Explain this to me:

Why does the baseball genius not see that his best bullpen is:

Boggs (7th) Sanchez (8th) Salas (9th)??

How is this not completely obvious?

Also, nice move, Tony, PH'ing for your best hitter for Andrew Brown.

Because Sanchez is on the DL?

Mozeliak has been quoted he'll look to improve the bullpen via trade. Cheap LOOGY and setup man, please.

I know, which means that Boggs then moves up a step in the ladder. You don't call on Motte, Miller, and Batista.

I also hate trading for bullpen help. It honestly wouldn't hurt me if we became sellers at the deadline.

I wouldn't mind Mo trading Jay for a guy like Bastardo.

It can not be said enough...this pen is a ****ing joke.

I am ready for them to trade Rasmus.

There should have been immediate cuts as of today.

Franklin
Miller
Batista

They have no right on any team.

Well we just released Batista and recalled Lynn

If only Franklin pitched half as well as he sucks LaRussa's dick. :shake:

Well 1 down, and a few more to go. I expect them to be done by all star week.

9 years ago today, DK57 died.

RIP.

We will regret that move. Someday Rasmus will blossum to his potential and we will regret that trade.

McClellan back to the pen?

Yeah, let's send our 3rd best starter to the bullpen.

No. Lynn will be long relief.

I can't believe that we are still tied for first place and 6 games over .500 despite the way we have played lately.

It's time to ask if that potential will ever be met here.

Ultimately, how he produces for someone else is fairly immaterial if he's not going to produce like that here. He simply doesn't play a consistently focused brand of baseball. Worse still, he's tentative out there.

Ultimately, I'm not sure the kid's smart enough to ever become a legitimately great player. Worse still, I think LaRussa has gotten far enough into his head that he'll never unlock his potential here.

If we could get him moved for an elite SS prospect, I'd do it. Ship him to Baltimore for Machado and Uehara and call it good.

Well Rasmus hasn't lived up to the hype. He asked to be traded last year a couple of times. We could of put him in a trade and got something back out of him. I hope we haven't waited to long to get good value out of him.
I wonder if he isn't playing up to his potential because he doesn't want to be here. Not saying he isn't trying just that if he is not happy he may not be giving it his best effort.

See that is how I feel about Brendan Ryan. He played horrible for us last season. He may be lighting it up for the Mariners but he never did it here. So it didn't and doesn't seem like a bad move to me.
Don't get me wrong I always liked him and hoped he would be our guy. He always seemed scrappy and kind of a pain to the pitchers.
But it didn't work out.

Brendan is hitting .250 with a .619 OPS. I wouldn't say that's lighting it up LMAO. He hit close to .300 2 years ago with an OPS of .740, soooo it's not like he just turned it on as a Mariner. I do miss seeing a competent MLB shortstop though.

I don't think he has lived up to his potential but not in the same way that Greene hasn't even come close.

And maybe he will never achieve it here also but blossum elsewhere and we kick ourselfs for letting him go but we keep him and this is the way he stays?

But, I defintely don't want to trade him for some rental player this year. Nor Ramirez, Miller etc.

He was phenomenal for us the year before. Then he started the season with a bum wrist and a completely bizarre approach at the plate (taught by our coaching staff). And even when he was 'horrible' for us at the plate last season, he was still the premier defensive SS in the national league.

He was never anywhere near 'horrible' overall.

Dealing him for a shitty reliever that should likely never see the major league level again was inexcusable at the time and remains so to this day. It was a bullshit attack by a curmudgeonly manager that needed a scapegoat to explain why the team he was supposed to motivate laid down and died last year.

Greene never had potential. He hasn't been a good player at any of his minor league stops. Had the Cardinals not drafted him in the first round and given him a 7 figure signing bonus, he'd have never seen AAA, let alone the majors.

The answer is to jettison Tony LaRussa, but I believe he has pictures of Bill DeWitt ****ing sheep, so that's never going to happen. So if LaRussa stays, Rasmus is wasted on this team and his value is going to continue to diminish.

If ownership elects to keep LaRussa, they need to move Rasmus.

