Who’s Hot?

Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

Longoria, who became a father a few months ago, is on an impressive hot streak. In the past two weeks, the Rays’ leader has slugged five homers, driven in 11, scored 9 runs and batted .333/.375/.725. For the season, Longoria has accumulated 14 home runs, 42 RBI, 46 runs scored, putting him on pace for over 30 home runs, 100 RBI and 100 runs scored – elite numbers from one of the best third basemen in baseball. Thus far, Longoria is slugging a career-best .556, and his park-adjusted OPS+ is a career-best 155. What’s even more impressive is that he has been on this tear while dealing with plantar fasciitis in his right foot (that same injury has nagged at Albert Pujols for years), which has limited Longoria to designated hitter duties this past weekend. After enduring an injury-shortened 2012, fantasy owners are hoping that the foot pain doesn’t send Longoria back to the disabled list. There was some good news Sunday for Longoria owners (and, really, all fantasy owners): top prospect Wil Myers is finally being called up, presumably to play every day for the Rays. Adding one of the top five hitting prospects in the game should bolster a Tampa Bay lineup that has had trouble scoring runs at times this season. Longoria should see a benefit regardless of whether Myers ends up batting before or after the Rays third baseman.

Who’s Not?

Texas Rangers

How do you know your team has issues? When they’ve been swept by the Toronto Blue Jays. At home. In a four-game series. Outscored 24-4. Shut down by a pitcher who is on his third organization in the past year. That pretty much sums up where the Rangers are after this past weekend. Only a father could love this team right now. Sunday’s loss to Toronto was the Rangers’ sixth loss in a row – all at home. It’s a team-wide slump. A starting pitcher hasn’t won a game since Derek Holland (who was knocked around by the Jays on Sunday) was credited with a win on May 31. Yu Darvish has continued to pitch well, but he hasn’t won a game since May 16. In June, the team is slugging a ghastly .359, with 39 runs scored in 15 games. The team desperately misses first baseman Mitch Moreland, who was hitting .288/.338/.561 with 12 homers and 29 RBI when he was injured. Primary DH Lance Berkman, so good in April, is mired in an awful June, batting just .182/.294/.250 with one home run. Left fielder David Murphy, who was touted by a national baseball writer just last week for always being a “tough out,” has actually been one of the easiest outs in the lineup this month (.143/.250/.265, one home run). Now that the Blue Jays are headed out of town, the Rangers can look forward to their next opponent: red-hot division rival Oakland, which has surged into the division lead during the Rangers’ skid. When the Athletics last visited Texas (just before Memorial Day), Oakland took two of three, but still trailed the Rangers by 5 ½ games. Things will be a little more urgent for the home team this time around.

Playing the Name Game

Player A: .232/.286/.357, 6 HR, 15 RBI, 5 SB, 27 runs
Player B: .284/.341/.346, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, 8 runs

Player A is Josh Rutledge, recently called back up by the Rockies following the injury to Troy Tulowitzki (more on him below). Player B is utility infielder Jonathan Herrera. Both players have started at shortstop for Colorado since Tulo’s injury. Suffice it to say that they eagerly await the return of their MVP-caliber shortstop.

Player A: 1-1, 6.25 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 24 Ks
Player B: 3-7, 3.79 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 72 Ks

Player A is Matt Garza of the Cubs. Player B is Miami’s Ricky Nolasco. Garza’s stats aren’t very pretty in his five starts since being activated from the DL, but he spun seven shutout innings Sunday against the Mets. Nolasco’s game Sunday was a little more impressive, holding the powerful Cardinal lineup to one run over seven innings to pick up the win. Both pitchers are expected to be dealt before the July 31 deadline. Both pitchers would provide a boost to a pitching-needy team in the playoff hunt (Rockies, Padres, Giants, Yankees, Orioles, Pirates, Diamondbacks). Which pitcher gets traded first? Or will Cliff Lee be dealt before either?

