St Louis Cardinals 2023

I've been wanting to start the new thread but I couldn't think of anything to say for the 2023.

So let's go with this:



Fangraphs has the roster and opening day roster at this time.

They have the breakdown for the minor league players by position. Along with a lot of other stats. I am sure many of you frequent the website already.
Here's to a great season.

Pitching. We need pitching. I'm hoping Jack can get back to being healthy.

There are a few different ways Jordan Walker could describe his time at the Arizona Fall League.
Words like “fun” and “joy” come to mind for the 20-year-old Cardinals prospect when he reflects on the time he and seven of his organization mates spent playing with and against some of the top prospects in baseball.


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I sure hope Walker seizes the starting left field position and has a great year ending up as NLROY..................................We need major help with outfield power production and TON can not be counted on for an injury free year anymore.....He might need to put on some fat cells to protect all the muscle cells he has ..

Still work to be done on the roster....What will the FO do between now and spring training ???????.............your guess is as good as mine.................JMHO

pruman91 said:

I sure hope Walker seizes the starting left field position and has a great year ending up as NLROY..................................We need major help with outfield power production and TON can not be counted on for an injury free year anymore.....He might need to put on some fat cells to protect all the muscle cells he has ..

Still work to be done on the roster....What will the FO do between now and spring training ???????.............your guess is as good as mine.................JMHO

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Front office is going to give TON every opportunity to keep the LF job. While players that are typically more strongly built do tend to have soft tissue injury issues, putting on fat is not going to be something that is going to correct those issues.

After saying they would increase payroll Cardinals are now the #16 payroll in the MLB per Spotrac. That puts us, just barely, in the bottom half of the league.

pruman91 said:

'More work to be done': Cardinals prospect Jordan Walker continuing to hone outfield skills

After a successful season at the plate during the regular season with Class AA Springfield and at the Arizona Fall League, Cardinals prospect Jordan Walker is focused on improving his

www.stltoday.com

There are a few different ways Jordan Walker could describe his time at the Arizona Fall League.
Words like “fun” and “joy” come to mind for the 20-year-old Cardinals prospect when he reflects on the time he and seven of his organization mates spent playing with and against some of the top prospects in baseball.


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I sure hope Walker seizes the starting left field position and has a great year ending up as NLROY..................................We need major help with outfield power production and TON can not be counted on for an injury free year anymore.....He might need to put on some fat cells to protect all the muscle cells he has ..

Still work to be done on the roster....What will the FO do between now and spring training ???????.............your guess is as good as mine.................JMHO

Click to expand...

I think it's worth some caution on Walker having the immediate impact we're all fantasizing about. I'm high on him and think he's the real deal, but the majors are an adjustment and even the best rookies don't typically have that kind of impact. If you ask me between Walker and TON, who is more likely to put up the kind of numbers TON did in 2021, it's TON hands down. He's just one season and some better luck removed from having actually done it. As long as TON is healthy he's valuable. Even last year's disappointing season he was a league average bat (ops+ and wrc+ were both 101 last season) and an excellent defender.

The good thing is we can have both. Walker can DH and fill in on both corner OF spots, TON can take some reps in CF, and both can get ABs.

Greg Amsinger of MLB Network out as an option for Danny Mac replacement. Amsinger was on Randy Karraker's show on 101 ESPN in St. Louis earlier this week and said that he had just signed a 4-year deal to stay put at MLB Network.

viking6888 said:

Dennis Eckersley's family 'devastated' after his daughter is accused of abandoning her newborn baby in woods

Alexandra Eckersley, who suffers from mental illness, faces criminal charges

www.cbssports.com

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Wow, what an incredibly sad story.

I agree, very sad.

the juiceman cometh said:

I think it's worth some caution on Walker having the immediate impact we're all fantasizing about. I'm high on him and think he's the real deal, but the majors are an adjustment and even the best rookies don't typically have that kind of impact. If you ask me between Walker and TON, who is more likely to put up the kind of numbers TON did in 2021, it's TON hands down. He's just one season and some better luck removed from having actually done it. As long as TON is healthy he's valuable. Even last year's disappointing season he was a league average bat (ops+ and wrc+ were both 101 last season) and an excellent defender.

