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7:15 p.m.
RHP Kyle Gibson (1-2, 6.16) vs. RHP Freddy Peralta (2-0, 2.55)
BSM // KMOX // WIJR
Also BS Southeast and SouthwestGoing against the RHP I assume Gorman will be in the lineup. If the over/under on him striking out is 1.5 which are you taking? I will take the over.
I don’t understand why they don’t do something about Gorman and all of his strikeouts. In 74 plate appearances he has struck out 26 times. Career wise his strikeout rate is about 33%. I guess I don’t understand why he isn’t sent back to Memphis and told once he quits striking out all the time he will get called up again.
Rats, the way strikeouts are looked at in today’s game is different from what you remember. Gorman is 11th in MLB in K rate. Not good but hardly unique.
I agree he should be moved down in the lineup, but the thought of sending him down to Triple-A is silly. He is tied for the team lead in HRs and is two behind a share of the team lead in RBI. Do you really put more weight on strikeouts than run production?????
I know you don’t care about advanced stats and don’t want to learn about them, but his BABIP of .256 suggests some bad luck on batted balls that should balance out over time.
P.S. The last guy you were fretting about, Arenado, has his average up to .299. As a reminder, today is April 18, 19 games into the season.
Gorman is 11th in all of MLB in K rate? That’s bad. I would guess there are between 250 and 300 qualified batters on the entire list?
We will start to find out this weekend how we stack up in the division. The NL Central appears to have improved from top to bottom – the Cardinals did get better but did everybody else also improve?
ZTR, there are 188 batters on the list so Gorman is in the top 6%. Joey Gallo leads MLB at 43.1% and two others are whiffing at a rate over 40%.
As Chris Welsh, the Reds announcer, said on a broadcast a couple of years ago in Milwaukee:
“It used to be embarrassing to strikeout….”
Way too early to put much emphasis on a series, but this one is a little more important than a typical early season set. Get swept and the sense is we may be out of it before April ends. Drop two and it is sort of ho-hum, same team as last year.
Take two or especially sweep, and the confidence jumps and the feeling is this club is going to be tough once all the pieces are in place.
My prediction is we will lose two of three. Only the Son y game will be a winner.
Oh, and Gorman doesn’t bother me nearly as much as Scott. Scott is sort of a position player version of Jordan Hicks – the organization is not bringing him along like they should. Hopefully Victor comes along in the minors and learns to use his speed there, and is prepared once he is back in the bigs. For now, management just lets him flounder with apparently no cause for alarm.
I break the 162 games into thirds.
There are 54 games you are going to lose now matter what. There are 54 games you are going to win no matter what.
It’s how many of those 54 remaining games that are ‘in the balance’ so to speak that you win or lose that tells the tale of your season.
That’s how I look at it.
Both are approved to start “baseball activity” but it doesn’t seem like either is that close. Current estimates (which don’t really mean anything) have Carlson as mid-May and Edman at end of May.
Carpenter and Middleton look to be closest to being back as they are both starting to ramp up. Carlson is swinging off a tee and may have started some soft toss. Edman has been approved to start swinging off a tee but I’m not sure if that has happened yet. The issue for him is that if he still has pain, then the process just gets shut down again. With O’Brien, I think he’s just shut down waiting for a designated period of time to pass before he starts throwing again.
Back to Gorman for a second, if you don’t play him then you have to put Donovan at second, and play some combination of Scott, Burleson, Walker and Siani.
Gorman is not exactly tearing it up, but he is at least at replacement level – a 0.0 WAR. All four of those outfielders are in minus WAR territory. So may as well keep Gorman in there for his defense, and potential on offense at least until one of those guys shows a greater ability to contribute.
If you compare the strikeouts from 2023 with the strikeouts from 1985 there is a big jump. Allowing for the fact that there are three more teams in 2023 (Miami, Colorado, Arizona) there is about a 6,000 difference in strikeouts.
That is a lot of strikeouts. I keep asking the question – is our hitting approach wrong? What are they being taught in the minors with regards to hitting and contact?
