In a way, the 2013 performance of center fielder Lorenzo Cain is bittersweet. On one hand, I’m glad he’s playing well, especially with the struggling Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas in the lineup. But if Cain stayed healthy last year, would he play as well in 2012 as he is now? It’s hard to say, but Cain played well before various leg injuries limited him to 61 games, ending up with a .266/.316/.419 line with 222 at-bats, 31 RBI, nine doubles, seven home runs, striking out 56 times, drawing 15 walks and stealing 10 bases.

Cain knew a good 2013 performance would decide if he was the Royals center fielder of the future or another has-been. In the offseason, Cain worked on strengthening his legs to avoid the leg and hip injuries that plagued him last year. And so far, it’s paying off. He’s played 17 of 18 games with a .350/.420/.483 line, 60 at-bats, nine RBI, five doubles, a home run with 14 strikeouts, six walks and two stolen bases.

Against lefties, Cain has a .357/.500/.357 line with 14 at-bats, four RBI, two strikeouts and three walks. Against righties, Cain has a .348/.392/.522 line with 46 at-bats, five RBI, five doubles, a home run with 12 strikeouts and three walks. He’s hitting and scoring well against left and right handed pitching, though he’s faced more righties than lefties.

Among regular staring position players, Cain leads the team in batting average (.350), on-base percentage (.420), on-base percentage with slugging (.904) and he’s got caught stealing three times. Actually, he leads the American League in being caught stealing, so his running game needs some work.

Cain has a .970 fielding percentage in center field, with the league fielding percentage being .990. His range factor per nine innings as a center fielder is 2.41, with the league range factor per nine innings is at 2.66. He’s only committed one error in 119.2 innings of play, so while his current defense is below league average, he’s far from a defensive liability in the field.

It’s unlikely Cain will keep up his high batting average and he won’t hit a lot of home runs. But so far, Cain is a good center fielder who can hit, get on base and play average defense. If he stays healthy (and there’s still a question if he can) and works on his running game, Cain will be a solid center fielder for the Royals. And at 27, he’s got the potential to improve. With the Royals offense being what it is, let’s hope he does improve.

After the James Shields and Wade Davis trade, the Kansas City Royals signed four veteran players to Minor League deals. Left-handed reliever George Sherrill and right-handed reliever Dan Wheeler, along with outfielders Willy Taveras and Xavier Nady should get Major League spring training invites.

Sherrill, 35, has nine years of Major League experience with the Mariners, Orioles, Dodgers and Braves. Sherrill has a career 3.77 ERA, appearing in 442 games over 324.1 innings pitched, all in relief. Sherrill spent most of his career as a left-handed specialist, but he has 56 career saves, most of them in 2008-2009. He’s fared well against lefties, who only have a .186/.245/.285 line with a 4.84 SO/BB ratio. He’s more pedestrian against righties, who have a .273/.380/.418 line with a 1.01 SO/BB ratio.

With Tim Collins the only current left-handed reliever locked in the Royals bullpen, Sherrill could fit in as a lefty specialist. He’ll have to join the 40-man roster and beat out candidates such as Donnie Joseph, Justin Marks, Everett Teaford and Francisley Bueno. Sherrill is recovering from Tommy John surgery and it’s likely he will spend most if not all the 2013 season in AAA Omaha.

Wheeler, 35, has 13 years of Major League experience with the Rays, Mets, Astros, Red Sox and Indians. Wheeler has a career 3.98 ERA, appearing in 589 games over 640.2 pitched with nine career starts. He fares well against righties, who have a .216/.267/.366 line with a 4.04 SO/BB ratio. He’s not as good against lefties, who have a .281/.347/.499 line, and a 1.70 SO/BB ratio.

Being a right-handed reliever, Wheeler has plenty of competition, with righties Louis Coleman, Aaron Crow, Kevin Herrera and Nate Adcock, among others. Like Sherrill, Wheeler will have to join the 40-man roster to have a shot with the big club. Barring injuries or poor performance by someone in the bullpen, Wheeler will likely be on Omaha’s roster as a reliever.

