Championship Rings!

Wearing a championship ring. It's something every guy wishes they could do. You know 95% of guys(and 100% of guys who would actually read my blog), would wear a championship ring every day for an organization like the White Sox or Steelers or Heat, even if they were the janitor or an accountant for the team.

Well, now every random chumpstain playing fantasy sports can have that feeling of serious bling on their ring finger.

Josten's features a full line of Fantasy Football championship rings(Yes, really), ranging from $129 to an outrageous $1,949!!

I guess that'd be one way to do it. Rather than asking everyone in your league for $5 to put a pool together for the winners, ask for $50 so you can buy a 40 pt. diamond with a 14k gold band for the winner.

Incidently, there are also Fantasy baseball, basketball and even hockey rings listed on the site too(I didn't even know there WAS fantasy hockey, but why not?). The lines for the other sports aren't as broad, with only 3 choices as opposed to 5 for football, and they appear to be new, with no pictures set up yet, but still, the point is: Now you too can feel the glory of getting your own championship ring! Just get your fantasy league together and get everyone to chip in money to get you the 40 pt diamond!

By the way, if you can't tell(because afterall, you can't tell tone of voice from typed words), this post is dripping sarcasm. While I find it amusing that these rings exist, my personal belief is that anyone who would actually down even $100, much less two grand, on a championship ring in a computer-based sports game, should find a charity to donate that money too.

If you're one of those people, here are a few suggestions for you:
Muscular Dystrophy Association
American Cancer Society

Oakland's Big Three

The "Big Three," they were known as. Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito defined several years of Oakland Athletic baseball by delivering excellent pitching down the rotation.

After the 2004 season though, they were split up. Barry Zito, with plenty of time left on his contract, but kept, but Hudson and Mulder were shipped off to Atlanta and St. Louis, respectively.

Evaluating trades right away always gives you the wrong idea. St. Louis and Atlanta both seemed to do well for themselves right off the bat. How about now? With two seasons having gone by, do the trades still look as good?

First trade: Tim Hudson sent to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Dan Meyer, Juan Cruz, and Charles Thomas.

Since the 2004 trade, Hudson's stats are as follows:

2005 - 14-9, 3.52 ERA, 192 IP
2006 - 12-11, 4.83 ERA, 207 IP(so far)

Now, his 2005 stats look good. A mid 3 ERA, almost 200 innings, and a pretty good record. However, the dropoff coming to this year is fairly dramatic. Hudson is still 12-11 and has been better recently, but an ERA close to 5 is never good news, especially when you gave up several players to get that 5 ERA.

Oakland's Billy Beane seems to have gotten rid of Hudson just before he started to decline.

As far as the other players: Juan Cruz was abysmal for Oakland, posting an ERA over 7 in 2005. He was then traded for Brad Halsey, who has been a reasonably good Triple-A starter this year. I don't know enough about him, but his stats, while not bad, don't blow you away.(3-3, mid 4 ERA last time I looked in)

Dan Meyer, probably the true headliner for Oakland in the trade, has had about equal success Halsey has had. Last look-in showed him also at 3-3 with an ERA slightly over 5. Lastly, we have Charles Thomas, who in the Pacific Coast League(AAA) has been a below average player, posting a .654 OPS at last look in.

While Hudson hasn't exactly been the ace Atlanta hoped he'd be this year, the players Atlanta gave up haven't exactly been studly either.

The call: The trade skews slightly towards Atlanta. They got one good year out of Hudson, and appear to have given up very little. They may have made a mistake in signing Hudson though. That we'll see about.


The next trade: Mark Mulder shipped to the St. Louis Cardinals for Danny Haren, Kiko Calero and Daric Barton.

Mark Mulder was expected to be the guy to push the St. Louis Cardinals over the edge into World SEries glory. The expectations were very high, and that 2005 Cardinals team was a monster, pulling off over 100 wins, eventually losing in the NLCS to Houston.

Having said that, Mulder was very good in 2005, arguably better than Hudson. His stats this year and last are as follows:

2005 - 16-8, 3.64 ERA, 205 IP
2006 - 6-7, 7.14 ERA, 93.1 IP

A HUGE dropoff from 2005 to 2006, seemingly moreso due to a degenerative hip issue as well as shoulder issues Mulder has faced this year. If you saw the earlier post about Mulder's mechanics, then you definitely see why his velocity and command haven't been there this year. REgardless of that though, the Cardinals picked up a stud pitcher in 2005 who helped lead them to a moinster season. Mulder this year has been horrendously bad and will likely be leaving St.
Louis this off-season unless he wants to take a large pay cut and an incentive laden deal.

