- This topic has 130 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Pads said:
The premise I was making was if Edman had to go back to the infield. In that scenario, your starting outfield is either:
Walker Carlson Nootbaar
Walker Nootbaar DonovanWith Siani and Burleson behind them. That is a better scenario than having Fermin or Young as the primary backups in the infield.
So you have a lot of outfielders, but would be going without a backup shortstop. Can’t see that happening.
It is a clumsy roster, but we know that from last season.
Whatever it looks like on opening day, it could easily turn into a chinese fire drill again.
It doesn’t have to be, BB.
1B – Goldy
2B – Edman
SS – Winn
3B – Arenado
LF – Nootbaar
CF – Carlson
RF – Walker
DH – Gorman / Herrera
Floater – DonovanNeed to reach out to Manny Motter…Along with being a fan favorite, he provides instant stability to this roster.
Coming up with a starting lineup is not the problem, crany, especially if you don’t mind a center fielder hitting .200.
Its what do you do about what is behind it, on the bench and in Memphis? How do you manage it when there is an injury or two?
We aren’t just adding pitching this winter. Adding Herrera and Winn as everyday active is significant to our roster.
Their roles are the two hardest positions on the defensive spectrum, and both players have impact potential during club control. It’s going to need to happen, even if we disagree with the timing.
Herrera has a vet presence at catcher he can join. The roster needs to add a 150+ GS (mlb) shortstop in the utility role, short term, for SS starter depth.
Herrera, U.I., Carlson, 25%
With Donovan at DH, and after the O’Neill and Palacios trades, outfield depth is my 25%
Carlson is gonna be the new PDJ for the Cards! Keep giving him chances over and over until he proves beyond any doubt he can’t play and now he has no trade value at all! Just like PDJ! If they can get anything for him now, Carlson, they should pull the trigger!
Carlson was just as bad in 2022. He isn’t going to rebound. Last year is OPS+ was 79.
Burleson has proven to be basically unplayable in the outfield, other than emergency use. His OPS+ was 87.
Palacios was playable in the outfield, including some CF coverage ability, and OPS+ 120.
True, Palacios only had 100 PAs but so what, he was the only one of the three who played because he has utility, rather just to get him some playing time. And he’s the one they move out, and they keep the other two. I would bet that Palacios will get more PAs in 2024 than either of them, and maybe more than both combined.
bccran said:
Palacios was very pedestrian.
Palacios’ OPS with Memphis and his OPS with St. Louis were both substantially higher than Prieto’s with Memphis. What is the word for sub-pedestrian? 😉
Bling, I have a hunch, nothing more, Burleson is a big league hitter and is about to bust out! The problem for us imo is he like two or three others is really a DH! This is another roster construction problem out FO has left us with! Burleson will probably get traded and become a star DH for someone! Just a hunch! I mean he was really good in AAA 2 years ago and really made good contact last year!
Suggest you compare the entire 2023 for both players, Brian. Only using a partial doesn’t give one an accurate comparison.
Prieto
for
KittredgeTB shouldn’t, they need Palacios type value in return. TB has shortstop concerns too.
Nothing prevents the Cards from sticking Burly in the DH slot and seeing what happens. Donovan could get enough reps spelling people. I doubt doing so would negatively affect the outcome of the season, and he might catch fire. At least he would be doing something rather than nothing.
But it seems like the sort of common baseball sense thing the org won’t do. You could check with others, but my feeling is a fantasy player would go with Donovan as DH, so I think that is what Mo and his joy stick jockies will do. Burly and Carlson will get the odd start here and there, as whatever trade value they have left vanishes.
So you are saying Burly and Carlson should play regularly to keep their trade value up, even though they are bench players now? That would be a strange way to try to win more games.
My guess as to what they probably will do instead most often is to move Donovan around to give regular starters a day off in the field and put the resting starter at DH instead. I’d rather see any of them, whether Goldy, Arenado, Gorman etc. at DH than Burleson.
Burleson is actually a numbers darling with high contact rate, exit velo, etc. So you can park your regular data-crunchers are evil diatribe. We agree he is a liability in the field, but he also isn’t good on the bases and doesn’t hit a lot of home runs. His 39 AB/HR was one of the worst on the team and he was dead last on the team in fWAR last season at -0.9. He is fine on the bench but has not earned a bigger role.
If the objective was to win now, I would agree. But this year we are just keeping our head above water while we see how the pitching prospects shake out. It is a perfect opportunity to see what we’ve got.
You seem to misinterpret the Cardinals’ 2024 intention. They are trying to win, but within a self-constricted payroll. If they just wanted “to see what they’ve got”, they wouldn’t have spent money on free agent starting pitchers. They’d just rotate Thompson, Liberatore, Rom and the others through and let them take their lumps.
They need to win enough to keep fans in the seats and the TV ratings up. After losing 91 games, they can’t afford to not play their best players. That is not Burly or Carlson. Playing them to protect their already limited trade value is a losing idea, IMO.
It will be frustrating if the bench is like last season, after having all winter to fix it. Players on the roster need to have functionality besides sitting there in case someone goes down during a game. Find Burly a job. Providing thumpage in the DH slot is a job. If he cannot do that job, he needs another job. If he cannot do any job, then go get someone who can. Find someone who can be a late inning defensive replacement, or someone who can steal a base, or someone who can hit a fly ball reliably or hit behind a runner reliably. Somebody who can do something.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.