After falling from World Series champs to below .500 the Cardinals have addressed their 1 need with the Izturis signing and will be back on top of the NL Central to challenge for the NL spot in the WS.
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Originally Posted by pan6467
Quoted for accuracy.
90% of the players probably do drop off overnight and pitchers I'd say 99.9% fall overnight. That's why the smaller market teams are offering fewer years on contracts and trying to get option years.
Wood and Prior..... 2 words Dusty Baker, I fear for Harang and Arroyo.
Santana the pressure, look at his stats he can't pitch big games, in NY and Boston they are ALL BIG GAMES.
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Just to touch on a couple things there:
I agree with the players decline. Just hop on the Baseball Reference site and browse random player career lines and you will see an enormous number of players that peaked with a single year or string of 2-4 years and then fell apart. A lot can be attributed to talent, but I think just as much can be attributed to that players environment. It could be a change in playing time, manager , the situations in which they are asked to perform in (mostly for pitcher-especially relievers), injury, etc.
The antagonist in the seemingly neverending Wood and Prior saga is not necessarily Dusty Baker, though it did nothing to correct the horrible career patterns there. Wood was ruined by Jim Riggleman and Prior has a history of being babied since high school. My take is that Prior has performed in a vacuum in which he had been told to shut it down when encountering the least bit of discomfort until he hit the majors and then was expected to pitch with what amounts to the normal aches and pains that come along with being a major league pitcher during a 162 game season. I think it's just a much a mental issuea as it is physical. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Cubs deal him this winter and be done with the whole situation.
Lastly, I agree with the Santana comment a bit. There is already some noticeable decline in his abilities and to be asked to perform under the constant spotlight that comes with being a Yankee or Red Sox he very well may wilt under the pressure.