Well what can I say. There were high hopes this year. Definitely, one of the goals this year was to win the NL West and unseat Tuques as the two time defending division champion. Seemed like we lost site of Anaheim, as they seemed to come out of no where to edge us in the tie breaker.
It was the most competitive season thus far.
Going around the infield to start, I will talk about each of the starters for the past year and put a grade on them as how I felt they did over the course of the season. Keep in mind, these grade are not for the individual players, but rather the position as a whole.
Starting at Catcher:
Jacque Lee started the year as the everyday catcher, as he has done since day one. Started out very slow, was batting around .240, 20 games in. With the team struggling as a whole, Lee put all the blame on himself. In an early interview, Lee was quoted saying, " this is the worst I have played in my whole career". This was the start of a steady climb up the batting leader board. Lee finished the season in the NL top ten in batting, runs, home runs, RBIs and base on balls. Should have another solid season next year. Grade: A-
Starting at First Base:
Donald Perez and Roland Silva platooned at first base. Neither player could really get comfortable at the plate. Combined, the players put up some pretty decent numbers. Together they batted .273, 96 runs, 156 hits, 26 HR and 105 runs batted in. Next year will be a tough year for management, there really needs to be consistency from the players before any decision can be made. Grade: B-
Starting at Second Base:
Dallas Parrish The rookie was given the second base job out of spring training. Played very well in his September call up in 2006 and made a good impression in the spring. Seemed like a no brainier to start the youngster. Was making the most of his opportunity through the all star break, when it seemed like he started to hit a wall. Should come back and have a super sophomore season at the top of the lineup. Grade: B
Starting at Third Base:
Hideo Takada had a down year for him. Seem to struggle immediately out of spring. Normally a 20 HR player every year of his career, he fought to hit 8 this year. Hopefully he can bounce back next year and have a more typical season. Grade: D
Starting at Short Stop:
Short stop was an area coming into the season I thought could go either way. With Albert Acosta it wasn't a question of his hitting, but his defense was a question mark. After he threw his 29 error, it was time to make the change. In comes Rodrigo Rincon. After a trade with Richmond, Rincon became the everyday starter at SS. Only batted 4 ticks above the "mendoza line", but his defense helped save more runs than he helped push across. I would like to see some improvement in the offseason, but I fear I will have to pick up a SS during the winter meetings. Grade C.
Starting at LF:
Shawn Knott was coming off a down year for him in 2006. Was expecting him to have a bounce back year. Like most of the players this year, that didn't happen. Management was worried about the the division being a close one, thought that trading for Sean Herndon was going to give a needed boost to the offense and be able to protect Lee in the line up. While Herdon had a average year for his standards, it wasn't enough to push the team to the division crown. Grade: B-
Starting at CF:
This area should have been the least of my worries behind catcher. Ralph Strange was coming of his best year as a pro, was having problems all year, never really seemed to feel comfortable at the plate. Grade: C-
Starting at RF:
Alan Wakefield had his option picked up at the beginning of the year in what proved to be a shrude move by management. Wakefield, obviously at the end of his career, willed himself to have one more good season. Hit over .300 again, knocked in 100+ RBIs for the third season in a row in a Cardinal uniform. The future though is, J.J. Hughes, in his September call up, J.J. hit over .300, and helped spark the team coming down the stretch. Management has high hopes for this young man, as he will inherit the starting RF job and be the leadoff hitter next year. Grade: B+
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