The right-handed hitting Taveras, who will be 31 this Christmas, has seven years of Major League experience with the Astros, Rockies, Reds and Nationals. He’s appeared in 670 games with a .274/.320/.327 line, but 2010 was his last time in the Majors. He’s played most of his career in center field.

Speed and base running are his assets with 195 career stolen bases and a league leading 68 stolen bases in 2008 with the Rockies. However, he doesn’t draw many walks and with 71 doubles and eight home runs over his career, Taveras doesn’t hit for power.

With five outfielders on the Royals 40-man roster (Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson, Jeff Francoeur, Alex Gordon and David Lough), Taveras has a remote chance to make the Major League roster. He’s at least three years older than the other outfielders, Dyson is a faster runner and the rest have more power over Taveras. Gordon has the job in left, Cain is in center and even though Francoeur was horrible in right field, he’ll have every chance to keep his job. And if he doesn’t, there’s always Dyson and Lough to take Francoeur’s place.

The right-handed hitting Nady, 34, has 11 years of Major League experience with the Padres, Mets, Pirates, Yankees, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Nationals and Giants. He’s appeared in 939 games with a .270/.324/.432 line. His high water mark was in 2008, with a .305/.357/.510 line with 97 RBI, 37 doubles and 25 home runs. But the last couple of seasons, he’s been a bench player/pinch hitter.

At 34, Nady’s best days are behind him. He’s got the potential to hit for power, but he’s not an everyday player. Like Taveras, Nady is a long shot to make the Major League club and he’s likely a part of Omaha’s roster if he stays with the Royals organization.

Interesting note: Nady isn’t the only Xavier in Royals history. Xavier Dixon played 50 games in the Royals Minor League system in 1974 before playing three more seasons of independent league baseball and retiring in 1977.

A few years ago, these journeyman players would be in the mix for a spot on the Major League roster. But barring injuries or other circumstances, they’re playing for the Storm Chasers next season, or on another Major League team.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been looking for a left handed relief pitcher this off season.  Today, they got their man.

Cards sign Choate to 3 years, $75 million contract

Randy Choate is a 37-year old left handed relief pitcher that has pitched for five teams in his twelve year major league career, spanning back to his rookie season in 2000 with the New York Yankees.

Choate is a true LOOGY (Left-handed One Out GuY) and exactly what the Cardinals were looking for.  He has lead the league in appearances two of the last three seasons with 85 in 2010 and 80 in 2012.  As the term suggests, however, many appearances do not lead to a ton of innings.  Choate threw just 38.2 innings last season.

Tough against lefties, he has held them to a .201 batting average over his career while compiling a 3.52 strikeout to walk ratio as well.

He split time last year between Florida and the Dodgers, having been part of the Hanley Ramirez trade.

Here’s a quick look at his career statistics, as well as his 2012 splits, courtesy of Baseball Reference:

Career Splits:

2012 Splits:

The Cardinals will turn their focus to the middle infield now, where there appear to be shopping for an upgrade at second base or a long term answer at shortstop.

After the free agent signing of relief pitcher Jose Mijares in the off-season, many fans of the Kansas City Royals thought that the young arm of lefty Tim Collins may be in trouble.

Mijares brought in for his left-handed specialty which was the job of Collins in 2011, may be able to light a fire under Collins and make him step his game up.  Collins may have taken the signing a little more personal than that thought.  After a season where he had struck out many and almost walked just as many, Collins knew that he would have to bring more substance to the table to be a part of a bullpen that has the potential to be the best in the Major Leagues.  And improve his resume he has.  In just under a year Collins has gone from the guy who will only face left handed hitters to a guy that can punch guys out with any of his three pitches.

In 2011, Collins seemed to struggle with the free passes giving up 48 walks in only 67 innings, while striking out 60 hitters in that stretch.  Yes, the strikeouts are tremendous but the walks were definately a red flag for general manager Dayton Moore and the Royals organization going into the off-season.  So, in turn they went out and got another lefty specialist in Mijares for many reasons.  If things did not pan out with Collins they could just simply give Mijares that job but that is not what ended up happening. At least not in the way that they thought it might happen. Mijares does now have the role of left handed specialist but it is because Collins has hit his stride and not only thrives against lefties but now is dominant against righties too.  This accomplishes many things for Ned Yost and his bullpen.  Yost can now save more of the pitchers in his bullpen because he does not have two left handed pitchers that can only throw to lefties but now has Collins who in the beginning portion of the season has just mowed hitters down.

