St. Louis Cardinals 2022

#301      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky


Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — By the end of the first inning Sunday, Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson had showed the signs of trouble ahead and the power at his fingertips to someday avoid it.
Fiddling with pitch after pitch to find elusive command, Hudson walked two of the first three batters he faced but slipped free from the inning when he used the sinking pitch that sets him apart to get a double play. The second inning began like the first, with another walk, but there was no escape. Four walks caught up with him, cost him control of the game, misplaced the Cardinals’ lead, cut short his start and began a cascade that pooled into a 4-3 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park.
Mike Yastrzemski’s home run splashed into McCovey Cove was the difference on the scoreboard, but the result could be traced back to Hudson’s feel on the mound.

“I don’t think any starter walks away from a 4 2/3 (innings) and is happy about it, even if it was all zeroes,” Hudson said. “I think the walks put me in a situation where we were a little further down than we should’ve been. Obviously, there was more I could have done.”
Hudson walked three of the first five batters he faced, and after Darrin Ruf’s leadoff walk to start the second inning, LaMonte Wade Jr. tied the game with a two-run homer for his first hit of the season. The Giants added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to take a lead, and the Cardinals played catch up from there.
 
#302      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — As a young corner infielder at the lowest levels of professional baseball, Juan Yepez still packed an outfielder’s glove and would roam the grass during batting practice tracking down fly balls, sometimes to the bemusement of teammates.
“What are you doing out there?” he recalled them saying. “You’ll never play outfield.”
Yepez smiled as he told the story.
“You never know,” he would reply.
The Cardinals are intent to find out.
A first baseman most recently in the minors and auditioned as designated hitter during spring training, Yepez made his second start in a week in the outfield Sunday— a move with his glove to do what the Cardinals can to keep his bat in the lineup. During the Cardinals’ 4-3 loss Sunday to San Francisco at Oracle Park, Yepez hit his first major-league home run — on Mother’s Day with his mom, Marujua, in the crowd.

Marujua's son had his fourth multi-hit game in his first five big-league games and scored two of the Cardinals’ three runs. Juan drew a walk in the sixth inning to momentarily tie the game 3-3.
The rookie from Venezuela whose father would call him into the house from playing so he could watch Albert Pujols’ at-bat found Pujols waiting for him at home plate to congratulate him on that first homer.
 
#303      
Every time Dickerson steps into the batters box I shake my head. Automatic out. PDJ is the same way sadly. Something has to give there. Way too many of our guys below the Mendoza line a month in.
 
#307      
If Yepez keeps hitting like he has, it may not be as easy of a decision.
I don't think there's that much overlap between the two. I think Gorman depends a lot more on whether the front office is ready to move on from DeJong. If they aren't, he's not getting called up for a while no matter what Yepez does. I think they are though; I think DeJong gets DFA'd to make room for Gorman. At the end of the day Gorman has 12 dingers in just 111 PAs with an OPS of 1.053. He's been as hot as anyone in the minors and hasn't let up. If the front office doesn't call him up despite what he's doing they're going to damage their relationship with their top prospect. I mean, imagine how dumb the FO would look if Gorman managed to get to 25, 30, 40 HRs without getting called up?
 
#308      
Correct. Time to cut Paul DeJong and bring up Nolan. Love what we are seeing from Yepez as well. Keeps Dickerson on the bench ( and I believe he should be cut too).
 
#309      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
The head of baseball operations stood outside the lobby of a California resort, his industry on the brink of a lengthy work stoppage, and to anyone within earshot shared publicly what he said privately to the team’s shortstop.
Another executive, standing a few feet away, labeled the offseason “the year of the shortstop” with a quintet of talented players at that position reaching free agency at the same time. The opportunity for teams was rich; the shortstops soon would be richer. There would be a lot of names swirling around, some bound to stick to his team, so the head of baseball ops reached out to his shortstop to affirm the plan to keep him at the position.
That pledge has paid off for Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto.

While many of the free-agent shortstops such as Trevor Story and Carlos Correa have opened the season sluggishly — two of the fab five are batting less than .200, all five slugging below .390 — the Mariners’ J. P. Crawford is off to a raucous start with a .340 average, a .546 slugging percentage.
On the same day as Dipoto and at the same resort, John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, quietly made a similar comment about his team’s long view of its shortstop: The team would stick with Paul DeJong despite a downturn in his production. Mozeliak told him, in person, shortly before Thanksgiving that they would not be shopping for a replacement. It was a seed of confidence, planted in winter, followed by an encouraging spring — but has yet to bloom heading toward summer.
 
#310      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Carter Chapley
The National League Central is quickly becoming a two-horse race, with the lead horse gaining strength. But as we saw this weekend at Churchill Downs, staying in the race long enough to execute a last-minute push can sometimes be enough to take home the title.
For now, however, the leaders are breaking away from the pack. Let's take a look back at the past seven days' results for NL Central teams.
 
#311      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Check out the highlights from Rick Hummel’s Cardinals chat with readers.

Q: If Juan Yepez continues hitting at a level beyond what most of the other players are hitting, how do the Cardinals make their roster work?
A: Juan Yepez is going to stay for a while, perhaps a long while. Brendan Donovan could be in some jeopardy unless the Cardinals think they don't need three DH types (Albert Pujols, Corey Dickerson, Yepez) and then Dickerson could be in trouble even though they gave him a $5 million contract.
If Yepez continues to be productive and is not a liability defensively, you can use him in the outfield occasionally and as a DH more often. Somebody will have to go, and it won't be Pujols. The Cardinals can't carry three DH types too much longer.

