I'm one of those weird people that thinks winning makes more $$ though.

But that actually takes work and diligence.

Which gets back to a previous point I've made a hundred times:

How does setting literally a quarter of a billion dollars on fire for Dexter Fowler, Andrew Miller, Brett Cecil, Greg Holland and Mike Leake help make him money? How do ridiculously silly early extensions for guys like Matt Carpenter, Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez and Miles Mikolas help in that pursuit?

All the money thrown at aging players like Goldschmidt and Arenado only to act surprised that aging curves exist? How does that help DeWitt make money?

Mozeliak DOESN'T help him make money. He does nothing more than any one of us ****-knuckles could do. He doesn't find undervalued assets. He trades guys like Arozarena and Gallen at the bottom of their value for less effective and/or more expensive assets. His scouting department is a tire fire.

He doesn't do ANYTHING that would help Bill DeWitt win baseball games OR make money.

Why the **** is he still employed? It just makes zero sense to me.

When the best signings on your ledger over the last decade or so are a catcher who can't actually field his position and a couple of old pitchers who might barely be worth what they're making by pitching at league average (and that's certainly all you can reaosnably expect of them) then you really have no business running a major league baseball team.

This organization has won, what, 2 playoff games in the last decade? There's just no excuse for this malaise.

I keep reading Dewallet 3 is calling the shots now and has no idea what he is doing.

So I'm watching the Dodger game and I notice it says The Lou on the Cardinals jerseys. Lol what? Since when do they call it The Lou? Lol Don't they know that literally means The Toilet? Hahaha too perfect

As per our usual trades, as soon as a player leaves us, he starts tearing the cover off the ball.

Was there ever a doubt?

And somehow nobody is ever held accountable. A starting caliber outfielder who we’ve held back and then dumped for nothing while under team control does WHAT exactly to help us win cheap?

This organization does NOTHING well.

I watched the highlights from last nights game. Looked to me that those pitches were grabbing way too much of the plate and lacked movement he usually gets. He was tired. He blew this game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I still don’t fully support it, but I see where the fire Marmol crowd comes from more and more every day <a href="https://t.co/oa2kYzn4hg">https://t.co/oa2kYzn4hg</a></p>&mdash; SH (@SHtalkssports) <a href="https://twitter.com/SHtalkssports/status/1824649469553480124?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I can't believe player after player leaves this organization to flourish and NOBODY gets fired for it outside of maybe some nameless lackey.

This franchise needs an enema

None of that happens until there are a lot of empty seats at Bush.

Slowly getting there... I know Ohatni is a draw so the lower levels looked full but the crowds are shrinking.

Wonder what kind of threats Dewallet 3 will make next?

Carlson went 2/4 with a 2b and the walk-off base hit in extras today.

He’s going to be a very good player with them. There was no reason for him NOT to be here. I said it from the time he was in AA on this very board - the kid is a ballplayer.

And Shildt proved it. His development that year was fantastic.

Then we fired Shildt and Carlson (and really the entire organization) fell to shit immediately thereafter.

**** John Mozeliak and his pride. He caused all of this.

Pitcher of the Weekend
Quinn Mathews, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals (Double-A Springfield): 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K.

The incredible 2024 run for Mathews continued as he put up another dominant outing in the Texas League and raised his MiLB leading strikeout total to 168. Seen as a limited ceiling, advanced college arm when the year began, he’s now in the conversation as one of the elite arms in minor league baseball. Mathews’ most recent stretch has been the best of a stellar year, allowing just 2 earned runs in his past 24 innings of work.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/p...ugust-18-2024/

Walker back down to Memphis.

Wait - taking a streaky player who has never demonstrated a platoon split of any sort and calling him up to platoon didn't work?

What were the ****ing odds?!?!?!?

Nobody with a brain in their heads thought that was a smart decision. Alas, the combined brainpower of the Cardinals front office couldn't power an Easy-Bake Oven.

As soon as they trade Walker he'll turn into Barry Bonds.

This organization could probably find a way to turn Juan Soto into Jeff Francoeur.

I genuinely believe there's MVP caliber skills in there for the organization that can unlock them.

It's not this one. And he's not an EASY fix. You can't just trade him anywhere and see him succeed.

But if they trade him to a team with a good staff, they'll get a shitload out of him. They won't, though.

