Branyan, DH’s, and defensive musings

The Tampa Bay “could it be Satan?” Rays won the Russell Branyan sweepstakes. Though Branyan is a miserable defensively, his competition for the hot corner job is the likes of Ty Wigginton & flunked prospect Shane Burroughs. He could also share time at DH where he’ll hit long flies into empty seats.In other DH news, Ruben Sierra also found a taker in the Twins. Really? Ruben Sierra is playing, still? These two signings beg me to ask….why hasn’t Matt LeCroy been signed yet? Sure, he has to speed up to stop, but last year he hit lefties to the tune of .301/.404/.641. Someone, somewhere will eventually scoop him up.If you haven’t been keeping up with the David Pinto’s PMR ratings yet, be sure to check them out. According to the ratings, defensively- 

• Eckstein is as advertised, as in adequate.
• Grudzelaniek was great at second last year, but Spivey is no slouch either. We shouldn’t see much of a drop off defensively up the middle.
• Nunez filled really did fill in quite admirably for Rolen last year. Both he and David Bell should form a dynamic duo of all glove, no bat corner infielders.
• Edmonds still rocks.
• There are conflicting reports on Encarnacion. According to PMR, he’s average. He’s also average to decent in a number of other systems, I won’t get into all of them now, feel free to shoot over to Baseball Think Factory and do your own Googling. But according to Mitchel Litchman’s UZR, he was +16 in 2005, which is very good. (Litchman, aka MGL, works for the Cardinals, in case you didn’t know already.)

While there are discrepancies on defensive ratings, at least there is major headway made into measuring it. And most of the time, the ratings all agree who is outstanding, (Rolen) who is overrated, (Jeter) and who just flat out stinks. (Manny)

Cabin Fever

Is it Spring yet? It’s the week of the Superbowl and I couldn’t be less enthused. Thankfully there is light at the end of the tunnel, as pitchers and catchers report in only 17 days!

Speaking of catchers, did you know Yadier Molina’s nickname is Nags? I don’t like it nor do I know where it came from. Surely we can think of something better then that for Yadier. Any suggestions? My personal vote is for “Gasolina” Molina- It rhymes, he throws gas when it comes to would be basestealers, and his at bat song is Gasolina by Yankee Daddy. (Never dug Latin Hip Hop.)

Help Wanted-News has it the Reds will interview Cardinal Assistant GM John Mozeliak for their GM opening. Mozeliak has brought to the Cardinals more of some Moneyball-esque ways of thinking to the Cardinals. He’s been over the scouting department for a a couple of years and our farm system is just starting to show signs of improvement. While I’d hate to see him go, if there is any team that needs him, it’s the Reds.

Say it ain’t So-Stlcardinals.com writer Matthew Leach reports that So Taguchi is the early favorite to win the left field job. “Gooch” is the designated hustling scrub for the Cardinals now, so I guess I have to root for him. But you don’t get named to the OOPS (Overrated Offensive Player) all star team for nothing. Sure, he’ll slap singles at a decent rate and provide above average defense in the outfield, but that’s about it. Personally,I find myself starting to pull more and more for Larry Bigbie to get the job. Dan at GUB shares my disdain in the prospect of Taguchi starting. Plus, he dug up one freaky anime-esque cartoon done by someone with a strange interest in the Japanese outfielder.
Numbers Game-Wasting time at the official site I discovered who will be wearing what number in 06. To make it 2 consecutive Larry’s wearing #33, Bigbie will sport that number. Junior Spivey will take over #3 as vacated by Abe Nunez. Aaron Miles wore #6 in Colorado, so for reasons I don’t have to explain he’ll switch to #12. Braden Looper is listed at #41, Sidney Ponson is lucky #13, Gary Bennett #28, Deivi Cruz #35, Encarnacion #43, Michael Hernandez is #74 and Ricardo Rincon is #73. Oh, and in case you missed it, Molina switched to #4. (By the way, don’t miss Cardnilly’s numbers series. There you can find something insightful and entertaining about the likes of ex-Cardinal Luther Hackman and Gene Stechschulte, and some good old-fashioned Chad Hutchinson hating. No wonder this blog wins awards!)

