Riffs: What’s wrong with the All-Time Cardinals?
JUPITER, Fla. — What with its keystone combination of Rogers Hornsby and Ozzie Smith leading the way — batting .346 and .325, respectively — and center fielder Jim Edmonds topping the team with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs, the St. Louis Cardinals would appear to be a virtual juggernaut in the virtual world of Seamheads.com’s (simulated) Historical League.
And, yet, the ‘Birds are struggling. Could be that injury to Stan Musial.
Hall of Famer Rick Hummel is at the helm of the blog coverage today from spring training, so I have a chance to put up something a little different here, a quick one-day aside from Camp Cards coverage. Thanks for humoring me. In an interesting experiment authored and organized by Michael Lynch, Seamheads.com is pitting all-time rosters against other all-time rosters from across baseball in The Seamheads Historical Simulation League. I’ve written about this league before — “The Team from the Time Zone Baseball Forgot” and the debut of the logos designed for the Arizona/Colorado combo team. After some false starts and delays, the league is now up and running, and the simulated games are entering June. The mighty (mediocre) D’Rocks are hanging in there, 25-23 and second place in the division.
The fused, simulated logo of the D-Rocks (Source: Kurt Hunzeker)
The complete standings, so far, can be found here, along with links to all sorts of goodies. The follow this link for the league’s home page.
The Cardinals, however, aren’t what they could be.
The All-Time Cardinals are 18-30 and in last place, 13 games back in their division. Dustin Mattison, a writer for Scout.com who got Mark Worrell talking and continues to crank out features on the upcoming season, has run into all sorts of troubles with what should be a dynamic roster. Dennis Eckersley is hurt. Albert Pujols is hitting .271. Jim Bottomley and Johnny Mize have one home run between them. And check out the virtual work done by his virtual rotation — it’s virtually impossible to comprehend:
Cy Young … 3-7, 4.31 ERA
Dizzy Dean … 4-7, 6.09 ERA
Bob Gibson … 2-7, 4.18 ERA
Makes my rotation of Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Brandon Webb and its 4.65 ERA seem just dandy for a second-place team. But things really didn’t take a turn for the All-Time Cardinals until just a few virtual weeks ago. Mired in a six-game losing streak — or thereabouts — the club learned that Musial had strained his triceps while making a throw. He’s lost for three weeks, at least.
That’s a tough blow, even if it is simulated.
The D’Rocks, however, just promoted Jeromy Burnitz from the minors, where he hammered something like 11 home runs in one month. Max Scherzer was just named the team’s rookie pitcher of the month, and Troy Glaus has elbowed aside favorite Vinnie Castilla to be the starting third baseman. Jose Valverde has nine saves. So, maybe this expansion club of Colorado sluggers and Arizona pitchers has a chance. Some other noteworthy teams and their success so far:
Author/guru Bill James’ Red Sox … 28-20, 2nd (in division)
Author/KC Star columnist Joe Posnanski’s Indians … 25-23, 3rd
KC Star baseball writer Sam Mellinger’s Royals … 16-32, 4th
ESPN anchor John Buccigross’ Giants … 29-19, 2nd
MLB pitcher Curt Schilling’s Pirates … 31-17, 1st
KMOX host Kevin Wheeler’s Astros … 21-27, 2nd (D’Rocks just took two of three, natch.)
Author/ESPN writer Jonah Keri’s Expos … 24-24, 1st
Looming on the schedule for the All-Time Cardinals is a series against the New York Yankees, perhaps the most feared all-time team in this simulated world. The Yankees are 27-21 and in third place in their division. Like the Red Sox, they trail the Athletics organization and its 31-17 record. Four teams are tied with the best record in the league — 31-17. The Phillies and Pirates are two more of them. The other:
Why, it’s none other than the St. Louis Browns-Baltimore Orioles franchise, GM’d by Roy Firestone.
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Links: Pitcher Mark Worrell, sent West in the deal that brought Khalil Greene to the Cardinals, continues to play the disgruntled prospect role. In an interview with The Palm Beach Post, Worrell said he didn’t get a “fair shot” with the Cardinals. Worrell did well as a righthanded setup man — especially as a specialist — in Class AAA Memphis, but he was passed over for some promotions that went to pitchers who weren’t pitching as well. Still, there was little room for Worrell in a Cardinals bullpen that also includes Josh Kinney, Jason Motte and Chris Perez. … Cardinals are not currently engaged in discussions with lefty reliever Will Ohman. … The Riverfront Times recalls a long lost tradition here at Roger Dean Stadium: the Jim Edmonds’ tight hammy.
