After seeing Felipe Lopez hit extremely well (.372 avg .413 obp) in his time in St. Louis, I feel the Cardinals have found their 2nd baseman for 2009.  Mo should act now and re-sign Lopez.  He is 28 years old, so he should be hitting his prime right now.  I feel that having him hit in the 2nd spot would give him the best chance to succeed. I don't expect him to hit .372 all of 2009, but I would expect him to hit .300+, steal 20 bases, drive in 60 runs, and be an asset to the middle infield.  I could easily see him scoring 100 runs while batting ahead of Albert.

The second move Mo needs to make is to trade Ludwick while the value is high.  The Cardinals have a surplus of OFs in their system.  With Rasmus coming up, Jon Jay and Daryl Jones having great years, this is an area that the Cardinals need to turn into pieces to help in other areas.  I would love to see the Cardinals trade Ludwick, Duncan (as a throw-in, not the centerpiece of the deal), Freese (expendable because of Glaus/Craig/Wallace in the system), and Pineiro (plus some salary relief) to the Giants for Matt Cain.  The Giants need some bats in their lineup, especially on the corner infield spots.  Ludwick could be the power bat they need, and Freese could be their 3B for the future.  If Duncan returns to form, he could be a solid 1B option for the Giants.  By including Pineiro and some salary, the Giants will have an arm to use in the rotation for cheap to help fill Cain's void.  If the Giants are interested, send Kennedy and salary relief too just to get him out of STL.  If this is not enough to land Cain, then throw in another prospect (Mather) just to get a good, cost controlled pitcher (and don't bring up the Mulder deal because Cain and Mulder are 2 different people).

With Josh Kinney coming back healthy, Russ Springer likely being offered arbitration, Motte, Perez, Franklin (not in the setup role), Brad Thompson (long reliever/spot starter) coming back, the Cardinals need to add a lefty in the Bullpen.  Brian Fuentes is a free agent and the BOB need to spend some money to get him.  He has closing experience in case Motte/Perez show they can't close, and provides a lefty the Cardinals need.  If the Cards want a backup lefty option, then re-sign Villone and use him against lefties only.

The bullpen being setup this way allows for Kyle McClellan to be moved to the rotation (and if he fails, move Thompson in and K-Mac back to the pen).  The rotation would be Waino, Cain, Wellemeyer, McClellan, and Carpenter (hopefully) or  FA pitcher (Looper, Lohse if he accepts arb, Ben Sheets on a 1 year deal, Pavano?)/young arm from minors if Carp can't go.

These moves would minimize the money needed to spend on free agents (5-6 million for Lopez, 6-7 million for Fuentes).  This also allows for the Cardinals to spend some extra money for a quality SS (Orlando Cabrera or Furcal), but if they can't, re-sign Izturis to be the SS and get him to stop being a switch hitter and just bat right handed.

By including the salary dumps, FA spending, and signing a SS, the payroll will be 5-15 million less than last season, depending on the shortstop you sign.  That still leaves a nice chunk of money that can be used to make a big payroll move late in the season if need be, or to spend on draft picks in June.

After sluggish starts, it seems that the Cardinals 3B on each level (STL through Palm Beach) are really tearing it up of late (stats from month of July).

Troy Glaus .362 / 7 / 16 / .443 / .783 / 1.226 (AVG/HR/RBI/OBP/SLG/OPS)

David Freese .361 / 4 / 12 / .409 / .623 / 1.032

Allen Craig .404 / 7 / 19 / .448 / .742 / 1.190

Tony Cruz .333 / 1 / 10 / .352 / .529 / .881

Looks to me like the corners of the infield are in good shape for a while (when you include El Hombre and Mr. Wallace on the other side). Do we potentially have a surplus of good 3B talent in the system?

I know it is only 1 month of stats, but for the season their numbers are still looking solid.

Glaus .284 / 18 / 66 / .382 / .517 / .899

Freese .283 / 16 / 54 / .337 / .497 / .834

Craig  .303 / 18 / 70 / .368 / .501 / .869

Cruz .279 / 8 / 58 / .316 / .427 / .743

I also want to note that Cruz isn't really a prospect, but just a coincidence he's also been hot in July?

Dan Uggla should not be pursued by the Cardinals.  From what I saw, he was putting a lot of pressure on himself and he just didn't make the plays.  It makes me wonder what kind of response he would have in a playoff situation where the pressure really mounts?

Russell Martin is a FAR better defensive catcher than I had previously given him credit.  He made some great plays from behind the plate, but none that I wouldn't expect Yadi to make.  The only thing I saw Martin do wrong, turned out okay.  On his sacrifice bunt, he punched at the ball instead of deadening it off of the bat.  That bunt could have been popped up/caught, but it didn't really matter because the next guys failed to drive Ludwick in anyway.

Aaron Cook made some nice pitches with his back against the wall.  I never felt worried that he was going to walk in the winning run.  He just went out and made his pitches to induce ground balls and get the NL out of a jam.

Fukudome played as if he were an average mlb player...Oh wait, he IS just an average player.

All-Star rosters should be expanded to include a couple more pitchers that are emergency only (can't play in the game unless it goes to extra innings).

In the extra frames, some of the worst defense was followed up with some of the best defense to bail his team out of trouble.  The most exciting all-star game I have ever seen.

