Ryan Jackson officially ain't the #Cardinals answer at SS

For strange, at least to me, reasons, a fair amount of Cardinals fans saw Ryan Jackson as the potential answer to the Pete Kozma black hole. The fact that he had batted far worse than Kozma during his brief time with the Cardinals, followed by the fact that Memphis told him to pick up an outfielder's glove in the second half of the season this year, still continued not to phase fans who apparently didn't want to believe he was being trained to be a Daniel Descalso type utility player, or, given that it was an OF glove, a Skip Schumaker with less bat.

Well, he's not even a potential SS savior, or hole-plugger, for the Cards. The Astros claimed him off waivers. Why, I don't know, other than their 40-man still isn't at 40 players. Jonathan Villar is younger, and seemingly better, in experience about as limited as Jackson's.

A few bloggers have suggested, just like the occasional hint about Shelby Miller, that Cardinal management politics or something kept Jackson down at Memphis. Nope, don't think so. They would have used him during Kozma's end-of-year black hole if they thought he was the man. They wouldn't have given him the OF glove to learn.

Occasionally, problems between player and field manager may lead to a move, like the trade of Colby Rasmus, or the undercutting of Ozzie Smith. But, unless it's a contract issue, front-office politics don't often affect players.

As for hot stove league talk, at least that gets a few fans to start thinking clearer about just how low Jackson's value is.