***Official 2022 STL Cardinals Thread***

[BigRedChief]

2022 Opening Day Lineup

Spoiler!

#stlcards on opening day:

Carlson 9
Goldschmidt 3
O’Neill 7
Arenado 5
Pujols DH
DeJong 6
Molina 2
Bader 8
Edman 4

Wainwright 1

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) April 7, 2022

2022 Opening Day roster

Spoiler!

Pitchers: Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson.

Relievers: Jordan Hicks, Drew VerHagen, Jake Woodford, Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsey, A. Pallante, Genesis Cabrera, TJ McFarland, Nick Wittgren, Kodi Whitley, Aaron Brooks.

Catchers: Yadier Molina, Andrew Knizner.

Infielders: Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, Paul DeJong, Albert Pujols, Edmundo Sosa

Outfielders: Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, Dylan Carlson, Corey Dickerson, Lars Nootbaar.

On the injured list are Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes

For the new Cardinal fans that joined the Planet since last year, here are some of the historical threads going back to 2006.

Spoiler!

2021 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=337124
2020 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=329273
2019 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=320239
2018 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=312812
2012 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=254619
etc.
All the way back to 2006 WS
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=312812

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Watching Liberatore pitch this afternoon was concerning for me. I know it's just ST, but the ball coming out of his hand moved on a really flat plane, and he got hit very hard as a result. Because he has more of a low 3/4 delivery, if his ball doesn't have any downward motion it just tracks right into the zone.

I'm more concerned by your reports of him being at a low 3/4. That's not common for him.

He's always been something of a typical 3/4 delivery guy and even a little bit of a short-armer so it's given him really good deception and depth on his pitches.

If he's gone to a low 3/4 he's protecting something. That's almost always a bad sign. Or, God help me, he's doing that same stupid bullshit that Reyes did at about the same time when he decided that merely being good in the mid-90s wasn't enough. He needed to be bad and erratic in the HIGH 90s so he started coming off late and from a lower arm slot to find velocity.

Then again, it may just be early season buildup. It's hard to get your arm up there (my PT when I broke my shoulder knew I played ball as a kid because my right shoulder just doesn't go up as high as my left - she said it happens to anyone who's played baseball, just a lot of buildup in there). Early in the season he may just be needing to loosen that stuff up to find his correct arm slot.

I'll worry more if he's still at a low 3/4 by May. With the truncated spring I may have to give more latitude here than I otherwise would.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Waaaaaaank.

Wank.

wank.

This isn't the move a team looking to win a championship makes. Not when they have a 24 year old polished righty hitter who MAULED baseballs at every stop next year.

A serious organization lets Juan Yepez spend this season working against big league pitchers so he can unleash hell on an unsuspecting world in September. So he can make the kind of progressions normal human beings like Dylan Carlson make before being a vital component down the stretch.

One year removed from watching him develop over the course of the season and we decide 'nah - don't need to let Yepez do that. Let's just roll with Albert...'

And hell, Dickerson's going to get most of the ABs that could've gone to Noot (and should PROBABLY) end up going to Burleson by mid-season).

This just hasn't been a smart organization for a very long time.

The Dickerson signing really is a perfect embodiment of everything these guys are.

For 6 years from 2014-2019 the guy puts up a .900 OPS against righties while making $13 million total over that time. The whole damn time I'm screaming for them to pick him up to platoon and have as a premier lefty off the bench because we had nothing in the system worth sending out there that hit from the left side.

We finally end up with a couple of guys 'professional hitter' types with some long-term potential in the role in Nootbaar and Burleson. Meanwhile Dickerson showed obvious decline last season right when every aging curve in the world shows a substantial drop off (though it levels out for a couple years from here). And NOW we want to pay him $5 million to come here.

I really do not understand it. This team just makes very few intelligent acquisitions anymore. They don't pursue surplus value anywhere apart from the back of the rotation and the middle of the bullpen.

It's like they've forgotten how to build a winning team. I really don't understand it.

Hey - remember when we could've signed Bryce Harper for $26 million/season and had him finish his HoF career in St. Louis? That didn't actually happen, right?

Dammit this organization pisses me off.

I don’t see the issue if Yepez isn’t ready. Let him get full playing time in Memphis and when he’s ready bring him up.

I have more of an issue with Matz being the prize of this off-season.

[DJ's left nut]

He tore the cover off the ball in Memphis last year. He has nothing to learn from AAA pitching.

What’s he going to learn from 600 ABs in Memphis that he won’t learn better from 450 ABs in the majors?

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He tore the cover off the ball in Memphis last year. He has nothing to learn from AAA pitching.

What’s he going to learn from 600 ABs in Memphis that he won’t learn better from 450 ABs in the majors?

The ability to not be only restricted to DH at age 24 and be able to actually play 1st at a passable level moving forward. I'm also not sold on a guy being ready for major league pitching with how he's struggled (granted, it's spring training).

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

The ability to not be only restricted to DH at age 24 and be able to actually play 1st at a passable level moving forward. I'm also not sold on a guy being ready for major league pitching with how he's struggled (granted, it's spring training).

But that's the thing - sending him back to AAA isn't going to help there. That's why I cited Carlson.

Sending Carlson back to AAA wouldn't have ultimately helped him last year. He NEEDED to see these guys who were pitching him backwards or who would throw breaking balls in fastball counts.

I've NEVER seen a rookie get pitched like Carlson got pitched coming up. I talked about it several times on here - that guy would get 3-2 breaking balls. He'd get first pitch changeups with RISP. He got his ass tossed into the deep end of the pool and it was the ONLY thing that was going to help him.

