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Hicks comes in and gives up a hit but ultimately gets the last three with two Ks. Nice series win for the Cards. Let’s keep em rolling!
Why is MM using Hicks in a 5-0 game?
Because Gregorson, Holland,Bowman and Leone are all on the DL and they can’t mop up for confidence, Norris pitched yesterday and everyone else sucks. lol
My guess is with the off day Monday and a shaky outing Thursday he saw it as an opportunity for some work to be done.
Am delighted to report that against the advise of a poster here, the Cardinals did not trade Wacha last year!
Am delighted to report that against the advise of a poster here, the Cardinals did not trade Wacha last year!
Chickens coming home to roost are they? LOL
He’s been a big surprise for sure. We’ll see how that and the rest of the season plays out. I am interested to see how he throws in his next start.
Funny that with all the well deserved hype over Wacha’s feat I saw no mention of Hicks hitting 101, 102 and maybe even a 103 mph pitch. I feel that Hicks is not quite ready for the save route yet so no complaint with the use last night. Good experience because the Pirates are capable of a big inning so not a breather. Hicks probably will end up our closer because the Norris magic seems to be getting a bit thin.
Wacha was a big question mark entering 2018. Mikolas was a bigger question mark. Both have far exceeded expectations. Right now with these two in place, Martinez back, Flaherty looking much better and Weaver a solid 5th guy, this has got to be one of the premier rotations in MLB.
Its June 4th and a lot things can happen (see Reyes-Wainwright) but as things have shaken out, the rotation appears ready to carry this team to wherever the offense can carry it.
FYI… If you go back into the pages of the trade and acquisition topic, you’ll see how often Wacha’s name appeared as trade bait and even fodder. His early starts just added to it. When Wainwright went down the first time, that’s when Wacha got in his groove and he’s been in it ever since.
I still think Wacha is a trade candidate depending on our situation at the deadline.
He is due one more Arb increase next year and then is a FA at the end of next year. Trading him right now, would be probably the best potential if we are not going to re-sign him after next year (or extend him now).
We could get a lot of value out of him if we are out of it at the deadline and /or Reyes or Waino is back and pitching great..of if Hudson muscles his way up
Wacha is only 26 and IMO we should give him an extension, but if the org wanted to sell now to get a really high end hitting prospect form where else I would understand.
After next year (2019) Mikolas and WAcha will be gone unless we re-sign them…which would leave us with 1 open spot for the rotation…that could be filled by a re-signing of either of them OR Hudson or another kid.
Wacha and Mikolas have both surprised me this year and I am glad I was wrong about them. Very glad.
I don’t see Wacha getting traded this year since we are in contention and he is putting up cy young numbers. I would advise the Cards to go through arbitration with him again next offseason and if he has another outstanding performance in 2019 we can try to sign him long term or at least give him the QO.
I did not go back and look, but my recollection is that most (if not all) of the Wacha trade talk originated from disgruntled fans, not credible media trade rumor reports. But I don’t have the time or interest to research it.
The odds of Wacha going somewhere else this season are somewhere between slim and none, but of course, nothing is ever zero until the time passes. He wasn’t traded when struggling and won’t be dealt when doing well, either.
Wacha was a big question mark entering 2018. Mikolas was a bigger question mark. Both have far exceeded expectations. Right now with these two in place, Martinez back, Flaherty looking much better and Weaver a solid 5th guy, this has got to be one of the premier rotations in MLB.
It certainly appears to be that way right now but things can change fast with young pitchers. I remember that after 2015 many many people were saying that the Mets had built a dynasty with all of their young pitching and were looking at multiple World Series appearances. Well it didn’t turn out that way at all.
I hope we aren’t starting to see some of that with Reyes.
I love what Wacha is doing, even when he had his arm issues, i didnt want to really move him
The question still remains though after next year do we want to keep him or not? We have a lot of youngsters and even if his arb is cheapish next year i doubt he would take a QO with his age and performance.
And in the case where he ISNT a part of our 2020 team, why hold onto him and potentially decrease his value to other clubs instead of selling high.
True this year is looking like it isnt a possibility as we seem to be competitive (but we arent at the deadline yet), but in the offseason is another story. a trade before he loses the ability to net the trade partner team a compensation pick is a big deal. The FO must know whether they want to keep him or not given the financial implications etc.
And IF we DO what to go after ab ig fish this offseason like Machado, even clearing Wacha’s arb money not to mention whatever his extension deal woudl be would help make that pricetag seem more affordable.
There’s some buyer beware going on with Wacha this year surprisingly, because I haven’t noticed just watching the games and I don’t add STL players on my fantasy teams.
With Wacha, his K-rate is down this year, his BB-rate is up, yet his BABIP-against is way down.
Then you look at the batted ball data and he is giving up a career high LD% of 29.4%, up 6.9% over his career, and his hard hit % is at 40.9%, up 9.6% over his career numbers. Yikes!
Wacha has gone over the 100 pitch mark the last 4 games. He did that 6 times all of 2017.
He’s setting himself up for a nice pay day in 2019 but I’m not sure the Cardinals will want to shell out the money to extend him when they’ve got all these young arms in the minors. I mean they could’ve done something similar to what Lance Lynn got but if they would’ve wanted to do it you’d think they’d done it already.
I mean it’s possible if this team ends up selling a veteran due to being out of contention this season he could be dealt or they’ll likely just hang onto him and issue the QO though there’s risk in doing that especially if he has a down or is on the shelf in 2019.
Lance LYnn was 4 yrs older though no? His age seems the prime reason for extending.
We forget how young Wacha is, but he is just now getting into his prime years. a 4 yr deal with an option seems the route if i were them.
I think they WOULD have extended him a few years ago but because of his injury problems and concerns there was no way they were going to do that, especially following the Jaime Garcia extension that was problematic because of injuries from the onset.
Wacha seems healthy, seems to be maturing with his stuff, and is getting close to free agency. If you wait until next year, i dont think it gets done, i think you have until the end of this year and maybe the offseason, otherwise there is no reason he should not try out FA at his age
858booyah
Wacha has gone over the 100 pitch mark the last 4 games. He did that 6 times all of 2017.
I think Wacha’s biggest issue is pitching 3 games in 11 days. I think some poster calculated his ERA over these (3rd) starts particularly and it was awful.
Just to be clear, though, when there are not days off, every starter in a five-man rotation will pitch three times in 11 days. I guess the question is whether some would benefit from additional rest – either not throwing as many pitches in each appearance or by pitching less frequently (using spot starters or six-man rotation). One size may not fit all, however.
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