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DeWitt has been very clear that Matheny will be our manager for the foreseeable future so I don’t know why we continue to debate it. Let’s focus our attention on more important matters like how Mo and Girsch are going to revamp this team this winter so we can finally take down the stinking Cubs!
So the Cubs can clinch the division in St. Louis and knock us out of wild card contention at the same time? Wow, what a crappy week this will be.
On the other hand, if we sweep them and somehow win the wild card how sweet will it be.
Well there could be several players traded.
Grichuk, Piscotty, Pham, Sierra, Bader, Kelly, J. Martinez, Gyroko, Carp, and Diaz are all possible trade candidates. Then you have some bullpen pieces that might not be on the 40 man next year. I think they bring Nicasio back though.
You might be correct Rat but I wouldn’t give up on DeJong yet. Despite all of the comparisons to Diaz I really think Paul is going to stick around and thrive. A better comparison is Trevor Story. His average may drop but the power is still going to be there and his defense should only improve. If we could obtain an elite SS a move to 3B might be good for DeJong.
Another thing that will help him is to drop him down to 6th or 7th in the lineup. That should take some of the pressure off. That is why obtaining a big bat or two this offseason is so important. The guys we have hitting 3,4,5 right now really shouldn’t be. They should be in a more comfortable spot in the lineup.
I think the acension of the Cubs has made everyone in Cardinal Nation a little extra edgy ( I know it has me). If we were losing the division to the Reds, Pirates, or Brewers it would still suck but it wouldn’t suck as bad as losing to the hated Cubs.
As for Matheny I won’t throw out a bunch of stats. I’m just going to go with my opinion. I think he is neither a bad manager or a great manager. I think he is an above average manager who was fortunate to land with a top notch organization (most of the time). Unfortunately that top notch organization failed to provide him with enough pieces to put a championship team on the field this year. I have a feeling that will be corrected this offseason.
As a side note, I am of the strong belief that the front office has more to do with the success/failure of a team than the field manager. We all know the manager is important but I really think the FO sets the tone.
As a second side note, the Cardinals are a franchise that thrives on stability. We have had four full time managers since 1980. That is really incredible. Not many sports franchises can say that. We don’t change managers every time there is some angst and that is probably a good thing.
That is true but I would take my chances with the Cubs as a wild card team. I don’t see them beating all three of the Dbacks, Dodgers, and Nats.
Goold tweeted last night that Flaherty has been removed from the rotation and will be replaced by Gant.
I have seen some people state that we should be pulling for the Cubs to beat the Brewers because it would be in the Cards best interest. Sorry, but that isn’t happening with me. I understand that we need to leapfrog the Brewers but frankly I don’t care. I want nothing more than for the Cubs to crash and burn. Last year was an absolute nightmare and I don’t want any chance of that happening again. The Cardinals had a chance to knock the Cubs out last weekend and we blew it so now I hope the Brewers can.
I would much rather see the Brewers win the Central than the Cubs. If we somehow get the wild card spot fine but a bigger priority for me is for the Cubs not to get in the playoffs.
ABC = Anyone But Cubs
Most front office types are very reluctant to trade high end prospects within the division because you don’t want to see the guy you traded blossom into a star and have your fans reminded of that 18 times a year.
On the other hand the guy you traded for might turn into a star also. I see our front office as too risk averse to try something like that, although as a side note, I’m getting a good vibe about Girsch so far. He seems to be more open and candid than Mo and I find that refreshing.
The manager can certainly have an impact on a team, there is no doubt about that, however, the front office has a bigger impact in my opinion. Our front office did not give our manager enough weapons to utilize this year and they need to make amends this offseason, plain and simple.
I don’t know if Simmons is available or not but most players are available at the right price. The Angels still have a lot of holes to fill to be a championship contender. If we offered them enough a deal might be made.
As for JD Martinez, no he isn’t going to win a gold glove but his offensive firepower would more than make up for his deficiencies.
We basically need to acquire four players this off season.
1. Eric Hosmer
2. JD Martinez
3. Andrelton Simmons or Zach Cosart
4. Juan Nicasio or other good bullpen pieceDeJong can move to 3B.
Trade whoever we need to trade except young pitchers: This includes Gyroko, Carp, Piscotty, Diaz, Grichuk, and Fowler.Go with the youngster in the rotation: CMart, Wacha, Weaver, Flaherty, and Waino. If we need an innings eater on a one year deal go get Lackey or RA Dickey.
I do not blame this series on Matheny. He went to a gunfight with a bunch of butter knives. The front office has some work to do this off season and we all know it.
If we only win 1 out of 3 then it is basically season over. At a minimum we need 2 out of 3 and we really need to sweep.
I’m not putting much stock in the Wild Card race because the Rockies have an extremely soft schedule to close the season. It is basically catch the Cubs or else.
We are now 6-9 against the Reds this year, who are a terrible team. Could be the reason we don’t win the division.
Mets might have interest in Fowler, but like I’ve said before, we don’t have many LH bats in the lineup.
Joel Sherman of the NY Post recently had a column where he mentioned that the Cards and Mets might make good trade partners this off season. The Mets need OF’s and we have a surplus. He specifically mentioned Dexter Fowler as a possibility. From a budgetary point of view I would like to move Fowler, however, he is one of the few LH bats we have. We don’t need an almost all RH lineup next year.
It also occurs to me that the Mets desperately need a 3B considering David Wright’s injuries. I don’t know much about the Mets farm system but how about we send them Grichuk or Pham, Piscotty, and Gyroko in exchange for Matz and Harvey. Both pitchers have had injury problems so we would be buying low. Matz has four years of control left and a ton of potential. Harvey has one year of control left and might be suited to put in the bullpen to see if he could recapture some of his old glory.
If we could sign JD Martinez we would have an outfield of Fowler in LF, Martinez in RF, and CF could be Grichuk or Pham, Bader, Sierra, etc… Carp maybe could slide over to 3B and Jose could play 1B if we don’t sign Hosmer or Morrison; or Carp could stay at 1B and DeJong could move to 3B if we could get another SS (Simmons of course would be the dream scenario.)
If we don’t re-sign Lynn we need to sign a veteran innings eater to a one year deal to bridge the gap. I’m thinking someone like Lackey or RA Dickey.
Well I assume they play day games on Sunday but I didn’t know they had a no day game on Thursday policy. Strange.
My latest ideas:
Re-sign Lynn
Re-sign Nicasio (if he is effective this month)
Trade for Simmons and Bedrosian
Trade for Yelich
Sign Hosmer? (if we move Carp and if we don’t think Jose can handle it)Players I would consider trading: Carp, Gyroko, Fowler, Cecil, Diaz, Grichuk, Piscotty, one or two of the young OF’s, and any young pitcher not named Reyes or Weaver. Obviously not all of those would be traded but that would be the most logical group to pick from.
I didn’t say Carp was worse than Jose. I said we might need to move Carp to get a high caliber player in return, such as Simmons, Donaldson, Yelich, Stanton, etc…..
If we do that do we turn 1B over to Jose (making league minimum) or go after Hosmer and his $100M contract?A GM has to think of budgetary issues also. It might make sense to move a guy making $28M the next two years instead of a guy making the league minimum if the production isn’t that different.