dg,

I for one was very critical of Izturis infield play early in spring. You must admit that he was not very good then. I will readily admit that he has been very good of late. I thought he was the best defensive shortstop in the NL from 2003 till his injury in 2005. My concern early in camp was that if Izturis could not return to that defensive level then he offered nothing to the club. He will never be a plus offensive player…even in 2004 he had an OPS+ under 100 (for those who son’t know that is worse than the league average for his position), therefore without the golden glove he would be a serious detriment to the team. Having said that, if Izturis can regain his pre-injury form I think he will be a plus to a team full of pitch to contact pitchers.

Now my scorn is reserved for Kennedy who still struggles to make consistent hard contact and whose defensive “skills” are extremely overrated. Kennedy shows good range in the field but very bad hands. Ryan at 2b and Izturis at SS would be an excellent defensive infield. If only Ryan would stop smiling so much…

dg,

BTW, thanks for all your hard work from camp.

Well, we’ll see. Eckstein made an occasional diving stop from time to time, too, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t one of the the worst SS in the game last year. Izturis was just under average last year.

Anyway, a good SS might have made the same play look effortless.

I will say I was giving him a lot of grief due to the number of errors. But I saw some good plays out of him Sunday and this one sounds like it was a doozy. Hopefully he’ll remind us of the Wizard.

I second the thanks from Nick. Bird Land has been invaluable this spring!

Indeed! Thumbs up to Derrick Goold!! Keep up the great work….

Adding my thanks for the priceless ST coverage, too, DG. Have a pleasant trip home.

Anyway, a good SS might have made the same play look effortless.

Comment by SleepyCA — March 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

If you were there, or saw it live or replay, I’ll defer to you. However, I was there and that was an outstanding play that everyone in the place thought was a hit before Izturis turned it into a DP.

DG,

Is the team particularly interested in Jimenez? I assume they would have to pass him through waivers to get him to the minors. I guess what I’m asking is, would it really hurt to lose Jimenez over giving Rico a shot? Does he provide more versatility in position than Rico? It seems that Rico has stood out when I watched him play, where Jimenez really just blended into the background.

Why is there the perception that Miles can “handle the middle infield positions” when he clearly can not? He’s barely passable at 2B, and there’s no reason to even talk about SS.

This club doesn’t have a viable backup for the entire left side of the infield if Ryan can’t play.

If the Cards performance this Spring is any indication of what their regular season will look like, I think we might have some reasons to be optimistic.

Over the last 14 games the Cards are 12-1-1 having won 7 in a row against mostly major legaue talent
Only gave up 2 runs in the past three games.

First 5 spots in the line up look great and the bottom of the order is showing signs of improvement.

I think the bullpen will be solid and we might have a steal in Lohse.

On top of that we play the majority of our games in the NL Central.

Should be an interesting year and it will be fun watching all the new, young guys on the team.

Thoughts?

DG,

Quick question. I thought the earlier story referenced that they were going to get 6 innings from Lohse. Was it a pitch count, or a game decision that caused him to come out after 5? Strangely enough, we’re all a little paranoid about pitching injuries.

Derrick,

I have thought about that blog entry re: Schumaker as he has thrived as a leadoff hitter and realized it was your [suggestion or question] that prompted a look at him in that spot. Well done, scribe.

Can I add my name to those above extending you compliments and thanks for your outstanding work this spring, both in print and on the Web? I hope you have enjoyed your time in Florida.

Derrick,

Thanks for all of your time this spring from Florida. Useful info daily, with some very good insight! I completely agree with Ryan. It should be fun to watch this team reload and build for the future!

DG,

Big-ups, my man! Thanks for the GREAT reporting over the Spring. You’ve kept us all engaged and geeked for the coming season.

You’ve Won a Babylon-itzer Prize. Which is to say, my gratitude…I’m such dork.

Peace,

BFIB

Wow, wish I could have seen that double play. I think they need to consider Washington. From what little I have seen him play he seems to have that “Play like a Cardinal” stuff. As Much as I like him, Ryan seems to lack a little finesse. I think they should re-think the left field position. Above all, I love the Cardinals and I am optimistic that this season will be better than some think. Go Cardinals!!

