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Bling-
I’m curious what Mendoza looks like, but he’s not a long run solution, so sticking with Gorman makes sense. A 3B prospect is top of my wish list when trading happens. And you are probably right re fifth for Noot. That’s where I was till just today. Patience….
Brian-
Thanks. You don’t think Noot can do it because he doesn’t have the defensive chops, the health, or something else?
I’ve not watched Baez play CF much, so don’t have an opinion, but have been struck by the fact he has mostly played there this year. I could imagine a less strong defensive CF if Walker continues to improve in RF and there is a left fielder with good range.
Following up on that last, I had managed to forget that Noot has 102 starts in CF, 23% of his starts in MLB. Maybe he’s the guy there for next year? I wonder if they will start to think they might have a chance in 2027, if there is a season, with Doyle, Cijintje, Roby, Mautz, Fitts, and Molina as possible start the season in AAA, but could help for the playoff push, and if jnevel is right about Mathews. Two or three of the Mathews, Doyle, Cijintje, Roby, Dobbins, Fitts, and Molina hot in September and this could be an interesting team.
This thinking likely affects what they think of offers for Noot and Burly.
I’d mostly keep Wetherholt at leadoff to keep things simple this rookie year. I find myself thinking about putting Noot third, Burly 5th. If Burly hits 5th, does Walker see more strikes? And does a pitcher who’s just navigated Wetherholt, Herrera, Noot, and Walker get tired and make a mistake to Burly?
Bling-
Agreed. Interesting that they had Noot in CF in the Saturday game at the end. If they were to hang on to him for next year as CF and have Baez as LF and Crooks at C, this could be a team 8-deep, just 3B as the clear weak spot. Noot, Crooks, and Baez taking the place of Scott, Pages, and the LF rotation could make the bottom half of the lineup a lot more interesting.
Well that’s interesting. Wetherholt didn’t play Wednesday, either, so it’s a 3 day break. Minor injury? Rest? Trying to work through something in BP? He had 6 HRs in April, but only has had two since.
Well that’s interesting. I expected it to be Torres. So the bench now is Valasquez (RH power off bench, spot starts at DH or LF (to be removed late defensively), Pages (occasional start at C vs. a lefty, or late inning defensive sub), Torres (lefty PH, occasional start at LF or 2B, where the guys he would sub for also bat lefty; maybe also RF with Noot in RF to rest Walker), and Fermin, who I guess is the backup for CF, 3B, SS, and 1B, plus a contact oriented righty PH.
Cooper Hjerpe threw an inning in Florida today, FCL. No hits, no walks, 1 K. Good to see him back in game action.
I kinda want to go back to watch Mathews’ game from last night. Anyone know what was different?
I’d heard good things re Rajcic, but hadn’t looked closely at the numbers. Very encouraging. I wonder if at some point they will drop Roycroft and add Rajcic to the 40-man. And I wonder what sort of log jam they will face for the 40-man in the offseason as they build up the minors.
I hear that Blaze has some issues with swinging at stuff outside the strike zone too much. Might not be an issue in AAA, but something MLB guys will exploit. I wonder if there is any chance of Ramon Mendoza being a callup, not as a long term solution, but to give Gorman time at AAA to try to right the ship. Mendoza has an OPS of .817 at Memphis and kept playing with the big leaguers for a long time in spring. But he’s not on the 40 man.
Hopefully a game that reminds kids that losing stretches do eventually end…Good to see a multi-hit game for Walker.
O’Brien has given up runs in his last four games.
Soriano has only given up runs in 3 of his last 14 games. Same for Romero.
Stanek has only give up runs in 3 of his last 15 games.
I’m wondering if and when O’Brien moves out of closer and it becomes, at least for the moment, a committee.
Looks like Dobbins is going to stick around and do a similar sort of long relief when he’d hit regular time to start, say around Friday. Sort of like a piggy back starter, but not tied to a particular rotation partner. I find this intriguing. Pretty much a scheduled day of rest for the other 7 guys in the pen. Might be an interesting way to keep them fresh. Big four of O’Brien, Romero, Soriano, and Stanek. Graceffo, Fernandez, and Bruihl to pitch the remaining innings.