New to PAH9-Max Scherzer watch-Starting February 9th the Mizzou Tigers baseball season starts. Maybe it’s due to the new video game, as I am a geek, I’m actually sorta enthused about the college baseball season this year. The Tigers are ranked #10 by Baseball America and pitcher Max Scherzer, a St. Louis native who was an unsigned draft pick by Cardinals in 2003, has been named to Clemens Award Watch List. It maybe a long shot, but here’s hoping that lightening will strike twice and Scherzer falls to the Redbirds again in the draft this coming summer. For now, I’ll keep you posted on his outings.

More mulling over Mulder

(A weekend post! A telltale sign of boredom!)

Over at Vivaelbirdos! they are working on a community projection for Mark Mulder. Some of the projections range from Cy Young contender to going down in history as the worst Walt Jocketty trade ever. I’d love to believe Mulder can go out and dominate in a contract year, but the recent trends make me less then the unbridled enthusiast. (Besides, unbridled enthusiasm is what led to Billy Mumphrey’s downfall.) Using Fangraphs.com (my new favorite website if you can’t tell yet) to get a clearer picture, let’s take a look at the downward trends in Mulder’s career.

K/9

BB/9

OBA

Prognosis:Negative. Less k’s, more walks, more hits allowed with every new season. All the tell tale signs for regression. His 3.64 ERA last year is a combination of luck and being able to get out of an inning through the double play. (Last year he was tied for first in the NL for most double plays induced with Horacio Ramirez with 32.) That ties into another interesting trend in Mulder, alas, there is hope!LD/GB/FB

2005-2.88Mulder was 3rd in the league in GB/FB ratio behind Brandon Webb (4.00) & Derek Lowe (3.01). Under Dave Duncan, Mulder looks to be morphing into much more of a sinker pitcher, making him a poster boy of sorts. Previously to 2005, I had read scouting reports about how good his 4-seam fastball is. But one recent scouting report I read after the 05 season said that Mulder had changed his approach and is throwing 2 seam, sinking fastballs much more then his 4 seamer. Of course, I never recognized the change, as I never saw Mulder pitch before outside of the All-Star game.Pointedly, Webb & Lowe both were coming off rough seasons in 04 to rebound in 05, much in part because both considerably cut down their walks. If Mulder can do the same and continue the high groundballing trend, he could return to a state of glory. If not, there will be plunge down into mediocrity for Mulder. 

 

Starting Pitching Concerns-A look at FIP

The Redbirds have 6-7 possible starting pitchers going into 2006. But how good are these guys going to be this upcoming season? Just taking a look at FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) has me a little worried. FIP is a good indicator of future performance, because it shows how much the pitcher is directly responsible for the amount of runs he earns or doesn’t earn, as it is based on the pitchers K’s, BB’s, & homeruns.Take a look at some of these numbers-Carpenter ERA 2.83 FIP 2.88 ZiPS (o6) 3.16
Mulder ERA 3.64 FIP 4.28 ZiPS 4.22
Suppan ERA 3.57 FIP 4.52 (!) ZiPS 4.52
Marquis ERA 4.13 FIP 4.93 (!) ZiPS 4.68
Ponson ERA 6.21 FIP 4.73 ZiPS 4.57
Reyes ZiPS 3.72-AAA HR/9-.91-BB/9-2 .38 K/9-9.5What could this mean for the Cardinals? First, those who are predicting Carpenter drastically regressing next season have no solid basis for their judgments, at least as far as I understand. There is only a .05 difference in his ERA and his FIP. He is a true ace and I don’t expect him to slide much. Some doubters say he was overworked last season, and that will somehow come back to hurt him. But BP has him ranked only 39th in pitcher abuse points, despite his 241 innings pitched. (He never did get into many high pitch counts, even in his long outings.)I’ve seen quite a few projections for Mark Mulder this winter, and none are particularly good. What could help Mulder is to start to fan batters more, but he’s never been a strikeout pitcher. More realistically he could help himself by cutting down his walks and continue relying on his sinker. (Mulder GB/FB ratio was 2.88 last year, quite higher then his career norm.)Mulders BB/9 (from Fangraphs)
As you can see, the last couple of years Mulder’s walks have been significantly up from 01-03. If Mulder can regain his command he should set himself up for a nice raise in a contract year.

