The transition from corner outfielder to second base isn't going as smooth as the Cardinals or Skip Schumaker wanted. I know this is shocking news, but after making the switch less than three months ago, Schumaker ranks amongst the worst defensive second basemen in the major leagues. His UZR of -5.1 ties Dan Uggla of the Marlins for worst in the league and his -5.6 RngR is dead last. Surprisingly, he only has one error and a .990 fielding percentage, but I'll save that stuff for Ruben Amaro Jr. to build his team off of.

After the Cardinals sudden release of Adam Kennedy, who caught on with the Tampa Bay Rays and has now replaced Mark Ellis in Oakland, the Cardinals were in need of a second basemen. With too many outfielders, they picked Schumaker to make the transition. To this point Schumaker has been above average with the stick hitting .307/.366/.406, but the negatives on defense out weight the offensive numbers and Schumaker has had a negative value (-0.4 WAR) overall in 2009.

The Cards do have a few players in Joe Thurston and Brendan Ryan, who project to be above average or at least average second basemen, but Ryan isn't much of a hitter and Thurston has been the primary starter for the team at third base. Unless St. Louis tries another radical change and move Thurston to second base and Schumaker to third, it looks like the outfield to second base experiment will continue. Of course to be fair to all parties involved, less than 30 games is a small sample size, and it still has chance to succeed with more time, however the results thus far have been less than satisfactory. Who knew?