Wow. I had heard the Padres were possibly interested in Edmonds. I guess I didn’t think they were that interested. First and foremost, goodbye and good luck Jim. Thanks for so many great memories, and for being a true Cardinal through thick and through thin. The Cardinals have a great tradition of center fielders, and Edmonds has been the best of them all, and he has a legitimate argument for the Hall of Fame. I hope to God he gets there. Sadly, we all know he’s been a shell of the player he once was because of age and injury, but I personally still was sort of hoping to see if he still had a little more gas in the tank. For sentiment’s sake I would’ve liked to see him retire a Cardinal. Seeing him in Padre blue will almost be like seeing the Willie Mays in Metropolitan maze and blue. It’s depressing to see him go, yet on the other hand it’s been depressing seeing his steep decline, too. Of course, I’m still pulling for him to bounce back.
Now on to the good news.
The Cards freed up some $$$. Also, there is this nugget from Joe Strauss-
Leading prospect Colby Rasmus will receive the opportunity to jump next spring from Class AA to Edmonds’ vacated position.
Wow again. Can Rasmus do it? I think it’s very possible. Let’s look at Colby’s projections:
-Bill James: .259/.345/.492
-ZiPS: .249/.329/.419
-CHONE: .245/.320/.405
Bill James is wildly optimistic, where as ZiPS and Chone are more pessimistic. But if he can provide good glove work and hit those lines, he’d be fine for CF. They also have Ankiel, Barton and Ludwick that could play center should they decide not to rush things with Rasmus.
OK, so now who is David Freese? The first thing I’m sure most of you noticed is he is old for a guy who never hit above A ball, he’ll turn 25 this April. However, you should bear in mind that he wasn’t drafted long ago–he was selected in the 9th round in the 2006 draft. He played at Southern Alabama where he was a 5th year senior and a teammate of P.J. Walters. So far in the majors, Freese has done nothing but hit-
Low A Eugene, 2006: .379/.465/.776 in 71 PA. Northwest League average OPS .691.
A Fort Wayne, 2006: .299/.371/.510 in 230 PA. Midwest League average OPS was .690.
A+ Lake Elsinore, 2007: .302/.400/.489 in 592 PA. California League average OPS was .770.*
*It should be noted that while the Cal League is notoriously hitter friendly, Lake Elsinore is one of the league’s most run suppressing parks.
Freese doesn’t strike out too often (16.7% of his PA’s in 2007) and draws his fair share of walks (11.7%). His power numbers have been good but not stellar. He absolutely must stop hitting the ball on the ground (51% GB rate). Freese finished 11th in the league in wOBA with a stalwart .390.
Scouting wise, here’s a few reports I was able to dig up on him:
Deric McKamey, Minor League Baseball Analyst 2007-
Polished college hitter with good plate coverage and moderate power potential. Mediocre plate discipline could affect BA at upper levels, but still should draw share of walks. Lacks mobility at 3B, but with good arm strength and playable hands. The Padres believe he could catch.
Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2007-
…it is Freese’s big time bat that will be his ticket to the big leagues, as his strength, bat speed and strike zone judgment are all above average…showed ability to stay inside the ball and drive it the other way with authority. The Padres would like Freese to stand more upright at the plate to generate more lift to his pull side, and he needs to prove he can hit major league caliber breaking balls. Accounts of his defense vary, as area scouts regarded Freese as a first baseman coming out of college, but the Padres officials saw the potential to become at least an average defender at third base. His infield actions, range and arm rate average at best, but his techniques require refinement.
Not sure I’m digging the lack of agreement here, but at least everyone can agree that he can hit. I don’t think the Cardinal fans should have been expecting a A or B prospect for a decrepit Jimmy, and Freese is very much a C prospect. But he’s a solid C prospect, and while he is older, the scouts and stats bear out he has at least half decent upside. Here’s a video of him wrapping out a single, a hat tip to Liam who found this and posted the link at VEB.
To wrap up here. –
- I’m sad to see Jim go, but really he basically was already gone. Jocketty extending him another 2 years when he could’ve just picked up his option was a poor decision.
- Now they can spend $ on a free agent pitcher. La-di-freakin-da.
