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As Jerry Modene used to say, this isn’t fantasy baseball. Gorman is not an MLB outfielder.
It could be a disaster to try to make him into one on the fly. We saw the downside of that with Walker, who had a half-year in the minors to work on the OF before being thrown into the fire in the majors. And Walker is a better athlete than Gorman.
Let’s be realistic, please.
If we view Walker / Noot as OF constants, it’s deciding on the best D alignment choices for Edman & Gorman.
The best D alignment will follow Edman. If he pushes Noot to RF, the OF looks much better. If he replaces Gorman at 2B so does the IF.
But that’s now.
Scott as an everyday CF eventually, could potentially see Noot and Walker on the corners, with Gorman / Winn up the middle. Where they are positioned now.
I’m glad we have two seasons of Edman, while Winn & Scott get established, but overall, I’d rather not shuffle Noot and Gorman around.
Good discussion topic.
Brian, in what sense is Walker a ML outfielder and Gorman isn’t? I am thinking by the end of ST Gorman would be functionally equivalent. Or by April at least.
Why do you think Gorman could adapt quicker than Walker? He is older, has had some injuries and is less athletic.
Not counting training camps, Walker already has 1,329 professional innings in the OF to date and he is not yet considered by many to be average. Gorman has zero innings.
So you want the 2024 Cardinals to be breaking in a totally green corner outfielder? I see absolutely no reason to take that risk. They have plenty of other options that are more palatable defensively.
Again, I do not see this as realistic. You have given me no reason to change my mind. (That he couldn’t be worse than Walker is funny, but not an answer for the real world.)
Walker = lousy glove and routing, good bat. Bat gets the nod. Walker needs to improve his D game to be considered an elite ballplayer. Still very young so there’s time to up his outfield play.
It doesn’t seem out of the question. Alternatives are Carlson who couldn’t get regular play when everyone else was hurt, or a UT, or Palacios, or Burleson. If they can talk themselves into Walker, they can talk themselves into Gorman.
I like Donovan on a corner OF over Walker. I don’t understand forcing Walkers glove on the field every day, just DH him.
It doesn’t seem out of the question for you, bling. How about the Cardinals? What indication is there that anyone with any responsibility thinks Gorman to the OF is a good idea?
To find out if that plan could work, send Gorman to winter ball right now and then to the minors next season to learn to play the OF. And if it doesn’t work, no MLB games are lost as a result while better outfielders are either on the bench or playing at other positions.
I think your earlier idea of trading Gorman is about 200% more likely than this.
To me, if one is willing to tie up the DH spot for one player, it would make infinitely more sense to put Gorman there over Walker.
Walker, Gorman, Donovan.
The Donovan D upgrade, is greater when replacing Walker in the OF, not Gorman at 2B. That’s how I find my DH.
Both Gorman and Walker are out of position. One looks lost, the other looks mlb average. I don’t know which of the three is the best athlete, I just want the two best fielders of the three to start in the field every day.
If Walker were DH, he’d still start 81 games. The OF never stays healthy. But when you can, daily…..DH the worst fielder.
Walker getting nearly everyday reps in the OF seems like a bad plan going into 2024 to me, but not surprising considering some of the takes we’ve seen from the Cards in recent years. They need to be flexible here, i.e., need to have an alternate plan they are willing to execute not too far into the season if Walker’s defensive play turns out to be more of the same.
You really need net positive WAR from top prospects and Babe Ruth might have a hard time doing that with the glove Walker’s toting in the OF.
I get that some think Walker in the OF is hopeless (I don’t feel that way), but I lose the connected logic that suggests Gorman would be better out there. That is a wing and a prayer.
My disconnect is how an analytics room gets behind Walker as an outfielder. Do we know who is driving this decision? Field staff? FO? Owner?
I don’t fault them for giving Walker in RF a try and with current roster there isn’t a real good plan B. But if we’re in a tight race it will cost us. Why he wasn’t moved to OF sooner, and why he didn’t get a year in AAA is another issue.
A background matter is an assumption that Walker and Gorman could play ML 3B everyday, which I am not convinced of.
Bling, why is 3B a “background matter” for either player? If Arenado is hurt, Donovan is the next man up, not Walker or Gorman.
We seem to be chasing some really low odds scenarios today…
Eye ball test, Gorman was actually pretty decent at 2B. I might have missed a previous statement, but a power hitting LH bat at 2nd base. Sign me up.
The underlying assumption is in both cases they were moved only because they were blocked and would have 3B to fall back on, here or somewhere else. That may not be the case. As long as they hit enough, corner OF or DH might be what there is. Except in Mo’s pretend world. The one where Walker is a ML outfielder.
I am not in the DH Walker camp at all. I’m going to go out on the crazy tree limb here and say that unless Edman is in CF this year, Walker will be our best outfielder in 2024.
Call that my bold prediction. Speaking of those, how did we do on last year’s bold predictions?
The Cards have a history of converting third baseman to outfielders. Reference Piscotty. It’s probably because of their overall athleticism, their quick reflexes, and their strong arm. My only reason for suggesting that the Cardinals work out Gorman in the outfield in the off season in Jupiter is to put Edman at 2B where he not only belongs, but helps create one of the best defensive infields in MLB. The other reason is that it would create power at the corner outfield positions. Would Gorman be ready to play OF regularly in 2024? No. But they could work toward that end in 2025. About the time Scott arrives. Just a thought.
I’m thinking that Walker is heir apparent to first base. He was drafted as a third baseman, so it seems reasonable that he could play first. The reasons he’s in the outfield now are that they don’t have an opening for him at 1B (or 3B), and that they don’t want to saddle him with the notion that all he’s good for is DH. He probably should have been playing first base at Memphis in 2023, but what message would that have sent to Goldschmidt? No thanks. Besides, if Walker were playing first at Memphis, we would have missed Luken Baker’s breakout.
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