Future Redbirds

Rounding up Redbird notes from around the net.

Last week I mentioned that Jay Bruce has his own blog. Now I find that Matt LaPorta is a columnist for Baseball Digest Daily?!?!? Colby, the offer remains if you ever want to write here at FR — you wouldn’t want to be shown up by your NL Central counterparts.

Is it possible that Clayton Mortensen could vault up the depth chart this season? Kary Booher has some quotes from Jeff Luhnow regarding the 2007 draftee.

Pepper St. Louis Cardinals farm director Jeff Luhnow with questions about right-hander Clayton Mortensen — specifically whether the 2007 first-round supplemental pick will leapfrog Double-A Springfield and land in Triple-A Memphis by opening day — and he breaks into a grin. That is, a grin that Luhnow cannot conceal even though he tries to look away. “It’s because he’s currently on the spreadsheet in High-A,” the farm director said, breaking into a laugh this past week in St. Louis’ front office at Busch Stadium.

I hope this is the last year we have signings like John Wasdin. If the scouting department is doing their job then the need for washed up AAA veterans should end in the very near future.

Speaking of AAA arms, Dewon Brazelton isn’t ready to begin pitching yet. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him cut loose if the arm doesn’t heal by the end of Spring training. (BTW, Goold’s reports from Jupiter are pure gold. Great information on a daily basis.)

KLaw chat.

Andy (Tampa): The Cardinals seem to be getting no attention. Do St. Louis fans have anything to be excited about? And do you see Colby Rasmus as the everyday centerfielder sometime soon?

Keith Law: Rasmus is a guy to get excited about, and I think he’s going to play the majority of games for the Cards in CF this year.

Have I talked up Rasmus in this post yet? I’m going to wear my Springfield Rasmus T-shirt jersey to every minor league game I go to this year.

Douglas (St. Louis, MO): Another Cardinals question: Jamie Garcia missed out on a lot of top 100 prospects lest (I assume because of his elbow). If he starts to look healthy, do you think he moves up in your rankings?

Keith Law: Yes, he would have been 20-30 spots higher with a full season that matched what he did in his partial season.

Obviously Douglas is not an FR reader as we’ve already covered this. The Goold reports have made it sound like the Cardinals shut down Garcia as an early precautionary move. I wish I believed that but I won’t feel good about him till I’ve seen him throw 50 innings or so.

Joe (San Diego): Just started The Meaning of Everything… love the quote about all the best novels, plays etc “all being in this one book” when referring to the OED. What three books would you bring with you on a deserted island?

Keith Law: I almost never re-read books. I’ve read Pride & Prejudice twice, fifteen years apart. Catcher in the Rye I was assigned twice, didn’t like it either time. That might be it for novels.

I read Catcher in the Rye as an attempt to expand into more noteworthy literary works. It might have been one of the dullest books I’ve ever read.

Non-baseball related link: I want this dog.

Colby Rasmus: 3rd best 21-year-old? Rich Lederer lists him there although I think you could rearrange the top three and make a case for any of them. Bryan Anderson makes the list as well.

[edit by Erik this sunday AM] I don’t mean to interrupt AZ’s weekly edition of the meaty Prospect Stew, but I found this tidbit from Goold to be “huzzah” worthy:

The Cardinals have been a team that is relentlessly obedient to the commissioner’s office and its slotting for draft pick. (See: Rick Porcello.) But they have recently said that they are going to re-evaluate their approach to the draft and could, in the words of one official, “look at being more aggressive.” That’s not to say they’re going to go goofy, of course, but if there’s a player who slips to them because of the sixth tool — signability — then they may not be bound by their slotting habits.

That’s terrific and all, but is it a few seasons too late? I think a lot more teams are going to adopt this strategy, including the normal line toers, IE the Pirates.

Speaking of the draft, fewgoodcards is going to be providing some coverage starting Monday or so, so be on the lookout for that.

I also found it pretty cool that Colby Rasmus’s Alabama license plate reads RAZ STL. I suppose that’s preferable to having your plate say ASSMAN.