Is Descalso this Cardinal Team’s Version of Placido Polanco?

Every championship team wins because it has star players.  The Cardinals have won championships in the last two years due to names like Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds to name a few.  While these are the types of players who take the headlines, in today’s financial climate where these star players are paid enormous sums of money to stick around as a member of the team, a franchise not named the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox must round out their rosters with valuable and inexpensive players.  The Cardinals have done as good of a job as any other franchise in recent years with the likes of David Freese, Allen Craig, and Skip Schumaker providing them with valuable innings and at bats for less than a star would require.  Another of the players who has recently been given more and more playing time who fits this mold as a valuable replacement even if he is not a sexy name, is Daniel Descalso, and in many ways, this season has shown the Cardinals how valuable he can be as a super sub type player.

Although during last season, Daniel Descalso was given semi regular playing time at third base after David Freese went down with an injury and even after as a defensive replacement, he has been much better served in the role that he has been cast in this season.  Descalso this season has played at every infield position for the Cardinals, and his ability be put in the game at all of these positions makes him the perfect infield sub off the bench.  Recently, Descalso has been getting more playing time than this utility infielder title normally calls for.  While Descalso is appearances at pitcher, catcher, and the entire outfield away from Secret Weapon Jose Oquendo status, he does remind me of another although slightly less old Cardinal, Placido Polanco.

Like Descalso, Polanco came up with the Cardinals as a light hitting utility infielder whose offensive talents were definitely not without question.  He came up as a true second baseman at seemingly the one point in the Cardinal’s team history of the last 12 years where they actually had a second baseman in place who they considered entrenched in Fernando Vina.  Just think of what would have happened if Polanco came up to the Cardinals only a couple years later.  Could he have become the second baseman that the Cardinals keep around for a while?  Although when you really look at it, maybe the super utility asset that he became was even more important than a solid second spot in the order and talented defensive second baseman could have been for the team.  It was enough of a piece to turn around for Scott Rolen at least, so it is difficult to say that the Cardinals could have benefited more from the little guy with the larger than seemed possible head. 

Do I see Descalso becoming a future All-Star whose talents allow the Cardinals to deal him for the type of player that Scott Rolen was in his prime or even to be that solid every day second baseman that Polonco might have been had he come to the Cardinals only two years later?  No.  I worry that Descalso simply does not have the talent for hitting a baseball into the holes that the infielders leave behind that Polanco became famous for.  I do think that Descalso is a solid and even at times great defensive player who can not only play anywhere with the confidence and even at times relief of those on his team but also seem to always do the little things right.  He may not be able to drive the ball with authority like Allen Craig, but he can put together tough at bats and see pitches.  Descalso is the type of winning presence that all good teams need to have coming off their bench as of right now, but in the future, with only a little more experience and ability to hit the ball to the open field, he may be able to be the type of super sub infielder that Polanco once was for this same redbird team.