St. Louis Cardinals 2022

#276      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Smart catchers are priceless.
yep................that was my take on what Knizner said in the article .......i am less concerned with this being Yadi's last year now...............
 
#277      

IlliniFan85

Colorado Springs, CO
It's a good thing the offense has been so great to let our pitching staff down. Granted tonight the pitching failed in the end, but McFarland isn't an ace reliever and Woodford is not an Ace anything.
 
#278      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
KANSAS CITY — In two cities in two days, the Cardinals have scored two runs in two games. They were fortunate to win one of them.
After the Cardinals’ 1-0 win over Kansas City on Monday in St. Louis, the Royals rolled over the Cardinals 7-1 Tuesday night despite starter Dakota Hudson’s generally solid outing.
Hudson held the Royals to two runs for six innings before he was lifted after a leadoff walk in the seventh and left-hander T.J. McFarland allowed that run to score and two of his own, with right-hander Jake Woodford giving up another two runs in a five-run frame.
The Cardinals have been held to two runs or fewer in three of their past four games by last-place teams in Arizona and Kansas City.

Manager Oliver Marmol said that newly recalled slugger Juan Yepez will be somewhere in Wednesday afternoon’s lineup. And there might be more changes. How long can the Cardinals go with Paul DeJong at short? He started two double plays, one of them in excellent fashion, but DeJong, one for 14 and down to .131, bounced into a double play to snuff a seventh-inning rally when the Cardinals were down only two runs.
Before the game, Marmol had said, “We’ve seen a lower production (from DeJong) on the fastball and the breaking ball. It’s something he’s trying to address. And we need to figure this out sooner than later.”
 
#279      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
KANSAS CITY — The Cardinals were operating shorthanded both on the field and in the training room Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals as the organization was fighting a strain of COVID.
President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said one player and four club employees, three of them medical personnel, had tested positive for the virus. Mozeliak did not name the player but shortstop Edmundo Sosa was placed on the injured list, with no determination, and Juan Yepez, who homered for Memphis Tuesday morning in a game at home, was set to join the Cardinals Tuesday night, but not until after the game.
Earlier in the day a Cardinals tweet said that Sosa had been placed on the COVID injured list but it was deleted.

Additionally, catcher Yadier Molina was scratched from his start because he was not feeling well, manager Oliver Marmol said. But Marmol said that Molina had tested negative for COVID “and as of right now, (Molina playing Wednesday) is not in question.”
Mozeliak said on Tuesday morning he had been made aware “that we had a couple of employees test positive for COVID. The current number now is at four and we also have one player, to a total of five. Right now, we’re just assessing where we are. Obviously, we’re going to bring in some extra staff to handle the day-to-day.”
 
#280      
The way this is going we'll probably see Gorman called up around June 1st. If it weren't for service time manipulation I have a feeling they'd have called him up for Sosa instead of calling up Yepez (I like Yepez a lot though and hope they give him some real opportunities)

They should've traded DeJong for whatever they could've got for him in the offseason, when someone may have thought he could rebound. Can't imagine you'd get anything for him now. I think the only reason they didn't was because the plan was to hold off Gorman until they could get another year of team control. They'd have sent him down to AAA even if he homered in every at-bat at spring training.
 
#281      

217sports

Springfield
The way this is going we'll probably see Gorman called up around June 1st. If it weren't for service time manipulation I have a feeling they'd have called him up for Sosa instead of calling up Yepez (I like Yepez a lot though and hope they give him some real opportunities)

They should've traded DeJong for whatever they could've got for him in the offseason, when someone may have thought he could rebound. Can't imagine you'd get anything for him now. I think the only reason they didn't was because the plan was to hold off Gorman until they could get another year of team control. They'd have sent him down to AAA even if he homered in every at-bat at spring training.
DeJong will be DFA'd soon. Mo's comments lately show that he is tired of them.

They claim they aren't calling up Gorman because they want him to play every day but I'm not sure how he wouldn't be and Sosa/Edman at SS. Has to be service time like you said
 
#282      
DeJong will be DFA'd soon. Mo's comments lately show that he is tired of them.

They claim they aren't calling up Gorman because they want him to play every day but I'm not sure how he wouldn't be and Sosa/Edman at SS. Has to be service time like you said
100%. Gorman can play 2nd, DH, and spell Arenado at 3rd when he needs a day off. He's also played OF on occasion so could probably take left when TON needs a day. He'd 100% be an every day player right now. Sure there's a question about strikeout rate and how he'd do against MLB pitching but if he struggles you can send him right back down to Memphis.
 
