St. Louis Cardinals 2022

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Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Tough game to watch. No Goldy, Arenado at DH, and a bunch of guys in the Cards lineup with sub .250 batting averages, getting beat by a Reds lineup with even more sub .250 averages.
That throw by Noot though....
 
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hes-a-weird-man-swiffer.gif
Truth Tru GIF
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
Concern? No.
Frustration? Yes.
Those were Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol’s takeaways from the five-game series with Cincinnati in which the Cardinals were fortunate to have won three. Sunday’s two-hit loss to the Reds was not among them as the Cardinals were blanked for the 14th time, 3-0, to go with the 16 shutouts they have thrown this season.
In four of the five games, the Cardinals had one run in the first eight innings, one in the first five, none in the first 10 innings and no runs in nine innings Sunday.
The Cardinals, who struck out 17 times in a 1-0 win in 11 innings on Saturday night, struck out just twice on Sunday. That matched their hit total, one of which was Paul DeJong’s single off the glove of Cincinnati shortstop Jose Barrero. The other was a bloop to right by Yadier Molina.

Marmol, surveying the recent past as he sat in his office early Sunday evening, said, “(Lars) Nootbaar was super hot. (Corey) Dickerson was super hot. ‘Goldy’ (Paul Goldschmidt and (Nolan) Arenado were super hot all at the same time. And they were producing a lot of runs. And now you have a hole with those four guys.
“So do I think all four of those guys will be fine? Yeah. So that’s why it’s less of a concern.”
Dickerson, who not long ago had 10 consecutive hits, is 3 for his past 19. Nootbaar is 3 for 38. Goldschmidt is 8 for 34 without a homer in 11 games.
“We’re not machines,” said Dickerson, politely. “We’re human. It’s just one of those things. A trend? What do you mean?
“Do you think it’s a trend that Goldschmidt hasn’t had a great week? That’s just baseball.”
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
On Oct. 22, Yadier Molina, already a pro basketball team owner in Puerto Rico, will begin his professional managing career in Venezuela. Or maybe not.
Molina would prefer to be catching in the National League Championship Series at that point, and if so, former big-league catcher Ramon Hernandez will take over the Magallanes club.
But ultimately, Molina will be doing something he had little inclination to do several years ago. It was thought then that it would be a problem for Molina to have to deal with media before and after games. But at the time, Molina playfully had jabbed a reporter in the chest and said, “No, that would be a problem for YOU.’’
But Molina has adjusted his stance on managing now as his estimable career soon comes to an end.

“Do you have a problem with that?” he asked pleasantly.
He said he was going to try it “because I really want it.”
Not only will he manage in winter ball, but he appears to be on the short list to manage the Puerto Rican team for which he has played in four World Baseball Classics at the next tournament, which will be held in Miami next March. Puerto Rico finished second to the United States in the 2017 tournament.
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Daniel Guerrero

Nearly a month passed between homer runs No. 33 and 34 for Class AAA Memphis outfielder Moises Gomez.
But the 24-year-old didn’t waste much time between hitting his 35th and 36th of the season.
On Sunday, Gomez connected on a two-run homer that sailed well past the left-field wall for his 35th of the year in the sixth inning of Memphis’ 8-4 road win against Iowa. Then, after with the Redbirds looking for some insurance run in the ninth, Gomez took right-hander Cayne Ueckert to right-center field for his second of the day and his 36th of the year.
The second of Gomez’s two homers positioned the breakout prospect back atop the minor-league lead and put him a swing closer to franchise history.

After Sunday, Gomez sits one home run behind outfielders Felix DeLeon (1962) and Tyrone Horne (1998) for the single-season home run record for a Cardinals minor-leaguer.
 
#1,656      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Rick Hummel
The Cardinals took the weekend series from the Cincinnati Reds three games to two but they were fortunate to achieve that result considering the slow-to-warm offense they trotted out for most of the four days at Busch Stadium.
In four of the five games, the Cardinals had one run in the first eight innings, one in the first five, none in the first 10 innings and no runs in nine innings Sunday as they fell to the Reds 3-0.
The Cardinals, who struck out 17 times in a 1-0 win in 11 innings on Saturday night, struck out just twice on Sunday but also had just two hits.
After the Cardinals had won all of newcomer Jordan Montgomery’s first seven starts—he allowed just seven runs—they have lost his past two. Montgomery, who struck out a season-high nine in 5 1/3 innings, made only one mistake, a sinker to Stuart Fairchild in the sixth.

Fairchild’s two-run homer extended a 1-0 lead to 3-0.
On Albert Pujols Bobblehead Day, the 26th sellout crowd, 47,909, attended. Pujols, who played first base, went nothing for four to remain at 698 homers with just three of the Cardinals' final 14 games to be played at Busch.
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Daniel Guerrero


The Cardinals on Monday optioned rookie second baseman Nolan Gorman to Class AAA Memphis and recalled rookie first baseman and outfielder Juan Yepez, according to the roster transactions page on the team's website.
Gorman, 22, has played in 89 big-league games since making his debut on May 20, but has faced recent struggles at the plate. The 22-year-old batted .114 and struck out 17 times over his last 35 at-bats in the majors.
As a big-leaguer, Gorman, who has played 68 games at second base, is batting .226 with 14 home runs and a .720 OPS. Prior to his first call-up to majors in May, the former first-round pick batted .308 and posted a 1.044 OPS to begin the season with Memphis.