Pujols' at-bats may decrease if Yepez does well but any time Pujols thinks he is done, he gets to make that decision himself. Dickerson doesn't have that luxury.
 
#312      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
I don't think there's that much overlap between the two. I think Gorman depends a lot more on whether the front office is ready to move on from DeJong. If they aren't, he's not getting called up for a while no matter what Yepez does. I think they are though; I think DeJong gets DFA'd to make room for Gorman. At the end of the day Gorman has 12 dingers in just 111 PAs with an OPS of 1.053. He's been as hot as anyone in the minors and hasn't let up. If the front office doesn't call him up despite what he's doing they're going to damage their relationship with their top prospect. I mean, imagine how dumb the FO would look if Gorman managed to get to 25, 30, 40 HRs without getting called up?
I read an article yesterday on Viva El Birdos discussing Gorman and that his strike out percentage may be keeping him in the minors.

Also, anyone know how he is doing defensively at 2nd?
 
#314      
Cardinals Option Paul DeJong To Triple-A, Select Kramer Robertson


That's not the 2nd baseman I hoped they would bring up.
Confused Harry Potter GIF
 
#316      
Anyone know when Gorman's service time deadline would be for him to be called up without the club losing a year of team control? I've seen some on twitter say it's already passed but also seen May 25.
 
#317      
Anyone know when Gorman's service time deadline would be for him to be called up without the club losing a year of team control? I've seen some on twitter say it's already passed but also seen May 25.
Service time manipulation a la Kris Bryant (keeping him an extra year before free agency) passed on April 17 or so. Waiting until mid-May (exact date isn't known until after the season) could prevent Gorman from becoming a "super 2" (becoming eligible for arbitration before gaining three years of service time)
 
#319      

NEIlliniFan

No longer in New England
Robinson plays 2nd, short and third but more importantly is someone the Cardinals will be quite willing to bury on the bench, if necessary. Gorman comes up, he plays. Better he remains at Memphis and work on his strikeout rate
 
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#320      

the national

the Front Range
Not sure where to put this but Reid Detmers, 22yo from Nokomis just pitched a no hitter as a rookie for the Angels, 12th in thier history. That’s pretty awesome! 👏 👏
 
#321      
Not sure where to put this but Reid Detmers, 22yo from Nokomis just pitched a no hitter as a rookie for the Angels, 12th in thier history. That’s pretty awesome! 👏 👏

Was originally from Nokomis but actually went to Glenwood his senior year when his mom moved to the area because of work. He was the Angels 1st round pick out of Louisville back in 2020. Youngest Angel to throw a no-no in franchise history.
 
#323      

the national

the Front Range
Was originally from Nokomis but actually went to Glenwood his senior year when his mom moved to the area because of work. He was the Angels 1st round pick out of Louisville back in 2020. Youngest Angel to throw a no-no in franchise history.
Very cool, I hadn’t realized he attended Glenwood for a stretch (Jayson Werth’s old stomping grounds). I know Glenwood well as I graduated from there many many years
 
#324      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
Left-handed reliever Packy Naughton, replacing COVID-affected Adam Wainwright, made his first Cardinals start Tuesday night against a Baltimore Orioles team that hadn’t been to St. Louis, almost since its forebears, the Browns, were here in the early 1950s.
“We’re going to find out together,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said before the game. He was referring to Naughton, not the Orioles, who never had played at Busch III and hadn’t played here at all since June, 2003. Naughton gave the Cardinals 3 1/3 decent innings but the Orioles won for the first time in St. Louis in 19 years when Kyle Bradish also won for the first time — in his big-league career.
Right-hander Bradish, making his third major-league start, bamboozled the Cardinals with his fastball-slider combination, striking out 11 and walking no one over seven innings in a 5-3 Baltimore victory.

The last time the Orioles were here, they won one of three games. That was their first victory in town since moving to Baltimore after the 1953 season as the St. Louis Browns era in franchise history ended. That triumph in 2003 came in a complete-game 8-1 win by Sidney Ponson, later a bust with the Cardinals, in which Albert Pujols drove in the only Cardinals run. Pujols was the only player who was here now and then. He wasn’t in Tuesday’s lineup.
Naughton, who had been unscored on in three relief appearances, knocked off two scoreless innings before 2021 All-Star Cedric Mullins, who has given up switch hitting to swing only left-handed, homered to right after Chris Owings had doubled in the third.
 
#325      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Jeff Gordon
The Cardinals will have to hit a whole lot better this summer to hang in the playoff chase.
That’s why long-struggling shortstop Paul DeJong is heading back to the minors for remedial work.
That’s why Edmundo Sosa will get a “real shot” to play shortstop, as manager Oliver Marmol put it, once he returns from his rehabilitation assignment at Double-A Springfield.
That’s why ascending hitter Juan Yepez was back in the lineup Tuesday, hitting cleanup as the designated hitter.
That’s why elite prospect Nolan Gorman will get his first big league at-bats at some point this season.

During a recent 10-game span the Cardinals scored two or fewer runs seven times. They produced mediocre simple stats (.368 slugging percentage, .681 on-base-plus slugging) through 28 games and some dreadful fancy ones too.
“At this point I would like to think it’s more individual than collective,” Marmol said.
Along those lines, Tuesday afternoon DeJong got the news that he was heading back to Triple-A Memphis.
Why? “His at-bats just looked the same,” Marmol said.
And that’s not a good thing. After hitting .197 last season, DeJong was hitting just .130 this season.