***Offical 2010 STL Cardinals Baseball Thread ***
 

Holliday signs. The Deal is Done. $120 Million over 7 years.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=stl

Signed or controlled for the next 2 years

Shumaker 2B
Rasmus CF
Pujols 1B
Holliday LF
Ludwick RF
Molina C
Freese 3B
Ryan SS
And 2 CY Young caliber starting pitchers
Carp and Wainwright P

We get Lohse or Garcia to step up and be a reliable 3rd starter in the playoffs we can win a World Series with this line up.

I must admit after that Buckneresque drop and the protracted negotiations, my opinion of Holliday has taken a hit. But I'm sure it's best for the team that we resigned him.

We've got a 1-2 punch nobody else can match.

Interesting statement.

Tex and A-Rod.
Braun and Fielder.

Need to be in the discussion.

I am stooked as well. I hope Brad Penny turns out to be a good depth signing too.
What do yo think Pujols will get?
Do you think he will stay with the Cards?

Same here. I wouldn't have been broken up if he left. But he's a Cardinal for the rest of his career. He's wearing the Birds on the Bat, the money has been gauranteed, its in our best interest for him to be successful. I'll let the past go and give him a fresh start.

I think so. Pujols wants to play for a contender. By signing Holliday they showed Albert that they're serious about winning.

Had Holliday slipped away, I would have been very nervous.

But neither one of those have the name Pujols written in the line up card. :harumph:

You're funny.

Good Luck this Year
But Seriously **** the Cardinals, GO PADRES!

Same to you. I hope we get you in the first round. :)

No, I'm serious.

No Cards hate. They're a Missouri team, so I enjoy keeping tabs on how they're doing.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a formidable lineup. Just not sure that *the* best 3-4 because of Holliday.

Correct. So would have I. Pujols is my most favorite player since Gibson. To see him in a Yankees uniform?:cuss:

A lot of this signing is showing Pujols, Waino, Molina and the rest of the players that he Cardinals FO are serious about being a consistent winner in St. Louis. They can't compete wth the Cubs, Yankees, Mets, Boston etc payrolls but the Cardinals can afford a top 10 payroll.

Penny's your reliable 3rd starter.

By the end of the season in SF he was healthy and throwing darts. He's a very good pitcher when he's on his game.

Lohse is your 4th starter.

I'm far more concerned with our closer going forward than I am our 3rd or 4th starter. In all reality, I'm more concerned with our ace staying healthy than I am our 4th starter.

We still need one more guy (I really wanted duchscherer) that could start if Garcia doesn't develop or relieve if Franklin can't hold the fort. Smoltz seems like a good fit but his asking price is still too high. I wonder if Brett Myers could be had for cheap?

I'd also really like to see F. Lopez brought back to compete at 3b and act as a utility man if Freese wins the job.

Job's not done yet, Mo. You still have plenty of work to do.

Exactly my feelings. He's not my favorite guy coming back, but he's a Card now and we invested a ton in him, so you can only root for him to do well. Hopefully he realizes his sack isn't as big as he thought it was and goes back to catching with his glove this season.

A little bigger contract that I would have preferred since it sounded like the Cards were bidding against themselves but I am happy to see him back.

Seems like a few low key signings and this roster is shaping up nicely.

Suck Louis Cardinals

I'm hopeful Motte got the 2nd pitch and better control this year and he will step up to the plate. Hawksworth and Boggs can also step up this year,

He's proved to me he's up to the task. He's been so successful we had better watch out for the Yankess, Cubs etc coming after him. Excellent job so far. And Dewitt has proven he's no cheapskate.

Why do you hate St. Louis? It's not like Kansas has a professional baseball team that competes with them.

ROFL You are the witty one.

Look ma, a douchebag.

Holliday can still shove that bag of sunflower seeds up his ass, but if he keeps Pujols here, his albatross of a contract will be worth it.

Yeah, he's going to have to grow on me too. But if he helped keep Pujols in a Cardinals uniform, well worth the money.

Hey Mo and Dewitt while your passing out the big bucks...lets lock up Pujols forever in the Birds on Bat. He's going to get the biggest contract evah. If anyone has ever been worth it, Pujols is. Pull the trigger. Give us our own "Stan the Man" for this generation.

Motte's dead to me.

He showed so little progress last season that I really think you can call him stalled. He's not 22, the kid will be 28 yrs old this season and doesn't even have the beginnings of a breaking ball. He made absolutely no traction in that area as the season went on.