Facing 96 hitters this season, Collins has struck out 38, which leads the league among relief pitchers, walked 7, and is giving up a .188 battin average.  The misleading thing about the batting average is the fact that his overall batting average against is lower than what he is giving up against left handed batters.  So maybe Collins is not just a lefty specialist like he was last season.  He, along with his fastball, change-up, and killer curveball, has turned into an arm in the bullpen that can be called upon in any situation with any batter coming up.  Hitters just seem to have trouble seeing the ball out of his hand with the whip action that he throws with and the high leg kick that hides everything in his approach to the plate.

The thing that impresses most about Collins is the way that he carries himself out of the mound.  And like the wonderdog, Rex Hudler, says body language is a big key to the game.  Now, no matter what the program at the team store says Collins is just over five and a half feet tall.  Now for a gu to be that small and have such a commanding presence on the mound is what makes him the pitcher that he has now become.

His de facto nickname since he stepped onto the outfield at Kauffman Stadium in 2011, has been “Tiny Tim.” The problem that I have with that nickname now i the fact that he is pitching liek something else out on the moudnd.  Over the past month and a half “Tiny Tim” has turned into King Kong out on the bump.

St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Shelby Miller has bounced back from two sub par outings and has now fanned 15 batters in his last 10 innings after tossing five shutout frames Tuesday.

Miller did not appear to be a strong consideration to make the Cards’ rotation out of spring training but it wasn’t completely ruled out until he was shipped to minor league camp in March. He’s the No. 2 starting pitching prospect in Keith Law’s Top 100 and the No. 1 arm remaining in the minors (Tampa’s Matt Moore already is in the Rays’ rotation).

Miller’s ETA could depend largely on the club’s workload plan for the right-hander, as he’s not likely to be allowed to approach 200 innings after throwing 139 2/3 last season at age 19.

Here’s what ESPN’s Keith Law had to say about Miller just prior to the start of the season:

“He will sit in the low- to mid-90s and touch 97 mph as a starter with a sharp breaking ball in the upper-70s/low-80s with good depth that misses right-handed hitters’ bats. He continued to make progress this year with his changeup, a pitch he rarely needed or used as an amateur, and the pitch has good tailing action that has helped him gets some swinging strikes against lefties. He is very receptive to coaches’ suggestions and has proved a quick study so far. He often lands on the third-base side of the rubber and comes slightly across his body, creating deception but also potentially putting stress on his shoulder. If the Cardinals can keep him more on line, and he sees more improvement in the changeup and command of the fastball, he’s a potential No. 1 starter for the Cardinals in two or three years.

St Louis rode timely hitting and a hot bullpen to a 2-1 series lead. However, including Kyle Lohse’s start on Thursday, a possible chink has appeared in the Cardinal armor. Their starting pitchers are not getting deep into games anymore. This is the exact opposite of the Philadelphia series, where four of the five games saw Cardinal starters throw pitches in the sixth inning or later (the lone exception was Chris Carpenter’s short rest, 3 inning Game 2 start).

Does it matter? Not really. Here’s why.

Tony LaRussa changed his post-season roster to add an eighth pitcher. So armed, he has deployed his bullpen early and often, and matched up his pitchers against Milwaukee’s hitters. He’s also done a good job not overusing his bullpen, as evidenced in the below list. Relievers are ordered based on when they first appeared in the series; ‘bf’ is short for ‘batters faced’; ‘g’ is short for ‘game’.

• Octavio Dotel: 6 bf (g1), 4 bf (g4)
• Lance Lynn: 4 bf (g1), 1 bf (g2), 4 bf (g3)
• Kyle McClellan: 3 bf (g1)
• Marc Rzepczynski: 2 bf g1), 4 bf (g2), 1 bf (g3)
• Mitchell Boggs 4 bf (g1), 4 bf (g2), 5 bf (g4)
• Arthur Rhodes 1 bf (g2), 3 bf (g4)
• Fernando Salas 3 bf (g2), 3 bf (g3), 7 bf (g4)
• Jason Motte 3 bf (g2), 4 bf (g3)

LaRussa has spread the workload around. Only Lynn and Salas have appeared in three consecutive games. Even those streaks were broken by the off-day between Games 2 and 3. His middle relievers have seen a lot of action – Boggs and Salas have faced 13 hitters each in this series – but the back of the bullpen has been judiciously used, especially the two lefties and Motte.