The Cardinals players that went to Oakland have been surprisingly good the last two seasons. Danny Haren, the young stud pitcher, has been very strong both seasons posting the following stats:

2005 - 14-12, 3.73 ERA, 217.0 IP
2006 - 14-12, 4.01 ERA, 211.0 IP(so far)

The thing to keep in mind here, is as I've discussed, there is about a .4 rise in ERAs from the NL to the AL. Chop that differential off and Haren's numbers look like something the Cardinals could have used this year. Haren also has been very healthy and eating over 400 innings the last two seasons. He's likely the third best pitcher the A's have(Behind Zito and the oft-injured Rich Harden), and will be a big part of their rotation next year when Zito likely leaves.

Kiko Calero has been very good out of the pen, too. He was very strong for the Cardinals, and has kept up that level of excellent with the A's. His stats:

2005 - 4-1, 3.23 ERA, 55.2 IP
2006 - 3-1, 3.38 ERA, 53.1 IP

Again, adjusting it for NL numbers, they'd be around 3 even. Calero has been very strong and seems like a good long-term solution for the late innings prior to the closer for Oakland.

The last prospect was Daric Barton. Barton hasn't had a great year in 2006, but was rated as Baseball America's 28th best prospect coming into the season. (The Cardinals had one prospect in the top 100, Anthony Reyes, who was 41st.)

The call: The A's seem to have fleeced the Cardinals, given that Haren's 2005 numbers were very comparable to Mulder's, and that's without even considering Barton and Calero.

Oakland's last move: NOT trading Barry Zito. Beane appeared to know something when he chose to trade Hudson and Mulder, but keep Zito. Ziot's numbers the last two years:

2005 - 14-13, 3.86 ERA, 228.1 IP
2006 - 16-9, 3.91 ERA, 207.1 IP(so far)

Zito was good in 2005, and with a better team behind him in 2006, he put up even better numbers.

Billy Beane seems to have done very well in these trades.

Award Season Updates

Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols are potentially on the verge of history. According to Matthew Leach, MLB's beat writer for the Cardinals, the teammates could be the first teammates in history to win the awards two years in a row. A few times before has a team held both the MVP and Cy Young back to back years, but never the same exact players.

However, neither player is a lock for the award, and could possibly be considered an underdog.

Chris Carpenter seems the more likely to repeat. While he's had a very good season, it's not the season of a typical Cy Young candidate. Rob Neyer wrote an Insider article on ESPN.com about this, and the last 5 starters to win the Cy Young without 20 wins all had something else to blow away the voters. Whether it be an astounding win percentage(Clemens - 18-4 in 2004), massive K totals(347 by Randy Johnson in 2000), or an absolutely filthy ERA(1.74 ERA by Martinez also in 2000). This year the NL crop of pitchers just hasn't been that impressive. And Chris Carpenter and Brandon Webb seem to be the kings of the very short hill this year.

Projected out, Neyer reports that their seasons will likely look like this:

Carpenter: 16-7, 2.84, 186 K's
Webb: 16-7, 3.00, 167 K's

Obviously the last month will be big. Whoever pitches better between these two should win it, or if they both collapse, maybe Bud Selig will intervene and give Johan Santana TWO Cy Young Awards this year.

On the other side, Pujols has more of an uphill battle. As Jayson Stark wrote, the NL MVP is a two-man race, and Ryan Howard is currently leading by a slight margin. I have to believe with his numbers(56 HRs, 139 RBI so far), that he is the leader, and by most articles out there, he is.

It's hard to believe someone likely to hi 60 and 150 in the power numbers could lose, but with Albert Pujols chasing him, it is possible. Pujols is still leading in OPS(although only slightly now - 1.097 to 1.093) and has him in many "clutch" categories. Pujols has the most game winning hits in the NL, and has the most game-winning home runs as well. With runnings in scoring position, Howard is very pedestrian, even below average at .248, whereas Pujols is batting .389 in the same situations.

