Kyle McClellan Weekend

If you wanted to find out about the Cardinal reliever that's looking to be the fifth starter in 2010, this was your weekend.

First, the Post-Dispatch put out an article with quotes from Kyle McClellan.  Then Brian Walton over at The Cardinal Nation Blog had a post up on him as well.

However, if you wanted to hear from the man himself, you had the UCB Radio Hour.

Nick from Pitchers Hit Eighth and I had the opportunity to speak with McClellan Saturday afternoon and found it a completely enjoyable time.  Kyle reiterated that he never necessarily requested to be a starter, but that's something he'd like to do and is fired up about trying it.  Obviously, he's good with whatever the team chooses, but he's glad to have a competition for that fifth slot.

It didn't seem to bother him to bounce back and forth, though I'm sure he'd like to have a set role during the season.  The fact that he's already down in Jupiter shows, in my mind, that he's ready to play some ball.

If you haven't listened to the interview, I'd suggest that you do so.  Nick especially asks some great questions about the difference between starting and relieving and how prepared he is for the new role, if he gets it.  McClellan believes he could throw 150 innings in the bigs without much trouble now, which is a good sign.

Also, you get to find out something about Fredbird that I bet you never knew and the location of the bullpen motorized cooler.  So get over there and give it a listen!

Also on the Network: √ Kyle McClellan Weekend [C70 At The Bat] √ G'Night, Sweet Prince: A Eulogy For the Tyrus Thomas Era [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Super Bowl XLIV (Saints vs. Colts) Open Thread [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ The Lost Cardinal Titles [C70 At The Bat] √ WHERE IS MY POSTER MACHINE: Derrick Rose Throws Down a Nasty Alley-Oop In Hotlanta [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ The Ballad of Ricky-Bobby: Tremendous Super Bowl Potential [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Things to Read: 2/5 [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Citi Field Six Packs [Loge 13]

The Lost Cardinal Titles

This week on Lost, we saw the initial aftereffects of what happened when the H-bomb exploded and, at least in part, reset the timeline from the plane crash on September 22, 2004. (If you aren't a Lost follower, one, why not and two, don't worry, you can still read this post.) Since 2004 has a special significance for St. Louis fans, I thought I'd try to explore what might have happened to the Cardinal franchise if Oceanic Flight 815 hadn't gone down.

Let's assume that, on board that flight from Sydney to Australia was a Yankee scout, checking on a prospect. Since the plan doesn't crash, he lands in Los Angeles and continues his scouting on playoff opponents. In this report is a tell on Dave Roberts. Roberts has a certain habit when he's stealing, something that the Yankee brass wasn't aware of.  Continue Reading

United Cardinal Bloggers To Interview Kyle McClellan

The United Cardinal Bloggers will be interviewing St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle McClellan on Saturday, February 6, at 4:30 pm Central for a special edition of the UCB Radio Hour.

McClellan, a Missouri native who has spent two years with the Cardinals, was 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA coming out of the pen last year.  He has been a solid part of the bullpen since his debut in 2008 and has been conditioning himself to challenge for the fifth spot in the St. Louis rotation this spring.

The United Cardinal Bloggers were formed in 2007 to foster communication and collaboration between those that blog about St. Louis.  The UCB Radio Hour began late in 2008 and now is a weekly staple, airing Wednesdays at 9:30 pm Central at Blog Talk Radio and available for download as a podcast from that site and from iTunes.

No callers will be taken for the McClellan interview, though callers are encouraged on the regular Wednesday show.

The McClellan interview can be heard here, and the show page at Blog Talk Radio can be found here.

Silent Waters

It's been pretty quiet on the Cardinal front lately.  Then again, if anyone is going to stir things up, it'll be the Tsunami himself, Joe Strauss.  According to Strauss, the Pujols contract extension talks are currently being held, though the team won't confirm that.

I find this believable, because it's not ever been Pujols's style to really do a lot of negotiating through the media.  Though I would have expected leaks or some general non-committal comments from the front office, having a press conference come out of the blue with a full fledged deal done would not have surprised me in the least.

Nick and Josh had some discussion on this yesterday during the UCB Radio Hour.  The general thought is that Pujols doesn't think he has to be the highest paid player in baseball.  He'd like to be the highest on his team and he'd like to make it close, but he realizes what the limitations of St. Louis are.  It doesn't do him any good to destroy the capability for the team to be competitive into the future.

I think we'll see him in the $25 million per season range, maybe more of a per-year deal but with a lot deferred.  I'd expect to see a personal services contract added to it, so that they can pay him after he's done playing as well.

