Sidney Ponson is off the team to make room for Jeff Weaver. If we can wheedle a trade for him—get anything for him—it’ll be very, very pleasing. Considering what we gave up for Jeff Weaver, who was only DFA’d to make room for a superstar caliber rookie, it stands to reason that Jocketty will have a hard time moving him. Hopefully he can package him with some other players (ideally John Gall so he can finally get a shot somewhere) for something of use down the road. Or perhaps Ponson would accept an assignment to Memphis… Not that we need a seventh starter there. Leach considers that unlikely and I have to agree—especially considering how poorly he took his bullpen demotion.

On another note: Is the name of Josh Kinney‘s hometown pronounced Cooter-Sport?

I’ll feel a lot better once we sweep the next three games to close out the first half. Nice that Ponson pitched reasonably well—glad to see Kinney pitched very effectively even though I didn’t actually get to see that inning.

Some good came of tonight. I finished weeding my vegetable garden. One of the tomato plants was badly damaged in a storm while I was gone and it’ll need some minor surgery tomorrow. I also mowed my lawn. Looks like it needs water. Also sold my old Nissan that’d been sitting dormant in my side yard for the last two years. Sold it to a random dude who stopped by. Got it running and he drove it home. Between chipping up the branches in my back yard with the help of C-Bot and getting rid of that car I’ve taken substantial steps lately in de-hillbillifying myself of late.

Once the Jeff Weaver trade officially goes through, we’ll need to open up a spot on the roster for him. That might happen as early as today, so it’s time for a fun diversion of picking who will be removed from the 25-man. The prognostication began in a thread at Viva el Birdos this morning. Under the assumption that Weaver would be added today and that he wouldn’t be conditioned to start, the first guess was that Reyes would be sent down—a move that would cause upheaval amongst Cardinal fandom (I’d be upheaving right with ‘em). Another idea was to send John Rodriguez down to AAA to get in regular work and see if he can get his powah back. I’d approve of that move under any circumstances. A third interesting idea that’s mentioned in the thread would be to have Marquis pitch on short rest tonight in place of Sidney Ponson and plug Weaver into the rotation tomorrow night against Wandy Rodriguez. You will recall that Marquis has pitched on three days’ rest before, and threw his first CG SHO. The Astros lineup is not quite as bad as was the 2005 gNats lineup, but it worked out then to turn things around. Also mentioned in the thread is optioning Ty Johnson to Memphis to clear room. I suppose in that case, you’d use Weaver out of the bullpen until after the All-Star break. That scenario would leave our bullpen with only one lefty, which isn’t all that big of a problem, since Lance Berkman bats switch and the only exploitable platoon split exists in Mike Lamb. Assuming the starters go six innings, Flores can handle him by himself if necessary. I’d rather have Johnson in the ‘pen, though.

So the scenarios mentioned in the thread that I’d go for would be sending Johnny Rocket down to get regular playing time in Memphis and starting Marquis on short rest and designating Ponson for assignment to AAA, an assignment I’m inclined to think he’d accept rather than sit out the rest of the season. That second option would depend on whether Weaver would be ready to pitch on Friday and whether the Cardinals want to part ways with Ponson or not. I’d be surprised and disappointed if Josh Kinney were sent down so that Ponson could be a right-hander in the ‘pen.

Althought the point’s been made moot by the Weaver trade, I was thinking that maybe Ponson/Suppan and Spiezio could be packaged to Minnesota, where they don’t have a decent hitting 3B, for Carlos Silva and a low prospect. I’m a fan of Spiezio—don’t get me wrong—it’s just idle speculation on what it would take to get him. Fortunately, it took far less than I’d expected to get who’s probably a better pitcher. Silva goes tonight, although the Twins’ preview for the game talks only about Dennys Reyes, who I’d hoped the Cards could pick up back when Rincon went down. Didn’t realize he was so well thought of by Twins management. Maybe they think less of Silva and he can be had for, say, Rico Washington. (Ha!) Come to think of it, John Gall‘s played some third this year.