Randy Wolf shut down the Cardinals Thursday night, as he has all season, and ensured the NLCS will return to Milwaukee. If St Louis is able to again hit like they did in the first 19 innings of this series it won’t matter how deep their starters get. If, however, the remaining game action settles into a pitching duel the Cardinals starting rotation’s inability to get into the sixth inning may come back to haunt them. The Cardinal starters are better than their middle relievers, and to win this series they will need their best pitchers on the mound pitching well.

Mike Metzger is a life-long Cardinals fan watching the NLCS with bated breath. He is the author of Padres Trail, a San Diego Padres blog. Follow him on twitter @metzgermg.

There have been a lot of great tributes to Paul Splittorff the player, the broadcaster, and the man over the last few days. Here, I would like to honor Splitt by attempting to give an idea of just how large he looms in Royals pitching history. The most obvious examples are his all-time club records for starts (392), innings pitched (2,554) and wins (166). He has owned the franchise wins record since 1975, and is in no danger of losing it anytime soon. Splitt faced 10,829 batters, over 1,300 more than the next pitcher on the Royals all-time list. In addition to his incredible longevity, Splitt was also a tie to the very earliest days in Royals history. He was drafted by the club in 1968, a year before the big league team even started play. The Royals selected 21 players ahead of Splitt that day, but he was the first to make it to KC, and the only one to have a long career with the Royals. According to his New York Times obit, he threw the first pitch in Royals history when he opened the Corning Royals 1968 season in the New York-Pennsylvania minor league. He rushed through the minors, making it to the majors for two appearances in September, 1970. His first action came as the starter in Comiskey Park, where all of 693 fans turned out to watch Splitt and the Royals lose to the White Sox.

He again etched his name into Royals history by pitching the first ever game at Royals Stadium on April 10, 1973. He rose to the occasion, pitching a masterful complete game marred only by a ninth inning solo home run by Jeff Burroughs of Texas. Splitt and the Royals cruised to a 12-1 victory. It was the first of 20 wins for Splittorff that season.

Paul was a pitching stoic. He didn’t have a whole lot of fast-twitch muscles. On the mound he was big, strong, slow, deliberate, but very graceful and very much under control. A high leg kick, a smooth delivery, ordinary stuff. Three hundred Royals’ pitchers have had better pitches to work with, but Splittorff won 166 games for the Royals, and nobody else has.
—Bill James

Splittorff was never a dominating pitcher, with a not-so-fast fastball and crazy-low strikeout numbers. He relied instead on smarts, ground balls, knowing each hitter’s weaknesses, low walk rates, getting by against righties and feasting on lefties. It was a formula that made him only a good pitcher most days, but maintaining that level of play over 15 seasons adds up to a remarkable career. Plenty of major league pitchers have had a decent season or three, but few have strung together such sustained effectiveness for as long as Splitt did. He is in a group of fewer than 200 members to win 166 games or more.

He’s got a fast ball, slider, curve and change-up. When he puts them where he wants them, it’s a thing of beauty. He knows how to set up hitters. He never tries to overpower anybody, but just with control, he can be overpowering.
—Darrell Porter, who caught Splitt more than any other catcher, July 1, 1978 The Sporting News

Splitt was there as the Royals grew from expansion team to powerhouse in the mid-70′s, helping them make the post-season in 1976, ’77, ’78, ’80 and ’81. Only two pitchers (Dennis Leonard and Larry Gura) have faced more batters in Royals post-seasons than Splitt. Teams managed just a 2.79 ERA against him in his seven playoff appearances. While the team could not get past the Yankees in ’76, ’77 and ’78, Splitt had their number each post-season. He earned victories in ’76 and ’77. In ’78, he left the game with a lead that the bullpen could not hold. While he was not awarded the win, the Royals defeated the Yankees in Splittorff’s start to win the 1980 ALCS. After finally getting to the World Series, manager Jim Frey made the questionable decision to not give Splitt a start in the series (though he was effective in one brief relief appearance).

