Tag: St. Louis Cardinals

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Clipped Wings?

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

The St. Louis Cardinals essentially stood pat at baseball’s trade deadline. This means what you saw in July in St. Louis — and to some degree, in Memphis — is what you’ll see in October should the Cards be able to catch the Chicago Cubs, win the National League Central Division, and end a three-year postseason drought. When the Cardinal brass chose not to make a significant deal on July 31st, they did so from a first-place perch in the NL Central. Trouble is, St. Louis has been bunched with the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers (and at times, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds) all season in what can best be described as baseball’s Mecca of mediocrity. So how will the season’s final two months play out?
Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

Yadier Molina

Last week at AutoZone Park, Memphis fans were able to cheer fully half of last season’s Cardinal everyday lineup: third-baseman Matt Carpenter, outfielders Marcell Ozuna and Harrison Bader, and veritable catching legend, Yadier Molina. Due either to injury rehab (Ozuna and Molina), hitting struggles (Bader), or both (Carpenter), players required for any hopes of a championship in St. Louis were battling the Albuquerque Isotopes and El Paso Chihuahuas. A Memphis team well out of the hunt for a playoff berth suddenly found itself with unprecedented big-league star power. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Triple-A club won 12 of 16 games through Sunday, its longest sustained winning stretch of the season.

Will the Cardinals find a roster capable of competing with the Cubs or, deep breaths, the Los Angeles Dodgers in a playoff series? As with every baseball team that’s ever won a championship, it boils down to pitching. As of now, St. Louis has an inadequate starting rotation. Michael Wacha was among the primary names discussed as trade bait before the deadline came and went. Adam Wainwright has been 2009 Waino at Busch Stadium and very much 2019 Waino when he pitches on the road. Rookie Dakota Hudson leads the club with 10 wins, but has been uneven at best. Jack Flaherty has pitched like an ace of late, but it took him 13 starts before earning his most recent win (over the Cubs last week).

Who can Memphis send north to help from the mound? Lefty Genesis Cabrera looked strong last Saturday, striking out nine in seven innings against El Paso. Is the 22-year-old ready to eat innings in the cauldron of a September pennant chase? That’s hard to envision. Jake Woodford started the Triple-A All-Star Game last month but allowed a combined 14 earned runs in his last two starts. The sad truth for St. Louis is that the club’s best starting pitcher may be the man now closing games for the team (Carlos Martinez).

Carpenter returned to the Cardinals Sunday and re-assumed his spot as the club’s leadoff hitter and third-baseman. (This led to Cardinal manager Mike Shildt starting former Redbird Tommy Edman — a career infielder — in rightfield.) Ozuna is also back, hoping the bat that delivered 20 home runs over the season’s first three months will resume thumping as Labor Day approaches. And Molina will soon take over behind the plate for the Cardinals, forcing Shildt to get creative in finding at-bats for Matt Wieters, the veteran backup who helped St. Louis climb into first place in Molina’s absence.

The Redbirds have one, lengthy (11 games) home stand remaining on their schedule. AutoZone Park will not host playoff baseball this season. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Cards’ top farm club might provide a difference-maker for the parent club. Those two minor-league player-of-the-month awards for outfielder Randy Arozarena — to date not on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster — can take up only so much space on a wall. He wants to play in the major leagues. With a .381 batting average through 47 games with Memphis, perhaps it’s time he should.

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Memphis Redbirds Revival

In mid-May, not long after the Memphis Redbirds reeled off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak, I asked first-year manager Stubby Clapp about the secret sauce he’d concocted at AutoZone Park. Once a blue-collar player, the blue-collar manager responded with a blue-collar answer: “Our pitchers attack the strike zone and our hitters grind through every at-bat.”

It was an understated evaluation, to say the least. Using even fewer words, Clapp could have responded: “We have a lot of talent in this clubhouse.”

Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp is head over heels about his team’s success. (This shot, of course, is from Stubby’s playing days.)

Not since 2013 — when Baseball America ranked the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system the best in the business — has Memphis been stocked with the kind of talent we’re seeing these days at the corner of B.B. King and Union Avenue. You’ll recall that 2013 club included outfielder Oscar Taveras, second-baseman Kolten Wong, and a pair of top pitching prospects, Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez. Taveras died tragically in 2014, but the other three are now regulars at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (If you read last week’s column, you’ll know performance this season hasn’t matched projection with the exception of Martinez.)

