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Springfield isn’t getting to the Amarillo pitcher so far. Still 4-0 after 5. They game is getting late, fast. They’ll need to get into the pen but the Amarillo hurler is only at 68 pitches. This after putting up an ERA over 6 and giving up 13 dingers in 46 innings in the regular season.
Additionally, Memphis trails 2-1 against Rochester in the AAA playoffs.
Fajardo is struggling, to say the least. 3 walks and a HBP in the 1st and now two HRs in the 2nd. It’s 4-0. The Baby Birds still have a chance as they’ll get to the Amarillo pitcher, but the bullpen will have to be sterling.
Last year we started things on October 9th. I’m thinking to maybe start October 5th and do Monday-Wednesday-Friday this year unless someone wants to volunteer for the weekends? And with the system depth, it might make sense to do a top 60, even.
Quite the game for Mr Peete. I was also very impressed with Franklin, as he was dominating when I checked in early. He didn’t fare so well the last couple of innings, but you can’t blame him for pounding the strike zone with a lead. A lot of those strikeouts looked like fastballs in the video. He just might have a brighter future than Doyle in St Louis.
Missing in action lately…Rainiel hasn’t been so good in the playoffs. But he can be forgiven a bad week.
We should remember that Josh Baez looked like a bust until 2025, which was his 5th year in the organization.
Coincidence that the new regime really took the reigns at the developmental level in 2025?
Looks like Springfield finished off the sweep. Good to see our baby Birds pummeling the Dodgers. Hopefully that continues at the big league level in coming years.
Doyle struck out 8 in 3-2/3 innings, but also walked 5. Not great to not go deep, but hopefully the pen will hold up and the offense will tack on some runs.
I think it makes sense to trade for a starter instead of going after a Dustin May type free agent. We have some trade chips we could use that wouldn’t drastically derail the rebuild.
That’s another option. In addition to Warren that you mentioned, the Mariners might be someone to go back to. They have Anderson up and Sloan coming quickly so they may be willing to talk about one of their other righties.
With the MLB season ending next weekend (September 27th) and the AAA playoffs ending no later than the 26th as well, thoughts on when we should kick off our annual rankings?
I would be fine with starting as early as the week after the season if folks are ready. My life is a little different than last year and will change even more (for good reasons) in late November so I am good with doing things how we did last year (Tues-Thurs-Sun) or doing Mon-Weds-Fri, or even every other day to keep things moving. Obviously weekends would be tricky for me to post results, but I could do just about all weekdays without a ton of issue.
Let me know your thoughts. Also, if Brian or a mod could unstick the thread, I think we would get more people to notice. Thanks!
Does it take more gumption to stick to their plan to develop from within or consider shortcuts to try to compete sooner than expected?
A shortcut to compete doesn’t have to be an albatross contract (or a bunch of smaller Mo style deals) to block them from doing other things forever. It could simply be crafting a usable bullpen, which we all knew would be their challenge this year and has easily been the difference between playing meaningful games right now and playing out the string, as they are currently doing.
They could plan to giving guys like Baez (x2), Bernal, etc. every chance to prove their mettle next year while making a move or two to strength the bench, the rotation and the bullpen and it wouldn’t crush their payroll. They owe very little going forward. A stopgap starter in the May mold, a pen arm in the Romero mold, and a bench platoon bat wouldn’t cost all that much.
Not a comment on the game yet. Not that it really merits much comment. Libby was ok. The offense has been very bad with only 2 hits in a game they trail 1-0 in the 7th.
A front office or fanbase that wants to win next year wouldn’t want that. But the fans rarely get any say and who knows if the front office will have the gumption to take the steps to improve meaningfully next year or not.
I think that the top 4 guys in your list have all earned the right to be starters to begin 2027. Liberatore has not, and if we had any semblance of certainty in the bullpen, he would potentially be a non tender candidate. As is, I suspect that they keep him around for lefty bullpen help unless they can trade him.
The Cards could go with Fitts or someone like that if they want to super cheap out. Guys like Roby will be waiting in the nearby wings and the whole AA rotation could be in Memphis before long next year. I’d personally like to see a longer term arm brought in as I’m not that certain about Pallante, then McGreevy, which could well open a rotation need. A one year deal for a May-like player could work. It would certainly be a moot point if Doyle, Franklin and perhaps Fajardo or Cijntje look ready to fill rotation spots next year.
It remains to be seen whether JJ is 100% or not. It feels like a bit of a Hail Mary for the ROY situation. But if he can put together a hot last 10 games and get his average over .250, get to 20 HRs, close the OPS+ gap on Stewart a bit (currently 105 to 122), and perhaps find a way to get to 6 WAR, while Stewart stagnates over the closing stretch, then perhaps he can sneak in and steal the award (and the valuable pick) away. We shall see. I’m hopeful that he can do it.
I believe Bud Smith pitched the last Cardinal no-hitter. I read up on that start recently…he threw 134 pitches against the same Padre team that roughed him up in his last start.
Before that, it was Jose Jimenez outduelling the Big Unit in 1999.
I noticed that Fajardo wasn’t used yesterday. With Doyle’s blister, maybe Yhoiker will get the start this week? Should be a fun series with Tulsa. Beat those Dodger dandies!
The bullpen has been weak all year and I feel like it was the front office plan to ensure it ended up that way. We need multiple relievers at the back end of games to emerge or be brought in. Hopefully the gamble with forcing the team to be bad pays off with a decent draft slot.
I would be remiss not post this on this solemn day…25 years ago, we experienced such a national tragedy and we must never forget those that died and those that gave their lives to save others. Jack Buck’s poem prior to the first game back that fall always strikes a reminiscent note. We miss Jack and I miss the unity we had as a people in those days after 9/11.
Just getting back to this. I listened on Wednesday as usual. Great discussion, Brian and Kyle!
The Cards could have a trio of silent consonant players here in the next few years. Yhoiker Fajardo, Jurrangelo Cijntje, and Cooper Hjerpe would all fit nicely in the “silent but deadly” pitching staff. 😀
On a final note, I’ve been trying to think of a semi recent great starting pitching debut for the Cards that was before Hjerpe’s. Going way back to Michael Wacha seems too long to be it, but it may well be the case. He went 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 6 Ks in his MLB debut against Kansas City in 2013.
Great throws by Rainiel in that report. He’s really doing some good work on all sides, it seems. It’ll be exciting to watch him next year, as he’ll presumably be at Memphis with a chance to make a big league debut at 20.
And Franklin continues to impress at AA. He and Doyle are a good starting pair, and I would assume they’ll have their choice between Eagen, Fajardo, Davis and Aita for the 3rd rotation spot in the 3 game playoff. I’d probably go with that order of preference and I expect Eagen may get the call as he has been dependable since coming over. With Lin on board as well, they’ve got a lot of guys capable of covering innings.
This is as much depth as I can recall and it will be difficult to keep the list to 50. We may need to shoot on by to the top 70 this year, and even then, there will be intriguing guys left off IMO.
Sebastian Dos Santos had a really nice finish to the year at Palm Beach after scuffling a bit to start. Ended up with a good line and showed some power in a league that isn’t easy to get to power in. He and Miguel Hernandez did great in A ball at 18 years old. I don’t know a ton about their defense, but it seems like if anyone is going to pull a Rainiel Rodriguez and go from semi obscurity to a top prospect in 2027, it will be one of them.