Tony. “I thought he was just going to say how much he enjoyed the show, said LaRussa on Monday. “He’s serious. I said, ‘If you’re serious, we’ll give you a serious discussion out of respect.’ “Beyond that, I don’t know.”
Edmonds is not in shape, and with spring training within two months, Edmonds will have to work fast. His tryout, if the Cardinals do give him one, will be during spring training. However, it might be difficult to tell Edmonds he can’t play.
The Cardinals outfield is already set: Holliday in left, Rasmus in center, and Ludwick in right. However, with the club lacking a back-up, Edmonds may be a good fit.
Originally, Edmonds said he would play for free. This changed quickly. Later he said he would play for the league minimum for just one more season with the Cardinals. Edmonds wants to retire as a Cardinal, and not as an arch-rival Cub.
“That would be great having him back, but I don’t make these decisions,” Pujols commented on Edmonds. “If he’s in good spirit to come back and in good shape, I think we can definitely use his help in our lineup.”
Every true Cardinal fan misses Edmonds out there in center field diving twenty feet into the warning track to catch a meaningless fly ball or Edmonds at the plate pulling homer after homer over the left field walls in old and new Busch Stadium. Two of Edmonds’ great seasons are as follows:
2000: 42 HRs, 108 RBIs, .295 BA, GG, AS, 4th Place MVP
2004: 42 HRs, 111 RBIs, .301 BA, GG, SS, AS, 5th Place MVP
Both of those seasons were him as a Cardinal, and 2000 was his first year. Jimmy Ballgame is turning 40 soon, and he says he wants to imitate Brett Favre in the 40-year-old sports player thing. Let’s all hope that the Cardinals let Edmonds re-join the team.
GM States That McGwire Still Would’ve Been Hired Had They Known of His PEDs
John Mozeliak, St. Louis Cardinals general manager, stated that even if the club had known of Mark McGwire’s steroid use, he still would have been hired as the hitting coach. The Cards are very confident McGwire will do a good job, and Mozeliak also said that absolutely nothing involving performance enhancing drugs (PED) would’ve changed their minds of hiring McGwire.
At the Winter Warm-Up today, many players were questioned about how they feel about McGwire’s admittance. Brendan Ryan received a slew of these questions. Ryan has been hitting with McGwire for much of the winter. Ryan said that he will not discount McGwire’s playing accomplishments from his drug use.
Much talk has been brought up about McGwire’s hall of fame chances also; there is still a chance. There is no rule that any player who has been involved with PEDs may not be eligible to enter the Cooperstown HOF. Many people do not vote for steroid users; i cannot agree or disagree to this. McGwire did break an MLB rule AND a law, but he was truthful when he said that he had good and bad seasons while on the roids. He also sounded truthful when he said he took them for injury. In fact, on ESPN the other day I heard that many of the sportscasters will be voting for Big Mac in this upcoming vote.
To sum it up, even though McGwire broke a rule, he was still an amazing ball player and should be recognized for this. I believe McGwire should be elected into Cooperstown.
McGwire Admits to Steiroid Usage
Today, Monday, January 11, 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to his strongly speculated usage of steroids. McGwire admitted that he used them for much of a decade, and even in 1998, when he broke the home run record. This was strongly speculated by former and current Cardinal fans, and when he did not speak in court, even more speculations were created. McGwire spoke in a statement, and will talk more about it tonight at 7 p.m. ET on MLB Network, an exclusive interview. McGwire’s entire statement is follows:
“Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals,
I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five
years ago.
“I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It’s time
for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have
suspected. I used steroids during my playing career, and I apologize. I
remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and
then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on
occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season.
“I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it
was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never
played during the steroid era.
“During the mid-90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games
over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a rib cage
strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel,
and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of
years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I
thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries too.
“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home
runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn’t take
any and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I
took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter
what, I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry.
“Baseball is really different now — it’s been cleaned up. The
Commissioner and the Players Association implemented testing and they
cracked down, and I’m glad they did.
“I’m grateful to the Cardinals for bringing me back to baseball. I want
to say thank you to Cardinals owner Mr. DeWitt, to my GM, John
Mozeliak, and to my manager, Tony La Russa. I can’t wait to put the
uniform on again and to be back on the field in front of the great fans
in St. Louis. I’ve always appreciated their support and I intend to
earn it again, this time as hitting coach. I’m going to pour myself
into this job and do everything I can to help the Cardinals hitters
become the best players for years to come.
“After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a position to
do that five years ago in my Congressional testimony, but now I feel an
obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I’ll do
that, and then I just want to help my team.”
Well that statement has to make people wondering if McGwire would be a good hitting coach feel better. He appears to really want this job, and sounds like he WILL do a good job coaching all the Cardinals’ hitters. Let’s hope he does!
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