Chat Session Transcript - May 3rd with Chad Renning & Eric Berger

BleacherBum593 · 05-03-2008, 01:27 PM

Following is the edited chat room session of Saturday, May 3, 2008. The guest‘s was Mr. Chad Renning and Mr. Eric Berger from the Media Relations Department of the Memphis Redbirds, the triple A farm club of the St Louis Cardinals. The chat on Saturday is part of a series of regularly scheduled chat sessions with members of the Memphis Redbirds organization. The chats will be held on Saturday’s at 10AM at FanHome.com and is sponsored by Rockin’ the Red.

Rockin' the Red is a blog based on the St. Louis Cardinals baseball franchise and was created as a place to discuss and debate Cardinals baseball. Rockin’ the Red is an Official Sponsor of the Cardinal Board at Fanhome.com

All of this is prior to Saturday’s game against Colorado Springs…

The Redbird’s struggles at home continued during their second home stand. Friday night’s game, the first game of a four game set against Colorado Springs, was suspended due to rain and will be continued on Sunday. Previous to that, the Redbirds had dropped three of four in their series against the first place Salt Lake Bees. The Redbirds won their final game on the road against the Iowa Cubs behind a strong start from Mitchell Boggs and then took the first game of the home stand behind another strong start from swingman Hugo Castellanos.
Nick Stavinoha continued to swing a hot bat for the club, holding a .353 average coming into Friday night’s game. After his early season struggles, Colby Rasmus seems to be finding his stroke, hitting two long balls on the road and then connecting for two home runs in a game against Salt Lake. After banging up his knee on the road and missing a few games, David Freese returned to the lineup on Thursday night. The Redbirds will complete their series against the Sky Sox on Monday and then hit the road for an eight game trip against Las Vegas and Tucson. In a surprise move, the Cards moved up one of their top prospects, C Bryan Anderson. To make room for Anderson, the Cards sent seldom used C Matt Pagnozzi to Springfield.

You can get tickets for all Redbird home games at the the Memphis Redbirds website or by calling (901) 721-6000. Hope to see you there!

Now, on to the Chat Session……

Eric Berger Morning- ready to rock whenever you are

Mike Hobson Good morning. Have you guys dried out from last night? I hear you had a pretty good rainstorm in Memphis last night.

Eric Berger Yes, it was a pretty nasty storm

Chad Renning Yeah, dry and ready for today....last nights weather was weird because it was off and on all night......we were also suppose to have our scout night sleep over and that got cancelled

Mike Hobson From what I understand, you'll be continuing the game from where it was stopped on Sunday. Will they only go 7 innings in both games or will they play the regular 9?

Chad Renning The continued game will be 9, the second game will be 7

Eric Berger The first game will start in the third and go the full length and the second will only be 7

Mike Hobson The Cards moved C Bryan Anderson up to Memphis this week, which caught alot of people by surprise. Did the Cards give any reason for moving him up at this time?

Mike Hobson And what will this move mean as far as playing time for Mark Johnson?

Eric Berger He had been hitting the ball really well at Springfield and all a long they've said his bat was ready, it was his defense and that needed improvement so I think they figured lets she what he can do at the triple a level

Eric Berger Well so far its been every other day. I'm not sure if that’s the way they are going to handle it from here on out though.

Mike Hobson I would think Anderson would get the bulk of the playing time due to his "prospect" status. But, if an injury were to happen at the major league level, the question would be is Johnson ready to go at that point?

Eric Berger Johnson had some years at the major league level so I think he'd be fine

Coop Could Anderson match up with Mulder on Monday. I think they did OK at Springfield.

Eric Berger I'm not sure who they’re gonna have behind the dish for Mulder. My guess would be Johnson because of his veteran experience but can't say for sure.

Mike Hobson Did the Cards decision to move Mulder up to Memphis for a start on Wednesday catch you by surprise? I know when we talked on Saturday to Chad he wasn't sure when Mulder was coming to Memphis?

Eric Berger We knew he would be coming at some point. We just weren't aware of when exactly, but I wouldn't say the timing caught me by surprise

Mike Hobson Mark's numbers didn't look that good, but it was reported that he was satisfied with his effort. He felt he was just slightly missing his spots, but that his speed was up. How did he look to you?

