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March 4, 2008

Team Health Reports

St. Louis Cardinals

by Will Carroll

The Facts
Head Trainer: Barry Weinberg
Player Days Lost: 1,025
Dollars Lost: $19.45 million
Three-Year Rank: 19

The Cardinals don't like being mid-pack in anything, so coming up with a 19^th overall ranking and a 2007 finish almost directly in the middle can't feel good for Barry Weinberg and his staff. That said, credit and blame are often tough to pin down, so the Cardinals bear a closer look.

First, the Cardinals have been willing to take more (and bigger) risks, especially on pitchers. This is largely due to the type of pitcher that coach Dave Duncan is successful with, but this also leads to some failures. But while someone like Matt Clement might end up being a drag on their 2008 stats, the Cardinals also haven't been able to keep the players they've had a couple years healthy. Last season's numbers were dragged down by injuries to Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder much more than any new fix-it project for Duncan.

It's also a problem judging whether or not the team was "successful" with players like Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen, who are talented, but require a lot of maintenance work just to keep them out on the field. Pushing them aside would seem to help, but Troy Glaus isn't exactly Mr. Durable at third base. Instead, we find a mixed bag there and not much to hang credit or blame on. Familiarity doesn't seem to change things when it comes to the results of longtime athletic Trainer and La Russa sidekick Barry Weinberg.

So what do the Cardinals do well or poorly? Not much. This mid-pack finish might actually show their true talent level, at least with the team as currently constructed. That might surprise, given the presence of injury guru Sig Mejdal in the Cards' front office, but it's also not a negative. They've done reasonably well with keeping Albert Pujols healthy enough to produce, which bodes well for Glaus. There's no clear winner between consistency and an Astros-style hit or miss, as the NL Central results have shown. Instead, what might be more interesting is the idea that both approaches may have won or lost division titles each of the last five years. At least we can expect more of the same from this medical staff.