As the Reds announcer Chris Welsh also said a couple of years ago on a broadcast from Milwaukee…..
“Nowadays all everybody wants to do is slug….”r/Esteemed Rat
The thing that makes Gorman seem worse than he is is his batting order position. All those strike outs should be down in the order. 6th at least. Better 7th or 8th.
He can put a charge on a ball when he ties in, but he is not a good hitter.
Comparing teams and stats from different eras is not all that meaningful. Let’s compare apples to apples, not 40 years ago (Whiteyball era for the Cardinals) to today. The game just isn’t played the same.
In MLB for 2024 YTD, the Cardinals are 13th in K rate, or just about the middle of the pack. I wish this was their biggest problem, but it isn’t.
Among teams with a higher strikeout rate than the Cardinals right now are the Dodgers (generally considered the best team in the game) and Phillies.
Well, here it is, Thursday night. Storms and hail and rain and wind and a possible tornado is forecast for SW Indiana late tonight. I guess I will be watching the Arizona at San Francisco game tonight from Candlestick Park. Me and Whitey will be on the couch, tuning in. Weather permitting, of course.
My late din-din will be a Bologna sandwich with cheese, some Onion Rings with Blossom Sauce, an ice cold Slushy Mt. Dew, and a couple of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Then a couple of 7×50 Palma Real President Cigars while we finish out the game.
r/Esteemed Rat
Gorman is by far one of our highest ceiling players. And I agree with leaving him parked at second base. Still, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching a player strikeout at such a high rate. I would be thrilled if he could keep it around 30%. And I think it’s less impactful with him lower in the lineup. 6th is a pretty sweet spot for him. E
So far Goldschmidt is a bigger problem than Gorman. He has struck out almost as many times, and has a -0.2 WAR. Putting him and Gorman at 2 and 3 has been a drag on the lineup.
Both should be more in the 6-7 area while they are struggling. But Ollie tends to be more of a push-button manager and does not seem to look at trends and how a player is performing. He goes by history and potential with some guys, and tends to make the younger guys earn their place before putting them in a prime hitting spot.
Yes. In baseball, players can be streaky. We are more than 10% into the season now. Until Goldschmidt and Gorman start hitting, they should be moved lower in the lineup.
And nobody’s feelings should be hurt, either.
Do you want to win, or hit #2 in the order?
Anxious to see the lineup that bling puts out for us.
And din-din today is a trip to the Amish restaurant north of town that sits on the lake. Lakeview is what its called. Catfish Fiddlers, mashed potatoes/gravy, noodles, green beans, dressing, sweet iced tea, and some vanilla soft serve ice cream for dessert. A couple of 7×50 Palma Real Presidente cigars will be enjoyed during the game tonight.
r/Esteemed Rat
Yes, these guys are professionals and should understand that they are not guaranteed a prime spot in the batting order. The manager needs to optimize the order based on pitching match up and recent trends.
Quite a feast for din-din there Rat – what is on tap for the late snack? Back when I was a teenager, one summer I got i to this mode where literally around midnight I would sneak out to the kitchen when everyone else was a asleep, and make a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches.
Can’t eat late like that anymore as I could never sleep, but as a teen I was hungry all the time it seemed.
Grilled cheese is what I’m having tonight since Lady Bling is gone visiting relatives. I put dill pickle slices in there on top of the cheese before I fry it up. I’ve got a can of peaches and for later a bag of microwave popcorn. Still waiting for the lineup.
Chances are that Goldy will heat up as we move into the warmer months. He usually does, however, I agree that father time gets us all eventually and he shouldn’t receive special treatment. I wouldn’t mind seeing him hit 6th and Gorman 7th but Oli doesn’t seem inclinced to do it.
The main problem is that we don’t have enough hitters hitting that well. Winn, Contreras, and Herrera seem to be our best hitters at the moment. Arenado has a nice average but he has basically been a singles hitter. An OPS of .724 isn’t that great for a $32M cleanup hitter.
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