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The Cardinals as a team, and in some cases individually, have generated some pretty good offensive numbers. Yet, as a team, we stink. Why? The narrative is that it is pitching and Mo needs to fix the pitching. But is the offense also defective, and does it need to be fixed also.
It might be insightful to look how well a team turns total bases into runs.
The Cardinals rank 9th in MLB in total bases with 1950. MLB avg is 1870.
The Cardinals rank 17th in MLB in runs scored with 601. MLB avg is 615.
I also noticed that we rank 8th in MLB in homers and 9th in SLG.
The Braves and Dodgers lead MLB in runs scored with 770 and 747 respectively. They also lead in HRs with 250 and 208. They also lead in SLG., .500 and .460. They are 1st and 3rd in total bases. So there does seem to be some correlation for them but not for the Cardinals. Why? Why does our offense not turn the power and totals bases into runs effectively?
Failure to hit in clutch situations.
They don’t hit well with runners on.
And they don’t hit well with RISP and two outs.
Awhile back Arenado was, what, about 9-50 on the year?
Just my $.02.
r/Esteemed Rat
It’s like two different lineups. Once we lost Donovan and Noot, and then Gorman, PDJ and Carlson….
Honestly, I don’t know who Mott, Fermin, Palacios and Baker are. Winn lose that negative symbol in front of his ops+ yet?
I don’t want to talk down about these guys, but they are not “our lineup”.
At least the 3 big money boys are showing up for work, and Edman too, but that’s half a lineup.
The season stats you are using have been watered down by auditions, so it’s hard for me to make a “team” evaluation. Good luck.
Winn lose that negative symbol in front of his ops+ yet?
Yeah, he went 1-4 each of the last two games and raised it to OPS+ 7.
12 games in and he still has 0 walks. .171 BA, .171 OBP.
It goes without saying that at the end of the day the tally of TB’s or any other set of numbers aren’t what’s used to determine the final outcome of a game. That outcome is still determined by how many runs are pushed across HP. Hopefully it’ll stay that way, but it wouldn’t surprise me too much if they came up with another silly new rule that changed that long existing condition…At any rate, it’s my belief that they’d push more runs across HP if they had a manager who had some idea of how to construct a line-up along with a coaching staff who’s philosophy centered on moving baserunners up and making certain all players on the roster were entirely focused on the precise game circumstances at all times.
Why ask why ? Bud dry! Jenevel has a point about half a lineup. Pretty much been that way all year combined with the awful pitching. Offense numbers for all our superstars are way down this year. A couple of my thoughts though on offense in general. We are the kings of the solo homers. Can’t bunt, can’t sac and can’t run the bases. Makes me wonder if they learn basic skills in the lower ranks. After the first 5 batters we are done
Philly swept us because they field complete ML lineups. Schwarber batted lead off because their 7-8-9 guys are good enough to be consistently on base. Looks like we have a ways to go. But painful as its been it is past time to get some younger guys in there. I hope they make the most of the rest of this season.Go Cardinals!In regards to Winn, I’m thankful we’re getting a free sample look at how he’s faring in the Big Leagues during games that don’t matter. Hopefully he’ll improve his performance enough that they’ll determine that he’s good enough to place onto a Big League field at a time when the team may be contending for something.
Folks, remember 1976? Garry Templeton was labeled as the next big thing. He came up in early August of that year and appeared in 53 games, starting 51 times. In less than 1/3 of the season Templeton made 24 errors. THAT’S 24 ERRORS!!!
Defensively Winn appears to be better than Templeton. If Winn can hit just a little then he may turn out to be worth his weight in catfish fiddlers. Remember, Ozzie wasn’t much of a hitter his first few years either.
r/Esteemed Rat
I think that replacement players filling in for injured regulars would likely reduce both total bases and runs, rather than substantially altering the ratio. It is the ratio that concerns me. If we are well above average in total bases, we should not be below average in runs scored, but we are. And it is not a case of lack of power.