- Freese isn’t much in return, but at least he’s something in return. He’s worth keeping an eye on. BA ranked him the #15 Padre prospect going into 2007. John Sickels recently gave him a C+ grade. Friar Forecast, a very good Padre blog, named him their 17th best prospect. If he can start hitting the ball in the air more often and not on the ground so darn much, he could take off. But he’s probably not a future regular without making some adjustments at the plate and at the hot corner. His Peak Translated EqA is .255, not great by any means. One thing I do like is that he’s apparently quite excited about being a Cardinal. He lives in Wildwood and also had attended Meramec Community College.
- The best news of all is this makes solidifies the team’s commitment to Rasmus, and that we could all be chanting Col-by, Col-by, Col-by in the very near future.
Filed under: David Freese, Transactions
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Agree on all counts. Sentiment makes me feel bad that Edmonds could not retire here, but in every other sense this is a good move. There’s a sizable faction of fans that will beat the Dewitt is cheap drum from this, but I am getting increasingly optimistic about the direction Mozeliak is taking.
As it stands now, he has taken around 10 million off the books and, in my opinion at least, has not impacted the team negatively in the short term. Most importantly, he’s opened the door for people that can help long term.
Edmonds production can be duplicated by some combination of Barton, Rasmus, Schumaker. And it opens the door for your top prospect to get more time this year if he shows he up to it.
Eckstein and Miles production can be matched by Ryan and hopefully Hoffpauir. I wasn’t big on the Izturis signing but understand Ryan is not a prospect that warrants completely handing the keys over to. This was as good of an opportunity as he was going to get.
I think Mo is moving away from a band aid approach and moving toward finding more longstanding solutions. Thats a good thing. Of course, one Mike Cameroneque signing and my view on things changes completely.
Everybody sees this as a good thing for Colby Rasmus and while I don’t doubt that he would love the opportunity, the jump from AA to the show should not be underestimated. I have no doubt that he will turn out to be a great CF, but I am not convinced that letting him play in Memphis for a couple of months to see if he is truly ready for the jump isn’t the better option. My fear being, they push him, he struggles and takes a step backward and his ultimate arrival is not the 2009 season like everyone expects, but more like 2010.
I don’t know what makes me more sad — knowing that Jim will no longer be a Cardinal, or realizing that it is without a doubt a good move for the organization.
Whenever a player leaves St. Louis, I always stop to reflect on his time here, and I try to identify the one particular thing I’ll remember him by, above everything else. This is usually a particular game, a particular quote or, in a few cases, a particular interaction I personally might have had with the player.
For Jim, it’s none of those. I’m not going to remember one catch (there were too many) or one home run (although you all know which one I’d pick), but rather, his left wrist, and the two sets of initials he has tattooed there:
DK
JH
Jim, thank you for eight wonderful years. As a fan, it was a pleasure watching you wear the Birds on the Bat. You were a great player, a great teammate, a class act.
Ok, this is a bad thing for Rasmus from my perspective. He should get a couple months in AAA no matter what. And if he makes the team out of ST, he’s going to a year closer to free agency.
If we do something significant with the $7 million it might be worth it - otherwise we just. through in the towel for 2008.
I’ve never seen such diverse scouting reports. Not only on whether he is good defensively but why. Above says strong arm, saw a report on a Padres sight where his scoach says weak arm but good footwork. Amazing!
Remember that the Cards probably scouted Freeze when they scouted Walters. Also, we just hired one of SD’s player development guys so that may have had an influence here as well.
Thanks, Erik, for putting a somewhat positive spin on this deal. I keep looking for reasons to be happy about it. Good luck, Jim.
sad to me also, but we have to move on. the question is, what happens to the money. we are shipping more than $1M to sd based on the need for commissioner’s approval of the trade, so we now have probably about covered the dead money in juan e’s contract by pulling in low salary players to fill the position. my guess is ankiel will get the nod because at his age they need to find out if they really have anything with him and keeping colby on the farm for a few months is probably a wise idea. being the saviour from the get go can be a tough gig for a person his age. alternatively, maybe rick’s in right and skip is our leadoff “hitter”. unlimited swell possibilities to mull over. scotty better do well, or we’ll never see a BOB on web gems this year!
Merry CRasmus - that is an excellent name. Kudos on that.
Shhh — I’m with you. I don’t want to see Rasmus here to start the year. I’d rather him see regular at bats in AAA so that we can keep him that extra year. Additionally, given that we already have two LH bats in the outfield the Cardinals need to figure out who needs to be platooned and what to do with Barton, Ludwick, Ankiel and Duncan. The outfield is crowded right now and throwing Rasmus into that is just asking TLR to bench him for being young.
