As part of the next United Cardinal Bloggers project, several of us are taking opposite sides of various Cardinals debate topics. My topic is the re-signing of Rick Ankiel and I am coming down on the pro side.
Now, if Ankiel spends all season hitting .245, one RBI every 8 at-bats and one home run every 32.5 at-bats then I say trade him to anybody who’ll have him for a bag of balls and a couple shiny new bats.
However, he seems to be getting out of his slump and I’d like to see him in St. Louis for three reasons: sentimentality, the fact that Colby Rasmus is still working out the kinks and the fact that Chris Duncan’s glove has more holes to plug than the star of Itty Bitty Gang Bang.
Sentimentality
I don’t really need to address this, do I? Cardinal Fans on the Internet Cardinal Nation The Entire Nation Who Doesn’t Live Under a Rock knows the Rick Ankiel story by now. He’s a sentimental favorite and I don’t want to see him wearing another uniform [stomps foot]
Colby Rasmus
I like Rasmus, but he never did crack the bigs last year and this year he isn’t exactly setting the field aflame. He’s hitting at a .278 average, an OBP of .381 and 13 runs scored with no home runs and only 3 RBIs. Do I think his stats will improve? Yes, of course. But I think he could really benefit from keeping Ankiel around.
Chris Duncan
I’m sorry, I know offensively he’s off to a good start. But every time he takes the field I have to sacrifice a goat in the hopes he doesn’t screw it up and cost us runs. And that’s just mean to my goats! I think Duncan needs to be a bench guy who gives our outfielders occasional days off and pinch hits in late innings.
Next year, our core outfield needs to be Ryan Ludwick, Colby Rasmus and Rick Ankiel. Skip has been doing great at 2nd base and Duncan can ride the pine. I just don’t think it behooves us to get rid of Ankiel.
Topics: debates, re-signing, Rick Ankiel
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13 runs scored leads the team! Hard to get much better than that out of Razzle.
Oh, and last time I checked, a .381 OBP is pretty dang good when you’ve spent most of your time in front of a guy named Pujols.
I really think this will boil down to whether Mozeliak is a sentamentalist (or gets orders from someone above who is), or a businessman interested in the long-term “business” of the franchise.
Good work Andrea.
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