Cards WebNews - This Week in Cardinal Baseball (10/21/07-10/27/07)

[BleacherBum593]

Per the Bernie Bits in Saturday’s Post – Joe Mather (1B/OF) has been added to the Cards 40 man roster.

In other news this past week, LHP Mike Maroth was given his release. Maroth came to the Cardinals in a trade with the Detroit Tigers for minor league pitcher Chris Lambert.

Joe Strauss reported today that Cleveland Indians Asst GM, Chris Antonetti, and his wife Sarah were in St Louis yesterday to meet with Mark Lamping. Included was a tour of Busch Stadium III and several neighborhoods (house hunting???). Link to the article - Indians executive visits Cardinals

And Derrick Goold has a couple of interesting entries in his Birdland Blog. All are worth a read:

Tony’s Return: Unabridged Presser

“Mo” Info … And the Decisions Ahead

Fall Ball: Mitchell Boggs Q&A

Riffs: Mile High Mania & HGH Hindsight

Check out the KFNS Busch Rewind for interviews with Cardinals Interim GM John Mozeliak and Cardinals President Mark Lamping this past week.

And to catch up on whats happening with the Cards minor leaguers in the AFL, check out Erik and Azruavatar’s Daily Prospect Reports at Future Redbirds. Erik also has a link to Baseball America’s 07 Draft Report Card Overview. Interesting comments.

And make sure you check out the big kahuna of Cardinal Bloggers (lboros) at viva el birdos. Several good threads to browse through.

And then there’s the Chatmeister (aka Joe Strauss) with his weekly chat session at the Post – Link

Happy Reading!!!

[Coop]

Thank you Bleacher,
A lot of good reading.
Is it spring, yet? We're even having >some rain in Memphis after that 3 month draught. The Loosahatchie River, near our house, is barely over the mud. No level after days of rain. The heat nearly killed me August 12.
I was desparately "Searchin'" for relief. What did they do before air conditioning?

[ArRedbird]

Good move to sign Mather and add him to the 40-man roster.
Will there be any more position players (prospects)
added from within the organization?

Pitchers:
Pomeranz is beginning to look good in Arizona.
Motte, McClellan, Parisi are other prospects
doing their best to get added to the 40-man roster.

I hope we still have some good scouts / evaluators
of talent around to assess these guys!

(Did we ever find out the names of the
2 scouts who were dismissed?)

[Coop]

I see Mike Parisi is highly regarded. I think a special pitch?
He is a great guy. I thought his pitching (?) was bad for the Redbirds.
Can anybody give details? What have I missed?

[BleacherBum593]

AR - Don't know the name of the scouts let go. Only reason I know that 2 were let go (at least I think they were let go) is because the Cards were advertising on their site for 2 scouts.

Coop - With pitchers in the minors, you almost have to eyeball them to get a read on them. During stretches of the season they can be working on trying a "new" pitch or they may be working on improving a pitch that they already have. When they do that, they may get "lit up" during those games and their stats get distorted. Go back and read what Kyle McClellan had to say about that last spring.

3 things to look for out of a pitcher - location, movement on the ball and changing of speeds. You don't have to throw 95+ mph, if you can master the 3 things that I listed.

At the lower levels, a pitcher may get by on "one" out pitch (fastball, curve, etc). As they progress to the upper levels they need to have several "out" pitches. Rule of thumb says that if a pitcher is only able to develop two "good" pitches, he's destined for the bullpen at the upper levels. Think Brad Thompson. If they can develop more, then their options become greater.

On Parisi, I've heard that he needs to become more consistent on his pitches from game to game. Good attitude - I think of a bulldog when his name comes up. First time thru AAA can be rough on a pitcher.

[BleacherBum593]

Brief article from a Cleveland paper on the Cards interviewing Antonetti for their GM position -

Cardinals interview Antonetti by Paul Hoynes / Cleveland Plain Dealer

The St. Louis Cardinals interviewed Chris Antonetti on Friday for their vacant general manager's job. Antonetti has been Mark Shapiro's assistant general manager for the last six years

Antonetti, 33, has worked for the Indians for the last nine years

"St. Louis offers a unique situation professionally," said Antonetti. "I would expect they'll reach a resolution, one way or the other, in the near future."

Should Antonetti leave, Shapiro would have to restructure his front office. John Mirabelli is the Indians' other assistant general manager, but his expertise is in the player draft. Antonetti concentrates on contracts, contract negotiations, payroll structures and statistical studies on players.