The 2017 Redbirds have featured three everyday players who will soon be seen in big-league batter’s boxes. Infielder Paul DeJong (who turns 24 in August) enjoyed a 12-game cup of coffee with St. Louis recently when Wong landed on the disabled list, returned to Memphis for less than a week, and can now be found again in the Cardinals’ dugout (Wong back on the DL). He became the sixth former Redbird to homer in his first major-league at-bat and has played stellar defense at second base. Here in Memphis, DeJong has it .299 and hammered 13 home runs, the kind of pop that increases a middle-infielder’s value exponentially. (DeJong homered 22 times and drove in 73 runs at Double-A Springfield last season.)

When I watch centerfielder Harrison Bader (23) play, I see a shorter (and whiskers-free) version of Charlie Blackmon, the Colorado Rockies’ All-Star. The former Florida Gator brings speed and a dose of power (12 home runs) to the Redbirds lineup. And he’s perfectly willing to crash into walls to rob opposing hitters of extra bases. It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals manage Bader’s rise in light of the multiyear contract their new centerfielder, Dexter Fowler, signed last winter.

Then there’s catcher Carson Kelly. Yadier Molina’s presumed heir will turn 23 next month but handles backstop duties with the aplomb of a 30-year-old big-league veteran. Kelly’s offensive production — .290 batting average, 7 home runs — feels like a generous bonus package. He could be catching every day for a few major league clubs. Similar to Bader, Kelly’s rise is blocked somewhat by a Cardinal player with a multiyear contract manning his position. For now, he simply helps the Redbirds win baseball games, the man Clapp trusts with those pitchers tasked with attacking the strike zone.

And those pitchers? Three members of the Redbirds’ current starting rotation — Luke Weaver (24 in August), Marco Gonzales (25), and Jack Flaherty (21) — have been ranked among the Cardinals’ top-10 prospects (Gonzales topped the list in 2015). Among all position groups and across all levels of the farm system, the Cardinals enjoy their greatest abundance in starting pitching. Which means flexibility between Memphis and St. Louis and bargain chips should the Cardinals remain in contention when the trade deadline arrives in late July. (As noted in last week’s column, the Cardinals lack “The Guy” in their batting order.)

Prospects don’t necessarily translate to winning baseball. (The 2013 Redbirds finished 69-75.) But this year’s club has a supporting cast that steals the spotlight one win after another. First-baseman Luke Voit has been a right-handed-batting Matt Adams (and then some), belting 12 home runs while putting up a slash line of .322/.404/.572. Healthy and manning third base has been Patrick Wisdom (12 home runs, 41 RBIs). Through Sunday, the Redbirds are 42-27 and five-and-a-half games ahead of second-place Nashville in their division of the Pacific Coast League. Triple-A baseball may be about development first, but take this as gospel: Winning spurs development.

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Redbirds, Cardinals, and MLB All-Star Musings

The St. Louis Cardinals’ Aledmyz Diaz

Tuesday night’s All-Star Game marks baseball’s midseason point, a four-day break (for players not in All-Star uniforms) during which we sharpen focus toward what might be, what could be, and what will be come October.

• There’s a reasonable chance the 2016 season will end with a Great Lakes Series. If it does, an armada of fans could turn Lake Michigan and/or Lake Erie into a scene from some twisted, pinstriped version of Game of Thrones. The Chicago Cubs, most fans know, haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and haven’t even reached the Fall Classic since 1945. Then you have the Cleveland Indians, a franchise that hasn’t won the Series since 1948. Combined, that’s 176 Octobers of “wait till next year” for fan bases that now find themselves atop MLB’s two Central divisions. Until July hit, the Cubs appeared on their way to 110 wins. The Indians recently reeled off a 14-game winning streak behind stars — Francisco Lindor, Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber — most fans wouldn’t recognize in street clothes. (Each will be in San Diego for the All-Star Game.)

There are other teams that will have a say in how this script unfolds. Remember, it’s been eight years since the San Francisco Giants — owners of the most wins (57) at the break — did not win the World Series in an even year. But for the Cubs and Indians to be standard-bearers at the All-Star break is healthy for the sport.

