St. Louis Cardinals 2022

#626      
It's a nice write up on Tommy. I wouldn't call him a Superstar. That's more of a popularity-media driven narrative.

Tommy Edman Is The Latest Unlikely Star In St. Louis

Since the turn of the millennium, the St. Louis Cardinals have had only one losing season. In that span, the organization has developed countless major league contributors on both sides of the baseball. Chief among them is 27-year-old superstar infielder Tommy Edman, who has quietly become one of the game’s most valuable players.

Superstar? Tommy Edman? I know that might seem a little rich. After all, Edman shares a roster with franchise legends Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, as well as more conventional superstar-types such as Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. But Edman, depending on which value metric you are looking at, ranks anywhere from 16th to the best player in baseball.

There's more to the article. Enjoy.
 
#627      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
MILWAUKEE — The Cardinals reached the finale of a four-game visit and last swing through Milwaukee until late September with a chance to do what they had not previously — put a little smidge of distance between them and their division rival.
Through 36 innings at American Family Field, 29 runs and two pitchers getting their first major-league wins, the series left the teams where they started, caught in a staring contest atop the National League Central waiting for the first bullpen that blinks.
The standings remained the same.
The Cardinals, however, are undergoing change.
Dakota Hudson could not dodge trouble forever and allowed two home runs that misplaced leads and tilted the game toward the Brewers. Reliever Drew VerHagen failed to retire any of the three batters he faced so that Milwaukee added cushion for a 6-4 victory Thursday.

For the third time this season, the Cardinals entered the final game of a four-game series against Milwaukee with a chance to win the series and did not. Splitsville. One run separated them over four days. Through the first 12 games against each other this season, the division leaders are 6-6, and they finished this series as it started, with each team having the same record (40-32). Socks aren’t as evenly matched as the Brewers and Cardinals.
“I’d like to play them every day,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Honestly, I’d love to play them 100 and whatever times. I like the style of play that we have. I like playing them. I enjoy the overall competition, the way our rosters matchup. It’s a good team over there. They’re managed well. They have good pieces.”

Marmol will be moving some of his around.
 
#628      
Reliever Drew VerHagen failed to retire any of the three batters he faced so that Milwaukee added cushion for a 6-4 victory Thursday.
Why does St Lou have such a difficult time getting FA pitching especially FA relievers?
 
#630      

IlliniFan85

Colorado Springs, CO
Why does St Lou have such a difficult time getting FA pitching especially FA relievers?
As much as I hate who we signed in FA as well, this is a two part problem.

1) In Nov 2016 we signed Brett Cecil who was doing great with Toronto before coming to us. Well that turned out to be a disaster. Remember we spent $30.5 mil on him for 4 years. And he was never worth $1 mil. In Dec of 2018 we signed Andrew Miller to $20.5 mil contract. Again this is was not a great signing. And the writing was on the wall for this one. However, we overspent and again lost our !!! on the contract. So now management is gun shy. We don't need to sign these expensive type FA's. But we needed those middle type guys. And because of the fact they are gun shy, we ended up with bargain bin options instead. Which we should have signed Luis Garcia, who was great for us last year, but he wanted 2 years, and it seems we wanted to spend that 2nd year on McFarland instead.

2) The owner is slightly cheap. He allows us to spend just enough, and usually on a player he really wants. Like you know a 2 year extension on a guy who did not need to be extended in Spring Training. And he probably had something to do with Miller. The Cards were infatuated with him for a while, but could never acquire him until it was too late. Similar with Arenado, he wanted him, so we got him, but he also had Mo find a way to get Colorado to pay a lot of that contract. And I have no issues with the Arenado deal. He has been great for us.
 
#631      
As much as I hate who we signed in FA as well, this is a two part problem.

1) In Nov 2016 we signed Brett Cecil who was doing great with Toronto before coming to us. Well that turned out to be a disaster. Remember we spent $30.5 mil on him for 4 years. And he was never worth $1 mil. In Dec of 2018 we signed Andrew Miller to $20.5 mil contract. Again this is was not a great signing. And the writing was on the wall for this one. However, we overspent and again lost our !!! on the contract. So now management is gun shy. We don't need to sign these expensive type FA's. But we needed those middle type guys. And because of the fact they are gun shy, we ended up with bargain bin options instead. Which we should have signed Luis Garcia, who was great for us last year, but he wanted 2 years, and it seems we wanted to spend that 2nd year on McFarland instead.