Random Thoughts

• Wainwright Walk Watch: Adam Wainwright pitched 37 consecutive innings before issuing his first walk of the season. All season long, we are keeping track of how few free passes are handed out by the Cardinals’ ace. After 14 starts, Wainwright has walked nine batters in 103 innings (two intentionally). Twice, he has walked two batters in a start. Each of those games included an intentional walk and the following batter was retired. Those two IBBs have dropped his K/BB ratio a bit, but at almost 11-to-1, he still leads the National League.
• Thursday, June 13. That’s the date that Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki landed on the disabled list after diving for a routine ground ball and breaking a rib. It’s also the date the Rockies will point to as the date the season fell apart. Or will it be the date that they galvanized themselves to overcome the latest injury to their team leader? Rockies management has raved about the leadership skills of rookie manager Walt Weiss – here is his first big test.
• Carlos Beltran, 2012: 32 HR, 97 RBI, 83 runs, .842 OPS. 2013: 16 HR, 44 RBI, 34 runs, .889 OPS. If there has been a bigger bargain free-agent signing the past several years, I don’t know who it is.
• Don’t look now, but the San Diego Padres are above .500 for the first time since the final day of the 2010 season. If Chase Headley ever gets it going, the Padres could challenge for the NL West title.
• Congratulations to Zack Greinke, who successfully made it through an outing without plunking an opposing batter, being plunked himself, or being body slammed to the field.
• News: Yovani Gallardo and three relievers combine on Milwaukee’s first shutout of the season Saturday night. Views: the fact that the Marlins, Mets, Astros and Rockies all tossed shutouts before the Brewers this year tells you all you need to know about how hideous their pitching staff is.
• I know Albert Pujols isn’t the same guy he was when he was with the Cardinals, come on now. Bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, facing Mariano Rivera – that was still must-see TV.
• Here’s hoping that Rays starter Alex Cobb is able to come back with no ill effects from the line drive that struck him in the head Saturday. It was reported that the ball’s velocity at impact was 102 mph. Absolutely terrifying.
• Finally, on this day after Father’s Day, a personal note: over the weekend, I played catch with my kids, who are 12 and 10. You always see fathers playing catch with their sons in the movies, but I’m here to tell you that it is every bit as great with daughters.

Follow me on Twitter: @ccaylor10

That leaves the Royals with a roster choice to make at the big league level and the choice may be simple: it’s time to release Jeff Francoeur.

Francoeur, known as “Frenchy” to many fans, has been a very likable and fan-friendly player in Kansas City.  The team has capitalized on his popularity with ticket specials, the “Frenchy Quarter” section in the ballpark, and many items bearing his name in the gift shops.  His popularity, however, has not transferred to solid play on the field.

He has been used sparingly in the month of June, yielding playing time to David Lough in right field.  Meanwhile, Lough has played well enough to deserve his spot on the big league roster, showing flashes of power and speed that may make him a solid option off the bench as the Royals enter a playoff run that has been a long time coming.

Dyson has not been a massive success during his rehab in Omaha, posting a paltry batting average just over .200.  He has, however, been getting on base, showing patience at the plate, and doing what he does best: running.  His place on the major league roster has always been speed off the bench, solid defense, and an occasional start.  A platoon situation in right field that features Lough sharing time with Dyson would be a huge upgrade from what Francoeur has provided the last few seasons.

The Royals are primed to make a run at a playoff spot this year.  To do so, they will need the best 25 men they can find to put on the field on an everyday basis.

When Dyson is activated, it will be time to say goodbye to Jeff Francoeur.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

So goes life as the best team in the game.

Right-handed starter Jake Westbrook returned from the disabled list Friday to go five innings while allowing three earned runs to the Miami Marlins in a 5-4 loss, but his return forced the Cardinals to send one of their rookie starters back to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

Left-handed starter Tyler Lyons and right-handed starter Michael Wacha were the two pitchers on the bubble, along with right-handed reliever Keith Butler, and the Cardinals decided to send the Wacha back to Memphis while the Lyons remained with the team and will start Sunday against the Marlins.

The move was somewhat surprising since Cardinals management had previously said the 21-year-old phenom would not be a player they wanted to shuffle between Memphis and St. Louis and that he would be in the big leagues for good once he first came up.

Wacha even proclaimed, “I’m here to stay,” when he first arrived at Busch Stadium after the Cardinals called him up to start May 30 against the Kansas City Royals.

But reality intersected everybody’s dreams. The Cardinals brought Wacha to the majors before they really wanted to after starters Westbrook, Jaime Garcia and John Gast all suffered injuries in May, and he then didn’t excel as much as people expected/hoped.

Wacha pitched great in his first start, striking out six while allowing one run on two hits in seven innings against the Royals, but in every other start he looked more similar to a 21-year-old rookie who was barely a full year removed from college.

