St. Louis Cardinals 2015 Season

#1,426      

the national

the national
the Front Range
the national
illini8507 said:
Lol, cubs shellacked a team that was riddled with injuries and obviously out of gas for the last several weeks of the season. Their most consistent pitcher down the stretch was sitting the bench, their franchise catcher could barely hold a bat. Lance Lynn was pitching while needing tommy john surgery just to hold some semblance of a rotation together. Of the opening day lineup, only Carpenter, Peralta, Wong, and Heyward were playing at full-ish strength.

Congrats on taking down that juggernaut team, the cardinals limped into the playoffs and were going nowhere fast when they got there. The cubs true colors showed in the NLCS when they had to play an actual team not held together with bandaids and crazy glue. We'll see how they hold up in 2016 with some actual expectations and pressure put on them. Should be a good 3 team race.
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Amen! Ive been telling my Cubs friends this since they celebrated winning their world series (the NLDS against their Arch rival). It's great they won a playoff series for the first time in a long time but to really get to the next level, they would have to play very well. The cardinals had more errors in that series than ive seen us commit in the playoffs. When I told my cub friends this, they called it sour grapes. I was more warning them. If the Cubs expect to face the same depleted cardinals team, they'll be surprised.

I kinda like being the underdog anyway ��
 
#1,427      

dgcrow

dgcrow
Kelso, WA
dgcrow
the national said:
Amen! Ive been telling my Cubs friends this since they celebrated winning their world series (the NLDS against their Arch rival). It's great they won a playoff series for the first time in a long time but to really get to the next level, they would have to play very well. The cardinals had more errors in that series than ive seen us commit in the playoffs. When I told my cub friends this, they called it sour grapes. I was more warning them. If the Cubs expect to face the same depleted cardinals team, they'll be surprised.

I kinda like being the underdog anyway ��
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Playoffs are a crap shoot anyway. Teams play 162 games to determine which ones are the best. But ANY team can win a short playoff series.
 
#1,428      

illini8507

illini8507
illini8507
dgcrow said:
Playoffs are a crap shoot anyway. Teams play 162 games to determine which ones are the best. But ANY team can win a short playoff series.
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As cardinals fans learned in 2006.

All that aside, I'm actually very excited for the upcoming season with the roster as is. Assuming relatively good health, I really want to see what we have in Grichuk and piscotty for a full season, as well as whether or not Adams can bounce back from his injury or Moss can return to his 2014 form and give us good at bats. I like the power in our lineup if the bats can stay healthy. As it sits right now we are probably looking at an opening day lineup of Carpenter, Piscotty, Holliday, Grichuk, Adams, Peralta, Molina, Wong, but I still think Mo will make another move before the season.
I like our rotation too if healthy. Waino, Martinez, Garcia, Wacha, and Leake is pretty good top to bottom. Just need to stay relatively healthy. Gonzales and Lyons are good to have on reserve in AAA.

Will be interesting to see how the bullpen shapes up. You know Rosie and Siegrist will be back, and i think Walden is still under contract. We also signed Broxton (eyeroll.) We have some FA from last year that I don't think will be back. Again, hopefully we have better luck in the health dept and aren't forced to over work our back end like in 2015.

Man, after typing that all out and emphasizing health so many times it really hits home how banged up we were last year. We won 100 games...
 
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#1,429      

dgcrow

dgcrow
Kelso, WA
dgcrow
illini8507 said:
As cardinals fans learned in 2006.

All that aside, I'm actually very excited for the upcoming season with the roster as is. Assuming relatively good health, I really want to see what we have in Grichuk and piscotty for a full season, as well as whether or not Adams can bounce back from his injury or Moss can return to his 2014 form and give us good at bats. I like the power in our lineup if the bats can stay healthy. As it sits right now we are probably looking at an opening day lineup of Carpenter, Piscotty, Holliday, Grichuk, Adams, Peralta, Molina, Wong, but I still think Mo will make another move before the season.
I like our rotation too if healthy. Waino, Martinez, Garcia, Wacha, and Leake is pretty good top to bottom. Just need to stay relatively healthy. Gonzales and Lyons are good to have on reserve in AAA.

Will be interesting to see how the bullpen shapes up. You know Rosie and Siegrist will be back, and i think Walden is still under contract. We also signed Broxton (eyeroll.) We have some FA from last year that I don't think will be back. Again, hopefully we have better luck in the health dept and aren't forced to over work our back end like in 2015.
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Good post. I would still like to see Mo pick up another power hitting outfielder. Alex Gordon, for example.
 
#1,430      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
illini8507 said:
As cardinals fans learned in 2006.

All that aside, I'm actually very excited for the upcoming season with the roster as is. Assuming relatively good health, I really want to see what we have in Grichuk and piscotty for a full season, as well as whether or not Adams can bounce back from his injury or Moss can return to his 2014 form and give us good at bats. I like the power in our lineup if the bats can stay healthy. As it sits right now we are probably looking at an opening day lineup of Carpenter, Piscotty, Holliday, Grichuk, Adams, Peralta, Molina, Wong, but I still think Mo will make another move before the season.
I like our rotation too if healthy. Waino, Martinez, Garcia, Wacha, and Leake is pretty good top to bottom. Just need to stay relatively healthy. Gonzales and Lyons are good to have on reserve in AAA.

Will be interesting to see how the bullpen shapes up. You know Rosie and Siegrist will be back, and i think Walden is still under contract. We also signed Broxton (eyeroll.) We have some FA from last year that I don't think will be back. Again, hopefully we have better luck in the health dept and aren't forced to over work our back end like in 2015.

