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I picked Mathews at #2 but I am going to do something that probably doesn’t make sense.
If I picked him at 2 then he must be my choice at 3, but not so fast.
I think we have not only a good prospect, but a very unique prospect that I cannot pick lower than 3.That is catcher Rainel Rodriguez. I don’t recall a more exciting young prospect. Closest was Oscar Taveras
I am not only impressed with his power but moreso with the way he adjusts so quickly to the level at which he is playing. Not sure he will make it as a catcher but I am sure the Cardinals will find a way to get him in the lineup.
Rodriguez for #3.
Contreas seems to have been the glue that held the team together in25. He is money in the clutch. I will be disappointed if he goes.
I am not a Marmol fan. Too many lineups with slow guys up top, fast guys in the middle and more than one regular sitting. Also too many green pitchers in close game late innings. LaRussa was good because he had a great sense of roles he needed present and he put guys there who filled the role and seemed satisfied with the role. Ollie has absolutely no sense of roles. I think he has improved some but not enough.
I believe in giving a guy a chance. Bloom has had two years to improve player development and our minor league system has improved and more than just two great draft picks in a row. International providing some quality at last. Raniel Rodriguez and Yario Padilla in 24 and Miguel Henderson, Kenlley Hunter and Sebastian Dos Santos in 25. The latter 3 were all featured in a list of rising international player by Baseball America. That was 3 Cardinal of 40 listed. Well more than our share.
Rodriguez and Padilla are ranked higher by some than on our top lists. The players in top 15-20 prospect lists look more likely to succeed than in some time.
To me that is taking on a role and doing it well. That is more likely than not to carry over in his broader responsibilities. DeWitt may impair his progress but I suspect that thay have an understanding that is satisfactory to Bloom or I doubt that he would have stayed on.
I think the pitching coach has done a decent job and I am not wrong the new hitting coach is Bloom’s choice.
I thoght Bloom laid out some clear objectives including a world series championship. He identified some improvement in the international program but indicated more improvement needed. He does not seem to be a guy to go in and tear up things immediately but he did indicate that there would be some changes in personnel. I am cautiously optimistic beause he seems to be a big picture person. Puttting together an organization that can identify players that help you win will be a test. Mo and his team was very weak at that.
I doubt that Bloom would have hung around for two years if he didn’t have a plan and owneship had bought in to it. When Luhnow went to Houston I believe he had a plan and the owner agreed to suport it.
I am not an Ollie supporter and I suspect that Bloom would want his own guy.
I don’t expect an all out rebuild. Our base is currently mostly young players.
I hope to see changes in major leage scouting, international and Ollie being replaced.
I recently listened to the Giant broadcasters when they were in town and they were very critical of the way top officials had handled. The team.
DeWitt has to agree to changes. Those empty seats are alarming and while many of them are probably season ticket holders they will eventually just be empty seats if changes aren’t made beyond just the fringe stuff.
I suspect that the people Bloom has brought in have a pretty good feeling about which players are going to continue to improve and which can be more valuable in trades to teams that believe they can improve those Bloom and his team have lost confidence in. Walker and Gorman are good examples. Other teams may feel that there is a lot of uside there while Bloom and his guys may not see much upside.
Looking at the players that the Cardinal missed out on in the more recentFlores era.
The players drafted by Flores with the highest WAR are Edmonds and Gallen. Think Gallen has the most room to rise of this duo even with his lesser performmance this year.
Players drafted ahead of the Cardinals first pick who are likely to become stars or super stars are Bobby Witt Jr of Kansas City, Adlley Rutschman of the Orioles, Wyatt Langford of Texas and of course Paul Skenes of the Pirates. Their numbers are lower because of the shorter times to accumulate WAR but they appear to have potention for over 50 WAR. You could also add Nick Kurtz of the Athletics. He was one of the top prospects that I didn’t want the Cardinals to draft because in my opinion they already had too many players who would probably be better first basemen than in the position they were currently playing. Walker, Gorman, Burleson and now add Contreras to the list.
Those drafted after the first Cardinal pick include Tarek Skuble of the Tigers, Gunner Henderson of the Orioles, Alonso of the Mets and Cal Raliegh from Seattle
Did fining tuning of Cardinals and changed thier total for the 20 years to 411.7 from 410.3. Eliminated players not signed but reached the major leagues with a collective negative WAR. Also caught double counting of Sam Freeman who was drafted two years in a row.
It was amazing to see that nearly all of the players who were not signd did not reach the major leagues.
Refining the data. Made a mistake on the year the Cardinals didn’t get a choice until the 3rd round. It was 2017 rather than 2016.
Flores average choice is 23.4 counting the 2016 70th 1st opportunity. Makes his performance even more impressive.
Players Picked Before Cardinals First Choice
Kershaw LA 2006 1st 80.7 WAR
Turner SD 2014 1st 40.2 – Currently with Phillies
Posey SF 2008 1st 45.0
Harper WA 2010 1st 53.3 -Drafted and signed by Nats but MLB voided the deal
Scherzer AZ 2006 1st 76.6 – Drafted but not signed by the Cardinals in 2003Players drafted after the Cardinals 1st pick
DeGrom NYM 2010 9th 47.9
Trout LAA 2009 1st 87.2
Judge NYY 2013 1st 59.4
Betts BO 2011 5th 73.0
Freeman AT 2007 2nd 62.8
Also Arenado 2009 57.6 WAR and Goldschmidt 2009 64.0 WARLongivity is fairly key in career WAR. I will attempt to Compare the top WAR for players drafted and signed by Flores with players many would recognize as stars who were drafted and signed before and after the Cardinals 1st pick.
I don’t see anything in the numbers that overwhelms me. Baez has not had an OPS over .800. Dohm is a little more interesting but doesn’t overwhelm me. Don’t know why they would even want Elissalt.
What would we get if anything in next year’s draft if we had kept Helsley and made him an offer after the season closed.
I have believed for some time that we have a scouting problem or the powers that be are not lisening. Our major leage trades have generally been bad except for guys like Goldschidt and Aranado who I could have told them to pick up.
Basically the only thing that has been productive has been the draft. Our record with free agents has been mediocre or worse, The international approach of mostly quantity over quality has produced limited results. The teams that do well with international get results from guys who make it as well as players that they get in tradesfor the international prospects they trade away. They do much better than we do on that front.
We will know soon who is in charge of deadline deals. Minimal activity with tepid prospect for results means that Mo was in charge. Agressive activity with some potentially good return in prospects and a strong focus on the future probably means that Bloom called the shots. Possibly DeWitt does not want to have Mo lose face by taking the responsibility away from him. WE WILL SOON SEE.
Well that is three and counting post season MVP’s we have given up.
It is subtle but there is a difference in good players and winning players. Herzog was a genius at picking out winning players. The winning players do tose little things that help a team win even while sacrificing potential stats that help them at contract time.
The Dodgers pulled Tommy out of center field and installed him at shortstop during the San Diego series after the Padres capitalized on Dodger defensive leaks.
