View from the cheap seats

News Flash: Cardinals hire GM

Word has come down that John Mozeliak will remove the "interim" from his title and become the Cardinals' permanent GM, replacing Walt Jocketty.

While I favored Mozeliak because I wanted to see the Cardinls continue things as close as possible to what they did under Walt Jocketty, I am more than a little disturbed with the way he got the job - largely by default.

Favorite candidate Chris Antonetti, an assistant GM with Cleveland, reportedly withdrew his name over concerns about the lack of autonomy he would have under the new front office structure of the Redbirds. And he wasn't the only one to bow out.

This should have been one of the most desirable jobs in all of baseball. The fact that it wasn't speaks volumes about the disfunctional situation in the Cardinals offices.

Coach-able

The Cardinals brought back their entire coaching staff for 2008, which for the most part is good news.

I think it is important to have continuity in the ranks. Teams like the Pirates, Reds, Orioles and even the Cubs seem to pull the rug out from under themselves before their leaders can establish a program.

Things don't typically come together over night. It takes a while to embrace new techniques and philosophies.

Down on the farm 10-31-07

Cardinals prospect Chris Perez has had two consecutive bad outings for Team USA and could be on the verge of losing his job as the squad's closer. He gave up four runs in his last save opportunity Monday and walked three in 2/3 of an inning the game before.

Second base prospect Jarret Hoffpauir is hitting .321 with five runs and 5 RBI in 28 at bats for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. Hoffpauir, who split time between AA Springfield and AAA Memphis last season, has already committed three errors.

Outfielder Joe Mather, recently added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster to protect him from the minor league rule 5 draft, has a .286 BA and a stolen base in 21 at bats for Mesa. 

Six degrees of Cardianals separation

Former Cardinals figure heavily into the hot stove merry go round that has started in the coaching ranks.

- Former All-Star catcher Ted Simmons has been hired by the Millwaukee Brewers as bench coach, replacing former Redbird coach Nick Leyva.

- Former Cardinals infielder Chris Spier has been named third base coach of the Reds by their new manager, Dusty Baker.

- While nothing is confirmed, former Cardinals manager, third baseman and NL MVP Joe Torre is expected to soon be announced as the new manager of the Dodgers.

Pay-Rod

We finally learned when too much is really enough Sunday night.

That's when the classless Alex Rodriguez had his people announce during the fourth game of the World Series that he would opt out of the 10-year, $252-million contract he signed seven years ago and become a free agent.

A-Rod said he made the move because of the Yankees' state of flux with Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte all free agents. But does anybody believe there is a team more willing to win a championship at any cost than the Bronx Bombers? The truth is that he made the move because of greed. Why honor a contract that made you the richest player in baseball history and promises $81 million over the next three years when you can re-up for an 8 or 10-year deal that could pay up to $300 million?

Who else could afford to pay the likely AL MVP $27 million or more a season and still be able to put together a good enough supporting cast to win it all? With $180 million already banked, Rodriguez ought to take a massive pay cut if he wants the Yankees to be able to add the pieces they need in order to win.

Renteria shipped to Tigers

Talk that Edgar Renteria would return to the Cardinals for the 2008 season was snuffed out today when the Tigers picked up the all-star shortstop.

Renteria hit .332 with 12 homers after escaping from the Red Sox back to the National League. In Boston for one season after signing a free agent deal following the Cardinals' World Series loss to the Red Sox, Renteria hit only .276 and had the worst defensive season of his career.

When he was traded back to the National League in 2006, it was like someone turned on a switch and Renteria again became an elite player.

Dreams swept away

The Cardinals have been lucky in their long and rich post season history. In 17 World Series appearances, they have won 10 of them and were only swept twice.

Unfortunately, one of those times was in 2004. And in retrospect, as frustrating as the 2007 season was, the sudden heartbreak of 2004 may have been worse. Just all at once instead of spread out over the course of a six month season.

The Cardinals were undoubtably the best team in baseball that 2004 regular season. The party was on in St. Louis when the Cardinals came back in dramatic fashion to beat the Astros in the National League Championship Series.

To lose the World Series after all of that would have been understandable. But to be swept just crushed everything that was built up during the course of the whole season. What did winning 100 games mean? Nothing without the big trophy.

You can't be World Serious

Another year, another crummy World Series.

Barring a miracle, the Red Sox are going to take down the Rockies without a whimper.

If Boston makes it a sweep in game four, that will give the losing teams in the last four Fall Classics a combined total of one win. That doesn't really make for compelling television, and the prime time games during this post season have basically been a disaster of blowouts.

The Cardinals way

I really wonder if it is wise for the Cardinals to try to follow a model of small market teams who use a moneyball philosophy to constantly turn over their players in hopes of being competitive on the cheap.

First, I don't think the Cardinals fit the same model of the Oaklands, Minnesotas and Clevelands of the baseball world because they have much more support and a much better revenue stream.

The strength of the Cardinals franchise isn't overachieving in the player development department. It is overachieving in the getting people to pay for tickets department.

Maroth

The Mike Maroth era is over.

The Cardinals report that the former Detroit lefty has been released. While it's a good sign that the team will have one less reclaimation project on its agenda in 2008, the real reason behind the move was probably because they team has several players it must try to protect from the minor league draft. If the players aren't added to the 40-man roster, they would be up for grabs.

So, out with the old, in with the new. Players including Miguel Cairo, Kip Wells, Kelly Stinnett and Maroth can be cleared off to make space for the guys who need to be put on.