Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
My only complaint about Hudson is that he seemed to be blaming a bad outing at times on something other than his pitching itself. That worries me a bit. I do love those ground balls, though. It’s kind of hard to imagine him pitching at Memphis. And you have to wonder what banning the shift will do to his game. I’ve been a a strong supporter of Hudson since he came up. I would feel frustrated by the walks and cheap base hits in the first inning or two. That, then, would be followed by ground ball after ground ball after ground ball.
I haven’t kept up with the voting, but I’m going to vote for
16 ConnorThomas
17 Alec Willis.Both of these pitchers could make big strides in 2023, IMO.
I’m basing this on the Thomas hype about his new pitch and his success in the AFL, and I’m basing my vote for Willis on the reports at the time he was drafted,and that $1M signing bonus they gave to their 7th round pick. Willis could turn out to be a sleeper, IMO.-With so much hype about Connor Thomas during his time in the AFL, I’m really looking forward to seeing what he brings to Spring Training in 2023.
That 2017 Top Prospect voting list has 15-20 players who got significant MLB playing time. Pretty impressive, IMO.
When the front office talks about an upgrade at catcher, they might be just teasing us with that old ‘hidden ball trick’ meaning that the so called upgrade at catcher that they talk about may be no more than a catcher that is marginally better than an Austin Romine type guy to back up Knizner.
I agree that they can win the National League Central with what they’ve got especially if pitchers like Pallante, Liberator, Hudson, Woodford, Thompson, Graceffo, a healthy Flaherty and as Scott Boras would say, ‘a mystery pitcher’ show up at spring training and impress. And then if they can acquire Bieber and he can stay healthy, we might really be onto something. (And, yes, I know I’m fantasizing a bit about Bieber.) As it stands now, the way I see it, our 1,2,3, and 4 starting pitchers are Mikolas, Montgomery, that old war machine named Adam Wainwright, and Matz. (Speaking of ‘old’. wouldn’t it be nice to be 42 years old again like Waino.)
I want to say one more thing that is going to be pretty unpopular regarding Brendan Donovan but might have something to do with the unlikely possibility of trading Gorman. It’s that famous Branch Rickey statement adapted by Leo Durocher and, IMHO, could apply to Donovan. It goes like this -‘He can’t hit, he can’t run, he can’t field, he can’t throw. He can’t do a goddam thing, Frank, but beat you.’ ‘He might not have as much ability as some of the other players, I said, but every day you got 100 p3ercent from him, and he was trying to give you 125 percent.’
Regarding catcher, I’m okay with Knizner starting off the year behind the plate. Nobody can replace Yadi. But I think Knizner can handle the role if given a legitimate chance. Later on in the year we’ll find out if Herrera is the long term answer. I like Herrera’s energy level. He plays plays hungry. It’s far too early to start discounting him, IMHO. I’m not a Contreras fan. He seems like his ego is bigger than his talent and I don’t see him as a team player. And It’s probably going to take 6 years to sign him. The real missing piece in my opinion is that TOR guy, and that might be something unrealistic to expect unless Bieber becomes truly available. His injury history is going to scare of some potential bidders so that will surely lower his price and could ultimately result in a bad trade for the Cardinals. IMO, Flaherty is not the answer. He’s just not reliable. And, honestly, he’s something of a head case.
Every time I listen to one of these ‘in his own words’ interviews, I come away hoping and praying the kid makes it to the Bigs.
Good question. My guess is that they bring him to camp unless they absolutely need the roster space. Even if you’re a multi-millionaire tossing $3M in the waste basket has got to be painful. As I write this I come to realize you’re likely just being sarcastic, but I decided to go ahead and post this anyway. (I hate seeing guys getting big money thrown in their lap for contributing absolutely nothing.)
Trout is owed $150M to be paid over his ‘twilight’ seasons at the ages of 35, 36, 37, and 38. Add to that his recent injury problems, and I would say that there is zero chance of the Cardinals acquiring him. Just too much risk.Besides, I, for one, get bored listening to a broadcaster talking about the greatness of a 37 or 38 year old player who is OPS’ing .720 while getting paid $37M during those twilight years. No thanks.
It seems likely that they will have to bring in a catcher from somewhere. With the enthusiasm of Donovan’s play, I could see Gorman as trade bait for a catcher.
Their greatest need is for a top of rotation guy, IMO. I don’t know if there is one to be had, but for me that’s their greatest need. Flaherty is not that guy. He always has something going on, either physically or mentally, that prevents him from reaching his true potential. That said, I’m happy for any kid who can make himself into a multi-millionaire at such a young age. They seem to love Pallante and I expect him to be a regular rotation starter unless he shows that, in reality, he’s not up to the task. Liberatore could also be trade if there’s a team that really thinks he has yet to reach his true potential.
I think it will be a much different year for Hicks if he stops toying with the idea of being a starter, and that in itself will improve the bullpen. Cabrera ought to be back, also. Just don’t understand what his problem was this past year.
The unknown still is what effect banning the shift next year will have on the game.
