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Whatever one might think about Jeff Albert and Mike Maddox, they know a sinking ship when they see one.
Oh I am not defending the front office.
I didn’t think you were, gscott, but the big boys need to take some heat over this mess. Mo plays off payroll increase promises like a politician — says he couldn’t find anything “exciting.” Evidently, investing another $55 million in Wainwright and Mikolas was exciting, and no wonder, they have clearly been the formula for all the recent playoff successes. Money in the bank I guess.
I feel like a broken record, but those criticizing the front office for the level of payroll spending are misdirected.
If you don’t like the budget, blame the owners.
If you don’t like how the budget was spent, blame the front office (but don’t think for a minute that ownership did not approve every major move).Say there is a massive purge of the front office. What makes you think the replacements hired by the owners will take a markedly different direction from the guys they hired who are there now?
What is the risk that a turnover would lead to a turn for the worse in terms of the team’s fortunes? It is a realistic question.
Anyway, it is all moot. By all indications, the owners are happy with the direction of the team. Their stated goal is to reach the playoffs and hope they get hot in October.
IMO, the only way to change the direction of the organization is for fans to hit them in the pocketbook by not supporting the team. But 3.3 million tickets sold every year is an endorsement of the organization by the masses.
I feel like a broken record, but those criticizing the front office for the level of payroll spending are misdirected.
Brian, I’ve seen your comments before and understand where you’re coming from. I have a different take at this point and blame them as a group. I started out my original discussion with gscott with this:
Hindsight is 20/20, but they (BDW, Mo and Mike) get paid and evaluated for their foresight. They are big boys, getting paid big dollars, to make big decisions that are supposed to look good in hindsight.
Mo personally made the public declaration of an increase, so he gets plenty of blame. He also personally made the tap dancing retraction/explanation for not spending more than they did. I don’t think the criticism is misdirected in the least. Sure Bill is the boss, but I haven’t heard of any philosophical differences, so Mo’s on board and fair game. Water carriers get shot in battle too.
Thanks for sharing your point of view. I wish you luck in getting anything changed, but maybe you should be careful what you ask for! What is your take on the risk of a new regime being worse at executing ownership direction than the current one?
Brian, no problem, I enjoy the discussion. Trying to get anything changed, whether I offer my critiques one way or the other, doesn’t enter my mind because that’s irrelevant. We don’t matter in that way, and like most here, I’m just one lifelong fan of baseball and the Cards who likes to occasionally opine, discuss, and joke around with other like-minded (somewhat, lol) folks. Your comment about hitting them in the pocketbook is the probably the only way, and that doesn’t seem very likely with the Cards’ fan culture, unless things really go tango uniform.
Would we get better or worse with change? Who knows? But the Cards have been so close to that next level, what I’d really like to see is our current brass take a bigger risk at times when the window for payoff is huge. Goldy and Arenado ain’t getting any younger. Teams with an elite pitcher or two seem to get luckier in October.
This entire pitching staff is a disaster.
At what point do we make a change at pitching coach?
It’s pretty clear he’s not getting anything at all from anyone on this staff…
Mikolas has had three retched starts in a row to kick off the season. This last one he had a rough 1st, did ok for a little while, then just got battered. His velo was observed to drop off significantly.
What do we make of this? At what point to we worry that there is a problem? At what point do we know there is a problem? Does it even matter? I mean, we’ve got other problems too, so what could be done in any event?
He turns 35 near the end of the season and he’s on the clock until he’s 37. At what point does that look like not an encouraging factoid?
That’s a good question. Another factoid is that since his 18-4 debut season as a Cardinal he’s placed 23-32 into the books. But what’s a little more than a bit unnerving is that, with the injury to Wainwright, he was somewhat touted as the veteran leadership of this rotation and got the baseball for the opener. At this juncture, with the possible exception of IP’ed, he certainly hasn’t represented a touchstone for the 4 other members to align themselves with.
Mikolas somehow managed to have a losing record for a team that won 93 games. For that accomplishment he was rewarded with a contract and opening day start.
To clarify, I do not say Mikolas is bad. He’s not. Well, right now he is, but he hasn’t been. Typically, he does an ok to good job of keeping us close. He’s a .500ish starter who has problems staying healthy. I push back against attempts to position him as more than that. The fact that he is the best we’ve got does not make him better than he is.
I wouldn’t at all term him as bad, but when a SP’er such as Miles Mikolas is thrust into the same leadership role of a rotation such as someone like Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright, well, bad is a mild term in the context of him being the guy who you’re seeking to fill that role.
And you’re right in that he’s a shade better than a .500 SP’er with a respectable career ERA of under 4.00. No question he gets a substantial boost by the fact that he works at or near 200 IP’ed, but if he’s the leader of a 5 man, that particular rotation certainly isn’t one to be desired.
I wonder how many of orbits through this starting ‘rotation’ it will take before management hits the eject button on 3 of these guys?
Every team and every player experiences rough patches in any given season but I am having a hard time recalling a stretch of one good start in 11 consecutive games for Cardinal starters.
I think it may be as much a mental issue now as anything else.
Get through each starter’s 4th start and if it’s more of the same then start trying AAA guys I guess?
While that is going on start trying to trade some hitting for a couple of starters?
How is Quintana doing? I have not looked but I’d bet he be our #2 right now – which isn’t saying much by the way….
A lot of help may not be close. For reference, Triple-A starters on the 40-man roster through two starts each.
ERA/FIP
Liberatore 0.00/1.80
Hudson 4.66/5.26
Thomas 12.27/6.40Not on 40-man
Graceffo 3.38/2.77
Parsons 4.00/5.28Regarding trades, it takes two to tango. Look around MLB and see how many trades are made early in the season. Close to none. Won’t heat up until summer when teams have a better idea where they stand.
Quintana had bone graft surgery to repair a stress fracture in one of his ribs. He isn’t helping anyone.
Ouch, ouch, and ouch
Well then change the pitching coach. The problem may or may not have anything to do with him but sometimes you just have to shake things up…
This looks like the only thing the organization can do at this point….
April lows don’t necessarily lead to May woes as far as the pitching staff. It just may take a while for them to settle down. They’re also adjusting to a new pitching coach. Patience is a virtue.
bccran, I agree. As a group, they are better than this. Hopefully they can make adjustments and get on the right track. Patience isn’t easy as games are being lost, but as discussed, there is no obvious fix waiting just around the corner.
A couple of fixes may be to place both in the order and on the field of play the best 9 players available and to stop handing the baseball to Jordan Hicks when a W is still within reach. I’d also place both Walker and Gorman further north in the order and hope they continue to hit. I think they will. The rotation is another matter. It’s set until Wainwright returns, so all you can really do is to let it eat and hope for the best.
There won’t be any trades for at least 3 more months so we are stuck with what we have but I see no reason to not bring Liberatore up and give him a shot. He couldn’t be any worse.
Liberatore makes his third start tonight. Woodford makes his on Friday. If a change is made after that, Liberatore would seemingly have a couple of extra days rest.
If the rotation continues to disappoint, is Libratore promoted before Hudson? If he indeed is, that’s 3 LHP’ing members of the rotation. That’s unusual to say the least.
Hudson Thursday: 6 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 7 K, 0 BB. 86 pitches, 1 clock.
McGreevy for Springfield: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 4 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP. 84 pitches.
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