2) The owner is slightly cheap. He allows us to spend just enough, and usually on a player he really wants. Like you know a 2 year extension on a guy who did not need to be extended in Spring Training. And he probably had something to do with Miller. The Cards were infatuated with him for a while, but could never acquire him until it was too late. Similar with Arenado, he wanted him, so we got him, but he also had Mo find a way to get Colorado to pay a lot of that contract. And I have no issues with the Arenado deal. He has been great for us.
I agree with the general concept that high end relievers are a bad deal because relievers often don't pan out. Not going for the middle ground, as you say, was the mistake. Luis Garcia was great for us and should have been re-signed.

Ownership needs to toss in more money to let the FO make moves. The Cards rank 2nd(!!!) in the MLB in average attendance, yet rank just 12th in payroll, with a pretty large gap between us and the #11 team (Toronto, whose payroll is almost $13 mil higher than ours). If we even wanted to just be a top 8 payroll, that would require us spending $32 million more. Even a fraction of that spent this offseason could have brought in some interesting relief options. Given how good a roster the FO has put together with the restraints it has, imagine where we'd be if ownership actually wanted to reinvest in the roster.
 
#632      

IlliniFan85

Colorado Springs, CO
I agree with the general concept that high end relievers are a bad deal because relievers often don't pan out. Not going for the middle ground, as you say, was the mistake. Luis Garcia was great for us and should have been re-signed.

Ownership needs to toss in more money to let the FO make moves. The Cards rank 2nd(!!!) in the MLB in average attendance, yet rank just 12th in payroll, with a pretty large gap between us and the #11 team (Toronto, whose payroll is almost $13 mil higher than ours). If we even wanted to just be a top 8 payroll, that would require us spending $32 million more. Even a fraction of that spent this offseason could have brought in some interesting relief options. Given how good a roster the FO has put together with the restraints it has, imagine where we'd be if ownership actually wanted to reinvest in the roster.
I agree. But remember, Mr. DeWitt said being an MLB Owner is not a lucrative business. They don't make money. Which is just such a load of ..... .... .... . Well you know. I know St. Louis isn't a large market team, however, when you look at everything, we are an extremely popular franchise with quite a large following. And like you said, we are 2nd in attendance, which means people spend lots of money to root for this team. So we have the money to spend.

We don't need to sign the top FA's every year, but we do need to invest in the team properly. And hell it was such a mistake when we didn't even try to sign Scherzer. Mo does a good job with what he can spend, but it just would be nice if DeWitt cared more about trying to win Championships instead of just only making the playoffs.
 
#633      
I agree. But remember, Mr. DeWitt said being an MLB Owner is not a lucrative business. They don't make money. Which is just such a load of ..... .... .... . Well you know. I know St. Louis isn't a large market team, however, when you look at everything, we are an extremely popular franchise with quite a large following. And like you said, we are 2nd in attendance, which means people spend lots of money to root for this team. So we have the money to spend.

We don't need to sign the top FA's every year, but we do need to invest in the team properly. And hell it was such a mistake when we didn't even try to sign Scherzer. Mo does a good job with what he can spend, but it just would be nice if DeWitt cared more about trying to win Championships instead of just only making the playoffs.
DeWitt bought the team for $150 million in 1995. Forbes recently valued it at $2.45 billion (#7 in MLB). How this man can cry poor is just astonishing to me.
 
#634      
DeWitt bought the team for $150 million in 1995. Forbes recently valued it at $2.45 billion (#7 in MLB). How this man can cry poor is just astonishing to me.
Franchise expenses are at unprecedented record highs. ;)
 
#635      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
The Paul DeJong fans should not be holding their breath for an imminent return from Memphis by the Cardinals’ regular shortstop. Or former regular shortstop, that is.
“Now it becomes a need,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Friday, likely referring to the fact that somebody would have to be hurt or slumping badly before there would be a recall. With DeJong at Memphis, where he has banged 10 homers but hasn’t hit for much average, Gold Glove second baseman Tommy Edman has moved almost seamlessly to shortstop for the big-league club and rookies Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan have taken care of second base.
“The way Tommy Edman’s playing, and we’re getting a lot of production out of our second basemen, (DeJong) is going to have to hit his way back,” Mozeliak said. “It’s really been a situation where he would go down, get himself right and then come back. In the meantime, there’s been a little bit of a Wally Pipp situation where the players who have taken over those positions have been thriving.

“We’re not in a place just to displace them at the moment.”
For you baseball historians, Wally Pipp was the New York Yankees’ first baseman in June 1925 — and a good one, too — when he was replaced one day by 21-year-old Lou Gehrig after Pipp complained of a headache. Gehrig went on to play 2,130 games in succession.
 