Yepez will be added to Cardinals’ active big-league roster for the first time since Aug. 26. He rejoins the Cardinals as they embark on an eight-game, three-city road trip against potential playoff foes in the Dodgers, Padres and Brewers.
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold


SAN DIEGO — The Cardinals’ team that returns to St. Louis from the last lengthy trip of the season will be different than the one that left Monday for San Diego.
It could sport the newest member of the 700-homer club or tote the drained champagne bottles of a second division title since 2015, or both. When these Cardinals return to Busch Stadium in 11 days they’ll have faced three winning teams, crisscrossed three time zones and explored what to do with three outfield positions in flux and try to determine who are the best three lefties in the bullpen.
But there’s more to the trip than regular-season polish.
There’s the chance to leave a postseason impression.

“Win or lose, you want to play those games hard enough to where when the Dodgers see that we won and that’s who they’re going to play they go, ‘Aw (dung), you know, Cardinals won, like, we want to play the other team,’” said starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. “Wherever the Padres finish, if they see they’ve got to play us, you want them to think, ‘Aw (walnuts), got to play the Cardinals.’ That extra little bit of doubt or uneasiness that we can instill coming into a series is great.
“So, we’ve got to go there and play hard,” Mikolas concluded. “We’ve got to try to stick it to them.”
 
#1,660      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL

Derrick Goold


SAN DIEGO — The Cardinals’ team that returns to St. Louis from the last lengthy trip of the season will be different than the one that left Monday for San Diego.
It could sport the newest member of the 700-homer club or tote the drained champagne bottles of a second division title since 2015, or both. When these Cardinals return to Busch Stadium in 11 days they’ll have faced three winning teams, crisscrossed three time zones and explored what to do with three outfield positions in flux and try to determine who are the best three lefties in the bullpen.
But there’s more to the trip than regular-season polish.
There’s the chance to leave a postseason impression.

“Win or lose, you want to play those games hard enough to where when the Dodgers see that we won and that’s who they’re going to play they go, ‘Aw (dung), you know, Cardinals won, like, we want to play the other team,’” said starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. “Wherever the Padres finish, if they see they’ve got to play us, you want them to think, ‘Aw (walnuts), got to play the Cardinals.’ That extra little bit of doubt or uneasiness that we can instill coming into a series is great.
“So, we’ve got to go there and play hard,” Mikolas concluded. “We’ve got to try to stick it to them.”
I love the edits. I may have to incorporate "walnuts" into my day to day vocab.
 
#1,662      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Someone has to go. It's hard to make a case to keep a rook hitting .226 who was--at best--a serviceable backup 2b. Having said that, I know nothing about Yepez.
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Someone has to go. It's hard to make a case to keep a rook hitting .226 who was--at best--a serviceable backup 2b. Having said that, I know nothing about Yepez.
He had a lot of playing time before the forearm injury on a throw from right field........Defense not a good as Nootbaar's and being a right handed batter he will be limited at the DH until Albert get's his 700 hundred homers threshhold,,,,,,

Gorman has to adjust to MLB pitchers as he is prone to the high fastball up and in and pitches down and away.............His time will come , but the Cardinals offense is anemic right now and Yepez already has 11 homers in the big leagues...................
 
#1,664      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
He had a lot of playing time before the forearm injury on a throw from right field........Defense not a good as Nootbaar's and being a right handed batter he will be limited at the DH until Albert get's his 700 hundred homers threshhold,,,,,,

Gorman has to adjust to MLB pitchers as he is prone to the high fastball up and in and pitches down and away.............His time will come , but the Cardinals offense is anemic right now and Yepez already has 11 homers in the big leagues...................
My jaw is still agape at Noot's DP on Sunday. The kid threw an absolute strike from Center to Yadi for the tag out on Reynolds in the 9th.
 
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If Nootbaar could hit safely on a regular basis and be the everyday right fielder he would be in the running for a Gold Glove ......... JMHO.............
Yeah, Noot is a plus defender, with the potential to be very good for a long time in right. Yepez's value is exclusively in the bat. He has 30+ HR a year upside and in the long run is probably more likely to be a 1B/DH. I don't think he ends up sticking as a corner outfielder, where he's a liability in the field. I think Yepez gets a lot of time at DH next season after Pujols retires.
 
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I'll be the negative guy and say I expect the Cards to win 2 games on this road trip. Albert hits 1 home run.
 
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Weird. I'm pretty sure we were saying the same thing about Jose Martinez a few years back.
"Upside" certainly does not connote any kind of guarantee. But he does have the power. He's hit 11 HR in 229 plate appearances as a rookie. Of course other factors may limit him. Very few prospects reach their full potential. Doesn't mean the potential was never there.

