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I agree with BrockLou maybe as fan’s we are hoping too much? This team does not look capable of winning anything this year! Maybe we should see what the younger players in Memphis can do!if that is the case I can only hope our front office provides better players so we can contend next year! We need better starting pitching, relievers that can throw strikes and at least one and probably two hitters that can hit! Not much to ask! Lol! Don’t rush anybody back, maybe find a couple of gems in Memphis and cut salary and get some good free agents!
I don’t think rushing players from the minors is the answer. That’s what gets you into more trouble. I do think we need a big deal for another starting pitcher. It’s more for next year but also to let arenado know we are serious about winning. I don’t want to lose him at the end of this season. Yea we need more help in other places such as bullpen and possibly another bat. But I believe that pitching should be our main concern. Starting and relieving. I’m a life long cardinal fan so I’ve been through good and bad teams. You aren’t going to make playoffs every year and that’s ok if you make strides to get better for the next season. Our minor leagues need some evaluation as well. We don’t have a lot of depth.
Steve60 wrote
Continuing to play Matt Carpenter is like waving the white flag before the game begins!
Continuing to play Matt Carpenter is going to cost them millions and another dead roster spot next season. You can’t make up the ignorance behind the decision to keep playing him instead of releasing him outright. Depth or no depth does it matter if he’s on this roster any longer?
Going into today’s game, Carpenter needed 537 more plate appearances in only 104 games. He will not get his vesting option since he would need to play every game the rest of the year and average a little over 5 plate appearances per game. The only way he will cost the team millions in 2022 is if they are dumb enough to pick up his option.
Thank forsch. I admit I didn’t look it up but my question remains why is he still taking up space on this roster?
Going into today’s game, Carpenter needed 537 more plate appearances in only 104 games.
I think your math is a little off. Carpenter needed 1100 plate appearances across last year and this year, or 550 each year. Last year, the MLB season was 60 games instead of the normal 162. So 60/162*550 = 204 plate appearances needed. He had 169, so he was short 35 plate appearances.
So, to start this year, he needed 585. He has 107, that leaves him needing 478.
The players in the minors aren’t winning, either. The whole system is struggling. Maybe this will pass and the whole system will light up.
As far as Carpenter is concerned, I said in another thread that every team has a big name player (or two) who’s batting under .200. I don’t believe that’s ever happened before. I think what’s at the bottom of it is the sticky stuff the pitchers are using to increase their spin rate and their control. Batters like Carpenter have never in their entire life had to follow pitches that dive and twist as much as the one’s they’re seeing now, and so their approach at the plate no longer works the way it always has for them. According to The Athletic the sticky stuff of preference is a sunscreen brand called Bullfrog.
BTW, if the sticky stuff is taken out of the game entirely,
there are teams that are going to be paying megamillions to pitchers that are mediocre. That complicates things because those teams are going to resist eliminating the sticky stuff. Also, players will resist eliminating it because they simply would not be able to get outs as easily. That’s kind of what happened with steroids, IMO.LA, I figured it by coming up with a factor of 2.7 per plate appearance in 2020 (162/60). I used this factor to bring his 2020 plate appearances up to a 162 game schedule equivalent. I then took the 1100 PAs needed to vest the option and subtracted his 162 game equivalent from 2020 and also his PAs from this year.
Even using your figure he would still need to average around 4.5 PAs the rest of the year IF he played in every single game. He is not going to make it.
Being a glass half full sort, once DeJong returns, Carpenter will be a pinch hitter upgrade over Thomas and Williams. Assuming his mini resurgence continues, that is. Of course, DeJong may be a downgrade compared to Sosa, but we can dismiss that glass half empty thinking.
Mudville/blingboy, I sure wish our pitchers could find some of that sticky stuff or has the market been cornered by pitchers facing our hitters? Carpenter isn’t an upgrade in any way at this point. This career down turn didn’t just start this year. It’s been happening for three seasons now minus one brief in season hot streak a couple of years ago that helped get the club in this mess with him.
Need to look to some of the guys who aren’t performing up to expectations – Helsley, Webb, Ponce, Carlos, Bader, DeJong, Thomas, Williams, etc.