Dinner is Mamaw’s chicken casserole. Chicken breasts chopped up into 1″ cubes, minute rice, creams of celery, mushroom, and chicken soup, water, some cheddar cheese, seasoning. I forgot to buy broccoli, so will have a salad on the side. A recipe that I do when I want to cook up a casserole that can be put together in about 10 minutes. Might have some girl scout cookies for dessert, either thin mints or tagalongs.
Oddly enough, Velasquez has a better OPS vs. righties (.792) than lefties (.682) so far this season. I wonder if he had a clause that he could leave mid-season if he wasn’t in the big leagues. He is out of options, so if he doesn’t stick, we have to run him through waivers. I wonder if he will primarily be a righty DH/PH, thump off the bench. His defense is a bit of an adventure.
Blaze Jordan has better splits against righties, too, but Baez has crushed lefties so far this year, more so than righties.
Velasquez in the lineup as DH against lefty Imanaga, batting cleanup. Fermin in LF rather than Torres. Bench of Gorman, Pages, Saggese, and Torres.
Well it is the day for Crooks! Called up with Pozo being optioned. I’m very curious to see if Crooks takes Pages’ role with Pages sliding to Pozo’s.
And Velasquez called up with Prieto sent down. Prieto is 1 for 23 as a big leaguer.
Velasquez has crushed the ball in May, OPS of 1.018, albeit with 23 K’s in around 76 PAs. Righty PH and platoon partner with Torres?
This means someone will be dropped from the 40-man to make room for Noot next week. Prieto, Pozo, or Roycroft?
jnevel-
Thanks for that info on Burly splits. I’d not been paying attention. Interestingly, Jordan, though right-handed, has a better OPS vs. righties (.949) than lefties (.854). Perhaps not enough experience hitting lefties yet?
CiF-
I’m pleased with what I am seeing as a rebuild for a few reasons. Some of this has already been mentioned.
1. Walker. He is currently 2nd in the NL in wRC+. Other metrics tell a similar story. He looks like the sort of big bat around which to build.
2. Wetherholt. His slower May tempers enthusiasm somewhat, but he’s on pace for around 27 HRs, which is maybe 10 more than I would have expected, he fields the position very well, and there’s good reason to think that he will be able to make the necessary adjustments.
3. Herrera and Burly rack up more evidence that they are good hitters. Those four guys show me the core of a solid lineup. That the bottom 5 in the lineup are lacking means there’s more work to do, but those guys are an awfully good start. And Baez, Crooks, Bernal, and Jordan are knocking on the door.
4. Signs they can develop players now. I see the changes in folks like Walker and Baez and I get optimistic that what we see in young players will grow over time rather than stay at the plateau. (I’ve heard reports of improved strength and conditioning programs, which seems consistent with my next point on this list.)
5. A strategy of getting interesting pitching prospects. An article from early May shows their K rate on the farm has climbed from 18th in 2024 to 5th this year. That’s progress.
6. The acquisition or development of some minor league pitchers I could see becoming the sort of front of the rotation guys we need–Doyle, Franklin, Cintje, Clarke, Roby, Fajardo, Odle. Most won’t pan out, but if two do, that will go a long way, and we have more of these lottery tickets now than I can remember in a long long while.So I’m feeling better about this year than last, even if last year we won one more of the first 54 games, and if this year we fold due to the weak bottom of the lineup, thin bullpen, and bunch of pitchers who are 5-6 innings “keep us in the game” sorts of guys.
I believe I heard them say on the Cards’ broadcast that they want Noot to play back to back games, take a day off, then play back to back again, then they’ll promote him. Springfield plays Thursday to Sunday, so presumably he plays there Saturday and Sunday. Then Springfield and Memphis are off on Monday, but Memphis is back home so he plays there Tuesday and Wednesday, then gets activated on the 4th. My counting fingers and toes tells me that’s the day he needs to be activated in any case. The Cards are off that day. He’d miss the Cubs and Rangers series.
