Walker, St. Louis Cardinal

Watching the Mets get completely dismantled by the Cardinals this weekend was not fun – let the record reflect that just 8 days after trading their best prospect and several other key blue chips to shore up theirn rotation for the 2004 stretch run, the Mets stand 11 games out of first place and 8 1/2 games back (in 9th place) in the wild card race. It’s over.
The Cards, meanwhile, had a real strike of genius in acquiring Larry Walker to join Jim Edmonds and . . . well, Jim Edmonds in their outfield. Even for all his injuries and Coors and everything else, Walker is still a formidable offensive threat (.279/.494./.392 on the road the last three years, and .317/.780/.508 in 58 plate appearances on the road this year). For St. Louis, this is the time to go for the jugular, and that’s exactly what the Walker acquisition represents.
I’m less clear, at this distance, why Ray Lankford (.258/.425/.353) got his walking papers rather than, say, Reggie Sanders (.252/.476/.297); Brian at Redbird Nation thinks other reserve outfielders, notably So Taguchi, should have been the odd men out.

4 thoughts on “Walker, St. Louis Cardinal”

  1. I just wrote yesterday that the Mets have the same chance as the Crew…none. At least the Crew has all their prospects, rather than throwing them away for a pouch of magic beans.

  2. Lankford is disliked because he strikes out too much.
    For some reason, the St. Louis media knows nothing about baseball, such arcane stats like “OBP”, and focus solely on things like batting average and strikeouts. Especially the latter. Striking out is the worst sin possible in the eyes of many in the St. Louis media, especially Joe Buck and the TV broadcasters.
    Still, I think Taguchi should stay because he’s the only other centerfielder on the team. I would probably have dumped.
    Sanders pretty much has to stay, since he has a 2 year contract.

  3. Actually, to properly reference the Belle & Sebastian song, the title of the post should have been “Walker, St. Louis Outfielder”. (Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick.)

  4. Ack! Just realized what you were actually referencing with the title. Sorry about that, I’ll just slink away now.

Comments are closed.