He gave up six runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings June 4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks and allowed two runs in the first inning Wednesday against the New York Mets before settling in for six innings to get his first career victory as the Cardinals won 9-2.

Lyons, meanwhile, won his first two career starts, giving up one run in each, and then lost his next two as he allowed four runs each to two 2012 playoff teams, the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.

However, Lyons doesn’t career the immense Wacha-type expectations with him. Lyons throws in the low-90s rather than Wacha’s 97 mph fastball, and he doesn’t have Wacha’s devastating change-up. Lyons was drafted in the ninth round of the 2010 MLB draft while the Cardinals took Wacha 19^th overall in the 2012 draft.

All of that means Wacha is a prized prospect, and Lyons is just another pitcher the team hopes will contribute solid innings for years, rather than a top-of-the-rotation ace.

So the top-rated prospect went back to the minors to continue to develop. The Cardinals have a lot of pitching depth, but no team can afford to mess up the development of its first-round picks, and Wacha ran into some obstacles in two of his three starts.

Perhaps those experiences will benefit him in the long run. He now knows what to expect at the big-league level, but the Cardinals have also seen the ugly side of rushing prospects to the majors as much as any team when Rick Ankiel exploded with five wild pitches against the Atlanta Braves in the 2000 playoffs as a 20-year-old.

Ankiel, of course, ran into numerous other issues that ultimately derailed his pitching career, but he remains the prime example of what can happen when rushing a player to the big leagues goes bad.

The Cardinals also have plenty of cushion right now. They have the best record in baseball and plenty of other lesser prospects that can fill temporary voids.

Lyons could certainly develop into a solid pitcher who has a long career with the Cardinals, but the team has pinned its long-term hopes to Wacha.

Although Wacha wasn’t “here to stay,” he will be soon enough.

The restraint the Cardinals show in pushing Wacha now will pay off in the future, and that’s why he was the correct choice to send to the minors to open a spot for Westbrook.

Whether you like the new playoff format or not, it’s here to stay for at least the foreseeable future and complicates the General Manager’s job for at least half the teams in both leagues.  Currently the Royals sit three games under 500 and five and a half games out of first place.  Their record is 30-33.  Certainly not the end of the world, especially with close to a hundred games left in the season.

In the wild card standings, the Royals are six games back.  Three of the teams in front of them in the wild card race are in the Eastern division and one each in the West and Central.  Again, not necessarily the end of the world or the end of the season.  Compare this record with a team like the Astros who are currently twenty one games below 500 and the Royals chances at the playoffs seem absolutely brilliant by comparison.  But ohh my, what a difference a week makes.

Coming into the beginning of the week, the Royals had a six game winning streak; this brings their winning percentage up to .476 from an abysmal .418.  Add to this an eight game losing streak from the second place Cleveland Indians and all of a sudden you have a division race, not to mention that their latest victory was off of the central division leading Tigers.  The Royals took two from the Tigers to win that series, their only loss was to Max Scherzer.  Scherzer has lost how many games this year?  Oh right, zero.

Wednesday, the Tigers sent 2011 Cy Young and MVP winner Justin Verlander to the mound and he shut the Royals out for seven innings holding on to a two run lead.  But in the 9^th, Lorenzo Cain connected off of Jose Valverde for a two run homer that tied the game.  The Royals would go on to win the game and the series in the 10^th inning when Eric Hosmer singled in the final run.

It would seem that bullpen troubles aren’t unique to Kansas City.  Detroit’s pen currently has a record of 4-12 proving that they aren’t invincible.  The Royals have a 3-2 record against the Tigers with their only other loss to them coming back in April off of, whom else, Max Scherzer.  These two teams will play thirteen more times before the season is over and the Tigers can’t send Verlander and Scherzer to the mound for all one hundred and seventeen of those innings.

This was a huge series for the Royals.  Not only does it keep them within striking distance in the division, it provides a giant mental boost.  Winning the Tigers series sends the message that the Royals can beat the supposed best team in baseball, whereas a sweep by the Tigers would have put them far enough back in the standings that Dayton Moore would probably start getting his resume ready and his replacement would be trying to figure out how to sell off some of the key pieces of this team.

It isn’t exactly certain what a selling season for the Royals would even look like.  Would they trade off the pitching they just acquired at a cost of their own best prospects or would they get rid of their young talent that they have locked up during their most cost effective years?  Neither sound like good options and something tells me they didn’t keep their receipt for Wil Myers.

