Royalties & Cardinalate

It looks like the Winter Meetings may yield at least one significant move for the Cardinals, so the rest of this week may be interesting. There is a lot of buzz about Miguel Batista, but it’s not that exciting of a situation. He’s a durable, league average pitcher, though at age 36 is not as attractive as steady Jeff Suppan (age 30). If the money to Batista does not float above current market value, there is little reason to complain no matter how you break it down. Unless he gets more than a one-year deal. With Jason Schmidt, the situation is more alluring. Schmidt could potentially be the team’s second-best SP. His 2006 walk and ground ball ratios, and every other key stat, were right at or above his career marks.

One note on Batista: he tried to bean Tino Martinez from like 10 feet away during a scrap a few years back. Not that Cardinals fans would hold that against him.

Pretty excited about Adam Kennedy, though there is not much substance to justify this. He is just the next in line in the revolving 2B door. But it seems to be a better option than Ron Belliard. He hits lots of line drives and is only 31, so a surprise season (775-plus OPS?) seems possible. He's better than Aaron Miles!