As I noted in the UCB chat room last night, though, I don't believe it's possible to overpay Pujols.  The value that he's given this team in the last nine years has been light-years ahead of his salary.  Even if he doesn't completely "earn" his next contract, it's going to all even out or likely still be to the Cardinals' advantage, when you factor in all his work in the community, the press that he's gotten for the team, etc.

Thankfully, spring training is just a couple of weeks away.  I received from Cardinal director of minor leagues John Vuch (via my friend who goes by BleacherBum593 around the 'Net) the list of all those players, major and minor, that will be in camp this spring.  If you'd like to take a look at it, you can find it over here.

And if you are looking for something interesting and exciting, well, what are you doing here?  You might try looking at the interview at The Hall of Very Good with Batting Stance Guy, see if that works for you!

The Cardinal Family

More Mark McGwire-related comments came out this week, but instead of taking another pass at the hitting coach, I wanted to focus on a different aspect of the remarks.  Bob Gibson came out and dismissed comments from former first baseman Jack Clark and former manager Whitey Herzog, in part because they "were not part of the Cardinal family."

While Gibson might mean that Clark and Herzog are not currently working with or helping out the Cardinals, as he does as a spring training coach, is that all there is to it?  Is this the Midwest version of "not a true Yankee?"

If it were just Jack Clark he was dismissing, I might understand that.  After all, Jack only spent three years in St. Louis and left at the end of his tenure for a higher contract with the Yankees after the Cardinals thought they had him locked up.  While Clark made an impact in his time in St. Louis and was a valued member of two World Series teams, I could at least get a handle on Gibson's thought process there.

Herzog, though?  Ten years as a manager, a World Series title and two other appearances, a stint at GM, and going into the Hall of Fame this year as a Cardinal?  I'm not sure how you'd stretch your definition of "Cardinal family", but I'd think Herzog would have to be there.  Sure, he retired in '90 when the team was terrible, but after a decade of service, it's tough to argue that's a deal-breaker.

I'm not one that really wants to get into "Cardinal family" or not.  If the guy put on the Birds on the Bat, he should, with few exceptions, be considered a Cardinal and treated as such.  I don't think there's any magical threshold that makes a player a "true Cardinal".  Are you really going to say that someone like Tom Lawless is (because of a playoff home run) and Jack Clark isn't?  Really?

Obviously some are more tied to the "family" than others.  Even if Albert Pujols walks at the end of next year, a large section of Cardinal Nation will still consider him part of the "Cardinal family" when he retires (maybe not so much while he's still playing....)  The Hall of Famers (Ozzie Smith, Gibson, Bruce Sutter, Red Schoendiest, and the like) are redder, as it were, than some others.  And of course Stan Musial is the Granddaddy Of Them All.

But just because a guy speaks out against something the team is doing shouldn't get him disowned from the Cardinal family.  There's a lot of room for differing opinions in the mix.

UCB Project: All-2000s Cardinals Team

As I sit with the winter weather falling around me, it seems an appropriate time to do some reminiscing.  The United Cardinal Bloggers are coming together today to look back at the last decade and pick out their All-Star team from the 2000s.  Lots of similar names, of course, but it's always good to remember.  Continue Reading

Cardinals Prepare For Spring

In one of the surest signs that the winter is thawing and the greatest game on earth is getting close to returning, the Cardinals have announced their spring training non-roster invitees.

The most intriguing name on the list, of course, is Rich Hill.  A former Cubs prospect who turned in a good season with them a few years back, he's bounced around a little bit and never quite grasped that success again.  The Cardinals think that, one, he's healthy (which sounds familiar) and that, two, pairing him with Dave Duncan will help the command issues that he's had in the past.

It's worth the gamble, of course.  Right now the Cardinals still have a competition for the fifth spot in the rotation and you have to think Jaime Garcia wasn't thrilled about hearing this news, while Kyle McClellan really wonders why the club keeps making him think about starting and then put more obstacles in his path.  Hill would have to be the front-runner right now, with his major league experience and obvious talent.

He's got some strikeout potential--he seems to average a little under one per inning--and, save last year when he was hurt and in the American League, he keeps opponent's batting average low.  However, he's been more of a flyball pitcher in the past, so you have to think Duncan is going to rework that mindset somewhat.  It'll be interesting to see if it can be done.

Besides, exactly how much fun would it be to have a resurgent year from a former Cub in a Cardinal uniform?  Just another thing to drive those baby bear fans nuts.

There were some other interesting names that got invites from within the system.  Pete Kozma is going to get some face time, along with Lance Lynn, who was pitcher of the year in the system last year, and Robert Stock, who just was drafted last year.

Kozma is always going to have that "not Rick Porcello" cloud hanging over him, but we'll see what he gets to do in spring training.  He won't make the team--middle infield appears to be the place that the Cards are stocked the most--but maybe he can make an impression.

I'd think Lynn would have had more of a chance to snag that #5 slot if it weren't for the signing of Hill.  I can't imagine they'd move him up from Springfield to the bigs without a dominating spring and a lackluster one from Hill and Garcia.  He's a longshot, but longshots sometimes pay off.

As for Stock, just getting an invite this early in his career is saying something.  You'll remember that he wasn't even the top pick last year--Shelby Miller was--but Stock made an impression in his limited playing time last year.  Plus he's a catcher, and catchers always have work to do in spring training.  I hope he'll get to play in a few games and we can get a feel for what he can do.

Just wonderful to see names and to really start thinking about Jupiter.  There will be lots to discuss then!

Parting note: Personally, I have little use for football.  It's a tolerable game, but I rarely ever watch and think that it gets way too much coverage.  My personal opinion is that the best thing about the Super Bowl is that when it's over, there are only two weeks until spring training.  That said, I have always appreciated Peyton Manning.  I figured it was partly due to his likable presence in commercials and partly because of his cerebral nature of the game.  I didn't realize it's because he's Albert Pujols, but that makes so much sense and completely worth rooting for the Colts in a couple of weeks.

Officially Ending An Era

I don't have much time today, but I couldn't let it pass without note.  Rick Ankiel will be playing for a team other than the Cardinals for the first time this coming season, signing a one-year deal with the Royals.  The Cardinals visit over there June 25-27, so mark your calendars accordingly.

I've always been a big fan of Ankiel.  Maybe not to the level of Will Leitch, of course, but I've followed him since he was coming up in the organization back in the late '90s.  Watching him pitch was a delight, and he was completely robbed of the Rookie of the Year in 2000, in my opinion.

Which made the '00 playoffs, and the resulting spring training in 2001, so painful to watch.  You knew the talent was still there.  He could still marshall enough control to show that.  It just wasn't regular enough, and nothing that the team or anyone else could do seemed to make that control return.

It's said that Mike Matheny still wishes he'd been behind the plate for that fateful game against the Braves, when everything started to unravel.  Would it have made a difference?  Could anything have been done to keep that electric arm in sync and on a path for ace status?  We'll never know.  Likely not, but it makes you wonder.

We watched him go through surgeries and setbacks before finally returning to the bigs in 2004.  He was coming out of the pen then, still feeling his way somewhat, but he was able to chalk up another big league win.  While the Cardinals weren't getting an ace, it looked like they'd at least have a servicable pitcher.

Then the twist.  The 2005 spring training when things started off bad and, instead of retiring, the team suggested he become an outfielder.  An outfielder?  Really?  Who is he, Smokey Joe Wood?

Back to the minors to adjust to his new position.  What surprised everyone, I think, was the amount of power that he had.  A 30-HR season?  Really?

The scene in 2007, when he was called up and hit a home run in his first game, was remarkable.  This was one of those "you can't make this up" moments.  Redemption appeared to be at hand, or at least until the HGH news broke.

The first half of 2008 showed what Ankiel could do when healthy.  He had a very strong start to the season, leading Cardinal fans to wonder if the team would sign him long-term and play him with Colby Rasmus to anchor the outfield.  His numbers tailed off during the second half, as he battled a sports hernia and, perhaps, as pitchers began to figure out he had some trouble hitting offspeed stuff.

Last year was pretty much a lost season for Rick, at least after his head-first dive into the Busch Stadium outfield wall.  He never seemed to recover from that, and even though his agent (Scott Boras, of course) wanted a three-year deal with big money, the best they could do was a one-year deal with an option in Kansas City.

While just Wednesday I was considering, if not advocating, his return as a fourth outfielder, it's not a bad thing to see Ankiel move on.  He will always be one of my favorites, but there just isn't a spot for him now and I'm not convinced he'll ever be that big hitter he flashed at the beginning of '08.

But as Ilsa says at the end of Casablanca, "Good luck, Rick.  God bless you."

Along the same vein, Joel Pineiro signed with the Angels earlier this week.  Pineiro's another one that we appreciate what he did for the club, but really didn't fit into the plans for the future.  Hopefully he does well in LA, though it'll be interesting to see if he can keep the ground ball rate that he had this year.  If not, it could get ugly fast.

Pujols Speaks

Anytime Number 5 makes an appearance, it's news.  Even when he doesn't say much of anything.

Albert Pujols met the media yesterday on the closing day of the Winter Warm-Up and talked about his contract, his hitting coach, and his health.

Albert seems fine with Mark McGwire, saying that the big redhead will have to answer to a higher power someday but that basically we should move on.  I think there's something to that--continuing to hound on it won't resolve the issue or wipe it away, but it could hurt the focus of the '10 team.

