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Shane Victorino, who is currently a hot comodity for many
teams on the market heading into tomorrow's MLB trading
deadline--seemingly feels like its a dream scenario at the moment. |
When you ask just about any individual
athlete that is involved in Major League Baseball what one of the most
anticipiating—yet scariest dates surrounding the sport is, nine out of every
ten will likely give you the same exact answer—the July 31st MLB
trading’ deadline.
Well, here midway through the 2012
regular season, we are now just over fourteen hours away from this particular
event passing through us—and with that being said, quite a few of individuals
are quietly, yet nervously sweating it out.
While some teams have already made
pre-deadline deals—or still in the neogiations’ process—or just infact standing
pat with the current teams and rosters’ that they have, general manager John
Mozeliak and the defending World-Champion Cardinals’ front office has quite a
big weight on there shoulder, which by tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm Central Time,
will basically know the exact lineup and roster that they will own and try to
win back-to-back champions with.
Although the deadline is tomorrow
afternoon though, there are certain players that can clear the waiver-wire in
early August and still be traded or sign with another ballclub—so tomorrow isn’t
exactly the “official” deadline day, but it is in fact a pretty important
event.
Many people, including myself, know
that the Cardinals’ main line of need as of right now—beside just getting the
team healthy and out on the field—is that they need to either bolster the
bullpen up, or trade for another starting pitcher—especially following the news
of team-ace Chris Carpenter, who is now out for the remainder of the season due
to shoulder surgery—which has caused him to miss all of this current 2012
campaign.
While the offense is already pretty
potent—which seems to be a big surprise to many Cardinal Nation outsiders’
following the departure of Albert Pujols—is the least of this teams worries.
Now that Lance Berkman is back in the lineup and playing everyday, as well as
Allen Craig—them two alone give this team a lot of fire-power alone. Add in
last season’s hero from October, David Freese, the acquastion of Carlos Beltran—and
the improving emergence of Yadier Molina with the bat—and this season’s offense
may just be better than they were during that 2011 World Championship season.
As for the pitching, that is what in a
lot of peoples minds’, myself included, could hold this team back from another
title shot. Sure, don’t get me wrong, we have a pretty balanced group with a
lot of potential from a lot of the starters—as well as the bullpen guys—but still,
it seems that we are missing something, firepower included.
While every starter that the team has
in rotation has been pretty good—even with the absence of Chris Carpenter. Four
starters have all started atleast twenty games (Kyle Lohse-21, Adam
Wainwright-21, Lance Lynn-20, Jake Westbrook-20), Jaime Garcia started eleven
games before his injury—and Joe Kelly, who was just brought up to fill in for
Garcia, has surprisingly impressed everybody despite his 1-4 record in nine
starts—and has a possible chance to stay in the rotation, or at the very least,
be a very valuable bullpen man come time for the post-season.
Impressively, in his nine outings
since Garcia’s injury, Kelly has posted an earned-run average of 2.96—and not
only that—he has allowed just twenty-two runs in 66-1/3 innings of work. In my
opinion, once we get Garcia back into the rotation, Kelly is as much as a pick
up as anybody that I have heard the team is after—although, the innings in his
first season at this level could play somewhat of an issue.
Jason Motte obviously has the
closer-role on lock at this point barring an injury—but the other guys need to
step it up—including an addition if in fact the team does get someone before
tomorrow’s deadline.
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Entering the MLB Trading Deadline on Tuesday afternoon
at 2pm Central Time, Shelby Miller is without a doubt the
organizations' number one prospect and a valuable asset. |
Mitchell Boggs, Fernando Salas, Marc
Rzepcynski, and Viktor Marte have been the main members from the bullpen up to
this point—at least up until since the team brought up the likes of Barrett
Browning, Trevor Rosenthal, and Sam Freeman. The unit of the bullpen doesn’t
have a bad mix—considering it own’s veterans, newcomers, and in what I myself
call over-the-hump guys, they really aren’t as bad as some of the moments and
stretches’ that they have had—but if they can acquire someone else that could
help Motte light a fire into these guys, they could indeed be very, very scary.
While it is nearing midnight onto the
Central Time zone in which I live in in the United States, the clock continues
to tick down closer and closer—and at this moment and time, it certainly seems that
the Cardinals front office is standing pat—and while it could possibly changes—from
earlier reports from certain inside sources, it probably will not change.
As I don’t see the greatest talent available
for a trade deadline deal, at least from positions that the team is need in—and
most of the guys that I would have loved to see in a Cardinals’ uniform (such
as Zack Grenkie, Francisco Loriano, Huston Street, Cole Hamels, Hanley Ramirez,
or Roy Oswalt-when he was on the market in free agency)—and the certain players
that do intrigue me at the moment—are players that this team has no need for on
the roster (such as Shane Vitcorino, Upton, some of the upper-tier players that
are on the market).
This current event is a tradition for
ball players every season—and has front office and managements phones ringing
off the hook all the way up until it is too late—and this season, as in
tomorrow is no different. The defending-champion Cardinals are currently in
contention for both the Central division crown and the Wild Card—and with the
deadline almost here, it’s put up or shut up time for John Mozeliak and the
front office of the Saint Louis Cardinals.
