[beamon05]

August 1, 2007

Wow, where do I start? What an eventful couple of weeks we've had. Let's start with our record in the league. We finished July with a 57-47 record, which leaves us 2.5 games behind the Astros for the division lead. On the wild card side, we hold a 2 game lead over the Cubs. Our pitching staff has been excellent. Brad Thompson and Tyler Johnson have come out of nowhere to really hold things down. Thompson is 9-4 with an ERA of 3.21. Johnson has excelled since taking over the closer's role. He's currently 5-0 with a 1.70 ERA, and has saved 21 games. For his work, we have rewarded him with a 2-year extension, at $570,000 per year. Chris Carpenter has also been outstanding, which leads me to our next major point of discussion.

Despite our great pitching, we've run into some serious bad luck. First, Adam Wainwright went on the shelf with a torn labrum, and is likely out the rest of the season. Wainwright was 4-5 with a 4.26 ERA, but was putting together some outstanding performances as of late. Wainwright has been replaced in the rotation by Jaime Garcia. Garcia was 6-6 with a 4.57 ERA, but we really feel he can provide some stability in the rotation. And as if things couldn't be worse, our ace, Chris Carpenter, has gone down with a herniated disc in his back, and may not be back in time for the end of the season. Carpenter was 16-5, well on the way to another 20-win season, with an ERA of 3.43. Obviously, his loss is devastating, but we're just going to have to hope the rest of the staff can hold it together in his absence. Chris Narveson has been called up from the minors to take his spot on the roster.

Finally, we were definitely the headline makers at the trading deadline, pulling off 3 big trades. First up, we traded Wilson Betemit to the Mets for Phil Humber. Betemit was not getting a lot of playing time, and was not really able to produce when he was in the lineup. Humber is young, and was having an outstanding first season with the Mets, so we jumped at the opportunity. While it was tempting to hold onto Humber, we decided to actually trade him within the division, shipping him to the Brewers in exchange for young 3B Ryan Braun, and SP Chris Capuano. Braun's batting average is low, but he's showing some power, and we feel he will be a big part of our infield for years to come. And while we certainly don't look forward to facing Humber in the future, we felt this was a trade we needed to make.
To make room for Braun, we pulled off our most controversial trade, giving up Scott Rolen and Jason Isringhausen to the Texas Rangers in exchange for closer Eric Gagne and 2B Ian Kinsler. Our fans our obviously upset about losing Rolen, but the reaction to getting Kinsler was overwhelmingly positive. I feel the trades we made have helped us get younger, lower payroll and remain competitive. We were hoping to sign Gagne to an extension, but he wants to test the market in the Winter. However, that doesn't mean we won't want him when that time comes. But with Tyler Johnson performing so well, we're going to use Gagne in the setup role for the time-being. Here's a look at the players involved in all the trades:

Philip Humber: 9-2, 3.91 ERA. 106 IP, 98 H, 64 K
Wilson Betemit: .231, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 169 AB

Ryan Braun: .247, 14 HR,40 RBI
Chris Capuano: 5-5, 4.17 ERA, 110 IP, 121 H, 88 K

Scott Rolen: .261, 16 HR, 46 RBI
Jason Isringhausen: 3-6, 4.45 ERA, 5 SV
Eric Gagne: 3-5, 3.86 ERA, 20 SV
Ian Kinsler: .336, 14 HR, 81 RBI

With Braun, Kinsler, and Pujols, we have a solid infield for years to come, and hopefully Capuano can help the rotation get some stability back until Mark Mulder, and hopefully Chris Carpenter, can arrive. We're right in the thick of the pennant race, and I look forward to our new guys chipping in and helping us play deep into October.