The Royals have ten games against division rivals this month.  If they can keep their winning streak going into July they will start to look like a buying team.  Shoring up the bullpen would go a long way towards making a playoff run but buying players this year may be problematic as well.  The once well stocked Royals farm system was thinned out quite a bit to get them where they are now (30-33).  However, if it works and the Royals make the playoffs, Dayton Moore will look like a genius.  If they don’t, well, at least they aren’t the Astros.

At the time, it appeared to be a move done by the Royals to show they’re trying to do something and placate a cynical fan base. Hiring the Hall of Famer and the all-time Royals hits leader on an interim basis could either be a brilliant move that sparks the team into winning or become another flop that’s plagued the Royals for almost two decades.

So what happened on Brett’s first day of his job? The Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2, snapping the losing streak. Then the Royals went on to an 8-4 run with a six-game winning streak thrown in. Sure, the majority of the winning streak was against the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros, teams they should beat. But a win streak is a win streak and they did take two out of their last three games with the A.L. Central leading Detroit Tigers.

So with the addition of George Brett, the Royals should be hitting for higher average, hitting more home runs and scoring more runs per game, right? Well, not exactly. When Brett joined the Royals, the team had a .261/.314/.375 average. Now they have a .256/.310/.365 average. They’re still last in the A.L. with 33 home runs, with just two home runs hit in June. Since Brett was hired, the Royals average 3.3 runs a game. They averaged 4.0 runs before Brett was hired. And if that’s not enough, Mike Moustakas has a .184/.250/.286 average, Chris Getz is at .211/.247/.319 and Alcides Escobar is at .238/.263/.313. The Royals won’t win many games if these team and individual stats don’t improve.

So does Brett bring any value to the Royals? I believe he does. Just his presence in the dugout should inspire confidence among the players to play better and the coaches and manager Ned Yost to perform better. When Brett talks about hitting, offense and baseball, I’m sure the players will listen. And while the stats don’t reflect it, the bottom line is the team is getting timely hits and winning games. It doesn’t hurt the pitching staff has an A.L. leading 3.45 ERA either.

George Brett didn’t need this job. He had a good life as a retired Royals legend. He could do what he wanted when he wanted. His legacy as a Royal was secure. Brett knows he’s risking his legacy and perhaps reputation by taking this job, even if it’s only an interim basis. As the hitting coach, Brett will work long hours and spend a lot of time on the road, making players less than half his age listen to him concerning hitting, offense and baseball. But at 60 years old, Brett still has that competitive fire and still looks for a challenge. And it’s obvious Brett has a passion for the Royals to succeed or else he wouldn’t take the job.

The Royals have made it clear Brett will decide at the end of the month if he stays with the team or lets someone else be the hitting coach. And if the Royals keep playing well, Brett might have a real hard decision to make.

But the steady stream of players headed back and forth to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds should soon subside when right-handed starter Jake Westbrook makes his return to the team Friday against the Miami Marlins.

Westbrook was one of the players who helped start a wild month of roster movement when he went on the disabled list May 12 with right elbow inflammation. He was 2-1 with a 1.62 earned-run average at the time and part of the best starting rotation in the game.

His injury created an opening for rookie left-handed pitcher John Gast to make his big-league debut, and the left-handed starter Jaime Garcia suffered a shoulder injury later that week, which created a spot for another left-handed rookie, Tyler Lyons.

Gast and Lyons were part of a large group of minor-league pitchers the Cardinals called up in May and early June as the team tried to fill in a bunch of spots just to have a full set of pitchers on its roster.

The Cardinals sent Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski to the minors at the end of April because they pitched terribly, and Fernando Salas went down with an injury May 22. Those moves created opportunities for Seth Maness and Carlos Martinez to work out of the bullpen.

After various other issues, including an injury to Gast and another failed outing from Boggs, Keith Butler, Michael Wacha, Victor Marte, Mikael Cleto and Kevin Siegrist all found themselves on the Cardinals’ active roster. Michael Blazek even spent a few days in the bullpen but never entered a game before the team sent him back to Memphis.

That’s quite a bit of movement. The Cardinals have already had 21 different pitchers make an appearance this season, including nine rookies. Both numbers are the most in baseball.

The Cardinals have gotten great production from the young pitchers they’ve called up this season, but the team has still been at least one good pitcher short the whole time.

