I thought I would throw a little hodpodge blog together reviewing the Cardinal's season so far since we have reached the All-Star break. A bit of a mid-season report card.
The Swapping of the Ryan's
Most of you that follow the Cardinal's realize that the Cardinals traded Brendan Ryan away and traded for Ryan Theriot over the offseason. There were many reasons for this move, which I will get to in a second, but first an assessment on whether it was an improvement purely on the stat sheet. Basically, what you get with the Ryan for Theriot swap is you trade out Ryan's fantastic defense for an upgrade with Theriot's offense. The problem is its a HUGE difference defensively and only a minor upgrade offensively. On defense, according to fangraphs.com UZR/150 stat (by far my favorite defensive metric) Theriot is pretty terrible. This of course is not a surprise. He has made quite a few big errors, and just watching the guy with the naked eye its pretty obvious he just isn't that good with the glove. He UZR/150 is -9.1. On the other side you have Brendan Ryan who is just as much positive as Theriot is negative with a +9.2. That's actually a little less than what he normally puts up, but still proves that Ryan really is a top notch defensive shortstop. All in all, Theriot is only barely showing up with 0.3 WAR (wins above replacement player) while Brendan Ryan is rocking a WAR of 1.5. This is a pretty definitive metric for this sort of comparison. Brendan Ryan is clearly a better player on the field than Ryan Theriot this year, and from a stats sheet point of view its been a bit of a failure. But is it really a failure? Brendan Ryan, to put it bluntly, was traded because he is a jerk. Not really a Barry Bonds/Manny Ramirez jerk, just a guy that never really aged past 14 kind of jerk. He was incredibly hyper, flighty, and generally grated on the nerves of all of his pitchers, and more importantly the manager and coaching staff. Essentially he was really bad for the clubhouse, so they decided to move him on, despite being a tremendous defensive talent. Theriot on the other hand, is loved in the clubhouse. He is funny, and although a scrappy player, helps keep it loose. A problem the stoic, businesslike Cardinals of last year had a problem with. Overall, despite the differences on the stats, the Cardinals are still doing better at short this year compared to last. They can always bring in Punto as a defensive replacement. That guy can really pick it.
The Puma Prance
There were a lot of questions about whether the Cardinals signing of Lance Berkman would work out for them. Now the only bad thing is they only signed him for one year. Berkman was voted an All-Star starter this year and in some weeks of the young season he alone kept the Cardinals offense afloat. He is having a pretty monster campaign so far. .290 .404 .602 gets the job done for any team in baseball and the Cardinals are lucky to have him. His decision to sign with the Cardinals hasn't been without controversy on his part as well. The Houston fans were not particularly gracious about the fact he signed with their biggest rival. (To Houston fans minds anyway, although Cardinals fans generally don't share that sentiment) And Bitter Milo Hamilton stirred up a pot of ill will when Berkman made his first appearance at Minute Maid this year. (Bitter should officially become a part of his name) Through it all Berkman held himself as a classy professional and the Cardinals are lucky to have Berkman this year, not only on the field, but in the clubhouse as well.
That big hole in the lineup where ever Rasmus is Batting
Rasmus has been terrible this year at the plate. Oh, his number look average, but that is only because he got off to a hot start. In his last 200 bats he has been putrid, smelly, foul, an easy out, lost at the plate, and a complete waste of carbon. Not only that, he is STILL playing a terrible centerfield. His uzr/150 is a -10, plus just watching him play, he just isn't a good fielder. He makes a lot of simple mistakes, and never learns from them. I won't beat around the bush, I am NOT a fan of Colby Rasmus. I thought they should have traded him during the offseason when he had his maximum trade value before it started to diminish. The problem with Rasmus is probably mostly in his head. He has the tools to be a great player, the question is does he have the brain. Right now, even with the immense potential he just isn't worth the trouble. He is dependent on his father, Tony Rasmus, to be his "hitting coach" and he has caused a lot of trouble with the team by bad mouthing and saying stuff to the media that he shouldn't. At the end of the day you have a grown man that is apparently not a hard worker, not mature, dependent on his father, and honestly, just not a very bright person. If Rasmus wants to succeed for the Cardinals its time for him to grow up and cut the training wheels off, or its time to send him down or trade him, and let John Jay have a chance. (Although despite what a lot of fans think, he is not a significantly better hitter or fielder)
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