- This topic has 2,485 replies, 69 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Yeah 4Ev, I’m now watching because it’s my summer routine to relax and catch the game every evening. I enjoy watching Big League baseball and the Cardinals in particular. The Redbirds are my all time favorite team in any sport and I hold them in the highest esteem, but I still place them behind the game of baseball itself. I’m now just looking on the sunny side in the sense that it’s summer time as opposed to the dead of winter and I’m thankful there’s a game every day. Who knows? They could make a little run and be competitive, but if they don’t, I’ll just look forward to watching the post-season without them and try to be hopeful for next season. What else can you do?
or those in lockstep agreement with him don’t last long.
gscott (or anyone), Maybe I need another cup of coffee, but this phrase in the BenFred quote is not registering with me. Help me out, explanation or example would be good!
Yeah I am sure he meant “not in lockstep”.
It seems that is the tone set by Marmol. Maybe I am being hyper-critical here, but I never see Marmol show emotion – well, let’s say I rarely see it. He sits there without any leadership instincts.
I view his personality a little differently. He seems to be a bit of a passive aggressive hothead to me. He can go from robotic to screaming at an ump in a matter of seconds. I think he has already been ejected six times in less than a year and a half on the job.
I thought Shildt was a hothead too.
As far as games going forward, I’m now just watching for entertainment value, not in any misplaced hope they’ll make the playoffs.
CRS4E, this is a good way to maintain yourself as a fan. I’ve really enjoyed the diversion NCAA baseball has provided the last two weeks, and pretty much just followed the Cards by reading summaries and these threads after the games. Timing has been good for me given the Cards’ current slump. Really looking forward to Omaha coming up.
Speaking of the NCAA, those kids play with passion, joy and heartbreak. They don’t hold back. It leads to the occasional over the top stuff for my tastes, but overall it is great to see. I get it, a lot of these guys are playing the last few competitive games of their lives.
Another thing is those college umps make even the bad MLB umps look halfway competent when it comes to calling balls/strike. I think they are atrociously bad and I am a neutral fan on about all the games. Calling balls and strikes on pitches moving up to 100 mph, plus spinning up, down, sideways, etc., is a really hard thing for humans to get right.
Assuming we keep up this winning percentage and others around us do the same, we’d tie for our all time best draft pick next year at #3. We’ve never picked higher than 3rd. And boy oh boy did we make a franchise changing pick last time in 1996 when they selected Braden Looper. So we may have that hope to look forward to . . .
But honestly, I would like to see them trade Yepez and Gomez for any kind of value we can get just to move them off the 40 man. Either could become the next Adolis Garcia but I’m willing to let someone else take that bet. I think we also need to trade away Montgomery and/or Flaherty if things aren’t better in 30 days. Hicks and Stratton can also go. All 4 of those are solid pitchers, but they are all free agents to be. And they all have some modest value right now where we could get some good prospects, especially if a team took 2 at once. Paul DeJong can also go if we can get a decent prospect by paying most of his salary to play elsewhere. I think I’d hold on to everyone else unless an overwhelming offer comes along (either because we’d be selling too low or we need the help next year). I guess I’d consider Edman or Goldschmidt if the deal really made long-term sense. Losing Goldschmidt both creates and solves problems.
Flores is pretty good with the draft. If we have a top 5 pick I would expect to get a difference maker.
Yeah it makes sense to trade the players on expiring contracts that you mentioned. To be candid there really shouldn’t be too many untouchables on this team but I don’t expect the Cardinals to do anything bold. That isn’t their style. I would still like to see them shed some of their plethora of DH-only types so we can get back to playing some actual defense.
Who would’ve ever thought that publicly throwing a player under the bus could cause him to lose confidence?
It’s a bad sign when we have Edman in center, which forces us to start the slumping Dejong. Why not try Donovan at shortstop? As bad as we are why aren’t we making changes?
I would like to hold onto Baker if I can. Obviously if someone offers more than he’s worth to us, then sell. But I doubt he’d be valued high at all so I wouldn’t mind keeping him as a late inning pinch hitter who does some DH work and who gets a shot at 1B when Goldschmidt leaves after next season. Baker is actually pretty good defensively at 1B. He’s worked really hard at it.
But yeah, we need to clear a few bat first guys. That’s why I went with Yepez and Gomez. I’m confident Walker won’t eternally be a bat only guy. So then the only ones I’m hanging onto are Baker and Burleson. For Burleson, everyone always needs some left handed bats who can hit. And both of those guys have several option years left if they need a tune up at Memphis.
I’m convinced that this is now a full rebuild – from the POBO / GM, to the manager, to the roster.
3 years from now there may not be a single player or coach left in the organization that’s in the dugout tonight.
We need a new POBO / GM who will then have to hire his own people, tear this roster down, and rebuild it from the ground up.
It’s gonna take a few years to do it and clock won’t start until Mo is gone AND a good baseball man is hired to replace him.
The system doesn’t seem to be any good at developing home grown coaches, how could that be? Marmol, Blake and Ward all need to go. Holliday owes a lifetime of steak dinners to whoever warned him off.