Also Jose Martinez is not a good comp. Martinez debuted as a 27 year old rookie, as a late season call up. Was 28 his first full season. He was pretty much already fully cooked by the time he appeared in the league. Yepez is 24. He has 3-4 years of development before he gets to the age of Martinez's prime years. Which were pretty good! OPS+ of 134 and 124 his first two full seasons!
 
#1,670      
"Upside" certainly does not connote any kind of guarantee. But he does have the power. He's hit 11 HR in 229 plate appearances as a rookie. Of course other factors may limit him. Very few prospects reach their full potential. Doesn't mean the potential was never there.

Also Jose Martinez is not a good comp. Martinez debuted as a 27 year old rookie, as a late season call up. Was 28 his first full season. He was pretty much already fully cooked by the time he appeared in the league. Yepez is 24. He has 3-4 years of development before he gets to the age of Martinez's prime years. Which were pretty good! OPS+ of 134 and 124 his first two full seasons!

I know Martinez isn't a good comp. I was more focusing on the 1B/DH and a defensive liability portion of your previous comment.
 
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I know Martinez isn't a good comp. I was more focusing on the 1B/DH and a defensive liability portion of your previous comment.
Ah gotcha. Yeah, Martinez did end up playing way more OF than he should have. Career -20 outs above average (OAA) and -25 defensive runs saved DRS)as an outfielder. Ouch. Though his career -8 OAA as a 1B wasn't exactly gold glovr worthy either.

Yepez is worth -7 OAA and -4 DRS in OF this season.
 
#1,672      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Jeff Gordon
Yankees fans can quit complaining about the Harrison Bader trade now.
The former Cardinals outfielder finally got on the field for his hometown team after recovering from his months-long battle with plantar fasciitis.
He looked great in pinstripes. Bader went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored as the Yankees rallied for a dramatic 9-8 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Giancarlo Stanton’s walk-off grand slam.
“My first debut as a Cardinal in 2017 was a walk-off, and my Yankee debut was another walk-off,” he told the New York media. “So, it’s just really special just to be part of big wins, Just a special night for all of us. It’s a big win.”

Bader made the immediate impact he was hoping for.
“That was the goal,” he said. “Everything that came prior to being able to debut is in the past and I just wanted to be — whether it was a catch or a stolen bag or whatever — I was just really wanting and ready to be effective for this team to help them win the game.

TALKIN’ BASEBALL
Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:
Kirby McDaniel, ESPN.com: “(Masyn) Winn was a buzzy, exciting prospect in the 2020 draft, going 54th overall out of a Texas high school. He flashed 60-to-70 grade tools for speed, defense, arm strength, bat speed and power potential, along with fastball and curveball. He barely pitches anymore but could be a legitimate late-inning weapon if he tried to go down that path. As a hitter, he was still a little raw but certainly had the upside to be an above average hitter, grading as a 45 FV entering the year. This season as a 20-year-old, he torched High-A and spent most of the season in Double-A, where he was just above league average with the bat, landing 21st on my midseason list. That may not sound exciting, but while his prospect peers will largely be playing in college most of next season, Winn may be in the big leagues playing every day for a contender -- and standing next to the potential 2022 NL MVP, at that.”
 
#1,673      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

Derrick Goold
SAN DIEGO — Whether it was the finish on his curveball or that late, sharp, serrated bite on any of his fastballs, Adam Wainwright found it all lacking Tuesday night and pronounced later that, no, his arm has not been completely reanimated from its “dead” phase.
“Oh, no. I’m in the battle,” the veteran said. “I’m in the battle. My arm – just no explosiveness to it.”
The Cardinals’ offense can empathize.
As the postseason appears out there on the horizon through the haze of their current performance, the Cardinals have their lead starter groping for the life on his pitches and a lineup that cannot find a pulse. Wainwright got closer to winning his “battle” with a strong sixth inning to cap a start that even flawless would not have been enough to hide the absent offense. The Cardinals were shut out for the second consecutive game and have gone 34 innings without producing an earned run.

For the fourth time in a week, the Cardinals were scrambling to produce a hit in the first half of game before losing, 5-0, to San Diego late Tuesday at Petco Park.
“We’re just not putting together quality at-bats,” said Oliver Marmol, whose first-place team had its magic number dip to six due to Milwaukee’s loss. “We’ve gotten to this position where we’ve built a cushion because we’ve slugged our way there. Our offense has done a really nice job to do that. And now we’re going through a point where we’re going to have to battle through it. Is it ideal? No. Will we come out of it? Yes.”
The last RBI the Cardinals had came on Yadier Molina’s home run in the third inning of Saturday’s afternoon game. That evening, the Cardinals scored the only run of the game in the 11th inning on a Cincinnati error. Since? Eighteen consecutive shutout innings and a grand total of 13 baserunners in 65 at-bats.

One extra-base hit.
 
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pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Cardinals up to 37 straight innings WITHOUT scoring an earned run.................37 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

padres lead 1-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd..........Is it to tall of a mountain for the Cardinals to climb........??????.........................Time will tell...........