His velocity plummeted down to around 93 and his command was shaky at best by season's end. The only time he got anyone out was when someone was kind enough to hit a bullet right at someone.

Honestly, I'd slot him behind Boggs and Hawksworth in my RH relief corps, which is to say that he likely wouldn't make the team.

Hawksworth should be allowed to compete for the 5th spot along with Garcia and Boggs.

Penny is better than Pineiro's career year.

I'm sure they are all going to get plenty of starts in spring training. Unless Smoltz drops his price and then he could be back as the 5th starter.

I'd rather have Smoltz as a closer. I think Franklin's 15 minutes are up.

Smoltz will start somewhere. Thats what he wants and there are enough teams wanting him that one of them will give him a starting spot. But I agree, for us, he's much more valuable in the pen.

And I agree with Franklin. I hope he proves us wrong but I don't see a repeat of last year in 2010.

Every team has holes, even the Yankees. But a reliable closer isn't one of them if you expect to win a Champiionship.

Same here. At least if someone like Smoltz were around he could slide into that role if Franklin picks up where he left off last season.

Franklin's 15 minutes were up in August. They call it regression to the mean for a reason.


If they run him out there as closer for more than a month...:facepalm:

yep, that would be a great scenerio.

Congrats on signing Holliday. STL needs someone to protect Pujols in that lineup.

Wish the Royals could do something like this to even look like they're trying to compete.

I have all the respect in the world for the Cards organization. Big fanbase, old tradition, nice new ballpark, and a team that is actually worth a shit and cares about winning.

Besides Kansas basketball, you don't get to see that much around in the KC area.

Who gives a rats ass about the stupid Cardinals
 

Get off the Chiefs PLANET with this dribble, or move to STL

bad mistake n00b. Who the hell are you to tell us chit? N00b's :shake:

**** you, idiot. You going to tell the Iowa and Kansas people they can't have their threads too? If you don't like it go find another BB.

Go swallow some vomit you hemroid on my butt.

It's a Chiefsplanet first!!!!

CoMoChief is not the biggest douchebag in the thread!

Die in a fire, Noob.

I live in your area, I'll come find you and beat the piss out of you. :D

Absolutley we can win with that lineup. The "closer" roll still has many
question marks for me. Some one posted about Franklyns 15 minutes are up.
I tend to agree with that. He's not going to over power any ML batter when his slider isn't hitting his intended location. All the teams have the "book" on him now.

I would not have cried about losing Holiday, but I'm sure one happy camper that he's back in uniform with the Cardinals. Pujols now knows the Cardinals front office is dead serious on winning. Albert will be on a mission :)

BRCs lineup is nasty but we can't have Rasmus go into a sophmore slump.
I have no doubt that Schumacher and Ryan will be better at the plate.

Having Schumacher and Ryan togeather up the middle will be a plus.
Going into last season we didn't know what to expect up the middle at
SS or 2B. Now that problem has been put behind us what looks like for several seasons.

With Wainwright and (healthy) Carpenter as our 1 and 2, the Cardinals
should be a MAJOR force in the NL for several years to come.

Injuries are always the equalizer !

With all this snow and artic temps out and about everywhere, I'm longing for the BIRDS on the BAT to get cranked up.

Nice thread BRC :thumb:

And it's drivel, not dribble. Your and idiot.

LMAO

I don't consider the Royals a "rival" so I can't really muster up some smack talk. But, I've got the most respect another teams fan can have for the hard core royal fans. Taking a beating like you have since the early 90's and no real chance to be competitive every year and still being a "true" fan....Thats a really cool thing that any fan can respect.:thumb:

Bump, because its been snowing this afternoon and it will contimue all night and the mf wind will blow 30 - 40 mph again tomorrow to cause a mf blizzard in the middle of all this dam man made global warming !!!

Bring on the summer already and Cardinals baseball.

Just bring on April. God I hate this time of year. Chiefs eliminated, Mizzou football over, nothing left but basketball and hockey. And endless cold shitty weather on top of it. Yuck.

That's a LOT of jack to throw at Holiday in this market. Especially since, from what I heard nobody else was even close to offering that much. What's going to happen when Pujols is up for an extention?
Posted via Mobile Device

don't have to buy ice to keep the beer cold in the cooler.
sec

40% of their payroll will be wrapped up in two players.

