gmaske71

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  • in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #159 – vs. Brewers – Wed 9/26 #71015
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    But the real difference in the two teams is the bullpen. Milwaukee has guys who throw strikes, and keep the ball off the middle of the plate. St. Louis has guys who cannot find the strike zone.

    How true. Brewer relievers always ahead in the count; Cardinals relievers always behind in the count. Brewers challenge hitters; Cardinals nibble.

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #149 – vs. Dodgers – Sat 9/15 #69414
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    Come on, guys, it could happen to anybody. I mean, Detroit is getting trashed by Cleveland 13-0.

    Oh, wait….

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #108 – vs. Rockies – Wed 8/1 #63622
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    Wong – 2B
    Ozuna – LF
    Bader – CF

    And that’s it.

    Yadi is four.

    in reply to: The Front Office's place in all of this chaos. #60423
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    Think of it like this, we are set at every position with, at a minimum, average talent for the next five years.

    Average talent makes us a .500 ball club, which is what we are. I think our talent level is not “average, at a minimum,” but “average, period.”

    in reply to: The Front Office's place in all of this chaos. #60421
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    Perhaps the people that are positive are just sick of getting drowned out by all the negativity of the vocal minority?

    I think you’re on to something, Pads. The thing is, we have absolutely no idea–none–how representative the malcontents on internet sites are of Cardinal fans as a whole. But I will say that by one indicator–attendance–the team is still doing okay with its fans. Of course the haters ridicule fans for still going to the games because, after all, the Birds are only playing .500 ball.

    in reply to: More on the Locker Room – Hicks and Norris #59890
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    “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and question his effort and his energy level and those are things that I can’t defend. What I can defend is trying to create opportunities for him, but not if it’s at the expense of someone that’s out there hustling and playing hard. I think everybody just needs to take a hard look in the mirror and decide what they want that next chapter to look like. In Dexter’s case, maybe taking a brief timeout, trying to reassess himself and then give him a chance for a strong second half is probably what’s best for everybody. I’m hopeful to touch base with him in the near future to really just decide what makes the most sense, but clearly he’s not playing at the level we had hoped.”

    In an article by Jay Jaffe at fangraphs.com, he wrote,

    Such was the reaction to Mozeliak’s scathing comments that he later issued multiple clarifications, though those were still rather unflattering.”

    Note the word “scathing.” Used in reference to Mozeliak’s words above? Or am I missing something. Those comments were not scathing at all. Strong, perhaps, but not scathing. For crying out loud, is everyone watching Oprah and The View? And “unflattering?” Tea and crumpets, anyone? This is borderline effeminate.

    Then Jaffe goes on to allude to the racism of “a subset of Cardinal fans.” And what does this have to do, exactly, with Mo’s “scathing” comments? Nothing. But it surely associates Mo’s analysis of Fowler with the racism of “a subset of Cardinal fans.” Because, after all, everybody wants to play the race card at every opportunity.

    The short story: the media, gauging the great discontent in Cardinal nation, are looking for gas to throw on the fire. I have absolutely no idea what to make of the Norris/Hicks situation based on the news accounts. But the media sure does.

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #89 – at Giants – Sun 7/8 #59562
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    Cardinal fans (not this one) absolutely clamored for free agent signings. We got Dexter Fowler last season and Holland and Ozuna this season. Fowler’s WAR is -1.2, Holland’s is 0 (lower after today) and Ozuna’s is 0.9 for a net of -0.3. In other words the Cardinals would have been better off standing pat and playing their up-and-comers based on WAR. To tell you the truth I think Fowler and Holland have cost us more than 1.2 games simply by blocking lower paid and younger talent. We will be hearing how terrible Moze is after today’s debacle, but everybody liked these signings at the time. Everybody. Also, note: Tommy Pham has done pretty much nothing since around the time of his Sports Illustrated article. “Pride goeth before the fall.”

    in reply to: Matheny as manager – fired 7/14 #58620
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    Selling would also put the issue of Matheny’s future in an interesting perspective. If they were to sell, the chance of making the 2018 playoffs would seemingly decrease. Would it be fair to Matheny to not give him the best possible opportunity to save the season and his job?