Marte and Cleto combined for a 12.65 ERA in their five appearances, but they had to fill innings because the team didn’t have any other options. Joe Kelly, who has spent the season in the bullpen, also had to make a start June 5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks because the team was out of starters after rain created a doubleheader June 1 against the San Francisco Giants.

So now Westbrook, the man who helped start all of that movement, will return, and that should slow the incredible turnover the pitcher staff has experienced in the first two-and-a-half months of the season.

Westbrook pitched well Sunday for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs. He allowed one run on four hits while inducing 14 groundballs through seven innings.

Now, although there is pressure involved in returning to his spot in the rotation, Westbrook doesn’t have to worry about coming back and trying to lift a team that faltered in his absence. More than anything, he just needs to pitch as he had to begin the season and in Sunday’s rehab start. The other parts of the team will likely take care of the rest.

With the best-hitting lineup in the National League and a defense that has committed the fewest errors in the game, a more complete starting rotation should keep the Cardinals on the incredible pace they’ve set while dealing with all of the pitching issues.

The best team in baseball might soon be even better.

Kansas City just completed a six-game winning streak and a change in the lineup may have been a catalyst for the recent surge.

Frustrated by a lack of success on offense and in the standings, manager Ned Yost reportedly sought help from the Royals front office in putting together an optimal lineup. After crunching the numbers, it turned out that Salvador Perez, an excellent contact hitter, was the choice for the three-spot.

“We sit down every day and talk about it,” Yost said. “I get a lineup from the stat guys every day. I have never used it in its entirety but I use some of it. I consult with the coaches and we look at matchups and a few other things to construct our lineup.”

Yost tried out the new lineup, which also included moving Eric Hosmer into the second spot, and the Royals achieved immediate success.

After a June 4th loss to the Twins, in which Perez hit seventh, Yost decided it was time to make the switch.

Alex Gordon would lead off, followed by Hosmer and Perez. Alcides Escobar, who spent much of the season at the top of the lineup would be slotted in the ninth spot, providing the bottom of the order with more speed.

The Royals proceeded to win their next six. In his first game in the three-hole, Perez went 2-3 with two runs and an RBI, leading the Royals to a 4-1 win over Minnesota.

After eight games in the three-spot, Perez is hitting .367 with 11 hits, 1 HR and 7 RBI in 30 at-bats. He has at least one hit in each of those eight games.

Hosmer, meanwhile, has four multi-hit games over the past eight, with two hits on Wednesday including the game-winning single in the bottom of the tenth to beat the Tigers.

On May 25, Perez, dealing with the passing of his grandmother, was placed on the bereavement list. The talented catcher missed nine games and the Royals dropped seven of those nine.

Upon his return, Perez and the new-look lineup helped produce the longest win streak of the season for the Royals.

The offense, however, is not without its faults. There is still a glaring lack of power, ranking dead last in baseball in home runs.

While Perez and Hosmer may not be an answer in the power department (only 3 combined HR on the year), they both have been hitting for average and are clearly thriving in the reshuffled batting order.

How long Yost will stick with his new lineup may depend on whether the Royals stay hot but, so far, the results have been too good to mess with.

The philosophy for the Cardinals while drafting under Jeff Luhnow was always “best player available”. Don’t worry necessarily about specific needs or who is already filling what position on the big league club, but rather create a good problem by having too many players for a certain position. That has created situations where The Cards have both Allen Craig and Matt Adams ready to be big league starters at first. And the idea that it’ll all work itself out was exemplified with the transition of Matt Carpenter to second base, where his fielding has been adequate (enough) and allowed that impressive bat to hit lead-off.

But the philosophy of drafting for need may have permeated itself back into the Cardinals since the departure of Luhnow. I want to focus on the Cardinals 2nd round pick (57th overall), Oscar Mercado. The Cardinals chose Mercado, possibly with pressure to fill the need they have at SS with underachieving Pete Kozma filling the role now and uncertain Ryan Jackson in the minors. Mercado, who was ranked relatively high by Baseball America, was selected over other players who they even ranked higher (and from some analysts and scouts, they believe Baseball America ranked him too high.) Higher ranked players available at the time of Mercado being drafted included RHP Bobby Wahl, RHP Alex Balog and LHP Hunter Green.

