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03.15.2008 11:18 am

Lineup 3.15: Aces high, Juan on hold, BT here?

By Derrick Goold
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — With few exceptions, today’s exhibition game at Tradition Field offers the closest yet the Cardinals will get to a regular season-ready lineup against an opponents regular season-looking lineup, right down to the starters.

Opening Day starters Adam Wainwright and Johan Santana headline the game here.

The subhed, however, comes from back in Jupiter, Fla., where Juan Gonzalez is.

The 38-year-old outfielder is awaiting word on an MRI taken of his sore abdomen on Friday. The Cardinals continue to classify the injury as a abdominal strain, though the MRI will reveal if something is structurally wrong with Gonzanlez’s torso. Playing time is at a premium, and every day the two-time MVP misses is another chance for Brian Barton or Joe Mather or both to stak their claim to a roster spot. Barton clearly has the edge — he’s played better, he has intriguing assets (read: speed), and he has the Rule 5 going for him.

The Cardinals clearly want to keep him.

He is, after all, not just playing well, but just playing at all.

Minus Rick Ankiel and the middle infield from the lineup, here’s enough of the everyday Cardinals to give this game a nice April feel in mid-March:

THE CARDINALS

  1. Skip Schumaker, CF
  2. Brian Barton, LF
  3. Albert Pujols, 1B
  4. Troy Glaus, 3B
  5. Ryan Ludwick, RF
  6. Yadier Molina, C
  7. Brendan Ryan, SS
  8. Adam Wainwright, RHP
  9. Aaron Miles, 2B

The bench: INF D’Angelo Jimenez, OF Colby Rasmus, 1B Josh Phelps, OF Amaury Marti, OF Joe Mather, INF David Freese. The bullpen: RHP Ryan Franklin (sporting a buzzed, business-like haircut), RHP Hugo Castellanos, RHP Chris Perez, RHP Cliff Politte and — be sure to notice this — RHP Brad Thompson, who is scheduled to throw one inning today.

(This is not a clue that the righty is headed to the bullpen. Quite the contrary: Thompson will start Thursday.)

Backups for the trip are: Trey Hearne, Jess Todd, and David Kopp.

THE METS

  1. Jose Reyes, SS
  2. Luis Castillo, 2B
  3. David Wright, 3B
  4. Carlos Beltran, CF
  5. Carlos Delgado, 1B
  6. Angel Pagan, LF
  7. Raul Casanova, C
  8. Endy Chavez, RF
  9. Johan Santana, LHP

***

Note: The Vuch Report from Friday will follow shortly. 

-30-

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6 comments

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Blog Comments: Rules of the Road

i think it’s about time to cut the fat with juan gonzalez, apparently he is not as healthy as pujols, oquendo, & molina thought. let barton have his spot.

— jrocke217
11:53 am March 15th, 2008

Juan is on a minor league contract, why cut him? At least there is an “option” by keeping him. Still amazes me how there are still alot of “what have you done for me lately’s” out there in Bird Land.

— TD22
2:44 pm March 15th, 2008

Barton doesn’t just have speed. He has the highest OPS on the team except for some guy named Pujols, and Barton is tied with Pujols for the most RBI’s on the team. It would be shocking if the Cardinals gave him back to Cleveland.

— Dave in San Francisco
4:24 pm March 15th, 2008

Amazing how much better the offense performs when Kennedy and Izturis are not in the lineup.

— Nick
4:30 pm March 15th, 2008

Barton’s speed is impressive. He has 3 triples. No other Cardinal has more than one.

Mather has one triple and one HR. Barton has two HR’s. Mather has struck out 8 times in 36 AB’s. Barton has struck out 6 times in 40 AB’s. Mather’s OPS is .881. Barton’s OPS is 1.070.

Mather might be chosen as Spezio’s replacement over Ryan (though that would leave only one backup at SS, Aaron Miles, who is inadquate at that position).

But I’d be shocked (and disgusted) if Mather were chosen over Barton as an extra outfielder.

— Dave in San Francisco
4:33 pm March 15th, 2008

Dave in SF — I agree, no way Mather should make the team over Barton. The only way I can see Mather going north is if Duncan’s back is still an issue at the end of camp, or another OF gets hurt and they have to DL someone.

Ryan should have this team made already, and I’d go so far as to say he should be the starting SS until he proves he can’t handle the job. But it’s pretty obvious that La Russa doesn’t like him, and nothing Ryan does on the field is going to change that. TLR was just quoted in an AP article defending Izturis again, saying by comparison Ryan has been more erratic at short this spring, and has played “out of control” at times. It’s one thing to defend Izturis, even if all he’s done this spring is suck wind. But to defend Izturis by taking shots at Ryan — who’s clearly playing much better — shows what La Russa thinks of the kid.

If Ryan makes this team it will only be because La Russa doesn’t have any choice.

— Javier
4:56 pm March 15th, 2008