Eric Berger It seemed like had good velocity on his pitches. But yes, he was missing his spots and in talking to him he said its just a matter of consistency, so we’ll see if he can get himself straightened on Monday

Coop His first inning might have been completely different without the DP ball thrown to CF. The 4th inning was awful

Chad Renning Yeah, he didn’t get a lot of defensive help.....but I would agree with Eric, he had trouble hitting his spots

Eric Berger Right and there was a ball hit to center that dropped right in front of Rasmus that was possibly catchable so he wasn’t catching any breaks

Chad Renning Mulder was very up-beat about his shoulder and talking about himself feeling good, so that’s a good sign.

Mike Hobson That's good to hear. Coming back from shoulder surgery is probably the most difficult injury for a pitcher to come back from. See Alan Benes or Matt Morris. Speaking of Morris, is there any talk in Memphis of the Cards signing him to a minor league deal, now that Pittsburgh has released him?

Tulcard As a coach?

Mike Hobson No, As a player.

Eric Berger I wouldn’5 say there’s any chance of that. There’s already a glut of pitching at the major league level and we’re still waiting for Mulder, Clement and Carp to return

Tulcard I don't think Matt would want to embarrass himself, or end his career in the minors....that is unless he truly felt he could regain velocity and his curve....which may be too much to ask of oneself....

Mike Hobson Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if after taking some time off, Matt signed a minor league deal somewhere. And that glut of pitching (Clement/Carpenter) may not be ready to go this year. Our experience has been that the Cards always paint a rosy picture, but haven't been able to deliver for one reason or another.

Tulcard You may be right Bleacher....

Tulcard Hopefully, that will take care of the problem along with rest....

Eric Berger Even without those two you still have Mulder coming back and Reyes as security and I don’t think Morris provides an upgrade over either of them

Mike Hobson It was reported yesterday that Reyes is being shopped around the league, but teams aren't willing to pay the price that the Cards are asking. That could change as we get closer to the trading deadline.

Tulcard I'm hoping Mulder will be effective once again....Reyes may be gone for the right player, although I think he'll be held on to for a little while.

Chad Renning you can never have to much pitching...the cards are 19-11 and in first place, if it's not broke don't fix it

Tulcard Agreed, but it will be altered when Mulder is called up.

Chad Renning The Redbirds on the other hand could use another starter...

Mike Hobson They could probably us two...

Mike Hobson I know there is talk in St Louis of Jaime Garcia being moved up. And I wonder if Clayton Mortensen might follow him fairly quickly.

Chad Renning very true, Castellanos, who is throwing today has been extremely productive...not to say he can stay as a starter, but they have to be happy with what they’ve gotten out of him and to see his versatility

Tulcard What exactly is Thompson's injury?

Eric Berger its an elbow injury

Mike Hobson Thompson received a cortisone shot yesterday according to the Post...

Tulcard Not to rub losses in, but that Salt Lake City team must be loaded....who are they the AAA team of?

Eric Berger Anaheim

Chad Renning they had three of their top guys called up while they were here too

Tulcard Still concerning pitching....does anyone think thee is something wrong with Izzy physically, or is his lack of effectiveness of late due to his cutter not cutting?....or mechanics?

Eric Berger We'll all along they've said his hip condition is degenerative so well have to see how he manages that

Tulcard From what I've observed McClellan has the demeanor and mentality to close. I know he is projected as a starter and is young, but he definitely has a "bulldog" attitude that is required....

Eric Berger McClellan has been very impressive. I think his future may be determined by what some of the other prospect i.e. Chris Perez, Mitchell Boggs, and Jaime Garcia do and that well determine whether he’ll stay in the bullpen or move to the rotation

Tulcard If there is something wrong with Izzy physically I would hope he would admit it and get help for whatever it could be....

Eric Berger we'll have to see if he can right himself

Mike Hobson It's been reported in St Louis papers that Izzy was seen limping on the field. Probably is having hip problems again - same as in 2006. If he's unable to go, Kyle could be on the same track as Adam Wainwright was in 2006. That'll be fun to watch. Kyle has to be an inspiration for every pitcher in the minor leagues for what he's done this year.

Tulcard He is definitely a Stud! It's exciting to see his success. He is a leader who others can take note of.