Every report on Mercado states he provides basically no offense at all. The 2nd round seems to be awfully high to select a player solely on defense. He is stated as being able to possibly develop a “solid swing” that could lead to high-average, though minorleagueball.com states he COULD, with added strength, have a slash line up .280/.330/.400. But that is implied to be a ceiling for Mercado.

What else is troubling is the contention Mercado is highly overrated at defense. Scouting reports will comment on his skill at defense, including a recent  Post-Dispatch article which quotes from the scouting report at BA claiming him to be a “smooth, fluid defender whose glove will give him a chance to survive as a pro while his bat develops and strength catches up.” But his abilities has been questioned by other writers and scouts who have seen him in person, including Keith Law, who wrote:

“Shortstop Oscar Mercado from Gaither HS in Tampa was similarly disappointing when I saw him over the weekend, playing a low-energy game on Saturday that featured two throwing errors to first on routine ground balls and a sloppy uppercut swing that helped him work his way out of hitters’ counts in two of his trips to the plate.

Mercado’s reputation in this draft is that he’s one of the only shortstops who is a lock to stay there, but he didn’t show the hands or the arm for that on Saturday and he certainly didn’t show the effort level, even in pregame warm-ups. He looked better last summer, but another scout who’s seen Mercado this spring said what I saw was representative of his showing so far this spring.” 

2nd Round picks do not always transfer to good major league players, in fact they rarely do. Looking at the Card’s 2^nd round picks during the 2000s, with the exception of Dan Haren, who was an all-star pitcher, most of the others never made it up or just had a cup of coffee in the majors. But I fear the draft of a shortstop who is only optimistically projected to have an OPS barely over .700 due to absolutely no slugging, is a predetermined destiny to begin with. And when you add possible holes at defense, which is his strength, it may all signal to a regressive philosophy of drafting on needs and desperation in spite of talent.

The Kansas City Royals are quite a few seasons removed from a winning baseball season.  This season was supposed to make all the difference and help the team start anew.

One of the caveats to the Royals playing so bad for so long is the lackluster television deal that they have in place.  A deal that will not put all 162 games on the air locally, one of the few deals left out there of it’s kind.  The team finds itself preempted for Kansas City Chiefs coverage and other local events, leaving baseball die-hards yearning for the team to turn it around.

If we can rely on the television ratings, the fans seem ready for this team to do just that.

According to information provided to i70 by Fox Sports, the Royals have set a new record for viewership of a game three times in 2013.   They have also added another game this season in the top-five all time most viewed games in Royals history.

Highest-rated Royals games all time on FOX Sports Kansas City

It is obvious that Kansas City is ready for a winning sports team to take hold.  It is also obvious that they are ready to get behind the Royals in a big way.

The team needs to continue winning and show the city they are ready to be supported.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

On one hand, there are the numbers. Those numbers tell me things like this: Holliday has compiled a park-adjusted OPS+ greater than 120 every season he has played since 2006. His average OPS+ of 137 is 12th among active players. In his 10-year career, Holliday has averaged 29 home runs, 109 RBI, 107 runs scored, and a .533 slugging average.

Statistical comparisons at Baseball-Reference list the following players as comparable to Holliday: Larry Walker, Lance Berkman, Fred Lynn, Bernie Williams, Hack Wilson. Pretty good company, no?

He has played over 150 games five times and is on pace to do it again – at age 33, when many players start to break down. But day in and day out, he’s out there, a reliable rock in the lineup for one of the better teams in baseball. Just this past Sunday night, he belted a grand slam in extra innings to help boost the Cardinals to a big win over Cincinnati.

When Albert Pujols left St. Louis after the 2011 World Championship season, the role of 3-hole hitter passed to Holliday. While he did not replicate Pujols’ numbers (and was not expected to), his usual numbers were right on target by season’s end. He was not out of place in that spot in the order.

In 2012, he hit the longest recorded home run at Busch Stadium III, a towering blast that sailed past the “Big Mac Land” sign into the second deck in left field. The bomb was estimated at 469 feet and was determined to be the fifth-longest home run hit by anyone the entire season. In August of that season, he got his 1,500 career hit.

The man has been consistently productive. In 2013, he is on pace for 24 homers, 90 RBI, 112 runs scored and a park-adjusted OPS+ of 119. Still an above-average hitter.

That’s Matt Holliday – on one hand.

On the other hand, Matt Holliday is, without a doubt, one of the most infuriating players I have ever watched in my entire life.

