***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.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Well that would probably depend.

Theo seems content to build his staff via FA. Mostly because it's much faster and they appear ready to win pretty soon.

If Schwarber could somehow stay behind the plate AND McKinney continued on his present track, they could find room for all of those guys. Almora in CF, Soler in LF, McKinney in RF with Bryant - Russell - Castro/Baez - Rizzo on the IF and Schwarber at C.

Now again, that's banking on a lot of things breaking right for them, but that could still be Theo's plan. Ultimately, those guys seem to be about as good at finding bats as the Cardinals are at finding arms. Now if Schwarber can't stay behind the plate they may not want to force McKinney into CF so they'd move somebody. The time to get someone like Syndergaard for Baez has almost certainly passed so they may just ride him out.

I think Schwarber is going to be given every chance to play catcher. The Cubs and Schwarber have made no hints at moving to LF.

I also don't see Soler moving to LF with the players on the current roster.

I could envision a couple routes the Cubs could go.

C - Schwarber
1B - Rizzo
2B - Russell/Baez/LaStella
3B - Bryant/Baez
SS - Castro/Russell
LF - McKinney/Bryant/Not currently on roster
CF - Almora/McKinney
RF - Soler

I don't think McKinney provides improvement over Soler in RF.

I also don't think Baez's stock has dropped dramatically. It was definitely hurt by those 50 or so MLB games, but if he can show he can get back to hitting in AAA someone will take the risk, if not the Cubs and roll with him and trade Castro. If the Cubs were worried about losing that OBP, they could move Baez to 3rd, Bryant to LF, put Russell at SS, and LaStella at 2nd.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Javier Mehz

['Hamas' Jenkins]

If Bryant gives you passable D at third his bat is so good that putting him in a COF spot would diminish his value. Baez might just be Hispanic Uggla.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I think Schwarber is going to be given every chance to play catcher. The Cubs and Schwarber have made no hints at moving to LF.

I also don't see Soler moving to LF with the players on the current roster.

I could envision a couple routes the Cubs could go.

C - Schwarber
1B - Rizzo
2B - Russell/Baez/LaStella
3B - Bryant/Baez
SS - Castro/Russell
LF - McKinney/Bryant/Not currently on roster
CF - Almora/McKinney
RF - Soler

I don't think McKinney provides improvement over Soler in RF.

I also don't think Baez's stock has dropped dramatically. It was definitely hurt by those 50 or so MLB games, but if he can show he can get back to hitting in AAA someone will take the risk, if not the Cubs and roll with him and trade Castro. If the Cubs were worried about losing that OBP, they could move Baez to 3rd, Bryant to LF, put Russell at SS, and LaStella at 2nd.

You think McKinney is capable of playing CF but you don't think he'd provide improvement over Soler in RF?

Is this another one of those times you're going to claim that a bad defensive player is really just an average defensive player? Because Jorge Soler is a BAD defensive player. Hell, he's probably worse than Baez.

[BigRedChief]

WTF is all this Cubs line up talk?

DJ, Did you see anything different in Heywards swing the last couple of days?

[O.city]

Heyward hit alot of ground balls that found holes or atleast the ones I saw

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You think McKinney is capable of playing CF but you don't think he'd provide improvement over Soler in RF?

Is this another one of those times you're going to claim that a bad defensive player is really just an average defensive player? Because Jorge Soler is a BAD defensive player. Hell, he's probably worse than Baez.

No. This is one of those times where I say a guy projected to be a LF in the majors but who's seen time in CF as a pro is not going to move a guy with a much better arm than him from RF. Good enough for ya, sunshine?

[O.city]

Who cares about the guus arm in right when he can't get to balls in time to throw anyone out?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

WTF is all this Cubs line up talk?

DJ, Did you see anything different in Heywards swing the last couple of days?

I'm trying to remember the AB, but he was facing a lefty about a week or so ago and the lefty threw a pitch that he was trying to get to the outside corner with and Heyward extended his arms to get to the pitch out in front of the plate before it could break away from him. He ended up stroking a nice liner off it for a basehit.

He did that again for his last hit last night against a righty; he got the bathead out and caught further out in front against Grimm and was able to drive it.

I've not noticed if he's been doing it consistently, but it's obvious when he's taking a decent cut vs. when he's taking that constrained mess of a hack.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by O.city

Who cares about the guus arm in right when he can't get to balls in time to throw anyone out?

Do you understand what it means to be a projected LF? McKinney has an above average bat. The rest of him is considered below average.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

No. This is one of those times where I say a guy projected to be a LF in the majors but who's seen time in CF as a pro is not going to move a guy with a much better arm than him from RF. Good enough for ya, sunshine?

Originally Posted by O.city

Who cares about the guus arm in right when he can't get to balls in time to throw anyone out?

This.

Apart from the fact that he doesn't seem to know where the ball is actually going, Soler simply doesn't retrieve the ball well. He takes bad angles, he has awkward footwork. He's just an awful defensive RFer.

The arm isn't all there is to it. I'd go first to third on Soler all day because for 90% of baserunners, it's not the throw that freezes you on that play it's the charge and how the ball his picked up. If you're a guy that will attack the ball, pick it clean and come up hard, then you're going to have far better results than someone like Soler who is tentative as hell out there and who simply mishandles the ball more often than he doesn't.

Soler really does need to be moved to LF at some point. At least there his awkwardness won't be as pronounced. You won't be able to tag from 2nd to 3rd when he fails to get his feet under him on the catch. You won't go 1st to 3rd on him when he gets his steps all crossed up and has to crop-hop before throwing after picking up a simple single. The guy's just fundamentally unsound out there but that's unlikely to matter nearly as often in LF.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Do you understand what it means to be a projected LF? McKinney has an above average bat. The rest of him is considered below average.

Do you understand what it means to be truly awful? Because that's worse than below average and it's how Soler plays RF.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Do you understand what it means to be truly awful? Because that's worse than below average and it's how Soler plays RF.

I never said Soler doesn't need to be moved. I said McKinney isn't the guy to do it. Reading is fundamental.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I never said Solar doesn't need to be moved. I said McKinney isn't the guy to do it. Reading is fundamental.

You said he doesn't provide improvement over Soler.

He does. Substantially so. The only place he's weaker is his throwing arm but he'll cover more ground and probably make up for any velocity loss through accuracy and proper footwork/throwing mechanics.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You said he doesn't provide improvement over Soler.

He does. Substantially so. The only place he's weaker is his throwing arm but he'll cover more ground and probably make up for any velocity loss through accuracy and proper footwork/throwing mechanics.

I'll let you know in a few years where McKinney is playing, if he's even in the Cubs organization by then