OFFICIAL TLR HEAD SCRATCHER THREAD

[InvincibleCakeEater]

What really got me going was Patterson starting over Jay. It's just inconceivable. If you're so confident in Jay that you're willing to trade Rasmus (all sorts of logic issues in there), then you should be confident enough in him to PLAY HIM!

I'm about done myself with this team for this year. General ineptitude + ugly play + idiotic decision making = too much for more.

Since "Going All In" with the trade:

Patterson has started half of the games and has somehow been allowed to hit 2nd with a .477 OPS
Shiny new toy Jackson took one for the team because planes don't fly to Milwaukee at night time (and there's a very real chance he's fallen out of type B FA status)
Ace LOOGY Rzeopdasfjkb has thrown 3.1 innings and wasn't trusted to pitch to Morgan and Fielder in the 10th inning of a home game
Replacement level reliever Dotel pitches damn near every game with a negative WPA and against lefties who absolutely mash him
They're playing a bullpen arm short in order to keep a 3rd catcher who has 23 PA and a .360 OPS over the last month (and got lucky that Westbrook settled in last night, because he was on course to take one for the team for the 2nd time in a week against the team they trail in the standings)

It's one thing to just be in a funk and play bad, it's another to put the team in positions to fail while they're playing bad and justifying it by saying you're keeping them fresh for the stretch run (they're already in the stretch run.) Seeing a whole lot of mid August 2010 type [expletive] going on right now.

[jim]

The book on Berkman has been to turn him around to the right side when you can. It makes sense giving Berkman his off days against lefties. But against the team in front of you? What? Corey Patterson .. who hits from the left side ... is better than Berkman?

[InvincibleCakeEater]

The book on Berkman has been to turn him around to the right side when you can. It makes sense giving Berkman his off days against lefties. But against the team in front of you? What? Corey Patterson .. who hits from the left side ... is better than Berkman?

Exactly. Hell, if you must have Cruz on the roster throw him in RF if you absolutely must rest Berkman. I don't get how a manager can think Patterson being 6 for 12 spread out over 7 years against Randy Wolf can justify starting him.

[Faceman]

What really got me going was Patterson starting over Jay. It's just inconceivable. If you're so confident in Jay that you're willing to trade Rasmus (all sorts of logic issues in there), then you should be confident enough in him to PLAY HIM!

I'm about done myself with this team for this year. General ineptitude + ugly play + idiotic decision making = too much for more.

Yeah, this tells me they didn't move Rasmus because they had a CF they thought was just as good. Even with Rasmus here, he wasn't playing every day. I don't think the trade annointed Jay "the starting CF".

TLR likes to have everybody play, and with Holliday in LF and Berkman in RF, CF is really going to be the only place to have that happen. Which is understandable, assuming Puma and Holliday are in the lineup every day.

[jim]

What really got me going was Patterson starting over Jay. It's just inconceivable. If you're so confident in Jay that you're willing to trade Rasmus (all sorts of logic issues in there), then you should be confident enough in him to PLAY HIM!

I'm about done myself with this team for this year. General ineptitude + ugly play + idiotic decision making = too much for more.

Yeah, this tells me they didn't move Rasmus because they had a CF they thought was just as good. Even with Rasmus here, he wasn't playing every day. I don't think the trade annointed Jay "the starting CF".

TLR likes to have everybody play, and with Holliday in LF and Berkman in RF, CF is really going to be the only place to have that happen. Which is understandable, assuming Puma and Holliday are in the lineup every day.

Yeah, everyone plays so everyone is fresh. And every god damn year we lead the world in DL days and fade in September.

edit .. and I didn't look up how many DL days we actually have, or how we compare, so I might not be accurate completely. But let me vent, and I know we aren't leading the world in fewest DL days either.

[jim]

LaRussa regularly is at the top of the heap in terms of lineups used in a year, I think this is pretty well known about him and the argument is it keeps guys fresh etc.. In St. Louis, LaRussa has a record (if my math is correct) if 231-172 ... a .571 winning percentage. Pretty damn good.

But what have you done for me lately? Since 2003, the Cardinals who typically are a team that is in the hunt and making moves to improve the team (i.e. the Sept. team is typically better than the team they had from Apr-July), is 114-118. They had some fantastic years leading up to this year ... 21-6 in '02, 20-8 in '01, and 20-9 in '00. I could see where this reputation was earned with those kinds of performances three years running. But lately nothing, the more moves and rest and jockeying around with the lineup and the team just sputters. 17-15 last year, 14-16 the year before, 12-13, 12-17 and an near epic collapse, 15-13 ... nothing there that says "rested team" to me.

So Berkman gets a day off against Milwaukee while Corey Patterson plays. Great. Now Lance should be already tonight to try to help salvage one game of a huge series.

[vinsanity]

So Berkman gets a day off against Milwaukee while Corey Patterson plays. Great. Now Lance should be already tonight to try to help salvage one game of a now meaningless series.

[Fat Strat]

What really got me going was Patterson starting over Jay. It's just inconceivable. If you're so confident in Jay that you're willing to trade Rasmus (all sorts of logic issues in there), then you should be confident enough in him to PLAY HIM!

I'm about done myself with this team for this year. General ineptitude + ugly play + idiotic decision making = too much for more.

Yeah, this tells me they didn't move Rasmus because they had a CF they thought was just as good. Even with Rasmus here, he wasn't playing every day. I don't think the trade annointed Jay "the starting CF".

That's no excuse for playing Corey Patterson on a near everyday basis since the trade was made. Jay IS better. Offensively without question. Defensively probably his equal. AND Jay's part of our future. A big part now that Rasmus has been shipped out. You have to play him, or we have to plan on signing a FA CF'er and a FA RF'er all because we traded Rasmus.

If that's the plan... (shudder)

[InvincibleCakeEater]

That's no excuse for playing Corey Patterson on a near everyday basis since the trade was made. Jay IS better. Offensively without question. Defensively probably his equal. AND Jay's part of our future. A big part now that Rasmus has been shipped out. You have to play him, or we have to plan on signing a FA CF'er and a FA RF'er all because we traded Rasmus.

If that's the plan... (shudder)

It's almost like now that Colby is gone and TLR no longer has him to focus all of his hate on he realized that Jay has also been pretty bad for the last couple of months.

[themiddle54]

But what have you done for me lately?

The paradigm is the same now as it was 10 years ago--compete for a few months then make a deal at the deadline for a veteran. But St. Louis has stopped making intelligent deadline deals. In just a half-decade or so St. Louis added McGwire, Woody Williams, Rolen, Will Clark at the deadline and each added 2 or more WAR down the stretch. Holliday was an inspired move, but outside him it's been Westbrook, DeRosa, Dotel, Patterson, Furcal, etc. Not nearly the same quality. Could be a lot of factors. Not having the trade chips to make that impact trade. Not having a GM capable of making a good trade--the McGwire, Rolen, Williams, Clark trades were all certainly big-time win-trades for St. Louis. Perhaps Jocketty was a better deal-maker than Mozeliak. And/or a better talent evaluator.

The paradigm is a bad one anyway, and isn't sustainable. If the plan each year is to compete then trade away youth in return for a veteran you'll have for 2 months and then maybe re-sign, and you do that enough years in a row, eventually you end up with a mediocre team of stars and scrubs, some veterans with bad contracts, holes in the lineup that your farm can't fill very well, and no trade chips left to add the impact veterans that your paradigm demands. At that point, you almost have to do a Houston, face the music, and start to rebuild under a different paradigm. That or keep doing the same thing and play mediocre baseball.