Like everybody else I’ve got conflicting feelings. For sure it’s the end of an era and for sure it means the Cards are focused on the future. That’s good. Given that I really do think that Rasmus will get at least half a season in AAA. This affects Skip Schumaker more than anyone else. I think he will get a real half season chance at least in a platoon situation to prove that he belongs. I think he might just do that too, giving him more value to the Cards or other teams. One disappointing thing for me (I know most of you will disagree) is that this means that Duncan will probably not be traded. I think the Cards could get more value by trading him and I also think he will eventually prove that he just can’t be a starting outfielder. That will negate any future trade value. Like everybody I’m hoping Jim Ed has a great season or two and eventually makes the hall.
With Barton picked up I don’t think they will rush Rasmus. We have 4 CFs on the roster right now Schumaker, Ankiel, Ludwick, Barton. Those should be able to handle it. If by June they aren’t hitting and Colby is tearing AAA apart then you call him up otherwise you let it be.
i think you all may be right about rasmus, but i’m surprised by the amount of conservative responses. i don’t really think he’s that far away. his slumpiness is my main concern, but he destroyed the ball the end of the year and for Team USA. Obviously AA and international competition and MLB are two pretty different things, but don’t be shocked if shows up this spring, tears things up and wins a job.
Poking around at BP, PECOTA seems to like Freese more than I expected. Here’s the 25/50/75 projections from last year(AVG/OBP/SLG/EqA):
25 - .253/.303/.395/.240
50 - .269/.322/.435/.260
75 - .292/.350/.492/.286
All those numbers put him as the 10th best 3rd base prospect headed into last year according to PECOTA. He got an Honorable Mention in Kevin Goldstein’s 3rd base list with this blurb:
By entering pro ball after five years of college, Freese is 24 in his first full season; so age isn’t on his side, but hitting skills and raw power are.
This is perhaps a better prospect than I had at first thought but still not someone to get too excited about yet. He’s gonna need to keep raking this year. . . . .
i’m with easy. now is the time to maximize duncan’s value in trade. he is the only cardinal i feel this way about. if you can’t get what you need, ok, but the other teams should be told he is available. i just don’t see a full season of duncan making him more valuable and part of that is because from a practical point of view, i don’t see him winning a full time job over a bunch of other guys who are are worst a notch below. i predict he will end up a platooner.
Hey guys, thanks for the link and the kind words. I really, really enjoy this blog …
Anyway, I’m no prospect expert, but if you want to go by letter grades, I see Freese as a C/C+ prospect. Like you mention, the ground ball rate is a bit worrisome, especially for a slower guy … it’s about 52% so far in his minor league career.
Now if he could catch, that might be a different story. But from what I’ve heard, that was mostly just for show.
FWIW, the guys over at Madfriars.com (the Padres scout.com site) have Freese at 13 if you average their 3 lists. One of the lead guys says his defense has been great so far, so obviously there’s some difference of opinion there.
Minor league UZR and fans scouting report, anybody …?
Anyway, great analysis as always and good luck with Freese.
I am very upset about this trade. Let’s face it the Cards are probably going to struggle in 2008 and probably were regardless of whether Jimmy was going to be here or not. I am upset because ownership basically jettisoned a clubhouse leader, fan favorite, and a guy that probably has a decent shot to make the HOF. I saw what everyone else saw last year, Jimmy Ballgame is in decline. I am upset that in order for the owner to pocket $7 million we Cards fans lose out on the chance to give him the proper send off that he deserves. I love Colby Rasmus and can’t wait for the start of his career whether it is at the start of the season or midseason, but I will always remember that in order to save a buck I have to see an alltime Cardinal great retire as a Padre. It’s just not right.
I played little league against David Freese when he played for the Pond Pirates. When he were about 12, he had a killer fastball. Wasn’t much of a position player back then, though.
MB–thanks for stopping by and giving us your input. I hope he works out. Mike Emeigh at BBTF said he has Garrett Atkins upside, but stated he felt it unlikely he’d reach it.