Here’s an interesting story from a website called ‘Mental Floss’. I think it kind of applies to the Royals. The writer’s name is Hannah Keyser. Her source was Leo ‘The lip’
Durocher.The Nice Guys Finish Last line came about because of Eddie Stanky too. And wholly by accident. I’m not going to back away from it though. It has got me into Bartlett’s Quotations— page 1059, between John Betjeman and Wystan Hugh Auden—and will be remembered long after I have been forgotten. Just who the hell were Betjeman and Auden anyway? It came about during batting practice at the Polo Grounds, while I was managing the Dodgers. I was sitting in the dugout with Frank Graham of the old Journal-American, and several other newspapermen, having one of those freewheeling bull sessions. Frankie pointed to Eddie Stanky in the batting cage and said, very quietly, “Leo, what makes you like this fellow so much? Why are you so crazy about this fellow?” I started by quoting the famous Rickey statement: “He can’t hit, he can’t run, he can’t field, he can’t throw. He can’t do a goddamn thing, Frank—but beat you.” He might not have as much ability as some of the other players, I said, but every day you got 100 percent from him and he was trying to give you 125 percent. “Sure, they call him the Brat and the Mobile Muskrat and all of that,” I was saying, and just at that point, the Giants, led by Mel Ott, began to come out of their dugout to take their warm-up. Without missing a beat, I said, “Take a look at that Number Four there. A nicer guy never drew breath than that man there.” I called off his players’ names as they came marching up the steps behind him, “Walker Cooper, Mize, Marshall, Kerr, Gordon, Thomson. Take a look at them. All nice guys. They’ll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last.”
Some of those called balls on Liberatore could have been called strikes. And if that had happened, the inning would have been a lot different, IMHO.
Please, MO. I’m beggin’ ya. If you have to sign a free agent pitcher, don’t make it a Mike Leake or a Brett Cecil or an over-the-hill Greg Holland type. If the urge is uncontrollable, just give yourself the afternoon off, and walk on down to the Broadway Oyster bar, and have several drinks. Even consider closing the place down. Then, nurse your hangover for a couple of days before you go back to the office.
One thing that can be said about Gallegos is that he shows up for every outing and gives it his best shot. I get nervous every time he gets into a game, but the great majority of the time, he does what he’s supposed to do. All in all, it looks like a fair deal. The Cardinals get an experienced, and more often than not, effective reliever for a reasonable price, and a really nice guy like Giovanny Gallegos gets to be a multimillionaire.
They have to do things that they think will make the game more appealing to younger people. I’m sure that MLB has done studies to find out what might work to engage them in baseball.
With these rule changes there ought to be a lot more high scoring games, and a lot more back and forth leads. There will likely be batters who will stop swinging for the fences all the time because they have been fed up with forever hitting into the shift. There will be more stolen bases because there will be more runners on base because of their higher averages…. and the bigger bases ought to help with the stolen base somewhat, also. There should be more double plays, too, because of more runners on base and more batters just trying to hit the ball rather than drive it into the bleachers. And there will still be plenty of home runs. Of course, this is all guesswork. We’ll have to wait and see how it actually plays out.
I’m thinking that next season, with the shift banned, most player’s offensive stats will change, maybe dramatically. Front offices will have to try to project what the change will be for each player in order to have an idea of what they really have. It might be best to go with what we have for next season before making moves to upgrade our offense.
Moises Gomez almost not making it onto the Top 30??
No Julio E. Rodriguez in the top 30??
Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Mejia ranked number 10??
19 pitchers in top 30.
Might have been better said that there were too many hard hit balls against him, rather than saying he got hit hard. Montgomery was lucky that Marmol and Pallante were able to bail him out of the mess he got himself into in that sixth inning.
Quintana is in a walk year and he’s posting the best stats of his career….. ERA 2.65, WHIP 1.059 It seems unlikely that he’ll ever post stats like that again. Also, the Pirates had him signed for 2022 for a mere $2M. You have to wonder how they got him so cheap. McFarland and VerHagan were good enough in their walk year that the Cardinals wanted them back. Lesson learned?
Montgomery was getting hit pretty hard the last time out. The Cardinals’ defense and bullpen saved him, IMO. I don’t know if the other teams are figuring him out, or if he was not feeling his best. Montgomery pitches kind of like Mikolas, but without the big curveball that Mikolas has been throwing this year. I hope he continues to get better.
I can’t think of a player named Leonardo. But there are a couple of Leonards that come to mind, one is the ill-fated Lenny Dykstra whose full name is Leonard Kyle Dykstra, and another is our own LJ Jones III whose full name is Leonard Charles Jones III.
There’s a new MLB ranking of Cardinals prospects. Moises Gomez is still ranked all the way down at number 30 (Is it because of his 35% strikeout rate?). Julio Rodriguez is not in the top 30. Alec Willis moves up to number 15. Paniagua moves up to number 13. Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Mejia moves all the way up to number 10 (His coaches must really like him). There are a lot of new names in this ranking.
I’d like to see Woodford in the bullpen this year. Then, next spring I’d like to see him win a spot in the rotation.
Nest spring, the competition for a rotation spot is going to be strong. I’m attributing Hudson’s lack of success to lack of structure during the last offseason because of the labor conflict. So, I expect him to right his ship between now and spring training, and if that happens, the rotation should already be set for 2023 with Hudson, Wainwright, Mikolas, Quintana (they almost have to bring Quintana back because of his success so far), and Montgomery. That leaves Pallante, Woodford, Liberatore, Matz, Zack Thompson, and maybe Hicks trying to find a way into the rotation.
One other thing I want to say is that I don’t understand why there’s talk of trading O’Neill. He’s just coming into his prime. I think they should extend him, not trade him.