Remember the fly ball to the, ahem, midsection in the 2009 Division Series against the Dodgers? That still image of the ball squirting free instead of being the game-clinching out that would have tied the series 1-1? Oh, I still get agitated thinking about that one. I know, I know. It was several batters later that the Dodgers actually won the game, but that hideous error opened the floodgates nonetheless.

How about the botched pop-up in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series? Or getting picked off third base later in that same game? Gah! There was a bright side to the pickoff incident – he exited the game and set the stage for Allen Craig’s heroics later in Game 6 and again in Game 7. To this day, I remain convinced that the Rangers win the World Series in St. Louis if Holliday had stayed in the game. So I can let that one go much easier than 2009.

In last season’s NLCS, Holliday was Public Enemy #1 in San Francisco. His takeout slide against Marco Scutaro energized the listless Giants and they rallied to win Game 2 of the NLCS at home (thanks in no small part to another fielding error by Holliday). By the way, it was Scutaro who hit the ball that Holliday butchered, leading to a bases-clearing double. Karma came around in a BIG way that day.

Heck, Holliday even booted his first chance in the field, as a rookie left fielder for the Rockies in 2004 (in St. Louis, ironically). Watching him in the field was reminiscent of another Rockies left fielder, Dante Bichette. He was a productive hitter, at home mostly, and a butcher in the field. Some Rockies fans referred to him as “Skates” Bichette because his footwork often resembled an uncoordinated roller skater. The nickname suited Holliday as well. Every fly ball was an adventure.

His swing has never been described as a thing of beauty, either. The contrast between Pujols and Holliday in the 2009-11 seasons was fascinating. After watching watched Pujols’ balanced, powerful stroke, with that beautiful follow-through, Holliday’s violent, twisting swing would almost looked like he was throwing the bat at the ball, hoping to make contact. And some of the at-bats he takes….good grief, are they ever horrible. How many times over the years does it seem as though Holliday comes to the plate with runners in scoring position and the Cardinals in need of a run, and he grounds into an inning-ending double play or tap weakly to the pitcher? So frustrating (but to be fair, probably no more frequently than with any other player).

Even his baserunning wasn’t immune. Although he was a quarterback in high school in Oklahoma, he often ran the bases like a linebacker lumbering after a runaway QB. Rockies fans will forever remember his game-winning slide to end the 2007 play-in game against the Padres. His faceplant in the Coors Field dirt left a nasty red raspberry on his chin (and became a running joke the following season, when he lampooned it in a team commercial). You can still find Padres fans who insist Holliday never touched the plate on his “slide.” It became part of Holliday’s legend: the man could hit, but as a fielder and runner, well, he was a heck of a hitter.

After Holliday hired Scott Boras as his agent, it became apparent that the penny-pinching ownership of the Rockies were not interested in paying market price to keep him. Instead, they began quietly bad-mouthing Holliday to certain local media members who served as team mouthpieces. Before the 2009 season, Holliday was dealt to Oakland for a package of players that included Carlos Gonzalez. Then, at the trading deadline, the A’s flipped Holliday to the Cardinals. Like so many trade acquisitions before him, Holliday was sensational in his initial stint in a Cardinal uniform. Well, until that NLDS Game 2 disaster. That left a bitter taste in many a fan’s mouth (myself included, as I have mentioned).

Was Holliday worth the $100 million-plus contract Boras was demanding? Pujols was due to be a free after the 2011 season, and Adam Wainwright’s free agency loomed on the horizon as well. How would the Cardinals afford those guys if they gave a nine-figure deal to a guy who would probably end up as a DH? Many people (me included) had to pick up their jaws off the floor when the Cardinals signed him to a seven-year, $120 million deal. He’s not worth that much, I remember saying to anyone who would listen. They’ll regret this deal. Are they (Cardinals management) really ready to hitch their wagon to Holliday instead of Pujols?

We know how that one turned out, but I’ll get back to that in a moment.

As a teammate, I have never read or heard anything negative about Holliday. The Rockies’ attempted character assassination prior to trading Holliday failed. Instead, they came out looking like petty cheapskates who were afraid of Scott Boras. Through all the costly fielding blunders, Holliday’s teammates have defended him vigorously. Holliday drew the wrath of Giants fans (and a couple of blabbermouth ex-players like Will Clark), but Scutaro himself never spoke an angry word to the media about Holliday. He reminds me of Darryl Kile in the way he seems to be universally liked and respected by his peers. Holliday, meanwhile, quietly spoke after the game about how he has never intentionally injured someone and he expressed repeatedly expressed regret. As it turned out, Holliday had far more serious issues weighing on him at that moment.