Mike Hobson What do the Cards do with Hawksworth. At one point, he was the Cards top-pitching prospect. It's been down hill ever since. Move him to the BP or release him?

Eric Berger I haven’t heard any talk of him moving out of the rotation but I will say this despite him getting lit up in his last start, his velocity was very good (94 range) so I could see him being effective out of the bullpen

Chad Renning Hawksworth shows flashes at times, but is pretty inconsistent....it always seems he's catching bad breaks too

Chad Renning I think its too early to give up on him yet

Mike Hobson And speaking of inspiration... How about Skip Schumaker's extra inning, game winning HR last night? Skip doesn't know it yet, but his name will always be mentioned now when Cub-Cards fans talk about the series. Heck, they are still talking about the McGee-Sandberg games.

Mike Hobson And that was 20+ years ago

Tulcard You going to the game today Bleacher?

Mike Hobson Yep.

Tulcard Great! Bring Home a winner! I'll be watching on Fox. Guess our old buddy Joe Buck will be at the mike with his counterpart.... Mr. "Obvious" McCarver....

Coop I wish Maloney would make Freese, Barden, and Hoffpauir the regular infield for a while.

Chad Renning It’s tough when you have Jimenez, who's hitting well and Rico to fit in there

Mike Hobson It's getting close to the top of the hour. Let's go around the table one last time and then we'll let Eric & Chad get going for their game today against the Colorado Sky Sox.

Coop I'll just be following the games. Thanks guys! Very good.

Tulcard Good luck vs. the Sox today guys and have a great week. See you next weekend and thanks for being in the House today.

Mike Hobson Thanks for joining us again this week Eric and Chad. Bring us home a bunch of winners this week.

Stay tuned. The Cards board will be chatting with members of the Memphis Redbirds every Saturday at 10 AM throughout the 2008 season. Stop by and join in the fun!

Links to previous chat sessions:

2008 Season:

- April 26 Chat Session with Chad Renning
- April 12 Chat Session with Chad Renning & Eric Berger

2007 Season:

– John Vuch
- John Vuch (followup questions)
– Cody Haerther
- Mike Lindskog
- Kyle McClellan
- Dave Chase
- David Kelly
- Steve Selby

Copyright © 2008 FanHome.com LLC. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. All rights reserved.