In an earlier post, I described Jason Marquis late season success as a result of cutting his walks down and throwing his sinker for strikes. Marquis should beat his projection quite handily if he continues that pattern. As for Suppan, he has made even the most astute stat heads scratch their heads. He didn’t have a dramatic change in his k’s, walks, or homeruns yielded, yet he posted -1.09 of his career ERA. The Jeff Suppan word of the day for this statistical anamoly is conudrum, because I can’t figure out either how he did that other then luck. His FIP and his ZiPS are frighteningly identical, meaning we should expect some significant regression in 06. Maybe a trade should be in order here.Finally, let’s hope and pray that Reyes win that fifth spot in the rotation. But if he doesn’t for whatever reason, Ponson should improve this season from being amazingly bad to being between sorta bad or “decent for a 5th starter”. We can also hope sobriety makes him a much better pitcher, somehow.

To pour salt in a semi-recent wound , I leave you with some numbers for the woulda, coulda, (maybe) shoulda file-

Burnett-ERA 3.44 FIP .309 ZiPS 3.59 154 k’s in 183 IP
Vazquez ERA 4.42 FIP .404 ZiPS 4.25 190 k’s in 212 IPI still say a 5 year contract is too long for any pitcher, but…..-

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Minor Stuff

LBoros at VEB takes an interesting look at our minor league system, aided by some interesting numbers. A few weeks ago, I happened stumble past some interesting ratings of the Cardinal system over at On Deck Baseball. The ratings are formulated with basic hitting stats like ab’s runs, hits, doubles,triples, homeruns, rbi’s, walks, and stolen bases for hitters. and for pitchers innings,hits,earned runs,walks,and k’s. Then it factors in the players age and what level they are at. You can find the full explanation here.According to the system, our top ten hitters came out to be-
(Min 120 AB’s)1. Bryan Anderson, C, Johnson City 202.44
2. Jose Martinez, 2B, Johnson City 177.59
3. Colby Rasmus, CF, Johnson City 177.53
4. Cody Haerther, LF, Springfield 152.02
5. Nick Stavinoha, RF, Quad Cities 129.75
6. Chuck Carter, LF, Johnson City 116.62
7. Donovan Solano, SS, Johnson City 112.54
8. Chris Duncan, 1B, Memphis 111.54
9. Chad Gabriel, RF, New Jersey 111.22
10. Tyler Greene, SS, New Jersey 111.00The system doesn’t mean necessarily that the prospect is the best player in the system, it just shows who was producing. Of course 1st round pick Tyler Greene is likely a much better player Chad Gabriel or Chuck Carter. One thing the list does tell you-Bryan Anderson is definetly worth a following.One guy I really like is Stavinoha. I got to watch him when the Swing came into town in August. He stung everything he hit, including a screaming line drive homer over the left field wall.

Another point of interest, Travis Hanson, ranked our 7th best prospect by Baseball America, was only 17th on the list. Highly regarded shortstop Brendan Ryan finished 22nd.Here are the pitchers-
(Minimum 40 IP)
1.

Anthony Reyes, RHP, Memphis 195.40
2. Nick Webber, RHP, New Jersey 172.79
3. Stuart Pomeranz, RHP, Springfield 168.77
4. Adam Wainwright, RHP, Memphis 166.32
5. Phillip Andersen, RHP, Quad Cities 165.40
6. Joshua Wilson, RHP, Johnson City 164.65
7. Zach Zuercher, LHP, New Jersey 157.68
8. Tyler Herron, RHP, Johnson City 155.14
9. Michael Parisi, RHP, Quad Cities 151.95
10. Mark Michael, RHP, Palm Beach 150.79To no suprise, Anthony Reyes tops the list. Nick Webber and Josh Wilson were high draft picks, Webber a college pick and Wilson a high school pick. One guy that I’m keen on is Zach Zuercher, mainly because he’s gotta funky name. He led Rhode Island to finish 1st in the Atlantic 10, k’ing over 11 per 9. Ranking 11th on the list is Chris Lambert and 14th is the fireballing Mark McCormick. These 2 ranked our 4th and 5th best prospects by Baseball America. So it further proves the system is not a perfect judge of talent, but it does show who produced. (Baseball America isn’t a perfect judge of talent, either. Far from it.) Anyway, take them for what you will.If I were to rank the top prospects, just off the hip my top ten would be-

1. Anthony Reyes
2. Cody Haerther
3. Colby Rasmus
4. Stuart Pomeranz
5. Chris Lambert
6. Adam Wainwright
7. Tyler Greene
8. Nick Webber
9. Mark McCormick
10. Brian Anderson

And I’d put Stavinoha right at #11, barely missing the list.