Are the Cardinals looking to extend Ankiel and have him locked up for a while?  I know he is a Boras client, and Boras likes to go year to year, but it seems to make sense that the Cardinals try to extend Ankiel for an extended period of time.  Ankiel is a fan favorite in St. Louis.  I know I will be disappointed if he bolts for another city.  Does Ankiel feel that he owes the organization a discount considering they stuck with him through his transition?  What kind of extension should he be signed to (years/amount)? 

What more does Ankiel have to prove to earn an extension?

what would it take to acquire Mark Ellis?  The Cardinals definitely need to upgrade one of the middle infield spots.  Since the Cubs just sent the A's the replacement for Ellis, the Cards would not need to send a MI back (none of ours have value).

After thinking about this today, I recall the A's also trying to move Huston Street earlier in the year.  He is a young (25), proven closer who could solidify the closer role for the next few years (by giving him an extension).  Alan Embree could also help the left side of the pen as well (option for '09 at 3 million) even though his splits say differently for this year.

The Package:  Obviously, Reyes needs to be traded.  I can see Beane taking a chance on Reyes as part of the package.  With Street being part of the deal, I believe that makes Chris Perez expendable in the deal also (big plus for Billy since he is under club control for a while).  One area of need for Oakland is at 3B, where the Cardinals could send Freese or Craig, whichever Billy prefers (most likely Craig due to power and OBP).  Since Billy likes the high OBP guys, then Jon Jay or Daryl Jones (huge upside with only 1 good season of pro-ball) could close out the deal.

So, would a package of Reyes, Chris Perez, Allen Craig, and Daryl Jones/Jon Jay (the more I think about this, the Cards may be getting hosed?) for Mark Ellis, Huston Street and Alan Embree work?  What are your thoughts?

Since the National League has not won the All-Star game since 1996, I have wondered why this has occurred.

Could it just be that there are better players in the AL?

Could it be that since there are only 14 teams in the AL, they get to add 2 players who are having better years out of the entire AL group of teams while the National League has to take those two players from specific teams?

Could realigning the divisions cause this somehow?

Just some thoughts I have and want to know other opinions/reasons.

I understand that Jorge Cantu and Wes Helms are playing 3B fairly well, but did you forget about Dallas McPherson at AAA?  He has 21 home runs this season and a .400+ OBP.  I'm sure that Cantu could play some corner outfield if necessary?

Is Ross Wolf going to get called up soon?  Sure, it has been only 10 innings since coming off of the DL, but a 1.03 whip and a 1.69 era this season...Pretty impressive thus far.  He doesn't walk people so that's a plus as well.  He competes on every pitch and won't give in.

And I think Maybin should be forgotten until September...He's only in AA...What's the rush?

Every year throughout the season I look at other teams' rosters and try to match up a good fit for the Cardinals.  I have been doing the same this season, and while reading VEB, I have taken a new train of thought on what the Cardinals should do to improve this team not only for this year but for years to come...

If the team decides to do only one thing this season at the deadline, they need a LH Relief Pitcher who THROWS STRIKES!!!  There is nothing worse than sending your specialist to the mound to face 2 lefties and walking both of them.  Anyone on the roster could have done that.  It is a need that the Cardinals need to address (with the Reds having some solid lefties and Prince Fielder for the Brewers, Phillies at playoff time (think positive)).  It may be difficult to deal with the Pirates who seem to have the most available lefty specialists since they are within the division, so you have to look other places such as Colorado (Fuentes) or Baltimore (Sherrill) or Kansas City (Mahay).  Just pick up one of these guys, please.

I am also a big advocate of going out and trading for Placido Polanco and helping Adam Kennedy pack his bags and leave this team.  If/when this happens, it is as if the Cardinals are getting a solid defensive second baseman who gets on base, makes contact, and hits above .300 for 8 mil/year (includes Kennedy's pay).  I believe this is a bargain for the Cardinals for this and next year.

These moves could be relatively cheap in terms of prospects and would still allow the Cardinals to compete this season without literally betting the farm on this season's success, after all, we are in a rebuilding year.

And a glimpse of what these moves do for next season...

Allows the Cards to sign Orlando Cabrera, get bullpen help, and possibly go after an elite starting pitcher (15 mil+/year)?

With all of the disappointment oozing from Detroit this season, there are rumors of possibly trading some of their talent.  The only one that interests me greatly is a guy by the name of Placido Polanco.

He is solid defensively and hits for a decent average.  He is a high contact hitter (opens up the hit and run as an offensive option without much risk, 17K through 222 ABs this season).  He would be  a great fit for the 2nd spot in the order and is not that costly 4.6 million and is signed through '09.  I would even say that by throwing Kennedy's dfa'd salary on top of that and Polanco would still be a value, IMO.  He will be 33 in October so after '09, it would be a good time to get out before the major decline begins.

What would it take to get Polanco?  Motte?  Motte +1 Prospect?  Reyes?

I was just checking out Rasmus' stats from the last 10 games and it looks like he is starting to heat up (.410, 16-39, 4 2b, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 9 BB, 9 SO however) and has spread it out over the 10 games (no 0-fers).  Hopefully he stays hot and gets called up and performs like Jay Bruce...  What a nice addition that would be... Too bad Mo will need to trade some people to open a spot for him.