Mozeliak simply can't. Not until he's burned through all his options and run his value into the core of the earth. You try to land that plane until it hits a mountain if you're John Mozeliak.

And if they fire Mozeliak and broom EVERYONE (and I mean down to ****ing Rookie ball), they'll find someone that can get him turned around.

But it's not this organization as currently constructed. They simply have no idea what they're doing.

By the same dumbshits that brought him in the first place.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brandon Crawford has been released by the Cardinals <a href="https://t.co/7WUgLpueD0">pic.twitter.com/7WUgLpueD0</a></p>&mdash; Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1825980333571060135?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LOL Gorman these morons can't do anything right

Walker would be a ALMVP candidate in Tampa in 2 years

From the moment he stepped on the field looking like a washed up slow-pitch player it was clear he had no business on a roster.

Remember when we signed Holland 5 years ago and the dude showed up at about 3 bills? You KNEW he’d ****ing suck.

It makes me wonder if they ever lay eyes on these guys before throwing a contract their way.

Wasn’t he hitting Right hand pitching at an acceptable level in the minors? Had issues with left handed pitching? So our subservient manager calls him
Up and sits him against LH pitching and bats against RH pitching. Am I right? I thought I heard that on a broadcast this weekend.

So they brought up Walker only to give him all of 12 ABs while they waiting for Carpenter to return? Baffling as usual.

Yeup.

Has, at best, neutral splits. In reality he has a slight reverse split.

And remember how I said that he'll struggle with outside stuff? Gee, I wonder if lefties can hit that outside corner easier than righties can.

Remember fellas, there are still pitchers in this league that CANNOT get a ball to the outer 1/3 without it coming through the hitting zone. They can throw one wide of the zone or they come inside, but to get it to the outer 1/3 of the zone, they have to give you a pitch that comes through the zone first.

These are RH pitchers that throw at 3/4 or lower and pitch from the 3b side of the rubber. There are PLENTY of them. You won't realize it until you start looking for it.

Those are guys that Walker should punish. Because he can sit on that pitch and if the pitcher throws him one that he can't hit, he knows he can spit on it and it'll be a ball. If it's one he can hit, he can turn on it because it's GOING to cross into the hitting zone on the way to the outside.

A lefty, however, can just stay out on the outer 1/3 and work him over.

Bringing Walker up for the short side of a platoon is almost certainly the dumbest thing this organization has ever done with him. And that's an INSANELY high bar to clear. Yet they managed.

I cannot get over what a poorly run ship this is. Every single thing they do is wrong.

Gorman is quite possibly the least useful player in MLB.

He may not demonstrate that via WAR (even though its awful) because he picks on shitty pitchers that throw him cock-shots.

But when you need a big hit against a quality pitcher, he's not going to give you a competitive AB. Worse still, he's a complete butcher on the infield. As bad as you'll see at the position. He's Jeff Kent bad over there. Dan Uggla bad.

He ****s up tag plays fellas. And it's typically due to sheer laziness on his part. You could argue that it's because he's just too damn stiff to get down quickly and put the tag where he should (so invariably he tags high) but I won't even bother giving him that much credit.

I said a couple years back that we should trade him because he's not going to be a better pure hitter than Burleson and both guys are really DH only players. And Gorman had, at that time, a LOT more value than Burleson.

These are the kinds of moves that I know to make. And I'm just a dickhead on the internet.

And I'm 100% certain I would be better at Mozeliak's job than he is. It's just not as hard as he makes it. Oh he'll come out and complain that Goldschmidt underwhelmed but who the hell thought he wouldn't age? He had EXACTLY the kind of offensive profile that was going to age poorly. And the moment the wheels started to wobble coming off his Indian Summer MVP (a season where he collapsed in September, no less) they should've dealt him.

This team just gets every decision wrong. Big ones, little ones - ALL of them. Sheer dumb luck should have them at about a 40% hit rate and yet, here we are.

This organization needs an enema.

I went to a batting cage that was regulation MLB size and speed. Circa mid 2000's when the fast ball was 95. It would thrown sliders, curves or fastball and an algorithm to run it. you didn't know what was coming, couldnt time the pitch. I had no chance. Made me appreciate MLB players that can lay off that outside pitch.

Of course not.

I can barely turn around an 80 mph cage these days and that's when I know what's coming.

I wouldn't be able to foul off 90. And god help me if they were throwing 95 and breaking shit. No, you don't have a prayer in the world. Best you could do is swing at the middle and hope you accidentally barrel one.