Wade-ing into trouble

Wade Miller signed with the Cubs. Normally, I would say a signing like this is a good gamble. But Miller is going to the Chicago, where he will be managed by Dusty friggin’ Baker, who treats starting pitchers like Ike treats Tina. While Pitcher Abuse Points (aka PAP) are debatable, and I won’t digress into how they all work as I’m not that left-brained, consider these rankings.

• In 2005, Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood ranked 2nd and 3rd in PAP.
• In 04, Zambrano finished 2nd and Wood 16th. Wood pitched only 22 games before going on the DL.
• In 03, Wood finished 2nd, Prior 4th, and Zambrano 10th

We all know as Cardinal fans that this trio can be very intimidating. We also know that all 3 haven’t been able to click on all cylinders since they went to the playoffs in 03. Wood most notably has suffered from injury issues, and is still working on his recovery. Prior has had his problems, but that liner he got nailed with last season was hardly his fault. Zambrano was starting to maybe feel the effects last year, but he credited it to spending hours of web-surfing. (Cubs players sure suffer from strange injuries, don’t they? Sneezing, web-surfing…) Now they sign a decent talent who is trying to get his career back on track, who if anything will likely worsen under Dusty. Here’s a scouting report on Miller -

Miller has a complicated delivery that has to be just right for him to be effective. When he’s right, Miller has as much stuff as practically anyone on the staff, throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and his slider around 90 MPH.The slightest deviation, however, and he not only has troubles pitching, but can be prone to injury. 

So he can be effective, but he has to be perfect with his delivery or with any deviation he can kill himself. I think Miller and Wood will be spending a lot of time together this summer.

Don’t feed the Mutant LOOGy Monster

Say hi to LOOGoid, the mutant baseball beast. Just be careful, he bites!————>

Tony LaRussa is credited for popularizing the monster we now call today (Lefty One Out Guy), what some have called the “bizarre mutation metastasizing in today’s bloated, hyper-specialized bullpen.” Then there is the LOOGY’s right-handed cousin, the ROOGY. Well, the hyper-specialized mutant freak got a little bigger in St. Louis this winter. Consider these 3 year splits-(OBA/OBP/SLG)Looper vs RHB .231/.289/.287 -vs LHB- .307/.356/.466
Nelson vs RHB .218/.304/ .299 -vs LHB- .273 /.410/.432
Rincon-vs LHB .217/.276/.318 -vs RHB- .270/.390/.429
Flores vs LHB .173/.250/.333 -vs RHB -.304/.360/.443 (05 only)

I know that Tavarez was borderline ROOGy material last year, so maybe this year doesn’t differ a whole lot from last year. But the great stabilizer to the madness, Al Reyes, had to injure himself in the last game of the season. That dashed any hopes on what could’ve been a comparatively inexpensive option for the set-up role in 06. Reyes was equally devasting to both righties and lefties.

This year there is no stabilizing force to fight against the mutant monster that has become the situational reliever. Brad Thompson was relatively effective against both righties and lefties, but his low K/9 ratio doesn’t forecast future brilliance. (BT K/9-4.75 vs Reyes-9.6)

-Pondering this matter helps me sort of appreciate the Hall of Fame induction of relief ace Bruce Sutter, who could pitch 80-120 innings a season in relief and rack up saves along the way.

I’m not advocating baseball should go back to the “good ol’ days” and overwork starting pitching. Nor am I saying that lefty/righty specialists don’t have their uses. But our present day managers have used specialized bullpen roles to the point were things are possibly getting counter-productive. From a fans perspective, it slows the game down to a crawl. Plus, it would be nice to have more players to work with off the bench rather out of the bullpen. It’s because of this mutant we have lefty relievers like Tom Martin getting spring training invitations while Russ Branyan sits by the phone and waits, despite his career .800+ OPS. Or why Ray King makes the playoff roster, while Anthony Reyes watched at home.

There has to be some middle ground somewhere.

For now, we know Tony will utilize this beast to the best of his ability as always. Just get ready to sit a little longer in the sweltering St. Louis heat this summer at Busch III.

