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Both Burleson and Saggese have similar profiles and similar expectations.
(I hate to see anyone get blocked. But I’m glad Brian maintains the standards here. I’m sure Burlyman doesn’t act around everybody the way he has acted here. Maybe he’ll switch gears and come back.)
Sorry to be picky and comment on spelling, Wally, but his name is Mo.
Also, Oliver Marmol spells his first name Oli.
It was the kind of honest assessment and reporting that everyone appreciates. Thanks, again.
Enjoyed this again this week. I like Blake’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and self-confidence. Brian keeps the show moving along with balance. Thanks to both.
My pick for young pitchers is ‘all of the above’. Hjerpe, Hence, Bedell, and Rajcic are my current favorites. Blake has some interesting thoughts about Rajcic in today’s ‘Wednesdays with B and B’.
Thompson is looking more and more like that 6th starter. I’d like to see Liberatore get some outings as a middle, or late inning reliever.
And Rom had one great start last year against his old team, the Orioles. It led to Wainwright’s 200th win. He also had one decent start against the Phillies. But other than that, it would be an overstatement to say he was pedestrian. Rom is our 24th ranked prospect.
He showed the kind of command needed by a Cardinals pitcher. He may have jumped ahead of Thompson and Liberatore in the pecking order as possible starting pitcher, if needed.
I would appreciate some more discussion of Riley O’Brien. Blake sees him as something of a sleeper pick this spring. O’Brien has been with the Rays, the Reds, and the Mariners. and he’s 29 years old. It’s hard to understand why anyone could think that he will break out at this point in his career. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but it sure seems unlikely. I hope he does break out because I dislike boxing anybody in with the adage ‘You are what your stats say you are’. Incidentally, I looked him up on Wikipedia and his middle name is ‘Chun-Young’. He was born in Seattle. Wikipedia didn’t say anything about his biological heritage.
Fascinating analysis and discussion of pitchers with new or improved pitches. I’m going to see if I can identify and follow those pitches during the season. I wish there were more spring training games being televised.
John King has been making it easier for Oli to figure out his bullpen.
My guess is that Boras, himself, told Buster Olney to say that Montgomery wants to play for a small market team. Olney didn’t simply run into Montgomery at the gym and Montgomery happened to mention that he’d like to play in St. Louis (or Texas). Many writers/pundits are prone to give us fake news if it can serve their interests. Is it really just a coincidence that Sonny Gray goes down, and Montgomery starts pining about small market teams? It looks like a ‘you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours’ sort of thing. Olney goes on a New York talk show and says Montgomery wants to play in St. Louis…..then, when Montgomery finally signs somewhere, Olney gets to be the first to find out and report it.
Snell’s asking price is reportedly 9yrs/$270M … He’s 31 years old.
Montgomery’s asking price is reportedly 7yrs/$172M … He’s 31 years old
The Phillies just extended Zack Wheeler for 3 yrs/$126M beginning in his age 35 season. That’s $42M a year.
Wheeler commented that he enjoys playing in Phillie which, I guess, explains why he allowed the Phillies to extend him.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again….. The inmates are running the asylum.*
*BTW, that is also the title of a book by a guy named Alan Cooper
And then, whoever does the most to impress during ST gets Edman’s spot on the roster. The candidates would seem to be Moises Gomez, Matt Koperniak, Alphonso Rivas, and Jared Young.
Watching the game today, I thought Kloffenstein looked like a young version of Lance Lynn. So I looked into it to see how they compared. Lynn is 6’5 and tips the scale at 280. Kloffenstein is 6’5 and weighs in at 245. I don’t remember what kind of pitches Lynn threw when he first reached the Majors in 2011 at age 24. But I think Kloffenstein, at age 23, throws more breaking balls than Lynn did when he first came up.
‘I will make note to ask Blake about Pallante on the next podcast’
Thank you. I’ll be looking forward to it.
Also, thanks for picking up my comment even though I accidentally posted it on the wrong thread here. Obviously, it should have been posted on the WWW thread.
Koperniak is off to a good start this spring.
Very interesting analysis and commentary. I’d like to hear Blake’s and Brian’s thoughts on Pallante’s new ‘death ball’ that he worked on during the offseason at Tread Athletics.
I’m guessing that the first round of cuts will be this coming Monday or Tuesday.
The Cardinals have gotten carried away with this push for veteran presence.
Carlson is 25 years old, 26 next October, and he still can’t hit right-handed pitching.
I watched the game today on Bally Sports Midwest. Here’s my impressions/thoughts:
Gorman, fit and focused, looks like he’s going to be a monster this year. Hope his back can stay healthy. The announcers think he’ll get a fair amount of AB’s at DH with Donovan at 2B.
Carlson looked more aggressive at the plate than in 2023. Didn’t do anything against the right-handed pitchers he faced.
Pages stretches his left leg out straight and to the left before every pitch.
Cho is fun to watch at the plate, but he has a fairly high leg kick and a lot of moving parts. He’s 20 years old.
Koperniak had a great day…. 3 for 3 and clutch. If he can continue the good work all spring and at Memphis, we might see him get some AB’s at Busch this year. He was a non-drafted free agent that was signed in 2020, but did not play because of COVID restrictions. He OPS’d .799 with 18 HR between Springfield and Memphis in 2023.
Helsley looked like an elite closer.
Romereo hasn’t found his groove yet. Still has high end reliever mentality, IMO.
King pitched well, IMO. Would have easily gotten out of his one inning of work with no runs allowed were it not for the wind and sub-par defense.
Fernandez hit 98 on the radar gun. He has a smooth delivery and can get outs.
Rodriguez lacks any sort of finesse.
The Cardinals have some thunder with Arenado, Goldschmidt, Gorman, and Contreras….then, there’s those not quite proven bats of Walker, Nootbaar, and Donovan. I hope Edman bats leadoff. With all the additions, and with Helsley coming of age, the bullpen has potential for being really good, if not great. Bruce Benedict, now a scout for the White Sox, was at the game today. Could the Cardinals be a WS contender with Dylan Cease added to the rotation?
I enjoyed it, too.
Charlie Marlow commented in his report that Walker stayed in Jupiter during the offseason so he could work with the Cardinals’ trainers. One other thing that Marlow said, that I thought was interesting, was that Walker’s dad went to MIT and his mom went to Harvard.
At Winter Warmup Bakeshow commented that he had worked hard all offseason to lose weight and improve his agility. And what does he get for it?………..
I think there is 0% chance both Carp and Baker are on the roster.
Harsh. Really harsh.
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