Kuzul

Tony La Russa has gotten away with using Ryan Franklin as the Cardinals‘ closer for two years, and today should be the day he makes a change that is two years overdue. Franklin is nothing more than a replacement level pitcher who has benefited from high strand rate (85.7 percent in 2009), low BABIP (.249 in 2009 and .267 in 2010), and home run-to-fly ball ratios (3.2 percent in 2009 and 8.2 percent in 2010) during his reign as closer.

Franklin has gotten off to an ugly start this season. He has allowed six hits on eight hits, two walks, three home runs and striking out two in 4.2 innings. Franklin’s disastrous start to the 2011 season has nothing to do with diminished stuff, or an undisclosed injury. It comes down to the amount of contact Franklin has pitched to. Franklin’s BABIP this season is at .294, which is four points above the 2010 average.

His 2011 velocity remains at its 2009-10 levels (91.1 mph), but he is only generating the lowest amount of swinging strikes for any closer in baseball at 3.5 percent. In fact, he has the lowest percentage among all closer’s with 110 innings pitched since 2009 at 7.3 percent. Amazingly opponents have been able to make contact on 93 percent of Franklin’s pitches, and 93 percent of the pitches he throws out of the strike zone.     

It is a general rule of thumb that a closer should strikeout opponents at an above average rate, and induce a high amount of swinging strikes. Closers should be able to get out the most difficult situations without allowing a run, and they need to be able to have the ability to strikeout any hitter in these situations. Franklin’s highest profiles blown save,  2009 NLDS Game 2, serves as an example.

Franklin won’t pitch this badly for the rest of the season. His 37.5 percent home run to flyball ratio is unsustainable, but as noted earlier, his BABIP does not inflate his current .364 batting averaged against.

There may not be a great reliever in the Cardinals bullpen, but Boggs, then Motte, deserves a chance to close games. The Cardinals can’t afford to go down this bumpy road any longer.  

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The St. Louis Cardinals‘ impressive hot streak on offense came to an abrupt stop as the team entered a pitching battle today against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Chris Carpenter started the game for the Red Birds, facing off against the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley. Carpenter gave up zero runs in his seven innings, and Billingsley responded with eight scoreless innings of his own.

The only person that hit well at all for the Cardinals today was outfielder Matt Holliday. Holliday got three of the team’s four hits against the Dodgers, including a 9th inning double against closer Jonathan Broxton. Third baseman David Freese got the team’s fourth hit following Holliday’s double. It was a blooper into shallow right field that scored Holliday, making the score 1-0.

Mitchell Boggs entered the game for Carpenter to handle the eighth inning. Boggs had a great appearance, as he faced three batters up and three down.

Most were probably hoping to see Boggs finish the game after the Cardinals took the lead in the 9th inning. However, manager Tony LaRussa sent in Trevor Miller to face Andre Ethier, who was the first batter of the 9th. Ethier answered back with a lead off double into right field.

LaRussa then brought in Ryan Franklin. It was a nail biting moment for fans, who were right to be nervous, as Matt Kemp ended the game with a two run walk-off home run.

It was a questionable move to begin with, as Franklin has appeared in only one inning in nine days. But what was even more concerning was that Franklin has blown three out of his four save opportunities before today.

Now, LaRussa is going to have to think long and hard about the facts at hand. In six appearances Franklin has blown four out of his five save opportunities, has given up three home runs, has an 0-2 record and is sitting with a 9.64 ERA.

At some point, the team has to realize that Franklin is not the closer he once was. Mitchell Boggs and Eduardo Sanchez are both very appealing options for the job. The team can not continue to lose close games due to blown saves. If the season comes down to a close division race, then these missed opportunities could mean everything.

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The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the most storied franchises in American sports history. They’ve won 10 World Series—second only to the Yankees. Their uniforms are perhaps the best-looking in all of sports.

But hungry fans want more. They want the Cardinals to compete harder against the Yankees’ (Jankees’) legacy. By spending the cheddar, the Cards can stay competitive.

But is this my only suggestion for improving the Redbirds? No, my pen has too much of a motor to stop there. Read my suggestions in this slideshow and voice your opinions. Let’s start the show. Next slide. 

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Shhh…do you hear that?

If you’re a baseball fan, a sports enthusiast, or if you simply happen to hail from the Greater St. Louis area, I’m sure you are hearing the same thing I am.

Silence.

That’s right, for the first time in recent memory, the day’s sporting headlines have not been dominated by Albert Pujols chatter and, I must say, the silence is deafening.

I was truly surprised to visit the ESPN website today and not see ONE update on the Pujols contract saga. Soon after, I was downright SHOCKED to see that Pujols’ name was absent from the home page of MLB.com as well. It looks like, at least for the time, Pujols is staying true to his word and ceasing contract negotiations after his self-imposed Wednesday afternoon deadline.

To say the Pujols’ story has been well-documented would be like saying 12 year-old girls like Justin Bieber; both are vast, vast understatements. Yet, while the obligatory “what if Pujols were traded to my team” articles and blogs have surfaced, most of the Pujols coverage has been dedicated to dissecting the extension he is demanding from the Cardinals, or the kind of deal he could get if he were to enter free agency in 2012.

The media’s focus on Pujols agreeing to an extension with St. Louis is not unfounded, however. Pujols has made it clear that he wants to retire a Cardinal, and that he will block any trade on the strength of his 10-5 no-trade clause (10 years in the Majors, five with one team).

However, one has to believe that, especially in a situation that has gotten as sticky as Pujols’ (Pujols and the Cards are way off on their numbers), nothing is outside of the realm of possibility.

Straight out of the “stranger things have happened” file, here are the ten things that must go down in order for Albert the Great to be traded.

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Earlier this week, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and free agent to-be Albert Pujols set a deadline for team management.  If he and the front office could not come to terms on a long-term extension by noon on Wednesday, February 16, he would halt negotiations and test the free agent market at season’s end.

Needless to say, the Cardinals would be foolish not to give Pujols his money.  He is the face of their franchise and the most popular player on the team.  Here are 10 reasons that if Pujols becomes a free agent he should remain in St. Louis

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The 2010 season will go down in baseball history for what will be perhaps the biggest loss of managerial talent the game has ever suffered in a single year.

We now know that Tony La Russa will be back with the Cardinals next year, but that only means the damage is being contained; Major League Baseball will nevertheless begin next season without managerial icons Bobby Cox, Joe Torre, or Lou Piniella.

With Charlie Manuel not getting any younger, and Jim Leyland and Cito Gaston looking just plain tired at the end of last season, who knows where the carnage will end?

To commemorate the retirement of three legendary forces inside the clubhouse, we take a look at the Top 100 Major League Managers of All Time.

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Bobby Cox walked off the field for the final time Monday night after his Braves fell to the Giants in Game 4 of the NLDS.

Despite holding the record for most ejections by a Major League manager, few of Cox’s counterparts have exhibited more class on the diamond.

Cox retires with 2,504 wins, good for fourth all-time in MLB history.  Under his guidance, the Braves reeled off a string of postseason appearances that has never been matched in professional sports.

But exactly how much does his lack of success in the World Series hurt his standing among the greatest managers ever?

Here’s a look at where Bobby Cox ranks among the best managers in the history of Major League Baseball.

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The Cardinals came into this season expecting to challenge the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant and to dethrone the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Yet they were out of contention by the middle of September, in the clutches of a collapse from a first-place tie with their longtime rival, the Cincinnati Reds, and were far removed from being the hottest Redbirds team in three seasons.

Collapse is a more powerful word than the phrase “second-half swoon,” but collapse is more appropriate in this situation, without question.

Redbird Nation is baffled:

How a team expected to swim deep into the playoffs needed CPR, personal oxygen tanks, and a breathing apparatus by the beginning of September is beyond us.

Instead of challenging the Phillies in the playoffs, the Cardinals were eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates with a week remaining in the regular season.

Watching their barroom-brawling rivals run away with the division crown this particular season is a James Bond movie-like bitter and poison pill for diehard Cardinals fans to swallow.

They were 12-6 against the Reds, but their record was an ugly 26-33 against the rest of the division, and 46-50 against teams with a losing record.

Again this year, thanks to a second-half swoon that has become the norm over the last three Redbirds seasons, the Gateway City’s Gas House Gang’s gritty baseball team flavor lost its savor under their now-embattled tragic Cardinal of a manager: Tony LaRussa.

The Cardinals were playing like the best team in baseball from the first pitch after the 81^st All-Star Game.  Starting on July 15, their first eight games after the break were played in St. Louis against two of the top NL teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Eight revenge games to start the second half: The Dodgers had swept the Cardinals out of the playoffs in 2009, and the Phillies were the defending NL Champions.

After the infield dust settled, Major League Baseball eyes watched in admiration at the Redbirds’ sizzling performance.

First, the Birds swept the Dodgers by outscoring them 22-9 in the four-game series.  In July, Joe Torre’s squad was still considered the front-runner to win the NL West.

Then, the Cardinals bopped the Phillies in three straight games, taking the series 3-1, and outscoring Philadelphia 23-8 in the four contests. 

Then, in the very next series, in Chicago against their top rivals (the woefully struggling Cubs), the Cardinals were dismantled by yet another team that owned a losing overall record.

The Cardinals’ August began in Houston against the cellar-dwelling Astros.  Houston shoved an 18-4 loss down the Cardinals’ throat; an embarrassing effort that drew the ire of Cardinals fans who experienced the bitter commentary of MLB analysts as well as those from other team’s fans.

But the Redbirds made up for it a week later, by running Cincinnati red—in Cincinnati.  This was the “Scrap Series,” where the Cardinals swept the clashes but ended up losing the conflict.

Cincinnati’s cocky infielder, Brandon Phillips, a breathing conflict on the diamond, fired the then-second-place Redbirds up with his comments that I will not repeat here.  And when he stepped to the plate, the Cards’ rugged catcher, Yadier Molina, dared Phillips to shine across the line.

Phillips did so and the brawl was on to the Reds’ detriment, or so it seemed.