I’m tempted to say they need him back, but he’d likely push Torres out of the lineup and Torres has done just fine, though if we were a little taller, the Cards might have gotten their no-hitter today.
In the last 7 games, OPS of .186 for Gorman. Noot hitting fifth could drop Gorman to 7th. OPS of .208 for Winn and then that botched play on the grounder in the 8th. He’s in a funk, but there’s enough track record that he’ll get out of it. .486 for Wetherholt. Scott has actually been ok at .683, with a .350 OBP.
Really impressed by May today.
Trying to remember that this is a developmental year and so having equanimity. Hopefully they are working on Blaze Jordan’s D at 3B Gorman, Pages, and Scott seem like the three to upgrade for next year, with Jordan, Crooks, and Church the likely replacements. Baez likely replacing Noot as well.
Either the Cubs or the Cards have to win the next three days. The Cards rebounded well from the Seattle sweep. Hopefully they rebound here, too.
Very fun to see Torres’ debut go so well. Good to get the largest win margin of the year in the first game of a doubleheader. They can go Graceffo, Romero, O’Brien for the last three in game 2 if need be.
I just looked at May splits for the first time. Walker (.969) and Burly (.872) stand out, and Herrera (.783) and Gorman (.736) are doing well. I’d not noticed that Wetherholt is at .619 for the month, Church .625, or Fermin .459. (Not surprised by Scott at .550 and Pages at .440.) Wetherholt will pull out of it, but makes me think that if Torres can bring a .700 OPS there could be a lot of playing time for him. How does his D look like in center? Church and Fermin seem less sure to me than my eyeballs suggested.
If we have the money, I’d like that, too! But I expect that the 6 will get too pricey, and my bet is that Walker, Wetherholt, and Rodriquez end up as a players a tier better than Herrera, Burly, and Winn. I look forward to watching! I got involved in the predecessors to this board back in the 90s when I started posting daily minor league performances, as they were not as easily found as now. It was a tough spot for the team, and I was looking forward to the team returning to prominence, with the guys on the farm leading the way. This year reminds me of those days….
I got curious. We are 19-4 in games in which Romero has appeared. (I wonder how many games have only had one or the other of Romero and Stanek.) We are 7-3 when he gives up at least two hits+walks.
We are 15-7 when Soriano appears, 15-4 since April 3. We’re 6-2 when he give up at least two hits+walks, and 6-1 wince April 3.
Screwball.com reports that we have blown saves in 8 games this year, but we’ve come back to win 4 of them anyway. So if we use these guys (almost) only when we are ahead, we’re going to have overwhelmingly winning records. Stanek just lives more dangerously (11 games with two runners) than Romero (10), Soriano (8), or O’Brien (5). And perhaps has been put in slightly more spots where a couple baserunners won’t matter.
Dinner tonight will be a baked chicken breast, rice with dill and parmesan, some green beans, and a scone for dessert.
jnevel and gscottar-
Thanks. I realize I have not thought as carefully about extensions as I should have. I think also of the effect on other players of extending these two. For instance, what does Herrera think if Walker and Wetherholt are extended?
Regardless, the thought of Walker, Wetherholt, and Rodriguez playing together for a long while has a lot of appeal…though I could be jumping the gun on any or all of the three.
In fWAR, Jordan is at 2.1, Wetherholt 2.0, and then there is a drop to the (still good) Herrera and Burly at 1.0. In bWAR, Jordan is 2.9, Wetherholt 2.4, and then the drop to 1.3 for Herrera, Burly, and Winn.
If we’re wondering what the difference is in this team vs last, there’s a good case that Walker and Wetherholt are the main part. I still hope they give Wetherholt some more days off…maybe shoot at 145-150 games instead of 158 as he ramps up from last year’s 109 games, especially as the weather heats up.
I can squint and see Jordan and Wetherholt as the two home-grown stars for the next many years, hopefully with Rodriguez joining them before too long. I’m very curious about the team’s and players’ thoughts on extensions, and I hope this season goes well in part to make St. Louis a more attractive long-term destination.
Wetherholt’s power surprises me. I saw the picture of him next to Griffin and the difference in height is pretty stark.
