The next organizational health series isn't ready yet, so I'll give a game reaction this morning. This is one game where it is okay not to complain about the offense. Matt Cain was on the mound and he is a guy who shouldn't surprise us when he holds us to just 2 runs through 7 innings. So, what can we take out of the game if we want to chalk the offensive performance to being a result of really good pitching? Two things that stood out to me yesterday while watching the game. The first are thoughts on defense, the second is about elite young talent. Quickly on defense, our defense is bad. That's all I have to say about that.
Read more about where the Cardinals stand on elite young talent after the jump.
Elite Talent
As I see it, the Cardinals have two elite young players on their major league roster -- Colby Rasmus and Jaime Garcia. I do not want to be redundant, but I want to emphasize my point, these are not just good young players or above average young players, these are elite young players among the best in the game at their positions.
For the second start in a row (and after a poor spring) Jaime Garcia turned in a phenomenal performance. His change-up was masterful last night. His command was a bit erratic at times -- he hit Pat Burrell in the head -- but he's the kind of Chris Carpenter competitor that has the mental fortitude to work through those issues -- he only allowed 1 walk. He has now pitched 15 innings this season, struck out 18 and walked 3. Jaime Garcia is rapidly showing that he has top of the rotation stuff (all the better when Waino comes back and the new dueling aces are he and Jaime). Jaime could very well be our best pitcher this year, and dare I say become a young ace like Josh Johnson or Ubaldao Jiminez of a couple years ago?
That brings me to Colby Rasmus. He still has a bit more room for growth than Jaime; he could be a better base stealer and defender, and perhaps cut down on K's a bit. That being said, he is already playing like one of the best centerfielders in the game (no, not Josh Hamilton territory, but the next tier for sure). Colby's power is immense, rarely hitting a wall scraping homerun. His on-base ability is becoming fantastic as well. And, if given the opportunity, I think he will do just fine against lefties.
So, where does that leave the Cardinals? Well in a good spot. Both have just over 2 years of service time (Jaime lost a year to ML service time during TJ recovery). But, that means both will be hitting arbitration after this season. The Cardinals have had success working out numbers before having to reach arbitration, and I am confident the same could be done with these two, but my hope is we could work out an extension for both which pays for arbitration and a few years of free agency. I am not sure how the club will approach either of these situations. I do have confidence though that even should they go through the arbitration process, DeWitt will pony up to keep them when they hit free agency, as he's shown no trepidation with high priced FA's as long as he believed they were worth it (Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen). I look forward to watching these two Cardinals for the next 4 years, and hope to watch them both for a few years after that.
One more thing to take out of this, elite young talent is extremely valuable (revolutionary I know). Few teams have done a better job developing it than the SF Giants (Posey, Belt, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner). If we want to keep Albert we will need more of it. Right now, the only top position player close to the bigs is Zack Cox, a great prospect with a high floor and moderate ceiling. Pitching looks promising with guys like Swagerty, Martinez, Miller, etc. But we really need to start replacing some position players (middle infield) with better players preferably home grown. That being said, easier said than done. I actually like the direction the farm is going, and I hope they continue that path and we could get to that level. One thing I hope to see, draft for superstar talent, not possible major league filler. Those star guys like Rasmus and Garcia are rare, but when you hit on one, it makes all the misses worthwhile.
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