Pujols also has awesome stats in the power categories(45 and 120), but that just isn't the same as 56 and 139.

The last month will be crucial, but right now it definitely looks like Carpenter will hold up his end, but Pujols will likely be outslugged by the "freak show," as Howard is called by his teammates during BP.

Izzy out, Wainwright in

The Head-hunters get their wish!

Jason Isringhausen will miss at least a week, and possibly the rest of the season with a hip problem. Dave Duncan in the article in the Post-Dispatch says "I feel a little more comfortable with Wainwright (against lefties) because he's got more things that he can do to get a lefthander out."

So granted that Duncan's opinion still means something to TLR, it looks like Wainwright will be closing games until he either shows his rookie-ness or until Isringhausen gets healthy(which, if healthy, he IS the best reliever still).

I wanted to post about Mulder/Hudson/Zito today, but this post is taking that one's place.

Too much stuff keeps going on. Maybe tomorrow.

Pitching Problems

Yeah, yeah, this should be obvious now. If we're talking 2006 Cardinals pitching, we're talking Carpenter and the scrubs.

But there's been a lot of Isringhausen and Mulder stuff out recently that should be publicized as much as possible.

First off, while Isringhausen does suck this year, Viva El Birdos, probably the best Cardinals blog out there, put out this article that highlights what he HAS done for the Cardinals. While all criticism this season is fair, this should hopefully quell the "HE ALWAYS SUCKED!" talk.

Because you're wrong. He didn't.

The other, more interesting thing is this scouting information about the Cardinals Mark Mulder, who has had an incredibly disappointing 2006 season. His rehab focus was to get back to his 2004 arm slot(his last season in Oakland). Carlos Gomez points out it is not his arm slot that is the problem, but how he gets there.

Tomorrow, if I get time, I'm going to look at the disassembling of Oakland's Big 3 and how the two trades and lack of a third trade has worked out for the teams involved(Oakland, St. Louis, and Atlanta)

Cardinals Free Agency situation

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I personally was wondering what the situation was for the Cardinals off-season. With a lot of players coming up as free agents, I decided to figure out who was leaving, how much money would be free, and logical choices for free agent signings.

Part 1: Who's leaving?

A pretty expensive team of players is going to hit free agency from the Cardinals this summer. This includes 80% of the starting rotation(Suppan, Marquis, Mulder and Weaver are all free agents).

The highest paid free agent and biggest decision will be center fielder Jim Edmonds, who is having a down year for him, but is still an above average offensive CF and still, despite missing a decent amount of time, probably stands a good chance at winning another gold glove.

Recent acquisitions Ronnie Belliard, Preston Wilson and Jose Vizcaino also hit the market.

Others: Scott Spiezio, Gary "Cub Killa" Bennett, and Desi Relaford all also hit the free agent market.

Throwing the known salaries into a spreadsheet, the total salaries of the combined players came up to $47,235,638.(Spiezio and Relaford's salaries were not computed, as they signed minor league deals and I could not find their 2006 salary.)

Part 2: Figuring out all the options:

Center field: This will be an issue for the off-season in one way or the other. Jim Edmonds has a 10M option that the team so far has not picked up. His buyout is 3M if they decline the option. The problem here is that you're not really deciding whether he's worth 10M next year, but 7M, as he gets the other 3M either way.

Now, there are some very good center fielders out there to be had. Torii Hunter of the Twins is likely to leave Minnesota and Juan Pierre will be a free agent as well. If the CArdinals are willing to put the money out to get Hunter, then he would be a definite upgrade from Jim Edmonds.

Juan Pierre brings certain things that Edmonds doesn't, and is certainly a viable option as well.

The center fielder list after that drops off considerably, with Gary Matthews Jr. and Kenny Lofton being the next best options. So then, the question is: Is Edmonds worth a 1 year, 7M deal? If not, are they willing to go for someone better or is CF going to become a position the Cards don't spend money on(like 2B).

The Rotation: This will be the biggest issue as far as the success for the 2007 team, although the center field position may prove to hold more drama.

As said above, everyone but Chris Carpenter will be a free agent. With 47M(minus at least 3M for Edmonds), they have money to spend on an ace type pitcher.

