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In 2022 the Rangers were 26 games under .500
On August 17, 2022, the Rangers fired President of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels.
On October 21, 2022, the Texas Rangers hired Bochy,
Regarding the Rangers example offered, context matters.
The last time prior to 2023 when the Rangers had a .500 or better record was 2016. That is six straight years of losing baseball. Three of those years, they were in last place. So, yeah, firings made sense.
The last time prior to 2023 when the Cardinals were NOT over .500 was 2007. The last time they finished in last place was 1990.
But you knew that already…
That is one way to look at it. Here is another.
Rangers in 2021= 42 games under .500
Rangers in 2022 =26 games under .500
net 16 games better = firing PBO and Mgr.
Rangers in 2023 = win WSCardinals in 2022 = 24 games over .500
Cardinals in 2023 = 20 games under .500
net 44 games worse = ???
Cardinals in 2024 – ???It is pretty easy to draw a straight line in any direction when you pick one data point, in this case, Y2Y change. If you honestly think the two situations are comparable, good for you.
This is a radical idea and one the Cardinals won’t do, but if you could get a boatload of good young pitching and maybe decent position player prospect in deals for Goldschmidt and Arenado, you could still field a decent lineup and most can catch the ball. Contreras and Herrera at catcher, an infield of Walker, Edman, Winn and Gorman, an outfield of Carlson, Nootbaar and Donovan, with Baker and Burleson the primary DHs.
It’s rolling the dice, but I think chances are greater than 50% we would be better in 2025, and beyond if, and this is a big if, we could primarily get good young pitchers who stay away from injuries, and fulfill their potential.
As it is, we are not going to do that and maybe the two veterans would not agree to a deal anyway. So we are left with probably bringing in an older pitcher or two via free agency, and maybe a trade or two, and continue the short-term-win approach.
Personally I think it is time to change the philosophy to a longer-term approach.
If Walker is playing 1stbase I hope and pray every throw to 1st hits him squarely in the chest. If not then it’s a crapshoot.
Anybody remember Matt Carpenter when he played 1stbase?
r/Esteemed Rat
BikeMike, yes, we could do that and still field a good team. That is what I have described as leveraging strength to address weakness. Instead, BillMo will apply a cheap bandaide that will fall off the first time it gets wet. Brian might be right. Bill may spend the next 5 years clutching the magic beans and rubbing Mo’s bald spot for luck.
I just read on MSN Sports where supposedly Blake Snell was asking people what it’s like to call St. Louis your baseball home. Apparently that came from Derrick Goold.
I’ve said before that I believe if there is a second year of decline or at least no improvement is shown, then changes will be made. I doubt anyone would reasonably expect five more years of status quo mediocrity. That is not realistic. If nothing else, the associated drop in value of the franchise due to a long decline would spur the businessman side of the owner into action.
Anybody remember Matt Carpenter when he played 1stbase?
Rat, he looked pretty good if you watched him play 1B the day after Jose Martinez played there. Where Carp was really scary was 2B.
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.
Actually, right now, the best D alignment is with Edman at SS and Walker at DH.
I like Donovan on a corner OF over Walker. I don’t understand forcing Walkers glove on the field every day, just DH him.
THIS.
The Donovan D upgrade, is greater when replacing Walker in the OF, not Gorman at 2B. That’s how I find my DH.
Agreed again.
My disconnect is how an analytics room gets behind Walker as an outfielder. Do we know who is driving this decision?
The Cardinals truly have one of the worst analytics departments in baseball. This is the same analytics team that tells Marmol that left-handed hitters can’t hit left-handed pitchers, even though all of our left-handed hitters hit left-handed pitchers better than their right-handed replacements, and Gorman was even better against left-handed pitching than right-handed pitching. FIRE THE ANALYTICS STAFF and bring in people who know how to analyze data!!!
This is a radical idea and one the Cardinals won’t do, but if you could get a boatload of good young pitching and maybe decent position player prospect in deals for Goldschmidt and Arenado, you could still field a decent lineup and most can catch the ball. Contreras and Herrera at catcher, an infield of Walker, Edman, Winn and Gorman, an outfield of Carlson, Nootbaar and Donovan, with Baker and Burleson the primary DHs.
