Last year, I spent the time immediately after the season examining each player that had made an appearance in St. Louis during the season. This series was well received and so I’m bringing this idea back for the 2013 offseason. More summaries than anything, I imagine the player coming into Mike Matheny‘s office and having a short conference before heading home for the winter. Stats are just the ones accumulated for the Cardinals during the regular season.
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Player: Ryan Jackson
Season stats: 7 games, 7 PA, 2 K, .000/.000/.000
Hero/Goat: None
Overall grade: C
Positives: Hard to find things to say about Jackson’s season. Obviously you can’t limit it to the St. Louis portion, as that was practically non-existent. If nothing else, Jackson wound up with a “fan club” that continued to wonder just where he was when Pete Kozma was struggling so hard in….well, OK, all year long. Jackson went north with the team, but that was more a roster machination as the Cards didn’t need a fifth starter and so took an extra hitter until they got to St. Louis. Jackson didn’t reappear until September even after a torrid start to his AAA season. Matheny then said he would “be in the mix” at shortstop. Innings at short? Seven, in one start on September 5.
Negatives: Of course, besides whatever internal political reasons there might have been for not promoting Jackson, the simple fact is that he didn’t help his case a lot. After hitting .302 and .345 in April and May, he tailed off sharply, hitting .229 and .218 in July and August. A stronger outing there and it’d been difficult to keep him down while Kozma was doing his 0-for-27 routine.
Outlook: The only way the fact that Jackson will never be a contributor to this team could be clearer is if the club gave him a vacation to Hawaii and forgot to enclose the return ticket. With shortstop being such a focus this offseason, I expect Jackson will either be a throw-in to a deal or will be outright released to make room on the 40-man roster. Even if he somehow stays in the system, he’ll do a lot more time in Memphis.