In May, an article on MLB.com appeared about Kathy Holliday, Matt’s mother, being diagnosed with colon cancer in October 2012. The story (which was marvelously written by Jenifer Langosch) detailed how Matt got the phone call while the Cardinals were battling Washington in the Division Series. While the Cardinals were playing the Giants in the NLCS, Holliday was also dealing with what must have been agonizing fear for his mom’s health. I can tell you first-hand that that kind of worry can be paralyzing and all-encompassing. You see, during that same month, my wife underwent a double mastectomy due to breast cancer. There were days I was able to go to work and do my job reasonably well, but there were also others where I was understandably preoccupied and, therefore, unproductive. My job doesn’t involve anything approximating the pressure of October baseball. Holliday didn’t play very well, but in my mind, the fact that Holliday was able to take the field at all in front of millions of TV viewers is pretty damned remarkable.

Holliday was nominated by the Rockies in 2007 for the Roberto Clemente Award, given to a player who best exemplifies community involvement in addition to his contributions to his team (aside: Holliday was robbed of the MVP award that year). They don’t nominate jerks for that award. In addition to his charitable work in the Denver area, he has an extensive history of doing good things since moving to St. Louis, including Homers for Health (with teammate David Freese) in 2012, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and others. He doesn’t always come off well in TV interviews, but so what? Albert Pujols often looked like a surly drudge during interviews and few people cared about that. If Holliday treated fans or teammates that way, then it would bother me. So he doesn’t get enthused about yet another round of pre or post-game interviews; I probably wouldn’t, either. Big deal.

Let’s get back to some numbers: specifically, the $120 million-dollar contract Holliday signed before the 2010 season. After making $16.3 million in 2011-12, he will receive $17 million for the remaining five years. Let’s look at what Fangraphs has determined his actual value to be thus far:

• 2010: $25 million (158 games, 28 HR, 103 RBI, 95 runs, .312/.390/.532, 149 OPS+)
• 2011: $21.7 million (124 games, 22 HR, 75 RBI, 83 runs, .296/.388/.525, 151 OPS+)
• 2012: $20.9 million (157 games, 27 HR, 102 RBI, 95 runs, .295/.379/.497, 137 OPS+)

So, to answer my question from above: yes, team management knew what it was doing when they signed Holliday. The decision to let Pujols go a year later was a completely separate matter (and even more wisely handled). Holliday has been everything the Cardinals could have expected – a durable, productive player who handles himself with class on and off the field. In case you’re wondering, my choice at the time for an outfielder was Jason Bay. He had been traded from Pittsburgh to Boston at the 2008 trade deadline and put up a sensational 36-119-103 season with a 134 OPS+ for the Red Sox in 2009. I was convinced that he would come cheaper than Holliday, yet be nearly as productive. How’d that work out? Well, in his three years with the Mets, Bay was worth a COMBINED $2.8 million (including negative $4.4 million in 2012). Obviously, I was 100% wrong. But so were the Mets and many national baseball analysts, so that’s some consolation.

Compared to other sluggers (Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard), Holliday has been a bargain. Often, a bargain comes with some sort of caveat (“it wasn’t the exact color I wanted, but the price was so good”). With him, the caveat is that he will botch plays in the field or take a terrible at-bat at a bad time. But, as he has repeatedly proven over the years, he will deliver the numbers by season’s end. He is not irreplaceable, but he is reliable. In sports today, I think that’s good enough.

I wonder how much longer he can keep this up. Time will tell, of course, but he has already defied my expectations. As for the rest of it, I am no longer flummoxed. Maybe it’s because of that ugly C-word that was affecting his personal life and mine at the same time. Maybe he’s the same person/player he has always been and it’s me who has changed. I don’t know. Whatever the case, I have gradually become a fan of Matt Holliday, as a player, but even more so as a person. I reserve the right to mutter a profanity or two when he makes a bad error or bounces into a rally-killing double play, but I would do that regardless of the player. He’s become one of the guys I root for, instead of that guy who plays with the guys I root for. And the best part (at least to me)?

His mom is in remission, as is my wife. Maybe that’s all the reason I need.