That is a radical idea, but it is not good for several reasons. Walker was terrible at 3B. You can use baseball reference and compare his 3B fielding statistics to Juan Yepez’ 3B fielding statistics in the minors. Yepez was so bad at 3B, the Cardinals moved him off of 3B in his first year. Walker was just as bad, if not worse. Walker’s true position, like Juan Yepez, and like Jose Martinez before Yepez – is DH.
Baker should be DFA’d. Burleson should be traded for younger prospects. Both to “unclutter” the roster. But if I were keeping somebody as a backup 1B, it would be Burleson – not Baker, not Walker.
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.
I don’t understand this take. Gorman was right behind Tommy Edman by OAA. His success rate was actually higher than seven of the players above him (I have come to the conclusion that Statcast OAA has bias in how they calculate OAA, and thus rely more on their success % vs estimated success % than the OAA number).
Walker was way below average in RF.
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.
Except Walker couldn’t play 3B at all. Again, compare his 3B numbers with those of Juan Yepez. Do you want Juan Yepez at 1B? If the answer is no, then you don’t want Jordan Walker at 1B.
Winn is the team’s best defensive shortstop, hands down. If one believes Edman is the best SS in the field, it causes me to question other conclusions made as well.
I don’t believe error totals are an optimal way to compare defenders. Almost everyone who saw them play considers Yepez a poorer defender than Walker at any comparable position. Yepez turns 26 in the spring and has struggled with his weight. Walker is 21 and still learning. To draw that parallel is a very questionable stretch.
I don’t know OAA enough to defend or refute it. But what I will say is that especially with the banning of shifts, a greater premium has been placed on athletic second basemen who can cover large areas of the field.
Gorman is not that, nor is Donovan. Edman isn’t either, but his instincts are so good and he really studies positioning so he is clearly the best 2B they have. The problem is that he is also their best CF.
My interpretation of the “radical idea” offered above was to put Gorman at third, not Walker. Since Walker has never played first, I don’t see how anyone can project him to be a future failure there. Yet that is what some here are saying…
In that scenario, it seems that Winn is at short and Edman at second, but please correct me if I misunderstood.
P.S. I am not implying I believe for one second that the Cards will actually be trading Arenado and Goldy.
LA, I endorse non-tendering O’Niell, so I need Edman in CF and Winn at SS.
That doesn’t follow your “right now” context, but tomorrow it will 🙂
Arenado is signed through 2027, so any discussions of 3B are pretty shallow. 1B is a different story.
Goldy extended? Walker? Gorman? Burleson? Gomez? Nootbaar? Gorman might make the most sense. Or Burleson.Just one thing, these definitive takes on Walker’s defense are a little premature given his youth, his learning curve, and the sample size on those defensive stats.
I get that he made some bad plays out there, but once those get corrected, I believe his defense will even out.
This is true with Gorman and Donovan also in terms of sample size.
Repetition should help straighten out Walkers routes (literally).
I don’t see the ability to read the ball off the bat correctly, and get a good jump, consistently. That is outfielder 101, and you can find it with players at all levels. I don’t think Walker has it.
Looks like the A’s have been cleared to pack up and move to Las Vegas. For one reason or another it bothers me when sports teams abandon a city or a team changes it’s name. I still think the Expos belong in Montreal and that the Indians should be the Indians. And at one time, a Cowboys/Redskins matchup was the best game of any particular Sunday. In any event, if the Cardinals neglect to structure some type of effective leadership and continue to decline at an alarming rate, I can see them relocating to the Ft. Smith, Arkansas area.
The Rangers/diamondbacks 2022 seasons I referenced is more to show it does not take a total overhaul of the MLB roster to get pretty good pretty quick, if you can acquire the right players to fit into your roster….now whether Cardinal management can accomplish this in 1 year is another question
Moves will probably be made based upon positional depth.
Middle Infield – Winn, Edman, Gorman,
Donovan, Prieto, Saggese, Young, Kennedy, and Fermin. Who gets traded?Outfield – Walker, Edman, Nootbaar, O’Neill, Carlson, Burleson, Gomez, Yepez, Palacios, Scott, and Davis. Who gets traded?
Pitchers – Mikolas, Matz, Thompson, Liberatore, Hudson, Woodford, Roby,
Graceffo, McGreevy, Hjerpe, Mautz, Rajcic, Kloffenstein, Robberse, Rom, Hence, Hansen, and Bedell. Who gets traded?
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