Fun with Fangraphs-Jason Marquis

You may notice the Fangraphs search feature on the site now. All you have to do is enter a players last name, hit search and you will be zapped into worlds of baseball stats, as far as the eye can see. (If you blog, you can get their code free at fangraphs.com. Do it!) Fangraphs are fun stuff. Dan at GUB had an interesting piece on tracking the 3 different versions of Jason Marquis we saw last season. I won’t reinvent the wheel here, as the article is well worth the read. I simply echo his statements and hope with you that the late August-September version of Marquis shows up next year.

With Fangraph guru/creator David Appelman’s permission, I posted some of Marquis graphs here for your viewing pleasure. (And to borrow his schtick a bit, I added my personal commentary.) (If the graphs don’t show correctly at first, hit F5!)

As you can see Marquis ERA was like a rollercoaster ride throughout the season. For a while it was frightenly rising higher and higher, until we were all pining for the call up of Anthony Reyes. But then it took a major plummet. This was due to the fact that Jason decided to finally listen to Dunc and throw his 2 seamer for strikes.

Here again we see the wild ride that was 05 for Jason. His BB/9 took a nosedive at heading towards the end of the season. Funny how that happens when you decide to try to finish a guy off, instead of getting ahead and then trying to nibble. Walking less batters helped his ERA considerably. Put that one in the “duh” files.

Also encouraging is that he started getting a higher amount of ground balls towards the end of the season as well. The grounders are in green, the fly balls are blue and line drives are in red. This indicates that he was probably trusting in his sinker more.Not so encouraging is that his K/9 ratio took an unhealthy dive last year from 6.17 to 4.35, but it did start to climb at least a bit towards the end of the year. Let’s hope that trend carries over into next year.

All in all, things could bode well for Jason if he does what he’s supposed to do, which is pound the lower part of the strike zone with sinkers. He’d do himself a favor and the club a favor in the win column this year by submitting himself more to Dave Duncan’s tutelage. If not hopefully the Cards can find a taker on him before it’s too late.

“Numbers speak for themselves, and numbers are numbers, but I’m glad those last seven games of the year I was able to turn it around and have probably the best stretch of my career.”
 

-Jason MarquisWell said Jason, I hope it taught you something. Because that stretch was a big part of your $2.1M raise. Now go out and earn it in 2006!

So you wanna play Honkbal, huh?

Well, I admit my overall lack of enthusiasm for the World Baseball Classic. Despite my patriotism, I can’t root for a team with both Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez , I just can’t. Lucky for me, I’ve met a couple of really great Dutch guys who share my passion for the baseball over at cardsclubhouse.com. I was surprised as I’m sure many of you are that there is a small but growing level of interest in baseball. (Or in the Dutch, honkbal.)I knew about as much as most of you about the Netherlands and baseball. I knew Bert Blyleven was born there, though he grew up in California. I knew that newly-acquired Redbird hurler Sidney Ponson is a Dutch Knight. I knew that Andruw Jones will represent them in the World Baseball Classic, as he’s a native a Carucuo. So will American-born, Dutch-blooded Cardinal pitcher Mark Mulder, as well as Danny Haren & Shea Hillenbrand.My Dutch friends Michael & Patrick were kind enough to answer some of my questions, so I’ll return the favor by rooting for the Dutch team this upcoming March! (Michael’s a Yankee fan & Patrick’s a Cardinal fan, btw.) On with the questions!-
______________________________________________________________

Erik: A lot of people, my self included, didn’t even know there was competitive baseball in the Netherlands. How long have people been playing baseball over there?

Patrick: Baseball in the Netherlands started in the beginning of the 20th century, the first baseball games were played in 1911 and in 1912 the Dutch Baseball Federation was founded. The Dutch Baseball Federation started their first competition in 1922 which consisted of 4 teams (Ajax, Blauw Wit, Hercules and Quick), Quick became the first national champion.

E: Interesting, so how popular would you say baseball is over there?

Michael: In the western part of The Netherlands I hear it is quite competitive with soccer! Here in the north it isn’t that big, but more and more people like it and respect it! No doubt, baseball is becoming increasingly more popular here.

P: Baseball is a small sport here in the Netherlands, close to 15,000 people out of a population of 15 million play baseball actively. When you consider the small amount of people playing, we’ve achieved a lot. The Dutch national baseball team is the number one team in Europe and have won the European title for a record 18 times.

