***Official 2015 STL Cardinals Thread***

[BigRedChief]

2011 World Series Championship
2012 NLCS. One win from another WS appearance.
2013 World Series. Two wins from another World Series Championship
2014 NLCS. Three wins from another WS appearance

• Made the postseason 10 times in the last 14 seasons.
• Only 1 losing season since 2000.
• Reached the World Series 4 times since 2004 and won as many championships (two) the past eight seasons as it did from 1965 to 2005.
• Made the NLCS 9 times including the last 4 years 2011-2014
• Three million attendance? Take it to the bank.
• 65 post season wins since 2004. 22+ wins more than any other team.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by kcpasco

A ball that bounces foul before the bag and after the bag but ends up fair. Must be a magic ball.

I could tell you how that's not physically possible. Prove it actually. The only way that's possible is with the ball spinning and hitting the ground to change the trajectory. But it would have changed ****ING trajectory and kept fair.

[George Liquor]

God, this team is reeruned.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Piscotty has never played 1B in his life, correct? but they put him at 1B?

He played 3b. And despite Hamas's assertions, 1b is pretty much sleepwalking for anyone that's played IF with regularity.

Again - let's not oversell the difficulty of playing 1b here. I'll listen to arguments to the contrary but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that anybody that could play 3b can't also play 1b. There are two difficult little hangups that I can recall from my few games at 1b - A) don't forget to stretch off your 'throwing' foot. If you're a righty, you anchor your right foot to the bag when you're reaching for a throw to give yourself another 6 inches or so. B) don't commit to the throw too early; it makes it very difficult if the throw is cutting/tailing to get your weight re-centered and move laterally to where the ball is headed.

It would take a week of taking grounders/throws before the game to make that shit second nature. The short hops on throws are going to be something he's already practiced at 3b just playing defense. At the hot corner he needed to be able to read and snag that ball so the scoops will be pretty straightforward for him.

And again, even if you're a butcher over there, I'll go back to the fact that the worst 1b in baseball over the last decade cost his team 10 DRS/season. That's 1 win/yr and I'm positive that Piscotty would be a better defensive 1b than Prince Fielder.

[kcpasco]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Ummm. The ball kicked up chalk before crossing the bag.

Nope

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Ummm. The ball kicked up chalk before crossing the bag.

Just re winded to the play and I saw no chalk kick up.

If they would have called that foul. You wouldn't have thought anything about the call, correct?

[jd1020]

Homers are blind as ****. The second bounce just before the bag clearly kicks up chalk.

And no, I wouldn't have said anything if it was called foul because it was riding the line. It was the umps call that it went over the bag and when it kicks up chalk before the bag and lands inches foul after the bag that's not an unreasonable assumption.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Just re winded to the play and I saw no chalk kick up.

If they would have called that foul. You wouldn't have thought anything about the call, correct?

It definitely hit the line. Back up and look at the 'rope' holding the protective netting up just as the ball is crossing over the bag. Now follow that rope to where it intersects with the foul line - you can clearly see where the ball actually wiped out the chalk on the line.

The second bounce was on the line. As the first bounce was a full 3 or 4 inches foul, it confirms that it was at least moving fair right before it crossed the bag.

I really don't think we have beef here. The second bounce was unquestionably in fair territory and had the first bounce been 'more' fair, I'd have said it was on a direct path foul and likely went over the bag foul.. However, since the first bounce was foul and the second bounce was fair, I think there's a better than 50/50 chance that it was a fair ball.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He played 3b. And despite Hamas's assertions, 1b is pretty much sleepwalking for anyone that's played IF with regularity.

Again - let's not oversell the difficulty of playing 1b here. I'll listen to arguments to the contrary but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that anybody that could play 3b can't also play 1b. There are two difficult little hangups that I can recall from my few games at 1b - A) don't forget to stretch off your 'throwing' foot. If you're a righty, you anchor your right foot to the bag when you're reaching for a throw to give yourself another 6 inches or so. B) don't commit to the throw too early; it makes it very difficult if the throw is cutting/tailing to get your weight re-centered and move laterally to where the ball is headed.

It would take a week of taking grounders/throws before the game to make that shit second nature. The short hops on throws are going to be something he's already practiced at 3b just playing defense. At the hot corner he needed to be able to read and snag that ball so the scoops will be pretty straightforward for him.

And again, even if you're a butcher over there, I'll go back to the fact that the worst 1b in baseball over the last decade cost his team 10 DRS/season. That's 1 win/yr and I'm positive that Piscotty would be a better defensive 1b than Prince Fielder.

He got moved off third because he had stone ****ing hands. While 1B generally don't need the lateral agility of Andrelton Simmons, an ability to pick balls out of the dirty and receive them softly is an absolute must.

FWIW, Adam Dunn once put up -23 DRS in 540 innings. Sixty games.

There is also no evidence that Stephen Piscotty is going to be a better offensive player in 2015 than Xavier Scruggs. He wasn't better than him in 2013 at AA, in 2014 at AAA or this year at AAA.

This is just abject stupidity right up there with "Make Wainwright the closer" from 2008.

[O.city]

It's gotta be pretty ****ing taxing on the pitching staff that they pretty much can't give up more than 3 runs or we're losing.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He played 3b. And despite Hamas's assertions, 1b is pretty much sleepwalking for anyone that's played IF with regularity.

Again - let's not oversell the difficulty of playing 1b here. I'll listen to arguments to the contrary but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that anybody that could play 3b can't also play 1b. There are two difficult little hangups that I can recall from my few games at 1b - A) don't forget to stretch off your 'throwing' foot. If you're a righty, you anchor your right foot to the bag when you're reaching for a throw to give yourself another 6 inches or so. B) don't commit to the throw too early; it makes it very difficult if the throw is cutting/tailing to get your weight re-centered and move laterally to where the ball is headed.

It would take a week of taking grounders/throws before the game to make that shit second nature. The short hops on throws are going to be something he's already practiced at 3b just playing defense. At the hot corner he needed to be able to read and snag that ball so the scoops will be pretty straightforward for him.

And again, even if you're a butcher over there, I'll go back to the fact that the worst 1b in baseball over the last decade cost his team 10 DRS/season. That's 1 win/yr and I'm positive that Piscotty would be a better defensive 1b than Prince Fielder.

1B is not that hard for anybody to learn, honestly. Any competent major league player should be able to play it at a decent level with some basic practice.

[O.city]

Feels like one of those just drudging stretches. Like just hope you can stay .500 on these trips/sets.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

wRC by year and level:

Scruggs:

2013 (AA): 145
2014 (AAA): 125
2015 (AAA): 127

Piscotty:

2013 (AA): 129
2014 (AAA): 100
2015 (AAA): 123

I'm sure Piscotty's growth curve will likely make him a better hitter than Scruggs in 2017, but since we can't fill Mr. Fusion with the refuse from a Wrigley trash can and take the DeLorean forward two years to nab that version of Piscotty for insertion into the lineup, what exactly is the offensive upside here?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

1B is not that hard for anybody to learn, honestly. Any competent major league player should be able to play it at a decent level with some basic practice.

Hey, are the White Sox gonna sell this deadline?

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by O.city

Hey, are the White Sox gonna sell this deadline?

Who do you want?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Who do you want?

Well, I'll take Laroche I guess.

I want their 28 year old first baseman for the long haul, but I'd be extremely shocked if he's availabe/