jim wrote:I sure as hell hope this wasn't some TLR/Ludwick conflict that had an influence on this trade.
Where do people get this?
I've been wondering the same thing. Jim, not to pick on you, because it's been mentioned several times and I have no clue where it's coming from.
This has been discussed before. I don't see the point in a thorough re-hashing, but he's been making noises about trading Ludwick since 2008. He hasn't been afraid to take playing time away from Ludwick for the likes of Jon Jay and Nick Stavinoha. Then there's goofy stuff like taking Ludwick out late in the game at the end of the season when he was chasing .300 or 100 RBIs.
La Russa is an adult, so he's not going to do anything ridiculous over the long haul. But it was pretty clear to me that he thought a lot less of Ludwick than most other folks did.
That's pretty much the way Larussa rotates ALL of his players though.
You don't see Matt Holliday getting playing time reduced by the likes of Skip Schumaker or Jon Jay.
I've never once heard Larussa make noise about trading Ludwick.
It wasn't subtle in 2008. When Ludwick was second in the league in SLG behind Pujols, La Russa still was talking about the need to go get another bat and simultaneous rumors of a Ludwick-Holliday trade were floating around.
jim wrote:I sure as hell hope this wasn't some TLR/Ludwick conflict that had an influence on this trade.
Where do people get this?
I've been wondering the same thing. Jim, not to pick on you, because it's been mentioned several times and I have no clue where it's coming from.
This has been discussed before. I don't see the point in a thorough re-hashing, but he's been making noises about trading Ludwick since 2008. He hasn't been afraid to take playing time away from Ludwick for the likes of Jon Jay and Nick Stavinoha. Then there's goofy stuff like taking Ludwick out late in the game at the end of the season when he was chasing .300 or 100 RBIs.
La Russa is an adult, so he's not going to do anything ridiculous over the long haul. But it was pretty clear to me that he thought a lot less of Ludwick than most other folks did.
That's pretty much the way Larussa rotates ALL of his players though.
You don't see Matt Holliday getting playing time reduced by the likes of Skip Schumaker or Jon Jay.
I've never once heard Larussa make noise about trading Ludwick.
It wasn't subtle in 2008. When Ludwick was second in the league in SLG behind Pujols, La Russa still was talking about the need to go get another bat and simultaneous rumors of a Ludwick-Holliday trade were floating around.
Rumor may have been floating around, but I guarantee you Larussa didn't start them. GUARANTEE.
Concerning your first statement - Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday are pretty much the only players that don't get "shuffled". So should we assume that Larussa hates everyone else on the team except those 2?
planet pujolsian wrote:Today made me actually think for the first time about what it would be like if Albert signed somewhere else.
Cot's and BB Ref both note that we have $66M committed for 2011 now. Now, call me psychic, but my sixth sense says they pick up Albert's option, so that's really $77M. Still, plenty of money to play with for extending Albert. Especially when you consider that Carpenter's salary comes off after 2011 too.
Lohse allowed 3 home runs in 4 innings at Memphis tonight. Not good.
Craig hit 2 homers for Memphis. Good.
Why can't Craig hit those homers for us... Please bring him up the first day he's available. You don't make this trade if you don't have big plans for Craig.