#283      
From most AB to least:
Dylan Carlson .186
Tyler O'Neill .202
Harrison Bader .234
Paul DeJong .127
Yadier Molina .208
Corey Dickerson .178
Albert Pujols .225
Edmundo Sosa .160
Lars Nootbaar .125
Brendan Donovan .167

There is no reason whatsoever for an MLB player to be hitting below .100. It is an embarrassment. Even horrible hitting all glove Dale Maxville hit .217 in his career. No one should even be hitting lower than .250.
Bring on the minor leaguers.
 
#284      
From most AB to least:
Dylan Carlson .186
Tyler O'Neill .202
Harrison Bader .234
Paul DeJong .127
Yadier Molina .208
Corey Dickerson .178
Albert Pujols .225
Edmundo Sosa .160
Lars Nootbaar .125
Brendan Donovan .167

There is no reason whatsoever for an MLB player to be hitting below .100. It is an embarrassment. Even horrible hitting all glove Dale Maxville hit .217 in his career. No one should even be hitting lower than .250.
Bring on the minor leaguers.
I think it's a little early to give up on some of these guys. TON finally got something going with a triple and HR today, Bader' OBP is .317 which is respectable, and he's a great fielder and has become a very good base stealer, Carlson is young and has tons of potential, just needs to work on his approach, Noot hasn't had many opportunities yet this season, neither has Donovan. Pujols is crushing left handed pitching, but unfortunately bats .095 against righties and has more plate appearances against righties than lefties (24-16). Only ones I think may be worth giving up on are DeJong and Dickerson.
 
#285      
From most AB to least:
Dylan Carlson .186
Tyler O'Neill .202
Harrison Bader .234
Paul DeJong .127
Yadier Molina .208
Corey Dickerson .178
Albert Pujols .225
Edmundo Sosa .160
Lars Nootbaar .125
Brendan Donovan .167

There is no reason whatsoever for an MLB player to be hitting below .100. It is an embarrassment. Even horrible hitting all glove Dale Maxville hit .217 in his career. No one should even be hitting lower than .250.
Bring on the minor leaguers.
Hitting is down league wide. The batting average for all the MLB is .232 right now so Bader is technically "above average" right now as is the Cardinals as a whole (team average of .234).

I'm excited to see what Yepez can do. His box score today (2 for 3 w/ 2 doubles) looks better than his contact (both doubles were jam jobs to short right), but I'm not complaining!
 
#287      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Edman is such a good player. Don’t know why he wasn’t batting lead off from the beginning.
Well , he did have a very sub par spring training, below .200 BA............But , I read he was experimenting with a change to his batting angles........

He is tearing it up right now , for sure..........................
 
#288      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — In town for four days with three evening games by the bay and plenty of time to roam if they want to, the Cardinals instead crammed a whole lot of sightseeing into their first evening at Oracle Park.
They saw almost everything The City’s bullpen had to offer.
And they’ve got the souvenirs to prove it.
Against nine different pitchers from the Giants’ 10-man bullpen, the Cardinals got a homer with history in its tailwind early and a big-league first late for a 7-1 victory Thursday against the San Francisco Giants. Yadier Molina’s first homer of the season gave the Cardinals’ their first lead and tied him with Ted Simmons for the ninth-most homers in Cardinals’ history. Molina’s 172nd home run was also his 999th career RBI.

Juan Yepez’s first career RBI in the majors concluded the Cardinals’ scoring in the seventh as they widened their lead and deepened the Giants’ use of the bullpen. Yepez’s RBI single in the seventh came against the Giants’ seventh pitcher of the game – and one of their best setup men -- and it punctuated a four-run rally.
“I feel like there were several wins in today,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Getting into that ‘pen the way we did early in a four-game set – that’s important. … I love them using that many guys in the first game of a four-game set.”
 
#289      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — A negotiation that has lingered throughout the start of the regular season and continued to cross Tyler O’Neill’s mind away from the ballpark each night reaches its deadline Friday. Resolution is near.
O’Neill, his representatives, and officials from the Cardinals will log on hours before Friday night’s game for an arbitration hearing to make their cases and argue what the left fielder’s salary will be this season. The process pits player against team and can be acrimonious in normal years, but gets the added twist this month due to the lockout of being convened remotely — and during the season.
“It’s definitely something I think about when I’m going to bed,” O’Neill told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday before batting practice at Oracle Park. “But I’m not dragging it on the field, not dragging it into the batter’s box with me. That would definitely not be fair to say. It’s a task that needs to get done, and it’s definitely something that I am ready to have completed.