(That said, the hallway press conference of Sunday didn't do anyone any favors.  The media is likely never to be satisfied with answers, of course, but making the appearance that you are hiding something or aren't being completely open can cause a lot of problems down the road.)

Pujols spent more time talking about his contract situation, of course.  He left hints that he wanted to stay, but it wasn't a guarantee, but that he might take less than market to remain and keep the team competitive.  In other words, something for every position--he's going or he's staying.

Probably the biggest news was that he wasn't giong to negotiate during the season, which is not a surprise knowing AP's legendary focus and preparation.  I still think they'll get a deal done in spring training or right before, but it could be next winter before it's finalized.  I think most would agree that, from our perspective, the sooner the better.

Pujols says he's healthy and ready to go, so with that and a full season of Matt Holliday in the lineup, it could be a career year for him--which is saying a lot.

On another front, Jim Edmonds says he's quite serious about rejoining the team.  Tony LaRussa said that the idea will get serious consideration, mainly because of the respect they have for Edmonds, but it's not anything that's been in the works and there are no guarantees.  There are a lot of benefits of having Edmonds around, if he can still swing the bat some.  That's a big if, though.

The Baseball Writers dinner was last night.  Awards were handed out, verbal shots were taken, and a good time was had by all.  Well, maybe not all.

Apparently Bob Costas made some verbal jabs at McGwire's recent admission, according to John Marecek's Twittering, and that didn't go over well with LaRussa.  The two of them were actually sitting together, but didn't say much after Costas's routine.  Not surprising, given Tony's relationship and loyalty to McGwire.

So now, we wait.  A month from yesterday was the first day pitchers and catchers could report to spring training.  One more month of speculating on the remaining holes and eagerly anticipating the pictures and reports from Florida.  One more month.  Can we make it?

Some Winter Heat

The Winter Warm-Up got underway this weekend (and continues today) which means that there is usually quite a bit of news generated, even if it's just what the players say.  This year was no exception.

Of course, you knew that was going to happen when Mark McGwire was added to the appearance list.  Mac didn't stick around long, and his post-appearance press conference didn't win him any fans with the local scribes, but the fan base appears to have accepted his apology and are glad to have him back in uniform.  I know it's going to be a while, but I do hope that some of this steroid stuff will start to recede in the coming weeks.  Let's see how he does as a hitting coach, OK?  That's the important thing now.

But Mac wasn't the only former Cardinal slugger in the news.  Jim Edmonds showed up at the Animal Rescue Foundation dinner on Sunday and challenged Tony LaRussa from the stage to let him return to the Cardinals.  While it's a long shot to happen, it'd definitely be interesting.  How much rust would be on him after a year off?  Could he play just once or twice a week and be happy and productive?  I'd give him a spring training invite to find out, especially if he's serious about playing for the minimum.

Matt Holliday made his first appearance at a WWU and was a crowd favorite as well.  Of course, he said all the right things about enjoying St. Louis and the fans, which helps a lot!  It'll be fun to watch him on a regular basis this year and hopefully the offense won't sputter as often with another bat like his in the mix.

Other players made appearances, of course, including a fairly tame and routine discussion by Yadier Molina.  Today's closing day will be big, as Albert Pujols is on the docket.  It'll be interesting to hear what the big guy has to say.

I've got some assorted links and news piling up in my e-mail box, so let me take this time to clear them out:

• Have you ever wondered just how good (or, more likely, bad) Charlie Brown and his team actually were?  Larry at Wezen-Ball has taken on a project he terms "Retrosheet: The Peanuts Chronicles" and gone through the strips tabulating.
• Stalking Steve Phillips has an post about returning the home run record to Roger Maris in light of McGwire's admission.  While I understand and sympathize with the sentiment, if it happened on the field, it has to stand.  Put any kind of explaining mark next to it as you wish, but it still happened and without a verifiable way of reducing the number or replaying the games, it has to be on the books.
• MLB contributed $1 million to the Haitian earthquake relief effort through UNICEF, according to a press release I received.  MLB also plans to air PSAs, have editorial coverage and comment, and encourage the fan base to donate and help as well.
• January 30 will be SABR Day in America.  Numerous local chapters will have events going on, which will be open to members and non-members alike.  If you want to see if there is a chapter in your area, check out the official site.
• Five O'Clock Blogger is back active, with a new URL.  Check out Jeff and change your bookmarks if you haven't already!
  

Book Review: Heading For Home

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a man named Kent Stock.  He asked if he could send along his book about a historic high school baseball season and the movie it inspired.  Now, one of the major benefits of this blog thing is getting free baseball books.  I love reading them, so I quickly responded with my address.