If for some reason you have not paid attention to what has gone on in baseball this off-season, you have missed a lot.  It all began when Tony LaRussa announced his retirement, the Monday after the parade.  It came as a total shock to most, and when the press conference was announced, most thought it was going to be about him signing another one year deal.  Instead LaRussa retired, and finished his managing career on top.

Lets face it, Tony LaRussa is a great manager.  Even those who hate his guts have to admit that he is one of the best.  However, I for one will not miss those days that he tortured all of St. Louis by using 5 pitchers to get 3 outs, nor will I miss his CYC mentality.  That being said I thank him for giving us 2 World Series Championships and 3 NL pennants in the 143 years he managed the Cardinals.  I also thank him for retiring, because it gives the Cardinals a chance to start fresh…and by fresh, I mean FRESH.

Your New Manager

A couple weeks after LaRussa’s retirement, the Cardinals announced that Mike Matheny would take over the reigns as Manager.  Nobody knows what to expect from Matheny as a manager, because, well, he has never managed a game in his life.  No better place to start than the Majors.  We’ll soon find out what type of Manger his is, what he’ll let his players get away with, and how he’ll hold them accountable.  Matheny really couldn’t walk into a better situation.

A week or so after that, we found out that the assistant coaches would change as well.  Jose Oquendo and Mark McGwire remained in their roles, but the rest would change.  AAA Memphis coach Chris Maloney is taking over as First Base Coach – last years Assistant Hitting Coach Mike Aldrete is this years Bench Coach – former Cardinal great John Mabry is the new Assistant Hitting Coach – Dyar Miller will become the new Bullpen Coach.

It seemed it was all set, but we forgot to mention one, very important, coach.  Dave Duncan was scheduled to come back to the Cardinals and resume his duties as Pitching Coach.  Unfortunately he has to take a leave of absence from his role to care for his ailing wife.  Derek Lilliquist will take over as the Cardinals Pitching Coach until Duncan can return, if he can.  We here at Bueno Joe wish Duncan and his family all the best.

Wait, I’m Not Done

With all of the personnel changes taking place, some were starting to doubt how the Cardinals could contend for the playoffs, and another World Series crown.  Everyone felt it was pivitol that the Cardinals sign Pujols and retain his name in the lineup.  News and negotiations were pretty weak leading up to December, but they really started to heat up when the Winter Meetings began.  Rumors began to swirl as the Miami Marlins started to hound Pujols with a 10 year deal.  This forced the Cardinals to make a 10 year offer of their own.  Most counted the Marlins out in the race to get Albert, due to the fact that they wouldn’t offer no-trade protection.  It seemed as if the Cardinals would bring Pujols back to finish his career where he belongs, in St. Louis.

www.albertbooholes.com

Out of nowhere, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (say that 10 times fast) snagged Pujols with a 10 year deal worth 254 million.  You can see the details of his contract HERE.  If you look through this, you are almost glad the Cardinals didn’t sign such a money hungry fake human being.  Good luck paying $30 million to a “41″ year old Jose Alberto and contending for a World Series. Throughout his career, Albert preached that he wanted to be a Cardinal for life, and it was more about winning than money.  The Cardinals go out and build a World Series Champion, and Pujols decides to move on to LA for greener land, if you know what I mean.

The loss of Pujols left a mark on St. Louis, and that mark was caused by the knife that was put in the city’s back.  We all felt betrayed and let down, and it seemed as if the team couldn’t go on without him.

Moving On

Later on that week, I came to realize that the Cardinals would be a different, but very good team.  They have Lance Berkman to play 1st Base in Pujols’ absence, and Allen Craig and his tortoise to play Right.  They also will get one of the best pitchers in MLB back in Adam Wainwright.  Later on that month, the team got even stronger.

Needing to add depth and talent, the Cardinals were able to sign Rafeal Furcal to a 2 year deal, and they were able to add, former Cardinal Killer, Carlos Beltran to a 2 year deal as well.  By doing this, they were able to utilize the money they would fork over to Pujols, to improve the team.  Another important free-agent signing came in the form of lefty reliever J.C. Romero.  Here’s how I see the 2012 St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup:

Welcome To The #3 Spot

1. Rafeal Furcal

2. Carlos Beltran

3. Matt Holliday

4. Lance Berkman

5. Allen Craig

6. David Freese

7. Yadier Molina

8.  Daniel Descalso/Skip Schumaker

9. Pitcher’s Spot

This lineup is geared to hit, and hit well.  I don’t think we will see much of a drop off from last years numbers, and that should bode well for their chances to try and repeat.  In order to keep the everyday players fresh, the Bench will have to be able to contribute.