I’m not sure I agree with a couple of those you named, bc, unless you are expecting MVP or CY votes type of production. Martinez through his first 9 starts had an ERA just over 4. He was averaging a little under 6 IP/ start. And had an average game score of 53. His last start was a clunker, though.
Bader has a .213 batting average but he has shown better plate discipline and is producing decent power. He is currently at a 101 OPS+, or league average, and has 9 RBIs in only 21 games played.
Although the bench is already weak, and with DeJong back it will be better, I am not sure we can afford to keep both Sosa and DeJong with a pitching staff that is as fragile as this one is.
I think Sosa is the better player and would try to keep him, and float DeJong in a deal for pitching help. But if I am the other team’s GM, I want Sosa – cheaper and likely has more upside that DeJong.
But who knows what will be available and who would want to do a deal for DeJong.
While this club has struggled of late, and has not looked good against the better teams all season, I think most of the pieces are in place if we did not have so many guys on the IL. An outfield of O’Neill, Bader and Carlson can be real good with steady playing time. An infield of Goldy, Edman, Sosa and Arenado is one where each guy could potentially be an all-star. Molina can still do it behind the dish.
A little better bench, and a more durable pitching staff are the biggest needs. If everyone is healthy, your primary need is one more reliable bullpen piece. So in a way we are not far from being very good. But with the bench being so-so you need to be healthy to play with the big boys.
Back to the Bader bashing. OK – his .712 OPS is the same as Goldschmidt’s .712.
One of those players, we traded a pitcher, a catcher, a 2B and a draft pick for, and are paying him $26 million per year. Who is underperforming?
As for trading DeJong – I would keep him as a backup. If you look at the Dodgers – they want versatility and depth. DeJong provided both. DeJong is only making $4 million this year. What happens if Arenado or Goldschmidt gets hurt?
This starting pitching disaster looks like it is going to result in the irrelevance of our best asset, Reyes. The dude has been playing at an all star level, and almost Cy Young. But if we’re not leading in the 9th, he might as well be on Mars with Elon Musk
You can talk about the hitting all you want but if we were consistently getting good pitching up and down the staff, we would be fine. The injuries would still hurt us some but we would be fine. But you could put any players in the league or historically for that matter on the offensive side, and they aren’t going to overcome this pitching staff and injuries. Too many walks, too many hit batters, and too many errors either behind them or by them.
LA – do you really think the Cards expectations are for Bader to hit at .219, with an OBP of .301. Sorry, but face the facts that Bader is underperforming. Along with all the others I’ve listed.
bc, if Bader is underperforming based on batting average, then Goldschmidt, Edman, Carlson, Waino, Kim and Oviedo are also underperforming. You could even say that Arenado is underperforming.
I am sure the Cardinals expectations of their leadoff hitter is to get on base at a better than .325 clip. I am sure they expect Goldschmidt to hit better. Arenado currently has the lowest fielding percentage of his major league career. The Cardinals would like to have Carlson striking out less.
Bader needed to get better plate discipline and that is what he is showing this year. I am sure the Cardinals brass know that it will pay off in the long run for Bader to do what he has done so far this year. His BABIP is quite a bit lower than it has been in any other season in the majors. That points to him due to rebound. He was in the midst of a 1 for 20 slump when he got hurt. He was at .283/.361/.528/.889 prior to this cold spell. That is not underperforming.
Forsch –
Edman and Carlson are young players who are refining their development. Edman is certainly performing up to or above expectations. Oviedo is just a youngster. Waino is 39 years old. Why would you even include him? Kim has been injured. Bader has now had over 1,000 major league plate appearances and his performance had been decking over the last 3 year. Substantially.@bccran – Bader has 83 plate appearances this year. His OPS still fluctuates 30 points with every hit. He is not the problem. Do you know what it takes to raise his OBP to the lofty range of Goldy, Arenado & Yadi? One hit.
When we traded for Goldschmidt, I am sure the team was expecting at least a .340-.360 OBP and >.850 OPS. They are not getting it.
And Edman went down to a .712 OPS today, too, before his last hit.
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