• A year after a record six former Memphis Redbirds suited up for the All-Star Game, there will be only one such player — St. Louis Cardinal shortstop Aledmys Diaz — in San Diego. (Matt Carpenter was named to the team shortly before straining his oblique muscle and going on the disabled list.) Diaz is hitting .315 with 13 home runs and 48 RBIs for St. Louis and is a candidate for National League Rookie of the Year. This will be the first MLB All-Star Game since 2006 without multiple former Redbirds in uniform.

• The Triple-A All-Star Game will be played Wednesday night in Charlotte. Relief pitcher Ryan Sherriff (3-0, 2.20 ERA) will be the lone Memphis representative at the event. A factoid Sherriff would do well to ignore: Only two Redbirds (Dan Haren and Michael Wacha) have played in the Triple-A All-Star Game and then later appeared in the Midsummer Classic. What to make of this oddity? Well, it’s really not that odd. Young players talented enough to eventually become Major League All-Stars don’t typically play at the Triple-A level long enough to capture an All-Star nod. Look for Cardinal rightfielder Stephen Piscotty — a 2014 Triple-A All-Star – to join Haren and Wacha in this exclusive club someday soon.

• On the subject of the Redbirds, Memphis may be the only team in the Pacific Coast League not glad the All-Star break is here. The Redbirds enter the hiatus having won five straight games and 21 of their last 31 to climb above .500 (45-44) and within three games of first place in their division of the PCL (behind Nashville). They’ll resume play with the first of eight road games Thursday, a trip that will take them to Albuquerque and El Paso. Which means the Redbirds could be a first-place club by the time they return to AutoZone Park on July 22nd.

• There’s a statistical oddity involving the Cardinals I like to share this time of year. It’s been 42 years now since a Cardinal player has homered in the All-Star Game, the longest such drought for any franchise in the major leagues. Who connected in a St. Louis uniform at the 1974 game in Pittsburgh? Outfielder Reggie Smith, who entered the game for Pete Rose in the sixth inning. Considering Diaz is unlikely to get more than a single at-bat Tuesday night, look for this “curse” to live on another year, at least.

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“Star Wars” and Sports: Heroes for a Lifetime

An 8-year-old boy has heroes. I happened to be 8 years old in 1977 when Star Wars entered our galaxy and changed pop culture in ways no one unfamiliar with a Wookiee could have previously imagined. My heroes in 1977 were not atypical for the times: Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons. Spider-Man. Paul Stanley of KISS. (The Starchild offered everything the Bee Gees did not. I signed up for the KISS Army long before my parents would have authorized.)

I’d like to think I was no more or less impressionable than my third-grade classmates that year in Knoxville, Tennessee. But I knew a hero when I first met Han Solo. And Luke Skywalker. And Princess Leia. And yes, R2-D2.

Fast forward (many years, but in a galaxy nearby) to this Friday when The Force Awakens hits local screens and the seventh chapter of the Star Wars saga becomes the most talked-about movie event of the year (decade?). I’ll be able to take my own daughters (ages 13 and 16) to see Han and Chewie on the big screen, their views of heroes shaped quite differently from the way I shaped mine 38 years ago. (Can Leia or Rey compete with Katniss Everdeen?) It will make for a cross-generational experience unlike many films can provide a person of my generation.

By the time The Empire Strikes Back was released (in 1980), my family had moved from Knoxville to Southern California. We lived in Vermont when the world was introduced to Ewoks in Return of the Jedi (1983). Staubach had long retired by the completion of this initial trilogy, Simmons was a Milwaukee Brewer, and KISS had removed their makeup. I entered high school with my Star Wars action figures confined to a drawer in the back of a closet. There were times it seemed a monthly Spidey comic was my only escape worthy of hero status.

But Star Wars never left, we know. Thirteen days after my first daughter was born in 1999, The Phantom Menace hit screens and viewers of my generation had to connect the dots between a mop-topped, pod-racing child … and the Darth Vader he was destined to become. Attack of the Clones followed in 2002, as did my second daughter (four months later). KISS was back in makeup, Spider-Man reached the big screen (also in 2002), and Albert Pujols did things for the Cardinals unseen since the days of Stan Musial. Heroes were alive and well.

In 2005, the final prequel was released (mercifully, say many in hindsight). In Revenge of the Sith, we saw the final descent (not quite death) of Luke Skywalker’s father, his black mask as familiar a symbol of evil as any Hollywood image before or since. That same year, my own father died. If there’s a life event that kills heroes in the heart of a man, it’s his father’s death, the most intimate collision with mortality a human being will experience. I’ve been reluctant to identify anyone — real or fantasy — as my “hero” since my dad’s passing.