The good thing is we can have both. Walker can DH and fill in on both corner OF spots, TON can take some reps in CF, and both can get ABs.

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I have said this before and I will say it again. The Cardinal ownership and management does an excellent job of selling the future to its fan base.

Some fin predictions by Blake Newberry at vivaelbirdos. https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2023/1/1/23533507/2023-cardinals-predictions

2023 Cardinals Predictions​

The Cardinals will make it past the wild card round
The Cardinals will trade for pitching at the deadline
Alec Burleson will have a better year than Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, and Jordan Walker
Miles Mikolas will lead the team in innings pitched and earn an extension
Jordan Walker will be in the playoff lineup but take fewer than 200 regular season MLB plate appearances
Freddy Pacheco will establish himself in the bullpen
Lars Nootbaar will be the best outfielder

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My comments:
Seems very likely
They almost always do
It's possible. Is it likely?...
Yes
I can see this happening
Hmm. Ok.
Perhaps. But then, I hope not. I hope TON bounces back. I hope Carlson gets things going, finally.

Again from viva's site. This time by stlcardsfan4 https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2023/1/2/23535241/cardinals-with-pivotal-2023-seasons

Paul DeJong Whether or not it ends up being on the Cardinals, his 2023 will be extremely important to how he’s viewed around the league. if Pete Kozma could play six seasons beyond the point where it was clear he (PDJ) wouldn’t have any real value to an MLB team.

Lars Nootbaar But there does seem to be an interesting divide among Cardinal fans in what Nootbaar is right now: a 4th outfielder or a clear starter. I’ve long since planted my flag on the starter side,

Brendan Donovan It’s difficult to imagine a under .100 ISO player being able to maintain his K/BB numbers just because pitchers aren’t going to be afraid to challenge him. It’s also unclear if he can maintain a .330 BABIP, because he doesn’t hit the ball hard. I’m not exactly worried about Donovan and he’ll get starts because he’s willing to play anywhere,

Dylan Carlson And in fact if he had flipped his 2021 and 2022 seasons, I think we’d be a lot more optimistic about Carlson.But it is the difference between him being part of the core or someone who might get traded for the next Bader, or Nootbaar when they arrive.

Juan Yepez His power is for real, but his approach is going to determine what kind of player he is. Because a poor outfield defender with a 6% BB rate and 22% K rate is not going to cut it. I’ll be curious to see what his approach looks like this upcoming season, because that - more than his defense, more than his actual hitting line - soured me on Yepez more than anything.

Nolan Gorman I’ll make this short, because this is entirely related to his defense. Can he stick at 2B or not?

Jack Flaherty The measure of his season can be summarized by what happens at the end of it: will he be offered the QO? If yes, he’s back in business and if no, that’ll make four disappointing seasons in a row.

Genesis Cabrera Cabrera collapsed at the end of last season, and in general stopped striking people out. He has one MLB option left, and if the Cardinals are forced to use that in 2023, he might not be a Cardinal in 2024.

Dakota Hudson/Andre Pallante Both pitchers will be fighting for a spot on the 2024 rotation, without a clear path to starting in 2023 without an injury. Hudson is a bad year away from being non-tendered, whereas Pallante could either be destined for the bullpen or cement a spot.

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Jan 2, 2023 11:04 AM
Happy New Year. Welcome to the first chat of 2023. I had a chance to vanish for a bit, but am back at the keyboard starting right now -- and I'm already running a few minutes behind. Got to get back up to speed on my typing!

The next chat will be the annual discussion of the Hall of Fame ballot. I'll reveal my ballot. Take your questions. Defend my choices. You know the drill.
This chat seems like a good chance just to catch up.
Enough prelude. Onward to the questions.

The new year and new minor-league season that follows later this spring will bring new opportunities for Cardinals prospects. On the pitching side, it will bring prospects opportunities to build off the developments they made during the 2022 season.
For some minor-league pitchers within the Cardinals’ farm system including Tink Hence and 2022 first-round pick Cooper Hjerpe, that’ll mean new workloads.

