Who's On Second

I dont mean to sound obsessed with the idea about who is going to be our second baseman, but I for one, among many of you out there, am very interested in seeing where this second base odyssey will take us. In the past, I have never thought highly of the second base position probably because of the fact that we have had so many capable players walking in and out of that position like a revolving door and that second base is always a position that is looked over. The only reason that we hear about a second baseman is if they put up good numbers offensively. For instance, the Marcus Giles and the Jeff Kents in the baseball world. I have definitely taken that position for granted. I am at a loss trying to figure out how we are going to solve this mystery. I dont know if we are trying our best to react to (ironically) this very own situation that we have gotten ourselves into or that the front office new where we were going to be come Spring Training in regards to second base. But I have been thinking about some possible options and the most intriguing idea is acquiring a second baseman via trade. We have the players, mainly outfielders, to do this. We have to take advantage of what we have in order to catapult ourselves into the future and make our team better overall and finally solidify the second base revolving door. Getting a good/great second baseman would make us a great baseball club. Here are some trade possibilities that I have thought of. Ranked from 1 to 7.

1.) Blake Dewitt - Los Angeles Dodgers - Due to the signing of Orlando Hudson, as well as Mark Loretta, this cuts Blake's playing time in half. You then look at 3B where he has played quite a bit and you find Casey Blake with Mark Loretta (again) and Doug Mientkiewicz behind him. At shortstop, Rafael Furcal and I think its safe to say that Blake is not going to beat him out at SS. This is a perfect situation for us to get him. He is young (23 years old) and the fact that he is from Missouri (Sikeston) could be very appealing for him. He hit .264 along with 9 home run's and 52 rbi's last year which is an upgrade from anything that have ever had.

2.) Kelly Johnson - Atlanta Braves - .287 avg., 12 home runs and 69 Rbi's last year. We are very familiar with him due to his name popping up with the Ankiel trade rumors. .980 fielding percentage in 144 games in 2008 and he is an above average second baseman with 425 assists.

3.) Robinson Cano - New York Yankees- 14 home runs, 72 Rbi's and batted .271 last year. A definite upgrade. They have been asking too much for Cano, but I have always been a big fan of his. It would be hard to get him because the NYY will ask for too much, but it is definitely worth it. Only 13 errors in 159 games last year.

4.) Dan Uggla - Florida Marlins - I dont see this happening. I understand why his name keeps coming up, but I dont see the logic in trading for him. Lets say we do get him, then he hits the open market. He will run to the highest bidder. We will not be able to afford him and you can kiss all of those prospects that we traded for him good bye. Also, his defense is well below average.

5.) Brendan Harris - Minnesota Twins - .265 avg., 7 home run's and 49 Rbi's. With Alexi Casilla at 2B as well as being the future for them at that position, Brendan Harris might be available. I have seen this guy play and he is very impressive.

6.) Howie Kendrick - Los Angeles Angels - .306 avg., 3 home run's and 37 Rbi's. This would be a reach, but another option well worth taking a look at. 13 errors in 206 career games at 2B with a career .989 fielding percentage (.991 last year with 4 errors in 92 games at 2B).

7.) Asdrubal Cabrera - Cleveland Indians - 6 home runs, .259 avg., 47 Rbi's . 4 errors in 134 career games with a combined .994 fielding percentage. Another guy worthy of taking a look at.

These are all possible options especially if the Skip Experiment doesnt work. I am not saying that it will fail, but we need to take a look at possible options if worst comes to worst. The next question is who would we give up. We have to look at this from a financial perspective as well as our needs. Here is who we could give up.

1.) Rick Ankiel - As much as I do not want to trade him, we have to maximize our ability in trading the players that we have that will help us. Bittersweet I know, but this is the reality of a great player in a walk year. Rather than letting him walk to, lets say, the Yankees, we could definitely trade him for Blake Dewitt, Kelly Johnson or Robinson Cano. Unless he gives us a hometown discout (which he should for the reason that we stuck by his side all of those years) we need to trade him.

2.) Ryan Ludwick - Another guy who's price could be rising from one year to the next. He is arbitration eligible for the next three years. If he keeps producing at the rate like he has been in the past one and a half years, who knows how much he will be asking for come arbitration time. If he leaves it will definitely be bittersweet. I love watching this guy play. But If he has a great first half, we should definitely look at the possibility of trading him in the case that he falls off next year. Another reason to trade him is that he will be quite expensive come next year. Another guy who we could trade to maximize the amount of return players as well as one of the second baseman mentioned above.

3.) Joe Mather - With Wallace waiting in the wings and a crowded outfield, we should look at the possibilities of trading Mather. A young player who we could trade in order to solidify ourselves for the future. This guy has tremendous upside which would be a great loss to the Cardinals, but we have to take advantage of the surplus of outfielders that we have. I for sure thought that we were going to trade him last year because we pulled him up from AAA and "showcased" him to other teams. Another bittersweet situation because I would love to have him on the Cardinals and be apart of our future.