    Any team making personnel decisions based on how it affects the manager’s future has the wrong priorities. Teams can fire managers whether they are building or rebuilding or tanking or retanking. What they can’t do if they want to be competitive is worry about how their best decision(s) affect the manager’s future. I mean, are we all watching Oprah, or what? In general I have not liked Matheny’s managing. But I don’t think he’s the problem this season. NOT AT ALL. (Anybody want to bet Joe Girardi wouldn’t have been a much better manager this year than he was last?) That being said, Matheny’s job security doesn’t keep me up nights. I would think Mo is far more concerned with his own job security than he is Matheny’s. And that is the way it should be.

    in reply to: Bernie Rant 6/15 #57272
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    Haven’t ready Bernie since spring training. Removed him from my bookmarks after his touting of Pham’s Sports Illustrated attitude and tiring of reading how great Matt Carpenter and C Mart are and how stupid or redneck anybody is who wants to trade either of them. Martinez is injured but it’s always something with Martinez. He’s a top 15 pitcher, maybe. Houston has five of them. I find it absolutely hilarious that Bernie includes Wainwright in his lament on injuries that have crippled the Cardinals. I have loved Waino, but his absence isn’t hurting us at all this season.

    in reply to: Buyers or sellers? #57265
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    There’s lots of talk on here about what the Cardinals have if everything goes right.

    I count seven major league teams that, if everything goes right, could win 100 games. Not all at the same time, of course.

    The Cardinals aren’t one of them. If everything goes right for the Cardinals they can win 90 games. But there are probably ten or eleven or twelve teams that are better than the Cardinals now. And it isn’t because everything is going right for them. Face it, the only potential All Stars we have are starting pitchers.

    I think the Cardinals should be sellers, but the fans probably won’t like that, either. Our fans are getting like Philadelphia’s.

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #68 – vs. Cubs – Sat 6/16 #56772
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    Add terrible base stealing, terrible base running, and only really bad defense, along with average-at-best hitting, good-to-very-good starting pitching, and bad relief pitching, and what do you get? This team needs a complete rebuild. I do not think we should criticize Moze for not buying before the trade deadline. This team is not missing just a few parts. Except for Ozuna I think everyone is expendable, including C-Mart, and yes, you should be able to get a lot for him, but I’m getting tired of him. Of course Bernie thinks it’s because you don’t like C-Mart’s hair and that you’re a redneck.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Dexter Fowler and what should be done? #56325
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    I haven’t studied this but I wonder if the teams that are successful in MLB are those most willing to write off failed free agent signings either by benching or trading the player:

    1) Teams benefit from free agent signings SOME OF THE TIME. Sometimes they benefit hugely. At other times these signings are debacles. I have no idea what the proportion of good and bad signings is.

    2) Most teams feel pressured to play their bad but high priced free agents, players who almost always are blocking better young talent.

    3) The most successful franchises write off their free agent mistakes as the cost of doing business. (See gscottar, above) Then they either bench the player and in effect eat his salary, or they trade him and really eat his salary.

    4) No successful MLB franchise can expect to remain competitive while playing high-paid free agents over better young players. Bader>Fowler.

    in reply to: Pham article 5-20-18 #53654
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    5.His “everybody screwed me” routine wont fly forever.He isnt Bryce Harper,Reggie Jackson etc;.
    6.It is never real smart to bite the hand signing the paychecks.Sooner or later it will be one caustic comment too many.
    7.Abrasive personalities eventually wear out their welcome.

    I agree. Pham’s unfortunate injury history explains his salary history. No conspiracy. Of course the SI article fits sports tabloid journalism.

    in reply to: Pham article 5-20-18 #53653
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    </5.His “everybody screwed me” routine wont fly forever.He isnt Bryce Harper,Reggie Jackson etc;.
    6.It is never real smart to bite the hand signing the paychecks.Sooner or later it will be one caustic comment too many.
    7.Abrasive personalities eventually wear out their welcome.>

    I think you’re on to something. Pham’s injury history explains his salary history. There is no conspiracy.

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #36 – at Padres – Fri 5/11 #51863
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    And as has been discussed for awhile now, the evidence is getting overwhelming on Carpenter. You would think he has burned his goodwill and Gyorko would be in there.

    Right. It’s not like we don’t have somebody else to run in there. But MM will give Carpenter the day off against lefties and play him against most righties due to his relatively less pathetic numbers from the right side, .161/.299/.333. This is platooning ad absurdum. The only kind of lineup construction I hate more is the “head-to-head” line-up based on going 1-for-3 against Kershaw or 2-for-7 against Lester. These are small sample sizes; how about just playing the better player? Gyorko>Carpenter. Martinez>Carpenter. I don’t care about Martinez’s recent slump. Martinez has produced whereas Carpenter’s entire season is a slump.