Trust me, this deal doesn't happen if they think it's going to be a financial strain after extending Pujols.

Oh, he'll get paid. They'll do whatever it takes to keep him in St. Louis.

Way to jinx the damn season!! It's not opening day yet!

Always the optimist ;)

Whats the ARCH worth right now on the open market ? I'm guesisng ALbert will not hold the club hostage. He wants to win World Serie(s) in STL.
The club has an above average chance going forward with Holiday.

No chit. Dewitt and Mo didn't think about ...hey if we do this can we still give Pujols the biggest contract evah?

Albert will get his money.

Are Pujols and Holliday baseball’s best No. 3 and 4 combo?
THE WATERCOOLER QUESTION:Is there a better No. 3-No. 4 hitter combo in Major League Baseball than Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday? (Readers can vote below.)



JOE STRAUSS
Confining the question to the National League the reflexive answer may be NO, but the Milwaukee Brewers’ tandem of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder offers at least an argument. Both were 25 at the end of last season, combining for 78 home runs, 255 RBI and 161 extra-base hits. More consistent than in previous seasons, Fielder led the league in RBI and nearly ran down Pujols for the HR title. Braun was the league’s only player to finish in the top four in RBI, total bases, hits, runs, multi-hit games and extra-base hits.
Obviously, Pujols’ hits were diminished by being frequently pitched around. He ranks as the game’s most feared hitter. No question. Fielder and Braun are both deficient as defenders while Pujols is a Gold Glove winner and Holliday an above-average left fielder relative to the rest of the NL. They also strike out a ton relative to El Hombre and Holliday.
But if the discussion is confined to production, Braun and Fielder, there is at least a discussion. I’ll leave the metrics to others. Braun has averaged 38 home runs and 106 RBI his first three seasons, one of which included only 492 plate appearances. Holliday has averaged 28 home runs and 111 RBI the last three seasons while winning a batting title and an RBI crown.

DAN O’NEILL
Yes. Without need to research any further, the Yankees combination of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira is better. If you want to break it down, Rodriguez compares quite favorably with Pujols, although his numbers coming off some early health problems — 30 homers, 100 RBIS and a .532 slugging percentage in 124 games — were not equal to Pujols in 2009. In other seasons, they have been equal and then some.
Now compare Teixeira and Holliday. Teixeira had 39 homers, 122 RBIs with a .565 slugging percentage in 2009 — all three numbers were better than Holliday. What’s more, Teixeira is a switch-hitter who has had six season in which he has had 30-plus homers and 100-plus RBIs. The right-handed-hitting Holliday has two 30-plus homer seasons and three 100-plus RBIs.
Case closed.

JEFF GORDON
Albert is the sport’s best No. 3 hitter, of course, but it remains to be seen what Holliday will really add over the long haul. Is this a better tag team than A-Rod and Teixera? The Yankees won it all with that duo. Are Pujols and Holliday better than Chase Utley and Ryan Howard? Probably, but then again Philly has ruled the National League the last two years. Holliday slopped during the postseason and didn’t have a huge impact on Albert’s late-season numbers, so it is too early to label this combo as baseball’s best.
RICK HUMMEL

The only comparable is Mark Teixeira-Alex Rodriguez with the Yankees. That pair drove in 222 runs, 122 by Teixeira although Rodriguez missed the first month or so with injury issues. Pujols-Holliday combined for 244, counting Holliday’s 55 at Oakland.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Maybe none better but there are plenty that are right there in the team photo. Braun-Fielder in Milwaukee come to mind immediately. A-Rod-Teixeira in New York is pretty special. Don’t forget Mauer-Morneau in Minnesota. Utley-Howard in Philly is awfully good too. Wright-Beltran is pretty solid with the Mets, when they’re both healthy even though the ’09 numbers don’t show it. Kemp-Ramirez or Ethier-Ramirez in LA is nothing to sneeze at. If I were to rank the Top 3, I’d go A-Rod-Teixeira #1, Albert-Holliday #2 and Utley-Howard #3 with all the others close behind.

We got a 2 year window thats pretty much locked up and we can only get better in that time.

