Coming off an extremely underwhelming 2007, Cardinal fans are no doubt ready for some changes to be made, for the 2008 roster to take shape and show promise. Well, too bad. With Walt Jocketty gone after his patented "trade piles of shit for stars" plan stopped actually working, the Cards have put their trust in the hands of a new general manager, John Mozeliak. What do we know about Mozeliak so far? Well, he was born in 1969, and he looks eerily similar to John Turturro. Beyond those two ironclad facts, I really can't tell you much about the heir to Jocketty's once impressive throne (Mark Mulder has since soiled the aforementioned throne). Unfortunately, all we really have to go on is Mozeliak's first "big" move, and if that serves as a preview of what's to come, this certainly isn't love at first sight.
On November 30, the Cardinals signed shortstop Cesar Izturis to a one-year, $2.85 million deal. Are you serious? Why? Well known for his defensive abilities, Izturis will solve absolutely nothing. While it's certainly a plus to have a strong defense behind your pitcher, it doesn't really matter a fucking lot if the pitcher in question is someone like Mark Mulder, or Kelvin Jiminez, or Dewon Brazelton, for God's sake. There are much more pressing issues to address, such as the fact that any of the three pitchers I just mentioned really could be allowed to throw baseballs in 2008. Beyond Adam Wainwright, the rotation is a sickening mess.
But let me return to the topic at hand, Cesar Izturis. Beyond his solid defense, there isn't much to like about this signing. Actually, there isn't one single thing. Izturis hasn't been able to find a way to get that career OPS north of .630, and he shouldn't ever make more than the league minimum. This isn't K-Mart; you shouldn't be just getting raises for still working at the same place. Even sadder is that the Pirates and Cubs combined to pay this guy $4.25 million last seasons. Granted we are talking about the Pirates, who haven't done anything right with their personnel since around when Bill Clinton took office, and the Cubs, who also think Scott Eyre deserves to take baths in gold coins and tufts of Jesus' hair. Very briefly, let's take a look at what the Eyepatches and Small Bears got out of Izturis a year ago:
.258/.302/.315, 0 HR, in 314 AB
Yuck. That's not worth $2.85. And yes, I realize I didn't type "million" after $2.85. There is a very good reason for that. Despite this signing, I will try to remain open-minded and shelve my skepticism, at least for now. I just hope that St. Louis' new general manager can do something productive with the ghosts of Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds and maybe acquire a couple of useful puzzle pieces for them. After all, the lineup just got even weaker, and as I mentioned before, the starting rotation is extremely suspect. As the winter meetings rage on, it's an exciting time to be a baseball fan, but it remains to be seen whether or not the same can be said of being a Cardinals fan.
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