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well I wasn’t a fan of getting fowler when we got him so I feel I have the right to criticize all I want. fowlers the perfect example of how the cards ownership does business. they overpay guys who are either at their prime or in fowlers case, just past it but hope against hope that the gamble pays off. and then they try to hang on when it don’t. this idea that you have to play him just because you owe him this money is silly. you gave him the contract, its the price you pay for being not willing to dish out money long term for more deserving players. pay him and move on. the cardinals have better options, oneill for one. he strike out too much for me personally but hes at least a competent outfielder who will make the routine plays. and unless their drafting is horrible, they should have better options in the minors.
to me, for the cardinals to finish first, everything has to go perfectly right and that doesn’t happen often. would I love to see the cubs stay about the same or even perform less, as a cub hater, definitely but I think they underperformed last year and im not sure that’s happening again. I think the brewers should be better. the reds I not sure about. they should be improved but we will see. I don’t think they will get off to the same bad start this year as they did last.
saying that just because the cardinals have chosen to keep fowler and play him that fans cant or shouldn’t criticize that is ludicrous. sure you can also have discussions on how long his rope is but you can have both discussions. if the cardinals offered a free service, didn’t charge you a penny for coming in to watch their games and didn’t take money from tv deals then yea, they are free to run things as they see fit. but when you do all these things as well as well as get tax breaks to build and run your stadium and team, you are fair game in the criticism department, nothing is off the table. that its their money thing is bull crap too, it isn’t all their money. teams that tank[not the cards], or teams that use those magic words being fiscally smart[the cardinals] don’t get the benefit of the doubt and have no right to complain when fans don’t come to the ballpark with teams that are tanking regularly, or in the case of the latter when fans complain about the product the team is putting on the field.
I personally don’t think they are going to be any better this year. goldy is great at first but carpenter is actually a pretty good first baseman so goldys defense doesn’t raise us that much. bader is awesome and wong is really good if not great but hes also injured a lot. I think dejong is solid but I wouldn’t consider him great. carpenter is mostly fine fielding wise but throwing wise he is horrible. while they may not be called errors, plays that should be made at third but wont be will go up unless he has gained lots of arm strength. Molina is showing his age, he lets more balls get by than he used to and he doesn’t throw out as high a percentage as he used to, course nobody hardly steals anymore and I still consider Molina a great catcher. ozuna is a solid outfielder though not exceptional and Martinez and fowler. im not even gonna go there. at least Martinez hits. the cardinals bench is mostly horrible defensively. outside of Martinez in right which about anyone would be an improvement, there is nobody at the other positions that you would consider bringing in for the late innings to bolster the defense. funny thing about errors though. they aren’t called the way they are supposed to be anymore. used to be if you got a glove on the ball, it was an error if you didn’t make the play. if you did some stupid thing and took yourself out of position and didn’t get to a grounder or fly ball you should, it was an error. now if the balls hit too hard, its a hit. if it requires any real skill to field but isn’t fielded, its a hit cause yea ut should have been made but it was a little tough. so don’t watch the errors perse, watch the plays that aren’t made that could or should have been made but weren’t. that’s more telling in this day and age.
I think the cardinals have a lot of questions to be answered. can the starters or all pitchers for that matter stay healthy. that has been a huge problem the past few years. if carpenter is gonna continue to leadoff, he needs to hit better and more consistently over the full season. can their core players stay healthy, a big question for some of those guys. can bader improve at the plate far as recognizing pitches and laying off the bad ones. to me he doesn’t have to be a 300 hitter, just needs to learn how not to give away at bats. to me one of the biggest questions, is can their defense improve to an acceptable level. since they don’t hardly give errors anymore, just making less errors isn’t enough. its about making the plays major league players should make which greatly helps your pitchers as opposed to continually not completing the play and not getting the outs. a lot of question marks with fowler, he should be gone but cardinals management don’t want to own up to their mistake, maybe by some miracle he does better. overall I always hope for the cards to do great but im not optimistic. goldy was a great pickup but im not sure he can offset an aging carpenter and Molina especially if our pitchers fall prey to the injury bug which happens a lot. I expect Milwaukee to be better than they were last year and though the cubs haven’t done a lot this past offseason I still expect them to be there though that pains me to say in the hardest way possible. so if I had to pick, im saying third place again but I hope im wrong.
