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How in the world are the Mets 14-6???
Their pitching staff is healthy this year, at least so far. They were decimated with injuries last year. Plus Callaway is probably a breath of fresh air.
Yep, pitching is the name of the game. Strong pitching and defense gives a club a chance to win every game. Offense tends to be quieted by good pitching.
I do not think a deal for Machado is realistic. Giving up Flaherty or Reyes is too much of a risk on a likely rental (I doubt Machado is going to pass on his free agent opportunity).
Unless the club can somehow come to terms with him a long term deal, which would open up a premium pitcher prospect going the other way, then we should play the hand we have been currently dealt.
But for fun, let’s say we make Machado a deal he can’t refuse, then who goes the other way. Undoubtedly Reyes or Flaherty as we have discussed, plus probably a good bullpen arm like Brebbia. Then you send them Carpenter and another prospect, perhaps Kelly or Knizner. Maybe we throw in Mejia, who they can use at shortstop for the remainder of this year.
Our 12-8 record is a bit of a mirage though, as the Reds are propping us up. We are now 6-0 vs Cincinnati, and 6-8 vs everyone else.
The Reds are 0-6 vs St. Louis though, and 3-11 against everyone else. They will love getting away from playing the Cardinals for awhile (or at least have a chance to win against another club).
At least when Cecil comes back, he might be able to take Lyons place. He might have gotten one of the four batters he faced.
Yadi off to a great start. He is looking like Ozzie Smith – a guy who is better in the second half of his career than the first. Ironically, Yadi might be a better hitter at this point than his buddy Pujols.
A study reported in a SABR publication several years back showed that all of the late inning specialiaztion has not altered results. In other words, teams with late leads tend to win with the same frequency across history. But then specialization is the norm for all teams today, and it was not the norm at all some 40 years ago. So any benefit is cancelled out since both teams are using the same philosophies.
The speed gun has played a big part in pitchers burning out quicker. There is no more pacing yourself as a pitcher. They are taught to go all out as long as they can.
And as mentioned, the investment is much greater today. Pitchers are protected. That is one of the main reasons we will see the universal DH soon. Pitchers hitting is a relic of how the game was once played, like the complete game and the 10 man staff or 4 man rotation.
I think the future of MLB is going to be 26 man rosters, with 13 pitchers. Someday common sense will prevail over money, as studies will show that the 25 man roster is costing teams dollars by being short-handed resulting in overuse of some players. But if the 26 man roster ever comes to pass, they need to put in a rule that rosters have to be constructed evenly. Like in Monopoly, where you cannot stockpile four houses on one property and one on another, rosters have to stay even with 13 position players and 13 pitchers.
I feel the anger towards Pujols is absolutely ridiculous.Albert gave the Cards 11 damn fine seasons and 2 world championships.Why the hate and anger?
I have not seen anger expressed in recent years (or TCN posts) concerning Albert. It seems the anger faded a lot after his first couple of years in Anaheim.
Now most Cardinal fans are relieved that he moved on in fact, as we would have been stuck with a big salary drag. However, I tend to think that his production would have been better had he stayed in St. Louis. He would not have signed quite as big of a contract, and would have stayed in familiar circumstances. The pressure would not have been quite so great on him, and I think he would have put up better numbers – not the Albert of old, but would have still been a decent player.
However, we could not have “hid” him in a DH role, other than a few games a year in AL parks.
Grateful Dead night on 4-20
That stuff is legal here, although I doubt you could sit in your box seat and light up a number without the ushers saying something about it.
I wonder if it will come to where a ball game is similar to a concert, and fans are passing joints down the row in between swigs of beer? After all, the times they are a changin’.
The Reds certainly will need to bring Senzel up soon, if nothing else so the fans have someone to get behind as sort of a “face of the franchise” type guy.
They also may need to step out of their comfort zone this winter and go big after one of the marquee free agents, like Harper or Machado. As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.
It’s weird – it just seems wrong that the Reds are a poor club, and the Cubs are good. After living a lifetime where the reverse was the norm, it seems like the earth has tilted off it’s axis to have the Cubs a premier team and the Reds a laughingstock ball club.