Cardinals Caravan happening next weekend.

One of the caravans will make stops in Champaign (iHotel and Conference Center, Noon, January 13), Peoria (Embassy Suites, 6:00 PM, January 13) and Bloomington (DoubleTree Hotel, 4:30 PM, January 14). Cardinals Spanish radio PBP man Polo Ascencio will emcee the event. He will be joined by current Cardinals Jake Woodford, Ivan Herrera, and Masyn Winn and Cardinals alumni Bernard Gilkey and Bo Hart.

The other caravan will make stops in Mattoon (Lake Land College Fieldhouse, Noon, January 15), Springfield (BOS Center, 6:00 PM, January 15), and Decatur (Decatur Hotel and Conference Center, Noon, January 16). Brad Thompson will emcee the event. He will be joined by current Cardinals Andrew Knizner, Alec Burleson, Jake Walsh & JoJo Romero and Cardinals alumni Al Hrabosky & John Costello.

For those who live outside the immediate central Illinois area, here's a link to the caravans and where in this part of the country they will be: https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/commu...DTMwWpeu+ChccDN70VGQ/8dMP&bt_ts=1673021763360

I'm sure I've said at least part of this before.
I took my Dad to the caravan stop in the Quad Cities. They had just moved the Single A team from Peoria. I don't think they let adults get signatures today but back then everyone who wanted an autograph got in line.
Bo Hart was one of the players that was signing autographs. When I got to him I was trying to think of something intelligent to say. I told him he really saved my fantasy team when he first came up. He chuckled and asked if I won the league. I told him that I had finished the money in 2nd place. He wanted to know if I planned on giving him his share of the winnings. Everyone around us laughed.
Dad won a Larry Walker bat. Before he passed away he told me since I was there with him that I should take the bat. A few years after Dad passed away one of my nephews came by Mom's house looking for the bat. He mistakenly took an old cracked Little League bat. When I found out about it I told him that old bat was worthless. It should have been thrown away years ago. I gave him the Walker bat much to my son's frustration. (My son is a serious Cardinals fan. My nephew is not as much of a baseball fan in general but if he has to proclaim a loyalty it would be to the Cardinals.) When I told my son that we share Grandpa's mementos he nodded. We have plenty of other Cardinals treasures that belonged to Dad.
The following year I wanted to take Dad back but he health had deteriorated. My wife came with me instead. Once again we were in line to get autographs. This time a young pitching prospect was at the table. And I yet again wanted to sound knowledgeable. I told Adam Wainwright that I looked forward to him making it to the big leagues next season. Before singing my paper he looked at me rather indignantly and asked me what was wrong with him making it to the majors THIS season? Conventional wisdom was saying that he needed one more year in the minors. He had not pitched a full year at AAA yet. I was so stunned that the so called experts don't really know what they are talking about. I swallowed hard and said, "Yes sir. You are absolutely right. I sure hope to see you pitching in St Louis THIS SEASON". He smirked and signed the paper. As we walked away from the table my wife leaned in and whispered that my comment was pretty stupid. I've never trusted the media experts since then.

IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:

Cardinals Caravan happening next weekend.

One of the caravans will make stops in Champaign (iHotel and Conference Center, Noon, January 13), Peoria (Embassy Suites, 6:00 PM, January 13) and Bloomington (DoubleTree Hotel, 4:30 PM, January 14). Cardinals Spanish radio PBP man Polo Ascencio will emcee the event. He will be joined by current Cardinals Jake Woodford, Ivan Herrera, and Masyn Winn and Cardinals alumni Bernard Gilkey and Bo Hart.

The other caravan will make stops in Mattoon (Lake Land College Fieldhouse, Noon, January 15), Springfield (BOS Center, 6:00 PM, January 15), and Decatur (Decatur Hotel and Conference Center, Noon, January 16). Brad Thompson will emcee the event. He will be joined by current Cardinals Andrew Knizner, Alec Burleson, Jake Walsh & JoJo Romero and Cardinals alumni Al Hrabosky & John Costello.

