What’s Next: Felipe Lopez, Maple Bats, Joe Torre, and More

The St. Louis Cardinals have fallen flat over the past month, effectively handing the NL Central race to the Cincinnati Reds. In a somewhat surprising move yesterday, the Cardinals released INF Felipe Lopez with just two weeks left in the season.

Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa has a long history of butting heads with his players, but this situation doesn’t appear as if it was a player versus manager thing, instead it was player versus clock.

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"“He was late, and it was not the first time,” Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said. “When you think about what we’re trying to accomplish here, we brought up a lot of young players with our September callups, and we wanted to make sure they understand the message we want heard. It really came down to a tipping point and it was either just not play him or allow him to go home.”"

The team decided to make this move, in part, because there has been a growing perception that many of the players had already given up on the season and were not giving their best effort. Of course, some of that criticism comes from former Cardinal slugger Jack Clark, who has a long history of saying (and doing) things that sane human beings might not say.

"“I’m really tired of watching the effort, that’s for sure,” Clark told 101 ESPN Radio in St. Louis on Thursday. “I’m not seeing a lack of [effort], I’m seeing a pathetic effort. These Cards fans deserve much better. That’s just awful. They won’t admit it, that they’re quitters. If you can’t put a better effort out there on the field, take ’em all out, back up the truck, ship ’em all out and get somebody in here that wants to play baseball.”"

LaRussa fired back at Clark, but the decision to send Lopez home early speaks volumes about the sensitivity surrounding Clark’s words. As Ryne Gery points out, Lopez’s season has been representative of a disappointing Cardinals campaign.

Lopez played in 109 games for the Cardinals, starting 89, after signing a one-year, $1 million deal with St. Louis in the off-season. Despite a strong offensive track record, Lopez struggled after the first month of the season, finishing with a .231 average and seven home runs.

The stigma of being released due to a lack of commitment is one that will seriously hurt his chances of signing a major league deal this winter. Lopez still has talent, so he’ll not be unemployed next year, but it could be that the best he can hope for is a Spring Training invite. “He’s had a tough year,” La Russa said. “And I was his biggest advocate.”

Banning Maple Not as Simple as it Sounds

In the wake of Cubs OF Tyler Colvin being impaled by the jagged end of a broken maple bat while running the bases last week, there is a renewed outcry for the banning of maple as a source of professional bats.

Colvin was struck in the chest and had to be hospitalized for a few days. His chest cavity punctured, a tube had to be inserted to prevent against the possibility of a collapsed lung. Colvin will make a full recovery, but his season is over. It could have been much worse, and if MLB doesn’t do something about the exploding maple, it will be someday.

But as is the case with seemingly any problem that seems to have a logical solution, MLB is taking their time with this one. Ken Rosenthal explains.

"Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice-president of labor relations, says that eliminating maple is impractical, citing a shortage of high-quality ash.Rick Redman, vice-president of corporate communications for Louisville Slugger, baseball’s leading bat manufacturer, disputes Manfred’s notion.“Our timber division and pro bat staff are not in agreement with the statement that there’s not enough ash available,” Redman said. “We’d need about six months to ramp up timber harvesting to be able to produce 100 percent ash for MLB.”Which view is more accurate?"

"Depends upon your perspective."

The concern, says MLB, is that Ash is in short supply thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer, an insect that attacks ash trees. Here’s more, this time from the Oakland Tribune’s Gary Peterson.

"“People say ban maple bats,” Major League Baseball executive Mike Manfred told the Chicago Tribune. “We couldn’t play if we banned maple bats. There’s not enough ash available.”"

"According to a recent story in the Parkersburg (W.Va.) News and Sentinel, a beetle first detected in this country 15 years ago has killed more than 30 million ash trees in North America. The story notes that 7.5 billion ash trees remain at risk, suggesting that what has been lost is a small fraction of what’s still available."

Rosenthal’s column also notes that any decision to ban maple would have to be collectively bargained, but there have been several models of maple bats banned in the minor leagues, where the players are not protected by the MLB Players Union. If the numbers are true, and there is enough ash right now to satisfy the demand for bats going forward for five-to-ten years, MLB is playing a dangerous game with the lives of their players, umpires, coaches, and fans.

What’s it going to take? Does someone actually have to die before this problem is fixed? Let’s pray that the suits in Bud Selig’s office finally stop shrugging their shoulders and take a stand on this issue before it’s too late.

Torre, Gaston May Manage Again

When news broke last week that Dodgers manager Joe Torre was walking away at the end of the season, it came as little surprise. That hitting coach Don Mattingly was tabbed to take over as manager of the Dodgers was even less of a shocker, though Mattingly has never managed a game in his life, at any level.

Mattingly was passed over for the Yankees job when Torre left for L.A., New York instead going with Joe Girardi. Instead of staying with the only professional club he’s ever been a part of, Mattingly left the Bronx and followed Torre out west. The Dodgers plan to send Mattingly to manage in the Arizona Fall League after the season.

As for Torre, despite talk that he would remain with the organization in some front-office capacity, there is talk that he covets the Mets managerial job that figures to be open this fall. Rumors of Jerry Manuel’s impending exit have reached a point where there is almost no way the Mets could bring him back next year. GM Omar Minaya’s head also appears to be on the chopping block.

Torre would bring instant credibility to the Mets clubhouse and instant exposure on the back pages in New York. Both of which would suit the Wilpons quite well, but no one is quite sure how much they may be willing to spend on a manager. One thing is for sure, after making $13 million per year in L.A., Torre will not come cheap.

Meanwhile in Toronto, Cito Gaston is closing out the final year of his tenure with the Blue Jays, at least that had been the plan. Gaston lead the Jays to back-to-back World Series titles in the early 90s, but hadn’t managed in several years before the Jays brought him back three years ago.

Toronto is enjoying a very good year and will finish around the .500 mark this season, which is still only good enough for fourth place in the stacked AL East, but a big improvement on where most figured the Jays record would stand this year.

Recently, Gaston has hinted that if asked to stay, he would strongly consider it, and yesterday he told MLB Radio that if the right managerial job was offered by a different organization, he would be interested in that as well.