From STL Today:

Including all of the options that are out there, the Cardinals have 10 players signed through 2011. The actual number — when you consider options likely to be exercised — is nine, as the $9-million vesting option that Julio Lugo brings the table likely won’t trigger. Those eight players, from Trever Miller to Holliday and every Kyle Lohse inbetween, total a guaranteed $79.825 million already in place for 2011. (That number does include the $2 million deferred from Holliday’s salary and other deferments in place because that’s how the Cardinals calculate payroll.) Onto that $80 million the Cardinals then may have to add an arbitration-eligible Brendan Ryan, an arbitration-eligible Kyle McClellan (starter?) and a third-year arbitration Ryan Ludwick. The last of whom, mind you, brings a $5.45 million salary to the discussion.

It’s better to show than tell, so here is what the 25-man roster, complete with salaries or status, already looks like for 2011:

PITCHERS (12): Chris Carpenter, $15 million … Adam Wainwright, $6.5 million … Kyle Lohse, $11.875 million … Starter 4, TBD … Starter 5, TBD … Ryan Franklin, $3.5 million … Mitchell Boggs, pre-arb … Trever Miller, $2 million … Lefty, TBD … Kyle McClellan, 1st-ARB … Jason Motte, pre-arb … Blake Hawksworth, pre-arb/Josh Kinney, ARB.
PLAYERS (13): C Yadier Molina, $5.25 million … 1B Albert Pujols, $16 million (option) … 2B Skip Schumaker, $2.7 million … 3B David Freese, pre-arb … SS Brendan Ryan, 1st-ARB … LF Matt Holliday, $17 million … CF Colby Rasmus, pre-arb … RF Ryan Ludwick, 3rd-ARB … Bench Allen Craig, pre-arb … Bench Julio Lugo, $9 million (vesting option) … Bench Tyler Greene, pre-arb … Bench Jon Jay, pre-arb … Backup Catcher, TBD.

The words used most often last night when describing the deal with Schumaker was security — he got it with a two-year deal — and stability — the Cardinals got it at second. Another one is already play: continuity. The Cardinals are in place to have plenty of it. That was true before yesterday’s deal with Schumaker. All eight of the potential starting position players for the Cardinals in 2010 are under control for 2011. Four are signed. Two are pre-arbitration youngsters. Two are poised for arbitration. Read into it what you will.
Clearly the Cardinals have high expectations for 2010.
They’ve all but booked an encore.

Pretty cool video. Waino throwing batting practice to Pujols and others from the prespective of the camera on Molina's helmet.
http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzon...s-perspective/

This year is going to be fun. It's always a blast when the Cubs and Cards both are competitive. Good luck this season redbird fans. I can't wait for April.

How was your off season? You guys spend your boatload of money wiser this off season?

We didn't do much. We had a really good team in place last year they just had an injury prone year. Also we dropped Milton Bradley so that's a step in the right direction.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...C?OpenDocument

Camp puts smile on Albert Pujols' face

On his contract, which is up after 2011:

"People in St. Louis and our fans around the country know where I want to be. And that's St. Louis. There's no city like St. Louis to play baseball. And the way the city has embraced me, and my family and our charitable foundation has been unbelievable. I am blessed. So why would I want to go anywhere else?

"I appreciate being a Cardinal. I appreciate wearing this uniform. I appreciate being part of the legacy over the last nine years and I want to continue to do that. I appreciate being around the Hall of Famers. I don't think there's many organizations who have that. I think we have the most (living) Hall of Famers, and they come around. You see Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst all the time. They spend time with us. You appreciate talking baseball with all of those guys. So why would I want to go anywhere?

"Do I want to do this right now and take care of this so we don't need to worry about it? Of course. If it happens, it happens. But there are some things I am able to control and there are other things that are out of my hands that I can't control. And that's the truth

Makes me feel better about the chances of him staying. I just hope they get it done soon.

I have to wonder if strouds chicken is going to include a plateful of pujols homerun balls.

uhhh that sounds kind of gay. NTTIAWWT.

Kindof a sad story about Trever Miller's daughter

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...0?OpenDocument

Tough deal all around...

I have to brag about this.

Last night we went to an auction for the children's hospital in Columbia and came home with the coolest damn piece of Cardinal memorabilia ever.

We got a jersey signed by:

Keith Hernandez, Willie McGee, Terry Pendleton, Whitey Herzog, Tony LaRussa, Mark McGwire, Steve Carlton, Bruce Sutter, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols.

I wish it had Edmonds and Schoendist on it, but those are minor complaints when you already have Gibson, Brock, Musial, Ozzie and Pujols on there (especially when you have a mancrush on Scott Rolen). It's going to be here in a couple of weeks, it just needs to be framed.

Wicked.

