Monday, February 9, 2009

Another Fallen Kennedy

This time it is more of a joyous occasion than a somber one.

One day after I did some wondering about who might get the majority of the ABs at 2nd base between Skip Schumaker and Adam Kennedy, the Cardinals released the 33 year old Kennedy according to Matt Leach and Joe Strauss.

Where do the Cardinals go from here at 2nd base?

Right now there about 6 options:
1)Skip Schumaker: He still needs to prove he can handle the position defensively because infield defense is a key with the rotation the Cards have. If he proves he's adequate in the field, he should get the majority of the at bats against right handed pitchers and probably even quite a few against southpaws. Lineup cards with Schumaker and Rasmus continue to dance around in my dreams.

2)Joe Thurston: Can the Cardinals strike minor league free agent gold yet again? Thurston was the Dodgers top prospect years ago and has never really gotten much of a chance in the big leagues. He hit .316 with 11 HR, an .823 OPS and stole 19 bases in AAA Pawtucket last season and he plays decent defense. You really have to wonder what has been going on with Thurston that he couldn't get more than 18 ABs in any big league season. His AAA numbers have always been steady to superb.

3)Brian Barden: No one might have a better chance at winning the utility job than Barden although I do think the Cardinals are pretty high on Thurston. What helps Barden is that he has played all over the infield although only 87 games at second. His bat could do a lot of the talking in spring training and his defense might be just be good enough to beat out the rest.

4)Brendan Ryan: In 2007, Ryan appeared to be the long term solution at 2nd base or shortstop for the Cardinals. However, in 2008 he suffered a Bo Hart like fall. Personally speaking, I was not a very big fan of Ryan coming up through the minors and I was very surprised by his performance in 2007. So I don't have tons of faith in Ryan returning to 07 form. It is certainly possible that Ryan can prove me wrong, though. He makes plenty of contact, runs well and plays solid defense except at 3rd.

5)Tyler Greene: The former 2005 first rounder is a longshot because of his struggles against the breaking stuff. His power/speed/defense trio is very intriguing, though, and he adds versatility as well. If he doesn't have a good spring and make the team out of camp, its very possible that he will be up sometime in 2009 if he can leave a positive impression on TLR. That is unless Thurston, Ryan or whoever is the righthanded complement to Schumaker performs well in the bigs.

6)Jarrett Hoffpauir: The Hoff is another longshot in the race for the utility infielder job. He is coming off a so-so year in AAA after hitting .273 average with a .383 slugging percentage. On the plus side he continued to draw more BBs than Ks, something he has done at every level of pro and college ball, and overall posted a .353 OBP. What really hurts Hoffpauir's chances is that he has played just 11 games at SS and 3B combined so he's not very versatile, and he also is just average defensively at second. His bat will have to do the impressing in spring training to win a job on the big league bench. But it also hurts that in 3 of the past 4 seasons, Hoffpauir has hit below .245 against lefties.

The options to platoon with Kennedy aren't fantastic but the good news is that there are a lot of decent candidates.
I doubt Mozeliak will go after a free agent 2nd baseman. There are already plenty of options on the 40 man roster and adding an Orlando Hudson or Ray Durham will cause a major jam in Memphis. Although I think most fans wouldn't mind it if Hudson were a Cardinal.
Hopefully someone will step up this year, win the job and help win some ballgames.

Getting back to Kennedy, the Cardinals decision to release the 1997 1st rounder more than likely came after they tried every option to trade him. Looking back, Mozeliak supposedly had the D'Backs ready to eat about a million or so of his salary but Mo said no. I'm guessing he was hoping he could find someone willing to take on a little more of Kennedy's contract later on in the offseason.

Releasing Kennedy was probably the right move, despite having to eat 4 million. We all know he was upset with his playing time last year and with Schumaker moving to 2nd base, it was likely he wasn't going to be getting anymore ABs than he recieved in 2008.

As Kennedy's time in St. Louis comes to an end, I will always try to remember his Cardinal days by one at bat: the pinch hit game tying RBI double off Jon Papelbon with 2 outs in the 9th in Fenway on June 22, 2008. Even though the Cardinals went on to lose the game, that hit was the greatest moment of the year. Anyone who shuts up Papelbon is ok in my book.
I'll probably also remember the fact that he and Bottenfield fetched us some guy named Edmonds.

2 comments:

  1. As a guess on who will land the job: a platoon of Thurston/Barden

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good memory about socking it to Papelbon with 2 outs in the 9th.

    Kennedy was ok, but the Cards want to send a signal of more competition, hustle, and youth.

    Ryan has the advantage of playing SS over Bo Hart. Hoffpauir and Bo are 2B constrained. Hoffpauir's selling point is on base percentage. This gives him a chance, even if he is not flashy.

    ReplyDelete