#636      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
The Chicago Cubs hit town for the first time this season, having lost 14 of their previous 17 games since the Cardinals were at Wrigley Field in June. But the Cubs also hit town with soft-tossing right-hander Kyle Hendricks, against whom the Cardinals had a similar career record.
The rest of Major League Baseball had found Hendricks a soft touch this season, hammering him at a 5.43 earned-run average. But Hendricks hadn’t faced the Cardinals yet and he was 12-3 in his career against them, which was the most wins he had had against any team.
He was up to his old tricks Friday night at Busch Stadium before a packed house of 46,524, the largest home crowd of the season. The Cardinals had just three harmless singles and a walk off Hendricks through seven innings as the Cubs blanked the Cardinals 3-0, with Hendricks (3-6) winning for the first time since May 9.

Harrison Bader, a .375 career hitter against Hendricks, doubled to left in the eighth after Dylan Carlson had opened with a single to center. The Cardinals sent up left-handed-hitting Lars Nootbaar to hit for Andrew Knizner and Hendricks got Nootbaar to strike out on a changeup in the dirt.
Cubs manager David Ross brought in right-hander Chris Martin to face Tommy Edman, who sent a grounder up the middle that deflected off Martin.
Martin hastily recovered the ball as Carlson scampered back to third base and Bader, who was headed there, got back to second. Martin threw out Edman at first. Nolan Gorman then lined to shortstop Nico Hoerner to end the threat.
 
#637      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
Miles Mikolas had allowed just eight hits over his previous three games, covering 23 innings. And he had one win and two losses to show for those efforts.
Mikolas was in that same form again Saturday at Busch Stadium, limiting the Chicago Cubs to four hits and one run in six innings while fanning a season-high-tying nine before a second consecutive sellout crowd of 45,159 on a sweltering day. But he didn't win this one either although the Cardinals did, 5-3, after blowing a two-run lead.
Backup catcher Ivan Herrera hit a deep sacrifice fly to left in the eighth inning to send home pinch runner Edmundo Sosa from third with the go-ahead run. Sosa was running for Juan Yepez, who had doubled with one out off Mark Leiter, Jr,

Sosa had gone to third on a wild pitch and Harrison Bader had been hit by a pitch before Herrera's fly ball to the warning track. Bader tagged up and slid into second on the play and then he scored on Tommy Edman's single.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol tried to cover the final three innings with his co-closers Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley. But, after Gallegos got through the seventh with the aid of a double play, he balked a runner to second in the eighth. Rafael Ortega hit several balls hard but foul during a lengthy at-bat before finding a slider to his liking and cracking a game-tying two-run homer to right. It was Gallegos' 31st pitch.
 
#638      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky


Benjamin Hochman
When I first moved to Denver, back in 2007, numerous media members told me about this young ballplayer in town, a preordained prodigy with a professional pedigree.
The kid was 3.
Before Rockies games, Matt Holliday’s son would take swings in the Colorado clubhouse, crushing kid-friendly balls across the room. Father and son would also play out on the field and onlookers wondered — is Matt Holliday’s toddler the next Matt Holliday?
“He’s really always had a very fundamentally sound swing, as far back as I can remember him being able to walk,” said Holliday, who had a 1.012 OPS in 2007, by phone this past week. “I remember my dad hung a whiffle ball on a string up on our porch, tying it to the roof. And even at 2 years old, he’s out there hitting it as it would swing back and forth — hitting this moving target at 2 years old, no problem.”

Jackson Holliday is now 18. He just completed high school in Stillwater, Oklahoma. And he’s the possible No. 1 pick in the 2022 Major League Baseball draft. On one hand, it’s extraordinary — out of the tens of thousands of ballplayers in his age group (and of all draft-eligible college players), Jackson didn’t just become one of the better ones, but the possibly pick No. 1.
On the other hand, it all checks out.
“I just remember watching him as a young kid — and we have pictures of him — in really good positions to hit,” said Matt, who had an OPS of .874 in eight seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. “He’s always had a pretty naturally gifted swing. And just always wanted to be at the field and around the guys: ‘Pitch to me. Play catch with me. Hit me grounders.’”
 
#639      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
The Cardinals are down to two left-handed relievers after late-inning southpaw Genesis Cabrera went on the Cardinals’ injured list (presumed to be COVID) Saturday. Manager Oliver Marmol wouldn’t provide any more details on Cabrera’s injured status. But ...
Veteran left-hander T.J. McFarland still is on the COVID injured list, with only rookies Zack Thompson and just recalled Packy Naughton available as left-handed relievers.
Cabrera’s loss, for however long, could be a significant one because Marmol has relied heavily on his three-cornered late-game combination of Cabrera and right-handers Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos.
“You can use him in a lot of different ways,” said Marmol of Cabrera.