hey brian Walton, I liked your piece on the negotiations. I too am glad they are talking. far as why people tend to support owners over players, people now tend to look down on unions as a whole. especially younger crowd, cause they are far from the days back when companies basically treated their employees like slaves or worse and a lot more people esp college graduates are in jobs that have never generally had unions. when you live up in the clouds, you tend to forget about those maybe on the hill. plus people overlook the fact that most of these players don’t get these big contracts. I personally hate the but I do think they will get it in cause just like you said, its being used as a bargaining chip. it just saddens me that the mlb seems to be trying to borrow from little league, pony league with these silly things. used to, it was the other way around. if they are gonna do that, just use the extra hiiter rule so you have free substitution so you lose less of your better hitters if you brings subs in for defense or just go all stupid and go like football, have an offensive lineup and a defensive lineup. positions don’t really matter to the casual fans of today anyway, so if you are gonna ruin the game, just do it all the way.
it isn’t the cardinals. the cardinals did nothing this offseason but they spin it like they did something. goldshmidt was a great get but the cardinals didn’t really have to do anything. basically Arizona threw him at us for basically nothing. I know they were gonna probably lose him next year but it just seems weird that they couldn’t get more from someone else for him. though if they can get weaver back to form, it could work out a little. miller coming off a down year was also not that great of a get. yea if he returns to form, it will be a stroke of greatness but the ifs haven’t been going the cardinals way as of late. im still thinking we are gonna finish third. the brewers will better with a new full season with the guys they got last year and even though it pains me to say anything good about the cubs, I still think they are better than the cardinals. the cardinals have to have a lot of things go right for their offense to really gel and im not sure it will. their pitching could carry them but only if they stay healthy and that never seems to happen. their defense isn’t gonna improve that much if any. goldy is great but he is playing a position we didn’t really have a defensive problem at unless you count when Martinez was there. elsewise I still expect a lot of errors and plays not made. which since they hardly call errors anymore, the plays not made that should have been are what really stands out.
I want to apologize for the wall of text. I split it up in paragraphs when I wrote it but it came out like that.
I hate the dh rule. it hasn’t bothered me much cause I really only follow the cardinals. ive always liked the yankees but ive only really watched them at playoff time. but I absolutely hate the dh. isn’t how the game is supposed to be played. I also don’t feel the need for a pitch clock, the umpires should just warn the pitchers that are taking too long and if they continue, just call a ball if they are continuing to take too long. that will get the pitchers attention. sometimes there is a need for slowing down the game and a rule them all clock is not the right thing. I personally don’t have a problem with making pitchers have to pitch to more than one batter, I have never liked the match up stuff, that’s the biggest time user. no need to lower the mound either, heck they should raise it back to where it was. no, baseballs problems lie elsewhere. one of them is tanking. its always been around but over the last two decades even prominent teams have started doing it. the bad thing is that it has worked in giving some teams championships but in the long run, its bad for attendance and bad for the game overall. who wants to go watch a team with nobodies playing and not trying to win. how about trying to play a different style of game, build your team around different things like speed, ball contact, better defense. the game can be played more than one way. get coaches that think outside the box, that aren’t glued to these analytic schemes, god bless you whitey Herzog. if the league was really serious they would institute rules that mandate each team spend so much money on the team in the field, not their organization as a whole. its nice if your minor league teams win but if that doesn’t translate to your main team winning, it doesn’t really matter. also baseball seems to want the audience of the nba and nfl. you aren’t gonna get it without totally destroying the game. just look at the superbowl. even though it was a tight game, people were bored by it. they would rather have a wing the ball down the field throw fest like last years than an actually well played defensive games. why cause people want to be entertained. in the end, most aren’t even real fans. they would rather have this back and forth even if the team they are rooting for ends up losing. I think you could bring back the baseball games of old with their shorter game times and those people still aren’t gonna watch. to me part of the problems lie with networks like espn or fox sports. those are the places people get most of their sporting news other than maybe their phone but those networks are there too. they don’t talk about baseball, hardly ever. some big suspension, hall of fame news, the new proposed rules discussion like today yea they will mention it but other than that , nothing. you get a little free agency talk but not much but the owners of the teams have largely been responsible for that cause these teams don’t want to at least try for these guys, theyd rather sit on their fortunes like the cardinals do or spend it in areas that don’t translate. now I understand a baseball show isn’t gonna have the rating power of the nfl or nba shows but it wouldn’t hurt them to have one on especially espn with all its channels. instead of a rerun of highly questionable they could have a regular baseball show. a baseball show with the right people that know the game, that have played the game could do well and would go a long ways to getting the game back in the general audiences minds. would it do as well as the other shows, no but its not that important. getting someone like alex rodriguez or john smoltz could do wonders even if they could only get them part time. im sure there are some other former players that could work well. they have to have the knowledge and be able to translate their information well. I have other thoughts on baseballs woes but ill let it go for now.
