St Louis Cardinals 2026

#976      
MikeTisdale
ptgrd23 said:
Noot is on 1 year $5M contract so its not bad.

However this team even if it makes the playoff is not going anywhere due to lack of pitching. If Noot is playing like a 4.0 WAR outfielder teams will be happy to send decent prospect to get immediate help. Holding on to Noot just to have him revert to his 5 year average or worse get injured again is not part of rebuild plan. We have major holes at catcher, 3rd base LF and RF plus weak pitching staff.

Trade Dustin, Jo Jo. Riley and Noot at deadline or earlier.
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This year, Cardinals are 6th in fWAR for RF (top 5th of the league), and 19th for LF - but that's mainly because Noot was hurt for the start of the season, they're 7th in LF fWAR since he came back. Those are not holes, those are strengths of the team.

Catcher is not a weakness this year or next if Herrara can catch half the time. Crooks crushed the ball in AAA this year, he's a top 100 prospect for a reason and needs a runway in the MLB. Oh and Rainiel Rodriguez is going to be a top 10 prospect after this season.

You got 3rd base and pitching staff right. That's where resources need invested for 2027, not the other spots.
 
#977      
wpr
the juiceman cometh said:
Yes, because Church plays center.

But who backs up Church at center if Noot and VSIII are not available because they've been traded for pitching depth? Velasquez certainly won't. He's a corner OF if you need him to be, but if we're being honest his natural position is DH. And Torres has played exactly 1 inning as CF in his entire career.

So we trade Noot and VSIII and then Church gets injured, winds up on DL, what do we do? What if this happens next season and our team is performing well, is in the middle of a playoff push? What's the plan? We could put Fermin in there, I guess, swith his robust 39 career innings at CF, but is that an upgrade from using Noot in that spot, either offensively or defensively? No, it's not!
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Don't worry about 27. It will take care of itself. The owners will lock out the players for most of the season.
 
#978      
ptgrd23
MikeTisdale said:
This year, Cardinals are 6th in fWAR for RF (top 5th of the league), and 19th for LF - but that's mainly because Noot was hurt for the start of the season, they're 7th in LF fWAR since he came back. Those are not holes, those are strengths of the team.

Catcher is not a weakness this year or next if Herrara can catch half the time. Crooks crushed the ball in AAA this year, he's a top 100 prospect for a reason and needs a runway in the MLB. Oh and Rainiel Rodriguez is going to be a top 10 prospect after this season.

You got 3rd base and pitching staff right. That's where resources need invested for 2027, not the other spots.
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My bad - we need a LF. JMO - we need to upgrade. Nate hopefully improve year 2. Noot is who he is. I miss 2004 Edmunds Walker Lankford Sanders 2011 Holiday Berkman Jay Craig, Outfield used to be a real strength. What if Craig does not ruin his foot slipping on 3rd base in the WS. What if Coleman does not get run over by the tarp. Dont get me started on the Oscar Taveras.

Herrera has played 36 games at catcher 59 at DH. He is no Yady, Ted S, Daryl P, Mike M. or Tony P. He is a DH first. Implosion of pitching staff when Yady retired was clear signal how important a position catcher is. Herrera is our next Todd Z, Wilson C
 
#979      
pruman91
the juiceman cometh said:
Sooooo.....quick question about this: when Church needs a day off, or if he gets injured, who is playing center field?
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Fermin..........he's already started there this season and played OK ..............
 
#987      
pruman91
Nootbaar's 1st AB tonight is why I'm not fond of his play....you need to cover the plate and swing at a ball that close....thankfully Winn got the 2 run single to give us the lead....
 
#988      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Nootbaar's 1st AB tonight is why I'm not fond of his play....you need to cover the plate and swing at a ball that close....thankfully Winn got the 2 run single to give us the lead....
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Eh, Noot usually has pretty good plate discipline so I'll defer to him on that one.
 
#989      
pruman91
Crooks defense is very underwhelming ...
 
#992      
BillyBob1
Glad they didn’t challenge strike 3!

McGreevy with a solid start. Deserved the win.

Speaking of Winn, couple of great defensive plays and 3 rbi!
 
#993      
pruman91
{ 51-45 }

THAT'S A WINNER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..............

Cardinals start out post All Star break with a 5-4 victory over the Serpients......

Masyn Winn was the star of the game with 3 RBI's and 2 big web gems.....midnight and time for ole pru to retire for the night ......zzzzzzzzzz....
 
#994      
Brosky
We can't expect the team to thrive as long as Marmol has to play this game of mixing and matching AAA players. As far as I can see we're okay in RF, 1B, 2B, SS, and catcher. That's it. Pitching staff has been better than I expected, although for sure not great. We've got to find some real pop at 3B and LF.
 
#995      
gibb52
Brosky said:
We can't expect the team to thrive as long as Marmol has to play this game of mixing and matching AAA players. As far as I can see we're okay in RF, 1B, 2B, SS, and catcher. That's it. Pitching staff has been better than I expected, although for sure not great. We've got to find some real pop at 3B and LF.
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If we had a LF and 3B who could actually hit we could live with good field no hit types at C and CF. Baez is working his way up and may help solve the OF issues but by the time he gets here and figures it out Walker might be gone. I'm not aware of anyone in the system now that projects as a plus 3B. So there is work to do for sure.
 
#996      
Ryllini
Brosky said:
We can't expect the team to thrive as long as Marmol has to play this game of mixing and matching AAA players. As far as I can see we're okay in RF, 1B, 2B, SS, and catcher. That's it. Pitching staff has been better than I expected, although for sure not great. We've got to find some real pop at 3B and LF.
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Brick by brick. This is a 78-81 win team imo, there just happens to be a lot of parity with really only 1 team head and shoulders above. They will get there, but it can’t be fixed this season. I enjoy watching this group play, you can see a core start to develop an identity with the positional players. I can’t wait to see who the dogs become on the pitching staff.
 
#997      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
gibb52 said:
If we had a LF and 3B who could actually hit we could live with good field no hit types at C and CF. Baez is working his way up and may help solve the OF issues but by the time he gets here and figures it out Walker might be gone. I'm not aware of anyone in the system now that projects as a plus 3B. So there is work to do for sure.
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I'd take a look at Baez's strikeout rate. Until those improve quite a bit, I wouldn't want to bring him up, even with all the power he has shown.
 
#998      
BillyBob1
Pages continues to show incompetence. 2 AB, 2 strikeouts looking. 3 of May’s walks, he could have challenged a pitch, one would have been a strikeout. There was a wild pitch, but he made no effort to move his body and block the ball.
 
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#999      
pruman91
Church's hitting is blasphlemus....(sp)..........
 
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