“The versatility he gives you in one-inning stints, two or three-inning stints, he’s just super valuable. Losing him certainly doesn’t help but ... next man up.”
That would be Thompson, Marmol said. “I’d love to see him embrace that responsibility and see how he does,” said Marmol.
“It will be a good test.”
Cabrera is 3-1 with one save and a 2.27 earned run average. Opponents are hitting only .184 against him. Opposing batters are hitting just .189 against Thompson, who has a win and a save in five appearances.
 
#642      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
Once Jack Flaherty, who had looked out of synch for the most part in his first two starts that both were abbreviated, had to come out of his third one after two innings Sunday because of either right shoulder tightness or a “dead” arm, as he told the Cardinals’ staff, the game landed in the hands of an erratic group of middle relievers and Memphis call-ups.
Flaherty was gone after 49 pitches, a few of them unnecessary because of a throwing error he made in the second inning while trying to catch a runner off second base. (Manager Oliver Marmol thought Flaherty was athletic enough to make that play rather than taking the out at first.)

With co-closers Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley having been employed for 32 and 36 pitches, respectively, by Marmol on Saturday, neither was available on Sunday, and left-hander Genesis Cabrera is on the injured list but not injured.
“It’s not ideal,” Marmol said. “Getting two (innings) out of your starter wasn’t ideal, but we tried to patch it together as best as possible.”
It shouldn’t really have mattered once Brendan Donovan, Paul Goldschmidt and Juan Yepez all homered off the Cubs’ Alec Mills in the third inning. The Cardinals hadn’t hit three homers in an inning since July 21 of last year in Chicago. The score at this point Sunday was 5-0.
 
#643      
*sigh*
St Louis is a mediocre team that beats other teams that are mediocre too.
*SIGH*
 
#647      
And Bader to the IL as well. I wish we would have brought up Alec Burleson. I am happy for Capel but Burleson would have actually helped the team.
Can someone explain to me what Burleson needs to do to get called up?

I'm assuming Capel was brought up because he can player CF whereas Burleson is more a corner OF. But with Noot and Carlson both able to olay CF, I really wish they'd brought up Burleson whose OPS at AAA is .967, with a .389 OBP and 15 bombs. No knock on Capel though, who has also been very good.
 
#648      
Can someone explain to me what Burleson needs to do to get called up?

I'm assuming Capel was brought up because he can player CF whereas Burleson is more a corner OF. But with Noot and Carlson both able to olay CF, I really wish they'd brought up Burleson whose OPS at AAA is .967, with a .389 OBP and 15 bombs. No knock on Capel though, who has also been very good.
Is olay similar to ole? I don't want a guy waving at the ball as it goes past him.
matador torero GIF by jsot

I shouldn't say too much. I type the wrong letters all the time.
(I corrected my spelling 3 times in this post.)
 
#649      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
Into the breach of injured Cardinals starters and tired relievers Monday night marched Adam Wainwright, two months short of 41 years old. The 17-season veteran knew he was going to be on the Busch Stadium mound for six or seven innings, for 100 or so pitches, no matter the score.
As long as he was going to be out there that long, Wainwright surely must have determined that there was no reason for the Miami Marlins to score.
Wainwright scattered seven hits over the first five innings. He also struck out seven in that time. Then he put the hammer down, retiring the final seven men he faced. By the time his night’s work was done after seven innings, Wainwright had a seven-run lead — and nine strikeouts.

When the Cardinals' 9-0 victory was complete, Wainwright, who threw 101 pitches, finally had career win No. 190 after five futile stabs at it. Charleston, Missouri, native James Naile made his big-league debut at age 29 and worked a scoreless eighth, finishing it off with a double-play grounder to vacuum cleaner third baseman Nolan Arenado.
 
#650      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Ben Frederickson
Maybe John Mozeliak and starter Jack Flaherty should start holding joint news conferences for the right-hander’s injury updates moving forward.
Or with the way this trend is going, perhaps lean into the drama and turn this saga into a must-see Bally Sports Midwest special, one complete with a debate-style setup.
Mozeliak could start the segment by offering the latest Flaherty health update from his vantage point.
Flaherty would then get two minutes for a rebuttal.
Eventually both could come to an agreement that it’s best to blame the media — even if those who know better don’t buy it.

What should have been a simple enough update of a serious subject — Flaherty’s latest injured-list stint — on Monday afternoon instead became the freshest example of Flaherty and the head of baseball operations reading from different pages.
It had been barely more than three months since the two butted heads over the characterization of the injury that put Flaherty on the injured list in the first place.