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And yeah, 3 games under’s no big deal, but although it’s not quite even 1/8 into the season, sitting at 6 back and looking up at 3 teams that are currently playing very well is a bit unsettling. Especially in light of a new scheduling format that dictates a large decrease in the chances to quickly make up ground in the form of head to head games with NLC opponents. You can be assured that if the trend continues both MIL and CHI will sense the presense of a wounded animal, so to speak. Even the Pirates played us real well and managed a push in the recent 4 game set at Busch Stadium. I can only speak for myself, but it’s not good to allow these other NLC teams too much air.
Agree 1TD, this was an issue last year. The Redbirds played under .500 against teams with winning records. They mopped up against teams under .500. There is a lot of season left. However, early returns may indicate the Cards rotation may not be up to snuff against the big boys. It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made.
If you say 3 back it doesn’t sound to awful. But consider this, we have a .421 win percentage as of now. That equates to a record of 69-94. Ouch.
So then, the question is this: are we likely to play better the rest of the way that we have so far? If so, why exactly?
Yeah, ouch is right, but they’re 6 back. I don’t think their record will be nearly as bad as a .421 when all is said and done, but right now they genuinely look like they could struggle for some time before they can attain .500 or break above sea level. I think they will for several reasons. They possess the 2 best corner IF’ers in the Big Leagues. They’ll once again prove to have outstanding defense and they also have two players who, I think, may be the most promising young talent in baseball. And the BP seems at least a bit better than decent so far. SP’ing? I just had supper, so don’t get me started…Haha!
Just read a Redbird Rants article that highlighted thr fact that the Cardinals are the most negatively affected MLB team for balls and strikes calls.
Now that we have strike zone technology umps are graded on the accuracy of their calls – and Cards are easily in first place for getting shafted by the umps.
I think it’s due in large part to Contreras lack of pitch framing ability.
BP’s been more than decent. I won’t even mention the name of the member of the pen that’s been the primary source of trouble in that area because most of the blame rests on the manager for handing him the baseball.
The manager deserves blame for using said pitcher in too many high leverage situations but the front office controls the roster and they could solve this problem if they wanted to but they are choosing to try to salvage the pitcher and allow him to stay on the roster and work out the kinks during MLB games, which seems incredibly careless to me. Barring a DFA I think the best solution would be to find an injury and allow the pitcher to go on a lengthy rehab assignment.
JJ, thanks for all of the information. It confirms what we are seeing, which is that our rotation is a mess. While it is obvious that the staff is getting hit hard I wonder how much of our problems are due to a more porous defense than what we are used to?
The Cardinals have spent the last several years trying to beef up their offense through the draft and it has been rather successful but has it diminished their defense too much? When you look at players like Walker, Gorman, Burleson, and Yepez what is one thing they all have in common? It is that they are primarily DH’s trying to play in the field. Gorman may not fit into that category completely but he is trying to learn a new position. Throw in the fact that O’Neill has been playing out of position and Carlson is a more natural corner OF and it seems to me that our defense has really suffered this year.
The cornerstone of the Cardinals for years has been pitching and defense but not this year. This year we look like the old stereotypical AL team, which I don’t think is good.
I 100% think there is a lot of validity to this last comment. Our pitching has still been poor, but no question that poor defense has exacerbated the problem. Walker has been really bad. O’Neill in center field has been pretty bad. Burleson in general isn’t very good. And both Knizner and Contreras are poor at D as well. That’s a lot of difference from last year. We saw the alternate outcome the night Woodford pitched against the Pirates and was pretty poor, but we had an elite defense that night behind him that saved multiple big hits. Our starters just aren’t elite. They are really ho-hum. But with an elite defense, then generally perform a little above average.
Contreras doesn’t look too bad countering the SB threat, but you’re right about O’Neill. He belongs in LF where he defends really well and hopefully Walker will settle in out in RF with a little more time. I think this team will be near or at the top defensively as the season progresses.
Contreras needs to bring his demeanor down a notch. There is a point between being as stoic as Goldy and as intense as Contreras. That happy medium is called Arenado.
Starters slash allowed:
.311 / .375 / .508 / .883 / 136 ops+
Relievers slash allowed:
.239 / .301 / .367 / .669 / 93 ops+ERA: SP 5.60 / RP 3.33
WHIP: SP 1.646 / RP 1.251
IP: SP 99.2 / RP 70.1thru 19 games
Thanks again jj. We have Matz going tonight and he posts ERA 6.48, WHIP 1.800, so its probably going to get worse.
Mikolas fell on his face out of the gate and hasn’t gotten up. You would have to believe he’ll improve going forward. The others, at best, have kept us in their games with a few stinkers thrown in. (Montgomery’s start on April 8th vs. MILW was the only dominant effort so far.) And there are no guarantees that Wainwright will do any better.
I saw one rumor that would have Edman going to LAD to get some pitching now. If Winn was crushing the ball at Memphis that would give this rumor some cred… but it looks like Winn need more time to adjust to AAA pitching.
How did we get into such dire straits? (scratching my head) Higher expectations abounded.
“I just feel like we’re pitching too nice,” Contreras told @stltoday late Friday night. “I feel like they feel comfortable hitting against us. That’s the way I see the game. That means, I think we need to be mean – a little mean.”
More on #stlcards: https://t.co/479yDWXYw6
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 22, 2023
A rather thorough look at pitching options from a fan post on VEB.
https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2023/4/17/23686806/the-cardinals-need-to-trade-for-a-pitcher-but-who
He lost me at “the starting rotation is average, or slightly below it”. The rotation is currently 29th by BR and 25th by Fangraphs.
They stink and no list of 30 names changes that. The commitment by the paying fans is not being matched by ownership.
After going Ofer and letting 3 get past him he’s talking about what other guys need to do? Lame.
They all need to look in the mirror.
Ask Mo if he ever went out to his car in the morning and found four flats and a spare that’s low on air. Not going to get very far unless you want to drive on rims.
Right now we’re riding on rims. Sparks are starting to fly. We can’t wait until the deadline to fix this, and Wainwright might come back as an old bald spare who won’t help much.
The starters have managed to turn in 2 quality starts in 21 games. That is less than 10%. Wow.
It’s not a shock ZTR. Checkout my post in last night’s game thread. I truly believe the rotation construction is a major issue for this club. They don’t have the alpha dogs at the front of the rotation. In that regard Willison isn’t too far off about then being too nice. They don’t have the horses is really what he’s saying.
This guy basically says we should junk the entire rotation and play the kids.
The Cardinals Rotation Isn’t Going To Fix Itself https://t.co/9bdVqpidSp
— viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) April 23, 2023
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