He gets them over and in good spots. He knows the hitters. He knows how to pitch. He follows his game plan. I’d call Splitt a heady pitcher. He tries to get the double play ball. He doesn’t try to strike out guys, but when he needs a strikeout, he goes after it. He never gets rattled. He’s gotten a lot of mileage out of what he first showed.
—Galen Cisco, Royals pitching coach, July 1, 1978 The Sporting News

It is fitting that Bret Saberhagen made his debut in relief of Splitt in 1984. Splitt retired before the year was out, completing the transition from the great staffs of the ’70s and early ’80s to the next wave. Splittorff of course was not gone for long, transitioning quickly into the Royals broadcast booth. With his passing, the Royals and their fans have lost one of their greatest mainstays and one of the last remaining links to the club’s beginnings.

A few of Splitt’s best games:

The Royals offense this week, like the weather, wasn’t very pretty. The Royals scored only three runs or less in five of the games this past week, as expected when any major league team puts that few of runs, there were more losses than wins this week. However, the week ended on a high note by splitting the series with the Rangers and won on Friday night against our in-state rival, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The team’s highest batting average this past week was a mediocre .273. The only homerun was from Hosmer (who led the team with extra base hits with 3 this week) that sent a game into extra innings. In fact, Hosmer hit more extra base hits than Gordon (0), Cabrera (0), Aviles (0), Betemit (0), Escobar (0), and Butler (2 doubles) combined. Not exactly a good time to have a cold streak on the bats when facing one of the hottest teams right now in the Cleveland Indians and a very formidable Ranger team, who are playing well despite not having their best player in the lineup in Josh Hamilton.

The pitching did their part in four of the games in that they only gave up three runs or less in those contests. However, in the other three games alone, they gave up a whopping thirty-one runs, including nineteen against Cleveland on Monday night. This presented zero opportunities for Joakim Soria to work his magic, but even he has been showing signs of being off this year.

Jeff Francis has to be the highlight of the week on the pitching staff, making two solid appearances by pitching fifteen solid innings by only giving up three runs, while striking out nine. He is definitely filling in nicely for Bruce Chen in the starting rotation as a crafty southpaw. With Chen due back in the Rotation late next week, the Royals could have two solid lefties in the Rotation.

Jason Kendall could be making his way back to catching again in a couple of weeks after being on the DL with shoulder problems. The Royals are not rushing Kyle Davies by any means to get back into the rotation with his rotator cuff injury.

The Royals have fallen quite a bit since the beginning of May, however, a few inspiring quotes I remembered hearing a few times come to mind for this young team and its fans.

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bob Feller

“Look at misfortune the same way you look at success – Don’t Panic! Do you best and forget the consequences.” – Walter Alston

Being at .500 at this point in the season, after playing the teams they have had to play so far, is still a solid start for a very young and inexperienced ball club. This club maybe be labeled inexperienced for the most part now, but by the end of the season, these young guys will have taken their lumps and had enough successes to have built something that might surprise everyone when it comes September.

I heard an interesting and quite likely theory today: the 2011 Kansas City Royals could have a completely different starting rotation at the end of the season than they did at the beginning of the year.

For that matter, the Royals could also have a different infield, outfield and bullpen.

It all depends on where the Royals sit in the standings come the few weeks before the trade deadline: if they are out of the race, the Royals will likely be sellers. If they are in the hunt, they’ll probably be looking to bring players in.

Let’s take a look at the players the Royals could be shipping out if they’re sellers, and the players they could bring in if they’re buyers:

SELL: Melky Cabrera

The player: Melky has played extremely well this year, and the Royals could (and should) capitalize on that if they’re out of the race by July.

The return: How about a right-handed pitching prospect to complement the lefties in the farm system?

BUY: Chone Figgins

The player: Seattle’s Figgins could make a good fit at second base and batting if a contending Royals team doesn’t have faith in Chris Getz.

