Brian Walton

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 25 posts - 16,976 through 17,000 (of 26,600 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: Minor league thread – Sun 6/2 #92670
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    The Palm Beach game is at the Florida Fire Frogs, but they don’t have home TV either. From the audio, it appears Roberts gave up some hard-hit balls. I did not hear any velos mentioned, though that isn’t his calling card, anyway.

    in reply to: Pitching Depth #92664
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    To add to the O’Reilly and Pearce examples is Zach Petrick. He was the Pitcher of the Year for the entire system in 2013 at Springfield after dominating across three levels. Yet, he never made it to the majors and he wasn’t derailed by injury. He eventually went to Japan for a couple of years and that was it.

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sun 6/2 #92661
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    On service time, there are a number of examples in the past when it was not manipulated by the Cardinals. When others have brought up the possibility in the past, I have asked them to share examples to the contrary, but no one could provide them – except for other teams.

    On Reyes specifically, he was kept in Palm Beach until doctors determined his broken finger was far enough along in healing that he could risk batting. Hard to manipulate that. I think if he was dominant in a couple of starts for Memphis, he would be brought up to St. Louis immediately. On the other hand, given his recent results in PB – good but far from great – I don’t think he is going to be ready that fast – service time and broken finger aside.

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sun 6/2 #92656
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sun 6/2 #92654
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 58 thread: Sun 6/2 vs. Cubs #92653
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Bikemike, all you had to do is check Knizner’s player page here. It is KIZ-ner. If you tune into the radio today, I imagine Shannon will use all of those pronunciations and several more! You know the going gets really tough when he just calls him “the Cardinals catcher”. 😉

    On travel plans, I was already scheduled to connect through O’Hare on Friday and once I figured out what was happening, I turned my one-hour layover into an all-day stop. Going to the game with my Cubs fan lawyer friend who has season tickets. He already warned me on what not to wear, as if I needed a reminder. Wrigley is not a friendly place for non-Cubs fans and even worse when they lose. My main hope is to not have to listen to that dreadful “Go Cubs Go” jingle.

    Andrew Knizner

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 58 thread: Sun 6/2 vs. Cubs #92652
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Score one for gscottar!

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sun 6/2 #92643
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    This season is 186 days, but the most service time a player can accrue in a season is 172 days. For the Cards to keep Reyes the extra year, he would need to finish 2019 at 171 days or less (and never be optioned out again in future seasons).

    Using your number, if he is at 2.065 now, he would need to spend no more than 106 additional days active this season to get under the mark. So your three more weeks out seems a reasonable estimate.

    However, if he progresses well, they probably won’t keep him down that long. But that is still a big “if”.

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 58 thread: Sun 6/2 vs. Cubs #92640
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Do you mean as a pinch-hitter or starting? 😉

    It depends on how bad they want to give Knizner a start. With a day off Monday, any perceived need to rest Wieters is minimized. Especially given how Shildt sticks to his lineups, I expect to see Wieters on the lineup card today.

    Maybe they give Knizner a start in the Reds series, where the stakes are not as high. We shall see…

    in reply to: TCN Pitchers/Players of the Month – 2019 #92633
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sat 6/1 #92628
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 57 thread: Sat 6/1 vs. Cubs #92569
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Hopefully the rain stays away…

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 57 thread: Sat 6/1 vs. Cubs #92565
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Three solo homers and the Cubs are up 2-1 after two innings. Rizzo, Goldschmidt, Heyward.

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Sat 6/1 #92564
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    They only got one inning in…

    in reply to: Former Cardinals in the News #92563
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Scrabble was released by the D-backs.

    in reply to: Short-season news -2019 #92562
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    All team rosters and the Matrix are up to date. All new DSL graduates in the US are assumed to be on the GCL roster for now.

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 57 thread: Sat 6/1 vs. Cubs #92560
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Baez scratched with a recurring heel injury. Russell starting instead.

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 57 thread: Sat 6/1 vs. Cubs #92553
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    in reply to: TCN Pitchers/Players of the Month – 2019 #92551
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    It takes a network of many to help these players to chase their dreams. Late one afternoon during spring training, I struck up a conversation with a young woman who was patiently waiting on a bench outside the media area. Totally by chance, it was John Nogowski’s girlfriend. She was there to support her man. There are a million stories like that.

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Fri 5/31 #92548
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Of course, player development is always no. 1. It should be assumed that 30 of 30 farm system staffs would say the exact same thing. Their job is to prepare MLB-ready players.

    Having said that, they also strive to maintain a winning culture. The change in the Cardinals W-L fortunes at full season this year is significant and mirrors what we saw at State College and Johnson City last year (aggregate .465 W-L). Part of the reason Memphis is down this year is that Springfield was down last year, etc.

    You can brush it aside, but the fact is that the Cardinals’ US affiliates finished in aggregate above .500 in eight of the last nine years, with the only exception in 2014. That isn’t coincidence.

    That does not mean there will not always be prospects to root for. There are just fewer of the blue chip ones, in my assessment.

    in reply to: TCN Pitchers/Players of the Month – 2019 #92545
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Ravelo is in his third year with the Cardinals and he didn’t have to come back. Nogowski went though indy ball on his rebound and again, chose to return. Perhaps respect and having a stable home has value, too.

    I am working on Pitcher of the Month now and you pegged it well, C27.

    in reply to: Pitching Depth #92528
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Among starters, I like Angel Rondon and Edgar Gonzalez more than Seijas at this point, as my May top 50 confirms.

    Among relievers, Seth Elledge and Connor Jones (to a lesser extent) are behind Fernandez. Jesus Cruz has shown flashes, but has also been roughed up at times.

    In my time in EST, only one fastball touched 93 and I had the gun on every pitcher I saw. Of course, if a guy has a wipeout slider like Roberts, fastball velo is less important, but the vast majority of EST guys are still finding their way. Certainly no sure things yet.

    in reply to: Minor league thread – Fri 5/31 #92525
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Pugs, I have been warning for months and months that the pitching is down. The bullpens have been especially bad. Also, many of the middle tier of hitters aren’t hitting. The coaches are pretty much the same as before, when things were going well. Talent wins games.

    Just last season, the Cards ranked sixth of the 30 organizations in the US with a .534 winning percentage. Right now, they are at .463. I don’t know how that stacks up in 2019, but in 2018, .463 would have been 26th of 30 organizations, so yes, it is pretty rough.

    in reply to: Cubs thread #92524
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Ken Rosenthal writes that the Cubs may be able to pay Craig Kimbrel from the savings gained by Ben Zobrist’s extended absence.

    https://theathletic.com/1005863/2019/06/01/rosenthal-an-unexpected-event-might-be-spurring-the-cubs-interest-in-craig-kimbrel/

    in reply to: StL 2019 Game 56 thread: Fri 5/31 vs. Cubs #92519
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    I noticed Bernie ripped Edmonds the other day, calling him ‘a management-paid, management-planted “analyst”’. Well yes, that is pretty much what they all are. Expecting something else is not realistic.

Viewing 25 posts - 16,976 through 17,000 (of 26,600 total)