The Chris Moeller Archives

At the one-third pole

I haven’t written about my baseball team all spring, but these are merry times indeed for them and for me. Entering tonight's game against Arizona, the team is 37 up and 19 down, good for a .661 winning percentage. They have the best record in baseball by two full games, the largest run differential of any club (+84, the next best is +68). They have claimed 20 of 29 road games, won or tied 11 straight series dating back to April 28th, and I’m sleeping like a tiny baby.

Their starting rotation (at least at the beginning of the year) appeared last week on the cover of Sports Illustrated. That same cover also declared the Cardinals “Baseball’s Model Organization… Past, Present and Future.” (The “Future” part seems a bit presumptuous, but I like their confidence.) The way the team has been built is noteworthy. Almost the entire roster was assembled via the amateur draft. Of the team’s core players, only Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, and Edward Mujica were acquired from outside the organization at the major league level. David Freese and Adam Wainwright were acquired as minor leaguers, and everybody else was drafted—the catcher and his backup, the first baseman, the second baseman, the shortstop, the center fielder, the best hitter off the bench, the best defender off the bench, and each of the other starting pitchers other than Wainwright. The minor league system is so loaded—with another potential ace debuting with a flourish last week at Busch Stadium (Michael Wacha)—that it feels like, at this point, the team could call up the entire starting rotation of their Rookie League club and each man would proceed to throw a four-hit shut out.

The downside of the year so far? Um, hard to say. It’s rained a lot in St. Louis. Does that count? There’s always a risk that injuries will derail a season, but at this point, it’s hard to see a position on the club, other than catcher, where an injury would greatly compromise the club. It's deeper than the Mississippi River at the Industrial Canal. Granted, they could probably upgrade their bench some if they could get the Los Angeles Angels to agree to take their journeyman first baseman Ty Wigginton in exchange for journeyman first baseman Albert Pujols (.248). We could exchange bad contracts as Wigginton was inexplicably given a two-year, $5 million deal for the season began. But this is nitpicking.

Keep chargin', Cards!

posted by CM @ 6:01 PM