Lindbergh Reference or ABA Reference?
The St. Louis Cardinals signed Rafael Furcall Saturday afternoon, but the august members of the Tyler Greene Fan Club shouldn't fear just yet—the perennial prospect isn't likely to get reverse-Wally-Pipped nearly as badly as he was in 2011, when the Cardinals went from expecting to start him in September to benching him entirely when, with Furcal at short, they shot back into contention.
Here's the good news: For one thing, Daniel Descalso remains penciled in as the starting second baseman, and he's a left-hander with a predictably bad platoon split. Depending on what Mike Matheny thinks about the platoon advantage Greene might not be the full-time starter at second against left-handers, but it's a built-in source for playing time for the erstwhile golden-armed shortstop.
For another, the incumbent golden-armed shortstop, Rafael Furcal, has appeared in 36, 150, 97, and 87 games in the last four seasons, and will be 34 and 35 over the course of the deal. It's rarely a positive when the guy you've signed to a multi-year deal is unlikely to play 120 games, but the Tyler Greene Fan Club's only platform is to Free Tyler Greene—in that case, problem tentatively solved.
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Edited by Dan Moore
Dan Moore has been writing about baseball on the internet since that was a novel thing to do. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he lives in Springfield, Illinois. See my profile
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