05-03-2008, 01:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,903	Chat Session Transcript - May 3rd with Chad Renning & Eric Berger Following is the edited chat room session of Saturday, May 3, 2008. The guest‘s was Mr. Chad Renning and Mr. Eric Berger from the Media Relations Department of the Memphis Redbirds, the triple A farm club of the St Louis Cardinals. The chat on Saturday is part of a series of regularly scheduled chat sessions with members of the Memphis Redbirds organization. The chats will be held on Saturday’s at 10AM at FanHome.com and is sponsored by Rockin’ the Red. Rockin' the Red is a blog based on the St. Louis Cardinals baseball franchise and was created as a place to discuss and debate Cardinals baseball. Rockin’ the Red is an Official Sponsor of the Cardinal Board at Fanhome.com All of this is prior to Saturday’s game against Colorado Springs… The Redbird’s struggles at home continued during their second home stand. Friday night’s game, the first game of a four game set against Colorado Springs, was suspended due to rain and will be continued on Sunday. Previous to that, the Redbirds had dropped three of four in their series against the first place Salt Lake Bees. The Redbirds won their final game on the road against the Iowa Cubs behind a strong start from Mitchell Boggs and then took the first game of the home stand behind another strong start from swingman Hugo Castellanos. Nick Stavinoha continued to swing a hot bat for the club, holding a .353 average coming into Friday night’s game. After his early season struggles, Colby Rasmus seems to be finding his stroke, hitting two long balls on the road and then connecting for two home runs in a game against Salt Lake. After banging up his knee on the road and missing a few games, David Freese returned to the lineup on Thursday night. The Redbirds will complete their series against the Sky Sox on Monday and then hit the road for an eight game trip against Las Vegas and Tucson. In a surprise move, the Cards moved up one of their top prospects, C Bryan Anderson. To make room for Anderson, the Cards sent seldom used C Matt Pagnozzi to Springfield. You can get tickets for all Redbird home games at the the Memphis Redbirds website or by calling (901) 721-6000. Hope to see you there! Now, on to the Chat Session…… Eric Berger Morning- ready to rock whenever you are Mike Hobson Good morning. Have you guys dried out from last night? I hear you had a pretty good rainstorm in Memphis last night. Eric Berger Yes, it was a pretty nasty storm Chad Renning Yeah, dry and ready for today....last nights weather was weird because it was off and on all night......we were also suppose to have our scout night sleep over and that got cancelled Mike Hobson From what I understand, you'll be continuing the game from where it was stopped on Sunday. Will they only go 7 innings in both games or will they play the regular 9? Chad Renning The continued game will be 9, the second game will be 7 Eric Berger The first game will start in the third and go the full length and the second will only be 7 Mike Hobson The Cards moved C Bryan Anderson up to Memphis this week, which caught alot of people by surprise. Did the Cards give any reason for moving him up at this time? Mike Hobson And what will this move mean as far as playing time for Mark Johnson? Eric Berger He had been hitting the ball really well at Springfield and all a long they've said his bat was ready, it was his defense and that needed improvement so I think they figured lets she what he can do at the triple a level Eric Berger Well so far its been every other day. I'm not sure if that’s the way they are going to handle it from here on out though. Mike Hobson I would think Anderson would get the bulk of the playing time due to his "prospect" status. But, if an injury were to happen at the major league level, the question would be is Johnson ready to go at that point? Eric Berger Johnson had some years at the major league level so I think he'd be fine Coop Could Anderson match up with Mulder on Monday. I think they did OK at Springfield. Eric Berger I'm not sure who they’re gonna have behind the dish for Mulder. My guess would be Johnson because of his veteran experience but can't say for sure. Mike Hobson Did the Cards decision to move Mulder up to Memphis for a start on Wednesday catch you by surprise? I know when we talked on Saturday to Chad he wasn't sure when Mulder was coming to Memphis? Eric Berger We knew he would be coming at some point. We just weren't aware of when exactly, but I wouldn't say the timing caught me by surprise Mike Hobson Mark's numbers didn't look that good, but it was reported that he was satisfied with his effort. He felt he was just slightly missing his spots, but that his speed was up. How did he look to you? Eric Berger It seemed like had good velocity on his pitches. But yes, he was missing his spots and in talking to him he said its just a matter of consistency, so we’ll see if he can get himself straightened on Monday Coop His first inning might have been completely different without the DP ball thrown to CF. The 4th inning was awful Chad Renning Yeah, he didn’t get a lot of defensive help.....but I would agree with Eric, he had trouble hitting his spots Eric Berger Right and there was a ball hit to center that dropped right in front of Rasmus that was possibly catchable so he wasn’t catching any breaks Chad Renning Mulder was very up-beat about his shoulder and talking about himself feeling good, so that’s a good sign. Mike Hobson That's good to hear. Coming back from shoulder surgery is probably the most difficult injury for a pitcher to come back from. See Alan Benes or Matt Morris. Speaking of Morris, is there any talk in Memphis of the Cards signing him to a minor league deal, now that Pittsburgh has released him? Tulcard As a coach? Mike Hobson No, As a player. Eric Berger I wouldn’5 say there’s any chance of that. There’s already a glut of pitching at the major league level and we’re still waiting for