Cardinals roster matrix

A scouting market correction taking hold?
The old Moneyball arguments of scouts versus stats reached the headlines again this past week as the Cardinal Nation lamented the National League Cy Young Award results. A pair of voters used sabermetric evidence in their reasoning for leaving Chris Carpenter off their ballots. That led to a backlash of comments from watchers all over the internet about voting for the top awards. Sharp Twitter retorts ranged from the sarcastic to the direct. Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz: “I wouldn’t know how to vote for something as intellectually challenging as MVP. I would just let FanGraphs decide.” Tony

Cardinals prospect leftovers: November 25
A quick look at several St. Louis Cardinals prospect-related items. At TheCardinalNation.com Over at Scout.com, I still have a few more interviews and recap articles on the St. Louis Cardinals prospects that competed in the 2009 Arizona Fall League yet to run. Wednesday’s piece is I think my tenth interview from there. This one is with Scott Gorgen (for subscribers only). Most recently prior to that, I ran a free summary of the four position players. Don’t read it if you are squeamish.

MVP Mauer vs. Cy also-ran Carpenter smacks of inconsistency
I have absolutely nothing against the voters who selected Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer as the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player. Yes, there was that weird rogue first-place vote coming out of Seattle for Miguel Cabrera, but overall, all appearances are that they got the right man. It doesn’t mean the selection doesn’t raise serious questions when viewed in the context of the still-controversial National League Cy Young Award vote, however. Mauer logged 28 home runs and 96 RBI for Minnesota

Collusion or just getting younger?
I was thinking about some of the dynamics this winter relating to the St. Louis Cardinals 40-man roster, prospects and the market for free agents and how that may represent a cross-section of changes across the game. Though it is still early in the off-season in terms of player movement, there have been a number of verbal jousts reported in the media between management and agents over the current economic state of the game and its potential impact on signings.

Changing Cy Young scoring doesn’t change winner
In my earlier post looking at a five-player ballot instead of the three-player ballot that exists today for the Cy Young Award vote, my intent was to adapt the pitching process to mimic the ten-player Most Valuable Player Award scoring. In doing so, I erred in assigning five points to first place. To most accurately apply the MVP scoring system