Options: Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright could plug into the rotation full time next season, and with no major moves made by Jocketty, most fans will expect them as fixtures there next year for better or worse. Beyond that, the way I see it is that they'd be best off deciding to resign ONE of their starters and going to free agency to fill the other spot.

Jason Marquis, to me, is NOT an option. He doesn't seem to listen to Duncan's coaching, and I don't see why you'd bring back an underachieving pitcher who has tuned out the coach.

Mark Mulder could be an interesting option, if they could get him to take a low-base, high-incentive laden contract, a la Matt Morris 2 years ago. Mulder has ace, or at least #2 type stuff. He showed that in his opening season with the Cardinals going 16-8 with a mid 3 ERA. He also is not quite the same pitcher he was in Oakland, at least at the current moment. If he was willing to swallow a one-year deal like the one Morris took, this could end up being a stacked pitching staff.

Jeff Suppan, a pinnacle of consistency, seems like the other logical choice. He is a good starting pitcher who you can count on to give you 6 or 7 innings more times than not and keep the team in the game. Is he an ace? No. But if Mulder jets and Weaver scares you, he's probably the best available option to fill out the rotation.

That leaves the last spot in the rotation to be settled. There are a number of aces hitting the market this winter. From the left side, Mark Buerhle and Barry Zito both hit the market. Zito is unlikely to come to St. Louis as he has Scott Boras as an agent, and he almost exclusively shops his players towards New York, Boston and Los Angeles(Angels, usually) where the dollars are most plentiful. Buerhle, however, if not resigned by the White Sox, could jettison for St. Louis. He is a St. Louis native and has had no qualms in the past about his desire to someday pitch for the Cardinals. Likewise, from the right side, there are a couple good options. Jason Schmidt could be a superb fit. At 33, he still has some good years left, and a 3 year deal would be excellent(if the market doesn't end up inflating and getting him more). Gil Meche is also having a great year and could be available.

To me, the best fits would be Buerhle and Schmidt who have both had relatively healthy careers and have been ace-type pitchers for several years. Buerhle's having a down-year, but I'd rather invest in him than Gil Meche, who has never tasted this level of success until his free agent year.

2nd base: With the Belliard experiment seemingly a failure(at least to me, but I didn't like him from the start), it seems this is a position to maybe actually spend 3-4M on, rather than paying 5 guys 1M and having NONE of them pan out that well(Jocketty's plan this last year). I'd like to see them kick the tires on Mark Loretta who is having a good year, hitting .295 for Boston, as well as Mark DeRosa, who is batting .321 for Texas. DeRosa may be out of the Cardinals price range, but Loretta this past year made around 3.2M and is probably due only for a marginal raise unless the market gets crazy.

Ideally, the Cardinals will look at signing another stud relief pitcher to complement Looper and give them more assurance in case Isringhausen has another year like this forgettable one. Several good options are out there, like Francisco Cordero, Antonio Alfonseca, Chad Bradford, and the list goes on.

Also, the corner outfield position. Depending on what they do with center, that could be a place to spend some money. Preston Wilson could be a good option if they either keep Edmonds or somehow sign Hunter. That would give them depth, with Encarnacion and Duncan available as well. If they fail to land a big time center fielder, then it's time to look to spend some money on the likes of a Carlos Lee or Jermaine Dye.

Basically, with 44-47M to spend on free agents, they OUGHT to be able to make two BIG signings and still have some cash free to pick up complementary players with. Edmonds could be one of those two big signings should they keep him, or they could go for a couple pitchers, a pitcher and an outfielder, or any other combination. My best hopes would be they either keep Edmonds or get Hunter and get either Schmidt or Buehrle, as said before. Jocketty has his ways though. Sometimes he seems like a genius, grabbing players off the scrap heap, sometimes his methods don't work and he seems like a fool(this year's 2B platoon, with Relaford, Junior Spivey, Aaron Miles, and the now-traded Hector Luna).

There are some problems with the way I look at this: First off, players like Preston Wilson and Jeff Weaver have relatively high salaries, but most of it is not being paid by the Cardinals. Secondly, there are some players under contract due raises for next season. However, I'm assuming these will be basically counter-acted by the lack of Spiezio and Relaford's salaries in my figures and the fact that I'm making the assumption that there will be absolutely zero increase in overall budget, which is unlikely(not that they'll be throwing money around wildly, but a small percentage increase is a reasonable expectation).