Khalil Greene picks his number as Tony La Russa ponders his spot
LAFAYETTE SQUARE — As a result of having so many officially retired numbers and several unofficially retired numbers (See: 25, 51 and 32), the St. Louis Cardinals sported a lineup that at times resembled an offensive line. The team simply did not have enough lower numbers for Chris Perez, Joe Mather, Jason Motte, et. al., to score anything lower than Skip Schumaker’s 55 for their backs.
There were a lot of swingin’ 60s out there, and there still could be this season.
The Cardinals’ numerical 40-man roster has 11 players who have or who will have a number higher than 60 come spring, and that does not include Royce Ring who was signed moments after the latest 40-man was passed around. There’s Perez with his No. 63, Nick Stavinoha at No. 61, Matt Scherer at No. xx (for now), Mitchell Boggs at that coveted No. 68. Very marketable. That same roster contained a few other numerical nuggets:
Trever Miller will wear No. 43.
Khalil Greene, like a couple shortstops just before him, will wear No. 3.
Cardinals' shortstop Khalil Greene will wear No. 3, and he could be fitted for a No. 6 in Tony La Russa's lineup. (Source: USAToday.)
Dropped that teeny tidbit into the Twitter feed — follow this link to DGOOLD — the other day. Greene, acquired earlier this offseason in a deal with San Diego, wore No. 3 for the Padres and will follow Edgar Renteria and, most recently, Cesar Izturis as Cardinals’ shortstops to wear the number. (Gives everyone who splurged on the IZTURIS jersey the chance to switch the name but not the number nor the position.) Manager Tony La Russa said he’s still thinking about what number he thinks is best suited for Greene. Could bat him No. 6. Maybe No. 7.
Asked Monday about where Greene fit into the lineup, La Russa said he spoke with one baseball person who suggested Greene as a fit for what he likes in the No. 2 spot.
Sure, there’s the doubles. But all of those strikeouts?
La Russa appeared hesitant to go too far down that track, looking closer at Greene as somebody he’d like to use to expand the RBI-producing depth of the lineup — not somebody to hit directly in front of MVP Albert Pujols. Even if Greene is a threat at his best to “do damage,” as La Russa likes at No. 2. While coming of a catastrophic year with the Padres, Greene remains a .248 career hitter with a .304 on-base percentage and a .427 career slugging percentage. It’s the slugging percentage that is most revealing and speaks to his three seasons with at least 30 doubles. (In a career year of 2007, Greene had 44 doubles and 27 home runs.)
There are three spots in the order where Greene has enough at-bats to argue he improves on his averages. Two are spoken for — there’s little chance he’ll trump Schumaker or Colby Rasmus at leadoff and we all know who hits eighth for the Cardinals. It’s the same guy every five days.
But No. 6 … now there’s an intriguing spot for the new No. 3.
Last season, catcher Yadier Molina led the team with 243 at-bats in the sixth spot in the order, and no other Cardinal had as many as 100. Molina hi .309 and slugged .395 when hitting No. 6. Chris Duncan had 97 at-bats at No. 6, though his line was only .196/.297/.247. It seems like a natural fit for Greene, save for the consideration La Russa will give to the pitcher batting eighth. If Greene hits seventh instead of Molina, there is some speed on the bases to make the most from a sacrifice bunt.
How well he hits at No. 6 may guide La Russa’s pen.
Here are Greene’s batting lines — BA/OBP/SLG — from each spot in the order:
- .263/.313/.551 in 118 AB.
- .219/.219/.313 in 32 AB. (eight strikeouts)
- .188/.222/.250 in 16 AB.
- .200/.294/.333 in 15 AB.
- .221/.276/.401 in 150 AB.
- .266/.319/.489 in 167 AB.
- .233/.273/.380 in 148 AB.
- .266/.351/.409 in 131 AB.
- .341/.383/.477 in 44 AB.
Those are the real numbers Greene will take to the plate this coming season, and the Cardinals — wherever he bats — are banking on him improving on them.
Now if they could also do something about the No. 63 on their current closer.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Hello, Cardinals? When are you going to get that you will do real “damage” when you have multiple guys with outstanding OBPs on before Albert, even if they aren’t basestealers? How can you make the argument a position player should bat 9th and NOT GET THAT? But I am sure in 2009 we’ll continue to see 2nd hole hitters who will whiff 100 K’s a year, but can do “damage.” I hope Greene never bats anywhere but 7th with with the breeze he brings. Besides, 7th is the new 8th in Ballpark Village.
My guess is that Rasmus will wear 44… 33 is available now that Clement is gone… 30 is available now that Mulder is gone…
Hey Derrick, number 57 is unofficially retired, not 51. Just noticed a typo.
Here’s to Greene batting 7th with Yadi batting 6th, so we don’t have too many streaky players batting right behind each other.
Hey Joel,
Nos. 57 AND 51 are each unofficially retired - Kile and McGee.
Hopefully number 51 will be on the wall and retired soon enough.
Yes, it is preferable to have another high OBP in the No. 2 hole. Barring that, though, I’d rather have a guy who whiffs a lot there than one who doesn’t. Less chance of grounding into a double play that way.
For what TLR likes to do, Greene is an ideal 2nd candidate in the hopes that batting in front of Albert and behind a good leadoff hitter like Schumaker might get him more fastballs and less strikeouts. However, if Rasmus is the opening day center fielder, Kennedy is the likely leadoff hitter with Rasmus batting 9th until he adjusts to MLB pitching. With Kennedy leading off, Greene should bat 7th behind Molina, Yadi is improving as a hitter and strikes out a lot less.
Kennedy, Duncan, Pujols, Ludwick, Glaus, Molina, Greene, pitcher, Rasmus.
After Rasmus and Duncan get the feel for MLB pitching:
Rasmus, Greene, Pujols, Ludwick, Glaus, Duncan, Molina, pitcher, Kennedy.
I left Ankiel out. I am fearful that he may still be traded for a pitcher.
I didn’t list No. 57 as “unofficially” retired like the others because the Cardinals have not shown any interest or expressed any plan to give Darryl Kile’s number to another player. That, to me, goes beyond “unofficial”.
They have asked one player currently on the roster if he wanted to wear No. 25, in the next year or so they may be open to a certain type of player wearing No. 32, and No. 51 has kind of become the standard example of an unofficially retired number.
dg
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Wow. Simply stunning. I thought Ray Ratto (of the San Francisco Chronicle) was the worst sports writer on the planet in terms of syntax, grammer, punctuation, and (most importantly)overall clarity in the conveying ideas, but you, Mr. Goold, have unseated the master. I do not even think you could write for USA Today.
How does Khalil have a .341 BA in just 10 at bats from the nine spot in the line-up?
Curiouser and curiouser. The at-bats in the ninth spot should read 44, not 10. Names should be in bold, and weren’t. There was a missing sentence. A word clearly spelled correctly kept snagging on spell-check. Odd. The number has been fixed. The names bolded, and the sentence restored. The rest is me. See, the difference here is the gifted Ray Ratto is actually funny, as opposed to accidentally funny.