Way cool. :clap:

Congrats! I'm officially jealous.:D

:cuss: WTF? This had better be BS. Pujols for Howard?

It's the sort of thing that is much more likely to happen in fantasy baseball than in real life, but according to sources, an idea has been kicked around the Phillies' organization internally, with discussions about proposing a swap of slugger Ryan Howard for St. Louis superstar Albert Pujols.

It's not fully clear whether the Phillies actually have approached the Cardinals with the idea, and even if St. Louis were to seriously consider such an offer, executives with the Cardinals would have to swallow very hard before dealing Pujols, a player widely regarded as the best in the sport.

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Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro flatly denied that the internal discussions have taken place. "Lies," he said. "That's a lie. I don't know who you're talking to, but that's a lie."

The talk may well echo, in the end, another blockbuster deal that was discussed but never consummated many years ago: Executives of the Red Sox and Yankees once famously discussed a trade of Ted Williams for Joe DiMaggio.

The logic for a Howard for Pujols swap, as discussed within the Phillies' organization, could fall along these lines: Pujols, 30 years old, is eligible for free agency after the 2011 season, and early conversations about a contract extension have not led to any long-term deal. The expectation within baseball is that Pujols may ask for a deal that would rival, in annual value, the record-setting 10-year, $275 million deal that Alex Rodriguez negotiated with the Yankees in fall 2007.

If the Cardinals were to decide, at any point, that they could not afford to sign Pujols, they could consider dealing him, in the way the Toronto Blue Jays traded Roy Halladay, or the Minnesota Twins traded Johan Santana.
And Howard, who is just a couple of months older than Pujols, would not be a bad alternative. In the past four seasons, Howard has hit 198 homers and accumulated 572 RBIs, and has finished in the top five of the NL MVP race.

Here's the public relations kicker: Howard was born in St. Louis, and is regarded as a hometown kid in that city.

Howard is under contract for each of the next two seasons as well -- for $19 million in 2010 and $20 million in 2011 -- as part of a three-year deal he signed last year. He would be more expensive than Pujols in each of the next two seasons, but on the other hand, he probably will not be as expensive to sign as Pujols in his next contract.

Pujols is a right-handed hitter who would help to balance a Philadelphia lineup that has been very left-handed, and he is regarded as a superior first baseman, as well as being the best hitter in the sport.

Pat Gillick, who preceded Amaro as general manager and is currently serving as an adviser, knows something about making out-of-the-box blockbusters.

Twenty years ago, as general manager of the Blue Jays, he stunned the baseball world by trading stars Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4994845

Freese getting national props in USA Today
Rookie David Freese's smarts, skills turning Cardinals' heads
By Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY

JUPITER, Fla. — Before landing in Florida for spring training as the new hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, Mark McGwire spent weeks working with some of the team's players.

After one session with a hitter, McGwire used one word to sum up his feelings in a text message to manager Tony La Russa.
"Wow."

The hitter wasn't Albert Pujols, Ryan Ludwick or Matt Holliday but rather rookie David Freese.


SPRING PREVIEWS: Team-by-team

"What impressed me most was his understanding of pitch selection and what he can and cannot hit," McGwire said before a recent spring training game. "And he's really, really good about driving the ball to right-center, which is really hard to find in young kids. For a young kid to have a mind like that and a stroke like that, I told Tony that there is something special about this kid."


That kid, who grew up 20 miles from Busch Stadium and hung Cardinals posters on his bedroom walls, could be the starting third baseman for the National League Central champions.

"It's surreal. It's a privilege to put on this uniform," Freese said. "It takes me back to my childhood every day I wear it. And Lou Brock and Bob Gibson are always here. Now throw McGwire into the equation, you can't ask for anything better. I just have to work hard to make sure I keep wearing it."

Last year, after hitting .306 with 26 home runs in 131 games for Class AAA Memphis in 2008, Freese broke camp with the Cardinals. But a sore left ankle bothered him as he hit .158 with two RBI in 11 games before he was sent back to Class AAA. He had arthroscopic surgery on the ankle and returned in July to hit .300 with 10 home runs and 37 RBI in 56 games.

He went 7-for-12 after a September recall and left an impression that he could fill the vacancy created by Mark DeRosa's departure.

"He's worked hard and shown flashes of everything you like to see," La Russa said. "He's competing, and you like to see that.
"He's not afraid to mix it up."