E: Wow. So, how interested are you in the World Baseball Classic? And how interested do you think the Dutch people are?

P: My interest in the WBC was pretty big right from the start but the problems concerning the Cuban baseball team soured me a little. Sports and politics don’t mix and I don’t like it when politicians decide to ruin my beloved sport. But Dutch people in general don’t know about the WBC and I haven’t heard anything about TV coverage here in the Netherlands. Dutch baseball fans will watch the WBC on MLB.TV and satellite since these are the only two options for watching these games live.

M: The WBC can mean quite a lot for baseball in the Netherlands, if our public news and sports network will broadcast it. Since the Netherlands have got great players like Jones, Mulder, Haren playing hopefully that will make them more competitive and that will increase interest in baseball in the Netherlands.

E: How do you feel about American born players with Dutch roots like Mark Mulder or Shea Hillenbrand representing the Netherlands?

P: Personally I think it’s great that players with Dutch ties are willing to play for the Dutch national baseball team. And I like it even better when these guys play for the Cardinals.

M: Mulder is half-Dutch. A lot of people don’t know that. He’s got every right to play for either the Netherlands or the USA. I’m very happy he chose to play for the Netherlands; mostly because it gives us a better team. I could imagine his father being extremely proud, as well.

E: How are Aruba (where Ponson is from) and the Caracuo (where Andruw Jones is from) part of the Netherlands?

P: Aruba and Curacao are part of the Netherlands Antilles (a former Dutch colony) and are an integral part of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba holds a “Status Aparte” within our Kingdom which means that they have control over most affairs outside of national defence, citizenship, foreign affairs and extradition. Baseball is the # 1 sport in the Antilles and a number of players in our national competition and most Dutch players in AA, AAA and the ML were born in the Netherlands Antilles.

M: One of the main differences between US-Puerto Rican relationship, and Kingdom of the Netherlands is that the Antilles, Aruba and the Netherlands have all got their own governments and a ‘united’ government. We still have, legally, some influence in those areas – we still support them financially and so forth.E: Aside from Ponson & Jones, what other Dutch players play in the majors?

P: Besides Andruw Jones and Sidney Ponson there are no active Dutch players in the ML right now. Yurrendel de Caster (Pirates), Vince Rooi (Pirates), Chairon Isenia (D-Rays), Alexander Smit (Twins) and Wladimir Balentien (Mariners) are the most promising players in AA and AAA as we speak. Calvin Maduro (Orioles), Eugene Kingsale (Tigers) and Randall Simon (D-Rays) have made it to the ML in the recent past.

M: One guy I think may be discovered by the big leagues soon is Jurjen van Zijl. A couple of years ago he played for Quick with a good friend of mine. Anyway, he moved to another great team, HCAW. He’s a pitcher and in his first official game on the highest level here he threw a 1 hitter. Keep your eyes open for this guy. He’s actually on the current 60 man roster for the WBC. He’ll probably not be on the 30 man roster, as he’s more of an upcoming star, but I think he’s got a great shot at playing in the major leagues one day.

E: Well thanks guys for helping us Americans understand more. “Hup Holland!”

The Jimmy is getting anxious

The Jimmy is talking to the media again. Seems Jimmy’s getting antsy. Jimmy wants his option picked up.

“I’m going to approach it like this season will be one of the last ones I have. Hopefully, they’ll allow me to come back. But if they don’t, I have to be ready or Plan B.”

“Oh yeah!! … Jimmy’s ready.”

“I’m happy (for) one thing: I won’t have to worry about running into Reggie anymore.”

“Ooohhh!!!!! JIMMY’S DOWN.” “Jimmy holds grudges!” “Jimmy’s gonna get you Reggie!” “Don’t touch Jimmy!”

Jimmy’s worth picking up his option, even if he is in the decline phase of his career. Jimmy is still one of the best centerfielders in the game. Erik likes the idea of picking up his option. But Erik thinks he should go out and earn it first and quit expressing his doubts to the media, even if Erik is a big fan of Jimmy’s. Jimmy doesn’t have anything to worry about if he keeps playing the way he does. Jimmy’s a fan favorite and arguably the best centerfielder in Cardinal history.