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Winn makes plays at SS that few in the league can make. Yes he needs to improve his bat but the Cards a better team with him on the field.
Eventually Blaze Jordan is going to have to take the training wheels off and try to improve his OPS. We don’t need a singles hitter at 3B. The reason we traded for him was his potential to do damage.
I don’t view the Cardinals as stuck in the middle. They were when Mo was here but not now. When Mo was here they were actually trying to win but couldn’t. This year they weren’t really trying that hard yet have still been able to field an average team on a much lower payroll while considerably beefing up the farm system. We are in a much stronger position than we were 2-3 years ago.
Yeah if the Brewers can win at least 3 of the 7 remaining with the Cubs they should be in good shape. If they win more than 3 it is pretty much over for the NLC title.
It is amazing how weak the AL is this year. It is quite probable that the final AL wild card spot will be a team with a losing record. That should be highly embarrassing for MLB. They keep expanding playoffs out of greed but to have a playoff team with a losing record should be considered shameful.
Yes I know the 2006 Cards got in with 83 wins but at least we won the division.
I think the catcher situation needs to be sorted out as well. Either Crooks or Bernal need to be traded. Herrera should be DH/1B. He could spell Burly against certain lefties. I don’t have a strong opinion on Raniel at 3B. It doesn’t hurt to try but I am not a fan of sacrificing defense for offense. I just hope Rainiel doesn’t continue the recent Cardinal trend of catchers who had to be moved off of the position (Contreras, Herrera). It is fair to say that we all got spoiled by Yadi.
I am surprised there hasn’t been more chatter about this. What do you guys think about Rainiel getting time at 3B? Obviously the big league club needs stability at that position but can he do it?
I will be doing my usual Friday night fare of Organic Cheese Pizza, Little Debbie Brownie, and Diet Mountain Dew.
The Cards have won five series in a row. Might as well make it six. I like how we play on the road. For some reason there seems to be a more sense of urgency than at Busch.
FWIW – Ohtani is only making 2M$ a year for now. In 2033 he starts getting 68M$ a year for the next 10 years for a total of 680M$
during those 10 years. That might make it stressful for the Dodgers to stay under a hard ceiling.The current CBT system doesn’t really work that way. There are two separate payrolls. The cash payroll and the CBT payroll. The CBT payroll determines the tax. The Dodgers are being charged $46M per year for Ohtani on the CBT payroll. The number is $46M instead of $70M because of the deferrals so when it comes time for Ohtani to actually receive his deferred salary a decade from now there will be no charge on the CBT books.
The Padres model is an extremely risky one. You build up a highly rated farm system, then gut it to obtain star value players, then give those star players massive long term backloaded contracts, push all of your chips into the center of the table, and hope you win a WS.
It did not work for them and they are about to pay a terrible price for it the next decade.
Brian, that is a good point. I suppose it could be viewed that way. Currently the argument has always been that the Dodgers have been playing by the rules therefore the rules need to be changed to create a more equal system but if it is discovered that they have not been playing by the rules then yes that might change the argument.
But I still think focusing on one team only is not the best approach. If I were tasked with coming up with an argument to justify a hard salary cap I would probably use numbers like jnevel has in the past where you look at the last couple of decades and examine how many regular season wins, playoff wins, and world series championships were won by teams with a top 10 payroll vs a non-top 10 payroll. I don’t think that tells the entire story but at least it illustrates certain trends based on a higher volume of evidence.
Saying that all of MLB’s financial problems are because of one team seems kind of flimsy to me. It lets teams like the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and Cubs off the hook. Why don’t those teams have more to show for all of their spending? Why don’t those teams have higher rated farm systems? Especially the Yankees and Mets. I just have a hard time believing those two teams couldn’t have more recent WS titles if they were ran better. And I think dismissing the Dodgers success as a product of money only is not accurate.
We need to raise the CBT tax rates, take away draft picks for violators, eliminate salary deferrals, and implement a CBT salary floor to address the welfare teams who pocket the money.
The Cubs won’t be able to hold it off forever. Eventually they will slide back in the standings. To me the team that could have the bleakest outlook in baseball is the Padres. They now have the worst farm system in baseball coupled with numerous albatross contracts that will be on the books for years. They are doomed.
There are a lot of different ways to measure wealth and capacity to spend, not to mention the fact that most people who comment on it, myself included, are operating blind or with very limited information since the books for these teams (except the Braves) are not open to the public. But based on what I have read over the years I don’t think the Dodgers are the wealthiest team in baseball. Do they generate the most revenue? Maybe, but again it would depend on how it is defined. Are there teams of equal or similar wealth who produce a lot less winning on the field? I feel confident in saying yes to that one.
I am not defending Mark Walter nor am I saying that the Dodgers don’t have financial advantages. I have never said that. What I have said is that drawing a straight line from their financial status to the reason they have won back to back championships seems very simplistic and lazy to me and doesn’t explain why other wealthy teams routinely fail. It is my opinion they are being used a convenient boogeyman by Manfred and others to get a salary cap which is why I am hoping they get knocked out of the playoffs this year (unless it means the Cubs going to the world series, then I take it back.)
The timeframe to get a resolution on his legal issues is a big unknown. If charges are filed and a trial occurs and a conviction is obtained and appeals are filed it could take years. I would hope the fate of the CBA isn’t directly tied to this one issue.
Very true Mike. I deal with this issue a lot in my job, although not exactly what Walters is alleged to be doing. Not disclosing related parties is a big no-no. I saw this morning that he also is now in talks to sell his stake in Chelsea FC. Will the Dodgers be next?
I don’t know if there are enough dots to connect his business dealings to why the Dodgers run the payroll they run. That could be a very tangled web to untangle. Even if you could prove that you would still have to acknowledge that the Dodgers are not owned by the wealthiest owner or owner group in MLB.
I am personally rooting for a Brewers-Rays World Series this year so the baseball world can then move onto the next “crisis.”
I think as each year goes by and we get a little further away from the roster demolition we will see more players come in from the outside. Not many but there will be some. We will use our farm a lot but when it comes time to really compete for a division title then we will have to get some help from the outside.
I still think the real push will come in 2028 but it would not surprise me to see more than a token contributor brought in for 2027. Maybe just another Dustin May type or perhaps a notch higher on the scale.
I think it is fair to say that our two best starters this year have been Pallante and Leahy. Who would have predicted that before the season began?