Man, after typing that all out and emphasizing health so many times it really hits home how banged up we were last year. We won 100 games...
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Good post. I was thinking that we had to add someone, but really, health should be the key.
 
#1,431      

unimaroon

U
Baja Ontario
unimaroon
To be fair, as Cardinal fans we can pull out the dvd's of the old World Series wins during the winter months and enjoy our team's prior success. The ones i have from the 40's & '60's and even the 80's leave something to be desired from a production values standpoint, but the recent ones are very good in that area and all are a nice encapsulation of baseball history. So we get the dreams of the future AND the enjoyment of the past accomplishment.

But yeah, the Cubs did win their second post season series last year, bless their hearts.
 
#1,432      

hermie1985

H
hermie1985
One can argue that it takes 95 wins to win the NL Central next year. Most divisions are won with around 88 wins.

While pitching carried a historically bad offense in '15, it seems obvious we need a proven middle of the order threat. Mo is betting hard it will come from Moss, Adams and Grichuk. Otherwise, we'd have Davis or one of the available OF sluggers in the fold.

We hate losing a yet to be named player (draft pick) for a proven star. Yet we trade blue chips like Jenkins and Kaminsky for a year of Heyward and Moss.

Moss needs to pan out or Mo looks silly for a whole series of deals.
 
#1,433      

illini8507

illini8507
illini8507
hermie1985 said:
One can argue that it takes 95 wins to win the NL Central next year. Most divisions are won with around 88 wins.

While pitching carried a historically bad offense in '15, it seems obvious we need a proven middle of the order threat. Mo is betting hard it will come from Moss, Adams and Grichuk. Otherwise, we'd have Davis or one of the available OF sluggers in the fold.

We hate losing a yet to be named player (draft pick) for a proven star. Yet we trade blue chips like Jenkins and Kaminsky for a year of Heyward and Moss.

Moss needs to pan out or Mo looks silly for a whole series of deals.
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Well, our hands were kinda tied on heyward. We had to get a deal done for a good outfielder, and it's a good thing we did, because he was the only OF we had who played a full season.

Agree on moss though. Hopefully last year was an anomaly. Looking at his overall numbers after the trade he wasn't that bad, even though he got off to a terrible slow start. Hopefully he comes around
 
#1,434      

hermie1985

H
hermie1985
illini8507 said:
Well, our hands were kinda tied on heyward. We had to get a deal done for a good outfielder, and it's a good thing we did, because he was the only OF we had who played a full season.

Agree on moss though. Hopefully last year was an anomaly. Looking at his overall numbers after the trade he wasn't that bad, even though he got off to a terrible slow start. Hopefully he comes around
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You might have missed my point on Heyward. The point is that Mo will give up assets for one year of control but values an unknown, low first round draft pick over a proven slugger.

Heyword didn't really fit into the middle of the order guy we needed to replace OT anyway.

I hope guys fear Grichuk, Moss and Holliday in the middle of our order. It can happen. I'm rooting for it to happen.
 
#1,435      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
hermie1985 said:
One can argue that it takes 95 wins to win the NL Central next year.
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I think it will be more like '15, with the Central winner having 103 or 105 wins, with the other two competitors right behind with at least an upper '90s win total.

The bottom third of the NL is going to be historically bad. The only reason the Phillies, Braves, Reds, Brewers, and Rockies won't all lose 100 games is that they each have enough games against each other to keep them in the '90s.

The Cubs, Cards, and Pirates each have ~60 games against that quintet. Go .750 against them and .500 against everyone else, and you have 95 wins right there without doing anything all that extraordinary.

Regardless, it's going to be an awesome race.

Pitchers and catchers in about 5 weeks! Can't wait.
 
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#1,436      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
champaignchris said:
I think it will be more like '15, with the Central winner having 103 or 105 wins, with the other two competitors right behind with at least an upper '90s win total.

The bottom third of the NL is going to be historically bad. The only reason the Phillies, Braves, Reds, Brewers, and Rockies won't all lose 100 games is that they each have enough games against each other to keep them in the '90s.

The Cubs, Cards, and Pirates each have ~60 games against that quintet. Go .750 against them and .500 against everyone else, and you have 95 wins right there without doing anything all that extraordinary.

Regardless, it's going to be an awesome race.

Pitchers and catchers in about 5 weeks! Can't wait.
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It should be a heck of a race for the division, and rarely does the favored team win (Cards the exception last year). '14 was supposed to be the Pirates and '13 the Reds.

The next concern is whoever finishes 3rd and possibly second may not make it, even with mid 90's wins. The Mets will still be good, the Nationals have too much talent to not win eventually, Giants and Dodgers should also be good. Oh yeah, the D'backs think that they might be good too. Am I missing anyone?
 
#1,438      

illini8507

illini8507
illini8507
Anybody heard anything about this Korean closer we're supposed to be signing? Sounds pretty good, not sure what it means as far as Walden's health is concerned.
 
#1,439      

ibdmainman

I
ibdmainman
illini8507 said:
Anybody heard anything about this Korean closer we're supposed to be signing? Sounds pretty good, not sure what it means as far as Walden's health is concerned.
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The last I heard about Walden's health was a comparison to Mark Mulder...not a good sign!!!
 
#1,445      

orangeroses07

orangeroses07
Centralia, IL
orangeroses07
Love this signing. This will help relieve some of the innings that Siegrist has pitched the last few seasons, which clearly was needed after seeing him burn out last October. A good bullpen is an absolute must in today's game.
 
#1,448      

IAmChrisFarley

I
IAmChrisFarley