I think we can win in 2019. Not win a playoff series against a good team win, but get into the playoffs.

How does not trading Norris effect 2019? He’s a FA in 2019.

Feels a lot like avoiding the optics of being 4 games back in the WC and trading the team’s closer.

Yeah, Glasnow is probably a reliever unless they can unlock his command. His fastball IS elite if he can spot it because of the amount of movement he gets in the mid-high 90s. It's damn near a true 80 pitch if he can spot the thing.

Meadows needs to embrace who he is. He appears to be trapped in the middle of being an Andrew Benintendi type (who he'd like to be) and a Manuel Margot sort of player who's production ends up BA dependent.

He has the ability to be something like Brett Gardner if he'd just focus on using all of his tools rather than try to become more powerful than his skillset says he can be. His biggest problem is that he doesn't have a real standout tool and doesn't seem to be aware of how to use a package of pretty good tools to become a solid ballplayer.

failure to take risks and just do the middling thing is how we got this “meh” brand of baseball in just a few short years.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Entering 2015, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlcards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlcards</a> had five outfield prospects that we ranked in the Top 15 for Baseball America&#39;s top 30.<br><br>3. Piscotty<br>4. Grichuk<br>9. Tilson<br>10. Sierra<br>15. Pham<br><br>All have been in the majors this season. All now traded by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cardinals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cardinals</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLB</a></p>&mdash; Derrick Goold (@dgoold) <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/1024349240850571265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Where are the wins coming from next year? You're looking at needing to add 10 wins to the team to get them into the playoffs.

Flaherty +
Mikolas -
Martinez +
Weaver =
Wacha =

Ozuna +
Bader +/=
O'Neill +
Fowler =

Gyorko =
Wong =
Carpenter -
Molina -
Munoz =
Martinez =

Where is the improvement coming from? Alex Reyes is more likely to spend the year on the DL than throw 60 innings, and there are no elite hitting prospects in the system. You'll get better performance from the pen, but not 10 wins' worth.

This is Carl Peterson bullshit. Bust free agent signings and a bunch of fan-overrated JAGs rounding out at aging core.

O’neill starting in CF tonight. Guess we are going to see if he’s ready for the big show now.

So the Cardinals almost made it through a trade deadline without making a deal with Cleveland. To avoid such shenanigans they shipped out Oscar Mercardo for...I dunno, I don't care.

I'm guessing Moe's just dealing for people that don't need to be on the 40 man at this point. Because of course he has to make trades like that...

I think we would finish 5-8 wins over .500 this year. So IMHO, we need to pick up 5 more wins. 90 wins get us into the playoffs.

We get those 5 wins with a better bullpen and starting pitching. Holland and Cecil blew at least 5 games themselves.

Starter rotation. (1 is injured or goes to the bullpen.)

Martinez
Wacha
Mikolas
Flaherty
Reyes
Weaver

Bullpen and backup starters
Gomber
Hudson
Hicks
Gant
Berbia
Mayer’s
Poncedeleon

We have other pitchers in the minors that may contribute in 2019?

I keep seeing the Cards including part of their international bonus pool money since they are limited to no more than $300k per international signing for 2018/19. I can’t seem to find a clear answer to what caused the team to be in this sort of penalty situation and curious if anyone knows the short answer.

Overspending in 2016-17. They do this every other year. Overspent in 2014-15, had to eat shit the year after.

The 2016 'year of dry powder'.

They spent 4 years ignoring guys like Jimenez and Moncada so they wouldn't blow past their international bonus allotment. Then in 2016 they assured us that they'd have a major international spending spree.

It yielded a bunch of international penalties and Jonatan Machado as their highest ranked prospect. It was the most underwhelming 'blowout' ever. Especially when they predictably did just enough to come in 2nd in the Luis Robert sweepstakes that year which would have made the penalties worth taking.

But no, as is their custom, they were content with half measures that did very little to boost the system but also hampered their ability to improve the team going forward. It was pretty much the amatuer player equivalent of giving up a 3rd round draft pick to sign a 'closer' that nobody wanted only so you can cut him in July.

Mozeliak sucks at this.

Suspected it might have been something like this. The best I could tell is it might have been cause from overspending but no idea what the hell it could have been on.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cardinals trade Oscar Mercado to Cleveland for two young prospects <a href="https://t.co/AeSHrSGwse">https://t.co/AeSHrSGwse</a></p>&mdash; viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) <a href="https://twitter.com/vivaelbirdos/status/1024406752845025281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So Dj and Hamas, are these high ceiling lottery picks or JAG’s?

Jhon Torres is eighteen-years-old and is in the low minors in his second year in the minor leagues.

Conner Capel is twenty-one and playing on a low A team.

I like what I see in Capel. A lot (he's playing on a High A team, FYI; Carolina League).

Lefty who can probably stick in centerfield. Hit 22 HRs in his first year as a professional in a league that's slightly pitcher friendly with even home/rd splits (so it wasn't his home park that did it). Then this year he saw major improvements in both his K and BB rates with his K rate getting to above average and walk rate approaching excellent. The Carolina league is similar to the Midwest league - not brutal on hitters but trends a little pitcher friendly. He's also said to be a gamer and a hard-nosed player. Lot's of 'intangibles' references which speaks well to his ability to continue developing as he moves up.

Again - both of those lines and the development in them came on his first trip through the respective leagues. He's developing skill sets as a young player while moving up through the system. That's a fantastic indicator and suggests that there is a way for him to put all those tools together.

I'd put him in Springfield, to be honest. I know his numbers in A+ aren't stellar but I think his approach has been better than his slash line. Put him in the Texas League and let him take aim at the easier parks (and Hammond's friendly confines). It could do a lot to jumpstart his confidence and have him ready to hit the ground running in AA next season.

Honestly, if everything broke right with him you'd get a hybrid of Bader, Mercado and O'Neill. Less power than Bader and O'Neill but with a better hit tool (similar to Mercado). Not as defensively capable as Bader and Mercado but similar to O'Neill in that he can play CF credibly but is probably better suited to right. Not as likely to strike out as Bader and O'Neill but like O'Neill, more willing to draw a walk than Mercado and Bader.

He's an interesting player and as a lefty hitter he can complement the other young guys in the system nicely should they demonstrate untenable platoon splits at the big league level. He's exactly the kind of OF prospect I wanted to see us target in a Norris sort of deal. He fits a need in the system both in terms of skills and level of development (we have an impending AA gap, IMO, that he can help fend off). He's a very nice addition to the system and could move up prospect lists quickly.

Torres - eh. Seems to have some very good raw power that he hasn't quite tapped into yet. I'll just call him a young Jose Adolis Garcia until proven otherwise. There's no sense in following guys closely in RK ball - it doesn't mean a hell of a lot unless they suck there. He hasn't sucked so we'll see what he does next year if he can earn his way onto a full-season squad.