FWIW, minorleaguesplits.com has uses Gassko’s range stat, and Freese was a butcher. -43 per 150 g
Erik wrote “i think you all may be right about rasmus, but i’m surprised by the amount of conservative responses. i don’t really think he’s that far away. his slumpiness is my main concern, but he destroyed the ball the end of the year and for Team USA. Obviously AA and international competition and MLB are two pretty different things, but don’t be shocked if shows up this spring, tears things up and wins a job.”
And thats what I’m afraid of. If he starts the season with the big boys I don’t really think he’ll be better than a Barton/Shumaker platoon I hope to see in center to start the season. Giving him a couple months in AAA gives him time to warm up, and will give the Cardinals an extra year of his services for cheap.
I am in Mexico for a week and things start to move. Why make this move and save 7mil if you are not going to offer Eckstien arbitration because you do not want to pay for the first round sandwich pick?
I’m with Shhh here. Unless Rasmus tears it up in Spring, I’d like to see Barton and Schumaker duke it out to start the season. The expectations on Rasmus would be so, so high—replacing Edmonds at age 21. The way he has a tendency to struggle when he adjusts to a new league, I fear he could be set back quite a bit if he fails to live up to expectations.
I’ve always been unreasonably high on Skip, but I’d like to see him in center and leading off to start the season. He’s got the maturity to handle the grief he’ll get from the “best fans in baseball” as the replacement for both Jimmy and Eck. I’d prefer he succeed in both roles, but if not, Rasmus can come up a few months into the season with expectations tempered a bit and step into that role.
I doubt that even among Cardinal fans, Jimmy’s greatness was *really* fully appreciated. From 2000-05, his OPS+ ranged from an outstanding 137 to a Pujolsesque 170. Moreover, Jimmy very rarely hit into double plays–just 43 during that 6-year run (Torii Hunter GIDPed 88 times during the same stretch, Andruw Jones 97 times[!]). So you can tack on the equivalent of another, say, 15-20 points of OPS to Edmonds’ totals for that. And then there’s all those Gold Gloves….
During his first 6 Redbird seasons, Jimmy E was almost surely one of the 3 best players in baseball, along with Albert & A-Rod. Man, I’ll miss him.
That said, this is a great trade for the Cards. The $$ freed up will likely be applied to the starting pitcher we badly need, and young Mr. Rasmus can now be handed the keys to center field. (Yes, he will probably struggle in April, but sure as you’re sittin’ down, the kid is ready for MLB right now. The thing of it is, everyone realizes the 20-year-old Colby led all AA hitters with 29 taters and had a terrific .932 OPS in AA in ‘07, but here’s the punchline: the 2nd half of his AA season he posted a line of .312/.429/.624; as if that weren’t enough, over roughly the final 6 weeks he hit an unholy .350/.450/.750 (insert joyful expletive). Colby’s profound in-season breakthrough is what all the projection systems are NOT taking into account. And lest anyone think those numbers are in any way a fluke, they were tellingly accompanied by steadily improving BB/AB and BB/K ratios. The big breakthrough is legit.
Let me be the first to welcome Colby Ryan Rasmus and his immediate .850+ OPS to Busch Stadium. (First 1.000+ OPS won’t come until 2012, so please be patient, folks.
)
Is anyone else bugged by the poll on the PD website? How ungrateful and short are the memories. Jimmy was one of the best ever and I remember Curt Flood. I prefer this direction to some of the rumors. I also look forward to seeing some more effort spent on the minors. Also, I wonder what Allen Craig thinks about this deal.
“I am getting increasingly optimistic about the direction Mozeliak is taking.”
I’m not sure which direction that is.
“As it stands now, he has taken around 10 million off the books”
…and put $21 million back on in a closer with a bad hip, a middle reliever, a craptastic starter and a utility infielder. Pretty lame if you ask me.
It would be more justified if they were going to do something with the money saved. I’m not remotely sold on that. As I said before today, they’ll probably use that money to draft the most signable, safe player and bring in Esteban Loaiza.
Going to say everything with a disclaimer that a long term signing of a Loaiza type pitcher or Cameron type outfielder changes everything.
But the direction would appear to be an attempt to purge the dead money on the club and of players with no upside. So far no tampering with anything in the farm and actually the addition of one fringe guy.
Of the resignings the Springer one is the only one I have a total disapproval of, simply because I belief relief is one area the farm is capable of providing immediate support. Izzy is priced fairly in todays market. Given the complete lack of free agent starters, Pineiros contract is reasonable for what should be something resembling league average performance. And Izturis at least should open the door for Ryan to show if he can fit anywhere long term.
