http://www.101sports.com/templates/audio_player.php?a=11223&type=s

Carp is feeling great and will begin his program early this off season

Rosenthal is training 4 days a week with Carp, Miller was invited but chose to work out o his own at home.

Lot’s more good info beyond, give it a listen if you’re so inclined.

His report mirrors Law, Parks and a few others I read – not much difference beyond the Barney comp which was a bit odd as well.

As I’ve said before, Wong’s probably a helluva lot closer to Luis Alicea than he is Dustin Pedroia although remains a fav with the Hyperventilating Geek Prospect Fraternity.

Here’s more on him from today’s STL PD:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/cards-wong-named-to-afl-s-top-prospects-team/article_28644a85-bd37-5953-bd01-860dab6ddf70.html

First, a .342 OBP in the AFL is not “outstanding”, it is average, at best, and he kind of sucked in the AFL, displaying no power at all despite facing below average (for the AFL) pitching in an all-offense league. Wong’s .348 OBP in AA this year was also disappointing….but that league does favor pitching, so….

Second, if Wongs game resembles that of Darwin Barney, then the Cardinals need to trade for a 2B, because Barney sucks. His OBP is bad (and was always bad in the minors), he has no power, but does play nice defense…pretty much the exact opposite of how he characterized Wong’s game.

Third, Wong can’t steal bases worth a crap, he gets caught waaaaay too often…and that is in the minors where both pitchers and catchers are far easier to steal on…and he still sucks at it.

Fourth, Wong hasn’t displayed the ability to take walks that this guy talks about. Sub-10% walk rates in the lower minors are nothing to write home about, and his 7.5% in AA last year was disappointing to say the least. He may have a great approach that should lead to walking a decent amount, but thus far the walks are not manifest.

I’d love to be high on Wong, but all I really see (as his absolute ceiling) is a guy with line drive power, average on-base skills and below average defense….and there is pretty much no where else for him to play…the bat isn’t good enough (and doesn’t project to be good enough) to play a corner and the glove isn’t good enough to play any other up-the-middle position…it is pretty much 2B or bust. I am hoping for average regular 2B, and that feels optimistic to me.

OK, that was bad and totally predictable…

“Leftorium*

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121126&content_id=40415530&vkey=news_stl&c_id=stl&tcid=tw_article

“pina bitch” = “pinch”

Or maybe I’ve coined a new term for match up’edness??

Having more than 1 helps to force the other managers hand to a degree, some feel the need to play the matchup game (necessary or not) and put the opposition in a position to deplete their bench by pina bitch hitting.

A balanced bullpen can also help keep a weak hitter in the game in the late innings and keep a dangerous bench bat on the bench, or at least up against a more pitcher favorable situation.

Beyond that..

I’d love to see them go off the grid a bit, get away from the Mujica/Boggs/Motte trio every few days and let Rosenthal and/or Kelly go “super reliever” and give them significant innings (more than 1) from the 6th an beyond…

If they do actually pursue another one, I hope to hell it’s not just a situational guy – if you’re gonna give a couple years and top $$ it better be to someone that can get more than one out against an alleged favorable matchup.

I agree, though. A right hander with a good slider can clobber left handed batters as well as any left hander. Concentrate on skils and durability rather than simple handedness.

The Cardinals have a lot of righties that are fantastic at getting out lefties. Instead of focusing on handedness, they need to focus on ability. Rosenthal is great against lefties and may be in the pen next year, Sanchez is great against lefties, Salas and Boggs are both very good against lefties, and Motte is great at getting out lefties.

The Cardinals don’t need another matchup lefty….they have at least four right handers that are good at getting out batters no matter which side of the plate they stand on that project to be in the pen next year