1. Colby Rasmus
See you in: St. Louis
Journey Theme Song: Don’t Stop Believing
Best Case 2009: Rasmus comes out firing on all cylinders. He hits for average, hits for power, draws walks, steals bases and plays plus defense in the outfield. A .280/.350/.450 line is pretty optimistic but I wouldn’t discount the possibility of him exceeding that. He’s that talented.
Worst Case 2009: Rasmus fumbles early with a slow start and can’t regain his rhythm getting spotty playing time. The (idiotic) switch to a corner outfield spot messes with his defense and he winds up in Memphis in May.
2. Brett Wallace
See you in: Springfield
Journey Theme Song: Can Do
Best Case 2009: Wallace proves doubters wrong and sticks at 3B while raking. A mid season promotion to AAA is necessary and he becomes the top prospect in the Cardinals system with a 2010 ETA.
Worst Case 2009: A player without a position, he’s unable to stick at 3B and any attempts to work in the outfield are disastrous.
3. Chris Perez
See you in: Memphis
Journey Theme Song: When the Lights Go Down in the City
Best Case 2009: Perez shows two plus pitches in Memphis and has an adequate but not great walk rate. The nonsense with Brad Thompson ends and Perez is back in the bigs by May.
Worst Case 2009: The lights stay down in the city and Perez misses his ride on the Memphis shuttle.
4. Bryan Anderson
See you in: Memphis
Journey Theme Song: Only the Young
Best Case 2009: Anderson continues to hit for average and the power ticks up. More importantly, his defense is deemed acceptable and he becomes Yadi’s understudy.
Worst Case 2009: The Cardinals consider Matt Pagnozzi as third on the depth chart. Anderson is no longer “young” for his league and gets labelled a AAAA catcher.
5. Daryl Jones
See you in: Springfield
Journey Theme Song: I Can See it in Your Eyes
Best Case 2009: 2008 production in 2009.
Worst Case 2009: 2007 production in 2009.
Entries (RSS)
So would we prefer Ankiel moving to RF I take it?
Does Rick Ankiel need more psychological testing?
I have no problem with Rasmus at a Corner. Ankiel should be coddled first and foremost
Ankiel isn’t a great CF and he’s played nearly 50 games at the corners. Rasmus has played zero.
Everyone should have a problem with Rasmus at the corner when he’s the best defensive CF on the team.
I actually prefer Ankiel in LF. Ludwick was a very good defensive outfielder last year in RF, not only with the glove but with his arm.
One thing you also have to take into consideration is overall “organizational value.” If Ankiel is having a monster year, and Colby is showing promise, then Ankiel may well get traded – especially if the rest of the team is doing well. In CF, your bounty for Ankiel is much higher than if he is playing a corner. It’s not going to hurt that much waiting ’til a little later to switch Rasmus back.
Some of these moves have to be made for the future and “organizational value” rather than putting the *exact* best team on the field every given moment.
This is the argument that everyone makes but it’s premised on Ankiel being a good CF. That’s a questionable assessment. If he’s not, then you’ve hurt his value as a trade chip.
@ KCardinal:
This argument is also predicated on Ankiel being traded. I believe we won’t sign him to an extension, but I’m not really sure that we’ll trade him either. I know it’s the smart thing to do, but given that Rasmus is in a corner, Todd is now a reliever, and Thompson is in the bigs while Perez is at AAA I’ve lost more than a little faith in the decision making powers of the brain trust.
PS – I can’t figure out how to use this site’s comment reply feature. Is it something only available to the mods?
There should be a little reply link at the bottom of each comment. I’ve waffled on turning this feature off since it has limited nesting (3 comments deep) but it has it’s moments.
Does anyone besides me think, that if the Cardinals sign Ankiel to a long term deal, than Colby Rasmus is traded.
I fear that this is what is going to be coming down the pipe in the next couple of months.
@Danny
no, i do not fear that. mo knows how valuable someone like rasmus is to this team.
Here is a piece I did over at Scout.com that shows what the defensive metrics say about Ankiel’s fielding. http://stlcardinals.scout.com/2/842697.html
that was a good article. The Cardinals aren’t really maximizing with Ankiel in CF and Colby in LF. They’re shooting themselves in the foot even more if they are going with a Dunc/Ankiel OF the majority of the time.
This is completely off topic – but does anyone know what happened to Luis Perdomo? Doesnt look like he got traded, MLB.com has him listed with no team??? If he got offered back, and we declined, I will be a little hacked. Then the only dividend from Mr. Flat Bill’s time with the Cards will be my Game 1 DVD from the 2006 WS.
No worries on my end I think Rasmus will play the easy role of LF for a month or two and make the move to CF once he’s comfortable in the bigs. As a former college CF there is a lot of responsibility that comes with the position and Tony may just be trying to make it as easy as possible on the youngster before he settles him in full time
@ Abe
I guess using the word “fear”, is a little too melodramatic.
@JMG … he was DFA’d yesterday. 48 hours to clear waivers (i think). If he does, we can take him back. if he doesn’t, same deal as with the Giants … he’d have to stay up with the claiming team all year.
One of the SF reporters wrote in a column today that the Giants are trying to work out a trade with the Cardinals.
Michael Main for Perdomo? Sounds reasonable.
He said sarcastically.
very sarcastically? … Michael Main is a Rangers prospect.
I think I meant Tim Alderson. I do get those two confused.
Well now I’m embarrased. I’m off to let that sweet, sweet brew wash away the pain.
after that game tonight (both UNC/MSU and Cards) don’t be too embarrassed.
AZ,
The reply feature is indeed not working anymore, last year I saw it now I don’t. Only the Mods have been able to reply for months now it seems.
Let me know if you can see it now.
Sometimes it seems as tho LaRussa is trying to manage a fantasy team and get everyone into the lineup that day, I know that’s not what he is doing-he is trying to win every game.
But for me, Rasmus plays center almost every game and Ankiel is in right.
LaRussa wants Rasmus to push Ankiel out of center, but how many games will Rasmus get to play in center in April?
AZ,
I can only see it on my own posts before i refresh the page
ok — I’m not sure what the deal is. I tried tinkering with some of the widgets but almost broke the site. WordPress can be cumbersome at times. We seem to get along fine without the reply feature — I’ll just have to remember not to use it as a mod.
Actually AZ I like the mods using it. Especially the author. It allows for inline replies to comments so I don’t have to sift through 10 or more to see if you or someone else answered the question.
As far as Perdomo, I just read in one of the Bay area papers the Giants have 10 days to either trade him or put him on waivers for someone else to claim him, all before offering on waivers to the Cards. The 10 day delay is because they chose the “designated for assignment’ procedure, as opposed to having putting putting him straight on “waivers”. So the outcome on Perdomo will have to wait for a while.