So Freese wears #15 too…
Crasmus,
One could argue (and probably be right) that Pineiro is in the same boat as Edmonds — just a younger pitching version. He was going to be priced too high for throwing 66 fluke innings where he gave up 11 home runs and made his numbers look better with a great BB/9. I don’t think Pineiro has any upside, and should have been let go, not given an extension that the team will be regretting by May 15.
Another thing — it wasn’t that they picked up Izturis, it was the timing of that whole thing. Mozeliak or whoever actually believed that they would lose out on both Eckstein and Izturis, so they wound up committing way, way, way too early. So I believe that their direction is still non-existent if they actually believed that teams were going to be knocking down Cesar’s door.
Izturis is a one year deal and because of him the judgement was made we didn’t need either Miles or Eckstein, so I’m ok with it. Looks like Ryan and Hoffpauir are getting a better opportunity than they would have under Walt and than I thought they would be getting under Mo a few weeks ago.
With Jo-el, I would agree 100% with you if not for the fact that I see nobody in the free agent market that I would consider anything better than a #4 or 5, and that I don’t see anyone in the system ready to move into a starting role in the short term. Don’t particularly see much upside with Pineiro either, but just because we want better options doesn’t mean they are there. Once the dollars come in for the free agent starters this year, I think we’ll find that Pineiro’s pricetag was much more acceptable than it appears now. We need to get to the point where the farm club allows us to stay out of this free agent garbage, but in my estimation we aren’t there yet with starters.
I didn’t see the logic to signing Springer because it seems Perez and Motte, to name 2, are close to ready for a look.
And Edmonds, great a Cardinal as he was, will have his recent production exceeded by some combination of Barton, Schumaker, Ankiel, Rasmus in 08′. And the extra AB’s for those guys should help them in 09′.
My 2 cents:
Rasmus is ready. His numbers compare favorably to what Hunter Pence put up in AA the year before last and we all saw that he was ready last year…in fact the Astros really hurt themselves by not starting the year with Pence on the club.
Furthermore, I think we would all agree that Andy LaRoche is ready…right? Well Rasmus was just as good as LaRoche with Team USA. In fact, one might say that in the leadoff role, Rasmus was better.
As far as Freese goes, I really like his stats. Good OBP, decent power, obviously has some speed (as evidenced by the triples). If he learns to elevate the ball, he will be very dangerous. I like that the team is targeting guys who will take a walk. Barton and Freese both have very good plate discipline.
Finally, it is hard to see Jimmy go. I had hoped he would finish his career as a Cardinal. However, while he has hinted that this is his last year, he has not announced his intentions. He may play longer and it’s not as if the Cardinals were going to hold back Rasmus beyond this year…barring the unforeseen.
I’m drifting from the premise of the thread, but just wanted to chime in a bit on Pineiro, ’cause I’m confused by the skepticism. Seems to me JP is a perfect fit for Dave Duncan’s Pitcher Transformation Project ™.
Like Darryl Kile, Chris Carpenter, Woody Williams, and others, Pineiro is a veteran righty who’s shown both genuine ability and durability before. Specifically, in 2002/2003 Pineiro threw over 400 innings with a #2 starter-quality cumulative ERA+ of 122 (by comparison, Adam Wainwright posted a 119 ERA+ last year).
After joining the Birds last year, JP (who’s only two years older than “young” hurlers Dan Haren & Joe Blanton) posted a better K/BB ratio than any previous point in his career–an *extremely* positive indicator of real improvement.
If anything, I’d guess the ERA+ of 111 Pineiro put up for the Cards last year is a conservative estimate of what he’ll accompish over the next two seasons. At $13MM for two years, Pineiro could be the pitching steal of the off-season.
This is going to be my 3rd year with season tickets in the Left/Centerfield bleachers, and I’m going to miss seeing Edmonds tip his cap to the fans as the Cardinals took the field in the 1st inning while the bleacher fans chanted “Jim-my, Jim-my”. Just when you thought his career was over in mid-2006 due to post-concussion syndrome, he came back and led them to a World Series championship. Thanks Jim.
At least now we have a lead-off hitter, whether it be Skip, Barton, or Colby. Our line-up should be better this year because of that.
