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Bling – you said the other day that baseball should be played as 162 sprints rather than 1 long marathon. So I can see why you are on the “powder puff” side. I couldn’t disagree with you more on this. I’ve seen tons of evidence of players playing better after a day off and players playing worse when they are used heavily. Plus, what if Helsley goes out in the 2nd game and pitches and gets hurt or even just develops some extra soreness. Now you lose him for a week or two or maybe a month. All for 1 game. Baseball is 162 games long and recognizing that and building a strategy around winning the most total games over that period is sometimes about sacrificing one game to be better for the next 5-10 games. This is often why we see youthful teams like the Pirates come out of the gate strong this season only to fall apart when they get tired or hurt and have to deal with adversity. Anyway, that’s my perspective and we’ll have to agree to disagree. But there could come a time when it swings too far and becomes “powder puff”. I just don’t think we’re there at all. Not throwing Helsley again was good even if we lost that game yesterday because he’s now still in top shape for the next series.
I believe the Cardinals are employing this strategy fully on their Sunday getaway games. Rest most of the good players to maximize their potential throughout the week. And the math probably agrees with that philosophy. On the contrary, I don’t like the waive the white flag games at all as a strategy. I just don’t like what that does to the mind of the team. I hate seeing Liberatore plus Pages plus Crawford together as starters. It might be best on paper, but I’m not sure it’s best in the real world.
The Sunday “B-Team” lineup might be more tolerable if we had a good bench but Crawford, Carp, Carlson, and Pages aren’t going to do hardly anything at the plate so it is really hard to win with three or four automatic outs. I think doing it once or twice a month makes sense but EVERY SUNDAY??
I believe the Cardinals are employing this strategy fully on their Sunday getaway games. Rest most of the good players to maximize their potential throughout the week.
I don’t think this is an optimal strategy at all. This is the first year I can recall the Cardinals doing this every Sunday. They did it more often than I cared for under Matheny, but it was every few weeks, maybe once per month.
There is a reason the Dodgers value players who can play multiple positions 1-2 WAR higher than players that can only play a single position. We have Carpenter on the bench that can’t play any positions, and Crawford that can only play SS.
LACard – I couldn’t agree more. Carpenter just makes zero sense the way the team is constructed. And while I get having Crawford as insurance, I’d much prefer having a solid defensive SS only at AAA who was playing semi-regularly as the emergency option. Those 2 bench spots are adding no value. The bench should be Pages, Carlson/Siani, somebody with power as a pinch hit option who can play at least a couple positions, and a utility guy. I guess Fermin could be the utility if we sacrifice him playing every day at Memphis. We really don’t have a power option outside Luken Baker, but I don’t love that as he has no positional flexibility.
bccran, I hope you are right. Because that would probably put Walker at an All Start caliber hitter. I just hope Walker can be as good of an MLB hitter at 25 as Burleson currently is. Burleson was a pretty dominant hitter at AAA his last season there. Walker is no where close at AAA now to where Burleson was then at AAA.
Carpenter and Luken Baker have something in common. Neither can play any position and neither can run the bases. The difference is that Baker can, at least, hit. He got off to a slow start at Memphis, but his line for May is .271/.358/.1104, with 7 HR in 59 AB. Is Carp’s ‘veteran presence’ really more valuable to the team than Baker’s ability to hit the baseball?
You can typically take 50-70 pts off a Memphis player’s OBP when he makes the big club.
And Baker couldn’t hit at all last year or in spring training.
Our club still has the least runs scored in the entire National League, although they are trending upward. Thus the biggest fix is better hitting. Maybe that will continue to be better.
We also have by far the worst run differential in the NLC. What has saved us from falling into oblivion is good late inning bullpen work.
Let’s hope Walker hits better than Burly someday, and that Burly keeps hitting like he is this year. Maybe we have something in Siani as well. He should get plenty more reps for us to find out as it appears Edman is not close to returning, and Carlson has not done anything since his return.
I wouldn’t ever have guessed that the two biggest disappointments in the area of offensive production would be the two players who I once considered to be the most formidable IF corner duo in the game. In my view this team’s anemic offense is almost exclusively tied to the lack of production of both Goldschmidt and Arenado. If the Cardinals are going to be at all competitive, both of them are going to have to turn their season’s around and I still think each one of them remains capable of going on a two to three week hitting rampage.