    I leave Wong in for his defense. But Carpenter? Which of the five tools are we leaving him in for?

    Every season MM does one thing over and over that drives me nuts. In 2014 it was leaving Craig in until the day he was traded. In 2016 it was hitting Holliday fourth. The last three seasons it’s playing Molina too much because, after all, Molina demands to play. I wish Matheny didn’t compel me to write against players I have really liked–in the past–such as Craig, Holliday, and Carpenter. This is really all on the manager. People say the players have to produce, not the manager. But the manager can play the players who are producing, whether it’s offensively, defensively, or both.

    in reply to: 2018 Reg Seas Game #35 – at Padres – Thu 5/10 #51687
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    Carpenter 0-3 with 3 k’s. Can we start playing Gyorko yet?

    A. No, we can’t, for the same reason that we didn’t bench Craig in 2014 and we kept hitting Holliday fourth in 2016. This is simply a logical continuation of the Mike Matheny era.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Carpenter and what should be done? #50596
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    Welcome, gmaske71. Yes, there is a button right above where you type called “B-QUOTE”. When you paste in the reply you are quoting, highlight the text, click the button and it puts it in italics, like the following. It is not glamorous, but the function is there.

    Thank you, Brian.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Carpenter and what should be done? #50594
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    I think quoting the poster’s comments in your reply is actually a way of directly replying.

    Well, sure, but ordinarily direct replies appear under the original post rather than perhaps on the next page of comments following. Makes it rather cumbersome to dialogue, although it probably makes it harder to fight, which may be the point.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Carpenter and what should be done? #50424
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    “Gyorko is back. I can’t see why we’re not playing him every day, letting him develop a regular’s rhythm. Oh yeah, that’s right. We have to do something with our .161 hitting leadoff man. I have liked Carpenter for a long time and have been one of his biggest supporters during his latest difficulties. But there comes a time when you have to think of the team. The man is clearly not himself. He’s not doing us any good. He’s hurting. It’s time to sit him down for a significant stretch of rest, recuperation and reflection.”

    Since there is no way to directly reply to comments on this forum, I will simply say amen to this comment, with the sole qualification being that I am unsure how much “reflection” helps major league players hit the ball. I realize that on base percentage is the new batting average, and I understand this. But Carp simply isn’t hitting the ball a lot and this spoils his very good on base percentage for me.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Carpenter and what should be done? #50419
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    “Who is Carpenter blocking? It isn’t like we have a plethora of corner infielders waiting their turn in the minors. We have tons of pitchers and OF’s but not so much on infielders.”

    I guess you can’t directly respond to comments on this forum, so you have to quote them or else it sounds like you are responding to imaginary voices. So I have edited my comment below by adding the above earlier comment.

    Well, tonight 4/28, Carpenter is “blocking” Gyorko. Gyorko should not sit until he cools off. Right now he’s hitting 421/556/789. Small sample size, but why sit him? Carp isn’t the only problem, however. We have two players, Carp and Fowler, near the bottom of qualifying NL players’ hitting stats, and another one, Wong, who doesn’t qualify but otherwise would be near the bottom. But Matheny is always worried about rehabilitating players rather than playing the hot hand.

    in reply to: What is wrong with Carpenter and what should be done? #49155
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    As far as his hitting so far, it’s still a small sample size. But it is kind of nice to have a guy who can steal bases hitting lead-off. Matt Carpenter can’t. He has stolen 15 bases and been thrown out 15 times in his major league career. Don’t tell me the ability to steal bases has become irrelevant. It’s important in big games, and especially the playoffs. Carp not only can’t steal bases, he isn’t a good baserunner, either. Yet he has shown himself psychologically incapable of hitting ANYWHERE other than first. So what to do? Either hit him lead-off, or trade him. I prefer the latter. I’m tired of Matt Carpenter and despite his versatility he’s blocking other players who deserve more playing time. Matheny will never sit Carpenter, so it will be up to Moze or the other guy, you know, the “general manager.” Carpenter has had a very nice Cardinal career but I see him now as simply a guy who is blocking younger players.

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