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I was looking for McGee, too, and didn’t see him. Nice to see the big smile on Rolen’s face. Glad he got in the HOF. He belongs there for his bat and his glove.
I was extremely encouraged to see the Home Opener sold out and all the fans showing up in spite of the weather. The Opening Day ceremonies were as grand as ever. Hope the season turns out to be a pleasant surprise.
Baseball America at one time picked Sullivan as their Cardinals sleeper prospect. Just goes to show you…
AlbertTheMachine – I agree. They need to give s few pitchers the opportunity for a fresh start someplace else. But then why did they acquire RHP Sean Harney?
We went grocery shopping Sunday evening on the way back from Texas Roadhouse. MY wife found a couple of really nice looking pork chops, and I think that’s what I’ll be seeing again on the Thursday dinner table. I’m pretty sure we’ll be having baked beans, fries, and salad, also. And I’m pretty sure I’ll seeing a part of that same pork chop later in the week because the one’s we got on Sunday evening were pretty big. BTW, Rat, I think Texas Roadhouse was originally established in the Hoosier State, so there ought to be one somewhere in your neighborhood. You can get a pretty good 8 oz KC strip for about $18.00. which is reasonable by today’s pricing, plus you get two sides. And if you’ve got room for it, a baked potato, loaded, is a pretty good thing to add, in my opinion. Of course, you can take back home with you anything you can’t handle at one sitting.
It’s still somewhat shocking to me that a player like Jordan Montgomery will get paid $22.5M for bringing in the mail in 2025.
Some day, some way, this kind of absurdity must be corrected, IMO. I feel bad for the D-Back fans and also, the D-Back ownership who signed him up with the best of intentions.After the reports on Sonny Gray’s ‘health’, and the kind of spring he has had, I don’t understand why anyone could suggest that he will be starting on Thursday. Is this stupidity, or wishful thinking, or is there some sort of hidden agenda going on? I’m good with seeing Matthews get the start, but to me it seems like McGreevy has done more to earn it. I never liked Liberatore as a starter. I think he belongs in the bullpen and I think he could make some really big bucks working out of the pen. That’s just the way I’ve always felt about him. I hope he does well as a starter. Speaking of the bullpen, I’m still very interested to see what Riley Chun-Young O’Brien can do. He reportedly has some big, still unrealized, potential. He reminds me of Juan Eichelberger for a peculiar reason. Eichelberger’s first name is Spanish, his last name is German. But if you ever saw him, he looked like he had African biological heritage. Riley O’Brien sounds as Irish as a leprechaun. But you look at his middle name and you look at his photo, and you can see that he has Asian biological heritage. Our Country is truly the ‘melting pot’ that it is sometimes referred to.
Based on the few times that I saw Barrero in the batters box, I thought Barrero swung the bat as hard as anybody ever has. His problem is that he has no idea of where the ball is when he is swinging.
1. Saggese is starting at 2B by June 15.
2. Contreras finishes in top 5 in MVP voting at end of year.
3. Arenado is back to being his old self, 30 HR, .280 BA.
4. Pallante’s continued improvement nets him 12 wins.
5. Matthews gets national recognition as emerging top rookie pitcher.
6. Siani is starting in CF by July 1. His improving offense has
been revived in Memphis and his league best defense is
irresistible to Oli.
7. Mikolas pitches like he wants at least another year or two to
pitch before retirement.
8. McGreevy is a solid 5 inning pitcher as he eases into the
rotation.
9. Herrera gets traded to a team looking for a RH DH. Crooks brought
up for a sniff of the majors.Cards finish year at 84-78 which is enough for a WC in playoffs.
Great post, Bikemike. I was thinking along the same line. It
s all about dominating. Forget talent and finesse. The organizations are allowing it and they’re paying the price for it (in dollars).There is no reading involved. If Noot is in CF, we don’t have any corner outfiedlers.
I’ve liked the way Koperniak is playing this spring.
We still don’t know if Walker can hit, or if he will wind up getting traded to the NFL.
