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I think paying Donaldson $135M would be paying him for past performance. At best, the Cardinals might over him $50M over three years, especially with the injury issues that have been hitting him lately.
Somebody (Machado’s agent?) has been floating the idea of $400M for him. I don’t believe the Cardinals will offer him much more than what they offered to Jason Heyward which was around $200M over eight years. The good news is that the big spenders are either close to the luxury tax threshold, or not in need a shortstop. So there’s still a slim chance that the Cardinals could be in the running for Machado.
I’m not that confident Munoz is going to stick. He’s made two fielding errors so far, and his throws are not great. He gets the ball where it needs to be, but too often its off line and hard to catch. Also, I hope Montero and Mendoza can make big jumps next month.
Just win Baby.
One thing I like about Matheny is that he likes the kids. It seems to me that Matheny takes the approach that if the kid is good enough to play in the major leagues, he should be there. LaRussa, on the other hand, hated the kids who were trying to break in. His complaint was always ‘we don’t know what they’re going to do’. LaRussa was totally into a numbers game that he apparently derived himself, and since rookies have no reliable track record, their numbers were considered useless.
So the Reds want to let Scooter Gennet walk in a couple of years, or maybe trade him before that? IMO, all that does is extend their rebuild for a few more years. No wonder the team is having such a difficult time of it. Their front office isn’t giving them the help they need.
I know where you’re coming from, gscottar. I’m not sure I would trade Flaherty, either. However, it sure would be nice to find a long term solution to third base, although maybe what we really need is a long term solution to shortstop and then move DeJong to 3B.
It might be a trade that has more risk for the Cardinals. Flaherty has had at least a little success at the MLB level, Senzel has not. Also, if Reyes for some reason doesn’t pan out as expected, the idea of a truly dominant starting rotation looks a lot less likely if Flaherty is gone.
Still, with Suarez signed through 2025, and Votto signed through 2024, you have to wonder what the Reds are thinking with regard to Senzel. There are reports that they want to make him a super-utility guy. But does that rally make sense? Regardless of his potential, Senzel is unproven at the major league level. You have to wonder how he will ever get ‘proven’ with Suarez, Votto, and Gennett blocking him.
Also, this is off subject, but was Tucker Barnhart having a bad series, or what? His throws were off, and none of his pitchers had good games. Why did they give this player a Gold glove? Molina, Posey, Contreras, and Realmuto are all way better than Tucker Barnhart.
Trading Tuivailala does seem to make the most sense, although I sure don’t want to give him away. But all that does is make a place on the roster for Hicks. It doesn’t help Gant, Sherriff, Brebbia, or Mayers, all of whom deserve more opportunity at the MLB level. Brebbia, especially, has already demonstrated that he belongs at the major league level. I know Cecil has a no trade clause, but I wish they could find a way to move him.
I guess hiring Joe Girardi makes sense. He’s only been fired twice so far. I think he got fired for not winning. Another possibility would be to wait for Terry Francona to get fired again. He’s only been fired twice, also, presumably for not winning.
Flaherty for Senzel makes sense, I guess. But I don’t think it will happen. The Cardinals probably think that Flaherty is a future CYA winner, and the Reds probably think that Senzel is a future MVP. So who’s going to trade a player that will win the CYA, and who’s going to trade a future MVP?
I don’t think Bernie’s constant criticism of Matheny is all that level-headed. Who does he want to replace Matheny with, and why? There are certain things that I don’t like about Matheny as a manager, particularly, his apparent belief that players need to be babied instead of led forward, and the way he seems to zone out during a game so that he doesn’t get what’s going on. But Bernie, and a few others are relentless, in their criticism without really proposing something better. I’m going to guess that Matheny said or did something to cause, as they say, ‘bad blood’ between himself and Bernie.
Their pitching, including bullpen, could be among the best in MLB, certainly better than what the Cubs have, IMO.
Their outfield defense should be among the best in MLB, and they ought to put up a combined OPS of around 2400, IMO. Why woulnd’t they?