Oh I knew I had no chance. Just wanted to see what speed and different pitches look like when you are in the batters box. And that's a cage, not a live pitcher that may come inside with the 95 to keep you off that outside pitch they want to throw.

I still think that hitting a round ball with a round bat thrown at that speeds and spin rates is the toughest athletic feat in sports. You fail 7 out of 10 times you are an All-Star and getting generational wealth. You fail 8 out of 10 times you are not even making it to MLB.

I had a college roommate who was a catcher and emergency pitcher for Truman State's completely forgettable baseball team.

He threw a high school caliber overhand curve.

I struggled to CATCH the damn thing.

From an emergency pitcher out of a mediocre mid-tier program. The fact that any of them ever get a hit impresses the hell out me.

I mean think of it this way - Nolan Gorman in High School had 146 plate appearances and only struck out 16 times. So against the same level of pitch that I struggled to catch, he managed a strikeout rate 12%.

It's THIRTY EIGHT PERCENT at the big league level. And he's better now than he was at 17. That's how much better big league stuff is than the stuff you and I have ever seen.

Then you look at someone like Jacob Wilson in AAA this season. With wood bats against relatively advanced pitching, Jacob Wilson struck out FIVE TIMES after adjusting to AAA in April. 140 PAs over 33 games and the dude had a strikeout rate of 3% (before getting promoted, getting a knock in his first big league at bat and promptly pulling a hammy rounding 3rd).

Just...how? And the dude managed a .670 SLG (roughly .250 ISO) over that time so he wasn't just out there bunting to make contact or anything. Kid was playing for Grand Canyon University a year ago and now he's in AAA hitting everything these guys throw up there at 22 years old.

The guys that do stuff like that just have hands that are beyond my understanding. The eyesight and coordination is absurd.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Roster Move: INF José Fermín has been recalled from Memphis (AAA).<br><br>INF Nolan Gorman has been optioned to Memphis. <a href="https://t.co/gsySFy1sqG">pic.twitter.com/gsySFy1sqG</a></p>&mdash; St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1826341444933550472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thaaaat's a shame.

The fact that this team played Nolan Gorman for 105 games at 2b is an embarrassing testament to where they are as an organization.

Not one single game at DH. He's taken 3 innings at 3b this year and every other inning at 2b. It's just staggering.

At least this should finally get Donovan a permanent home at 2b. I mean we dumped a potential top of the order hitter and GG 2b in Edman for another aging arm because he aging arms we have broke down and we refused to even acknowledge that Edman is incredibly valuable on the IF and pretty much replacement level in the OF.

But again, silver lining is that Donovan at 2b is where he should've been all season anyway.

This team is just lost.

Send Dewallet your resume DJ.

There’s another one that will get traded for shot returns and then ball out with the new team. I remember seeing the 64 Cardinals win the WS. One of my first memories of life. I suffered through the 70’s as a fan. I think this is just a repeat in some ways. They lost their way. Had horrible front offices and sometimes coaches.

This feels worse because the right GM and a farm system developing talent, we could be competing.

Fire Mo and the coaching staff

Time for somebody to rent a banner-flying plane.

They appear to be the last people to grasp anything that's happening.

Oli has to be in panic mode at this point and Mo wondering if gets to pick yet another manager.

Not that any of that matters if they don't start drafting and developing better.

Cards tie it up in the ninth with two base loaded walks.

Walk off grand slam by Arenado

My 4 seamer topped out in the mid 80s in high school, got to JUCO and guys were hinting 95. I felt like a right handed Jamie Moyer.

I did go 2 for 3 with a triple against Jim Winn in high school who eventually was drafted in the first round (14th overall) by the Pirates.

And? Like we should ve pumped?

Don't give Dewallet and Mo any ideas, they'll start drawing some parallels between last night and some random moment in 2011.

We would be tomorrow night

He's never gonna be much, IMO.

Sometimes you'll see signs with a guy who has an iffy hit tool. He'll improve on his swing decisions, he'll spit on balls he can't do much with. The K rate will never improve a ton usually, but they'll make guys work to punch them out. The strikeouts swinging will become strikeouts looking because they at least get to the point that they recognize pitches they can damage and make pitchers come to them.

Gorman just hasn't done any of that. He's still swinging through everything. He's hacking at pitches he can't touch. His swing decisions are still crap. He's a pure guess hitter and he's bad at it.

Maybe someone gets through to him but I kinda doubt it. He's just a guy who should probably be a bench slugger and part-time DH.

Lefty power ain't hard to find in this league. It's probably the easiest offensive skill to get your hands on. He may just wash out altogether unless maybe somebody sticks him at 3b and lets him focus just on hitting. And maybe he'll figure some things out.

It shows, yet again, how much they need Arenado to be a part of the solution instead of bitching about the problem.

Guy has mailed it in for the last 18 months because the team asked him to actually BE the impact offensive player they're paying him to be. He wants to be the 3rd best player on the team while being paid like a superstar.

Arenado pisses me off more than any other player on this squad. Goldschmidt just got old - shit happens. It's the teams fault for not recognizing that he would. But Arenado doesn't have that excuse. He just quit.

He's a sulky bitch. Like a goddamn teenage girl.

Eh.

He's...ordinary.

Most players, even the great ones, don't truly want to be the lead dog. That's what I love about Harper - even before he became a true superstar, he WANTED to be the big swinging dick on the squad. At 19 years old that guy wanted to be getting the big time ABs ahead of established all-star caliber players like Zimmerman, Desmond, LaRoche and Werth. He's just always been 'that guy'

I think Mookie is that guy. I think Trout is. Some guys really want to be the best player on the team and the guy that everyone looks to when the chips are down.

But it's less common than we think, even among MVP caliber players. We had that in Pujols whereas Edmonds would've never wanted to be that guy. Rolen wouldn't have wanted to be that guy. On the mound, Carpenter WANTED that ball in Game 1 and Game 7 - Wainwright is gonna be happy to get it in game 2 and 6.

Pujols wanted to be the 3-4 hitter who's facing the best arm you've got with the game on the line. Arenado wants to be the 5 hitter who comes to the dish AFTER Pujols took the money AB.

There are a damn sight more of the latter than the former. And honestly, I wouldn't have ever thought that of Arenado until I saw it happen here.

Until Mo is gone nothing matters

And anything that impedes that goal is ultimately counterproductive.

Wins will only serve to set this franchise back even further. "Meaningful baseball in September" is the last thing we want to see. I would've preferred the Brewers just bury this team.

Guess someone else will have to do it for them.

Need you boys to keep the winning streak until Sunday. A sweep of the Twinks would be nice.

Just came here to echo what this guy said. Can we be frenemies for the weekend and give us a hand with knocking out the Twins? Please and thank you.

have you seen us play this year? Sorry, we are probably not going to be able to help.

No...no...no

I want them to lose out

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dylan Carlson this season:<br><br>51 wRC+ with STL<br>134+ wRC+ with TB<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLBNow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLBNow</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dgoold</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyLuftman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TonyLuftman</a> <a href="https://t.co/edLifXCtpB">pic.twitter.com/edLifXCtpB</a></p>&mdash; MLB Now (@MLBNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBNow/status/1827086409007579482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

of course LMAO

His WAR in 16 games with Tampa is now greater than 122 games of Goldschmidt.

Holy shit...

...and I had 3 Card fans arguing for Mo to stay last week. Just unbelievable how bad this fan base is and speaks to why he's still employed. "He's been solid!"

I'm telling you Jordan Walker is elite in Tampa

Welll we took 2/3. Thats about the best we will ever do these days. You owe us now.

:doh!:

Thanks for the help this weekend. You can lose out for a while until you play Cleveland.

Was there any doubt?

Looks like a Marlin crowd tonight. Dewallet take notice. Time to sell!

It's an A's crowd in the ninth with the Cards trailing 7-3.

And now they just DFA’d Armstrong who seems like he’s been effective enough so far. �� Wonder if they are hoping he gets claimed to save some money.

That's exactly why.

Cut him before September 1st and he's post-season eligible if someone claims him. So they're hoping someone will.

Because **** them, that's why.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A new low of 27,224 was the announced ticket sold crowd at Busch Stadium.<br><br>The actual turnstile attendance?<br><br>It was slightly less than 13,000, multiple sources told the Post-Dispatch.<br><br>As reported and more here … <a href="https://t.co/S8ICOfDXzL">https://t.co/S8ICOfDXzL</a></p>&mdash; Derrick Goold (@dgoold) <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/1828775655275721131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

**** ‘em.

Burn it all to the ground

Was it a 1976 nostalgia night?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A9kw4IHDHVQ?si=k0Ku3Ppf6mQnKfyW" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Headline on a fan side page:
Cardinals attendance has taken a major hit, and it could impact winter spending


Only the Cardinals management would look at fans staying away and think, well I guess we need to go cheaper. That’ll get them back through the turnstiles. No, maybe make a change in management? Get competent people to run the franchise? New owner? But no, let’s make it worse is their idea?

Good.

Do that, BDWIII.

Do EXACTLY that. Spend less and then blame the fans for not responding to your shitty product, open antagonism and general apathy towards putting as much as an entertaining product on the field, let alone a championship caliber one.

Go ahead and give Mozeliak and Marmol another extension while you're at it.

Double-down, silver-spoon window-licker.

This is so far beyond Mozeliak and Marmol at this point. When you look at the change-over in leadership at the ownership level, when BDWII turned things over to III, it becomes so obvious what happened here.

And when you listen to III speak, it's so clear how little he gives a shit about baseball. When he starts talking money, he's douchey, but he's cogent. But the last interview I heard from him where he tried to talk baseball he actually said "We wanted to re-sign some of our own guys; like the guy we traded for.....uh....guy who went to the Mets and got hurt..."

You forgot Jose Quintana's name, asshole?

The Cardinals President simply doesn't give a shit about baseball and it's really REALLY obvious.

It's become more and more apparent to me over the last 18 months or so that the real problem is BDWIII.

His open contempt for fans and apathy for the product on the field has driven all of this.

Bill DeWitt III took over as President from Mark Lamping in 2008. Rumors are that BDWII started to pull back from any real role in the organization around 2013/2014 and that's really when things started to fall to shit. Inertia kept the wheels on for a bit but that's all that was.

This collapse has come pretty much entirely under the watch of BDWIII.

As you start to dig a bit, HE'S the problem.

I just can't fathom the logic here. Just epically stupid.

The condition of downtown is also playing a role

Empty seats have ticket prices plunging for St. Louis Cardinals games

“I think there’s been a feeling of the emotional and financial investment that fans have made has not been reciprocated by the organization,” Tim McKernan said.

Author: Holden Kurwicki

ST. LOUIS — Sparse crowds at Busch Stadium are making headlines across major league baseball after the organization recently set a record-low attendance at the stadium.
Hundreds of tickets were available to the Cardinals game Wednesday night on StubHub for $0, though some StubHub fees were required. It's strange and unwelcome territory for the franchise.

The rest here: https://www.ksdk.com/article/sports/...qn1is8lxsb9aog

You’d like to think the drop in attendance and nearly free resale price of tickets would easily drive a complete offseason overhaul of how they are doing things. Instead my guess is similar to others here with it just being more of the same but with added cost cutting while citing declining revenue.

https://y.yarn.co/fb8201df-228d-41da...92904_text.gif

Fellas - it's a possibility.

What's the miracle? Quinn Mathews and Tink Hence slotting in at 1/2 in the rotation with Gray at 3 and a pile of slag at 4/5?

Does anyone really trust this organization to fix Walker? Wetherholt should be pretty impossible to **** up, but he's not a guy with a super high ceiling.

Winn/Wetherholt up the middle with Burleson at 1b is a moderately interesting 1/3 of a lineup provied that those are your 3rd, 4th and 5th best hitters. If Walker comes on and Arenado un****s himself, maybe you have a 1-5 that's approaching playoff caliber? Contreras may still have some gas in the tank, Donovan is another fine complementary stick.

But even with these long-shots all hitting, you're still talking about an 88-90 win team? A good team, but nothing resembling a great one.

There's nothing on the come. You look at Boston for example and the trio of badass prospects they have in AAA right now - that's a team with an exciting future. Teams like Philly and Atlanta are smart (and to the extent they aren't, they're financial committed to the team). LAD is both. NYY is rich.

Baltimore just has too much young talent to fail.

There are very few teams with a 5 year window that looks worse than ours does. Things are gonna be bad for a bit going forward.

Tommy Pham placed on waivers

as per Katie Woo on the athletic.

Doesn't save them much of anything - mostly just an effort to get him to a playoff team.

Something of a white flag.

Shocked that splitting the series vs. the Padres didn't convince them that they're on the upswing...

I was hoping Shildt would put the final nail in the coffin. Oh well.