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The Cards have called up Ali Sanchez and Brandon Dickson. Sanchez makes sense but Dickson? ERA is 9.58 and WHIP is 2.32. He’ll need to be added to the 40 man as well. What am I missing? Could it have something to do with service time? Tough to believe it’s based on performance.
We have been discussing that on the Affiliate Observations thread.
I am not sure what they are seeing in Dickson but the reports from Memphis must offer something more than the box scores. I wouldn’t imagine he would see any high leverage situations.
This is a true injustice to Woodford; who has been pitching very well in AAA, and can
actually offer something to the team. Dickson…who..? And why another catcher…to sit the bench..?
This are really both very illogical calls…unless somebody owes somebody…?It is a point in time. Odds are high there will be more roster moves over the final month.
On Dickson, I have no inside information, but I wonder if there was a pre-agreement to call him up for the final month. His results surely do not justify it.
Woodford may be better off with Memphis so he can remain stretched out in case a starter goes down (again). Also Oviedo is struggling.
A third catcher is pretty customary and was expected. The point is NOT to play the third catcher, but to enable the second catcher to play and still have one in reserve.
Good point Brian on Woodford.
I think with our long relief he could offer some help as well… Ponce just not looking good..!
I think they may call Jake up for either role, soon. Happ..?It seems the minor league season finishing end of September instead of end of August this year changed the call up strategy
Minors season ends middle of September, except for Triple-A. IMO, what changed the call up strategy is going from up to 15 additional players to just two maximum.
Yea I had forgot the change in call ups. I don’t personally like the change. I understand limiting it some, 15 is high but maybe 6. I also think it should vary by team to a certain extent. I see no reason the pirates who are out of it shouldn’t be allowed to get some of their younger guys up just to get some playing time.
My (unproven) theory is that owners funded the 26th man during the entire season with the savings gained by severely restricting September call ups. The two happened at the same time.
Cranny said:
“Wish they had called up Yepez. He’s earned a trip to St. Louis.”————————
And I could not agree more. Yepez was literally the hottest hitter in ALL of the minor leagues in August, and now he’s going to sit in Memphis while instead the Cards call up a third catcher — someone they’ve gotten along without all season long.
Here’s the Yepez portion from an article at MLB.com:
Cardinals: Juan Yepez, 1B (No. 27)
No one has mashed more than Yepez since the beginning of August. No, really. His .763 slugging percentage and 1.217 OPS over 24 games for Triple-A Memphis each lead all full-season Minor League qualifiers since Aug. 1. Eighteen of his 29 hits have gone for extra bases in that span (seven homers, 11 doubles), and he’s accomplished all that while walking more times (14) than he’s struck out (13). Yepez has primarily played first base since joining Memphis, putting him behind Paul Goldschmidt on the depth chart, but he’s certainly hitting enough to get attention from St. Louis brass.
———————-
Only three teams in the National League have scored fewer runs than the Cardinals this year. They need hitting, badly. The club is 2.5 games out of a playoff spot, and just one game in the loss column. So each game matters a lot. Yepez has been excellent all year, tremendous since his promotion to Triple-A, and absolutely otherworldly in August. Therefore this guy HAS TO be on the team right now.
I cannot imagine any possible intelligent justification for preferring a 3rd-string, no-bat backstop, when Yepez (who is only 23 and might, just might actually be a capital H Hitter) is hotter than a firecracker. For heaven’s sake, haven’t we seen enough already of the Cardinal front office underestimating the organization’s own hitters?!
On top of everything else, as cranny stated, Juan has earned this promotion. He’s earned it in spades.
If Yepez were called up he would be a bat off the bench unless you are going to sit Goldschmidt. No telling how he would do in that role. Looking back through his career game logs, he is a first baseman and not really a utility defender, although he knows where a third baseman is supposed to stand, so you could sit Arenado instead. He hit .350 in august and .230 in July, so its not like he is a guaranteed masher, but he has been a pretty good hitter throughout his minor league career. It’s too bad we couldn’t audition him for DH this month. It will be interesting to see if Spring training shows us .230 Yepez or .350 Yepez.
Also, he’s been a pro for a while, when do we need to put him on the 40 man?
Yepez needs added for 2 reasons because he would become a minor league free agent and would be Rule 5 eligible.
I had also mentioned his Rule 5 status in the article on the home page. Yepez was eligible last December, but hadn’t done enough to need to be protected. That has obviously changed.
Is it better for Yepez to get regular at bats at Memphis or sit on the bench in St. Louis? He won’t be playing 1B in St. Louis. He won’t be playing 3B in St Louis. Schildt is still the manager so the OF is set. There’s no where to play in St. Louis.
Speaking of Rule 5, is there still going to be a minor league phase? I wonder if it will have added significance now, with the way guys are being beamed up and handfuls of Indy guys filling out upper level rosters.
It seems the minor league season finishing end of September instead of end of August this year changed the call up strategy
None of our affiliates have a winning record so they really don’t have a need to hang onto certain players in September for a playoff push like we have seen in the past.
Would like to see how Yepez could do against major league pitching. If he does well, he could compete for the LF job. If he wins it, TO moves to CF.
So after 8 seasons in Japan, Dickson comes back and pitches in relief in 11 games at Memphis. In those 11 games, he pitches 10 1/3 innings and gives up 20 hits, 13 runs (11 earned), walks 4, and strikes out only 5. And he’s promoted over guys like Woodford? I don’t get it. Does anyone see any logic?
Like Brian mentioned, the September call up might have been part of Dickson’s deal. It seems like after flat lining in Memphis we could have just paid him for the month and sent him packing. If we didn’t leave ourselves that option, we just keep getting stupider.
I think Woodford will be brought up now. JR is hurt, Ponce and Dickson did not look very good at all…!
blingboy asked:
Speaking of Rule 5, is there still going to be a minor league phase?
Well, there was in 2020 despite there having been no minor league baseball played. So there should be no change this year. What happens under a new CBA after that is anyone’s guess.
In that case, maybe we could pick up a handful of organization guys to help fill out the ranks. This year was an embarrassment.
Bob, am I to understand Fernandez is goin on IL?
Yepez has to be in the majors. Even if it’s just to bat once a game as a pinch-hitter.
I’m not suggesting he could beat out any one specific player in the lineup right now. But I am absolutely convinced that he is a vastly superior hitter to Sanchez — a guy the MLB team didn’t need all year, and doesn’t need now.
That’s what it comes down to. It’s not a matter of whether Yepez should dislodge a starting Cardinal from the daily lineup. It’s a matter of whether he has more potential than a no-hit backstop to somehow, someway help the big club win an extra game over the final month. As a group, Redbird pinch-hitters are batting .186 with a .649 OPS. And Yepez might be a lot better than that, right now.
I am surprised this idea is meeting any resistance at all, frankly. How well would he have to be hitting in AAA to warrant the promotion, guys? Overall he’s got a 1.000 OPS for Memphis, and it’s 1.200+ over the past month! He’s not guaranteed to hit, nothing is ever guaranteed. But he’s earned at least a handful of at-bats, and heaven knows the team needs a shot in the arm, offensively, even if just in the pinch-hitting role.
Remember when the Cardinal front office used to be regularly praised by their young players, because they promoted guys based on their success in the minors? “Play well for the Cards and they’ll get you some MLB playing time,” is what used to be said. Stranding Yepez in AAA is the exact opposite of that. It’s not just weird, it’s weirdly unjust.
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