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It will be interesting to see how the top 20 differs or not from the community’s top 20. I’m sure Brian and Blake mostly got it right. 😉
At no. 19 in The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 #STLCards prospect countdown is a switch-hitting shortstop who excelled in the 2022 DSL but Jonathan Mejia found the going much tougher as an 18-year-old in the US last season. ($) https://t.co/b6cCQq23mz pic.twitter.com/9ABULMOZuq
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 22, 2023
The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 prospect countdown reaches no. 18 with the #STLCards' 3rd rounder and 3rd college lefty drafted in 2022. Pete Hansen had an All-Star 2023 but will need to continue to refine his secondaries as he moves into High-A and beyond. ($) https://t.co/jQDYTVdvEF pic.twitter.com/pZCLyOs4n8
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 23, 2023
It will be interesting to see how the top 20 differs or not from the community’s top 20. I’m sure Brian and Blake mostly got it right.
Brian & Blake are good, Bling…..very very good. But with the community’s historically splendid Top 50 Prospect track record, how could one not keep an extremely watchful eye on the community’s proceedings? I have little doubt that how the community voted definitely enters the equation when both of these fine gentlemen are discussing their individual selections. Check this intercepted text out:
Blake: We both love Saggese here, but the community likes him 3 spots higher, Brian. We better re-think this.
Brian: Yeah I’m well aware that these guys absolutely kill it every year, but you know the odds of probability say that one of these years……one of these years, they’re bound to be off the mark.
Blake: I wouldn’t count on it.
Brian: Yeah it just chaps my arse how darn proficient these guys are. We should be the ones setting the standards around here, Blake!
Blake: For sure. They’re all excellent, but you know who really grates my nerves? That darn Bobby Reed. How does he nail his picks to such perfection almost every year and then rub it in with such eloquent reasoning!
Brian: Yeah I hear you, Blake. If we weren’t such good guys, we would have given him the royal boot long ago. Ok, so the community has Saggese #2 and we like him at #5. What do we do?
Blake: We have to be careful not to come across as copycats, so we can’t put him at #2……how does #3 sound?
Brian: #3 it is. Want to do lunch today?
Hansen should get hold of every bit of video of John Tudor he can, memorize every bit and try to do that, be a successful lefty without a high power arm or nasty stuff. Maybe try to track him down and get some advice. I just don’t have faith in the current Cardinals system being able to develop that kind of guy. The pitchability types further up the system are not much inspiration. I know the game is changed, but I refuse to believe you can’t do anything with good command of various pitches and an understanding of changing speed. Tudor lasted a long time before blowing out his arm at the end. Potential longevity is an attribute. It takes a while to master the art.
Pugs – We appreciate you intercepting that conversation. Glad to know you always have the inside track!
Make sure you bookmark that conversation. We might be more persistent than you think! 😉
That reminds me. It has been quite a while since Pugs’ most notable interpretive conversation reproduction ever. It has been about 10 years since he broke the mold. It must have been late one night after considerable holiday libations when he posted his interpretation of a long conversation among prominent members of the board that was a whole different shade of off-color than we had seen before, or since, thankfully!
Ranked no. 17 in The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 #STLCards prospect countdown is one of the starting pitchers acquired at the deadline. 23-year-old RH Adam Kloffenstein had a nice Triple-A debut with Memphis and secured a spot on the 40-man roster. ($) https://t.co/BwXI4ZlX4M pic.twitter.com/zBOw9DpYiP
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 24, 2023
Perhaps, but we have eight more pitching prospects yet to come in the countdown. It would be great to be that wrong…
Curious why you think the Cards will be divesting themselves of any of their top pitching prospects in the short term when they just had a major focus to add more prospect pitching depth? Who and how and why?
I think Mo wants at least one high end ML proven reliever. I think he also may want an accomplished ML level ‘swing man’ type for the pen. Possibly he may also want an outfielder. You don’t get quality without giving up quality. So I think high end but not ML ready prospects are the trade goods.
And based on your earlier comment, you think prospect PITCHERS may be included in these trades. Are you thinking homegrown guys or ones they acquired in July are candidates?
Merry Christmas! 16th in The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 #stlcards prospect countdown is a 2022-drafted lefty. Brycen Mautz looks to add a third effective pitch to his sinker/slider combination as he moves up in competition. ($) https://t.co/zw96fIU8dB pic.twitter.com/QzsJ9dHcZ7
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 25, 2023
Merry after-Christmas! In a FREE article, TCN’s 2024 #STLCards prospect countdown reaches no. 15 with a talented RHP who put injuries in the past in his standout 2023. Drafted in 2020, Ian Bedell has the stuff, but needs to move ahead quickly after 3 years in A-ball.… pic.twitter.com/KicHhXyFGF
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 26, 2023
And based on your earlier comment, you think prospect PITCHERS may be included in these trades. Are you thinking homegrown guys or ones they acquired in July are candidates?
Ultimately, who goes would depend upon what a prospective trading partner wants in exchange for what Mo wants to acquire. I don’t think any of them are sacred cows in the sense that Walker or Arenado are. (And yes, I genuflected when I mentioned their names) But in general, I think Mo has been collecting prospect level pitchers because he is not satisfied with the ones we already had. Add to that the fact that it would take pretty good prospects to get pretty good ML proven help. I process all that and it seems like some high level prospects we have an attachment to are going to be shipped out. In particular, I think the clutter of candidates for the AA and AAA rotations will be thinned out. So there will be new faces in the pen, and I am thinking more than one, which will reduce the pen slots for former rotation hopefuls who couldn’t stick. That, in some cases, will increase the line for a spot on the AAA pitching staff. The numbers are a strength. Not top shelf numbers, but competent with possible upside numbers. The number of prospect pitchers is now a stregnth, and Mo has to use strength to address weakness.
The Cardinal Nation’s 2024 #STLCards prospect countdown reaches no. 14 with a July-acquired RHP from Toronto. Sem Robberse has two plus secondary offerings but needs to get more from his fastball and improve his command. ($) https://t.co/e9ahlEKQ6K pic.twitter.com/pJUmObLrZb
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) December 27, 2023
It feels like the next few slots may be position players, either catchers or OF. That is, if TCN follows closely to our Community picks.
Very good guess, cf64!
The only correction I would make is that our list was done first. It just wasn’t announced. 😉
I finished my list once I got a final look at guys at the AFL and Blake had his list to me in early November. Then we started writing.
(Back a few years, the community started around Labor Day and were done soon enough their/your list could be incorporated into the site’s Top 50.)
I think the BJs had a AA pitcher who wasn’t likely to snag a spot on their 40 man, so they got something for him. He sure landed with the right organization. Acbracada poof, he’s a AAA starter with a 40 man slot. It could pan out, but he needs to throw more strikes while simultaneously getting hit around less. So we will have to see how that goes.
Bling, entering 2023, Sem Robberse was the Blue Jays #14 prospect. He had a very good season at AA at a very young age and got traded. Now he’s also the Cardinals #14 prospect on TCN and we protected him. Why do you believe the Blue Jays would have discarded him?
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