“I’m looking forward to what comes of it.”
This is O’Neill’s first time eligible for arbitration, and the Cardinals and his agent, Scott Boras, had discussions about a multi-year deal that would avoid an arbitration hearing. They have until it begins Friday to get a deal done. The Cardinals offered O’Neill a salary of $3.4 million, and O’Neill’s side requested a salary of $4.15 million. An arbiter will choose one of those salaries. For the first month of the season, O’Neill has been paid at the rate offered by the Cardinals, but if his side wins arbitration he’ll get backpay with interest.
 
#290      
Edman is such a good player. Don’t know why he wasn’t batting lead off from the beginning.
He was actually a very poor leadoff batter last season. One of the lowest on base percentages on the team. His approach has improved a ton, and now he's great. The biggest difference is his walk rate, which was just 5.5% last year. This year it's 13.8%! I think removing him from leadoff duty was the right move, and I think reinstating him based on what he's doing right now was also the right move. If he keeps this up he'll be batting leadoff for a long time.
 
#291      

BillyBob1

Champaign
Well , he did have a very sub par spring training, below .200 BA............But , I read he was experimenting with a change to his batting angles........

He is tearing it up right now , for sure..........................
As I said before, stats don’t matter in spring training. Look at DeJong. He was tearing it up and now he can’t buy a hit. Edman is just the opposite.
 
#292      
As I said before, stats don’t matter in spring training. Look at DeJong. He was tearing it up and now he can’t buy a hit. Edman is just the opposite.
It wasn't because of spring training, it was because of last season. A leadoff batter's job is to get on base. Here's how Tommy Edman ranked in that category last season:

20220506_161355.jpg


Of the top 9 guys in plate appearances Edman ranked 7th in OBP. Nearly anyone in the lineup would've been a better leadoff guy. Kudos to him for fixing it but Oli was not wrong for yanking leadoff duties from him until he could prove himself up to the task, which he has done.
 
#293      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — Adam Wainwright took to Twitter to assure fans and followers that he is "100% with zero symptoms" after the Cardinals placed their veteran ace on the COVID injured list Friday afternoon.
Wainwright is the second player to go on the COVID IL during this two-city, six-game road trip, and the sixth member of the Cardinals' traveling party to have a positive test for the coronavirus.
The Cardinals had no new positives Thursday, manager Oliver Marmol said. The has continued testing based on the exposure and contact tracing.

Wainwright's next scheduled start is Tuesday at Busch Stadium against Baltimore. It would be his 311th start with catcher Yadier Molina as a battery, and it's possible that he'll still be able to make it.

The COVID IL allows for a player to spend 10 days on the injured list, though the health and safety protocols agreed upon by the players' union and Major League Baseball do allow a player to make his way back quicker from the COVID IL. Wainwright must be symptom free and without a fever for 24 hours, and he must also have two negative tests for the virus. He can then gain approval from a team physician and the physicians on a joint committee to return to the active roster.
 
#294      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — The text message carrying video of his son’s first double in the majors arrived shortly before the airplane leaving Venezuela started its taxiing on the runway. Omar Yepez knew what had happened in Juan’s debut but could not download the video fast enough before tray tables had to be lifted and locked in their upright position and cell phones switched off.
Replaying again and again the first double would have to wait until landing when that debut game was over, and Omar had another video to download – a second double.
The third double he got to see in real-time, in person.
With his parents watching at Oracle Park, Cardinals rookie Juan Yepez threaded a double down the third-base line to put in motion a tiebreaking rally. Rookie Brendan Donovan pinch-ran for Yepez at second, and when Dylan Carlson laced a single to center the base runner produced by Yepez’s hit became the run the Cardinals needed to edge San Francisco, 3-2, on Friday. Carlson entered the game as a defensive replacement late in the game before delivering on offense to decide the game.

“Huge moment,” manager Oliver Marmol said of Carlson’s single. “For him to come in there and take the at-bat that he did and drive that run in – that’s a really big moment not only for him, but for this club.”
Said Carlson: “Juan, great job getting in scoring position in front of me.”
 
#295      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — Encouraged by Adam Wainwright’s lack of symptoms and the schedule’s extra day of accommodation, the Cardinals are hopeful the right-hander will be able to return from the COVID-19 injury list in time to make his next start as scheduled, on Tuesday.
The Cardinals’ creeping outbreak of the virus on this road trip extended to Wainwright on Friday afternoon when he tested positive for the coronavirus. The team placed their veteran ace on the COVID IL, though unlike Major League Baseball’s other injury lists Wainwright does have an avenue back to the active roster in less than four days.
It begins by being asymptomatic.

