Comments on: Daily Prospect Report 3/24/08

By: Brady

Brady — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:53:56 +0000

Why do we need to keep Dave Duncan? I would not mind giving someone else a chance to work with these young guys as they come up. Don’t get me wrong I think DD has done a great job and is a great coach, but with all this young talent coming up in the next few years I just wounder if he is the guy.

By: Eugene

Eugene — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:49:19 +0000

You can’t compare Duncan and Mazzone for the fact that Duncan has not developed young pitching like Mazzone, something that we need a pitching coach to do. Outside of Matt Morris and Wainwright, name one young pitcher that has successfully developed under him? Bud Smith, Rick Ankiel, Anthony Reyes are a few that he hasn’t helped.

I think the Cardinals would be better off with both of them. Converting all of your pitchers to sinker ball pitchers won’t work (as we have seen with Reyes and Ottavino), so we need someone that will work with what a pitcher already has.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:35:55 +0000

I’m really excited about Joe Mather–He’s been doing so well lately…I’m just excited to see how quickly he can make it to STL.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:12:08 +0000

You have to keep TLR if you want to keep Dave Duncan–and Duncan may be as important to the Cardinal’s success as Mazzone was to Braves’ incredible run…which promptly ended as soon as he left.

Garcia in AAA sounds great to me, too. And the extra base power we’ve seen from Beau Ripportella down in Florida could foreshadow a very good year for The Ripper at Quad Cities. Here’s hoping.

By: arch support

arch support — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:31:10 +0000

Here Here.

It’s increasingly my observation that Mo knows what he’s doing in the minors (whether through Luhnow’s advice or his own cognizance). The fact that these same moves aren’t being done with the ML team (i.e. keeping Miles on the roster, giving Juan Gone an opportunity over Barton (seems a moot point now), keeping Reyes out of the rotation) tells me that Tony is running the show up there more than Mo.

Only another indication that TLR shouldn’t have been brought back. Skipping record.

By: azruavatar

azruavatar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:45:51 +0000

Brazleton and Gorecki gone — those are better indicators of the youth movement than anything that’s happened at the major league club. There’s too many compentent pitching prospects to wait and see if Brazleton has anything left.

Same with our centerfield prospects. Guys like Jon Jay, Daryl Jones, et al need the time in CF on a regular basis. Smart, important and likely to be unheralded front office moves here. In previous years, they probably wouldn’t have happened.

By: erik

erik — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:21:49 +0000

I’m really happy to see Jon Jay’s name in these things almost everyday. Hopefully it’s harbinger of things to come.

By: Forsch31

Forsch31 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:55:39 +0000

Huh…and Reid Gorecki’s gone, too.

By: fewgoodcards

fewgoodcards — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:52:39 +0000

nobody is fighting brazelton for anything. according to derrick goold he has been released. i’m liking jaime garcia’s chances of making that memphis rotation a lot better right now.

By: Forsch31

Forsch31 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:16:58 +0000

Miles is pretty limited at short; I don’t think anybody will argue that. He’s a decent utility guy who can fill in when needed, but he shouldn’t be getting the kind of exposure he got last year.

Ryan is an unknown at this point. The fact that he suffers from ADD and refuses to take medication bothers me. That’s going to affect his overall play, which probably accounts for his up-and-down performance (three errors at short in fewer chances than Izturis, giving him about the same fielding percentage; at least two bonehead running mistakes that Goold mentioned–including getting picked off at third base). Izturis is needed to keep Ryan focused–I honestly don’t think the Cardinals want Ryan to get relaxed, because a relaxed Ryan = a player you can’t trust.

Izturis looked woeful this spring training until recently, but thinking that he came in with the same lack of rope as Junior Spivey is a mistake. One of the Cardinals’ biggest weaknesses is the middle infield, and I honestly don’t think that LaRussa trusts anybody there enough for a full-time job to cut a candidate who can still contribute. You need depth on the 25-man roster to cover positions of weakness. Third base–with Gaus as the starter and Ryan as the back-up there as well as short–isn’t one of them.