Infiled – Tyler Greene, Skip Schumaker, Daniel Descalso

Outfield – Jon Jay, Skip Schumaker

Catcher – Bryan Anderson or Tony Cruz

The bench players on this team will be very important to their success.  Jon Jay will virtually be an everyday player since Berkman, Beltran, and Craig will all get time off.  Adding to that, Allen Craig may miss the start of the season due to knee surgery.  Now we’ll check out what I think the strongest part of the team will be, the pitchers.  Lets start with the rotation.

1. Adam Wainwright

2. Chris Carpenter

3. Jaime Garcia

4. Kyle Lohse

5. Jake Westbrook

Wainwright returning to the rotation is more important than most people realize.  This will allow the bullpen to be more well rested throughout the season, and it will increase the club’s chance to win and keep losing streaks at a minimum.  Carpenter was dominant in the playoffs, and Garcia is getting better every year.  Lohse and Westbrook will be able to eat innings for the club, and provide 10-12 wins each.  All of this will help the bullpen be more effective.  Speaking of the Bullpen, their dominating performance in the 2011 playoffs gives us hope for a successful 2012.

CL – Jason Motte

SU – Lance Lynn, Marc Rzepczynski

MR – Fernando Salas, J.C. Romero, Eduardo Sanchez, Kyle McClellan, Mitchell Boggs

Motte forced himself into the closers role, and he never gave it back.  He was masterful in the postseason, and the bullpen as a whole was dominant.  It should be a good season for the ‘pen, and the addition of Romero gives Matheny more flexibility against left-handed bats.

Overall Outlook

The new look Redbirds will aim to pick up exactly where they left off last season, and they will try to take back what is rightly theirs, the NL Central title.  Come back later on this month, as I give you what I think the 2012 season will bring with my NL Central Preview.

Follow us on twitter @jcarr15 and @bueno_joe.

iOS

PhotoForge2

This iOS app is about as close as you’re going to get to PhotoShop for your iPhone.  Tons of high quality adjustments and true layer support makes this a must have for photographers on the go.  Check out all this app includes:

Full Resolution Editing
Unlike most photo apps that show only previews of your photo, with PhotoForge2 you are always editing the full resolution image. Zoom in to see every one of your pixels at any time.

Layers
Create new layers from any photo or create an empty layer that can be filled with color. Change the layer’s blend mode and opacity, or rotate and transform it. Reorder and change layer visibility with ease. Add a mask to your layer to simply paint away portions you don’t want to see.

Powerful Adjustments
PhotoForge2 come with some of the most powerful image manipulation tools available for iOS. These include Curves, Levels, Channel Mixer, Un-Sharp Mask, Sharpen, HSL, White Balance, Shadows & Highlights, Brightness & Contrast, Exposure Adjustment, Noise Reduction, Vibrance.

Amazing Filters and FX
With Over 25 different fully adjustable filters and FX, there’s something for everyone. Use multiple filters to create totally unique FX.

Pop! Cam
Combine different films, lenses, filters, flashes, processing, papers and frames to create your own customized camera effect. With over 12 million combinations, find your own personal setup that can be uniquely yours.

Tools
Image Resize, Cropping, Frames and Textures.

Photo Metadata
Edit your photos IPTC and GPS metadata. Easily add GPS location to photos without or repair photos with incorrect info.

Sharing
Save your photos to the photo album or email to friends and family. Upload with ease to Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Drop Box, Picasa, Tumblr or to any FTP.

For $1.99 this is definitely worth the price!

Screenshots:

Download:

Android

PicSay PRO

The original photo editor for Android!  Use a multitude of adjustments to correct your photos, add props and text, cutout and combine 2 pictures…etc.  It’s not nearly as full featured as PhotoForge2, but it’s the best photo editor available on the Android platform at this time.  Check it out and start editing pics today!  $4.27 on the Android Market, but there is a free version available if you’d like to try it out first.

Screenshots:

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Natasha Mealey

Mikandi is an app store (think Android Market or Amazon Appstore), but Mikandi’s apps are all porn.  Some are free, some are paid (which you have to buy “gold” to get), but its all porn all the time.  From apps that are huge galleries of pics, to virtual dates, vibrators, you name it!  Install Mikandi and you’ll never be bored, turned on maybe, but never bored.  It isn’t available in the Android Market (for obvious reasons), but you can get it from their website by clicking the image below.

Screenshots:

It’s that time of year again.  The stockings are hung from the chimney, your gifts are wrapped and under the tree, your bank account is empty and your bottle of 3 year old scotch isn’t far behind.  We wanted to take a moment to rock you hard this year and  revisit one of our favorite Senoritas.  So now that the kids are in bed, sit down, relax and remind yourself how freaking hot former October Senorita of the month  Kim is…..

