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One elite starter would really, really help assuming they stay healthy. And I wish we had gotten one instead of spending so much on Contreras.
A catcher was our top priority with one in the bag….. the FO could continue on with the off-season. So far they have sat on their butts but there is still a chance other #3/#4 starter will show up for us at ST. Chances are we go into the season with a whole bunch of #3s/#4s. One or two will need to show that they are a #1 starter for at least the ’23 season. Even if he becomes a one and done ala Flaherty so far.
I agree that catcher was top priority as it should have been. And I’m still coming around to Contreras but he’s growing on me with all his positive comments. I just would have preferred Moreno or Murphy like probably most everyone else. And 5 years for a catcher in his 30’s is such a long time. Murphy or Moreno and a good starter would have been golden. But the price sounds like it was too high so now we’re at plan B or C. We should still be really good. FWIW, Zips thinks we’re the 2nd best team in the NL but quite a bit behind the Braves. That’s something I guess. But I also agree that at the moment we’re going into the season with a slew of 3/4 starters.
If we aren’t going to upgrade the rotation right now we could still upgrade the bullpen by bringing in someone like Chafin. Shoring up innings 6-9 helps relieve the pressure from our non-ace starters, which is all of them.
I agree gscottar. A really good bullpen might be able to hide the sins of our starters. Especially if our offense can score a lot of runs and we should be able to do so. And, he might give Thompson another shot to make it as a long term starter. Maybe. So I’m all for that move.
Katie Woo predicts Woodford, Thompson, Liberatore and Naughton will be among the pitchers who will not make the team out of camp.
The more others are brought in, the more incumbents will get bumped off the roster.
There will be plenty of #STLCards roster drama leading up to Opening Day (there always is, that’s what makes this fun).
So let’s predict what the 26-man roster will look like come March 30.
Here’s part 1 of a two-part roster breakdown series: https://t.co/aVC9CawLIT
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) February 2, 2023
Katie knows better than to make predictions. Especially about the future… But I’ll go along with Katie regarding the last three names.
Haha!…I tried to click on to the link to see the remainder of Katie’s Redbird roster predictions and she wants me to pay $1.99 to see them…All these young and pretty girls are outright gold diggers…Haha!
No worries, BW. In fact, I’m almost certain I’ve attempted to read an article on that site in the past and had the precise experience. At any rate, I’ve been married for a minute or two and learned a long time ago that any time I’m dealing with a woman, she’s going to make me pay for it one way or another…Haha!
I will not be at all surprised if Woodford ( ERA+ 172 ) and Thompson ( ERA+ 186 ) are left behind when the team heads north.
Happy hour? It should be happy, happy, happy hour and then some. Which reminds me…Next thing you know MLB will be mandating new rules in an attempt to speed up happy hour…I say we need more, not less happy…Haha!
Katie, must not be of the belief that the best performing players should be on the team, regardless of the terrible contract situations… if the better pitchers are paid less, but offer better performance and chance of winning it should be a no brainer.
Here are her 8 guys in the pen: Listed in value order. w/last seasons ERA. I only listed ERA because
I think not allowing runs is the number 1 objective of a reliever, all the other stats are just stats.
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Helsley—–1.25
Gallegos—-3.05
Pallante—-3.17
Hicks——-4.84
Hudson——4.45
Cabrera—–4.63—Should be Thompson here.
Stratton—-2.78
VerHagen—-6.65—Should be Woodford here.
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Hicks, Hudson, Cabrera, VerHagen should be the players fighting for a spot;
not the guys who kicked butt last season, such as:
Thompson—-2.08
Woodford—-2.23
Romero——3.77Cardsfan. Your assessment is spot on, however the FO and Mgt will not admit to the contract mistakes they keep on making year after year. This is unfortunate for the younger guys who are performing.
I think Katie is probably thinking the same way, and her list includes this thought which seems to be well known by Cards fans. While its nice to have depth, the depth (AAA), should not be the guys who pitched very well last season. This is not how you reward a pitcher for doing his job; yet the guys that are on the list pitched very poorly last year.
(For the sake of the team I hope the FO admits the bad contracts and lets the guys who are pitching better, pitch.)The other side of the coin is that it is a very long season and many more pitchers will be needed beyond the eight in the pen on Opening Day. Younger players who have minor league options remaining are very important to provide the depth needed to get through 162 games. The challenge is finding the best balance to get you through six months, not just the first week.
Also remember these are projections before camp even opens. Setting this year’s roster based on last year’s results is not much more valid than setting it based on payroll or contracts. Hopefully every one of the players is coming to camp with the mindset that they have to earn a job. So let’s see how they do in Jupiter.
Last year’s results seem to always be one of the factors in setting this year’s roster. Too many times ST performances have over valued or under valued a player.
I agree, bccran. I always love to see the start of ST only because it signals the start of the end of a cold, dead winter and the start of a new season. In my view ST’s purpose serves to both get the established fellas back up to game speed and to get a few looks at the youngsters who haven’t yet sampled the Big Leagues. The latter is accomplished while playing contests that don’t count, of which I term practice games. It’s not at all unlike a military excercise in which no matter how well a soldier performs during that excercise, it remains to be seen how well he’ll perform when he’s exposed to live fire.
Haha! One of my oldest and best friends is ret. AF! He’s got it made. Lives about 50 miles from Ramstein. We’ve spent quite a bit of time visiting him over the last dozen or so years. I’ve watched Cardinal WS games with him in which 1st pitch was 3 am…Haha!
Now that’s a dedicated Cardinal fan, 1TD! Did you enjoy some
German liquid refreshment while you were there? The real Budweis beer? A Czech product.Bitburger was the leading brand in his area. I noticed that beer brands over there were regional to the extent to what could almost be termed beer jurisdictions…Haha! They take it pretty seriously. I spent quite a bit of time over there in my younger days as well. My first impression was that when I saw how much beer and wine they drank, I was astounded that there was any beer or wine left for the rest of the world…Haha!
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