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Ouch, not a good first inning for Martinez. Slacks on defense allowing Gordon to take an extra base, then called out on strikes at bat.
Gyorko called out as well, on a pitch that looked high and outside. But he swung at a lousy pitch for strike two.
Only the first inning, but this club continues to make mental and defensive miscues that hamper their game. The blame for that is largely on the coaching staff.
The club probably did not what to re-position two players, and thus moved Carpenter to second rather than Carp to third and Gyorko to second.
Some good points, especially comments on the roster. Part of the problem this team has had is the roster does not work well. Carpenter is a bit of an enigma, as his bat does not play all that well as a first baseman, and for whatever reason he and the organization feel he cannot bat anywhere but leadoff. And while he does have value there, we need more slugging from first base than a get-on-base guy.
Thus part of the answer is to deal Carpenter, and possibly others with the goal being to get a strong bat back that can play first base and hit in either the 3 or 4 slot. Or possibly third base or the outfield, with Gyorko or maybe Piscotty going to first. Either that, or get pitching help and give the first base job to Voit, which is a gamble.
I cannot understand the willingness to deal Gyorko, thinking you can improve the offense. Trade him, and you just gave up your top WAR player, so you are starting in negative ground. You would need to get a guy that can replace that WAR in the second half, and then you are only breaking even. Gyorko is exactly what we need at the position he plays.
Carpenter is the guy you shop, as he should bring a good return, and with the right deal the roster could fall in to place.
Replacing Gyorko with Donaldson makes no sense to me. Gyorko is having a much better year, seems to be trending upward, and is almost 3 years younger than Donaldson. Donaldson is struggling, and at 31 could be on a downward trend.
What has hurt the Cardinals offense this year is not third base, but first base and right field. Carpenter and especially Piscotty have not been as consistent as projected.
If we want an impact bat, I think you have to look at the outfield for changes. When Fowler comes back, he probably plays and then you almost have to keep Pham in the lineup. That leaves Piscotty as the odd man out if we could get a better player.
I think Voit can handle it. I would have rather have Mejia in the lineup at second, and Carpenter at third. Or maybe just put Mejia at third in this one.
Carpenter’s weird “I can only bat lead off” really cramps the options for the batting order. Piscotty should not be hitting third, but almost has to with this group (although Pham would be a good option there). It’s sort of like having a guy that can only play one defensive position.
Grichuk could hit third if he learned to layoff any pitch that is coming in at the knees. If he sees a pitch headed for the knees, he should automatically take, but he rarely holds off on that pitch. That is one thing I am seeing from Pham this year – he has really improved at pitch selection, laying off a lot of those low deliveries. Grichuk has never learned that. Maybry needs to tell Grichuk to watch Pham’s approach and learn from it. Pham swings at more pitches he can square up, and lets go pitches he cannot do much with. Plus he’ll take that outside pitch to right field, which was a major flaw in Diaz’ approach this year. Diaz pulled off everything, even pitches in the left-hand batter’s box. Grichuk is similar, although he does go to right occasionally. Grichuk’s weakness is the pitch down in the zone.
Crazy game. The offense was on track, and Waino looked great, then gave up six in one inning. Fortunately the offense gave him a lot of room to work.
The timing of adding Weaver seems a bit odd. Is he going to be a one-inning pitcher? I would prefer him starting every fifth day at Memphis that being a one-inning pitcher in St. Louis. Maybe they are hoping he can be a late innings guy and an improvement over what we have there. With the big lead last night, I would have brought him out for a second inning since he’ll most likely be a starter perhaps as early as next year.
The new “Memphis Mafia” has really made their presence known. We now have Voit, DeJong, Mejia, Weaver, and even Pham from the Memphis roster that opened the season.
For now, it is going to be trial and error. Since he is so unpredictable, you gotta use him and hope for the dominant version, the Dr. Jeykll Rosenthal. But you keep a guy ready in case you get the Mr. Hyde version.
If he never does settle in to one or the other, then he becomes a middle inning guy, who gets shopped around. The trouble with trading him though, is our biggest need is bullpen help so we might send him somewhere for another team’s bullpen enigma.
I agree on Yadi “selling” that strike three call. It looked outside from the television angle, but that is certainly not an accurate view. But Molina did a fist pump and started heading for the mound before the ump called it. By then, the ump almost had to call it a strike.
The late inning relief was considered a strong suit heading in to the season, but has been an issue all year. I think Matheny needs to see how the 8th inning guy is going, whoever that may be. If that guy sails through the 8th, then leave him out there for the ninth.
Man, quite a free fall for Allen Craig. I don’t recall anyone in the long history of the game that seemed to suddenly lose the ability to hit, other than two similar players where it happened roughly at the same time, Craig and Garrett Atkins.
Guys age, and thus are less productive. But it seems like both Craig and Atkins were real good for a awhile, then had a season where they just lost it and never recovered.