Results tagged ‘ Julio Lugo ’

Tuesday camp tidbits: The off day approaches

It’s another gorgeous day in Jupiter, mild and sunny with a decent breeze but not too much wind. Tomorrow brings the Cardinals’ first off day of the Grapefruit League schedule, and it’s supposed to rain. Good news bad news, I guess.

Plenty of tidbits today.
* I’ll have updates on the various injured Cardinals on the site later this afternoon. In the meantime, though: Julio Lugo is progressing well and hopes to be ready on Thursday. He’ll probably be held out a little bit past that, but the weekend is a good guess. 
* Matt Holliday is having good workouts but still hasn’t swung a bat. They’re not projecting a return date for him.
* Brendan Ryan is available to play defense today and is getting very close.
* Colby Rasmus’ high school team, coached by his father Tony, paid a visit to camp today. They got a tour, sat in the stands for some of the workout and generally seemed to be receiving the celebrity treatment.
* For the upcoming split-squad games, here’s how the Cardinals will set up their pitching: after Rich Hill’s start Thursday, it will be Chris Carpenter on Friday afternoon in Jupiter against Florida, and Kyle McClellan on Friday night in Viera against the Nationals. For next Monday’s split-squad, Kyle Lohse will pitch at home against the Red Sox, and TLR said that Shelby Miller may pitch the road game against the Astros.
* Members of last year’s Memphis team were presented with their Pacific Coast League championship rings prior to Tuesday’s game.
Today’s playlist is a pre-St. Patrick’s Day special:
U2, “Bad”
My Bloody Valentine, “When You Sleep”
Sinead O’Connor, “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance”
Thrills, “One Horse Town”
Thin Lizzy, “Jailbreak”
-M.

Thursday Spring Training tidbits: Craig, contracts, Lugo, more

Greetings from Port St. Lucie, where the sun is shining brightly and the wind is blowing briskly. The Cardinals are taking batting practice as I write this, and there will be a baseball game in an hour and a half. Life is good.

March-4-pregame-006.jpg

Anyway, on with the tidbits.

* Allen Craig has a sore left quadriceps muscle and was scratched from the travel roster today. He’s likely out for a few days.

* The Cardinals agreed to terms on 2010 contracts with all 24 of their pre-arbitration players. I’ll have stories on each of these top two topics on the site a little bit later today.
* TLR said that several factors played into his leaving some of the team’s top stars back in Jupiter today. One is the fact that the Mets are starting knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Another, though, is that they’re going to hit live off of Adam Wainwright.
Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina and Felipe Lopez (plus youngster Tyler Henley for left-handed balance) are all hitting off of Wainwright back at camp.
One factor that went unmentioned: it’s nice to have the biggest stars play in the first home spring game, which is tomorrow.
* Veteran position players will likely get 2-3 at-bats today.
* From the pitchers who made the trip today (see the list here), three are not expected to pitch: Lance Lynn, Ben Jukich and Fernando Salas. They are here as protection, in case some of the scheduled pitchers are not able to last as long as hoped.
* TLR said that Julio Lugo has a chance to make an impression at shortstop this spring, and that his defense there is something of an unknown. Lugo was once a plus defensive shortstop, before knee troubles hampered him significantly. 
“Tyler [Greene] will play the second half today, and Tyler will start there tomorrow,” the manager said. “Julio can definitely make an impression there.
“It’s unknown because it’s a brand new year. I knew him before he had his knee injury. Now it’s a year later. He’s in as good a shape as anybody we have in camp. He’s in great shape. He looks like he’s 25 years old.”
Today’s playlist is simple and classic. It’s side one of the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street, which I played on the way up this morning.
“Rocks Off”
“Rip This Joint”
“Shake Your Hips”
“Casino Boogie”
“Tumbling Dice”
-M.

Monday camp tidbits: Miller, Lugo, Ryan, Walters

Clouds threatened all day here in Jupiter, but I never saw a drop of rain. It was another mild day, with temperatures getting up into the 70s — perfect day for getting some work in.

