Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

The Cardinals have the most WS titles other than the Yankees. They were a decent franchise before Pujols arrived.

 

The hell! You think a seven-gamer makes that big a deal? How about a 41-game series? If they were that dominant over 162 games with THAT pitching staff, all they really needed here were three games. They didn't get it done. Cards could have won this in four.

 

You do know that baseball had five-game LCSes from 1969-1984, right? And reintroduced the five-game series with the wild card in 1995, right? The five-game series is a long tradition in baseball.

 

I would add that it is precisely the tinge of unfairness that makes the five game playoffs such superior entertainment. The pressure starts from the first pitch of game one, which isn't really the case in the best-of-sevens.

PS: Rick, I just went to baseballreference. Fielder is significantly younger than Howard, which counts, but otherwise, there's not much to choose between their records at all.

 

I don't see what the 1960s Cardinals have to do with why they were good in the last decade-plus.

 

The age matters a lot. Howard has his prime from 25-29 and is on the wrong side of it. Fielder is probably just on the tail end of his.

Fielder this year: 299/415/566
Howard this year: 253/346/488

If Howard can ever recover whatever it was he had going for him in 2006, he belongs in that category again, but that doesn't look likely at this point. He's an above-average slugger at a slugger's position, living off of reputation and the RBI chances he gets in the middle of a good lineup.

 

Have to agree with Rick here. Howard had that one monster season, but hasn't shown he is capable of repeating it. Given a choice, it's not even close. Fielder is the better option at this point.

 

Yeah, but the Phillies will still have Howard next year and the Brewers might well not have Fielder. So who's better off? To keep Fielder, or to get Fielder, the Brewers or some other team will have to significantly overpay for the production they'll get from the back end of the contract, just as the Phils will get from Howard. That's just part of the price of doing business.
There's no denying Fielder had a better year than Howard. But back when Philly extended Howard, their decision wasn't "Ryan or Prince?" It was "Ryan or who knows?" It is very difficult to sell season tickets with "Who knows" at cleanup.

 

It could have been Howard at a much lower price, more in line with his abilities.

 

I completely understand where you're coming from here. The problem I have with the way Philly handled the Howard situation was that he was nearly 2 years away from FA and at $25 mil per, they clearly didn't get any discount by signing him early. What was the rush?

 

If it's a choice between Howard at $25 million and who knows, I'm taking who knows.

 

Agreed. Keith Law pointed this out on ESPN at the time, and he got killed by Phillies' fans. The Rockies also gave Troy Tulowitzski a long extension much earlier than they had to, but he at least plays a premium position and he profiled to retain his value better than Howard. Howard could be helped out a bit if the Phillies just sat him against lefties, but it takes some nerve to sit down your seemingly marquee player.