“Just so everyone knows, I feel great. 100% with zero symptoms,” Wainwright wrote on Twitter shortly after the team announced the move. Wainwright had COVID-19 during the offseason, he recently told reporters. “Out of an abundance of caution and following MLB protocols I have to test negative twice before I return. Which we’re hoping is very soon.”
The protocols adopted this season by MLB and the players’ union require a player to go 24 hours without a fever and be symptom-free before beginning the re-entry process. That player must then have consecutive negative tests for the virus. If those conditions are met, the team’s physician can recommend the player be placed back on the active roster, pending approval from a joint committee of two physicians, one each for the union and leagues.
 
#298      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time in four games, the Cardinals’ uncoiling offense saw chilled bats continue to thaw, production from top to tail end, and it scored at least seven runs.
Such depth still could not overcome what San Francisco produced on three swings.
The Giants, scrambling to split a series and gift a victory to retired catcher Buster Posey on his day at Oracle Park, got a grand slam in the first inning and two more home runs in the second. They bombarded Cardinals starter Steven Matz with eight runs on those three homers and then kept a step ahead of the Cardinals to win, 13-7, on Saturday. Despite the offense’s bid to keep the game close, what began ugly for their starter ended up unraveling for the Cardinals with three errors, four walks in the eighth inning, and runs given away with a bases-loaded walk and bases-loaded hit batter.

“The whole game was kind of out of character for us,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “If you’re going to do it, get it all in one day.”
On a chilly, windy day by the bay, the early gust of runs for San Francisco left the Cardinals lineup too large a gap to close. A day after delivering the game-winner with a ninth-inning single, Dylan Carlson socked his first home run of the season. The native of Northern California and switch-hitting outfielder launched a three-run shot over the wall that separates right field from McCovey Cove. That momentarily narrowed the Giants’ lead to 9-7, eventually got the tying run to the plate, but that’s as close as the Cardinals got in the late innings.
 
#299      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN FRANCISCO — In his first at-bats of this season, his last season in the majors, Yadier Molina had so few swings against game-ready pitching it took time to get up to speed.
“Early on it was like I would see a pitch at 91 mph,” he said, “and it seemed like 110.”
Through a deliberate playing schedule kept by manager Oliver Marmol and Molina, the Cardinals’ veteran catcher has been able to recreate spring training during the regular season. And in the past week, as April became May, he’s felt his March-like timing catch up to summer. Molina hit his first homer of the season Thursday, extended his hitting streak to eight games Saturday, and collected his 1,000th career RBI in the second inning that night. He is the eighth catcher in big league history with more than 2,000 hits and at least 1,000 RBIs.

In the seven games before that swing, Molina had gone nine-for-28 (.321) with two strikeouts and raised his season average from .156 to .228.
“Timing is there, he’s letting it eat a little more, feeling more comfortable,” Marmol said.
Molina’s milestone RBI came on Buster Posey Day at Oracle Park. The Giants held an hourlong ceremony before first pitch to celebrate Posey’s career and retirement of the fifth player in Giants history to spend his entire lengthy career only with the club. He was the catcher who led the team to three World Series titles, including the first in San Francisco. Will Clark and Barry Bonds were some of the Giants greats in attendance, and Molina’s older brother, Bengie, a teammate with Posey, delivered one of the speeches.
 
#300      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Ben Frederickson
The Cardinals, who have either won or split all but one of their series this season, have a good mix going.
With an exception here and there — yes, I’m aware of the lack of offensive production at shortstop — manager Oliver Marmol’s club has benefited from a blend of strong performances from players who are expected to deliver strong performances, along with some stronger than expected performances from players most of us just expected to contribute.
Nolan Arenado woke up Saturday morning with the National League’s second-best on-base plus slugging percentage (1.086) and a great start on what could become an NL MVP campaign. Arenado and Manny Machado (1.115) are doing what MVPs do. Both are spearheading their clubs.

Shortstop Tommy Edman exited a disappointing spring training like a comet. His .928 OPS entering Saturday’s game sat between Yankees slugger Anthony Rizzo and rising superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays. Edman had 17 more hits (28) than strikeouts (11) through his first 25 games. The switch-hitter is punishing lefties and righties alike, and has rightfully reclaimed his leadoff spot, perhaps once and for all.
Starter Miles Mikolas through six starts has pitched the fifth-most innings in the majors (35.1) while maintaining a 1.53 ERA. He has as many strikeouts (28) as hits allowed and has walked the fewest batters (seven) of any major leaguer to total 35-plus innings.