The Cards are in desperate need of another bat. And I am not talking about another pop-gun middle infielder type. I am talking about acquiring the current Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla.
The trade deadline of July 31st is fast approaching and the Marlins have a long history of dumping talent as long as it reduces their payroll.
The Cardinals haven’t seen the like of Uggla’s power numbers from second base since Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby. Uggla has a career 162 game average of 36 doubles, 32 home runs and 95 RBIs to go along with a respectable .259 batting average.
To put into perspective what Uggla could add to the Cardinal offense, let’s take a look at some 2009 numbers. Brendan Ryan, Skip Schumaker, Khalil Greene, Tyler Greene and Julio Lugo combined for a total of 17 home runs for the entire 2009 season, which is 14 fewer than Uggla’s total of 31 round trippers. And Uggla’s 90 RBIs were just 26 less than those contributed by the aforementioned combination of Cardinal hitters.
Head-to-head at second base, Uggla has a higher fielding percentage (.981) than Schumaker (.977). And Skip’s.327 slugging percentage pales in comparison to Uggla’s .483.
While Schumaker has a higher career batting average at .293, he doesn’t steal bases, hit for power or drive in runs (35 RBIs in ’09). Uggla also averages 29 more runs scored per season than Skip, and that in spite of the fact that Schumaker has primarily been a lead-off hitter his entire career batting ahead of Albert Pujols in the lineup.
Sooner or later, the Cardinals are going to have to invest in solidifying their lineup through the middle of the field and Uggla is just the type of bull dog player the team needs to put some teeth into the lackluster Cardinals roster.
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