But I’ll be in line this weekend. And like everyone else my age (and millions younger), I’ll anticipate the first appearance (the return!) of Luke and Leia. I’ll relish the comedic (and loving) interplay between Solo and Chewbacca, the best Hollywood tandem since Butch and Sundance. And I’m looking forward to meeting the new soldiers: Finn, Rey, Poe, Kylo Ren. (And yes, BB-8 is adorable.) The world is so much scarier today (at least for me) than it was in 1977. I’m grateful there’s still room for Star Wars. And still room for heroes.

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St. Louis Cardinals Return to Postseason Play

Adam Wainwright

The 21st century has been mighty good to the St. Louis Cardinals. Since 2000 arrived, the Cardinals have made the playoffs 11 times (second only to the New York Yankees, who have reached the postseason 12 times in the same period). Over the last 15 seasons, St. Louis has crossed the finish line with a losing record but once (in 2007). Four National League championships and two World Series victories have been added to the franchise record book since the millennium’s arrival.

But how will the 2014 Cardinals fit among the franchise’s flag-waving predecessors? This year’s club is but a blurry reflection of the 2013 National League champions. Consider the infield: first-baseman Matt Adams, second-baseman Kolten Wong, shortstop Jhonny Peralta, and third-baseman Matt Carpenter. None of these players manned the same position on an everyday basis a year ago. And offensive production has been inconsistent at best. Two-hundred and sixty pounds of Adams has yielded the Cardinals three more home runs (15) than 185 pounds of Wong. For the first time since 1968, St. Louis sends a team to the postseason without a player scoring or driving in 100 runs.

In many respects, the numbers don’t add up for a division champion. The Cardinals finished last in the National League with 105 home runs, and next to last with only 57 stolen bases (one more than San Francisco). In the most vital category of all — runs scored — St. Louis scored fewer (619) than any of the National League’s other four playoff teams. No power. No speed. No problem?

St. Louis pitched its way to October baseball. The Cardinal staff combined for 23 shutouts, four more than any other team in the National League and the most for the franchise since 1968, the pitching-dominated season that led to lowering the mound to regain some advantage for hitters. The Cardinal bullpen led the league in saves with 55 (45 of them by Trevor Rosenthal), a figure all the more impressive when you consider St. Louis went 32-23 in one-run games. The Cards never won more than six games in a row, but they never lost more than four straight. This despite lengthy stays on the disabled list for starting pitcher Michael Wacha (last year’s postseason hero) and catcher Yadier Molina, the franchise’s backbone.

Waiting for the Cardinals in a division series that starts Friday are the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team St. Louis vanquished in last year’s National League Championship Series. If there’s a team that can top the Cardinals’ one-two pitching punch of Adam Wainwright (20-9, 2.38 ERA) and Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74) it’s the Dodgers with Cy Young Award perennial Clayton Kershaw (21-3, 1.77) and Zack Greinke (17-8, 2.71). The Dodgers’ rotation also features former Memphis Redbird Dan Haren (13-11, 4.02), while the Cardinals have three men vying for two more spots in the rotation: Wacha, John Lackey, and Shelby Miller. Keep this in mind: In a five-game series, a team’s Game 3 starter can swing the series (and be the difference for the Cardinals between facing Kershaw once or twice).

The Dodgers took three of four from the Cardinals in L.A. in late June, outscoring St. Louis 17-4. Then the Cardinals won two of three between the two teams at Busch Stadium right after the All-Star break (beating Greinke and Haren). The Dodgers will have home-field advantage this time, meaning Game 5 would be pitched by Kershaw at Dodger Stadium, a scenario no Cardinal fan would embrace. (Don’t think Kershaw has forgotten his meltdown in Game 6 of last year’s NLCS at Busch. The best pitcher in baseball is motivated.)

When they take the field for Game 2 Saturday night, the Cardinals will be playing their 50th playoff game since 2011. The team and setting will feel familiar even if there’s no such thing as a “fall chill” in L.A. air. But any return to the World Series for St. Louis will require new heroics from a new face or two. Postseason butterflies never get old.

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A Cardinal in Tiger Stripes

A Cardinal in Tiger Stripes

Rare is the baseball player who has starred for the University of Memphis then suited up as a pro at AutoZone Park. Outfielder Mark Little helped the Memphis Redbirds to a Pacific Coast League championship in the ballpark’s inaugural 2000 season. This year, Scott McGregor won six games and pitched more than 100 innings for the Redbirds, five years after throwing his last pitch in town as a Tiger.

The next member of this exclusive club of Bluff City talent could well be infielder Jacob Wilson, the 2012 Conference USA Player of the Year as a Tiger, now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system who finished third in the organization with 82 RBIs in 2013. Wilson spent the bulk of his first full pro season with Peoria in the Class-A Midwest League, hitting .264 with 15 home runs and 72 RBIs. He struggled over 32 games with advanced-A Palm Beach (.179 batting average) but was assigned to the Arizona Fall League for further development by a parent club that clearly sees promise. (Major league teams can send no more than two players below the Double-A level.)

In adjusting to professional baseball, Wilson had no problem going from an aluminum to wooden bat, as he’d played in summer leagues that use lumber during his college days. As for the pitching he saw this summer, there were some new wrinkles. “In college,” says Wilson, “you see everybody’s best guy on Friday night. At this level, every night you’re seeing a Friday-night guy. College is the best high-school players, and pro ball is the best college players. Once I got promoted to Palm Beach, everyone threw cutters. No one threw a flat fastball. There was a lot more bad contact. Most of the batting averages are down. From what I’ve been told, it’s the biggest jump hitters have to make: from low-A to high-A. You won’t see better stuff from high-A to Double-A. But pitchers can locate their pitches where they want to.” Wilson mentions keeping his bat through the strike zone longer — in contact position — as a chief adjustment he needs to make.

A third baseman in college, Wilson made the transition that current Cardinal Matt Carpenter has mastered on the big-league level, converting to second base without compromising the impact he makes with bat in hand. “I had never played second,” says Wilson. “Just third and short. The biggest challenge was learning the footwork around the bag for turning a double-play. Now I’m extremely comfortable at second. I was invited to early camp before spring training, so I got a lot more detailed work in with instructors. More one-on-one stuff.” The Cardinals felt Wilson’s size (5’11” and 180 lbs.) didn’t fit the profile of a corner infielder, and that his productive bat could be an asset as a second baseman. “I just asked them to teach me how to play it,” says Wilson, “and I’ll play it every day.”

Born and raised in Memphis, Wilson grew up cheering for the team his dad adored, the Atlanta Braves. But he says the Cardinal franchise caught his eye midway through high school — winning the 2006 World Series didn’t hurt — and since being drafted, Wilson’s quickly developed an affection for a philosophy that’s come to be called “the Cardinal Way.”

“The Cardinals pride themselves on building top talent throughout their system,” notes Wilson, “but at the same time building the best character players they can. They want their players being great locker-room guys, great team guys. So that everyone else will look at them as role models.”

Early in spring training last February, Wilson and a few other young players were working out at the Cardinal complex in Jupiter, Florida, when a pair of uniformed coaches walked onto the field. From a distance, they looked vaguely familiar to Wilson. Upon reaching the group of players, the two men were introduced . . . as Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee.

“They volunteered their time to come out and work personally with us, one-on-one,” says Wilson. “I worked for two hours on infield with Ozzie Smith. Willie told us, ‘I’m going to be in the dugout with you guys. At any time, if you have any question about anything baseball related, come over and we’ll talk about it. I’ll tell you how I feel about it, we’ll see how you feel about it, and we’ll find a medium to work with.’ He helped us with base-running, reading pitches, all kinds of stuff.”

Wilson reports back to Jupiter this week before heading to Arizona, where he intends to focus on expanding his range as a second baseman and developing consistency at the plate, the most challenging element for a hitter at any level. Looking to the future, does Wilson envision the day he steps to the plate at AutoZone Park — in his hometown — wearing a Memphis Redbirds uniform? “That would be awesome,” he says, “to play in front of family and friends. I cannot wait for that day. I hope I get that opportunity, knowing my family wouldn’t have to drive seven hours to watch me play. They could just hop on the road and be there.”