With A. Craig being entrenched at Springfield for at least the beginning of the year, I wonder if the Cards will try to start Freese at Memphis, because of his advanced age. After two months, if it’s not working, they could probably switch him and Craig.
My money is on Edmonds bouncing back this season and the Cards regretting this move. The basic premise is… why do we need the $6M and who does Edmonds take an opportunity away from? Seems to me the answer is primarily Skip Schumaker.
The other side of the coin is that if JED asked for it, then I’d say its right all around. He is a HOF and his number should be retired right now (along with Mac) in my mind…
Jimmy would be taking time away from one of three outfielders, depending which OF position he plays: (1)Chris Duncan, (2)Rick Ankiel, or (3)Colby Rasmus (my post from yesterday afternoon went into . All three figure to provide more offense (maybe a lot more) than Jim did last year. Sure, Edmonds *might* bounce back to at least his ‘06 level…but a 37-year-old ballplayer who’s hitting has declined in back-to-back-to-back seasons isn’t a good bet to get substantially better–and, of course, Jimmy has missed large chunks of playing time in each of the past two years.
The saved money will presumably be used to pay an additional starting pitcher. Ownership was stubborn & cheap last off-season (remember Bill DeWitt’s sworn promise 12 months ago of a $100-105MM payroll?); we can only hope they’ve learned their lesson. Whether it’s Colon, Clement, Benson, Fogg, or whomever, the Cards *must* add a starter. (Sorry if any of those guys have already signed elsewhere. Haven’t read the sportspage much the last few days
)
I think the big winner in the deal is Ludwick. I really like how he plays and he along with Ankiel and of course Pujols are the 3 guys I can’t wait to see hit.
I think the team has high hopes that Ryan can measure up and just signed Izturis for security.
I would love to see the Cards take a flyer on Prior and Colon. If either one came through even close to what they can do it would be a far cry better than trading youth or even bringing back Matt Morris as much as I used to love him.
“Like Darryl Kile, Chris Carpenter, Woody Williams, and others, Pineiro is a veteran righty who’s shown both genuine ability and durability before. Specifically, in 2002/2003 Pineiro threw over 400 innings with a #2 starter-quality cumulative ERA+ of 122 (by comparison, Adam Wainwright posted a 119 ERA+ last year).”
That’s a lifetime ago. You could say the same thing about Kip Wells, almost exactly in fact. Kip also had 60 similar innings towards the end of last year!
If Duncan is an asset, then you get pitchers that work well woth him on the cheap. Pineiro’s 140 IP in 2004 are the last time he was close to a respectable starting pitcher. He’s not the same guy, and paying above market rates (remember Kip Wells is basically identical) for a reclamation project defeats the entire purpose of having a one-trick pony magician of a pitching coach.
I certainly see your point re: Kip Wells, and I’m the last one to claim Dave Duncan can fix *everyone*, but all the evidence we have to go on suggests he’s already markedly improved Pineiro’s control (the 40/12 K/BB ratio JP posted with the Birds easily surpasses even his best previous numbers), and let’s not forget that Dunc got more out of Todd Wellemeyer last year than he’s ever shown before, as well (ERA+ of 121 as a starter, 141 overall).
Dave Duncan is no miracle worker, but when there’s already evidence that he’s changed a pitcher for the better, I’m not going to doubt it. (For instance, Woody Williams in his first 40 Cardinal starts had an ERA+ of 170, and he had shown nothing like that before he came to St. Louis. Duncan basically turned Woody into Pedro Martinez in less than a week, so I’m keeping the faith….)
Well, if tossing the ball down the middle comes at the expense of 11 taters in 60 innings, then I’m not sure this is a good thing. I also have sample size concerns about the 60 innings, so this doesn’t suggest “evidence” to me.
And yes, there are plenty of examples of players that have had their peaks, or a nice turnaround in St. Louis. Part of that is great defenses and targeting rebound candidates, but surely Duncan has had a positive effect.
Williams certainly had a great year by any measure in 2002, but he also was blessed with a .256 BABIP, and way outperformed his 3.83 FIP. The rest of his time as a Cardinal his ERA reflected how well he was pitching. There’s some smoke and mirrors there.
Event though Colby is young, I believe he has more experience than Ankiel in playing CF…
Quit platooning Duncan, let’s see what he can do on a daily basis in LF. Let Ankiel with his rifle arm play RF and let’s throw Rasmus into CF… I think he is ready.