Lost in the Ponson news, Bo Hart and Scott Seabol were non-tendered late Tuesday. It seems sadly appropriate that they left at the same time, both having provided some great memories at first, but neither hit major league pitching thereafter. I'm not sure why I get fixated on these fringe players. Maybe it's the fact that their bank accounts aren't any bigger than mine while for no obvious reason Einar Diaz is taking money baths. That's not quite it, so maybe they're the symbolic Everyman and I get a chance to play with Albert Pujols by proxy. Of course there's always the underdog factor, and to borrow from college basketball, I presume Princeton's players remember their 1996 upset of UCLA more than the subsequent beating they took from, uh, Mississippi or Mississippi State. Maybe this duo will have another chapter, like Valpo did in 1998, but if they don't, nobody can take away that month in 2003 from Bo Hart or take the curtain call from Scott Seabol (somebody from the Cardinals should get a hold of the Associated Press and send a framed blow-up of that picture to Seabol for Christmas). And the medical benefits, they can't take those either. Good luck, guys.

It's going to take a minute, but the next bit has an obvious connection.

I've been reading about the 1934 Cardinals, who had Ripper Collins at first base. Collins started with the Cardinals in 1931 as a 27-year old rookie, after spending eight seasons in the minors. Ripper was so named because they thought he ripped at the ball (duh). As I was reading this, the light bulb went on, "Hey, that's John Rodriguez!" Seeing as LaRussa doesn't like the J-Rod nickname, and the whole First Initial-dash-Rod market is saturated, I hereby nominate "Ripper" as Rodriguez's nickname.

My final pairing is Larry Bigbie and Jacque Jones. While I'll promise to wear a sign that says "Jackass With A Computer" if it will make him better, I'm worried jackasses with radar guns are over-rating Bigbie. This isn't some kid one year removed from juco. With all the caveats about player stats, 28 year-old corner outfielders with career 92 OPS+'s don't become good ballplayers regularly. There's the additional concern that Bigbie's actually JD Drew Lite. (Good grief, the Orioles reported him stubbing his toe in 2004? Couldn't they have made up something?) In addition to the major league injuries, he also spent a month-and-a-half on the DL in 2000 and three weeks on the DL in 2002.

Reasonable people can disagree, but I think Jacque Jones is a better ballplayer than Larry Bigbie plus whoever will have to play if Bigbie goes to the DL, especially if Jones sits some against left-handed pitching. Even if I'm wrong about Bigbie v. Jones -- and I'll wear the "Jackass" sign if I am -- I still can compare Jones to TagRod. I think the difference is clear, though not dramatic, which makes me wonder why Cardinals fans are so happy and Cubs fans are so sad. I suppose there may have been some unrealistic fears/dreams of, say, Bobby Abreu in Wrigley or maybe there were hopes Felix Pie would be ready. Otherwise the Cubs seem to have improved themselves by a couple of games from Monday and, assuming the Cardinals don't sign somebody like Juan Encarnacion, they look like they'll be a game or two worse off.