well I think most of the guys this year would be deserving. the only one I would really question would be izzy though I think a lot of fans like him. I just didn’t like his approach of passing over certain guys to get to others especially in close games. so I would never vote for him. I think rolen is the only one that you could even consider for the baseball hall of fame and I really liked him, best third baseman I ever saw. but I usually go for older guys first. Hernandez was really a great first baseman maybe the best ever but he went to a rival at the time and back then things were different. guys switching wasn’t as prevalent as it has become, and to go to a rival, its hard for older people to get over. my votes will go to tudor who was just awesome for the cardinals. that game seven of the 85 series prob hurts him in some eyes but he had been almost perfect that year and the series should have been over the game before anyway. my other vote would go to morris. I always liked him and he was like chris carpenter was in a way, a workhorse and a really fine pitcher.
yea it seems its phillies or dodgers. personally I don’t think Philadelphia is gonna win their division and I don’t think they are a good fit for harper so hes gonna end up just as unhappy there. I think where a player plays can matter far as how they perform. if I was him, id go to the dodgers if its reasonably close far as their offers.
well I think wainwright is still a good option for spot starts. I would prefer he pitch out of the pen myself but I think he could be fine in spot starting duty. hes one of my all time favorite cardinals so I guess im a little bias.
well this is what they do with all their money instead of trying to get us better players. instead of that, they say spend the bulk of the money on either fifty fifty guys and unproven talent in the minors and hire a guy to try to make our average guys better by planning what shifts and defensive positions our players do. sounds about right.
oh b Walton, im not dissing trout. hes a fine player, I just don’t see the same greatness everyone else does. yea, the numbers say I should but my eyes see a really good to great player not hey this is a great player. he doesn’t jump at you like a ken griffy jr, or a barry bonds, or albert in his prime. now I don’t watch him every day but I didn’t watch griffy jr a lot either but I saw greatness when I did. what I said, he should be able to compensate some for a bad offensive squad just the way albert did for the cardinals after Edmonds went downhill. the cards had some really average to below guys around him for a few years there far as hitting goes. far as ernie banks goes. im sure he was a fine player but he played for the cubs hence I hate the cubs, they deserve to lose every game they play.
to b Walton, people were talking about waiting for trout. while stupid was the wrong term to use, ill say misguided. hedging today for a player that for a myriad of reasons might not be available in a couple of years doesn’t fix today. far as pujols comment, I meant that he carried the cardinals for a few years there after Edmonds started going downhill all the way up til he went to the angels. yea holiday came along but im not his biggest fan. to others, far as my comments on carpenter. his batting average those other months were in the low 200s, maybe that’s good to some of you guys, but I have a little higher expectation for a guy that generally hits leadoff. yea im sure his on base was ok. but should have been better. he struck out looking way too often constantly getting into it with umpires, most of the time the umpires were right. he may have been frustrated with his hitting but taking hittable pitches and hoping for walks isn’t the right way to get out of bad hitting.
well pena is a solid backup. Kelly just wasn’t good enough at the plate to override his defensive liabilities. Molina hasn’t shown he needs a lot of days off. there were a lot more guys on this team that needed far more time off than he did. does he have a little selfish streak to him, yea maybe. but at least hes passionate, a few more of the other guys could show such passion and he generally backs it up. he may go into mini slumps but he doesn’t go astray for months at a time like some others.
I was fine with coleman and Lankford getting in the cardinals hall this past year. I voted for Lankford but not coleman but not because I feel he doesn’t belong. I just felt tudor deserved it first. his all time numbers don’t jump out at you like Colemans does but I think a lot of people have forgotten just how great he was in a cardinal uniform. rolen deserves to be there but im always gonna vote for older guys first. I would like to see Duncan get in, without him, larussa would not have had the success he did.
