Apparently I'm not the only one underwhelmed by Walt Jocketty's recent trade-deadline deals ~ and the Cardinals' current eight-game skid has done nothing to alleviate my concerns. This is from *Bernie's Bits* by Bernie Miklasz in the Saturday St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"The sabermatricians are woofing at Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty for trading Hector Luna for Ron Belliard. Wrote Joe Sheehan of the Baseball Prospectus: 'I still can't make sense of the Cardinals' decision to trade Luna for Ronnie Belliard. The Cardinals got the older, more expensive player, but I think they also got the lesser one. ... Belliard has lost almost all of his speed, and his body - face it, he looks like Lenny Harris. If the Cardinals are hoping to bat Belliard second, they're in for some problems. He's a slow righthanded hitter who puts the ball on the ground and doesn't draw walks. That's a recipe for double plays.' Added BP's Christina Kahrl: 'If there's good news for the Cardinals, it's that Belliard will be a free agent this winter.'"