ZTR, you are correct. Removing the manager would be a symbolic move. It would throw some red meat to the fans who demand it but to really change the direction and culture the front office needs to be cleaned out since they make 95% of the decisions. Stubby and Skippy aren’t going to save us.
I just don’t think DeWitt will do it though. He likes continuity not change. A bunch of empty seats is probably the only thing that will get his attention.
I remember when I felt like Mike Maddux may have been a part of the problem. After seeing what happened here and what’s been going on in Texas, I’m gonna have to eat some crow. Maddux was a miracle worker and we blindly let him go. Ok, we didn’t really let him go as he walked on his own, yet I wish we had made a better offer.
I agree stl25. Losing Maddux and Yadi has obviously led to the cratering of our pitching staff more than we could have imagined. Think about it, last year we won 93 games with the same manager and basically the same pitching staff except for two months of Quintana. What is different? No Maddux and Yadi to hold things together with duck tape.
Yep, it’s ugly. At this point we basically need a #1, 3 and 5 starter this offseason to even get back into the mix of a potential playoff staff. That will likely cost us some combo of players and $50+M, which Dewitt will never approve. Thus, we will be stuck as a 2nd division team for several years. It’s depressing.
This feels like a year you could buy AND sell. I mean at some point you are what your record says you are, but with some luck the market might come to the Cards. They have a good mix of guys you could sell on and prospects that you can move on from. The trade chips I could see are: O’Neill (certainly a sell low), Dejong (particularly if he heats back up), Montgomery (probably their best trade chip), Flaherty (one of the LA teams would buy on him), Herrera (good value and good players in front and behind him), Stratton, Hicks, Cabrerra (teams always need relievers), Yepez, Gomez, and Baker (Big Bats, blocked that could have value to someone). They could even look to check in on a big name ace controllable past this year and consolidate some names like Carlson, Edman, and/or Donovan if that sets you up for next year.
To me the Cardinals line up well with the Marlins, Guardians, Angels and Dodgers for trades and with some creativity could turnover their rotation AND set up for the future. They have the prospects and controllable talent to go out and get a Bieber and/or Luzardo/Cabrerra, but will they?
Having said all that I don’t think Mo and Dewitt are going to go that route and I’m not sure they are going to go out and get the ace they need this year or next year. Banking on one of the propsects doesn’t seem to be working either.
Arenado implies the Cardinals are not at the same talent level as some of their competitors. We know it, and so do the players, though he was very careful in how he said it.
Thought this quote from Nolan Arenado within this story was especially telling when gauging where the Cardinals are compared to others. #STLCards https://t.co/YbblEJhx1f pic.twitter.com/5v863cY9D1
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) June 15, 2023
Here are excerpts from Ben Hochman’s most recent article in the P-D.
Honestly, if the Cardinals made the playoffs but didn’t at least reach the National League Championship Series, I would’ve called this season a failure. So this? My goodness, this is an abomination. And a slap to the face of Cardinals Nation.
The blame? It starts with chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., goes to John Mozeliak and the front office, and down to the manager, his staff and, of course, the players. The players must take a lot of the blame. Sure, the executives could’ve paid for some better players. But the players on the roster were still good enough to have, you know, a winning team. Instead, St. Louis is 15 games under .500. The Rockies aren’t even that bad!
The team is firing off mixed messages — Patience! Urgency! — and little is changing on the field, except for which aspect of the team is the culprit for the latest loss.
But it starts with starting pitching.
The Cardinals were confident in their five. They doubled down on their five. And now Matz is in the bullpen and the starters have baseball’s 21st-best ERA. And 29th-best swing-and-miss percentage. And only four teams in baseball have fewer quality starts than the Cardinals’ 16.
Meanwhile, the bullpen is tied for the most blown saves in the National League (15).
And since May 21, the Cardinals haven’t won any of their seven series — and the offense has the 25th-best OPS in baseball. And as seen in the very first play of Wednesday’s game — when shortstop Paul DeJong couldn’t come up with a hot grounder — the defense has been deflated.
People are saying they should fire Marmol. I don’t think they should fire Marmol. A firing could fire up the players for the short-term, sure. But it’s not a good long-term plan — the Cardinals don’t need a fourth manager in six seasons. What the Cardinals need is the Cardinals to start playing like the Cardinals. Because right now, they sure look like a lot of Rockies out there.
June:
We are 2-10
We have allowed 62 runs in 12 games
We have a WHIP of 1.572
An ops+ allowed of 116We have proven we can lose with our stars. SELL.
C Kiz
1B Walker
2B Donovan
3B Gorman
SS Edman
CF Carlson
RF NootSP Libby
These are the only players that have my interest during games. The rest can be gone. Turn the page.
jj, I agree that Goldschmidt and Arenado should not be on the keepers list. They are win now guys which is no longer a fit for where this team is.
Mr. DeWit needs to accept that Mo has led the organization over a cliff. The operational philosophy has failed. He has to start over from the top down. I guess there is a question of whether, at this point in his life, and at his age, is he up to that? I am not sure if he is. But that is what it will take. An organizational tear down and rebuild, starting at the top. It will be futile to allow the current regime to execute a rebuild of the MLB roster because the regime is the problem and the MLB roster is only a consequence of the problem.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.