Skip to main content

Cardinals = K Mart Shoppers?

Southlandish said:

I don't know a damned thing about this kid. If he is versatile, maybe the plan is that one skill may stick and he's trade bait. I don't know what the other draft options were as far as trade material.

We need outfield help ASAP. Drafting for it strikes me as a pipe dream. I'm just guessing here, but it would make sense if you are trying to pick someone you can use to trade up for a serious AA or AAA outfielder who can play in a year or so (when Ankiel blows his Achilles after a promising start) that we need to draft to make a deal.

I agree that we need outfield help sooner rather than later...I just thought it might be nice to have a couple legit prospects down there for a change.

However, there may be a pattern in the Cards draft today. Got this from Future Redbirds:

Cardinals #36 Pick - RHP Clayton Mortenson. From MILB:

While there are often college seniors who make very good pros, it’s rare for there to be one like Mortensen, a legitimate “prospect” on the rise in his senior season. He’s got three usable pitches and a body frame that appears able to handle added strength, which could make his fastball even better. He should be a very intriguing senior sign this summer.

This is worse than the Kozma pick. Horrible. Hate the Cardinals draft so far. Hate. Hate Hate. From BA:

Until this season, the gangly Mortensen was all projection and little production. His velocity took a jump (up to 92 mph) last summer in the West Coast Collegiate League, but his command remained spotty. He was shellacked at Arizona in his first start this season, but since then has had some of the best stuff in the West. Mortensen features a heavy 90-94 mph fastball with excellent sink. His secondary stuff grades as average now, with future plus grades as well: a hard slider and changeup featuring deceptive arm speed. His command is below-average. He’s a senior sign with upside, though, and could go as high as the third round.


Wrong Baseball America. Luhnow and crew were so desperate to get this third rounder they took him 36 overall. (I think I’ve died a little on the inside after the first two picks).

...

I’m taking off for a few hours. I’m perfectly furious over the first two picks we made. Maybe when I cool off, it won’t look so bad but I’m really frustrated right now.


Doesn't it look like the Cards are drafting so they won't have to spend any money to actually sign someone?

Comments

Southlandish said…
From work e-mails to the Cards blogging this vacation is like the Godfather III. Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in....and rarely with good news. If I were sober it would be unbearable.

Popular posts from this blog

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous.  German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

Blues Fall Off a Cliff

 Hockey seasons will have their ups and downs. For whatever reason, be it injuries, a challenging schedule, an inexplicable loss of form, it is difficult for teams to maintain a good level of compete for an entire season. The good teams just limit their funks. The St. Louis Blues, however, are not a good team. They are a poor team, and poor teams sink under the weight of "here we go again" night after night.  I will admit I only watched the first two periods of last night's 5-0 loss to a Colorado team that had been scuffling of late. Two periods were more than enough to get the gist of it. It was also enough to lead me to a diagnosis as to what ails the team. It isn't that they are young and are going through growing pains. No, the reason the Blues are so bad is that the veterans who are being paid to be the backbone of this team are not doing their jobs. I'm talking about Schenn, Buchnevich, Faulk, and even Binnington and Parayko. Over $30M of the salary cap is b...

A Note of Optimism About the Note

 If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...