Welcome to the big leagues, Jaime Garcia.
This actually isn’t a horrible move in my book, assuming it’s only temporary. I think the Cardinals need to really seriously consider now the acquisition of a left-handed thrower, regardless of starter or reliever. I’d hate to see Garcia get banged around like Mike Parisi or Mitchell Boggs – in a call up that is really before he’s ready, in my humble opinion – and ruin his confidence. The Cardinals don’t need another four-A pitcher hanging around.
Godspeed, Mark Mulder. While many have – and continue to – bag on this guy, I was always pulling for him. Sure, the trade turned out poorly in hindsight for the Cards, and sure, Mulder’s return on investment that we’ve seen from Walt Jocketty’s ill-advised contract extension has been virtually nil. But I don’t think anyone can question his heart, his determination, and ultimately his disappointment at seeing his career end so abruptly (even though one could argue that his career “ended” long ago). From STLToday.com:
Mulder is scheduled to have an MRI today in St. Louis; the procedure may be little more than a formality for a pitcher who has needed two shoulder operations and has had four unsuccessful rehab assignments since earning his last major-league win in June 2006.
Mulder is on record as saying he’d rather retire than go through another surgery and rehab. With this season seemingly over, from the reports, and the Cardinals surely not picking up his option for next season, this all too likely signals the end of the road for Mulder.
The optimist in me is still keeping my fingers crossed, for his sake.
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Just FYI, you have a wrong link for Jaime Garcia. Here’s the correct one: http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=30905
Thanks John.
I’ve got this cute little plug-in that automatically links names to their Baseball Reference page – I figured since Jaime would have MLB stats soon enough, I’d give his big league link.
Alas, technology isn’t always right. 🙂
Link should be fixed now to his MiLB reference page.
si.com is reporting that the Cards are among teams interested in signing Bay. Could they have been showcasing Garcia for the Pirates?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/07/11/pirates.bay/
StLCards-
I would rather that was the case than Mo shopping Rasmus in a deal for Bay, as the article seems to infer.
If the Cards decide to trade Rasmus and Bay is the best they can do, I’ll be sorely disappointed.
I agree. I’m not even sure I would want to trade Garcia in a trade for Bay since we do have Rasmus slated to roam center for years to come and Ankiel is very capable right now. If both Carp and Wainwright could come back at full speed, and Izzy could return to form, then maybe we have a shot and Bay makes sense, but not for Rasmus. I still can’t get over the Haren/Barton trade for Mulder so I’m gun shy.
Dan referred me by the way.
Heh. Dan’s a good man, glad to have you here.
Mulder was a Jocketty flub, so to be fair, Mo isn’t really on the hook for that one. But he was here then, so you can bet he’s gunshy to a point.
When you break it down, at least in my opinion, if the goal of the franchise is to build organizational depth and be able to self-sustain from within the system, then trading ANY prospects for a shot this season doesn’t make sense.
Whether it’s Rasmus, or Garcia (who the Cardinals are very high on, just didn’t hope to need him this soon), or Anderson, or anyone really – is it worth it to try and keep up when the Cubs and Brewers are both going to sell-out as much as necessary to make their seasons a success?
I know you’re supposed to take shots to win every chance you get, but is there a huge amount of harm in just accepting that you have over-achieved this season, you have more knowledge about some of your players that got shots this year, and taking your chances but not mortgaging the future?
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