Scroll to Segment 2, listen here:

http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLcom/RadioShows/TheMorningAfter/tabid/88/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/10213/Mondays-Show-Audio—The-Weekend-That-Was-Locally.aspx

As for the Kozma-naut and everything he’s done thus far in his 6 year career (less a few weeks in September last year does) it does point in the direction of a “giant ball of suckiness”.

I’m pulling for him for sure I just think it’s going to be a massive case of overexposure.

Of course, you don’t expect him to actually, you know, hit, do you? He’s a g-o-o-d shortstop, really, wide ranging and all that.

The Furcal signing never really bugged me too much, it’s hardly a crippler contractually and was a calculated risk but it sucks it’s that it looks like they’ll have to eat the remainder.

Between he and Carpenter they’re looking at around 20 million bones – or about 17+ % of their payroll going to non contributors.

The Cards definitely have issues, beyond the middle infield quandary (although excited about the kids) I’m still not sold on their starting pitching – too much unknown and alot of fragility.

And if you are comparing their defense, then, again, I am speaking different languages. They are not even close.

Over their careers, Furcal has a slight edge offensively, but it is not the gap you apparently think it is.

You guys can cherry-pick Furcal’s numbers all you want, but the fact remains that his offense and defense have been pretty awful since joining the Cardinals. And that was totally predictable. Not as predictable as Theriot’s rotten defense, but it was predictable.

And I never said Mo did a bad job in general. All I said was that he has not done well (crapped out) on middle infielders. You seem to disagree, but you have not shown me a good middle infield move that he has made.

You won’t find many people more critical of the Cardinals than I am, but I am also fair in my criticisms within the context of possible actions.

You still haven’t suggested what else could have been done. You ripped Furcal for being injury prone and then suggested Hardy, well….Hardy can’t hit and at the time the Cardinals signed Furcal, Hardy had not played in 130 games/season since 2008. Texas won’t trade Andrus. Colorado won’t trade Tulo. Who else is available at SS? In case you haven’t noticed, the SS position at the MLB level is crap these days.

Last year, Cardinal shortstops were actually mid-of the pack production-wise. They were 11th with a wRC+ of 96, but 23rd on defense (based on UZR). For all the whining, they’re SS haven’t been all that much worse than those on other teams. In terms of fWAR, Cardinal SS were just as good as those on the teams in the WS last year.

Yes, the Cardinals have not made the best decisions at SS the last few years…in part because there have not been many good decisions to be made. The position is a disaster at the MLB level right now. But blasting Mo for not over-paying for a modest upgrade at SS while ignoring all the things he has done right (including not overpaying an aging 1B), is myopic.

Rafael Furcal will NOT undergo surgery to repair damaged ligament in elbow. #STLCards hopeful he can recover with 4-6 weeks of rest.— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) September 1, 2012

I hear a lot crap talked about the guy, yet he has over-performed his contract by a large margin so far.

The people crapping on Holliday now are probably the same people who thought Jason Bay was the better free agent LF that offseason. Oops.

It’s too bad Brendan Ryan was trouble in the clubhouse, because a superstar glove (with no ability to hit) for low dollars is probably perfect for this team. And say what you want about his bat, he’s probably the best defensive SS in the game right now.

I don’t blame anyone for the lack of a quality SS on this team – good SS are very hard to find. I just don’t like signings like Furcal and Cedeno. That money (not that it is a lot for Cedeno, but he has a track record of being terrible) would be much better put to use in signing bonuses for international free agents.

I think it’s fairly obvious they’re going to have to go outside the organization on this one, until then it’s alot of Band Aids on a compound fracture at short.

But no matter how you cut it, they paid $13 million for experience, and nothing more. Furcal is/was done being a productive Major Leaguer. His defense has been horrific for several years, and his offense is bad, too. All teams have that available to them internally for league minimum.

He knows what he has internally (and please – no Ryan Jackson talk, he’s not even on the radar unless Kozma and Cedeno fall off the face of the earth) and that’s what they’ll do with unless something happens on a trade front.

This team has some great strengths and gaping flaws in the middle infield, nothing we didn’t know going in really.

Starting pitching could be a major issue as well, they’re extremely thin in innings eaters and experience.

I am sure you hate advanced metrics, but Pete Kozma (who I realize played over his head), provided more value in about a month last year than Furcal did in 5 months. And, yes, that includes his hot start.

You can claim I am using “revisionist history” (I am revising nothing, by the way), but I didn’t like the signing when it happened. I was okay with the trade for him, because we gave up nothing and HAD to replace Theriot, who was beyond awful.

You guys keep asking what Mo could have done – what options did he have? Well, he could have traded for JJ Hardy instead of trading for Theriot back in 2010. Now blast me for 20/20 hindsight, but you guys are the ones who were demanding alternatives.