He's not going to platoon. You were just inaccurate in your belief of how he got most of his HRs.

Craig will be the primary backup LF and RF next year, Berkman will play left, and Holiday will shift to right. Craig is also going to be the reserve 3B.

I still can't ****ing believe that they are going to start Theriot at SS over Ryan and let that ****ing douchelord Schumaker keep his job. He's the worst everyday infielder in baseball.

Oh, but Berkman hitting second in front of Pujols could really make this a dangerous lineup. He does a tremendous job of working the count and drawing walks.

Wow. If we get another middle infielder this team is going to be damn good.

This is going to be an atrocious defensive team. Atrocious.

If Skip Schumaker dies before April, I'll feel much better about this team, as hopefully his death will cause Tony's as well, thus killing two birds with one stone.

Eh... If (which we probably won't) get a SS, it won't be bad. Weakest spots would be Berkman and Holliday, and you can do worse with either of them.

Maybe Skip could be the passenger the next time LaRussa decides to go drunk driving.

Schumaker at second would be an abomination, and Theriot is a mediocre to subpar defensive SS, and Freese is a bit above average. For a group that will have that many chances due to pitching philosophy, that's scary.

I'd rather he take the place of that stranded vehicle Hancock ass-****ed.

welllllll didn't Ryan save like 26 runs last year with his defense? I think Theriot will produice more than 26 runs for the Cardinals next year. But a pitching staff that is designed to put the ball in play on the ground instead of strike outs is taking a big hit on their defense to put some offense on the field. But, we saw last years results. We had to get some offense into the line up.

FTR, I would like to have a "real" 2B too and have Shu take the super sub role but Tony loves the guy and I'm still glad he's the manager and not some one else.

I do like this line up offensively. Get me a "real" 2B and we are good to go,

Theriot
Berkman
Pujols
Holliday
Rasmus
Molina
Freese
Pitcher
Shumaker

By B.J. Rains
FOXSportsMidwest.com
Dec. 6, 2010

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The long-anticipated meeting between Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and representatives for first baseman Albert Pujols finally took place Monday on the first day of baseball’s Winter Meetings.

Mozeliak said Monday’s talk with agent Dan Lozano shouldn’t be classified as negotiations but the first face-to-face meeting obviously represents a step in the right direction for both sides.

Pujols will earn $16 million in 2011, the last of a eight-year, $111 million contract he signed before the 2004 season. Pujols has stated his desire to remain a Cardinal for life and the two sides will soon officially try to make that happen with what is sure to be a record-breaking deal.

The update appears to be one of the last we will hear from either side until a deal is done or talks are broken up as Mozeliak cautioned media members assembled in his hotel suite not to expect daily updates on Pujols’ contract situation.

“This is not going to be negotiated in the media,” Mozeliak said. “When and why things happen, I think both Dan and I would like to keep that private and confidential. I think that’s how we’ll proceed. You’re not going to get a play-by-play and we’re not going to announce if we’re talking or not. At some point if we feel there needs to be a public statement and we both agree on it, then we’ll do it.

“Rather than me be coy every time you guys ask, just understand that’s his request and I’m perfectly happy working under those conditions. If we have a chance to do something, it just makes more sense to do it confidentially.”

Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. has arrived in Orlando but was not present at Monday’s meeting. Asked if the two sides would meet again before departing on Thursday, Mozeliak said, “I’m sure he and I will touch base.”

Mozeliak also said he didn’t have any ballpark figure in mind as to what it might cost to keep Pujols. Some estimatees have suggested that Pujols could get near $30 million per season for as many as seven or eight years.

Pujols hit a career-low .312 in 2010 but led the National League with 42 home runs, 118 RBIs and 115 runs scored. The nine-time All-Star has a career .331 average and has played at least 143 games in each of his 10 big-league seasons.

Is the Pujols' deal going to end up killing the Cards? 7 or 8 for 30 per? Seriously? And he's how old?

Talk about nasty in years 5+.

Depends on who you ask. DJ nut says its a franchise killer. I say letting him go is a franchise killer. He may be the most beloved Cardinal since Stan the man. You can't let him walk and he ain't going to stay for mid market pay. We can handle being a top ten payroll team.

I agree with this statement.

I didn't see it here but they traded the best defensive infielder they had for a Class A pitching prospect from Seattle, Yeah for Theriot!

Had nothing to do with on the field talent. It was a team/ locker room chemistry thing. Supposely, some of the veterans had grown tired of Ryan's antics.

It's only a franchise killer if ownership insists on holding payroll at its present level.

If, however, they're willing to pay back the fans and subsidize the Pujols deal, we'll be fine. They need to simply recognize that they'll be paying the man $28 million/season and probably getting about $15 million/season in production from him.

If they're willing to treat his contract as a $15 million deal (essentially requiring them to raise payroll by 10-15 million), we'll be okay.

But they'd better not pay him that kind of money while expecting payroll to stay the same, not if they want to remain competitive.

Pujols alone will return the investment to ownership. Let television contracts, jerseys, hats, extra ticket sales, etc pay for Pujols. A supporting cast around him is just icing on the cake.

Also, in the immortal words of Crash Davis, he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a ****ing boat.

Bullshit.

We have the most uptight manager in the game and a team that rolled over and died against inferior competition. And that man has the gall to blame Brendan Ryan for that?

It's like blaming Bulgaria for WWII. There are way too many strong personalities on that club for it to be Brendan Ryan that sabotages it.

Furthermore - this organization makes a habit of doing this to everyone they trade away. Anytime they trade somebody, they immediately send their media hatchet men to work on undermining them. It's pathetic and all too common at this point.

People in STL are saying Carpenter wanted him gone. Nevermind the fact that he started 92% of Carpenter's games this season (vs. 72% for everyone else). Or that, of the 3 games he didn't start behind Carp, 2 were back to back when he was hitting .150 and in the 3rd he came into the game for good in the 3rd inning to replace a healthy Lopez. Yeah, Carpenter only requested him as his SS, he clearly wanted him gone.

This was just another example of LaRussa not wanting to deal with the hyper youngster and he fired up his spin machine so he doesn't look like such a curmudgeonly asshole.

Honest to God, he could be killing puppies in the clubhouse and we're still a better team with him at SS and Theriot at 2b, vs. Theriot at 2b and Skip ****ing Schumaker at 2b. We dumped the best defensive SS in the NL in favor of starting Skip Schumaker.

Nah - LaRussa doesn't make these things personal at all.

Posnanski weighs in:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/12/1...yan/?eref=sihp

The only way Schumaker is out of this lineup is if he pulls a Josh Hancock.

Why would that change things?

It's not like it would hurt his range to his right at all.

Awesome.

First round is on me.