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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. 
Derrick,
I was hoping you would give me some helpful hints. Look for the Cardinals to undergo a major roster reformation when games start back on Monday.
Keep up the good work in Jupiter.
Dustin Mattison
http://www.whiteyball.com
This is very cool. It looks like the Cards AAA team is doing alright. Can Albert play any other position?? Big Mac is tearing it up with 20 HRs
Dustin,
Here’s 2 cents…
Where is Joe Medwick? Harry Brecheen needs to be on this team also. These guys ought to be up with the ML club and playing.
Get Johnny Mize into the lineup somehow. No way Brock is a DH over Mize.
Why is Gary Templeton taking up a minor league spot. Dump him.
Cy Young is listed as a Cardinal? Ok.
All your players make $0 in salary and are “Very Unhappy”. Can you pay them anything? Maybe they’ll play better.
How do the raw stuff, movement and control ratings play out for pitchers? Are they all equal in predicting performance in this system? I’d want to start tweaking the rotation based if I understood what it meant. Get the better stuff guys into the rotation and what happens?
No way the Cardinals are a last place team.
Well, if it is any consolation to Mark Worrell, he might be the only Cardinals rookie reliever in history to belt a Grand Slam. Need someone to check that out. But seriously, he has been traded to an organization that views him as another Cla Meredith, who is a specialist also. Be happy you are with a club that wants you and views you in that manner instead of a club with middle relief surplus where you get asked if you are related to Todd.
Why is the Cardinal staff performing so poorly in the SHL and the Phillies so well?
Checking the stuff-movement-control ratings. Yeah, they got a much, much better version of Steve Carlton. Buck check out the ratings for Cole Hamels vs. Bob Gibson. Hamels has that much better stuff and control?? C’mon. How were these ratings generated?
Heads up also. The Cardinals could have a version of Pete Alexander on their team also.
Name Age Role Stuff Movement Control
Steve Carlton 26 SP 10 16 12
Dizzy Dean 28 SP 8 18 15
Bob Gibson 29 SP 11 16 11
Jesse Haines 29 SP 3 18 13
John Tudor 30 SP 8 16 15
Cy Young 30 SP 4 19 19
Name Age Role Stuff Movement Control
Pete Alexander 30 SP 7 20 14
Jim Bunning 29 SP 10 17 16
Steve Carlton 29 SP 15 17 11
Cole Hamels 23 SP 16 15 15
Robin Roberts 29 SP 6 15 17
Some would have Harry Brecheen as the best Cardinal LH starter ever, but his ratings are edged by Tudor’s. Lee Smith ought to be up with the Cardinals right away especially as Eck is injured. (Izzy is on the bubble with his 13-16-10).
Lee Smith 29 RP 13 15 14
Harry Brecheen 29 SP 7 13 16
Offensively again: Find Ducky Joe Medwick and put him in RF. Musial is hurt now anyway. Also can Mize play LF?
Point of Information: Cy Young, yes the Cy Young, threw what could be considered the first pitch for your modern-day Cardinals organization. Back in 1899.
Thanks for the fantastic SHL report, D-Goold. I love reading what the GMs/bloggers are writing about the league so far. One thing I want to point out, though, is that my friend and colleague Brian Joseph did most of the work on the league, so I want to make sure he gets his props.
Being the commissioner, I should have no rooting interest, but I’m really pulling for the Cards to pull out of their slump. As another reader pointed out, there’s no way this team is a last place team; in fact, they should be contending. I’d like to see that happen soon.
As far as ratings go, I’m not sure exactly how they’re generated, and the game’s manual doesn’t do a very good job explaining the process. Obviously it uses each pitcher’s stats, but I’ve seen a few “hinky” ratings come from some pretty good stats, so it’s hard to tell what kind of calculations are being used and how things will play out over the course of a season.
DG
Would playing Skip at 2b give a needed spark to your team?
I looked at this the other day when it was on baseballthinkfactory.com and the first thing I questioned was “Why is Eckersley on the roster at all?” If Dustin Mattison wants any advice, dump Eckersley and bring in Al Hrabosky, his dominance may have faded over time, but a guy who as a reliever finished in the top 5 for Cy Young twice should always be considered. Eckersleys numbers as a Cardinal (which is what they use) weren’t that good, and heck considering how good our pen has been over the years, there is no way Eck should be on the team.
Agreed about the Brock comment from earlier, great player for us, but since this uses the sum of a players career with the team, there are better players who should be getting more playing time.
I appreciate everyone’s input. I am happy to report the team has won 5 in a row.
Dustin Mattison
http://www.whiteyball.com