Note to STL-PD editors, Strauss shouldn’t be allowed to talk about prospects.
QUESTION: Starting pitcher Chris Carpenter so far has had no setbacks in camp. However, given his injury history, what would realistically constitute a successful season for Carpenter in 2009?
JOE STRAUSS
The Cardinals’ lack of depth does not allow for grading on a curve. (Mortensen and Todd are projected as major league relievers; Walters and Ottavino are projected for the rotation but not ready, despite the buzz created by some hyperventilating early reports; Boggs is behind due to shoulder stiffness that followed him into camp. The club does not promote Brad Thompson as an alternative.) Anything less than 28 starts by Carpenter represents a serious complication to the season.
Let’s break this down. “Mortensen and Todd are projected as major league relievers.” I’ll give him the latter, in some circles including myself, but no one projects Mortensen as a reliever. He’s always been billed as a starter. While the mantra of needing to improve his changeup holds true, you won’t find many analysts projecting him as a reliever rather than a backend starter.
“Walters and Ottavino are projected for the rotation.” If he wanted to knock someone as being projected for the pen, he’d have been far better off going after Mr. Slow Fastball and Ottavino who has been living off his 1st round draft status for a while now. KLaw has consistently called Ottavino a reliever and there’s plenty of questions about his secondary pitches. The choice to say these two are projected starters rather than Mortensen is nothing short of baffling.
“despite the buzz created by some hyperventilating early reports” Read this as the internet geeks are getting itchy. Strauss has a consistent and derogatory tone toward anyone not of the traditional media venue or part of the in-crowd for baseball. He’d undoubtedly cite scouts who actually work for MLB teams as his references for these statements but he never takes a pass on trying to kick prospect evaluators. Heck, the question wasn’t even about prospects.
No one is claiming that Mortensen or Todd are going to jump right in and save the day but Strauss is ever egregious in his hyperbole and slams when it comes to prospects. He’s not a bad beat writer and I would imagine he’s a decent human being but he has little objectivity when it comes to prospects.
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knowledgeable baseball people disagreeing with strauss? that’s a first.
strauss annoys the hell out of me, and i don’t even know what a slurve is, or who shaun garceau is. who the hell is shaun garceau? there’s always one or two guys each spring who pop up in the cards’ box score and i’m like, “who?”
in fact, according to mlb.com on garceau, “There are no statistical data available for this Player”.
baffling.
Strauss is the Murray Chass of St. Louis.
That’s not a compliment.
i think he took the statement that mortensen might break in as a reliever to mean he is going to be a reliever. he has three pitches and one of them is a great sinker. there is no reason he can’t be a starter.
I think Strauss was more taking a dig at D. Duncan and his excitement over how good Ottavino looked in his early pitching sessions. Duncan said Ottavino looked better than he had ever seen him and I think Strauss is trying to put perspective on those statements.
If anything, he is taking a dig at the Major League talent evaluators, including the Cardinals Front Office and their optimism as to what they have available in AAA for a 5th starter backup, as well as their justification for not going out and signing another starter as a backup option.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2009/02/1st-rounder-adam-ottavino-is-the-best-weve-ever-seen-him/
Goold’s blog is the best thing at the Post. I think Goold has been one of the best when it comes to not being intimidated by the knowledge of bloggers and their influence on the internet fan following.
I remember when Joe Strauss was a really good beat writer at the P-D. I have no idea why he became such an ignorant grump over the past few years–or even how it’s possible for that to happen when you write about sports for a decent living.
The fastest reading I saw for Motte’s fastball on the MLB channel was 92 … hopefully that’s a slow gun or he’s holding back .
@Wade:
It’s gotta be one of the two; a pitcher doesn’t mysteriously lose 6-7 MPH off his fastball overnight.
My guess is a slow gun; everybody’s speed readings looked a little low today.
Thanks Landon … he was the first one I was paying attention to the speed on.
Strauss isn’t just ignorant and grumpy he’s a very poor writer. In fact all of the P-D “writers” are weak in the writing department. Burwell and Gordon are beyond redemption and Bernie’s not much better. Even Goold, who actually knows and gives us good information, is a formulaic and awkward writer. Guys like Brian Gunn, Danup and lots of other people on the net really shine in a literary sense next to these guys. Makes you wonder what you need to lack to make money in the sportswriting business.
“despite the buzz created by some hyperventilating early reports”
I also read that as toning down Dave Duncan and other coaches wearing the rose colored glasses of spring — anybody remember Papa Dunc one or two springs ago going ape over Dennis Dove ?
Strauss has turned into a cranky geezer– it is hard to tell much from the photoshopped
PD columnist heads but when I saw the full body picture (unrehearsed) of Strauss giving out an award at the baseball writers dinner this winter I said to myself
” I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t get laid very much.”
Also agree that Goold is the best on that staff and he definitely knows the most about prospects and how to project them.
despite the buzz created by some hyperventilating early reports
I also read that as toning down Dave Duncan and other coaches wearing the rose colored glasses of spring — anybody remember Papa Dunc one or two springs ago going ape over Dennis Dove ?
Strauss has turned into a cranky geezer– it is hard to tell much from the photoshopped
PD columnist heads but when I saw the full body picture (unrehearsed) of Strauss giving out an award at the baseball writers dinner this winter I said to myself
” I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t get laid very much.”
Also agree that Goold is the best on that staff and he definitely knows the most about prospects and how to project them.
sorry guys about the double post, I got confused
Is there some kind of grudge between P-D writers and this blog? The perceived slight by Strauss over the “hyperventilating” comment (whether real or imagined) is not nearly as negative as this post is towards him. Jeez….
I can’t speak for AZ, but as for me: No grudge, I like all of them, actually. I don’t agree with some of the comments being made here, and deleted some of them that I found inappropriate.
But Strauss is unnecessarily negative towards prospects. I don’t think he was talking about us when he said the whole hyperventilate thing anymore than I think Bernie was making a dig when he coined his “overrated Faberge Egg” phrase.
Dig up his interviews with Jim Callis, it’s like he tries his hardest to get Callis to sort of devalue the system, make it out to be as it is not really as good as it is, that few of the prospects outside of Rasmus and Wallace are worth a hoot. I don’t know why, but there are also other comments he’s made in his chats that reveal his ignorance towards the farm system. You can’t reasonably criticize something if you don’t know what you’re criticizing. It’s just his overall attitude towards Luhnow and the farm, or at least how I and a lot of other perceive it, doesn’t really make sense.
Basically, what it comes down to is that Strauss doesn’t think much of prospects as a whole. I don’t think it’s the Cardinals system in particular. Strauss is a guy that values the top echelon of the sport. I, too, get frustrated with his comments and his lack of knowledge when it comes to the farm, but I’ve learned to tune him out. I do like his everyday coverage of the big team. If you want farm news from the P-D, Goold’s the man.
In response to Easy — try writing on deadline. I mean real deadlines. That’s what sportswriters do. They value getting info out fast. By doing this, they sacrifice a lot. Journalists aren’t trained, and by definition aren’t supposed to be, fantastic writers. Journalists are reporters and writers. Their job is to churn the copy out for the readers. Like them or not, the P-D writers do just that. The writers you cited aren’t deadline reporters. They sit at their desk or at home and write. There is no comparison to what Strauss, Goold and other journalists do. My guess is that Gunn and others would be the first to admit this. This is by no mean a rip on bloggers. I love what blogs are able to do. I could be wrong, but I bet Erik understands the difference of what he does compared to what Strauss and Goold do. Both forms are equally valuable in their own way.
I’ve never read anything from Goold that would be classified as “awkward.”