2009 Cardinals: How are they? Who are they?
MEMPHIS — The Cardinals are in transit from West Palm Beach for tonight’s exhibition at AutoZone Park against the Memphis Redbirds. The longest spring training in memory has produced a 25-man roster unlike any Tony La Russa has guided in 14 years as Cardinals manager. BirdLand keeper Derrick Goold will explore the nuances in far greater detail in his lid-lifter either Sunday or Monday. The team will also be scrutinized Sunday in the annual Cardinals Preview section, which includes heavy emphasis on reigning NL MVP Albert Pujols.
Things to ponder while wondering if this team is more front office finger-painting or TLR fingerprint:
La Russa has never entered a season with a rookie closer. (Jason Motte)
He carries only four available hitters who have ever taken 450 at-bats in a major-league season. (El Hombre, Khalil Greene, Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick). Of those, two received their first such exposure last season (Schu’ and Ludwick).
The Cardinals start a rookie at third base (Freese) for the first time in 30 years.
There is no Aaron Miles, Scott Spiezio, Preston Wilson, So Taguchi on the bench. Catcher Jason La Rue is the only veteran back-up when Chris Duncan is in the lineup.
Memphis does not offer an obvious No. 6 starter at present. P.J. Walters, Mitchell Boggs, Blake Hawksworth, Adam Ottavino and Clayton Mortensen will sort it out among themselves, though Walters may have a half-step advantage at the moment.
La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan aren’t big on developing players at this level but David Freese, Colby Rasmus, Brendan Ryan, Brian Barden and Schumaker at second base certainly fit that description. (Of course, so does Motte.) Joe Thurston has 66 major-league at-bats. Amazing only four years have passed since Larry Walker, Scott Rolen, Pujols, Reggie Sanders, Jim Edmonds, Mark Grudzielanek and David Eckstein populated a high-profile clubhouse. Of the available roster that occupies the visitors dugout tonight, Pujols, La Rue and Greene are the only position players to have experienced a full major-league season before 2005.
Again, Derrick’s piece will discuss much more in greater depth. But this roster confirms this is as a different era.
(19 votes, average: 4.74 out of 5)
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And its about time that we started going in this direction. YOUNG players that will prove their worth in the big leagues. I cant wait until we prove everybody wrong this year. 90+ wins is my prediction.
http://buschshouseofcards.blogspot.com
I’m hopefully optimistic, and counting on a veteran starting rotation to mainstay the club. While I’m enthusiastic about the young talent, let’s not get silly. It’s not like those clubs with Edmonds, Rolen, Eckstein, etc., exactly stunk up the place.
Who wrote this? Did he forget about Molina?
This ceaseless McDonald’s advertising is getting REALLY annoying! Stupid bear…
Yadi’s season high in AB is 444, so the author cherry-picked a number to exclude him.
Mr. Strauss, you left the two most experienced, maybe three most experianced and key Cardinals off you list, Tony LaRussa, Dave Duncan, and Jose Oquendo are as key to the success of this team as any player mentioned. Their proven ability to put players in positions to succeed will have a critical impact on this team. We may have changed the body parts of our team since 04, but the head, brains, and singular focus are the same as they have been since the duo/trio arrived. I look forward to a fun year of Cardinal baseball.
Doesn’t Yadi qualify as a hitter with more than 450 atbats?
Molina has never taken 450 ABs in a season. His high was last year with 444. Strauss is being a little cute with that one.
I know Pujols hasn’t been here for 30 years. And I know he made the team the first year as a third baseman because the “reuglar” at that position was disabled. Did he not start on openning day? Is that why he doesn’t qualify as a rookie starting at third during the last 30 days?
Wonder if Tony and Dave are marching down his road willingly, or less so. We may only know after the season ends and Tony decides whether to stay, or not.
There are lots of very strong arguments for relying more on talent developed within. Still, I’d like to see the financial commitment continued over time - by signing Ankiel, for example. Signing Khalil Greene if he’s having a big year. Or signing other free-agent talent where needed. Fans don’t want to see the Cardinals become a farm system for the larger-market teams.