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Zero in on right handed relievers who pitched well in 2024 and are willing to sign a one year contract with a club option for 2026. Maybe the market needs to move more toward the opening of ST, when some of these guys just want to land a job for 2025.
They hedged their bets last season by signing both Kittredge and Middleton.
Proven major leaguers. Hope they do the same this season with a couple of signees on 1 year contracts.I still wonder who’s going to replace Kittredge. He was key last year. There are still some good relief pitchers on the market as free agents. Why wait for the Arenado fiasco to play out to make a move or two?
I’d rather have a prospect pitch those innings too, unless Mikolas pitches in line with his $18.5 million salary. Then I’d rather see him help win the Central this coming season
Matz Era –
2015 – 2.27
2016 – 3.40
2017 – 6.08
2018 – 3.97
2019 – 4.21
2020 – 9.68
2021 – 3.82
2022 – 5.25
2023 – 3.86
2024 – 5.08He had over 20 starts in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021. 17 starts in 2023. His overall ERA is 4.28.
If he stays healthy, he can be a solid member of the rotation in 2025.
Mikolas? His overall MLB ERA is 4.16. He could also be a solid member.
Good generational synopsis. Couple that with the lack of enthusiasm for baseball by youth today and it puts storm clouds on the horizon for the industry.
Perhaps some FAs of worth are asking for multiple year deals, and Mo wants Chaim to have pretty much a clean slate to work with.
You’re right on a number of points, Jnevel. I like Gary LaRocque, but he’s 71 years old and has been in the business for almost 50 years. The game has gotten a lot more sophisticated from an analytics standpoint, and who knows whether the game passed him by or he simply wasn’t given the resources in equipment and personnel to compete with other systems. Perhaps there was too much loyalty given to Gary by Bill and Mo, based upon past successes. But they’re getting on the right track now with Bloom, Day, Cerfolio, Kochan, Pierpont, et al. That’s the most important thing.
Well, I guess the pipeline sure does dry up when you don’t hold onto some guys like Gallen, Alcantara, Flaherty, Wacha, Hudson, Reyes, Martinez, Oviedo, etc. But perhaps these things come in waves and Pallante, McGreevy, Hence, Matthews, Graceffo, Hjerpe, Rajcic, Bedell, etc. will reverse the home grown dry up.
Here are the starters for the 2006 World Champion Cardinals –
Carpenter
Marquis
Mulder
Suppan
Reyes
WeaverNumber of homegrown, Brian? One out of six.
The Cards starters in 2011 were –
Carpenter
Lohse
Westbrook
Jackson
Garcia
McClellanOnly 2 out of 6 were home grown.
The pitching side has dried up before. How many of the Cardinal starters on the 2006 and 2011 World Championship teams were originally drafted by the Cardinals?
Brian – You and I both know that it’s been a perfect storm against a lineup that was structured to win. Who could have predicted the sharp decline of Goldy and Arenado, the backward slide of Walker and Gorman, and the injuries to the pitchers picked up at 2023 trade deadline. All happening at the same time. Was all that BDW’s fault?
BDW felt that he could hopefully get back into a championship run by beefing up the MOTO with the acquisitions of Ozuna, then Goldschmidt, and Arenado. It didn’t work, even with a 93 win season just two years ago. Some fans seem to forget that the Cardinals have had seasons of 90 or more wins in 3 of the last 5 full seasons. Now, with the big market teams going crazy with payroll, he knows that the only way back is through strengthening the minor league system, in a big way, by making major investments in equipment and personnel. And he’s doing just that.
BDW has shown loyalty to the fans, KCB, by giving them winning Cardinal teams in all but 2 seasons this century, as well as 2 World Championships. Where do the Cardinals rank in MLB in both regular season and playoff wins this century?
But if Koperniak hits even better against left handed pitching than right handed pitching, shouldn’t that make a difference, gscottar? It’s almost like we would hope a right handed batter would hit.
BDW didn’t get to be extremely wealthy by making poor business decisions along the way. Perhaps, though, in his senior years he has become both more loyal and more conservative.
I imagine that would be the case with most left handed hitters, gscottar. I think only about a quarter of professional pitchers are left handed.
If that’s the case, then his wallet gets fuller if he puts a winning team on the field to keep the crowds high, and goes deep into October for the playoff money.
Koperniak’s 2024 splits are interesting.
vs. LHP – .333/.418/.539/.956
vs. RHP – .301./.354/.503/.857
