Cardinals

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:35 pm

Looks like they're going for the gold this year. Picking up DeRosa, Holliday and Lugo. Better either be able to re-sign DeRo and Holliday or win the WS this year. STL LF's have hit 212/294/342 this year so Holliday will be a pretty significant upgrade over that, defensively as well. At first I wanted to puke my balls out at the price, but if they are able to re-sign Holliday ala Rolen/McGwire with some sort of reasonable price, I think STL will come out looking pretty good. Have to be the favorites to win the NLC now.

RedSox · Post by **RedSox** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:57 pm

Does this signal that they're not planning on bringing Glaus back this year? I'd heard they were working him in left on his rehab because he can't throw across the diamond yet. Perhaps Holliday can play a passable right?

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:04 pm

Ludwick is hitting .391/.449/.681 with 5 HR's in July. Benching him in favor of Glaus would be ill-advised. I'm guessing that they will either try to ramp up Glaus' rehab at 3B or possibly try to trade him. I've seen a few articles floating around with his name as a trade candidate. It complicates things especially after adding Lugo. Tonight they are trotting out this lineup:

Lugo/DeRosa/Pujols/Holliday/Ludwick/Molina/Ankiel/Ryan. Looks a lot better with Rasmus in there over Ankiel obviously as well. So Lugo complicates things even further for Glaus because Shumaker will be in line to get some playing time at 2B (though he really shouldn't) and DeRosa is the obvious slide over to 2B if Glaus could actually throw and play defense at third. But now you have Lugo who will play some at 2B with Shumaker as well and it's almost an overload. But LaRussa does love his bench and matchups. It'll be pretty interesting to see what they do with Glaus now.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:57 pm

Maybe they just bring Glaus back as a pinch hitter in LaRussa's back pocket, he's one of the few managers I could see going for that sort of set up. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked that the A's were able to get a prospect like Brett Wallace (and practically speaking this is a trade of Street and CarGon for Wallace) but I do have to say there is something wrong with the methodologies around the internet that a few places including FanGraphs are claiming that Brett Wallace alone is worth 3 times what Matt Holliday is.

Astros · Post by **Astros** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:11 am

Tony did the exact same thing with McGwire in 2000 that he can do with Glaus. He'd wait till a big spot late and pinch hit him, usually against a middle reliever that would then be quite shaken. If Glaus can't bring in a decent prospect, I'd rather go that route

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:30 pm

According to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, the Cardinals will attempt to deal Troy Glaus before the July 31 trade deadline.
Glaus is currently rehabbing with Triple-A Memphis. He's still unable to throw across the diamond, but may be attractive to American League clubs who can stick him at DH or first base. The Giants, Braves, Rangers and Tigers are expected to scout him in the minors over the weekend.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:10 pm

He makes a lot of sense for the Giants, any number of my boys in San Jose should be enough to get that deal done.

Yankees · Post by **Yankees** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:06 am

I thought this was a good trade for the Cardinals. The big piece is obviously Wallace - the problem with Wallace is that he'll never be a 3b, there's no DH in the National League, and some guy name "Pujols" plays 1b. So unless Wallace is going to move Pujols off first, which I have to think my chances are better at stealing Giselle from Brady, then it's a good trade.

If you have a chance to win the World Series in the year that you're playing, and you don't give up something that's truly going to impact you long-term, you make the move. Holliday isn't the hitter he was in Colorado, but he's much closer to Colorado/last month in Oakland than he is the first 2 months in Oakland. I love the aggression the Cardinals are showing - they went from a poor lineup, to an above average lineup in a very short period of time - without really shooting their future in the foot.