The answer to the Lohse question is in the next blog over. … The response to the Miles comment is impossible, because it’s a lose-lose situation. Miles has played an average to above-average second base for the Cardinals. He filled in well for Eckstein at shortstop, better than anyone expected. That’s enough. Don’t think people who compliment his play are arguing for him to take a starting job. There’s value in having a good, solid, capable bench player who is a good, solid, capable bench player. …

Thanks for all the thanks. (Of course it comes on a blog entry that is spiraling into the 3-star ratings. Yikes.) It will be wonderful to be back home tomorrow.

dg
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Like the others said - thank you for your daily work, Derrick. You do a great job covering the Cardinals, and none of your blog entries deserve only 3 stars. I’d probably vote 4 or 5 stars for each one of them.

I really hope that Rico Washington is the one who makes the team and fills in for Brendan Ryan. Like another person said - when I watch the games, Washington really stands out, where Jimenez doesn’t. Washington looks strong at the plate. He’s hitting around .350 this Spring, and he’s getting on base. Plus, several times he pinch-runs for somebody and always ends up scoring a run late in the game. That’s a good player that to have on the bench late in the game. He can hit, he has some speed, and he’s very versatile … can play most all infield positions, but like you said is a natural 3rd basemen - which the Cardinals need because Miles cannot play 3rd. I’d really like for Rico Washington to make the team. He’s been impressive, and looks better than D’Angelo Jimenez. I was hoping Rico would get a chance to play for the Cardinals, so maybe he will get that opportunity. He’s a solid bench player, in my opinion, and it’s good to see TLR giving him some recognition, because it seems like he’s done everything right.

Good to hear that Izturis made a great play st shortstop today too … that’s what he needs to do. He’s a former gold-glove winner, so it would be great if he could make some amazing plays at shortstop … something Eckstein lacked. Hopefully Izturis just needed some time to get in the groove of things.

DG-

I’ve said this many times already, but I want to echo the others here and say I love the coverage that you’ve provided this spring- you’ve done an incredible job covering the team, and your writing style is extremely compelling. I feel really bad criticizing anything you say because I appreciate the effort and time you’ve put into keeping us updated. And I really, really hope you’re right about izturis.

However, aaron miles has absolutely NOT played an “average to above-average” second base. Going by PMR, he didn’t make 11 plays that an average 2B would have made last year, out of 194 predicted opportunities. That’s pretty bad; only 5 2Bs made a lower ratio of expected plays in all of MLB. Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein were also far enough below average that I think we as cardinal fans have a skewed perspective on what a “good” middle infield defender looks like, so when someone like miles is “only a little worse than kennedy” we don’t see how bad that really is. If he were to try to fill in for an artist like brandon phillips, we’d see right away how incredibly bad he was.

And he has no business whatsoever on the left side of the infield, especially if “tree” glaus is there at the same time.

Sleepy, et. al.,

We can disagree. I have yet to come across a defensive statistic that I embrace. I like some, loathe others. There have been plenty of blog entries in the past (search: “seametry”) about that very subject. I like the eye test.

My eye tells me the best Cardinals second baseman since 2004 was Mark Grudzielanek. No question. (Quit snickering, Leach.) Grudzielanek deserved the Gold Glove in 2005. Ronnie Belliard was strong, too. Then there’s a gap, sure. And there’s also a different spectrum for guys who are asked to man the position every so often and starters at the position. One cannot hurt you when he plays, the other has to excel when he plays.

If you score a bench glove that is dynamic, the team is better for it. See: Abe Nunez.

Ryan might be that player. He’s show the ability at second and, at times, at third to play a stellar defense. I’ll contend that Miles is better than he gets credit, in those numbers and certainly in the message boards. Said as much a few minutes ago on KMOX. Others can disagree.

dg
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But what happened to the Dove?

Seriously. Another great year covering ST, DG. You have set the standard for blogdom again.

DG,

It occured to me that this is the last posting of the spring. I was wondering why all the congratulatory statements, not that you don’t deserve them. You have done an excellent job with BirdLand, and your constant flow of information definitely makes it the most informative on the
P-D site. Thanks for all the hard work.