Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Plummer took the 2020 season cancellation to totally rework his swing which is what he attributed his breakout to. I would protect him and at least see if he sustains it another year before moving on. I would trade the out-of-options Justin Williams first.
Plummer-you have to protect after this year’s performance
Robertson- you either protect or trade, because he is major league ready even if he doesn’t have a high ceiling.
Baker – I would leave exposed or trade due to lack of OBP skills and him only having two games at AAAWith Yepez, Gorman, Donovan and Plummer all performing reasonably well at AAA last year, and Nootbaar performing reasonably well in his first year of MLB, I don’t see a need to bring in a “proven bat” with a low ceiling. A premium player will cost money and will not sign for a bench role.
Invest the money in pitching.
But back to the topic at hand – what should the Cardinals do? Pitching, pitching, pitching. Whether it’s free agency or trade, we need another front line starter. Also, probably need 1-2 relievers.
Baseball doesn’t need a hard cap. They need to get rid of handouts to billionaires that incentivize them to claim poverty rather than invest in their business. The Cardinals are in the 20th largest market but draw well because of sustained winning. The owners of Oakland, Tampa and Miami have prioritized revenue sharing handouts to maximize profits instead of investing in their own business.
Can they fill that #5 starter slot with Woody, Reyes, Oviedo, Libby, etc?
They need better than a #5 starter.
There is the chance they are showcasing some of these guys for trade bait.
They have certainly done that in the past, though I would like to see them keep all these guys.
If we want a legitimate chance to win the world series, we need a front-line starter.
Also need relief depth. Garcia and McFarland have been huge additions for the second half, as have LeBlanc and Lester in the rotation. Probably need a second starting pitcher along those lines.
DH – we have Yepez and Gorman as possible candidates. Also Brendan Donovan.
Left-handed bech bat – Nootbar has his OPS up to .728. He’ll get better with more at-bats against major league pitchers. Gorman also bats left.
DeJong – he is fine as a bench bat, his contract is not a burden on the team. He is set to make $6 million next year.
Liberatore, Oviedo, Thompson, and Rondon
are all good prospects. They’ll back up an experienced rotation of Flaherty, Hudson, Kim, Mikolas, and Reyes next season.
Should be fine.So, we needed a veteran backup catcher for Yadi. We needed a veteran backup outfielder.
But it’s okay to have rookie backup pitchers? When Hudson, Mikolas and Reyes all have extensive injury histories (and Flaherty has missed two months)? When Reyes has absurd walk rates? When the lowest ERA among the MiLB players is Rondon’s 4.92 and the lowest WHIP is Liberatore’s 1.30?
I’ve looked it up, jj. And it says it’s not adjusted for field position.
You can filter to just look at center fielders (for example), then sort in descending order by OPS+
Big offensive hole at middle infield, and not enough pop in the OF. I complained ad nauseam in the off season about an unproven outfield of O’Neill, Bader, and Carlson. Do to injuries and other factors, this outfield has a total of 39 home runs this “season to date”. That’s an average of 13 per outfielder. Almost 70% of the way through the season. That speaks for itself.
Team Leaders in OBP (more than 100 PAs):
1. O’Neill – .346
2. Bader – .341
3. Carlson – .340
4. Goldschmidt – .333
5. Carpenter – .330
6. Sosa – .328
7. Arenado – .318
8. Knizner – .315
9. Edman – .300
10. Molina – .296
11. DeJong – .291Team Leaders in Slugging % (more than 100 PAs)
1. O’Neill – .518
2. Arenado – .496
3. Bader – .468
4. Goldschmidt – .446
5. Carlson – .421
6. DeJong – .387
7. Edman – .376
8. Molina – .373
9. Sosa – .353
10. Carpenter – .323
11. Knizner – .276I don’t see how the offense is the outfield’s fault, when they are the three top performers in on base percentage and three of the top five in slugging percentage.
For years, the Cardinals said they would just trade pitching whenever they needed star hitters.
That’s simply wrong, LA. Look at all the pitching the Cardinals have traded to secure position players
Reading comprehension helps.
Yes. For years, the Cardinals said they would just trade pitching whenever they needed star hitters. They found that model is very inefficient, which appears why they are going down the path of selecting hitters very high in the draft, and why the pitching pipeline isn’t as robust as it once was.
Especially when you have to play your second baseman in right field.
They don’t HAVE to play Edman in right field. His .673 OPS isn’t forcing him into the lineup. He’s been playing the outfield for three years, even when we had better outfielders on the bench.
This is strictly Shildt’s preference for Tommy.
Last offseason I pleaded for the Cardinals to sign Adam Duvall. He has 23HR’s and 71 RBI’s and his making a grand total of $2M. Sigh….
1. That was $1.5 million more than the Cardinals were willing to pay
2. If he was on the Cardinals, he would be taking at bats away from O’Neill or Bader, just like Fowler took bats away last year. Shildt can’t help himself.Do you know what kind of odds Atlanta has of winning this game tonight? About the same as Harrison Bader has of whacking 4 dingers this evening. For this game you bet the ranch…the cattle….the furnishings….all of your vehicles….you empty out your savings, checking and money market accounts ….you sell off your valuables and whipe out your 401K and all retirement accounts…..you borrow as much as you can from anyone who trusts you…..and you plop it all down on the St. Louis Cardinals and J.A. Happ to win this game tonight. And you never break even the slightest sweat or raise your blood pressure even one notch, as you know you have this in the bag.
Pugs – I have figured out the homeless crisis in the US.
What Cardinal infielders have been playing outfield over the past 5-10 years?
Off the top of my head – Adams, Wong & Edman.
Also, you’d better be sure about that rookie catcher,
There are no sureties in the sport. The most difficult jump is from AAA to MLB. If you never give someone a chance, you will never know. And right now, it doesn’t matter who is Yadi’s backup, because they only see the field in double headers, blowouts and when Yadi is injured. That said, you develop your farm system so they can become your future starters. If you never give them a chance, you might as well trade them all away.
But if not, I prefer an experienced catcher at backup
That is your preference. My preference would be to give the young guys a chance than to get career backups every year.
For 4th OF/left-handed bench bats it seems we will have at least four of our own players contending for that job:
– Lars Nootbaar
– Justin Williams
– Conner Capel
– Alec BurlesonWilliams will be out of options, so he is going to need a monster spring training or he will be traded.
Or not having enough depth in the outfield, so you have to play your supposed starting second baseman out there.
The Cardinals have been doing this the last 5-10 years, even when we had outfielders who should have been out there instead of infielders.
Or having a rookie backing up your aging catcher instead of a proven vet who also can help you off the bench in the later innings.
I don’t get this. How are your minor leaguers ever supposed to become starters if you continually want to bring in vets to block them from playing games?
