Season In Review - Bench Players

I'm starting to regret this. It's been more work than I expected. So let's wrap things up.

Colby Rasmus: Rasmus was traded a few weeks into July. He already seemed in danger of losing his starting job, as he'd been struggling and LaRussa was giving Jay more run in center. All told, he was worth 1.1 WAR for StL, which is pretty close to Jay's 1.3. Rasmus had a poor defensive showing, which is disappointing. Maybe he'll find success next season with Toronto, but it didn't happen this year.

Ryan Theriot: Theriot led the team in innings at SS for the season, and his 0.0 WAR (or 0.7 if you prefer Fangraphs) makes him the Cardinals' worst starting shortstop since Tripp Cromer in 1995. And keep in mind, Theriot elevated his value by playing a halfway decent second base. He was 3 runs above average in 190 innings there, which somewhat offsets his -8 in 755 innings at SS. Looking strictly at his performance there, he's worse than Cromer.

For the record, Brendan Ryan was worth 2.7 WAR for the Mariners this season. Great move, Cardinals! The good news is they show no sign of planning to bring Tally Ho back next season. He's like Schumaker: defensively inept, with no power or ability to draw walks. On top of that, he's a lousy baserunner. Truly a waste of a roster spot.

Daniel Descalso: Descalso played allover the infield, though judging by B-R's numbers, not very well anywhere. He's slightly below average in 80 innings at 2nd, a -5 in 666 innings at 3rd, and slightly above in 97 innings at short. The good news is, he was only 24, so he still hasn't reached his prime. He should get better, and he's already more useful than the chump I discussed right before him (1.2 WAR). He doesn't hit for a lot of power (his ISO was .089), but he can draw some walks (benefiting from hitting 8th), and like I said, he can still improve. I'd be fine with platooning him at 2nd next year with Punto, since the free agent market looks pretty lousy.

Allen Craig: Craig missed a couple of months with I believe a fractured kneecap. Even so, he was almost a 3 win player (2.9 WAR), and some of that was even defensive value (0.8 dWAR), which surprises me. Sure, I knew he was an improvement over Berkman in right, but I'm not sure Mickey Mantle's corpse wouldn't show more range than Berkman. But he was average in an extremely limited (4 innings) stint at first, and ditto at 2nd (41 innings). He didn't do so hot at 3rd, but we're talking 11 innings. All told, he was 8 runs above average in about 300 innings in the corner outfield spots. Matheny shouldn't try using him in center, though.

Craig had a .917 OPS, with a .555 slugging. he might want to show a little more patience (15 walks in 219 PAs), but he's no worse off than Freese or Jay in that regard, and he's a better hitter than those two. Heck, he was even a perfect 5 for 5 stealing bases. I'm not sure where he'll get time next season if the Cards resign Pujols, barring injury. Albert, Holliday, and Berkman will have his spots covered, and I can't argue for benching one of them regularly for Craig. If they can't resign Albert, shift Berk to first and put Craig in right. It's still an overall offensive downgrade, but maybe the defensive upgrade in right can compensate. Plus, the money not spent on Albert might net them an awesome SS upgrade.

Nick Punto: Too bad Punto couldn't stay healthy. This was far and away the best offensive showing of his career. His previous best OPS in a season where he had at least 100 PAs was .726 (with a 96 OPS+) in 2008. He had an .809 and 127 this year. It's doubtful he can replicate it next year, but I'd still like to have him back for his defensive versatility, and he knows how to take a walk, which doesn't hurt. I mean, he was worth 1.5 WAR in a year where he collected less than 170 PAs.

Tyler Greene: Greene was the biggest loser from the Cardinals' late season charge. It was the perfect excuse for LaRussa to give him no playing time. Which is why, after his September callup, he got only 2 plate appearances, plus a few pinch running opportunities. To his credit, he got hits both times he came to bat, which got his average over .200. He also led the team in stolen bases, going a perfect 11-for-11.

I'd be fine giving Greene a crack at the starting SS job next season, but Mozeliak's likely negotiating tactics aside, I doubt it's going to happen.

Gerald Laird: Laird did OK. Not great, but for a Cardinals backup catcher, a .660 OPS is pretty good. Certainly a step up for the Gary Bennett/Einar Diaz days. I'm pretty indifferent to the idea of bringing him back. Though you never know, Matheny might prize rest for his starting catcher more than LaRussa did. The issue would be getting Molina to go along with it.

Tony Cruz: Cruz didn't get much play once Laird came back, only 12 PAs after the end of July. Still, he did post a .672 OPS in the 72 PAs he got this year. His walk rate is about the same as Laird's (they each average 1 walk every 12 PAs), but Laird showed much more power, with an ISO of .126 vs. Cruz' .076. Defensively, the samples are too small to draw much of a conclusion. Laird seems slightly better, but Cruz has a better percentage of base stealers thrown out. Keep in mind, we're talking 2 out of 4, versus 4 out of 20. Very limited samples.

Corey Patterson: Ugh, do I have to? His OPS was .424. He posted a -0.4 WAR, though his dWAR was +0.1. He struck out 12 times in 56 PAs, with only 2 walks. He hopefully will never play for the Cardinals again.

Mark Hamilton: Hamilton had a little play in July (11 PAs). It was his best month, with 3 hits, including a double. I don't see that the Cards have a place for him, with or without Albert. He can really only competently play first, and even if you remove Albert and Berkman, there's still Craig. Not to mention Matt Adams down in AA.

Shane Robinson: He was called up late in the year. He had 8 PAs, and got on base once, with a walk. I think he was mostly a defensive replacement.

Adron Chambers: Chambers was used even more frequently as a defensive replacement, seeing as he was in 18 games, but only received 8 PAs. He did manage 3 hits, including a triple. He also got some use in the postseason, again, mostly as a defensive replacement for Berkman, but he did get 5 chances at-bat. I wouldn't mind seeing him as the other back-up outfielder alongside Craig next year (assuming they resign Albert, otherwise it'll be Chambers and someone else, since Craig'll be starting in RF).

OK, that's it. Now I have to figure what to move on to next.