Everyone remembers Kim right?  Why wouldn’t you?  Tell me if this rings a bell; twenty-three years old, blond hair, great smile, smoking hot body, aspired to be one of STL’s Finest, the October Senorita of The Month?  Still with me?  Great.  Now grab your hot cocoa, put the cat outside, and fire up the South Park Christmas album because she’s back.  You won’t need no stinking fire or blanket because Kim is bringing the heat, and a brand new pair of twins.

Once again we sat down with Kim to chat, and try out our newest pick up lines and dance moves.

That was a really tough decision! I loved them all but in the end it had to be this one.

Android

Classic Notes + App Box

If you remember, the first app Bueno ever recommended was Extensive Notes, a fully featured notepad with more features than I could list.  It’s still an awesome app and one I recommend, but it does have a bit of a learning curve because of all the features.  Well, that developer agreed, and set out to create a redesigned version with most of the same features, but an all new, simplified interface.  Classic Notes, looks and feels like the standard iPhone notepad, simple and easy, but hidden behind all that simplicity is a ton of features you would hardly expect.  Just take a look at this list from the official description.  If you love fully featured apps, but want something simple and easy to use, look no further!

Features:

* Export notes as text to SD
* Import / Export CSV as todo, checklist, shopping list
* Share notes through facebook, twitter, more.
* Create backups
* Google translate
* Send to Google Docs, Dropbox, pastebin
* Text to Speech audio playback
* Add to Google Calendar – Set reminders and events
* Add notes to status bar
* Create Home Screen shortcuts
* New Note shortcut
* New Note Statusbar entry
* Modify timestamp
* Easily display create & modification date, word, character, & line count
* Image support – via camera or gallery
* Video notes – Record video
* Paint notes – fingerpaint / sketch notes
* Private notes – Lock notes with a password
* Audio notes / voice notes – Record audio of lectures, meetings, or existing audio clips
* File attachments e.g PDF, MS Word, Excel, MP3, PowerPoint, etc
* Geotag + Address look up support – Tag locations
* In note content search
* Todo / checklist support
* Prioritize notes, todos, and tasks based on urgency of low, medium, high
* Todo, checklist, shopping list
* Easily sort notes, todo, and tasks based on a number of common themes such as last modified, alphabetical, pending reminders, priority
* Prioritized notes are easily recognizable based on color code
* Attach to-do’s / checklists
* Tagging support
* Reminders / Alarms
* Abbreviations
* Dictionary
* Word etymology
* Example word usage
* Music Related references
* Postal Code Lookup
* Question and Answer
* Slang
* Spelling Suggestions
* Thesaurus
* Album Art
* Artist Information
* Artist Image
* Artists Similar to
* Track Information
* QR Code notes
* Stopwatch
* Sales tax / VAT calculator
* Discount calculator
* Tip calculator
* Image caption support
* Unit conversions
* Acceleration
* Area
* Bandwidth/Data Type
* Circular Measure
* Currency
* Energy
* Flow Rate
* Fuel Consumption
* Length/Distance
* Liquid Volume
* Planetary Age
* Planetary Weight
* Power
* Pressure
* Sound
* Time
* Temperature
* Weight/Mass
* Weather
* Standard calculator
* Mortgage Calculator w/ amortization table shows monthly payment, interest paid, total interest, principal paid, and balance
* Word of the day
* Rhyming words
* Phrases
* Wikipedia search
* Film/Cinema extras
* Actor/actress lookup
* Film lookup
* Weather for non-US residents
* Stock quotes
- Fitness related calculators
* Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
* Body Fat
* Body Mass Index (BMI)
* Daily Caloric Intake
* Max Heart Rate
* One Rep Max (1RM)
* Target Heart Rate
* Waist To Hip Ratio
* Water Intake
* Ohm’s law – resistance, voltage, current
* Random password generator
* import csv into note
* System monitor in extras
- Battery level percentage, status, health
- SD card total size, available space
- Memory usage – total and available memory
- Processor/CPU information
- Network information – ip address, wifi & mobile state
- GPS status
* Holiday look-up
* URL Shortener
* Bulleted lists
* Random number generator
* Days until or countdown
* Timzone info
* Decimal to roman numeral
* Wavelength to RGB
* WHOIS lookup
* Folder support

Screenshots:

Download:

iOS

Dragon Go!

Is searching on your iPhone getting tiresome?  Nuance is here to fix all that.  Introducing Dragon Go!, the answer to quick searching on iOS.  Open the app, click record and say what you are searching for, Dragon Go! will search all available sources to find you the right answer.  Search for movie times, wikipedia articles, the weather, news, restaurant reviews, music or just anything on google.  Dragon Go! searches Google, Wikipedia, Accuweather, The Weather Channel, Yelp!, OpenTable, Amazon, CNN, Pandora, Twitter and more!  It’s free, it’s fast, it’s awesome, why are you still reading this?

Screenshots:

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