Where Are You on the Grieving Scale?

[MDCardsFan]

Despite all of our limitations, I still can't buy that Mo or anyone else has done an admirable job of building a contender. It seems that there were ways to make this club better. DeWitt keeps banging the drum that there is money to sign the right player, so find it.

The sad fact is that this roster is worse than ever, despite the presence of Pujols/Holliday. Losing Ludwick was the end of this season in my opinion. We traded him because we felt that we needed another starter. True, we were losing a lot of games started by our #4 and #5. But what has it netted us? They can't score now, so we are losing a lot of games started by our #1 and #2.

Most believe that we should have been able to get Westbrook for less than Ludwick. Who knows, I wasn't there. But I still think its a bad trade due to the shakey status of the lineup. Trade for a lesser pitcher if you have to, but don't trade Ludwick.

I would have preferred to lose Shelby Miller in a trade for Oswalt and keep Ludwick. Again, maybe it wasn't going to happen, though there were indications that it could and again, Dewitt claims that money was not impossbile to come by.

Then, after all is said and done and we're left with this craptastic lineup, we could have snagged Manny for a one time investment th of around 4 Million. By this time, it was evident to the whole world that this lineup was broken. I could care less about outfield defense, head case, bad chemistry, blah, blah, blah. It would have been a legitimate effort to kick this lineup in the ass and take one last run at the postseaon. Instead, we did nothing. You only get so many chances to make a playoff run. Teams have been known to take decades to rebuild. It's a shame to have the all star core this team has and not effectively build a roster around it to take advantage.


The way this season ended can do nothing to help the Cards resign Pujols. Does anyone really believe we are better off wiMo/Luhnow than we were with Walt?

[JL21]

They've scored more without Luddy than they did with him, and Ludwick has fizzled since the deal. Unless there was some clubhouse karma thing, I don't see the Ludwick-for-Westbrook deal as the death knell for anything. It would seem that Ludwick is becoming a Cardinal Nation Legend despite the actual results.

Of course, that doesn't mean it was a shrewd move. The ROI they got for Ludwick was garbage and that's why the trade was a failure. But, like I said... if the farm system was worth a good God damn, then you don't have to give up Ludwick in the first place.

[MDCardsFan]

They've scored more without Luddy than they did with him, and Ludwick has fizzled since the deal. Unless there was some clubhouse karma thing, I don't see the Ludwick-for-Westbrook deal as the death knell for anything. It would seem that Ludwick is becoming a Cardinal Nation Legend despite the actual results.

Of course, that doesn't mean it was a shrewd move. The ROI they got for Ludwick was garbage and that's why the trade was a failure. But, like I said... if the farm system was worth a good God damn, then you don't have to give up Ludwick in the first place.

Not disputing anything, but Luddy was still a legitimate bat with power potential hitting in the 5 hole. Now we see Winn/Molina there. I'm not suggesting Luddy was a world-beater, but he was a hell of lot better than what we have now. When he left, he still had OPS over 800. I'm sure moving to Petco hasn't helped him any.

In any case, he's the type of player we need to plug in around our expensive duo while he is still somewhat cost-controlled. Eventually, he'll make to much to fill that role, but I don't think this was a good year to weaken the lineup down the stretch run, which is exactly what we did.

[ghostrunner]

In defense of Mo, Walt's last best deal with the Cardinals was getting Walker in 2004 unless I'm missing something. And I recall our farm system not being well thought of for quite some time when he left, so I think that predates Luhnow.

I think the fault lies with ownership somewhat. If they wanted to go cheap and young, I'm not certain that Luhnow hasn't done right by that. He's drafted some good players, and those have been used for trades. I'd also grant him a little slack for having to deal with a learning curve, and the turmoil with him and Jocketty. Hard to say who's to blame there, though the owners seem to have been sending mixed signals during the period of overlap. That was a crappy hand dealt to both of them.

Not only did the owners have an internal problem, they appear to have wanted to go young while remaining good. If they wanted to do that, then they should have probably ponied up more money for free agents over the last few years, and allowed the farm system to build some strength.

[planet planet]

Yesterday was the first time all season I didn't check the score once during the game. I was out all evening, but I didn't listen on the radio or check the updates on my phone. When I got online that night and saw that they were shutout again I wasn't the slightest bit surprised. I totally expected it. As disappointed as I was this week, I think I've finally accepted that we won't be in the playoffs. Now I hate the fact that we have to endure September and October knowing we're out of it while everybody talks about the disappointing season that was. I'm ready for the offseason to get here so we can watch this team fix whatever's wrong with it and build toward a successful 2011 and beyond.

I voted depression; I've accepted our fate as well, but depression's still more prevalent as I still held out hope as of Friday. I know depression sounds extreme, but doesn't everyone have a little less spring in their step daily? Like Tom, I too hate the nonstop discussion about how awful the Cards drop off has been. They've literally disappeared into the abyss in a relatively short period of time. It's my fault because all I listen to in the car is MLB Homeplate, but I love 24 hr. baseball radio and it's harder to get out of that habit, than just not watching the games.

[st.lewis11]

I couldn't decide between anger & depression, because I'm feeling both.

[StL Dan]

on the fence between bargaining and acceptance

[Kasko]

Two words that cheer me up; Sam Bradford.