A's Sign Schroder, Cards Sign Miller/Ostlund

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 20, 2008 11:00 AM EST

Two middle relief transactions...

Given that he spent 2008 in the minors, I'm a little surprised that the Athletics gave Schroder a major league deal. That's not an indictment on Schroder's talent, but rather seemingly a form of overpaying, or perhaps bidding against yourself. Two similar moves I can recall are Scott Dohmann in 2007 (with the Rays) and Randy Choate (2008 with the Brewers.) Dohmann pitched for the Rays Triple-A team in most of his time with the organization, and Choate was a Triple-A mainstay last year.

Neither of those situations will affect Schroder though. A 30 year old, Schroder has spent his career in the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos organization and appeared in more than 60 games for the big league club. Schroder gets a good amount of swinging strikes and groundballs, both pluses. Schroder hasn't recorded a tRA over 3 at a level with more than 10 IP since 2006, his initial trip to the majors. Schroder throws primarily fastballs along with a slider and change-up.

Moving forward, Schroder's probably going to look a lot better than some alternatives on the free agent market.

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Miller was better last year than his mass numbers will indicate. A move back to the National League Central should give Miller's swinging strikes a bounce to his Houston numbers. Coming from someone who saw most of Miller's 2008 appearances let me stress this to the Cardinals:

DO. NOT. PITCH. HIM. VERSUS. RIGHTIES. EVEN. IN. LOW. LEVERAGE. SITUATIONS. See, that's much better. Miller throws a mid-80's fastball, a slider, and a change. His stuff doesn't play well to righties at all (you wouldn't have guessed otherwise) so as a LOOGY he'll be fine.

Miller was a Type-B free agent, so the Rays will receive a supplemental pick.

Or not.

The Cardinals also signed Ian Ostlund to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Ostlund was one of my "F.A.T: LOOGY" profiles so kudos to the Cardinals, no risk, potential reward move there.

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Comments

Miller will be a good LOOGY in the NL

Great move by the Cards. Wonder if that means they’ll trade Albert Pujols now. :)

Any Cards fan know about what Carpenter might bring next season? I’m just a sucker for his CB, and I wish to see him pitching well again.

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Nov 20, 2008 12:47 PM EST reply actions

Carp

I believe its a wait and see with him right now. He had a nerve problem with his elbow that kept him out the rest of the season. But when he was actually pitching he looked good, and he had surgery earlier this offseason to repair the nerve.

Hopefully he is ready to go by Spring Training, but right now I think the Cards should not count on him

by thoran85 on Nov 20, 2008 12:50 PM EST up reply actions

Clarification

My understanding is there were two separate nerve problems with Carp. The elbow nerve transposition was to address some pain issues he was having from the TJ, but that is not what shut him down in ‘08. That was due to a nerve irriation in the neck/shoulder that is a residue of his previous shoulder surgeries. They are supposed to do some sort of a nerve test on that problem before the end of November. If he passes that test he should be ready by ST, but if he doesn’t then it is anybody’s guess.

Those Pilgrims ain't lookin' so proud now...

by giveml on Nov 20, 2008 2:15 PM EST up reply actions

Going forward you have to treat him like Mark Prior

Assume he’ll give you nothing, and if you get something consider yourself lucky.

Furcal

by JI on Nov 20, 2008 3:08 PM EST up reply actions

Too bad

He was a really fun to watch, and seems like a solid guy. He was maybe my favorite NL pitcher not named Pedro in the last years.

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Nov 20, 2008 3:23 PM EST up reply actions

Why does switching leagues improve a pitcher's value?

Superficial stats, sure, but value?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Nov 20, 2008 3:10 PM EST up reply actions

Value is constant , no?

(unless you are talking about DHs)

Furcal

by JI on Nov 20, 2008 3:21 PM EST up reply actions

I meant superficial stats

His ERA will go down, stuff like that. He was a good LOOGY before as well.

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Nov 20, 2008 3:21 PM EST up reply actions

Question about the Cards pick ups

R.J.,

Do you think the Cardinals can use Miller as there main lefty in the pen now and move on to other needs or do the Cards still need to pick up a higher caliber lefty, considering laRussa’s love of the pen situations?

by thoran85 on Nov 20, 2008 12:47 PM EST reply actions

I'd assume he'll be the main lefty.

Without knowing the market right now, I would guess Miller is coming substantially cheaper than Ohman/Beimel.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 20, 2008 12:51 PM EST up reply actions

R.J.

if he really can’t pitch to RH batters wouldn’t that restrict him to being a LOOGY and leave the Cards in need of a better LHP who can actually pitch an entire inning?

Those Pilgrims ain't lookin' so proud now...

by giveml on Nov 20, 2008 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

Without digging through Villone's gamelogs, I would compare their usefulness towards righties.

In fact, Miller was better v. RHB last year than Villone.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 20, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions

Villone and Flores are garbage

both these guys are upgrades , Motte and Perez have good arms, I wouldn’t be surprised to see St. Louis add Hoffman or some sort of other veteran reliever.

The silver lining is the pen was so terrible that they are almost certain to be better this year by default.

Furcal

by JI on Nov 20, 2008 3:11 PM EST up reply actions

And Jason Isringhausen is gone.

Addition by subtraction.

I know that's a pisser, baby.

by Blicks on Nov 20, 2008 4:07 PM EST up reply actions

Only one more year of Ryan Franklin!

Furcal

by JI on Nov 20, 2008 4:54 PM EST up reply actions

Hey

I was just going by your rather emphatic statement above. I hope he isn’t the best lefty reliever the Cards pickup.

Those Pilgrims ain't lookin' so proud now...

by giveml on Nov 20, 2008 10:06 PM EST up reply actions

There's a great section of The Book that explores this question.

Don’t have it with me now. Basically, it showed how good a LOOGY needs to be to be a full-inning guy, and the cost of leaving LOOGY’s in against righties compared to having them in against lefties in the first place.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Nov 20, 2008 3:12 PM EST up reply actions

Without have read this

I’d fully agree,my feeling is guys like Mike Myers are worthless because they can’t absorb any innings, and can be easily neutralized by pinch hitters.

Furcal

by JI on Nov 20, 2008 3:22 PM EST up reply actions