Breakout player of the year, Chase Davis, is lurking in the shadows.
I get the idea that there is so much unproven about our starting pitching. I’m generally optimistic about things, so at this time of the year i have high hopes. I agree with AlbertTM. MCGreevy looks ready now. Matthews could be a difference maker before long. The same goes for Hence and Roby. Graceffo looks good for now. And then there’s Mikolas and Matz. Both are in the walk years of their contracts and, if they each want to pick up a few extra million dollars on their way out, they have to be much better than they have been. After that, there’s Helsley who looks like the pitcher he was last year.
Chip Carsy talks like Pallante is still learning how to pitch. I think he’s a regular starter. It’s fun watching Winn throw. It makesfans feel like they’re king of the hill.
We definitely dodged a bullet on Kittredge. In a round about way it sort of makes up for some of the damage we took on the Matz signing. Speaking of Matz, he did look pretty good today against the Nats. He had some bad defense behind him, but he mostly kept the ball on the ground. I bet he has a good year. He’s in the walk year of his contract and he’s finally injury free, so far, at least. I’m not accusing him of anything, bu it’s odd that things work out that way more often than you would ever imagine. If he does happen to have a good year, he could even be trade bait at the deadline. Wouldn’t that be something!
Some random thoughts so far this spring…
I don’t know what they’re going to do with Gorman, but I see Saggese as our starting second baseman by mid-season.
I don’t know what to think about Walker except that I thought he was going to be a star player. Someone said that Walker looks like a linebacker and I agree with that. But can he put the bat on the Ball?
I love Siani’s defense. His offense was improving consistently from month to month in 2024. He’s having a horrible spring and, at this point, I’m thinking that he will have to hit at Memphis and then wait for a reason to be needed to play CF again in St. Louis. Too bad.
Baker will probably get stashed on Memphis’ roster as protection in case something happens to Contreras. Me deserves to be a regular major league DH, IMO.
We can see what Victor Scott looks like now. But what will he look like by the end of spring training?
I get the impression that Nootbaar took the offseason off.
I watched Barrero today in the game against Washington. I know he has hit two HR this spring. But watching him today I thought he didn’t have the slightest idea of where the ball was when he was swinging the bat.
Practically nobody thought this team would be competitive in 2025. But if Walker can hit and if Scott can be good in centerfield, this could be a fun year.
IMO, forget it. With Arenado back and playing like himself again, and with Contreras apparently adapting to 1B just fine, and with the pitching we have looking so promising, this is a competitive team.
Just an observation/opinion, could be my imagination….but I thought Gorman looked different at 3B than he does at 2B. He is, after all, a third baseman even though he’s been playing second base since he reached the majors.
I take back all the mean things I said about Arenado during the offseason. I’m glad to have his defense back, and if he shows up with the same offense he had in 2024, I’ll still be okay.
It sounds like Arenado is finally growing up. And, in my experience, that’s right about on schedule for a Millennial, which is what he is. Nowadays, young people are under a lot of pressure. They have all those texts to keep up with and all those video games that require attention well into the night. That barely gives them time for practicing if the kid is an athlete or apprentice of some sort, or studying if the kid is a student. Congratulations to Nolan Arenado, and welcome back.
I’m happy for anybody that can gather $55M in an honest way. In Adam Ottovino’s case, he did it with only having started 3 games and saving 46 games over a 12 year career. Congratulations to Adam. He turns 39 hears old next fall. Fans should be proud of themselves. Ottovino couldn’t have done it without them.
When the Arenado trade happened, it looked like a lopsided win for the Cardinals. Nobody anticipated that Arenado would crap out a the age of 32. His explanation was that ‘the pitching got better’. That is not Mo’s or WDWJR’s fault. Arenado had the right to decline the trade because of Boras and a handful of greedy owners establishing the precedent. It was a classless act by Aenado to exercise that NTC.
I agree that we’ve got a pretty decent core of good players for 2025, and I think the Cardinals will be competitive in their Division. And it looks like there is even some star potential on the horizon.