Freese, battling veteran Felipe Lopez for the third-base job, also has impressed La Russa, the front office and his teammates in handling a personal issue. Freese was arrested on a drunken-driving charge in the St. Louis area in December. His blood-alcohol level of 0.23 was nearly three times Missouri's legal limit of 0.08. Shortly after the arrest, he entered the team's employee assistance program.

Freese said he hasn't had a drink since, welcome news in an organization jarred by pitcher Josh Hancock's death in an alcohol-related car crash in 2007 and La Russa's guilty plea to driving under the influence the same year.
"The biggest thing I learned is that I have the opportunity to play baseball for a living, something so many kids dream about being able to do, and it can be taken away from you in a heartbeat," he said. "I learned you just have to think before you act. I showed poor judgment.

"It's something I have to deal with every day, and I am going to do that."
Freese turned to working out, shedding 15 pounds in a busy winter. He hit three times a week with Pujols and worked on hitting and defense with former Cardinal Scott Cooper and current third-base coach Jose Oquendo.
The work hasn't tailed off this spring, especially with McGwire.

"What so many young hitters have to remember is there is a pitcher that is being paid a lot of money to get you out and some nights he's better than you," McGwire said. "So watch video, go through the Rolodex in your mind and figure out if the pitcher got you out or you got yourself out.
"I think he has a grasp on that. He's got a good head on his shoulders; he's working hard. I think he really could be something special for this team."
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...ardinals_N.htm

Pujols is looking good so far...

I just wish he could get his outside of baseball shit together

I guarantee you that the vast majority of people on this forum have gotten behind the wheel with a BAC way above the legal limit when they were that age.

No doubts, how can he be told not to when the skipper passes out behind the wheel in spring training. My point is if he keeps it up he'll either Leonard Little someone or hurt himself in the process.

my visit to Wrigley.Sorry for the cell phone quality pics.

http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzon...fifth-starter/

Garcia gets the 5th starting spot. Kyle McClellan to work the 8th inning again this year.

Just got back from a week in Jupter - David Freese is a ballplayer.

I'm absolutely sold on the kid. He's going to be a premium defensive 3b and an above average hitter. We have our 3b for the next 5 years, IMO. I was incredibly impressed by him.

He has a nice line-drive stroke; 35 doubles/25 HRs are a possibility. He has great defensive instincts and soft hands. His arm is not Rolen's, but it's above average (better than Glaus). He's very quick at along the line as well, he made 3 or 4 great diving snags in the 4 games I watched.

He's a natural 6 hitter, average baserunner and potentially premier defensive 3b. Him and Brendan Ryan are going to be revelations to a lot of people this year, IMO. That's the left side of our IF for a loooong time.

Very cool! :clap: thanks for the first hand info!

:spock:

If this is true, and not just a great offensive performance (d aside) based on hitting against grocery baggers, I'll be ****ing stunned.

Thank God.

Hating on the local kid?

f'n sweet

Why?

First, look at his Memphis performance; in 2008 he made the leap from high A to AAA and actually improved offensively despite skipping AA altogether - that's no small feat. I honestly consider the jump to AA to be the hardest one to make and he took a bigger step than that without skipping a beat. Last year he started out hurt and awful, only to rebound very strongly as the year progressed.

Second, look at his swing. He's a big kid and has a nice even swing. He keeps his hands in well and takes a pretty direct route to the ball. He's not a slugger, but will get into some line drives that clear the fence. I don't think he'll peak this season by any means; a rookie learning curve is to be expected. At the same time, he's going to continue getting better as he's done at every stop through out his career.

Finally - he wan't just hitting grocery baggers. His two doubles I saw in the first game came off Matusz (best pitching prospect in the AL, likely #2 starter for Baltimore) and Mike Gonzalez (nasty left closer for Baltimore). In the Nats game he scalded the ball twice off Lannan and Bergman (Lannan is a good pitcher, Bergman's a legit ML reliever) and was robbed of extra bases twice, only to get a lucky single later. He put in a solid single against Hensley, who's had a strange career but is an unquestioned ML pitcher (180 innings in 2006 before some injuries; he looked pretty good locking up Albert for 3 ABs in the same game).

If we stick with him, we'll have a very nice player on our hands.

I'm not questioning his ability to be a solid everyday player, I'm saying it would be stunning if this happened, especially if he developed 25-30 HR power. It would be the theft of all thefts, given that we got him from SD for Edmonds, who they cut 40 games into the year.