This bullpen ****ing blows.

Salas got warm, threw some pitches then had to sit for 20 minutes. It's not terribly surprising that the first batter he faced did some damage (and the ball just barely got out).

The bullpen has absolutely done the job tonight - the individuals responsible for making sure the mother****ing lights work, on the other hand, have not.

Lay this loss at the worthless feet of Jake Westbrook, not the pen.

God, Schumaker sucks.

I agree but not tonight.

The bullpen was great tonight. 4 2/3 inning with one run. We keep that pace up we will be fine.

Boggs faces two batters and strikes both out. Lynn didn't give up anything, pitched out of a big jam. Salas just ran into one of the hottest hitters in baseball and the ball barely cleared the fence.

But, if we just had a "normal" bullpen, we would be up 6 games in the division,

Bullpen did a great job tonight. Yes, I'm upset that the Cards lost, but Salas had to sit 20 minutes because of the lights.

Offense has to score runs. Period.

Usually after a slump like this, teams break out.

Looks like Bautista's back on the steroids after a three week timing slump, eh, Hamas.

Looks like he hit an opp-field flare that was a HR by a foot.

I don't know what you consider horrible and I could be wrong but 17 errors in 124 games seems pretty bad to me.

Yes it does!!!!!!

I thought I heard the radio guys say that we have had 13 players on the DL this year. That seems exteme too. Do we need a new trainer or something like that. Keep in mind I don't follow baseball closely.

Feel free to call that one "lucky" all you want (though it was only 2 feet shorter than Holiday's), you'd actually have an argument this time.

I guess it's time that he got back on the stronger stuff. :)

The next day the front office was selliing Pujols injury as a day to day thing. Craig might be back the next day. And so on and so on. I don't understand why they do that.

I did hear that David Freese is doing his rehab assignment. So maybe it won't be long before we get him back. That will help.

It still wouldn't bother me if this team became sellers.

Crazy idea:

Berkman+X=Madison Bumgarner

What is X?

It would bother me.

No team is going to run away with the Central. Cardinals just need to win and not go on long losing streaks.

X= Jon Jay

Wouldn't do that for Bombgarner.

No reason why the Cardinals can't have a rotation of Wainwright, Garcia, Westbrook, Lohse and Lynn next season.

That's a pretty decent rotation if you ask me.

Even better if you replace Lynn with McClellan.

Romero shuts em out. Swept away by the Canadians, while the Brewers put away the Twinkies. This is Milwaukee's division to lose.

I am about done with the Cards this year. They don't play smart baseball.

It is just ugly to continually watch them screw up game after game.

Don't want to get rid of Jon Jay but you can put Colby Rasmus in his place.

2nd half will also see Miller called up.

This division is wide open. We will make a run.

Here's the question you have to ask yourself:

Is another 80 games of Lance Berkman plus the FA compensation we'll get from letting him walk worth several cost-controlled years of a young, left handed SP with a top 25 SP ceiling?

I'd much rather roll out a rotation of Wainwright, Garcia, Bumgarner, McLellan, and Lohse.

Then, after next year, you can cut ties with Lohse and Westbrook and take another 18 million off the books while not even needing to fill a SP slot.

An OF of Craig, Rasmus, and Holliday is more than good enough, and some of that savings could, hopefully, finally fix the MI.

Wainwright, Garcia, Bumgarner, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez

My father went to the game today he said ya'll have a super stadium. I told him Arrowhead is better (he hates the Chiefs) which stadium would you say is better if you can even compare the two.

Kauffman beats the shit out of both of them.

Starting pitching is not a pressing issue. We need to fix the bullpen and middle infield. I know your not as high on Miller as I am but he will be on the roster next year.Barring an injury, I'd bet real money on that and maybe even Martinez in 2013.

I'd give up Jay to get some bullpen help but at this time of the year you have to way over pay for bullpen help. The Brewers gave up their future starting SS and CF and a top pitching prospect to get Grienke and make a run this year.

We don't have to mortgage the future because this is our last shot. Even if Pujols leaves, we have enough talent to make another run in the next 5-6 years.

