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Is that what happened Bling? Did we suddenly at this point in the year start saying it is a rebuild year or had that not been clearly stated since last off-season?
BikeMike is right. You don’t just accomplish a goal in one step and there is a journey there. You measure your success for that journey as a test of are you making long term progress that is sustainable.
I hope Baez’s first game didn’t get too much I to his head. He has always been a swing for the fences guy, but it seems like has has been even more so since getting to the bigs. He needs to take some pitches and stop swinging at so many pitches out of the zone
I realize STL fans don’t like Kroenke for good reasons, but him buying the Angels and Moreno no longer being an owner is good for the sport. Moreno was such a bad owner.
I will finish the rest of the episode later, but I do agree with Kyle it makes no sense to let Winn and JJ play hurt especially when the team isn’t in contention.
What a month for Rainiel and he made that a very easy selection. He has a wRC+ over 200! He was basically as valuable as 2 average hitters combined together
I think the concern is that Baez’s hyper aggressive approach is hard to make it work at the majors. MLB pitchers won’t make as many mistakes for Baez to drill and he will find himself behind in counts.
I don’t think SS is a problem spot. Winn is good at defense and he is acceptable with the bat.
Overall, I do think the season has been a success.
The Successes:
1. JJ Wetherholt starting his career off playing at such a high level
2. Jordan Walker breaking out after all hope was lost
3. Kyle Leahy exceeding all expectations and improving throughout the 2nd half o the year and looking like what I would call a good #3
4. Alec Burleson’s steady year to year improvements continuing and looking like a solid middle of the order bat albeit only against RHP
5. The success of signing May and being able to turn him around for 2 quality prospects who have a chance of helping the team going forward.
6. The overall improvement of player development in the minors that seem to be trending upward. Particularly the hitting prospect side has seen some good progress and maybe this will continue.
7. Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy both doing better overall than I expected and looking like a #3/4 hybrid role.
8. Bryan Torres looking like a capable utility guy.
9. The young RP getting a chance here at the end of the year to see which ones can make it. Luis Gastelum being fun to watch and making guys look silly withFailures
1. The dearth of a viable CF going forward with the whiff of Scott and Church is only looking like a role player. At last they got an answer here though that there isn’t a short term answer.
2. The failure of 3B as well. Gorman is a complete flop and Jordan isn’t hitting quite yet.Similar to CF, at least they know there isn’t an answer short term here but more options for 1+ year down the line with Ortiz, Baez.
3. Liberatore regressing and showing that he isn’t a MLB SP when he was hoped to have at least mid rotation upside.
4. Svanson falling apart after looking so good.
5. Having to watch so much of Stanek
6. The trend of SP hitting a wall in Memphis
7. Crooks continuing to struggle. This is the lowest as much more C options exist for the team.
8. Injuries at the lower levels for position player prospects like Padilla, LunaThere is still a month left to see if some guys like Mathews can become a success.
From the BA chat, someone asked about Baez
Anonymous
10 hours ago,
1 vote, Upvote question, Anonymous,
Why aren’t more people talking about Jesus Baez? His season. offensively speaking, is better than a good amount of top 100 guys
JJ Cooper
8 hours agoI have to disagree with that, as his .316 OBP would rank among the absolute worst hitters in the Top 100: As a group. Top 100 hitters are hitting .285/.387/.494 this season. Baez would be there on power, but his extreme aggressiveness and low OBP is a concern when compared to Top 100 Prospects.
I have a piece coming out on Wednesday that will cover this more, but the extreme offensive environment of 2026 MiLB makes it really hard to evaluate a lot of prospects, and I think Baez fits very squarely into that. He was having a solid season in HiA, but his performance has taken a jump since he reached the Texas League. There are a lot of prospects who fit that description this year.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/hot-sheet-mlb-prospects-chat-8-31-26/
4 catchers is just too many to manage the playing time. Bernal has earned a shot and Crooks hasn’t earned his keep. I’m curious if Scott comes back up as the 28th man then.
Late to listen, but I enjoyed the episode this week. Really good discussion on Doyle and sounds exciting if he is starting to put things together.
Deniel Ortiz is a guy I would like to hear Kyle and Brian’s thoughts on. I am quite high on him, but I don’t have the time to watch the minors games to evaluate myself. But I am curious if the contact gains look real and if his defense is holding up at 3B.
Really I’m interesting news about Bernal and Rincon getting promoted. I suppose it does make sense with Crooks continued struggles and Bernals success. Give Bernal a month to see if he can look like a starting catcher. Maybe Rainiel will get the promotion to Memphis tomorrow.
Nice to see Rincon added as well. He has been an org soldier and may be a decent RP going forward.
No I think Baez is better off for his development at this point to struggle in the majors rather than spending more time in AAA. It isn’t a problem if he struggles as the team isn’t making the playoffs.
I’m all for that move. Get a young guy in there to build experience rather than Ferguson who won’t be with the team next year
Looks like Quinn had a great game. Was he doing a good job getting ahead and not just filling around with 2 strikes?
Did Padilla get hurt after his Peoria promotion or are they just letting him work on some things out of game action? He hasn’t played since the 19th
Hjerpe must be the rain man. I was hoping to see how his command fares but 2 original expected starts of his rained out in a row
Rincon and Clemente are the only 2 guys I would consider adding and that is due to them having minors free agency options. That is unless you feel quite confident they would stay with STL. Clemente I will be curious to see how he does the rest of the season command wise. If his August command improvement is real, he is a must keep with his killer stuff.
I’m assuming the R5 doesn’t happen and I don’t want to add guys like Baez as that means he can’t play it there is a lockout.
I’m excited to see Winquest. His underlying data to me points out he will pitch for quite a few years in the pen. We will see if he can go from a middle RP career outcome I predict now or if he can keep improving and become a back of the pen guy at some point.
Would you not say Rainiel is getting closer though? He has shown AA isn’t a challenge for him and he has just one more step in the ladder to go in the minors.
Just because he is 19 doesn’t mean he is as uncertain as other 19 year olds in A ball which is where most of those comparisons are being made. Rainiel’s body is close to maximum projection in his weight and scouts don’t expect him to muscle up more. He physically matured at a much younger age than most guys.
Pugs, he is making guys look silly isn’t he. He took on the heart of their order and made every one of those guys look outmatched
A few people will oppose, but it realistically won’t matter I expect. It comes down to the financials and their thought is the money to be gained outweighs the cons of some people people upset and not spending money, but unless those people were going to games, they likely weren’t helping the club.
Molina was having a very good game before the rain delay. 9 Ks of 19 batters faced with no walks in 5 innings. That is more of what I was expecting of him. Pitch count was good at 72 pitches as well.
It looks like McGreevy’s expected stats were correct he was pitching way over what he was really capable of in the 1st half. A 3.01 ERA in the first half and a 5.05 ERA (not even including tonight) in the second half.
I still think he is a #3/4 mix type guy going forward though.
Like Brian said, it is a move for merchandise. It works if they choose a mascot people like and as the Cardinals they aren’t getting merchandise sells as people just buy the MLB team merch. Teams that have been really successful with creating a brand draw in significant merchandise revenue. The Rocket City Trash Pandas have been by far the most successful at a brand creation and people that don’t even like baseball all over the country like their merchandise and buy it.
I wouldn’t expect a typical name. Expect something odd that probably most of the forum won’t like as it is targeted toward younger fans.