The withdrawal pains will start sometime this week….and they will get worse until Kansas basketball starts in about a month.
Baseball season is over…and for the third time in four years….there will be no post-season play for my beloved Cardinals. I have thought about their plight and have my recommendations for the ownership team. I do not need compensation for this analysis…..just please listen to me….I’m a doctor.
1. Time to jack up the payroll a bit. I mean, come on, it is still sub $100-million and you got 3.3 million fans pouring into Busch Stadium in one of the worst economies in history. Time to buck up and show some commitment back to the folks.
2. Use some of that increased payroll to put us out of our misery. Sign Albert. Sign him now and give him $30-million a year and make it a ten-year deal. He’s 30 and he is simply the best player in the game…..Has been for a decade and you’ve got him for an average of $9-million a year since he first put on the Birds on the Bat. If Ryan Howard is worth $25-million a year…and Holliday is worth $17-million…..Albert is a bargain at thirty. Don’t let this thing get to opening day. Do it now.
3. More people need to be on base for Albert and Holliday, so it is time to end the Schumacher experiment. He is a great back-up outfielder but he is one of the worst second basemen in the league and is only an average threat at the plate. Do something about second base! We haven’t had anybody to stick there since Tommy Herr.
4. Time to get a closer. Franklin isn’t going to continue to fool other teams with his bag of tricks. Get a stud who gets it up there at 95 mph or a trick pitch that baffles people for one inning. Maybe Motte is the answer….but I don’t think you can gamble on him going into spring training.
5. Tell Tony to commit now or get out of the way. I have always doggedly defended LaRussa against my father’s blasting of his managerial style….but this is not time to let him go back to California and hang with his animals and ponder whether or not he’s coming back. Either he’s in…and now….or he’s out and we need to find the next great manager of the franchise. I’m OK with another TLR season….I just don’t want to beg him to come back.
6. Leave Molina, Ryan, David Freese (if he’s healthy), Holliday, Pujols, and our three starting pitchers alone. Worry about finding an offensive threat for right field (If may be Jay or Craig), but at least build a bench that makes it possible to generate some offense in front of our 3-4 hitters.
7. Concentrate in the spring on defense because that is a Cardinal hallmark and we sucked this year. Maybe even throw in a few lessons on running the bases because we lost way too many runners on the base paths.
There….I have said it and I feel so much better. This is a great franchise with wonderful history and a solid base to go forward. I like this team. We don’t have to fix much…but some money needs to be spent and some attitudes need to be changed.
Unite Cardinal Nation….April isn’t that far away!
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