Templeton actually lived up to the hype early in his Big League career at a young age in the sense that he collected 200 or more hits in 2 of his first four seasons. He collected 200 hits at age 21 and led the NL in hits with 211 at age 23. He also led the NL in triples for three consecutive seasons before he turned 24 years of age. However, for the remainder of his 16 year career, he was nothing more than an average player.
In regards to offense, all of a sudden Betts has appeared as a genuine challenger to Acuna as front runner for the NL MVP award. I’ve often said that the Redbirds need a guy named Manny, but my second choice would be a guy named Mookie…In fact, if we had 3 guys named Manny, Mookie and Freddie, we’d undoubtedly be headed towards a Yankee type baseball dynasty!
“It is the ratio that concerns me. If we are well above average in total bases, we should not be below average in runs scored, but we are. And it is not a case of lack of power.”
It has been a highly inefficient batting order pretty much all season. A couple months back when Contreras wasn’t even hitting his weight, the manager nevertheless persisted in batting him every single game in an RBI slot rather than our reigning MVP, who has of course batted almost exclusively 2nd in the order. Here’s another: absurdly, the team’s #7 hitters have a higher OPS this year than the #3 hitters. The #3 hitters have just the 7th-best batting average of the 9 lineup slots, and the 6th-best OPS — this will obviously make for an inefficient offense. Thanks, Ollie!
Also, as others have mentioned, the club has performed dismally in some “clutch” situations, exemplified by the, um, extraordinary .176 average with the bases loaded. An entire team hitting .176?!? If it holds up, this must challenge for the worst bases loaded performance by any squad since the deadball era. Can’t blame Ollie for that one. Maybe the club needs a 4th hitting coach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO4DPI1hegc
We would be remiss in not figuring the sad state of our entire pitching staff into the equation of why our offense is so unproductive in 2023.
Tommy Edman’s hitting helped to win the past two games for the #STLCards.
However, years from now those wins might be looked to as the starting point of the Jordan Walker/Masyn Winn era in St. Louis. The aging Cards need their energy & athleticism. https://t.co/IP2Y3pSeoy
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) September 1, 2023
I’m guessing that no team is going to trade an established SP’er for what essentially remains a prospective Big League SS.
Trading Winn now would make the Ozuna trade look like a comparative win for the Cardinals in the future. Trade Edman if he is that good. He is getting close to that age of slowing down.
I also don’t think Eddie would draw to an established SP’er unless he were paired up with another member of the Big League roster and it’d have to be someone who’s name’s not Manny Motter…
Bernie presents some numbers in his article on the Scoops site. The article is about the Cardinals dependence on homers.
Cardinals rank 29th in the majors in the percentage (28%) of their total baserunners that have scored. Here’s where the Cardinals rank among the 30 teams in the relevant categories:
* 26th in productive-out percentage (23.6%) which means moving a runner to the next base despite making an out.
* 20th in percentage of extra bases taken.
* 22nd in stolen bases.
* 25th in times going from first base to third on a single.
* 28th in times scoring from second base on a single.
* 28th in sac flies.
* 27th in the percentage of getting a runner in from third base with less than two outs.
* 12th in the percentage of moving a runner from second to third with no outs. That percentage (50.3%) is slightly below the MLB average.
* 16th in sac bunts.
The Cardinals are 4th in the NL in OPS but 8th in runs scored so there is evidence of a lack of clutch hitting. Regardless a team 4th in OPS and 8th in runs scored should not have the 14th best record out of 15 teams. Pitching is the culprit.
Oh by the way, guess who is dead last in OPS in the NL? That would be the Milwaukee Brewers, currently in 1st place in the NLC unless the Cubs have zoomed by them while I am typing this. Also, the Brewers happen to be 3rd best in the NL in ERA so maybe there is something to this pitching thing.
I am guessing the Brewers are not near the bottom in percentage of total baserunners who score or in the percentage of getting a runner in from third base with less than two outs. I am guessing their offense is pretty efficient. Ours makes a lot of noise. (When it matters that is. They are doing great now that it doesn’t)
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