Cardinals roster matrix

Cardinals prospect leftovers: November 25
A quick look at several St. Louis Cardinals prospect-related items. At TheCardinalNation.com Over at Scout.com, I still have a few more interviews and recap articles on the St. Louis Cardinals prospects that competed in the 2009 Arizona Fall League yet to run. Wednesday’s piece is I think my tenth interview from there. This one is with Scott Gorgen (for subscribers only). Most recently prior to that, I ran a free summary of the four position players. Don’t read it if you are squeamish.

MVP Mauer vs. Cy also-ran Carpenter smacks of inconsistency
I have absolutely nothing against the voters who selected Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer as the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player. Yes, there was that weird rogue first-place vote coming out of Seattle for Miguel Cabrera, but overall, all appearances are that they got the right man. It doesn’t mean the selection doesn’t raise serious questions when viewed in the context of the still-controversial National League Cy Young Award vote, however. Mauer logged 28 home runs and 96 RBI for Minnesota

Collusion or just getting younger?
I was thinking about some of the dynamics this winter relating to the St. Louis Cardinals 40-man roster, prospects and the market for free agents and how that may represent a cross-section of changes across the game. Though it is still early in the off-season in terms of player movement, there have been a number of verbal jousts reported in the media between management and agents over the current economic state of the game and its potential impact on signings.

Changing Cy Young scoring doesn’t change winner
In my earlier post looking at a five-player ballot instead of the three-player ballot that exists today for the Cy Young Award vote, my intent was to adapt the pitching process to mimic the ten-player Most Valuable Player Award scoring. In doing so, I erred in assigning five points to first place. To most accurately apply the MVP scoring system

Cardinals lose important instructor Radison
One of the downsides of ex-St. Louis Cardinals organization members taking on more responsibility elsewhere is the good people they invariably pull away with them. Such is the case currently in Washington. When the Nationals removed the “interim” tag and anointed Jim Riggleman their manager for 2010, the next step for the former Cardinals minor league field coordinator was to hand-pick his coaching staff.