The return: Salary relief for the Mariners and/or a bullpen arm.

SELL: Robinson Tejeda or Kanekoa Texeira

The players: Speaking of bullpen arms. The trade deadline is a great time to flip relievers to contenders. Tejeda would have to get healthy and prove he can bounce back to 2010 form to be tradable.

The return: Not much. A B-level prospect or two.

BUY: Mike Pelfrey, Chris Young or Aaron Harang

The players: Pelfrey and Young of the Mets and Harang of the Padres are stable veterans who could boost the Royals’ rotation if they’re in the race. These are not front-of-the-rotation guys, but they’re definitely an improvement over Kyle Davies.

The return: Again, salary relief, or…

SELL: Mike Aviles or Wilson Betemit

The players: Even if the Royals are in contention, it’s likely at least one of these guys will be on the trading block. The hot corner belongs to Mike Moustakas come June.

The return: A major league starter or an outfield prospect.

BUY: A front-line starter, such as Felix Hernandez

The player: A Cy Young winner, Felix may or not be on the block come the trade deadline. But if he is, a team like the Royals could pry him loose with their salary flexibility. But it would take a lot.

The return: Like I said, a lot. Kansas City would have to give up one of their top-line prospects, a major league-ready starter (like Jeff Francis) and a couple B-level prospects. This would only be a worthwhile venture if the Royals are truly in the race.

SELL: Billy Butler

The player: Butler has been the anchor of this team’s lineup for a few years. But with the emergence of Eric Hosmer, the presence of Clint Robinson at AAA, and Kila Ka’aihue hanging around as a stopgap, Butler could become expendable. He also has a team-friendly contract, which is attractive to opposing teams.

The return: It would have to be overwhelming. How about top-rated catcher prospect, a right-handed starter and a young first baseman to replace Butler in the system?

BUY: Albert Pujols

The player: Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?

The return: The farm. As in, the entire farm system.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and associate editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey14@yahoo.com.

Joe over at Cards Droppings does a great job breaking down the series as they come up. We are glad to share that information with you here on I-70 and ask you to click the link at the bottom of the article to read the rest of the material on the home site.

The rain-soaked Cardinals travel south to face their one-time arch-rivals, the Houston Astros. Luckily for everyone who stayed up late watching the Redbirds over the past several nights, it will be dry under Minute Maid Park’s roof. Houston has hit a bit of a rough patch over the past several years, so the rivalry between the two teams has definitely taken a back seat to the newly formed rivalries between the Cardinals and the Reds as well as that of the one between the Cardinals and the Cubs. It’s still fun to go into Houston, and it’s really a lot more fun now that Houston’s lineup has lost a lot of the pop from the early 2000′s, when they featured Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman and many others. I’m sure the homecoming will be very bittersweet for Lance Berkman on many levels. The Astros basically told him they didn’t want him back, so I would be shocked to see Berkman treated with anything but the highest respect. If he gets booed or otherwise treated poorly, it’s a mistake on the part of Astro fans–Berkman wasn’t the one who wanted to leave.

Besides the Berkman reunion, there are many other intriguing storylines that will come into play for this series. The first, and biggest, is Albert Pujols. He was pulled from Sunday night’s game after coming up lame trying to beat out an infield grounder. The team said that it was a mild strain, but it’s not an encouraging sign to see him out of the lineup tonight. He’ll be replaced at 1B by the aforementioned Berkman. Hopefully, TLR is just trying to buy him an extra day with the off day yesterday. Against Bud “Cy Young” Norris, it never hurts to have more lefties in the lineup. Tonight, we see Theriot 6, Jay 9, Holliday 7, Berkman 3, Rasmus 8, Molina 2, Punto 4, Descalso 5 and Garcia 1. It’s a bit of a scary thought that this could actually be a lineup we see next year at this time, albeit on a much more permanent basis. Let’s hope for the sake of Cardinal fans everwhere that we’re able to get Albert signed in short order. Our lineup looks much less intimidating without #5 in the middle of it. We face a lefty tomorrow night, so hopefully Albert will be back in there soon.

Read the rest of Joe’s breakdown of this series by clicking here.