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Appreciate the info and in-game commentary while I am at work. It is really going to be a shame if Nog doesn’t make the team. Its not always about baseball.
Check out Goold’s article on stltoday. Quotes from hitting coach Albert. Good god. I’m sure we can crush virtual reality fastballs but who cares.
I don’t think we learned anything new from today’s game. A few thoughts:
Schildt is right it was vintage Flaherty, all of it.
Too bad Bader is out of options.
Carp is really done, fork tender. He really went off a cliff after the 2018 season.
Sosa hasn’t helped his trade value at all. He might even pass through waivers.
If normal rules apply this season, and if they haven’t changed, a player has to be in the minors 20 days before an option year is burned. 20 days cumulative all year. Someone will correct me if I am wrong, which wouldn’t surprise me.
If Brian is right and we start the season with 14 pitchers there is no possible way to fit Nogowski in the 12 position players. When and if it goes to 13 and 13 it would theoretically be possible. Depending on how pathetic our bench turns out to be, hitting wise, it seems plausible he could be in STL at some point.
Which raises the issue of whether he could quickly become functional in left field if he needed to stay in for a couple innings after pinch hitting. Hopefully he at least has enough arm for that. Meaning no disrespect to the late Mr. Duncan, but he illustrates that with enough effort modest defensive ability can work well enough out there sometimes. With double switches and shifting guys around it would be workable if we need that bat on the bench.
willie, the board needs a counterpoint to those who think Bader will magically morph into something besides a bottom of the order hitter. He is a good center fielder for a team that doesn’t need him to be something he is not. If Schildt would quit with the up in the order nonsense once and for all I think the Bader shade would die down.
An interesting sub-plot is what happens to the guys out of options. There is still time for Mo to make deals to avoid losing them for nothing.
There are a lot of guys still assigned to big league camp for only having 7 games left. 24 pitchers (including the sick cases) is a lot. Besides the two first basemen there are 8 infielders. Also a lot. 7 outfielders also a lot. I guess you need 4 catchers if you have all those pitchers. Everyone is at the compound whichever camp they are assigned to on paper so maybe it doesn’t matter. Or maybe its just clarifying pecking order. The final cutdown to 26 will happen in a few days anyway.
Good to see Carlson have a good day. It is getting harder to justify not figuring out a way to have Nog on the bench. And to justify having Carp on it. Liked the pitching, a lot of Ks and not too many BBs. Gant did what he needed to do. I hope the cut down happens this weekend so we can see the regulars out there regularly.
There will probably be opportunity for several bottom of rotation types, depending on how the sick cases progress. And depending on how long before CMart combusts. I can’t see Mo going outside the org other than a dumpster dive, so I would rather our guys get a chance.
Perusing the team by team stats I noticed our pitching staff is second in BBs handed out, one behind the Reds, and is tied for most hit batsmen. This causes our WHIP to be pretty bad even though our BA against and hits allowed are middle of the pack. My guess is it also contributes to our being 12th for most runs allowed, while other teams we play a lot, and who I guess play mostly at the same stadiums we do, have allowed the fewest runs against. Astros 25th, Mets 27th, Marlins 30th. Our ERA is 20th best, with the Marlins at 3rd best, Mets 5th, Astros 10th. Only the Rays and Rangers have struck out fewer batters.