I also think worrying about trout now is just stupid. also I feel hes a solid player but I don’t think hes the great player that the metrics make him out to be. he hasn’t carried the angels to any prominence like pujols did for a few years when they didn’t really have that much in their lineup. would he be a good player to get then, yea for any team, but no need to worry about him now.
to bccran, homeruns mean very little to me if they are attached to horrible hitting otherwise. yea carpenter was babe ruth for a couple months but he was one of the worst hitters in the league the rest of the time. also his fielding isn’t terrible at third, its his arm that’s the main problem. also some on this board are funny in that they make certain statements about harper but don’t use them with other players. harper has trended downward since his mvp season but is still solid in areas and hes just coming into his prime years so theres a chance he improves especially with the right team. carpenter had a very down year minus a couple months and a lot of home runs but no one is projecting him down though hes at an age where going down is normal, not going up or getting back to the same.
to me, i don’t really like the miller trade. yea if he returns to form, it seems great. but that isn’t what normally happens. its best to look at what the guy did the year before which in this case was not that great. but its what the cards do. lets not spend this money on a good to great up and coming reliever, lets pay less money for a broken one and hope and pray that time reverses. if you pay the money and get the stud guy, then management and the fans can blame the player. if you do like the cards do and get the old and or broken guys, then blame falls on management and the fans who don’t want them to spend all that excess money they have. im not gonna blame miller for trying to get what he can.
to bccran, no i haven’t checked carpenters defensive stats at third. im sure they are fine. but stats can be misleading. they don’t always tell you plays that should have been made that weren’t. an error may not have occurred far as officially but if the play could have been made by a player with at least an average arm, then it really is like an error. in my view, i still believe in the eye test. i see that he has a very weak arm. i saw guys get on because of it. and regardless of what analytics say, errors and plays that should have been made of which there were many last year, hurt a team in a multitude of ways that stats cant really nail down.
well gscotta im saying everyone is overrating him based on his value to the cards lineup when you put him at first base, not in his value as an individual player per se. carpenter is a cdecent first baseman, will goldy be better, yes, but I feel its marginal. meanwhile carpenter at third is not very good. his fielding is passable but his arm is horrible and that isn’t something stats are gonna accurately tell you unless someone has a stat for plays that could have been made but didn’t but aren’t errors, just lack of arm strength, accuracy, etc. will goldy hit, yea he should. i have no problem with goldy, the cardinals didn’t really have to give up anything to get him though that does concern me that someone else wasn’t willing to do better. maybe they know something. but getting goldy for basically nothing doesn’t mean wqe shouldn’t go after harper. the two together would be great. would it keep us from resigning goldy, yea probably but that isn’t guaranteed to happen if we don’t sign harper. sometimes you need to focus on the needs of today, not worry about tomorrow. that’s one of the cards biggest problems. far as paragraphs, i don’t really believe in them. i never have a problem reading whats written and my eyesight is horrible.
to me I think everyone is over valuing goldshmidt. if he is on a solid hitting team, then hes a nice great fit. the cardinals had a very inconsistent hitting team last year. carpenter was great for about two months of the season, the rest he was horrible. yadi was generally fine but I don’t like him in the two hole and both guys are getting older. wong has always been inconsistent with the big team and seems injury prone. fowler, well what can you say. if he does anything, its better than what he has done but that isn’t saying much. I love bader but he needs to learn to hit to his strength. he chases too much and tries to hit for power too often. he should use his great speed and just learn to put the ball in play. unless he just hits it right at somebody, he has a chance to get on base on any ground ball. munoz is fine as a hitter but horrible on defense. ozuna is an interesting one, if he recovers from his shoulder issues, he could be great. but that’s a could be. all that is why adding a guy like harper makes great sense. ive always believed in hitting line drives and hard ground balls. harper does that, he doesn’t try to do launch angles and change his swing generally to try to elevate. importantly he also is very willing to take a walk, something other players on this team can learn from. he reminds me of pujhols in this. pujhols for trhe first 8 to 9 years hit line drives, hit opposite field, took his walks. an all around great player which benefitted everyone. after that he started trtying to pull too much, swing at thing he shouldn’t, hence his average went down and his on base percentage went down and his value to the team went down. he no longer really made others better. now injuries might have been a part but I always felt he tried to do too much the last couple years. but by then, ownership had let the team around him go down. holiday was fine but he wasn’t no jimmy Edmonds in his prime. so maybe he felt the pressure. while harper isn’t going to be an all timer like pujhols, the way he goes about things offensively can make a team that is offensively inconsistent, much better than it would be without him. he would also make life much easier for goldshmidt.
