St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that Brendan Ryan is headed back to the minors and Andy Cavazos is being recalled (in combo with Wellemeyer -> DL and Eck off DL).
First of all, despite the favorable impression Ryan has left on many people (and I’m one of his biggest fans from a visceral-reaction level), he’s not a major league hitter. His upside as a major league hitter is replacement level. The only reason you keep a bat like that in the lineup is if he plays Adam Everett like defense. I like Ryan but his defense just doesn’t make him more than a nice utility middle infielder. Since you need at least a year (preferrably two) to approach reliable defensive statistics, it’s hard to quantify his defense at this point. I like him as a bench player but he shouldn’t be holding a bat very often in the majors.
The other interesting point is that it seems the Cardinals have finally tired of Brian Falkenborg. He was the reliever shuttled back and forth last season and the beginning of this year but it appears that Cavazos has jumped him on the depth chart. There really isn’t a discernable difference in talent between the two so it’s only worth mentioning in passing.
Update: More moves abound today (thanks SleepyCA).
- Kevin Ool is released.
- Chris Russ moves up to AA.
- Matt Pagnozzi goes to AAA after Christianson moves to the DL
- Henry Guerrero will come up from Palm Beach to replace Pagnozzi.
Exciting, no? ok — maybe not.
Filed under: Transactions
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I disagree with you on Brendan Ryan’s potential. His career minor league BA is over .300 and considering the fact that he only has played 53 games above A ball prior to this season, I think he’s doing a reasonably good job at AAA. No doubt he could use more experience at AAA and hopefully he will get it over the next six weeks. Finally, he started 10 games with the Cardinals and hit .300 and the Cards won eight of those games. He brought a spark to the lineup that had been lacking. I think he’s a keeper!
I need to do a writeup on Ryan because I haven’t laid out this argument in a cohesive manner but his minor league at bats are all in the low minors. Until I see a track record of him hitting in the upper minors, I’m skeptical of his hitting ability. I’m a fan of his defense from what I’ve seen.
henry guerrero the luchidor?
I think Ryan can be a good enough SS that re-signing Eck would be a mistake. There are no other good FA SS available so if it comes down to overpaying Eck or settling for Ryan, I’ll take Ryan.
dj…i tend to agree. scraphustle mcgritty just can’t stay on the field and omar vizquel is the only fa SS on the market.
Ryan did very well with the big league club, he put up a .843 PrOPS which is very impressive. Now do I think he could keep that up? Hell no, but I also didn’t think Chris Duncan could keep up what he’s doing so who knows.
Oh, and Erik your forgetting about one SS, his name Alex Rodriguez, but theres no way in the hell the Cards would dish out 30+M/per year, at at least 6 years.
What kind of deal will Eck want. Been injurd two years in a row. 21 mil for 3 yrs. we won’t do it
let ryan play 2B, fill in for Eck when needed. see what he’s got.Will make decision on ECK easier
side note anything on Kozma.
Frankly, if Eckstein wants anything more than 2y/8M, I’d pass. His injuries and skillset simply don’t warrant more. PECOTA liked him for 14M over the next two years but I imagine that would be scaled back given injuries and performance to date. His defense isn’t that fantastic and his offense has slipped.
Brendan Ryan has performed well at every level he’s played at his entire life and exceeded all expectations in his big league games. His numbers don’t lie. He showed the world that, at 25, he can play at this level. It’s just a matter of the Cards or some other team making a spot for him.