Updated: Derrick Goold says Weaver will be joining the team on Friday so a decision won’t be made today. Goold also reports that the plan is for Weaver to be available in the ‘pen prior to the All-Star break next week and will join the rotation afterwards. This is good news all around—Reyes is safe on the roster as he’s scheduled to pitch against Roger Clemens on Saturday. Obviously, there couldn’t be any more pressure on Sir Sid tonight. Here’s hoping Ponson pitches well and makes the rotation decision difficult.

Jeff Weaver and cash were acquired tonight for 6’3″ 210lb 24-year-old AA outfielder Terry Evans. Evans has had a strange career. He was the 1409^th overall pick (round 47) as a third baseman in the 2001 draft. He spent 2003-2005 struggling along in A-ball, putting up a low average (.246, .222, .221) but showing a little pop. This season, he showed enormous improvement, batting .311/.373/.550 with 15 HR in 238 AB for Class A Palm Beach. He continued swinging a hot bat after being promoted to the Springfield Cardinals a little over three weeks ago with a .307/.369/.640 line with 7 HR in 75 AB. That’s a remarkable surge in batting average and power—apparently the Los Angeles Los Angeles de Anaheim think the improvement is for real. He still has a high K:BB ratio (71:23 for 2006 and 455:139 overall), suggesting poor—yet improving—plate discipline.

Let’s hope he gets it together in the style of Woody Williams in 2001. If he can have any positive impact on the team at all (and it can’t get any worse) this trade will be a steal.

Another installment of things I’d look to do if I had Walt Jocketty’s unenviable job of Cardinals GM follows.

First off: With Mulder out until August and Ponson’s status in the rotation questionable at best, the Cardinals need another starting pitcher.

Sports Illustrated passes on a trade rumor involving Dontrelle Willis to the Astros. That would be a nasty trick. I don’t think the Cardinals have much of a chance at landing Willis this year. The same link includes the note that the Angels offered Weaver to the Mets for Lastings Milledge, which is a crazy trade proposal if there ever was one. The poor man’s Burnett will be free to sign with the team of his choosing if the Angels fail to trade him away this week.

I’ll hold out hope that we can swing a deal for Oliver Perez, who struck out 13 over seven innings in his first start after being demoted to AAA. His replacement, Tom Gorzelanny, pitched a fine game against the best lineup out there in his first game up with the Pirates. Unfortunately, ace Kip Wells hasn’t fared well since coming off the DL, giving up 18 ER in 10.2 IP over his three starts. I don’t know how available Perez might be, but it’s worth askin’. Another pitcher who might be worth inquiring about would be Carlos Silva, a pitch-to-contact sinkerballer who’s had an awful first half and may be not long for the Twins organization. Statistically, he’s Jason Marquis with better control, a much worse defense behind him, and a four million dollar option for 2007.

In order of preference of these three buy-low, high risk pitchers—and assuming the terms would be reasonable—I’d trade for Perez > Silva > Weaver.

There’s some talk about promoting Dennis Tankersley from AAA for a spot start or two until something long term is figured out. It wouldn’t be crazy, if you don’t mind extrememly limited sample sizes, to bring him up in place of Ponson tomorrow night. Even though he badly needs a full season of conditioning in Memphis, it’d be interesting to bring Narveson up for a start—although at Houston is not the situation to send in an unproven lefty. Narveson, by the way, had a good start last night, striking out 7 in five innings and hitting a solo home run for the Redbirds’ lone tally. My guess is that Sidney starts tomorrow. Tomorrow is also Travis Smith‘s turn in the Memphis rotation and I’m also guessing that Thompson will get his first AAA start then after being sent down recently. (Which would put him on schedule to replace Ponson if WonderBrad can get his mechanics straightened out.) I’d prefer a trade for another starter to go through rather than for Thompson to make a start for the Cardinals. Update: Don’t know how I missed that… I’d thought Thompson was going to be starting at AAA, but he pitched the last two innings last night in relief of Narveson.

