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Well, should be interesting to see how that works out for Jmart.
I’d be kind of interested to see if we might be able to hide Martinez a bit if we had Bader in center, to cut down on the ground he had to cover.
Montero’s hitting ability is exciting. His 16 errors at 3B are less so. From what you’ve heard, are these errors more due to youth that we can hope might get ironed out, or is he probably headed off 3B soon? Also, any chance he moves to PB this season or is a candidate to go from Peoria to Springfield in ’19?
There are a lot of factors in play there.
For one, the Cardinals had one of the best players ever to play the game in Pujols under contract and anchoring the middle of the lineup. I don’t think that it can be overstated that if this team had a guy who was consistently putting up 1.000 and above OPS numbers and playing elite defense at any position, the lineup would look a whole lot better.
In the time since Albert left, there have been what seems to be two distinct trends. One is that for the first few years, the Cardinals stayed afloat by having some sort of crazy, seemingly fluky thing happen every single season. Think about the RISP numbers in 2013, the team ERA in 2015, etc. but, some credit must be given to the front office for making some very shrewd moves, such as signing Beltran and developing a very good farm system that provided a lot of the needs of the team for the last 7 years. I also give some of the credit to Matheny who, despite some growing pains, generally held the team together very well in those seasons. They also had a bit of benefit and that there was no other real challenger in the division to give them a lot of hassle. That helps.
Since then, there have been a number of things that have really impacted the team’s ability to be competitive. The free-agent signings dried up, or were marked by cases where the Cardinals had to over pay in order to get a guy that might have been a marginal upgrade. Think Leake, Fowler. Their primary targets, guys like David Price and Jason Heyward, went elsewhere for bigger deals or seemingly brighter futures. There were some pretty big injuries, including guys like Wainwright, Reyes missing entire years and Wacha’s persistent injury. This year’s team especially has been bitten by the injury bug. Of course there was the tragic loss of Oscar Taveras. The smooth trades haven’t been as smooth as they once were.
On top of that, the Cubs and now the Brewers have ascended on the backs of high draft picks and good trades. The division is no longer easy prey, and the Cards haven’t quite adapted yet.
To be fair, the Cardinals are still doing some things well that they always have. They are managing to pluck average or so talent from places that are much more difficult to acquire that. The stream of cost-controlled young pitching is the envy of nearly every other farm system in the major leagues. For better or for worse, they can get a little too in love with that depth, which may have caused them to miss on some opportunities that could have really upgraded the team over the last few years in order to take a chance on a number of young guys growing into stars.
How much of the current struggle is due to the front office? How much is due to simply the players? How much is Matheny’s fault? I guess we all have our view on that, but it is not likely that we will see the front office fall on its own sword, so I expect that personnel (players then coaches) will be changed in short order if things don’t turn around.
To take it a step further, I said “year,” not season.
May 5, 2017 (when Pham was called back up) to May 5, 2018:
.310/.417/.524 (155 wRC+). That’s 8th in the league. Adding in his plus defense during that time and he’s at about 8 WAR for the year. How many players were above that in that span?
Mo has had a history, as far as I can tell, of keeping himself outside the sphere of blame for a whole number of moves that the Cards have made that haven’t worked out, and even some that have. I remember him saying that he was in favor of trading Pham, and the same thing with the signing of Holland (“outvoted”).
The timing of the comments was poor, to be sure. Dexter has had a seemingly negative reaction to it, as maybe he should. But he’s still been awful this year in every facet of the game and probably should have taken some responsibility for it, himself.
This whole thing feels like it ends up with the Cards dumping Fowler and paying most of his salary. The comments very well could be what gives him motivation to waive his NTC. Hard to expect much in return at this point as his value has completely tanked.
Good to get the win. Greinke will be a tougher matchup, but hopefully Flaherty is up to the task tonight.
Ray buckles down and strikes out Carpenter and Pham. O’Neill in to try to drive the run in. He flies out to CF, stranding the runner.
Gyorko set the tone for the inning with that error. We really needed a clean game tonight and so far there’s been an out on the base paths and a leadoff error. Neither were total bonehead plays, but still needed to be made. Winning teams make them.
Cmart gets a fly out and a K. He now faces Descalso with the chance to get out without too much damage.
Carlos sets out to let the Dbacks back in it. Gyorko doesn’t help with the leadoff error. A wild pitch puts Jay on 2nd. Goldschmidt hits a single and they’re in business.
Gyorko singles in O’Neill, followed by a Muñoz double. Yadi scores…and non-fleet footed Gyorko is thrown out at home. Still, 4-0 is an explosion for this offense.
Today's #STLCards lineup (7/2)
Carpenter 1B
Pham CF
O'Neill RF
Ozuna LF
Molina C
Gyorko 3B
Muñoz SS
Wong 2B
C. Martínez SP— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 2, 2018
Yeah, cause I mean…who would want the guy who just spent a year being one of the top 5-10 players in the game when you can trade him for an AAAA shortstop?
Makes total sense to me. Maybe you should add a few more pejoratives to further prove your dislike of Pham.
Schrock’s wRC+ at Memphis is hardly above Wong’s in St Louis. He definitely needs more time in the minors.
As for tonight, hoping to see O’Neill get the start. Bader probably should too. Give Ozuna or Pham (preferably Marcel) a night off.
I don’t think Matheny is a terrible manager, but at some point when the team doesn’t meet expectations, change is needed. They’ve replaced some coaches, players, etc. It stands to reason that another missed playoff would mean the end of the Matheny era. Even though I sometimes get frustrated in season and wish for change, I’m okay with giving him until the end of the season to see if things can turn around. Teams go through bad stretches and suddenly catch fire all the time, and I’m not sure if the manager has as much to do with either of them as any of us seem to think.
Mo and Girsch have a longer leash, I would think…if 2019 is a complete disaster, maybe then they are gone. More likely, after 2020 if the team is not improving they will most likely be out.
It’s amazing how a few bad starts in return from an injury have relegated Martinez to throw in status in a trade.
Cmart is no prospect and if he’s going to Colorado in a trade, the Rockies would be getting him alone, if not having to add their own prospect to the deal. He’s a #1 starter under contract for what, 5 or 6 more years at cheap $$. Arenado is very good but you’re only getting him for a year and 2 months.
Congrats, Brian! It may not have been the best year for the Cards, but you guys have done a great job bringing coverage of all the current and future Cardinals.
Now 5-0. Brooms are out. Wild pitch sets up a good shot at a 6th run.
I think this team may have given up. We’ll see but this road trip may end up under.500.