St. Louis calls up Rick Ankiel

[dlk9s]

He's Back: Ankiel returns to Cardinals tonight

 

 

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[RU Rah Rah]

32 HR's in 389 AB's at AAA is a pretty good clip.

[MoneyballMan]

Pretty cool story. As much as I'm not a Cardinals fan, it would be quite an accomplishment to witness if Ankiel can come all the way back as a successful MLB position player.

[davego]

Crazy. God luck to Rick, save next T-W-Th. He is Brooks 2.0.

[brewersbucks2323]

For as good as a pitcher Ankiel was at one time it would be amazing to see him come back and play as an everday player with any sort of success.

[JoeHova]

Interesting. It's arguable that they should have made this move earlier, considering how bad all their outfielders except Duncan have been.

 

However, despite Ankiel's impressive home run totals, there are reasons to be concerned about how he'll do in MLB. His MLE is about a .730 OPS, which would be only a 93 or so OPS+. That's better than Edmonds, but not as good as Spiezio, Taguchi, Ludwick, Schumaker, or Encarnacion.

 

He looks to me like he'll be (at best) a Tony Batista-esque player, which might work in center but probably won't play at the corners. I could see him having a year where he hits 30-35 homers and slugs .500 or so, but he'll struggle to keep his OBP north of .300.

 

I can see him being a nice bat off the bench and spot starter, but I think he would be exposed as an every day player.

[davego]

I'm sure you are pretty close to correct, Joe. Still, pretty impressive for Ankiel to be able to do this. Says a lot about the athlete that he is.

[GAME05]

i think that's really cool. probably most anyone else in his position would have quit baseball. he's really earned it.

[marquettefan13]

I saw him play a few years ago against the Timber Rattlers. I thought it was pretty impressive that he was going all the way back down to A ball to try to make this comeback with his switch to the outfield. I was happy to hear during the Braves game today that the Cards were bringing him up today - it's quite a comeback for him. Speaking of the Braves, they're trying to pull a Brewers as they've given up 3 runs in the 9th. Then it just looked like the Mets were going to tie it with a homerun but the Braves made a great catch to save it for now.

[JJHardy7]

That's a cool story. I saw him a few weeks ago in Nashville and he can put on a show in batting practice. Hope he has a good showing in the bigs just not against the Brewers.

[BrewCrewForever]

Amazing story Ankiel is, I hope he does great. Just not against us of course.

[jlau20]

All this, and the guy goes out and hits one out of the park tonight.

 

Must be an awesome feeling.

[Tbadder]

I'll tell you what, next to the Yankees, the Cards are my most hated team, but this story is just too good. The public humiliation, the public crash and burn, I can't believe I would have had the wherewithal to survive psychologically. In a way this story is the antithesis of the Bonds saga. Bravo to Rick, no one can take away his story.

[Fatter than Joey]

It was neat as well to see the Cards stick by him

[Ennder]

When the Cardinals win the division (they are only 5.5 out now) he could end up with comeback player of the year while Pujols wins MVP.

 

I'm not usually a manager type of guy but LaRussa seems to always win more than his crappy teams should so he is one of the rare ones that I think actually matter.

[Fatter than Joey]

When the Cardinals win the division (they are only 5.5 out now)

 

Plus they have 14 games with the Cubs & Crew -- and if they can get Mulder back by the end of the year. The Cards are far from out of it.

[giffted1]

Two more home runs for Ankiel today. You've gotta feel good for the guy, but I'd hate it if he propelled the Cardinals into the playoff race.

[BrewCrewForever]

Yeah Im watching the game as well. Ankiel has a nice lefty stroke up at the plate. Also made a nice catch in RF. The announcers said he could probably play CF when Edmonds is done. Between Rick and Josh Hamitlon a couple of very nice stories out of the NL Central. It's to bad Hamitlon went on the DL for so long, he could have some very nice numbers.

[brettac1]

Ankiel can mash. If he starts to take more walks, he could be a downright great hitter, especially if he gets to play CF.

[BrewCrewForever]

I agree Brett hes awesome. I already picked him up in my fantasy league.

[recte44]

Ok, Rick Ankiel is now my favorite non-Brewer. And it's not even close. I hope he keeps it up. This is awesome to watch.

[rluzinski]

When the Cardinals win the division (they are only 5.5 out now)

 

But they aren't really only 5.5 games back. They are 5.5 games back on the Brewers and 5 games back on the Cubs. It would be pretty comparable to being "only" 8 games back and in second place. Even if we peg the Brewers and Cubs as .500 teams going forward, the Cardinals have almost no chance at all.

[pitchleague]

Rick Ankiel is Roy Hobbs come to life! (almost)

[Ennder]

When the Cardinals win the division (they are only 5.5 out now)

 

But they aren't really only 5.5 games back. They are 5.5 games back on the Brewers and 5 games back on the Cubs. It would be pretty comparable to being "only" 8 games back and in second place. Even if we peg the Brewers and Cubs as .500 teams going forward, the Cardinals have almost no chance at all.

 

How many times has the Brewers WPA shown we have almost no chance to lose this year? Probably a good 7 or 8 times in which we lost. anything can happen and while I think the Cardinals team is horrible I was only halfway being sarcastic by my statement.

[rluzinski]

How many times has the Brewers WPA shown we have almost no chance to lose this year? Probably a good 7 or 8 times in which we lost. anything can happen

 

Because the Brewers have inexplicably lost several times this year has nothing to do with the Cardinals' chances. Anything can happen almost by definition but it doesn't make them anymore probable. I realize that it was a sarcastic prediction but it's been made by several posters here and much more unlikely than some around here seem to think. We are probably talking about a 1 in 50 chance right now.

 

I guess I'm not the kind of guy to share my predictions unless I actually think they have a realistic chance of happening. Otherwise, they are just the bar room/internet type predictions no one is willing to bet a penny on. Let me know if I'm wrong. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif