Even made the right decision today going to Miller to start things off. Bellinger doesn't have a split (at all) so that was risky, but he got through Bellinger to get to Seager who has severe splits and doesn't see lefties well at all.

So of course Miller puts one right into his back and then Carlos gets unbelievably unlucky on two grounders to take the BS/L after looking incredible in that appearance. I feel so bad for that guy - even on days that his stuff is absolutely vile he can't get a break.

Just a brutal loss.

It's almost like guys that have progressively declining bat speed age poorly, or something. Chalk up another scouting success for Blowzeliak.

Getting 1 run off another guy making his 2nd career start or whatever it was is just ridiculous.

How many total runs the last 5 games? 7 ?

May is one of the top 15 pitching prospects in baseball. He’s a stud and will do that to better teams than the Cardinals this year.

No shame in struggling with May.

Up about $500 playing poker at Lumiere. Off to a good start in STL.

Kinda drunk

Go Cards!

:facepalm:

Just a horrible constructed lineup. Bowtie needs to go if the Cards finish a game or 2 out of a playoff spot again.

Went to the Oakland game on Saturday, which was an embarrassment. Went to the Cardinals game today from Denver and was able to get on the field for pregame batting practice. Shame that was my highlight of the evening. Every Pirate starting has a better BA than any Cardinal starting. Literally everyone. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cf50efc5d2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c5c135e712.jpg

They beat up bad teams. Thanks Mo.

My Pirates will never win another game again.

Don't worry. The Cardinals will apparently never win another game that matters.

Is there a shake up coming in the off season?

Probably look like the Marlins after 2017. Trade Marte and then Reynolds and Bell call the FO asking for a trade.

I thought our defense was bad last year but this Pitt defense looks high schoolish at times. Play with no passion. A really bad team. Hate to see that. Those loyal Pitt fans deserve better.

They are one of the worst defensive teams I have ever seen. Cards have looked bad at times but it seems every single game we have played the Pirates the Pirates have looked amateurish on defense.

My Pirates defense has been shit for years to go along with horrible pitching, no power and no passion whatsoever.

It's a ****ing joke the last 25-30 years as a fan and there has been only 2-3 moments of hope mixed in with 99% of futility and despair. I remember the 70's and 80's ALWAYS having great teams that played the Reds in the playoffs. Any good player is used as trade bait to get shittier has beens. It's ugly.

The only three good things about the Pirates: Easy to get good seats for cheap, one of the most beautiful stadiums, cool color uniforms.

Analyzing the stats isn’t really my thing but Im pretty sure this is damn good.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Flaherty’s ERA over his last 7 is 0.79. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a></p>&mdash; Jim Hayes (@TheCatOnFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheCatOnFox/status/1161471243763236864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

:cuss:

Rolling Wacha out in Cincinnati seems like a surefire momentum killer.

The hell of it is that they'll openly acknowledge that they don't expect anything more than maaaaybe 4 competitive innings from Wacha. Probably not even that. And we know that Helsley is going to follow him if he comes out before 5.

So why are they still jerking Helsley around instead of just starting him outright? And bringing PDL back up to pitch long-relief? There is truly no justification whatsoever to starting Michael Wacha.

Dylan Carlson promoted to AAA; now among 4 other 20 yr olds at the AAA level. All of them are considered elite guys.

I told y'all he was gonna break out this season...

Put him in LF day 1 to replace Ozuna.

I don't think Memphis is in playoff contention (they pretty much sucked this year) so I believe he's just getting a look at AAA so he can hit the ground running there next year. Besides, getting a few swings in the hilariously juiced PCL can only boost his confidence.

There's not much sense in plopping him in LF on day 1 next year when you still have O'Neill, Bader, Thomas and Arozarena to sort out. We all know Fowler's not going anywhere and they're hell bent on making Jose Martinez a thing, so there just aren't a ton of starts out there just yet. You start his service time sooner than needed and you'd need to find a 40 man spot for him (shouldn't be that hard but Moe loves his shitty relievers).

I doubt this continues tonight but oddly enough Wacha has a great record and ERA in Cincy (7-1 and 2.53), like the best ERA for any starting pitcher there in 8 starts or whatever its been.

So yea, he will probably give up 4 runs in the first inning because that's how this season is going.

What was Goldschmidt looking for on that pitch?

Flubs blew their game in the 9th. The central is so bad this year no team deserves the playoffs.

It's a race to one and done in the playoffs for this division. Cubs are tied for first with a team they nearly double up in WAR because they are the most inept team on the road I've ever seen.

Six run 9th inning.... :LOL:

Didn’t most baseball scribes think the Central was supposed to be good this year?

If the scribes were ever right the Nationals would have 3 or 4 WS rings by now.

Harper hit that ball so hard that I started laughing at impact.

Mother of !@#$ that ball was smoked.

We didn't have a use for that at all in RF. That meek-ass K that Fowler gave us after the leadoff walk in the 8th was just as good.

Wanna hear something funny? The Cardinals owe Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter $33 million.....in 2021

Those two mother****ers are washed up NOW and the Cardinals owe them $33 million in two seasons. That's how ungodly bad Mozeliak is at this - he didn't miss by a season or even 2, he missed by 3 on Carpenter (shot himself squarely in the face there) and FOUR on Fowler. And just go ahead and throw another $15 million to Molina on top of that because you know he's not going to retire and you know that Mozeliak will never have the balls to move on from him.

If this team truly gave any shits at all 2021 could be the year they could finally spin clear of some of the trash Mozeliak has saddled this roster with (sadly, Goldschmidt is not in that group) but alas, they just don't.

That ball just exploded! I will forever be mad at Mo for not signing Scherzer and Harper. Just my opinion, but I think Harper's contract will end up being team friendly by the time it's all said and done. And having a true star on your team really helps with PR.

TOMMY EDMAN IS STARTING IN RIGHT ****ING FIELD!!!

Lane Thomas and Randy Arozarena are on this team...finally...and Tommy ****ing Edman and his sub .300 OBP is starting in RF and batting 2nd for reasons that defy all goddamn logic.

And the only player in tonights lineup that's hit worth a shit since the All-Star Break - the dude who drove in the only run last night - is batting eighth so that Carpenter and Molina can bat 6 and 7.

**** these guys, man. Just **** this entire franchise. They're stupid, they're lazy, they're greedy. They're just one who sucks the peniss all around.

Yet still tied for first in this reerun pillowfight of a division. :spock:

Joe Maddon is crazy like a ****ing fox.

Just gonna let us keep hanging around so that dipshit and his band of dipshit sycophants and coffee-getters never get fired.

"Well we were right there in it with 6 games left in the season and if we can get baseline, representative seasons out of Goldy and Carp next season, I think we'll be in a great position to win 90..."

It took a few months, but I'm back to rooting for losses. This entire front office needs to be nuked from orbit. And as much as I think Shildt has helped this club on balance, if this shit is his call, get rid of him as well. I hate this team so goddamn much.

Schildt has cleaned up the defense and base running. Bullpen management has also been good. He is not responsible for all the underperforming and overpaid veterans he’s forced to carry in the lineup.

But his lineup card is on him. His best hitter right now is Wong. Who wants to bat lead off. Isn’t that the dogma of a lineup, Get your best hitters more AB’s in the game? 1-3 are dead spots way too often in this lineup. His fascination with Edmond, I just don’t get. It’s too much like a Matheny move for my taste.

LMAO at tonight's lineup after scoring 1 run last night.

Well shit what do I know. LMAO

CUBS LOSE! Choked another game away with epic bullpen fail in the bottom of the 9th. LMAO

If the Cardinals score 60 against a high school team, how many ABs would Carpenter need to get on base twice? 13? 15?

The entire team has hit tonight and that ****ing scrub is 0-4. Unsurprisingly Yadi isnt far behind at 1-5.

Just put him on the 60-day DL with a Khalil Greene designation.

FWIW, Yadi's hit was an infield single, which is more impressive than him going 4-4.

At least not seeing him we wouldn’t have a constant reminder of giving an extension to a guy his age who was off to a ****ing terrible start to the year and already signed through the next.

its not just the lack of success, it’s the way he looks failing around in the batters box.

He was 2-23 or something like that in the minors. He goes 2-3 and bam, he’s good to go, get him up here now. Now, he’s beginning another 2-23 streak when our offense sucks bad. Give the Cuban or Lance a chance for crissakes.

He'd hit the solo homerun to go up 60-0.

Perfect answer.

As if you need more proof...you want to know how bad Mo really is at his job?

Consider that following the World Series win and using the 2012 roster as the base...if you made ZERO trades or ZERO free agent signings (excluding amateur signings) this is the roster you might have today.

Starters: Flaherty, Lynn, M. Gonzalez, Hudson, Wainright
Relievers: C. Martinez, Helsley, Wacha, Weaver, J. Kelly, R. Sherrif, J. Fernandez

Infield Starters: Wong (2b), DeJong (SS), Carpenter/Freese (3b), Voit/Adams (1b)
Utility: G. Garcia

Outfield: Pham, Mercado, Piscotty, Bader

Payroll of 94,331,000
Actual 2019 Payroll: 147,700,000

Basically coming into this season if Mo was fired, the new GM could have effectively signed both Harper and Machado and probably come out ahead.

I'm not sure that "do nothing" roster is better than today's, but it could be argued it isn't far off. The bullpen is definitely weaker, but the starters are probably stronger.

are you sure he shouldn’t be given Ozuna’s spot in LF next year? Seems to me that any level, no matter how much time he is there, he still smashes.

———————————————
Hitter of the Week: Dylan Carlson, OF
Stats (w/ Memphis): 4 G, 17 AB, 3 R, 7 H, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K

After earning a promotion to Triple-A, the 20-year-old top prospect absolutely mashed in a four-game set against the division-leading Iowa Cubs. He was 7-for-17 with four extra-bas hits, launching his first Triple-A homer in the final game of the series.

There's an interesting article in the Athletic that the Red Sox may have to trade Mookie Betts this offseason because of his signability and that the best fit to make the trade and dollars work would be the Cardinals. I don't see Mo pulling that off but one can dream.

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/65ODCwM00NVmEyLsX3" width="480" height="480" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/65ODCwM00NVmEyLsX3">via GIPHY</a></p>

Nah, don’t laugh. I could absolutely see Mo ship off Gorman, Carlson, and Fernandez for a year of Betts so the Dodgers can ‘come in at the 11th hour’ to sign him to a long term deal.

If the Cardinals can make that deal happen without surrendering Carlson or Flaherty, I think it’s a must-make for them ... unless DeWitt is not willing to give him 8/300.

Dombrowski mifht be willing to take on Miller as part of the return, too, to ease some $$ burden for the Cardinals.

If you can get him signed, really any deal wouldn’t be too terrible. But Mo wouldn’t be able to sign him, so it doesn’t make any difference.

Gorman being the higher rated but higher risk prospect would come in handy for the Cardinals in that situation, but with Devers at third, Gorman is limited to first only, which diminishes his value to them.

Flaherty's recent turnaround probably makes him their most untouchable asset, because he's pitching like an ace, then it's Carlson, then Gorman.

I just hope that fans realize that 2018 was a massive outlier, and that Betts is probably a 6 win player and not an 8-10 level Trout-type guy.

lol @ Matt Carpenter

Carpenter couldn't have looked any more inept there with the bases loaded and 1 out. It was like he was disinterested in hitting a baseball.

Even more lol @ Ryan Braun

Well if this team does anything well its run the bases. A 3 RBI bloop double. LMAO

Biggest douche in baseball.

Someone had to take over for David Ortiz

Heard on MLB that we are the 4th best team in baseball in defense and base running. No idea where that stat is from or how its measured but we got eyes, we can see its leap years ahead of the total embarrassment in those categories from last year. Last year we were that Braun play,

He just needs to pack it in for this year. Look at Fowlers example, he was a disaster last year, he's at least near average now. Try again to get on track next year. He just looks lost. The division is there for the taking thanks to the Cubs. His AB's are killing us.

This isn't a slump at all, if you go back to last September the guy hasn't hit for a full year. They have given him more than ample opportunity to come out of it, may as well IR him.

That extension is possibly the dumbest thing Mo has done on a long list of dumb moves. There was ZERO reason to do anything with Carps contract.

Nah, I'm not gonna force him onto the 40 man just yet and I still think the Cardinals BADLY need to figure out this OF jam.

They're dicking up their 40 man and moving guys out just taking wild-ass guesses as to who can actually play because they refuse to give some of these kids extended run.

We still don't know enough about Thomas, Arozarena or even O'Neill. And in a perfect world I'd be moving towards an OF that has two openings in the corners (I still believe in Bader in CF) so we could sort some of that stuff out.

They have far too many questions that need immediate answers to promote a 20 yr old to the starting lineup. I'm not saying he can't assume that role at some point next season (yes, Marcel Ozuna will walk; the payroll structure virtually demands it), but I think you need to start the year with some of these other guys that are getting up there in age for prospects. You need to shit or get off the pot with some of them or at least clear other guys out to make room for them.

The 2021 squad will look significantly different. I think you're probably talking about an OF with Bader, Carlson and Thomas (if I had to guess). But you can't even enter 2021 confidently if you can't get that quartet of young OFers enough playing time to figure out who they are. You can't figure out which one of them can/should be traded for a shorter term fix at 3b while Gorman develops or an arm that can replace the scattered remains of Reyes (and Wainwright) at the back of the rotation.

They have prospects that can't build value and won't be played. That's a recipe for some incredibly bad roster decisions. They need to address those guys first and worry about Carlson later. The kid isn't even Rule 5 eligible yet - there's still so much time.

Oh come on DJ, we should all trust Mo to make the right moves for the team. His track record is stellar and. I think he’s earned our respect and trust.

Yeah, 2018 isn't happening for him again. That wasn't quite an historically great season, but it wasn't far removed.

But lets take 2016 as a baseline and then improve on it a bit because he's clearly taken a step forward since then with his plate discipline. Yeah, that's a 6-7 win player - which is pretty damn elite in its own right. It's not Trout - nobody's Trout. But it's 'top 5-8 player in MLB' good.

I also think he'll age a little better than many because he combines good 'old man skills' in his plate discipline and functional power with plus athleticism. It's damn near impossible to trust anything from the steroid era but Steve Finley kinda springs to mind. Maybe a rich man's Johnny Damon?

My concern is that I was also thinking "well Marquis Grissom played a lot like Betts in his prime and I remember him being awfully good in his later years..." but I forgot that he kinda sucked from 30-34 before he recaptured his form in his last couple of seasons. So there are obviously examples of guys like Betts who didn't age well.

I'm not giving Flaherty or Carlson for him, not when we have already set so much payroll on fire that we can't really build around his deal without those young guys. But if I could get one of these OFers moved for someone like Camargo to replace Carpenter at 3b and then deal Gorman with a couple of add-ins, I'd have to consider it.

Let's not act like the Bosox can ask the world for him - the market on guys like that just hasn't been terribly robust. And when a deal like Goldschmidt implodes as magnificently as that one did, it only makes those deals harder for teams to make.

How does Betts compare to trading for Goldschmidt, though?

He's 26, compared to 31, and the last season Goldschmidt had in the Betts ballpark in terms of WAR was 2015. The Cardinals traded for a guy exiting his prime and who plays a position that if his bat disappears then so does his entire value.

I would think the Manny Machado trade would be a much closer comparison and that came with 2 months to go, no QO offer on the table, and they got 5 guys with 1 top 100 player.

Last I checked Betts was 2nd in fWAR to Trout since his first full season. Hes a 5 tool player and given the extra time on the roster over Machado and the fallback of a QO then I would suspect they would have every right to be asking for a top 50 guy and probably a top 100 guy with some lotteries. The Cardinals gave up guys that didnt look like major leaguers when they were traded. Did you honestly think Kelly would be a better hit than Knizner, at least for this season, and Luke Weaver would nearly double his career WAR in 11 starts?

Admittedly poorly; Betts is a much more valuable property than Goldschmidt.

You're right that Machado was the better comp, even as a mid-season trade. That said, I thought the return on Machado was really poor. The Orioles took quantity over quality and in the end I'd be surprised to see any of those guys be genuine impact players. It wouldn't shock me if none of them ended up a starter or if 2 or 3 of them never saw significant big league action.

I don't the Red Sox will accept that kind of return. Nor do I think there are too many teams out there that are still dumb enough to overpay for a single year of a player like John Mozeliak.

Because truly that is all you're getting in that deal - 1 year. The Red Sox aren't getting 2 top 25 prospects (I suspect Carlson and Gorman break that threshold this offseason) and a guy in Flaherty who is MORE valuable than any top 25 prospect due to his major league performance for a single year.

They may get 1 top 25 guy, another pitcher in Weaver's class and then a high potential guy with a less critical role.

So had the Cardinals not gutted their depth in the ill-fated Goldschmidt deal they could offer something like Gorman, Hudson and Fernandez. But with Weaver gone and Kelly not being around to try to backfill the rotation/depth losses of Hudson/Fernandez, I don't think the Cardinals could even afford to do THAT.

And I don't think the Red Sox will get an appreciably better offer unless a team like the Dodgers just decides that they want to burn some powder up and move Lux.

And the really interesting thing is that the Dodgers might be smart to do it given that they have Seager at SS and Bellinger's long-term future probably isn't best served in CF.

Carpenter is killing us. He looks pathetic. It’s not a ****ing slump. 120+ games into the season. He’s not turning it around. Your hurting the team. Someone grow a pair like you care about winning more than upsetting a way way way underperforming vet.

Good news:

On a 12-3 run.
13 games over .500
Division lead, 2.5 games in front of the Cubs.
Flaherty with an ERA of less than 0.90 in the second half and 0.23 era in August.

Bad News:

Mo ain’t going nowhere now.

And Carpenter hit a HR in a blowout so he will be in the lineup for the next 2 weeks solid.


That being said its going to be an interesting September, the division simply sucks.

They play the Cubs 7 times in the last 10 games, IIRC.

They can kill the Brewers this week. I don't think they really even need to sweep them, though that would help. The Brewers pitching staff - predictably ragged to begin with - has finally come apart. I never understood what they were doing there; you can't just go into the season with 2 starters of any significance and say "yeah, that'll be fine..."

Ideally you need 4 relatively dependable starters and another 3-4 young arms that can backfill. The Brewers, OTOH, took their slow pitch softball strategy of 2018 and turned it up to 11. It just never made sense.

So if we can sweep the Brew crew this week, that could pretty much end that.

Take 4 of 7 from the Cubs do it?

I've got tickets to the Sept 20th game in Chicago, I figured it wasn't going to be of much consequence but now :hmmm: I may try to swing tickets to the game on the 21st as well depending on how things are looking.

If they don't do something stupid like drop 3 to the Reds.

I'm kinda thinking 92 wins probably wins the division?

Everybody in the Central is playing to be the bug that splatters on the Dodgers' windshield, but since we're too far gone to effect any of the needed changes, it might as well be us.

That would take 21-11 finish. I'm not sure they've got that in them so

But, if we win the division, the WC winner plays the Dodgers, right? We'd play the Braves?:hmmm: if by some miracle we win that series, then of course we would be ass raped and embarrassed by the Dodgers.

True, but IF we get that far we've at least got a shot at being the Braves.

Nobody is beating LA.

Until the WS, where I think both the Astros and Yankees could take them.

BUT, I'm still pulling my for dream HOU / STL WS. :thumb:

It's baseball, and once STL gets in, baseball things can happen...