* The Cardinals will bring in top Draft pick Shelby Miller and Minor League left-hander Sam Freeman tomorrow. Technically they are not non-roster invitees, but instead early arrivals to camp. Don’t read too much into this; it’s not as though Miller is going to make the roster or even start in the high Minors. But it will be interesting to see him throw.
* More arrivals came today, the last day before full-squad workouts. Among those appearing were Julio Lugo, Brendan Ryan and P.J. Walters. Check the site for stories on both Ryan and Walters and their situations.
* Speaking of Lugo, TLR didn’t rule out the possibility of him seeing some time in the outfield, even center field, this year. Somebody has to be a right-handed-hitting option in center, and players like Lugo and Tyler Greene might well fit the bill.
* Other positional notes: the manager didn’t sound like we’ll be seeing much of Allen Craig at third base in camp. He’s more likely to be at first and in the outfield. Given the current roster configuration, it sounds like David Freese and Joe Mather will get the bulk of the time at third, and Greene could play there some as well.
* One thing you may see in some games this spring is Colby Rasmus getting more of a look against left-handed pitchers. Whereas the preference is sometimes to give Rasmus a rest against lefties during the season, Spring Training presents a perfect opportunity to get experience against them.
* Live batting practice started today, with four pitchers throwing: Mitchell Boggs, Ben Jukich, Lance Lynn and Pete Parise. Four more pitchers throw live tomorrow, and then it picks up in larger numbers on Wednesday.
Today’s playlist:
Soul Asylum, “Without a Trace”
Pixies, “Debaser”
The Clash, “Straight To Hell”
Primal Scream, “Jailbird”
The White Stripes, “My Doorbell”
-M.

NLDS Game 2 Tidbits: Lugo, Thome, Ludwick

Matthew Leach
MLB.com

Blog: Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer
Twitter: @MatthewHLeach

It’s an absolutely perfect day at Dodger Stadium. Seriously, 71 degrees, clear, spectacular. Great day for baseball.

*
Julio Lugo gets the start at second base today against left-hander
Clayton Kershaw, in place of Skip Schumaker. It was Schumaker against a
lefty yesterday, and in fact Randy Wolf has a bigger left-right split
than Kershaw. However, Kershaw is, in TLR’s parlance, “one of those
wipeout kind of lefties,” while Wolf isn’t so much in style.

* Jim Thome talked a little about facing the Cardinals, since he hails from Peoria, Ill.

“St.
Louis has been a great baseball town. I’ve enjoyed being in there
whether it was Interleague with Cleveland, with Philadelphia. This will
be my first time to the new park. I’m looking forward to that, and I’ve
got a lot of friends around the St. Louis area that are excited as well.

“So
it’s going to be a neat experience. It always has. I’ve always said St.
Louis is probably fans-wise one of the better baseball cities in the
game. So it’s fun to go there and feel that atmosphere towards
baseball. They did a wonderful job there.”

Another Thome note:
For his regular-season CAREER, he has a .430/.565/1.010 line in 131
plate appearances against the Cardinals. That’s a 1.575 OPS.

*
Ryan Ludwick talked a little bit more about the ball he hit down the
line last night, but both he and TLR said they have yet to see a
conclusive replay on it. I haven’t either — anyone find some way to
get a really good look at it?

Today’s playlist is all GNR in honor of Slash’s playing of the anthem today:
“Rocket Queen”
“Used To Love Her”
“Dead Horse”
“Civil War”
“Coma”

-M.

Saturday tidbits: Garcia, Miller, Glaus, Wellemeyer, Ryan, Lugo

It’s bordering on a more typical hot St. Louis summer day today, but still pretty bearable. One note: I’ll be en route to California tomorrow, so I probably won’t blog or tweet too much (barring news), but of course I’ll be back in the saddle on Monday from Dodger Stadium.

As always, check out my updates on Twitter if you want more Cards stuff. Now on with the tidbits…

* Jaime Garcia continues to pitch well in his recovery from offseason elbow surgery. However, TLR said on Saturday that he does not expect to see Garcia in St. Louis in 2009.

“I think that’s a push,” he said. “If he gets to the end of the year healthy, that would be a major step forward. I think the most important thing is for him to end the year healthy. If he’s healthy, he’s a young guy, he’s got a lot of future.”