If you’re standing in front of your hotel and looking toward the river, then I would suggest that you don’t go farther than 4 or 5 blocks to your left, although further down from there is where the Convention Center and football stadium is. In other words, it’s relatively safe in the general downtown area until it gets really late, like 2-3 AM. But there’s really not much reason to stay around downtown after a game except to go to Ballpark Village which is adjacent to Busch Stadium. Your hotel is, in a sense, a part of Ballpark Village. The walk from your stadium seat to the your hotel is very safe. Since you’re bringing a young child with you, that limits your activities since kids aren’t much into sight seeing and they’re big into playing. Figure on spending a fair amount of time around the hotel swimming pool. The three biggest attractions for the three of you, in my opinion, are the St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Gateway Arch. I’m sure you remember that you can take a tram ride up the leg of the arch and peek out the windows at the top. The child will most likely like the tram ride better than the ‘peeking out’ at the top. All three places have seen massive changes and improvements over the last 19 years. All three involve a lot of leisurely walking. The Zoo and the Botanical Garden have PCV’s available for rent if preferred (‘Personal Convenience Vehicle’). The St. Louis Zoo is considered world class and there are plenty of things for you all to see, particularly, the animals, of course. And there is a popular train ride that rides you around the zoo grounds. There’s an interactive childrens’ area in the making, but you’ll miss that because it’s not scheduled to open for at least a couple of years. I mention that so you don’t feel disappointed that you missed something. There is plenty to do without it. They have a visitor center with a restaurant, etc. The St. Louis Zoo is well worth a visit and is about as safe a place to visit as you’ll find anywhere. It is my understanding that the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the top botanical gardens in the world. It can be enchanting for adults, and there is also a rather good sized play area for kids. There is a tree house and other activities for kids there. There is a lake that is loaded with the brightly colored Japanese carp. It’s in the Japanese garden area of the overall botanical garden. The Missouri Botanical Garden is another ‘can’t miss’ place in St. Louis and you will feel safe the moment you drive onto the parking lot and you will continue to feel safe throughout the time of your visit.
I hope this helps you plan your visit.
I truly feel bad for the guy
14NyquisT – Get a grip on yourself, man. Arenado is guaranteed to collect $74M over the next 3 years. And you feel sorry for him? If he retires at the end of those thee years, he’ll still be only 36 years old. If he still wants to work after that, and if he can find a craftsman that is willing to train him, he could learn a trade and go to work like all the other 36 year olds in the world. Or, he could even go to college and learn how to do something else that the world actually needs.
Boras tricked the Red Sox into paying Bregman $40M/yr. Ha!
Bregman’s stats are really good, almost as impressive as the stats that Arenado brought with him to St. Louis. Bregman’s stats are not HOF stats.
I wondered about Willis off and on all last season. It was nice to finally get an explanation for what happened to him. He had nerve damage. What I know about nerve damage is that is hurts really bad and takes a long time to heal. There’s no sense in guessing how long it takes to heal. You almost never get a report of what kind of injury a player has, probably, because of privacy laws. Willis himself must have told Brian about it. That Willis was willing to talk to Brian about it is a good sign. It suggests that he’s pretty good about a full recovery.
This definitely sounds like a deal where the Cardinals will not be sending a lot of cash over to Boston.
Unless there’s more to this trade, this is just a salary dump. Blaze Jordan has been in the Red Sox organization for 4 years and he’s still at AA.Sitting Arenado at the end of the bench would be side show from day one. Since he didn’t get the trade he wanted, it wouldn’t surprise me if he isn’t pouting all season long.
adding prospects through trade.
I’m not much for trading to get prospects. It seems to me that all we’d get would be 2, maybe 3, mid level prospects. And we’ve already got enough of those. Of course, there’s always the ‘luck factor’ where we get a mid level prospect that ultimately becomes a star, but that’s highly unlikely. It does look like the trade deadline might be the best time to trade Helsley, and/or, Fedde.