I was just going to post this

I haven't been to the new Busch Stadium, but I think it would be hard to top Kauffman.

It's not that I'm not high on Miller, I just don't think he's gonna be Tim Lincecum out of the gate.

Here is the deal:

If you spin Berkman and another piece for Bumgarner, then you get an immediate ROI rather than one that will take several years and have a lower chance of panning out. It also allows you to counteract the Phillies' LH heavy lineup. It also lets you trot out the following staff in 2013:

Wainwright
Bumgarner
Garcia
Miller
McLellan

Now, if you think Martinez is ready by then, you can plug him in there.

That's the deepest rotation in baseball, and it's also a damned cheap one.

That allows you to spend money to fix the gaping hole that exists at 2nd, SS, and 3rd without hamstringing the team.

Furthermore, the OF is still a strength, as I'm a firm believer that Allen Craig can be a good ML RFer

Been to several games at both & The K is a winner but the new Busch is like 1000% better than the old Busch.

Kauffman is a great place to watch a ballgame.:thumb:

Especially for opposing fans.

Sigh.

I'm gonna assume Cards fans travel well. Anyone know of people who are going to Baltimore? I'm reading that advance ticket sales are pretty good, for a weeknight series.

Reds fans showed up this weekend for their team's first visit since 1970, so I figure that Cards fans will be there for their first visit since...well, ever.

Should. Because of KMOX's radio signal reaching all the way to Colorado and north to the USA border with Canada and east to Tennessee before the advent of multiple games on TV weekly and cable. Everytime I see a game on the road they always show quite a few Cardinal fans in the stands.

I'm going to all 3 of the games in St. Petersburg this weekend. Since the Cardinals use to have their Spring training in St. Pete until the 80's. Im expecting a lot of Cardinal fans will be joining me.

Well we get Punto and Freese back in the lineup. It is good to have Freese back!!!

I'll be there thursday night J.J hardy t shirt night,,,,,,Hope the rain holds off and we get this game in tonight.

WTF is with the hard-on TLR has for Mark Hamilton?

I think I'd rather bat the pitcher.

:shrug: another one of tony's pets probably.

LMAO

And he doubles his RBI production for the year.

Good inning.

Shocking. Another double play ball botched.

Just like TLR planned it. Freese's first at bat after coming off the DL gets a single, Rasmus hits a bomb foul, then walks.Molina misses it a little and got under it for the 2nd out. The Punto, Theriot and Hamilton come through with the 2 out RBI hits.

Thats what we need to get out of this slump.

I think its showcasing for trade bait. As a part of some bigger deal. He has no value by himself.

Thanks for helping my fantasy team, Franklinhausen.

Have HR's from both Holliday and Hardy tonight, and a Slam from Beltran.

So, Franklin gets hit like Tina Turner once again.

What's this douche have to do to get released?

I can't believe that Tony or MO thinks he can help the team. He brings nothing and is taking up a spot on the roster.

Meanwhile Boggs comes in and mows them down and he can't get shit but mop up time.

I'm not sure why we didn't leave Lynn in the game. That's exactly the role he's meant to play - long relief. No reason to get any deeper into the bullpen in the first game of a roadtrip when you have a 6-run lead. He could have pitched another 2 innings - maybe could have finished the game.

no shit. He's been a starter. He's use to pitching multiple innings. He;s pitching lights out. No way he's tired. I sure hope it wasn't to give Franklin a chance at rehabilatation. :shake:

**** you, Luke Scott. Could have used another dinger/2RBI from Holliday.

He's been kind enough to help me twice this season.

The Morse blast was especially handy.

LMAO

Same here.

Part of me hopes he gets in a blowout against the Reds this weekend so Jay Bruce can slap him around.

Franklin not listed on Cards lineup. No move has been announced yet though.

Looks like he is gone or headed to the DL.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...a4bcf6878.html

:grovel:

God I hope I never see that useless sack of shit in a Cardinals uniform again.

Buster_ESPNBuster Olney





Ryan Franklin released by the Cardinals, Doug Davis released by the Cubs.

Adios, dickhead.

Make sure to take your gas can with you.