I think Wong would be a good second basemen if he was allowed to play every day, through thick and thin. But he always gets benched when struggling, and is in that mode where he immediately produces or else.
If allowed to play, I think he would be a Julian Javier type – some good years, and some so-so years, but decent defense and above average speed. Matheny is a manager who looks at day-to-day production with certain guys though, and does not asses the bigger picture (ie seeing what type of player a guy is and letting him work through struggles in order to bring the raw talent out).
“Hoolie” was always one of my dad’s favorites, along with Curt Flood. Speaking of Javier, with those recent reunions of the ’64 and ’67 Cardinal teams, Javier looks great in pictures of those guys. He almost looks like he could still hit a curve ball.
Hoolie was a bit of a mirror image of Wong, as he thrashed left-handers but would struggle against some righties.
We need a reliever that can go three or four in this one. Can’t so the 1 or 2 innings bit, or play match up.Still early – gotta chip away and not give up any more.
Man, hit after hit by Chicago. Weaver not at his best. We need to stop this here before it gets out of hand.
Fowler did not look good at all going after that drive by Baez. But he is a long-strider, so he can look lik he is not at full speed when he actually is moving along quite fast.
Cards announcers saying the Cardinals got a break on the bad throw by Baez, but we got a bad break in that Carpenter’s liner was not just a bit more to the right.
Sheesh, Ozuna swings at two pitches in the dirt, then lets one go that was at low end of the zone, but hittable.
Good takes on Votto. Not sure how realistic it is to get some guys with good potential for him, but they need to keep that as a priority and constantly be on the prowl to see what might be a possiblity. If the Rockies have a chance to win their first division title later this summer, I would think they are a potential. Add Votto to that lineup and it could be downright scary.
But the Rox are not a big-payroll organization, so they would be tough to deal with in this situation.
The Reds organization has struggled for awhile now. Pete Rose should have been their “Stan the Man”, and a beacon around the organization that helped keep fans interested and talking Reds baseball through good years and bad. But he has such a toxic personality, that it ended up greatly tarnishing his life and legacy.
Johnny Bench still appears now and then, and Tony Perez is back with the organization. They need to keep those guys around. Then they need to put together a solid scouting/draft team and acquire top prospects.
Another “must do” is to try to get a haul for Votto from a contending club this summer.
Love the balance of 12 relievers and 5 bench players! It will be good to have a guy with some power to come in on occasion when we need some pop. JMartinez gave us that at times last year.
This made me curious on how Marco is doing in Seattle. He has started 3 games, but only pitched 12 innings. He has a great K/BB rate (11/2), but has given up 19 hits. Would like to see him succeed.
You wonder if Hicks might get a shot to close today, if a closer is required. Or maybe Gregerson.
Last night Matheny pulls the right strings. He got a good inning from Hicks, which is the norm right now, then got a couple of big runs in the inning he hit for Hicks.
Our biggest issue right now is that Holland cannot be counted on in any close game. Hopefully he is not the 2018 “Cecil”, but if that turns out to be the case at least it is only a one-year loss. But I think he will get things squared away and be effective. Course I thought Cecil would come around last year, and he still has not provided any value.
In some ways I don’t want to see Hicks close, and become so good at it that he becomes the next Rosenthal, and gets burned out by overuse.
I never understood why the Cardinals let Ottavino walk. At the time, he was looking more like a bullpen guy than a starter, and seemed to be a potential closer. But our loss was the Rockies gain.
This Bud’s for you! Man, Norris is really pitching well. The thing I like about him is he throws strikes. None of this Rosenthal drama where we never knew if it was the control, dominant version, or the wild thing version. Norris throws strikes, and has a mid-90s fast ball with some good off speed stuff.
Hicks might be better than anyone on our staff though. Man, thinking of him and Reyes as go-to guys over the second half of the season is exciting!
…there you go!! Now that is what a 3-slot hitter needs to do. Be aggressive and jump on a pitch you can handle.
Carpenter up, bases juiced, two outs. Here is where your #3 hitter earns his keep. Let’s see what he does against the left hander…..