Photo courtesy milb.com

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The Cardinals’ Jason Motte Reflects and Reloads

In more than 130 years of major-league baseball, fewer than 100 pitchers have been where the St. Louis Cardinals’ Jason Motte was last October 28th: the bottom of a celebratory dog-pile, having recorded the final out of the World Series. “It was pretty painful,” says Motte from the first-base dugout at FedExPark. “As Yadi [Molina] jumped into my arms, I barely got my arms around him, and I got blind-sided from the left side by the entire dugout. I had my hand turned up weird under Yadi, at the bottom. I was like, ‘I think I broke my hand.’ But he was like, ‘That’s okay, you’ve got four months to get it better.’ Sweet.”

Motte met his future wife, Caitlin, during the summer of 2008 when he saved nine games and struck out 110 hitters in 67 innings as a Memphis Redbird. They chose to make their home in Memphis, a decision made easier by the proximity to St. Louis, where Motte will soon be playing his fourth season. This winter, Motte has trained with coach Daron Schoenrock’s Memphis Tigers (two members of the team played at St. Benedict at Auburndale, where Caitlin teaches). He heads to Jupiter, Florida, for spring training later this month and will go with fond memories of an unlikely championship.

The Cardinals trailed the Atlanta Braves by 10 1/2 games for the National League’s final playoff spot in late August. They trailed Philadelphia, two games to one, in a best-of-five division series, and then lost their first game to Milwaukee in the National League Championship Series. Then, of course, they fell behind Texas, three games to two, in the Fall Classic. St. Louis was down to its final strike in Game 6 . . . twice.

“We were down so big,” Motte reflects. “We decided that we were going to play the game hard, give it everything we have. If we won the ball game that day, that’s good. But if we lost, it wasn’t going to be for lack of effort. I still get chills talking about it. While you’re doing it, you don’t really think about it. You’re just out there playing the game. If one out of a hundred things didn’t go the right way, from August 25th on, we’re not sitting here talking about us winning the World Series. There was a game in September when Adron Chambers was called up [from Memphis] and he had a big triple. Little things like that.”

Motte, 29, has a special appreciation for the comeback nature of last year’s Cardinals, as he gave up what could well have been a Series-winning home run to the Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton in the 10th inning of Game 6. “I had someone ask me what I would have done if Lance Berkman hadn’t tied the game again [in the bottom of the 10th],” says Motte. “Well, I would have packed my stuff up and gone home. What would you want me to do? Go jump off the arch?”

Wound rather tight, Motte found himself oddly calm when he took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, three outs away from every baseball player’s dream. “There was adrenaline, and I was excited,” he says. “But I wasn’t going to try and do more than I was capable of doing. I couldn’t get a double play with nobody on. I just wanted to make every pitch count. That was our attitude as a team. ”

The Cardinals, of course, have managed to make as much news during the offseason as they did in winning the World Series. Hall of Fame-bound manager Tony LaRussa announced his retirement three days after the Series victory (his third as a manager, second in St. Louis). Hall of Fame-bound first baseman Albert Pujols defected to the Los Angeles Angels (where he’ll earn $240 million over the next decade). And new manager Mike Matheny learned last month that venerable pitching coach Dave Duncan is stepping down to help his wife in her battle with cancer. Derek Lilliquist takes over as the Cardinals’ new pitching coach.

“With Albert, it’s just part of the game,” says Motte. “He got a good deal. You can’t say he’s not worth that money. But we’ve got some good additions, and Berkman’s back. [Rafael] Furcal is back. With Tony being gone . . . he’d been doing it 33 years. If you’re going to go out, go out on top like he did.

“[Mike Matheny] is a great dude. He knows the game of baseball; he’s qualified for the job. Lilliquist has been around Duncan, so I think the philosophy is going to be about the same. He’s not gonna come in and tell us to stand on our head and pitch. We throw when we’re asked to throw. I pitched in the third inning once last year, and I pitched in the 12th.”

Pujols’ departure will leave a void not only on the field, but in a clubhouse, one that developed the character of a championship team before any champagne was sprayed last fall. “We’ve got a good group of guys back,” says Motte. “The people we had last year — off the field — were special. We have Berkman back, Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Yadi. Everyone got really close; you got a chance to see the way things should be. The front office gets those kind of guys, good players but also good people. I think we’ll be just fine in the clubhouse.”