Being swept by his managerial Mad Hatter in Tony LaRussa, Cincinnati’s skipper Dusty “Batman” Baker’s blood boiled as he was seen bristling in postgame interviews.

The Reds went on a division-clinching run after the series’ infamous summer brawl, while the Cardinals started to swoon.

To end August, the Cardinals got swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates and by the Astros, plus Albert Pujols and the St. Louisans were almost swept by the Washington Nationals.  In the last 10 games of the month, the Cardinals record was 1-9.

The swoon was now lasting way past June.  Even though the Redbirds destroyed the Reds by a score of 6-1 in a game played on national television on the Saturday before Labor Day, for all intents and purposes, the division race was over.

How could a relatively young team with a Cy Young candidate (Adam Wainwright), a first baseman vying for the Triple Crown (Pujols), a $25 million enforcer (Matt Holliday), a top NL closer (Ryan Franklin), and a former Cy Young winner (Chris Carpenter) miss the playoffs? 

Before asking yourself “What just happened?” chew on this:

As you know, I believe that the blame has to fall squarely on the grudge-holding mind of manager Tony LaRussa. 

Both LaRussa and McGwire are pond scum, and now we see them for what they truly are. Hopefully, in this long offseason, consequences and repercussions will be the result. 

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Albert Pujols did everything he could possibly do and then some to try to get the St. Louis Cardinals to the playoffs.  But, with the Cincinnati Reds preparing for October, something clearly went wrong.  The Cardinals came into the 2010 season with World Series aspirations, but now they will have to settle for watching it on TV.

Pujols did have some help this year.  Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and Matt Holiday all deserve credit for having excellent years.

But, seeing as the Redbirds missed the playoffs, there has to be some blame to go around, right?  Here are five people who failed to do their jobs this season:

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New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi won a World Series last season and also was voted Manager of the Year in 2006 with the Florida Marlins.

The Chicago Cubs currently have an interim manager, Mike Quade, after Lou Piniella left the team in August to take care of his ailing mother. Quade has led the Cubbies to a 20-11 record in his short time as skipper.

They are known as the Cubbies or Baby Cubs because they are using all their young players. These kids are producing at a high level and much of the credit is going to the interim manager.

Despite Quade’s success and the respect he has earned with his team and the league, the Cubs are searching for a proven manager.

One guy rumored to be in contention for the job is Chicago area native Joe Girardi. Now that Girardi has guided the Yankees into a tailspin in September, he has become a bit more edgy with the media and has begun to manage games differently.

He is in panic mode, evidenced by starting Phil Hughes on Sunday when Dustin Moseley was supposed to get the nod against Boston. My opinion is that when Girardi saw the Tampa Bay Rays lose, he wanted to try and “gain a game,” and allowed Hughes to start against Boston to better the Yankees’ chances of winning.

The power of winning last year’s World Series might not be enough for Girardi to avoid the heat of October baseball in New York. The games are more tense, and so is Girardi.

Two months ago, the possibility of Girardi bolting the Yankees for hometown Chicago was, at best, a rumor. Now, it could be more of a reality than Yankee fans think.

Girardi was not saying NO directly at the time as a way of generating a more lucrative Yankee extension, but he might be able to get the same money elsewhere.

If the Cubs were really set on hiring Ryne Sandberg as their new manager, they would have announced it already, same as the Los Angeles Dodgers saying Mattingly will be their new manager.

Win or lose the World Series, there is now better than a 50-50 chance Girardi leaves for the comforts of home. Girardi will relish the chance to coach a young team again, and not be second guessed as much when he makes head scratching moves.

So when Girardi leaves for Chicago, there will be one big open seat for hire, and one much smaller seat across the river in Queens.  

Let’s go over the possibilities for the next Yankees manager when Girardi leaves.

Jerry Manuel has no shot. Just thought I would throw that out there for a good laugh.

I personally would love to have Tony LaRussa as manager, but he may not leave St. Louis. Also, if you think Girardi is short with the media, wait until LaRussa gets in front of the New York market.

Also, the last time a former St. Louis manager came to work for the Yankees, it did turn out quite well.

So, with Joe Torre “retiring” from the Los Angeles Dodgers, would it be a good fit to bring back Torre to manage this team of veteran players?

One word: NO.

Despite guys like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte loving the old guy, there is just too much animosity in Yankee land regarding Torre.

Brian Cashman would never resort to bringing him back. Forget about all that hugging garbage on the George Steinbrenner tribute night. The Yankee respected George too much to not bring back Torre for the ceremony, but they do not like him enough to have him sitting in the dugout again.

The Yankees are different now than when Torre first managed here. They are all about innings limits, using their relievers differently than Torre does (meaning overuse of one or two guys), and bringing up younger players to fill roles much cheaper.

Torre has recently said that he is unable to relate to the younger players and can’t get through to them like he can with veterans.

How will that play out in New York now, especially with the tension Torre would create with Alex Rodriguez over the details in his book. Seeing a person you dislike (and do not respect anymore) is fine when it is for one day, for one event, and you only have to speak to them once.

But to acknowledge and speak to the person on an everyday basis during an entire season would generate lots of tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Torre would not be a good fit for the Yankees.

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