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Cardinals “Upgrade” their Rotation
The St. Louis Cardinals are in a desperate search for viable starting pitching……desperate. In the past week they have signed the recently released Tomo Ohka and traded for Mike Maroth.
Tomo Ohka pitched decently with the Expos in 2004, but his ERA and peripheral stats have increased since then. This season he had a 5.79 ERA with Toronto before he was released. There is some speculation that his shoulder is still bothering him, so a return to the majors after some time with their Triple-A team is not guaranteed.
Mike Maroth is an innings-eater, that’s about it. This season he is 5-2 with a 5.06 ERA, not exactly a major league rotation stabilizing starter. However, Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty is hoping that pitching coach Dave Duncan can work his magic once again. Between Duncan’s tutelage and the switch to the National League, he may have an ERA around 4.00 while he’s with the Cards.
Even if Dave Duncan can turn him around, hopefully Jocketty won’t be giving up anyone useful in the player to be named later.
Even with a starting rotation ERA of 5.52 the Cardinals are not far off from the NL Central lead. Help for the starting rotation, any help possible may keep them in the race for another month or so. But these two pitchers aren’t really “the answer” to the Cardinals woes. The Cardinals really need Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright to step up in order to keep them in the race.
Trade Bait: Cubs dump Barrett
After the Michael Barrett / Carlos Zambrano fracas, someone had to go. That someone was obviously going to be Barrett. The Cubs traded Barrett to the San Diego Padres for catcher Rob Bowen and minor league outfielder Kyler Burke.
Padres GM Kevin Towers is banking on Michael to revert to his hitting abilities shown in 2006. The Padres did need another bat, but he’s not that much of an upgrade. Barrett also joins his friend Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux, who he caught for while Greg was with the Cubs.
Bowen is a defensive-minded catcher that will probably split time Koyie Hill behind the plate. He should be a passable catcher for the Cubs until they decide to upgrade after the season. Prospect Jake Fox must not be working out behind the plate as he’s been switched to right field.
The Cubs also received the 35th pick in the 2006 draft, outfielder Kyler Burke. The prospect hasn’t hit so far in the minors, but he has immense power potential and a plus arm.
With Burke’s struggles, it looks like this trade currently favors the Padres and looks as a player dump for the Cubs. But if Burke ever meets his potential in the Cubs system, it would be a major coup for the Cubs. However, the former is more likely.
Over Spilled Milk: 2002 Draft – NL
With the annual MLB draft coming up soon I felt it would be good to look back on a previous draft. Essentially, most of the players that will be regulars in the majors will be up within five years of when they are drafted. So I decided to do a review of the 2002 draft.
Reviewing every draft pick by each team would take forever and would consist of a large amount of, “….didn’t work out”, or “….is out of baseball”. So I’ll just review the picks of the first three rounds for each team and notables from each team’s later rounds.
First, we’ll look at how the National League teams drafted.
Over Spilled Milk: 2002 Draft – AL
With the annual MLB draft coming up soon I felt it would be good to look back on a previous draft. Essentially, most of the players that will be regulars in the majors will be up within five years of when they are drafted. So I decided to do a review of the 2002 draft.
Reviewing every draft pick by each team would take forever and would consist of a large amount of, “….didn’t work out”, or “….is out of baseball”. So I’ll just review the picks of the first three rounds for each team and notables from each team’s later rounds.
Now we’ll look at how the American League teams drafted.