Mulder, Clement and Carp to return Tulcard I don't think Matt would want to embarrass himself, or end his career in the minors....that is unless he truly felt he could regain velocity and his curve....which may be too much to ask of oneself.... Mike Hobson Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if after taking some time off, Matt signed a minor league deal somewhere. And that glut of pitching (Clement/Carpenter) may not be ready to go this year. Our experience has been that the Cards always paint a rosy picture, but haven't been able to deliver for one reason or another. Tulcard You may be right Bleacher.... Tulcard Hopefully, that will take care of the problem along with rest.... Eric Berger Even without those two you still have Mulder coming back and Reyes as security and I don’t think Morris provides an upgrade over either of them Mike Hobson It was reported yesterday that Reyes is being shopped around the league, but teams aren't willing to pay the price that the Cards are asking. That could change as we get closer to the trading deadline. Tulcard I'm hoping Mulder will be effective once again....Reyes may be gone for the right player, although I think he'll be held on to for a little while. Chad Renning you can never have to much pitching...the cards are 19-11 and in first place, if it's not broke don't fix it Tulcard Agreed, but it will be altered when Mulder is called up. Chad Renning The Redbirds on the other hand could use another starter... Mike Hobson They could probably us two... Mike Hobson I know there is talk in St Louis of Jaime Garcia being moved up. And I wonder if Clayton Mortensen might follow him fairly quickly. Chad Renning very true, Castellanos, who is throwing today has been extremely productive...not to say he can stay as a starter, but they have to be happy with what they’ve gotten out of him and to see his versatility Tulcard What exactly is Thompson's injury? Eric Berger its an elbow injury Mike Hobson Thompson received a cortisone shot yesterday according to the Post... Tulcard Not to rub losses in, but that Salt Lake City team must be loaded....who are they the AAA team of? Eric Berger Anaheim Chad Renning they had three of their top guys called up while they were here too Tulcard Still concerning pitching....does anyone think thee is something wrong with Izzy physically, or is his lack of effectiveness of late due to his cutter not cutting?....or mechanics? Eric Berger We'll all along they've said his hip condition is degenerative so well have to see how he manages that Tulcard From what I've observed McClellan has the demeanor and mentality to close. I know he is projected as a starter and is young, but he definitely has a "bulldog" attitude that is required.... Eric Berger McClellan has been very impressive. I think his future may be determined by what some of the other prospect i.e. Chris Perez, Mitchell Boggs, and Jaime Garcia do and that well determine whether he’ll stay in the bullpen or move to the rotation Tulcard If there is something wrong with Izzy physically I would hope he would admit it and get help for whatever it could be.... Eric Berger we'll have to see if he can right himself Mike Hobson It's been reported in St Louis papers that Izzy was seen limping on the field. Probably is having hip problems again - same as in 2006. If he's unable to go, Kyle could be on the same track as Adam Wainwright was in 2006. That'll be fun to watch. Kyle has to be an inspiration for every pitcher in the minor leagues for what he's done this year. Tulcard He is definitely a Stud! It's exciting to see his success. He is a leader who others can take note of. Mike Hobson What do the Cards do with Hawksworth. At one point, he was the Cards top-pitching prospect. It's been down hill ever since. Move him to the BP or release him? Eric Berger I haven’t heard any talk of him moving out of the rotation but I will say this despite him getting lit up in his last start, his velocity was very good (94 range) so I could see him being effective out of the bullpen Chad Renning Hawksworth shows flashes at times, but is pretty inconsistent....it always seems he's catching bad breaks too Chad Renning I think its too early to give up on him yet Mike Hobson And speaking of inspiration... How about Skip Schumaker's extra inning, game winning HR last night? Skip doesn't know it yet, but his name will always be mentioned now when Cub-Cards fans talk about the series. Heck, they are still talking about the McGee-Sandberg games. Mike Hobson And that was 20+ years ago Tulcard You going to the game today Bleacher? Mike Hobson Yep. Tulcard Great! Bring Home a winner! I'll be watching on Fox. Guess our old buddy Joe Buck will be at the mike with his counterpart.... Mr. "Obvious" McCarver.... Coop I wish Maloney would make Freese, Barden, and Hoffpauir the regular infield for a while. Chad Renning It’s tough when you have Jimenez, who's hitting well and Rico to fit in there Mike Hobson It's getting close to the top of the hour. Let's go around the table one last time and then we'll let Eric & Chad get going for their game today against the Colorado Sky Sox. Coop I'll just be following the games. Thanks guys! Very good. Tulcard Good luck vs. the Sox today guys and have a great week. See you next weekend and thanks for being in the House today. Mike Hobson Thanks for joining us again this week Eric and Chad. Bring us home a bunch of winners this week. Stay tuned. The Cards board will be chatting with members of the Memphis Redbirds every Saturday at 10 AM throughout the 2008 season. Stop by and join in the fun! Links to previous chat sessions: 2008 Season: - April 26 Chat Session with Chad Renning - April 12 Chat Session with Chad Renning & Eric Berger 2007 Season: – John Vuch - John Vuch (followup questions) – Cody Haerther - Mike Lindskog - Kyle McClellan - Dave Chase - David Kelly - Steve Selby Copyright © 2008 FanHome.com LLC. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. All rights reserved. __________________ "Build it and they will come"