Last month, the Cardinals and Motte agreed on a one-year contract that will pay the pitcher $1.95 million in 2012, more than quadrupling his salary from the championship season. Despite a championship ring, a raise, and the seismic turnover in personnel, Jason Motte approaches the upcoming season precisely as baseball players are trained: a new start. “Our goal is the same,” he says. “To win the World Series. When we step out to play the Miami Marlins on Opening Day [April 4], everybody starts at zero. Last year was great, but once the season starts, it’s all about getting better.”

Photograph by Allison Rhoades

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Cardinals Questions, Grizzlies Thoughts, Tournament Observations

* The St. Louis Cardinals open their 2011 season this Thursday at Busch Stadium against the San Diego Padres. So it’s time for the pondering over Albert Pujols’ next contract and the whining about Adam Wainwright’s reconstructed elbow to end. The fortunes of the 2011 Cardinals will be determined largely by the answers to three questions:

Can David Freese and Lance Berkman produce runs? As a 27-year-old rookie last season, Freese (a former Memphis Redbird) hit .296 and drove in 36 runs in 70 games before being sidelined by an ankle injury. His slugging percentage was a pedestrian .404. As for Berkman, the longtime Astro has a career batting average of .296 and a slugging percentage of .545. But last year (as an Astro and Yankee), the Puma fell to marks of .248 and .413. How these two potential sluggers recover from their lost season will go a long way toward determining how much of Wainwright’s absence can be filled with run production.

Will Jaime Garcia take a step forward, or a step back? Garcia was dynamite as a rookie in 2010: 13 wins, 2.70 ERA, 132 strikeouts in 163 innings pitched. But the 24-year-old lefty was roughed up at times during spring training. Has the National League caught up with his repertoire? Is he built for the long haul, as few homegrown pitchers in the Cardinal system have been of late? With Wainwright’s injury, Garcia was elevated to the third slot in the rotation. If he can’t shoulder the expected load, the domino effect will be felt all the way to Memphis, where P.J. Walters, Brandon Dickson, and Lance Lynn are all eager for some innings at Busch.

Will Chris Carpenter stay healthy? The former Cy Young winner pitched a career-high 235 innings in 2010. He turns 36 in April. And he no longer has Wainwright to share the responsibility of staff ace. When Carpenter has been healthy over the last seven seasons, the Cardinals have generally been in contention. The years he lost to injury — 2007 and 2008 — were disappointments. Every playoff team needs a stopper, the guy who prevents losing streaks from spoiling a pennant chase. For the Cardinals in 2011, that guy has to be Chris Carpenter.

* As much as we love the Cinderella story in the NCAA tournament, the event has been one for the giants of college basketball. Since seeding began in 1979, only four teams seeded lower than three have won the title: North Carolina State (6) in 1983, Villanova (8) in 1985, Kansas (6) in 1988, and Arizona (4) in 1997. Nine of the last 12 champs have been the top seed in their region.

Not this year. For only the third time, the Final Four will be played without a top seed in the mix (also happened in 1980 and 2006). And regardless of who wins the battle between Butler (seeded 8th in the Southeast region) and Virginia Commonwealth (11th in the Southwest), the championship game will feature a seed of eight (or lower) for only the third time (after UCLA in 1980 and Villanova in 1985). So the glass slipper is finally polished and ready for the dance floor.

In measuring history’s underdogs, highlight VCU’s entry in the record book. Not only did the Rams have to win a play-in game just to earn their spot in the main bracket (they’re the first team to need five wins to reach the Final Four), but they beat a team from each of five power conferences to punch their ticket to Houston. It’s safe to be a Rams fan next weekend.

Say what you will about his legacy here in Memphis, but John Calipari can put together a basketball team. A year after losing five players to the NBA draft, his Kentucky Wildcats are going to the Final four. Read that again; it’s ridiculous.

* The Grizzlies’ victory over the Celtics last Wednesday will go down as one of the most special this season, and really one of the most special since the franchise’s last playoff run five years ago. Playing their 15th game without star forward Rudy Gay, this was the Grizzlies’ first since learning Gay would miss the balance of the season to have shoulder surgery. They were playing in an arena where Boston was a cool 29-6. And facing a team fighting for the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The box score from that game is a study in team effort and commitment. Memphis won the first quarter on the scoreboard, lost the next two, then outscored the Celtics by six in the money quarter to win by three. They beat a team with three future Hall of Famers in its starting lineup without a single player scoring more than 13 points (Zach Randolph and former Celtic, Leon Powe). But Memphis had six players score between 10 and 13 points. It was a 48-minute team victory. Beautiful basketball.

