Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Steven Goldman Chat 6-24-09

Joe (Washington, DC): Steven: When you missed the chat on Monday you should have said that you were hiking the Appalachian trail. Oh, and how overrated is Tony LaRussa?

Steven Goldman: You know, I should have, but that story hadn't broken yet. Besides, he wasn't on the Trail, he was in Argentina(?).

Had to stop to seal the window in my office here as the grounds crew is outside with weed-whackers and I'm literally being gassed...

I don't know that LaRussa is overrated. I look at this year's Cards and I see an offense that is Pujols and little else, a not particularly impressive rotation (except for Chris Carpenter -- how can he pitch so well when he's never healthy?), and an improvised bullpens. Seeing this, it sure seems like all his manipulations are bearing fruit. He's also one of just 14 managers to take his team to five or more World Series, and he's done this while never managing in New York or LA--and his Cardinals are neither those of the Branch Rickey or the Busch years. You can't dismiss all that.

Baseball Prospectus

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