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After Thursday’s travel day
1:20 p.m.
LHP Matthew Liberatore (5-9, 5.15) vs. RHP Clay Holmes (4-5, 2.86)
Apple TV // KMOXI find that looking at FWAR by position compared to league is a good indicator of how good a team is and how many wins they should have. In this case, I’d expect the Cardinals to be just a little under .500 as a team, so we’ve probably been just a touch “lucky”. I think most of us would agree with that assessment. Here are the numbers as of today (position ranking, FWAR, then lowest team FWAR to highest team FWAR for that position):
C: 19th, 1.4, (-.8 to 6.0)
1B: 17th, 1.8, (-1.3 to 3.9)
2B: 2nd, 4.4 (-.2 to 4.5)
SS: 19th, 1.5, (-.9 to 5.7)
3B: 27th, -.1, (-1.2 to 4.1)
RF: 9th, 2.4, (-2.2 to 4.8)
CF: 29th, -.2, (-.4 to 8.1)
LF: 24th, .4, (-.9 to 3.5)
DH: 11th, .7 (-2.2 to 4.2)
PH: 23rd, -.2 (-.6 to .7)Basically, we are elite at 2B, good in RF, average-ish at DH, 1B, C, and SS and bad at 3B, LF, CF, and relatively bad at pinch hitting. No real surprises there for me other than we’ve fallen off at C quite a bit from last season.
Adding the pitching element to the above completes the picture.
SP: 13th, 9.2 (2.1 to 13.1)
RP: 25th, .1 (-3.7 to 6.8)Again, this all suggests we should be about a 76ish win team at the end of the season. We’re on pace to be about a 81-win team instead.
Looking out to the future, that’s still a lot of improvements that need to be made to make this a true contender. Ideally, we would need to get to top 15 in basically every one of those categories (or all but 1 or 2 maybe). Today, we only get there in 4 of the 12 listed (2B, RF, DH, and SP).
I was surprised 1B was not already top 15 as Burly has done quite well this year. He is 10th on the individual list at as 1B fWAR list. What weighs down the team overall is the horrible performance in the few games others have played at 1B.
I would add 1B to the list I feel good about along with SS. Winns defense is so good I am okay with him hitting as long as it stays above an 80ish wRC+.
Your data backs up my thoughts though that 3B and CF are absolute holes in the roster. Those should be the places they look to improve. LF hasn’t been good either, but there has been a steady rotation of different below average guys out there. I feel better about filling that LF hole in the coming year though.
There’s plenty of room to upgrade the team, and I expect other than CF and maybe 3B, the upgrades are already in the system. The bullpen in particular should not be difficult to build up. Hopefully by this time next year we will see C, LF and the rotation and pen with up arrows on them.
Boom!
#STLCards announcer John Rooney gets brutally honest about Wrigley Field!
"I've never liked the weeds on the wall, or the little bears on the uniform…The working conditions are the worst in baseball." pic.twitter.com/W8RnDzgPAl
— KMOX Sports (@KMOXSports) August 13, 2026
Being a former play by play guy for the Southsiders, Rooney most likely had a healthy dislike for the Cubs before he was ever hired on with the Cardinal’s radio broadcasting crew.
On a good note the Cubs lost today (Thursday) at Washington. 7-0 Nationals your happy final. Maybe they will start another ten game losing streak now.
And today is another CCFF! For any newcomers that’s Cardinals Catfish Fiddlers Friday. I’ll be having some fiddlers out at the Amish restaurant on the lake.
And one week until high school football starts!
r/Esteemed Rat
Lots of sunlit action today with 6 games already in the books. Rats already mentioned the Cubbies getting blanked in DC which is always nice to hear. Other action has the Reds squeaking out a 9-8 W over the Southsiders in Chi-Town. Over in the AL, about a week ago it looked like the Red Sox might never lose another game, but they finally hang a W up on the board today to end a 5 game skid as they blank the Blue Jays up in the Northern Province by a 7-0 final. The only Big League action I can find on my cable set-up tonight is a good one which has the Brewers out in Dodgerland. I’ll be watching that one a little later on this evening to get my daily dose of baseball action. The Dodgers proved that they were indeed mortal when they lost 7 games in row to begin the month of August, but they’ll be trying to win their 4th in row tonight at Dodger Stadium. The Redbirds are only 2.5 games back of the last NLWC berth, so I can still fantasize about a Cardinal/Dodger NLCS in Oct…Hey, it’s better than griping about the little whiz-kid Cardinal manager.
Watched some of the Field of Dreams game last night. Always a fun event. One of those times when you think about the state of the game and how the upcoming CBA negotiaons simply have to get it right – come to an agreement that is best for the game.
Din-din here will be chili, which I am about to put together in the crock pot. Usually a winter meal but it’s so good that now and then it just has to be served.
Rat’s advancing age is starting to show, Bling, as catfish fiddlers now occupy his wildest fantasies instead of those attractive Amish waitresses……fiddlers and of course his 7×50 Rio Grande El Presidente cigars. My eyes are definitely on the fiddlers for din-din myself tonight…..Wisconsin River catfish fiddlers to be exact.
I can’t wait to see Leonardo Abdiel Bernal in action at Wrigley this weekend, as he should get the call-up tomorrow. For those of us residing in the greater Durham, N.C. area, be on the lookout in the airport in the departing flights to Chicago area today for a Bernal sighting. I’m totally blowing off a couple things I had planned this weekend in anxious anticipation of seeing Leonardo and possibly Baez hammer those cubbies into submission in their own ballpark.
I hate Wrigley as well. And their obnoxious fans deserve the toilet they play in. It even smells like a toilet.
We have played the Cubs tough this year but they have been hot lately. I would probably settle for taking one out of three this weekend although we can wish for more. I just don’t want to get swept by those rascals in blue.
The Brewers scored three in the 9th last night to beat the Dodgers. That gives the Crew a 4 game lead on the Cubs. I like that.
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