* I talked to John Mozeliak today regarding the negotiations with Shelby Miller, and among plenty of other things, he said this: “I would say there’s optimism on both sides.” I’ll have a story up on this topic either later tonight or tomorrow.

As for my personal assessment, I stand by what I’ve thought all along: it’s going to get done. It’ll be above-slot, but that’s been no secret since the minute they drafted him. But I’ll be absolutely shocked if it doesn’t get done.

* Troy Glaus re-began his rehab assignment at Memphis tonight, and he’s playing third base. If you’d like to follow along, here’s the link to GameDay at MiLB.com.

* Todd Wellemeyer planned to meet with Dr. Paletta tonight, and it’s possible that he may be cleared to begin throwing tomorrow.

* Julio Lugo got the start at SS tonight in place of Brendan Ryan. Per TLR, both will play tomorrow against LHP Clayton Richard. I specifically asked about whether there was any thought toward going with Ryan tonight behind Pineiro, and Lugo last night.

The response from the skipper: “Didn’t Wainwright get some groundballs yesterday? We’ve won games with Lugo playing.”

Tonight’s playlist:
Men at Work, “Overkill” (heard this on the radio today, what an amazing song)
Pearl Jam, “Release”
Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
Stone Roses, “Daybreak”
Regina Spektor, “On the Radio”

-M.

Ryan removed from game

Brendan Ryan was removed from Thursday night’s game against the Dodgers due to an apparent left foot or ankle injury.

Batting in the bottom of the second inning against Hiroki Kuroda, Ryan fouled a ball off the lower part of his left leg. He hit the ground in pain quickly, and head athletic trainer Barry Weinberg came out to tend to the speedy infielder.

After consulting with Weinberg, Ryan remained in the game to finish his at-bat, and he grounded out to shortstop. However, he was clearly compromised as he attempted to run the ball out. When he returned to the dugout, he was removed from the game. Julio Lugo took his place at shortstop.

Lugo is the favorite to take any playing time at shortstop in Ryan’s absence. The Cardinals also anticipate activating Khalil Greene from the disabled list shortly, and Tyler Greene has hit extremely well at Triple-A Memphis lately.

Ryan has emerged as a premier defensive shortstop this season, and he’s held his own at the plate. However, he’s had great trouble staying healthy throughout his professional career.

Wednesday tidbits: Duncan, Lugo, DeRosa, Wellemeyer

We’ve got a tremendous game here in Houston tonight, and you may have heard it’s been a bit of a busy day. So finally I’ve got your tidbits. I won’t be on the rest of the trip, and will try to disconnect for a few days before getting back on it at home next week.

By now you’ve heard and read plenty about the Chris Duncan trade. A few notes on it, though.

* Duncan was a very, very popular player in the clubhouse. Guys will get over this, and it’s not like some irreparable rift has been created within the clubhouse or between the players and the front office, but some guys were definitely unhappy with the move.

* With that said, Lugo might be a very nice fit. Offensively, he certainly should be. He’s getting on base at a very high clip against LHP, and he did the same last year. That can only help the team. However, according to both the stats and people’s observation, his defense has fallen off a cliff. He suffered a significant quadriceps strain last summer and had knee surgery this spring. That’s a tough pair of knocks to a guy’s range.

* Some guys knew something was afoot regarding Duncan, but it’s my understanding that last night’s team meeting was not about this move.

* Despite the addition of Barden today (although it’s possible he’ll be gone again tomorrow) and Lugo probably tomorrow, TLR said he doesn’t expect to play Mark DeRosa in the outfield much.

* The pitcher was back in the 9 spot. The official explanation from the manager is that he wanted to bat Molina 7th, and he doesn’t like Molina in front of the pitcher because you want more speed on the bases when you sacrifice bunt with the pitcher.

* The Cardinals probably will not return to 12 pitchers any time soon. Between Philadelphia’s unfriendly ballpark and lineup, and next week’s home games, the preference is to stay at 13 for a while. The manager often argues that you’re more likely to have bullpen depth issues at home, since you have to pitch nine innings in a loss at home.

* And TLR also said Wellemeyer is definitely safe for his next start. They’re just not convinced that anybody else would offer more, and they believe he’ll improve. Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.

No playlist today. This thing is already way too late.

-M.

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