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News

Albert Pujols: Will He Stay?

Contract negotiations between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals have stalled. Frank Murtaugh is a little worried.

Categories
From My Seat Sports

The Pujols Matter: Will He Stay or Will He Go?

Albert Pujols is not a former St. Louis Cardinal. It just feels that way.
 

With the expiration last Wednesday of a deadline for contract negotiations imposed by Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano, baseball’s best current player appears to be headed for free agency after the 2011 season. If you believe the various leaks from sources supposedly in touch with the talks, the sticking point appears to be a contract that measures ten years in length (Pujols’ preference) or one that, while making Pujols the game’s richest player in terms of annual salary, would expire in closer to seven years.

 

Before sweaty palms and shortness of breath overtake Cardinal fans coast to coast, some perspective is in order. To begin with, consider what Pujols has achieved over his decade in a St. Louis uniform: a world championship, two National League pennants, three MVP trophies, nine All-Star Games, two Gold Gloves, a batting title, and two home run crowns. In 2010, Pujols became the first player in baseball history to bat .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBIs for ten consecutive seasons. Regardless of how the current contract saga unfolds, it would be hard to imagine the Pujols plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame featuring anything besides a Cardinal cap. So in some respects, Cardinal fans need to pause and appreciate what they’ve been lucky enough to witness already. If he never plays another game for St. Louis, Pujols could make a claim as the second best player in franchise history, behind only Stan Musial.
 

Now, should Pujols decide the Cardinals aren’t offering enough (in cash or number of years), his departure would permanently separate his eventual legacy from those of Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst, and Ozzie Smith, iconic Cardinals who made lengthy stays — well beyond 10 years for each of them — a part of the very fabric that binds the National League’s most successful franchise to its vast region of followers. The questions (however premature) would follow: Do the Cardinals retire Pujols’ number? Does Pujols get a statue alongside other Cardinal legends adjacent to Busch Stadium? How might the second half of Pujols’ career in another uniform (a Cubs uniform?!) soil the first half?
 

Here’s a good rule for diplomacy, business, and especially the business of sports: Public deadlines are never healthy. When the Pujols camp announced there would be no contract negotiations beyond the player’s arrival for spring training, the Cardinals were cornered. Despite having Pujols under contract through the upcoming season, owner Bill DeWitt essentially had seven months of negotiating strength taken away. If the Pujols camp holds to its announced deadline, the other 29 major-league teams can begin budget plans for a Pujols pitch before February turns to March. You’ve heard of “home team discounts” in free-agent talks? This amounts to a home-team penalty. The Cardinals — guilty of not signing Pujols a full season in advance of his contract’s expiration — had their bargaining stool kicked out from under them.
 

On the subject of discounts, the argument could be made that the Cardinals have had a profound discount on Pujols, even as they’ve paid him $16 million a year under his current deal. But that figure is less than the Phillies are paying Ryan Howard, less than the Washington Nationals are now paying Jayson Werth(!), and much less than the Yankees have been paying the gold standard for modern baseball contracts, Alex Rodriguez. So for Pujols to stand up and ask to be paid as the game’s finest player should be is hardly egregious. In this particular case, though, involving these particular parties, it’s a bit short-sighted. Because Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals are a perfect match.
 

Pujols and his wife have family in nearby Kansas City (the Royals are unlikely suitors in the $30 million per year range). Hardly chummy with TV cameras and microphones, Pujols displays his greatness in a market that somehow still allows him privacy, a life away from Busch Stadium. Would he be as happy — and without “distractions” — in Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles? Consider this: if and when the great Pujols starts slipping, would his decline be accepted more in the Big Apple, Hollywood, or St. Louis? Perhaps Pujols will still break records at age 41. But the likelihood is he won’t. If he’s a Cardinal 10 years from now, the man will draw standing ovations for pinch-running. Will that scenario require $30 million per year for an eighth, ninth, and tenth year? We should know by next Christmas.
 

In the meantime, the joys of spring training are upon us. Pujols will crush baseballs in Florida as he prepares for a season unlike any other of his distinguished career. Let’s hope it’s a season remembered for the numbers on the back of his baseball card, and not those on his paycheck. When all is said and done, Albert Pujols himself will make that determination.