Whoa! There is some serious recency bias going on here. 30 days ago, Walker had a .497 OPS when he was sent down, which was also when Burly was at a low point of a .542 OPS for the season. They were both struggling, but Walker was sent down because he has a higher upside. In the 25 games since then, Burly has been great.
However, over a time period longer than 25 games, Walker has been a better MLB hitter than Burleson. All four of Walker’s slash stats are higher.
Career to date stats:
Walker Burleson -0.4WAR0.0137G165532PA538125H12516HR1455RBI567SB6.262BA.253.329OBP.304.423SLG.397.752OPS.701105OPS+94Walker is also 3 1/2 years younger.
Brian, let’s deal with the current situation. Why is Walker in AAA (with no HRs) and Burleson is regularly batting 5th in the lineup for the Cardinals with decent production? Like I indicated, I’d be thrilled if Walker is as good of an MLB hitter when he’s 25 as Burleson is now at 25.
I will point out the stats I choose, thank you. It is great that Burly has been on a hot streak recently but to assert he is a better MLB hitter than Walker is an example of recency bias. Burly has been a better hitter in 2024 to date and especially the last month. That is it.
You can expect Walker to be back with the StL. club in time for ” Star Wars Jordan Skywalker Bobblehead Night” vs. the Rockies on June 6th.
If you look at Burleson and Walker’s career Big League numbers they’re remarkably similar, with Walker holding a slight edge. Both players have collected exactly 125 hits.
Edit…I didn’t see BW’s side by side list…Haha!
My guess is that Walker will be in the All Star running when he’s 25.
And overall he’s a much better athlete than Burleson.One of the reasons Burleson is hitting better is that he is playing everyday. Last year, he started trending upwards in production when he started playing more. Same this year. I suspect that is true of all players.
Looking at the side-by-side, Walker has a better OBP and Slugging, everything else is within the margin of error.
Agreed, Walker has the better long-term outlook, especially if his defense in the OF continues to improve.
I will point out the stats I choose, thank you. It is great that Burly has been on a hot streak recently but to assert he is a better MLB hitter than Walker is an example of recency bias. Burly has been a better hitter in 2024 to date and especially the last month. That is it.
Oh, it’s more than just recency bias. It’s blatant confirmation bias, surgical cherry-picking, and glaringly inconsistent (and one-sided) treatment of data samples (selectively using small samples when they confirm the preferred narrative, and dismissing or willfully ignoring larger samples that undercut it).
In other words, the usual . . .
A blurb from Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic:
“The Cincinnati Reds would look dumb for firing David Bell, whom they extended at the end of last season. The St. Louis Cardinals – winners of eight of their last 10 – would look even dumber for firing Oli Marmol, whom they extended in March. The team, coming off its first last-place finish since 1990, wanted to eliminate the potential distraction of Marmol managing in the final year of his contract — a decision many in the industry viewed as curious. The Miami Marlins’ Skip Schumaker, the reigning NL Manager of the Year, could be a candidate for Marmol’s job, among others, at the end of the season. The Marlins during the offseason voided Schumaker’s contract option for 2025, enabling him to depart.”
Walker certainly has more upside than Burleson, with career hitting stats a bit better than Burly and being a lot younger.
But with Alec trending up and Jordan trending down it is concerning. Regency bias – yes. But the fact is that they are currently trending in opposite directions. Given Walker’s ability and athleticism he will likely turn things around, and when he does the potential is great.
In looking at those two, I like Burleson’s stance and approach better. He has that steady stance and quick, short stroke. Jordan has a more open stance and he is a bit off the plate. His approach makes it tough to get good contact on pitches on the outer half of the plate. I would like to see him close up a little more and half ace himself better.
I like the way Arenado approaches the ball – real balanced stance and his head is always right on the ball. And you can see he is always getting balanced in the box between pitches.
Obviously different players have success with different stances. Stan had a real awkward stance, and no one can complain about his numbers. But Walker just looks a little off balance the way he stands. It seems like he first has to adjust to get balanced as the pitcher is starting his delivery, then adjust to the pitch.
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