I spent the past two weeks traveling around—that should explain the relative lack of posting. I drove from CU to STL last Wednesday evening and rocked out that evening at the Billy Goat and the Majestic. Thursday morning saw me wake up at the crack of dawn to prepare for my flight from STL to Reagan Int’l Airport in DC. A short train ride later, I was rolling with my brother-in-law to his crib where I got to hang out with my niece and nephew for a while. My old friend Chris had a few Franziskaners at Bailey’s in Ballston, an enormous bar in a shopping mall—the site was originally a J.C. Penny’s. Nice place, good beer selections, lots of TVs. The men’s room had a mouthwash dispenser and I don’t know what to make of that.

Friday was spent packing up the cars and getting ready to roll out to Rehoboth, a nifty little beach-resort town on the Delaware coast. I got to ride over the Woodrow Wilson and Chesepeake Bay bridges, which was a cool experience. I spent the next week getting a horrific sunburn, playing on the beach, and swimming in waters rife with wild dolphins. I walked down to Dewey beach one night to watch the Cardinals lose at a good sportsbar called Big Mike’s. Ended up getting spectacularly inebriated that night and briefly fell asleep on the beach on the way home before some officers of the law rousted me without incident. My nephew stopped calling me Lee-Lee, switching the pronunciation to Lee-Mo, which I find pretty damned amusing.

I flew back into St. Louis on Saturday night and went to a Pre-Independence Day BBQ hosted by Jeff and Karyn. Had a good time there staying up until the sun rose before collapsing in a heap on her floor.

Sunday I went to the Cardinals game and sat in the McGwire box. Had a great time and enjoyed the game. I did end up turning a profit. I figure I drank about ten 12-oz beers and ate three dogs plus a plate of nachos. Also got a commemorative pin! I’m still pissed about the smoking accomodations on my deck. I was pretty worn out Sunday night from all the booze and sun—I collapsed in a heap by 10:30pm.

On Monday, I woke up and made the executive decision that I wouldn’t be returning to CU until after the Fourth. My rationalization was that the offices would be closed on Tuesday, so I wouldn’t be able to get all that much work done anyways and spent the day hanging out with my mom. On the morning of Independence Day, I woke up at 6am and started rebuilding my mom’s ‘puter, which had been virused into a non-bootable state. Downloading patches on dial-up I had the thing put together 8 hours later and went out for some shenanigans. Stopped by my pop’s first to say hello and then went on to Brian’s to play some badminton and volleyball with Jeff and Brian’s neighbors. That was a heckuva good time and I ended up staying there the rest of the night to eat BBQ and watch the fireworks displays of the six or seven suburban “cities” surrounding his condo. Woke up this morning at 6, packed up at my mom’s and was back in CU by 10:00.

Things at the crib looked good, although the yard needs to be mowed pretty badly and my vegetable patch desperately needs weeding. It looks like I’m already caught up at work, so I expect I’ll go home early today to take care of that yardwork and get unpacked before softball.

And that’s what youse missed.

Josh Kinney comes up, Timo Perez goes down. Chris Duncan comes up, Brad Thompson goes down. Sounds like some solid moves made there. Bernie’d speculated about who would be sent down for Duncan, suggesting Rodriguez or Adam Wainwright for conditioning to join the rotation. I think Chris Narveson might be the most likely spot starter—a left-hander to replace Mulder while he’s out of the rotation. Sending Rodriguez down would’ve made sense to me, too.

The party box on Sunday was a good time. I was unable to see the RF wall, but aside from that, the view was pretty good. The game was a bit too exciting for me to make many observations about the park, but one thing that I noticed was that the park is extremely anti-smoker. The designated smoking area on the deck with the party boxes wasn’t equipped with TVs or the KTRS radio feed, so I missed two sections of the game. That’s just rude and insulting. I know it’s not cool to smoke right now, but there’s no reason to intentionally screw smokers out of enjoying the game.