Thank you Jesus! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It’s not about hating Izzy, it’s about hating the drama we put up with MOST of the time he pitched. “More success than failure” is not good enough for a closer. OK, so he’s our all-time saves leader. How is that relevant? Lou Brock is the our all-time stolen base leader, (or is it Coleman? Excuse my momentary ignorance), so by that reasoning we should bring one of them back. It’s not that much of a stretch to assume that Izzy is also our all-time leader in blown saves. He has multiple injury issues, a history of hiding injuries while he costs the team wins, and several guys who can take his place with FAR MORE UPSIDE. By summer, there will be not be one Cling-On complaining that we should have resigned Izzy.

Izzy sure blew his share of games, but it was LaRussa’s fault for continually putting him in the position. Izzy was a stand-up guy, a real class act with the media, even after being hounded only minutes after blowing a game. I hope he does well…a classy guy for sure.

Izzy was a stand up guy who did his best for the birds on the bat. Thanks for some great memories - like getting the final outs to send us to the 04 W.S. How about a quick 1,2,3 after Albert drilled Lidge’s pitch to the train. Thanks Izzy also for being a class act with fans and being a great teammate.

I have no ill feelings against Izzy, but I think the team stuck with him as long as it could. Perez, Motte, etc., may also have their moments but the Cards have to build where it makes sense. Izzy has my admiration. He wants a chance to play and is not screaming for more big money. This gives him the chance to see if he can still pitch effectively.

Thank goodness. I was sick of seeing cutters and curveballs and an occasional 88 mph fastball from Izzy. I wish him the best because he is a local guy. Hey Chad, how was it TLR fault for putting him in that positon.
He was the closer and paid to do that.

That’s a “relief”!

I also appreciate the positives that Izzy gave us and wish him well in TB. However, one of his main problems was that when he was having the health problems, he still maintained that he was healthy even after he went out and pitched horribly. Then, after several bad performances, he finally admits that something is wrong with his health. A team can “hide” other players with health issues, but virtually every team only has only one closer, whose work is in a win/lose situation almost every time they appear. (In contrast, Albert could go 0-4 and make two errors and the team still has a good chance to win if others contribute.) In other words, if a closer has health issues, a team cannot allow him to “work through” it in game situations. (Even though they have only one closer–they have to try someone else if health is interfering with performance of the regular closer.) However, if a player isn’t up front about his health, the team is not going to know, so the manager is going to continue to use that player in the same way until the issue becomes obvious. (Unfortunately, Izzy is not the only Cardinal who has done that. Plus, I can assume that players on other teams do that as well.) I imagine that has to be frustrating not only for the fans (and he wondered why they booed him), but for his teammates as well in that they have done whatever they could to put the team in a position to win a game, and the one player who decides to not be totally honest blows the game.

Good luck Izzy. Why is there so much hatred for the guy? Yeah he stunk it up last year, but he wasn’t trying to do that on purpose? Do you get booed at work when you have a bad day. I think it’s best he went elsewhere, he could have pitched well 9 out of 10 times in St. Louis and I know he would have been booed for the bad one. I thought Cardinal fans had more class than that, I still think the majority do. Give the man his due, he was an effective closer for us for a long time, and came up big plenty of times, the injury bug bit him too often and last year was just a major disaster to his psyche. I’d love to see the Rays win the AL again.

Good luck Izzy. Why is there so much hatred for the guy? Yeah he stunk it up last year, but he wasn’t trying to do that on purpose? Do you get booed at work when you have a bad day. I think it’s best he went elsewhere, he could have pitched well 9 out of 10 times in St. Louis and I know he would have been booed for the bad one. I thought Cardinal fans had more class than that, I still think the majority do. Give the man his due, he was an effective closer for us for a long time, and came up big plenty of times, the injury bug bit him too often and last year was just a major disaster to his psyche. I’d love to see the Rays win the AL again.