For those who live outside the immediate central Illinois area, here's a link to the caravans and where in this part of the country they will be: https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/community/caravan?partnerId=zh-20230106-796688-STL-1-A&qid=33&utm_id=zh-20230106-796688-STL-1-A&bt_ee=3bq1xccRfXHDbmzCvnOvdHIRNTzACYI1NkEricqDTMwWpeu+ChccDN70VGQ/8dMP&bt_ts=1673021763360

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I remember meeting MATT ADAMS, at the caravan, I belief it was in 2012 or 2013. He had a big bag of Doritos, and he told us " Don't rat me out, they got me on a diet, but I love these things" Approachable, friendly.....one of the nice guys.

DaChief4ever said:

I remember meeting MATT ADAMS, at the caravan, I belief it was in 2012 or 2013. He had a big bag of Doritos, and he told us " Don't rat me out, they got me on a diet, but I love these things" Approachable, friendly.....one of the nice guys.

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They didn’t call him big city for nothin.


Side note, who is this mystery player we are in conversations with? They are keeping it hush-hush so as not to let other teams counter. But I haven’t even heard a rumored name.

I remember Dan Lebatard ripping the Dodgers for letting a beer league softball player beat them. Poor Matt, lol.

Little slow on the front so for fun (not saying it happens, just dreading the Dodgers signing him in FA)


Cardinals could land Shohei Ohtani


Ohtani checks off every box the Cardinals need. It would all depend on a contract extension being in place. The Cardinals would be a prime trade candidate to land Ohtani if he would want to play for the Cardinals long term.

1. Money coming off the books

Wainwright is retiring after next season and that $17.5 million comes off the books. De Jong makes $9+ million this season. Either the Cardinals will trade him and pay majority of his salary this season which they will have to include a low end prospect or buy out after this season for $2 million to make him a FA. Mikolas is on last year of his deal being paid $17 million and Cardinals are looking to see if Flaherty can bounce back and stay healthy for a whole season. Paul Goldschmidt is 35 and will be 36 towards the end of next season with $26 million owed in 2023 and 2024. If Goldschmidt is performing past 2024 than he could be brought back on short term deals which the Cardinals don't mind giving. Cardinals have Arenado locked up for 5 more seasons but his deal goes down the farther it goes. He makes $35M in 2023 and 2024, $32M in 2025, $27M in 2026 and $15M in 2027. Cardinals have the money short term and long term to make this deal work.


2. Ohtani would fill 2 positions of need

Wainwright has been good but the Cardinals haven't had a clear cut #1 pitcher in years. Wainwright retires and Ohtani takes over. Top of the line talent pitching and hitting. Goldschmidt and Arenado are superb but adding Ohtani would give them a 1-2-3 punch in the lineup that is jawdropping.


3. Farm System

Cardinals have a stacked farm system and Angels are hurting. Angels are not able to build a winner around Ohtani/Trout for years or anytime soon. Cardinals would lose a ton of quality prospects but this is the one of the few players I would give up a brinks truck for. Angels farm system is lousy...they would be crazy to not trade Ohtani off. Angels could wait and trade him before the trade deadline(which seems more likely) or they could trade him before the season and get even more now.

Likelihood of trade might be slim but the Cardinals have all the resources to make it happen

First shortstop Carlos Correa was going to leave the Minnesota Twins to sign a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.
But concerns over Correa’s earlier ankle injury prompted the Giants to back out of the deal after setting up the news conference to announce it. Awkward!

That prompted billionaire fanboy Steve Cohen to swoop in with a 12-year, $315 million offer that threatened to push the New York Mets' 2023 payroll (and resulting competitive balance penalties) close to $500 million.
Alas, the Mets also balked when they looked at Correa’s medicals. It seems Carlos' bad ankle is held together with a metal plate.

Just sheer speculation here. I think other teams like the Mets will price the Cardinals out of any chance of landing Ohtani even with the extra cash.