A royal idea

RockintheRed · 06-17-2008, 12:00 PM

One off day is too much for me. The Kansas City Royals come to town and, surprisingly enough, may have more to offer the Cards than a good I-70 interleague battle. Both Mike Aviles and Albert Callaspo, middle infielders for the Royals, present some second options for the Cardinals if we fail to land a bona fide middle infield upgrade, which should be our number one priority right now. Aviles, who has finally made it to the big leagues at 27-years-old, is having a great year in 2008. After putting up a solid .296/.329/.463 line in Triple-A Omaha last year (538 AB), Mike repeated his stroke with better results this year, batting .336/.370/.631 in 214 AB at Omaha, coupled with a healthy ISO of .295. He finally got the call to the big leagues recently and is hitting .341/.372/.659 in 41 AB, including a 25% line drive rate.

Aviles isn't going to be a world beater, but Royals fans are generally happy with their homegrown shortstop/second baseman. He would probably cost us a good prospect like Jon Jay and Mark Hamilton to pry away, although the Royals have been pretty frugal with their moves lately, making me wonder if that would be enough. Aviles strikes me as a John Rodriguez-type player, someone who turns it on a little later than the typical prospect. That's not to say that would be a bad thing, as J-Rod would have a lot of value if he played middle infield.

Another middle infielder that could be a second option is Albert Callaspo, who was once a top-10 prospect in a loaded D'Backs farm system. Callaspo hasn't really been projected to be more than a good utility player, however, and I'd fear that we're just getting another Brendan Ryan to clog the infield. His numbers are Aaron Miles-esque so far this year - .298/.353/.340 - and could be something Adam Kennedy could put up with one hot week of hitting. I just mentioned three of our own infielders while talking about Albert; I guess that's not good. I'd pass on Callaspo, but Mike Aviles presents an intriguing option to look into, especially considering the likely Royals fire-sale near the deadline. Jon Jay doesn't seem like too much to give up considering the amount of outfield prospects we have and our sad second base situation. Heck, the Royals would probably take Anthony Reyes as part of a package. We're looking for market inefficiencies here - finding players that other teams overlook or may not deem worthy. Aviles could be one of those guys.

As July approaches, more teams are starting to fall out of contention, making it easier to tell who'll be buying and who'll be selling this trade deadline. I'll have an updated list of trade targets this week, but for now watch Aviles and tell me if you like what you see.

Some more news on Yadier Molina's injury, and it's a bit encouraging:

"He was in good spirits," said general manager John Mozeliak, who visited Molina in the hospital Sunday evening. "He said he felt better."

The Cardinals did not have a player move planned "at this point," Mozeliak said, preferring to see how Molina improves after Monday's off day. Mozeliak agreed that it was "not ideal" to go into a series with only one healthy catcher in Jason LaRue, but that it was a possibility.

It's nice to here Yadi's doing fine. It's not particularly nice to hear we may have only one catcher for this series, however. I guess they are trying to make Aaron Miles the Secret Weapon 2.0, as he very well may have a chance to catch with Yadi recovering.

Also from that link, Chris Carpenter will be figuring out a solution for his elbow this week. Mulder is on the fast track to the big leagues, and Matt Clement probably has a month to go. It's good to finally be hearing some news from our recovering pitchers. I just wish it all was good.

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06-17-2008, 12:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
RockintheRed Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 178	A royal idea One off day is too much for me. The Kansas City Royals come to town and, surprisingly enough, may have more to offer the Cards than a good I-70 interleague battle. Both Mike Aviles and Albert Callaspo, middle infielders for the Royals, present some second options for the Cardinals if we fail to land a bona fide middle infield upgrade, which should be our number one priority right now. Aviles, who has finally made it to the big leagues at 27-years-old, is having a great year in 2008. After putting up a solid .296/.329/.463 line in Triple-A Omaha last year (538 AB), Mike repeated his stroke with better results this year, batting .336/.370/.631 in 214 AB at Omaha, coupled with a healthy ISO of .295. He finally got the call to the big leagues recently and is hitting .341/.372/.659 in 41 AB, including a 25% line drive rate. Aviles isn't going to be a world beater, but Royals fans are generally happy with their homegrown shortstop/second baseman. He would probably cost us a good prospect like Jon Jay and Mark Hamilton to pry away, although the Royals have been pretty frugal with their moves lately, making me wonder if that would be enough. Aviles strikes me as a John Rodriguez-type player, someone who turns it on a little later than the typical prospect. That's not to say that would be a bad thing, as J-Rod would have a lot of value if he played middle infield. Another middle infielder that could be a second option is Albert Callaspo, who was once a top-10 prospect in a loaded D'Backs farm system. Callaspo hasn't really been projected to be more than a good utility player, however, and I'd fear that we're just getting another Brendan Ryan to clog the infield. His numbers are Aaron Miles-esque so far this year - .298/.353/.340 - and could be something Adam Kennedy could put up with one hot week of hitting. I just mentioned three of our own infielders while talking about Albert; I guess that's not good. I'd pass on Callaspo, but Mike Aviles presents an intriguing option to look into, especially considering the likely Royals fire-sale near the deadline. Jon Jay doesn't seem like too much to give up considering the amount of outfield prospects we have and our sad second base situation. Heck, the Royals would probably take Anthony Reyes as part of a package. We're looking for market inefficiencies here - finding players that other teams overlook or may not deem worthy. Aviles could be one of those guys. As July approaches, more teams are starting to fall out of contention, making it easier to tell who'll be buying and who'll be selling this trade deadline. I'll have an updated list of trade targets this week, but for now watch Aviles and tell me if you like what you see. Some more news on Yadier Molina's injury, and it's a bit encouraging: "He was in good spirits," said general manager John Mozeliak, who visited Molina in the hospital Sunday evening. "He said he felt better." The Cardinals did not have a player move planned "at this point," Mozeliak said, preferring to see how Molina improves after Monday's off day. Mozeliak agreed that it was "not ideal" to go into a series with only one healthy catcher in Jason LaRue, but that it was a possibility. It's nice to here Yadi's doing fine. It's not particularly nice to hear we may have only one catcher for this series, however. I guess they are trying to make Aaron Miles the Secret Weapon 2.0, as he very well may have a chance to catch with Yadi recovering. Also from that link, Chris Carpenter will be figuring out a solution for his elbow this week. Mulder is on the fast track to the big leagues, and Matt Clement probably has a month to go. It's good to finally be hearing some news from our recovering pitchers. I just wish it all was good. More...