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“There are some parallels between Hayward and a current Cardinal, IMO.”
Who would that be? I guess you mean Contreras who still has a ways to go, and signed for much less than Heyward. The Cardinals rarely sign big, long-term free agent contracts. Heyward’s largest WAR after signing big with the Cubs was 2.0.
Willson has been better for us already than Heyward was for the Cubs.
Really Heyward was situation where a division rival figured they were taking a big piece from their closest competitor. Then the next year I think we felt we were getting them back a little by signing Dexter Fowler. Neither player was as successful as the teams hoped they would be.
But again, I don’t a comparison to any current Cardinal. As bling said Albert comes to mind. The Angels also have a bust with Anthony Rendon. Those two signings are similarities to Heyward. Fortunately our club has not done anything like that.
Obviously the Angels didn’t get their money’s worth when they took on Pujols, but there were plenty of teams, including the Cardinals, that were looking to offer up big money for a player who, at that time, was considered to possibly be the best player in baseball. Fowler and Heyward were an entirely different proposition as they were both marginal type baseball players. I was convinced the Cardinals were making a huge mistake by even considering Fowler as a part of their ballclub. I would have paid a dollar or two to have had him sign somewhere else…
At the time we signed Fowler I was a bit unsure. I leaned a bit towards going with the young, untested Harrison Bader, but felt maybe it was good to being in Dex and have some depth.
Heyward was real good for us that one year, but not overwhelming good, and did not have as good of a year as that afterwards. We really lucked out when Pujols and Heyward declined our offers and signed elsewhere.
Contreras? He is in his second year with the team. He led them in OPS last year. He leads them in OPS again this year – by 65 points over anyone else. Is anyone really upset about him? If so, why?
Isn’t the fact the Cubs wouldn’t pay to keep him and now have to watch him do well with their rival worth a bonus?
Maybe Mudville meant Matz, who certainly is a bust. But he was not hyped as being real good that I recall.
The current Cardinals don’t have a comp to Heyward in my opinion. But in thinking further Matz is certainly a guy on the current roster that is the biggest mistake to bring in from the FA market.
Is anyone really upset about him? If so, why?
I am upset and I will tell you why. He gets paid to be a slugger, and when it matters most he slugs .290.
Here is Contreras’s batting line with RISP:
.210/.402/.290/.693
His OPS+ with RISP is 91.
A .290 SLG ! Give me a break.
I’m not entirely certain he gets paid to be what’s termed a “slugger.” I think he gets paid to replace Molina, which is not going to happen.
Bling, what were those splits with RISP by Contreras last season? What about his career marks? (Expecting crickets in response…)
Contreras 2024 wRC+
Low Leverage: 130
Medium Leverage: 153
High Leverage: 137
Overall: 139I’d say he’s been a pretty consistent performer.
I’m pretty sick of kicking over water buckets. The team stinks at hitting when it matters and Contreras is as much a part of the problem as anybody. Any he get paid way more than most. He hits .210 and slugs .290 with RISP. Talking about wRC+ or last year? jeesh. You guys should go work for the front office.
TD, if he’s getting paid to be your grandma, a .290 SLG still doesn’t cut it.
He’s had 82 PAs w/RISP this year. 82. Do you really think that’s a statistically significant sample for evaluating a player?
And while we’re at it, what do you make of this?:
wRC+:
w/RISP: 110
w/Runners on Base: 161So is the official narrative that Contreras is uber-clutch with runners on, but anti-clutch with runners in scoring position? It’s the same guy.
I’d say you’re right, Bling, but the .290 isn’t the overall SLG avg. Conversely, if I choose to apply a partial SLG. avg. to a player only under certain conditions, I can make Zsa Zsa look like she’s a “slugger.”
The Cardinals also tried to sign Heyward to the big mega contract. He turned us down and signed with the Cubs then a year later we signed Fowler. Both were duds although Heyward was pretty good with the Cards in 2015.
Two former Cardinals catching up on old times.
https://www.mlb.com/mariners/video/randy-arozarena-hit-by-pitch-e0g2nq
Per MiLB transaction log:
August 23, 2024 – Detroit Tigers signed CF Óscar Mercado.Former 2nd round pick of the Cardinals in 2013
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tigers-ace-james-naile-out-indefinitely-with-broken-jaw/ar-AA1pnjGp#:~:text=SEOUL%2C%20Aug.,first%2Dplace%20club’s%20title%20aspirations.
Former Cardinal James Naile was the starting ace for this KBO team. He was pitching extremely well.
Sorry to see Naile so seriously injured. Looks like he was having a great season, which is reminder of the difference in quality of play between the KBO and MLB.
difference in quality of play between the KBO and MLB.
Fedde was successful in KBO last year. :-/
(I think also Andrew Suarez had been a successful starter there.)
With Tommy Pham back and the Cardinals being so lousy this year, I got to thinking about former Cardinals that came back to the club over the last century or so. Off the top of my head there are quite a few. One guy, Dick Schofield, had three separate stints with us. In addition to Schofield and Pham here are some guys who I think played for us, played elsewhere and came back in roughly chronological order:
Rogers Hornsby
Joe Medwick
Red Schoendienst
Walker Cooper
Alex Grammas
Carl Warwick
Tim McCarver
Ray Sadecki
Albert Pujols
Matt Carpenter
Lance LynnYou could field a good team with those guys, and I am sure there are others.
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