Larry Walker part II?

That might be a bit of a stretch, but Matt Holliday is a great Moneyball type player.  Even with an “off” 2008 Matt Holliday had a .947 OPS.  In 2007, when he finished second to Jimmy Rollins in MVP voting his OPS was 1.012.  Now THAT’S protection for Albert!

DO IT MO!!

Donde es solucion?

You betcha!

Even though Ludwick had an OPS nearly 200 higher than Escobar, I really think that Ludwick had an aberation year.  Guys just don’t “get good” at age 30 like Ryan Ludwick did this year.  Heck, I was saying that they should have traded him at the deadline.  The other side is that people are saying that “he’s finally healthy”.  Doesn’t that say he’s usually injured?  History doesn’t lie.

They got him cheap, sell him high.  Besides, Escobar is only 25, has hit well over the last two years and strikes out a whole lot less than Ludwick(Escobar had 62 strikeouts in 514 AB’s to Ludwicks 146 in 538 AB’s) and he fills the middle infield position for the Redbirds with experienced balanced play at SS, 2B and 3B in 2007.  Oh, and his fielding percentage was .974 in 126 games at SS in 2008. 

I’d prefer to move Chris Duncan, but you know the phrase of the fall…”You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”

So without further ado, the random baseball thoughts of a Cardinals Fan circa October 2008.

The season of the 2008 St. Louis Baseball Cardinals - It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride with a fast start and surprise out of a team anyone didn’t really have much hope for, but the first half the season was quite enjoyable.  The quality of their games lead to some fist pumps, high fives and some exclaims of “See, no one should ever count out the Redbirds!”  On June 16, 2008 I even went so far as to write a prediction on my whiteboard of the Cardinals winning the World Series.  Alas, I may have been wrong.

The second half though exposed the details of their very evident flaws…the bullpen.   There is the well documented problems of the bullpen, their roles, and actually closing out games.  The Redbirds lead the NL in bullpen losses (30) and blown saves (30) and you can certainly point to that being a reason for missing the playoffs.  The offense was actually pretty good.  1st in the National League in batting average and second in my favorite stat of OPS.

Albert Pujols vs. Ryan Howard for MVP – This an April Fool’s Joke right?    Simply hitting a lot of home runs does not equate to being Most Valuable.  Statistically there are many ways to slice and dice the numbers and both Howard and Pujols come out ahead in them, but the true value of a hitter is seen through OPS.  OPS meausres the value of every at bat and those numbers don’t lie.  Albert Pujols 2008 OPS was 1.114 (73rd best of all-time) and he had 104 walks and only and Ryan Howard’s is .880 or more than 21% lower. Howard also had 199 strikeouts.  OPS takes the home runs in to account, and the walks, and the strikeouts, so for me that sums it up best.  Yes, Albert didn’t lead the Cardinals to the playoffs but neither did Andre Dawson in 1987 when you won the NL MVP for a sixth place Cubs team!  BTW, Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark finshed 2nd and 3rd that year respectively.

Don’t be a knucklehead like THIS guy.  Be honest with the observations.

Chicago Cubs 2008 play-off run –  They lose game one and game two, so are the cubbies on the brink of failure?  We’ll find out late Saturday night, early Sunday morning when the game ends for us Central Time Zoners as to whether of not the curse continues.

Outlook for 2009 Cardinals – More than 86 wins?  A better bullpen?  Some clearity in the outfield?  More second basemen playing the outfield?  Will Dunc be back? Mo pulling another excellent trade out of his sleeve?  We’ll see….and comment on it over the winter.

So let’s mix it up a bit and talk about Baseball, Cold Beer, and beautiful summertime weather. Check THIS out for the whole story!

Yadier Molina – Yadi leads the league in “At-Bats per Strikeouts” That’s the rate of failure at the plate calculated by dividing the number of at-bats by strikeouts. Yadi’s waaaaay out front with a .46 or 1 strikeout in 46 a bats. The next closest is Jeff Keppinger with a 19.7. (He’ll never be at a Tony Gwynn rate, but the kid is getting better every year)

Albert “The Mang” Pujols – Albert has the 4th best OPS in the National League with a 1.153! For those of you that aren’t aware of OPS it means On base + Percentage. It was made famous in Moneyball. An OPS is simply the addition of a batters OBP (Hits + Walks + Hit By Pitches divided by At Bats + Walks + Hit By Pitches + Sacrifice Flies) and Slugging Percentage (Total Bases divided by Total At Bats) and expressed as a percentage. Over the course of a season, anything over .900 is very good. (More on this later.

Kyle Loshe – Second lowest ERA in the NL for starters with a 1.04 (Not bad for a guy who couldn’t get a contract 40 days ago)

Braden Looper – Braden the guy who NEVER started a game and ANY level prior to last season is tied for second in Wins with 3. (Great project Dunc!)

Todd Wellemeyer – The KC Royals cast-off (isn’t that the lowest thing that can happen to a guy?) is fourth in Strikeouts per 9 innings average with a 10.00.

Jason Isringhausen – Izzy leads the National League with 6 saves. (In seven chances)

Cardinals Pitching - As a whole the Cards have the second lowest team ERA in the NL with a 3.40. The pitching has been a key reason for the 11-5 start. The offense is there, or not far from being there, but the pitching has been outstanding. Right now you have have to wonder where the team will be if Mulder, Clement, and Carpenter make it back and have the “mad skills” that they are capable of, but that’s a way off wonder for now.