Jose Martinez can hit. No doubt about it. Not sure about Wong. Not sure about DeJong, but no reason to give up on him yet. Carpenter/Gyorko ought to be able to bring enough to make third base above average, IMO.
Molina is still one of the best.
I still think they are pretty good, and ought to win 90+ games unless several players continue to underperform like they are now. The talent is there.
Its surprising that the offense has not done better. The players had the whole of spring training to rest up and get ready for the season, including an extra hour of sleep each day since the report time was pushed back an hour.
The change that Maddux brought to the pitching staff in St. Louis is overtly telling his pitchers that its fine to pitch up in the zone. IMO, Mikolas and Leone, just to name two pitchers, would be a lot better off if they would keep the ball down. They’re both losing balls by throwing too many pitches in the top half of the zone. If they don’t start keeping the ball down, they won’t ever have much success.
Also, from what I can see so far, Munoz is not a reliable defender. His catches are not always clean, and his throws are not that accurate.
I’m not sure that Yadi bumped the umpire. They made contact, but that was because the ump was being aggressive in trying to hold Yadi back. That’s all.
You’re spinnin’ it a bit Forsch31. Norris threw 12 pitches in Monday’s game, and none during Sunday’s game. Norris was ready to pitch. Either Matheny did not realize that Leone was struggling, or he didn’t care if we won the game, or not.
Leone’s slider wasn’t working and he couldn’t spot his fastball. That was obvious while it was happening. So how stupid is it to bring him back for the ninth?
This loss is on Matheny, and nobody else. I don’t thing he understands what he’s looking at during a MLB game. Leone was clearly struggling to get the last out in the bottom of the eighth, yet MM brings him back for the ninth. I think any other manager in the game would have brought the veteran Bud Norris into the game to close it out. If Norris failed, at least the manager could blame the front office, but with Leone, who’s barely past rookie status, and who obviously didn’t have his best stuff, the loss has to be on Matheny who looked like a fool for giving this game away. IMHO, the problem with MM is that his stated first priority is ‘protecting his players’ (presumably from the fans and the media), and not winning. I’m not sure winning even really matters to him.
I think its okay to just let Tommy Pham be Tommy Pham. Sometimes that kind of talk is just nerves talking. As big as his talk is, he has to feel insecure at the bottom of it with all that has happened to him. The things he’s been saying sound kind of like he’s ‘talking smack’ to me. Talking smack is generally considered acceptable behavior nowadays for athletes. Its just too early to lay big judgements on Tommy Pham. He doesn’t even have a full season at the MLB level yet. Also, folks, we have to face the fact that these Millennials just take longer to grow up. Also, I think he’s been a positive influence on the clubhouse, not a negative one, and that tells you something.
CC – Cecil was not decent regardless of what his numbers say. He came in time and time again and blew leads, big leads and small leads. IMO, if he alone had been nearly as good as what he is getting paid to be, we would have won the wild card.
I apologize for not providing data to support what I’m saying. But I listened, or watched, enough games to say for sure that Cecil was a disaster last year. Even Tim McLaughlin commented while doing the play-by-play over the weekend that the best word to describe Cecil last year was ‘erase’. He said ‘erase’ was appropriate because the year was so forgettable. I know his numbers don’t look that bad, but the numbers are lying. Cecil was crap last year.
Now that you mention it, at the time, I thought Pham was trying to show off, also. I’m willing to chalk that up to a lesson for himself.
It seems to me that Leone and Tuivailala, and maybe, Mayers or Helsley could all be closers. I’d just as soon see Hicks continue to develop as a starter. Also, I’m really tired of Carlos Martinez’ behavior.
None of the outfielders are making throws like I thought they would….so far. Pham should have gotten at least one out with a throw from the outfield over the weekend. And Fowler didn’t impress with his throws, either. I can’t believe this is going to be happening all season. I think that none of them have hit their groove yet is all that’s wrong.