And who says he can't play passable 1b? Moreover, why does it even matter? We're stuck with the aging 1b with the most fungible skill-set on the planet at 1b for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, he played 3b and LF last year in the minors while playing mostly 1b. And WTF can Albert Pujols play? Not a thing - that's the guy that's knocking him off the roster. A guy who can't play anywhere defensively and can't score from 2nd on a single if his life depended on it.

Pujols is NOT a better player than Yepez right now. He doesn't do one single thing better than Yepez right now. If you put Pujols in AAA he wouldn't manage a .970 OPS w/ nearly as many walks as strikeouts. And as for Yepez's 'struggles' - dude has .230 BABIP and 5 walks to only 3 strikeouts. He's right there. He's taking good ABs.

That's a guy that needs MORE time on the field against big league pitching, not less.

He's also 24 yrs old in his 7th season as a professional. You don't need to worry about the 40 (he's already on it) or options (he'll make it or not well before his 3 option years are burned off). This isn't some 19 yr old kid who had a big year fueled by a good BABIP despite a poor approach. He did EVERYTHING you can ask for of a young hitter and he did it at the age where he's ready to advance.

This isn't a move a serious organization makes.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

But that's the thing - sending him back to AAA isn't going to help there. That's why I cited Carlson.

Sending Carlson back to AAA wouldn't have ultimately helped him last year. He NEEDED to see these guys who were pitching him backwards or who would throw breaking balls in fastball counts.

I've NEVER seen a rookie get pitched like Carlson got pitched coming up. I talked about it several times on here - that guy would get 3-2 breaking balls. He'd get first pitch changeups with RISP. He got his ass tossed into the deep end of the pool and it was the ONLY thing that was going to help him.

And who says he can't play passable 1b? Moreover, why does it even matter? We're stuck with the aging 1b with the most fungible skill-set on the planet at 1b for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, he played 3b and LF last year in the minors while playing mostly 1b. And WTF can Albert Pujols play? Not a thing - that's the guy that's knocking him off the roster. A guy who can't play anywhere defensively and can't score from 2nd on a single if his life depended on it.

Pujols is NOT a better player than Yepez right now. He doesn't do one single thing better than Yepez right now. If you put Pujols in AAA he wouldn't manage a .970 OPS w/ nearly as many walks as strikeouts. And as for Yepez's 'struggles' - dude has .230 BABIP and 5 walks to only 3 strikeouts. He's right there. He's taking good ABs.

That's a guy that needs MORE time on the field against big league pitching, not less.

He's also 24 yrs old in his 7th season as a professional. You don't need to worry about the 40 (he's already on it) or options (he'll make it or not well before his 3 option years are burned off). This isn't some 19 yr old kid who had a big year fueled by a good BABIP despite a poor approach. He did EVERYTHING you can ask for of a young hitter and he did it at the age where he's ready to advance.

This isn't a move a serious organization makes.

My counterpoint to you would be do you think Yepez would become a blackhole at DH and bring no other value to the team while he's slumping? Carlson, even when slumping, still played good defense.

Yes, Yepez has nothing to prove. I don't think how the roster's constructed he'd be getting routine ABs (whether he and Gorman should split DH ABs is a different story, but I'd be onboard with that, if they're ready). FO wanted the farewell tour while doing a half ass upgrade with getting Dickerson. Given that's the situation they put themselves in, I'd much rather have Yepez take more time to see pitches and become a better fielder than getting 5 ABs in a week.

Also, Carlson was hailed as probably the Cardinals best or second best (Gorman being the other) offensive prospect since Taveras. Yepez was a lottery ticket traded for Matt Adams.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

My counterpoint to you would be do you think Yepez would become a blackhole at DH and bring no other value to the team while he's slumping? Carlson, even when slumping, still played good defense.

Yes, Yepez has nothing to prove. I don't think how the roster's constructed he'd be getting routine ABs (whether he and Gorman should split DH ABs is a different story, but I'd be onboard with that, if they're ready). FO wanted the farewell tour while doing a half ass upgrade with getting Dickerson. Given that's the situation they put themselves in, I'd much rather have Yepez take more time to see pitches and become a better fielder than getting 5 ABs in a week.

I just don't care how good a fielder he becomes. He's never going to be more than a backup at 1b or in the corners, at least not until he's in his late 20s at best and I ain't keeping him in Memphis that long.

For the next 3+ years he's a DH or a minor leaguer.

And he should just be the DH. Again, it's not like that lumbering fossil that's taking his place on the roster can do anything to add value other than swing at a few lefties every week. And unlike Pujols, Yepez can actually take quality ABs against righties.

As of today, no - he wasn't going to get many ABs.

But prior to this acquisition I think he would've been lined out to get the lion's share of the ABs from the right side of the platoon and eventually could've earned a much bigger load (as his upside is significantly higher than Noot or Dickerson).

It's the 'halfassed fairwell tour' that I take specific umbrage with. Molina has reached the Mathieu level of being an overrated, overpaid and ungrateful red-ass at this point. In the end I think this is a 3-4 win better team with additional financial flexibility had they gone with Yan Gomes as a 2-year placeholder for Herrera and stuck Juan Yepez at DH instead of giving Molina a raise after last-seasons awful year and getting the band back together.

The team is focusing on the gate not the product on the field.

Par for the course really.

[BigRedChief]

Pujols was/is my favorite player since Bob Gibson. He gave us the best 11 years in a row any player has had in MLB history. That said……

Pujols on this team in 2022 will slow down or block younger players. But, It’s a done deal with Mo. the choice has been made.

I thought that Mo and Dewitt got rid of Schildt to make sure we played more younger players?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I thought that Mo and Dewitt got rid of Schildt to make sure we played more younger players?

Oh. That's cute.

You believed that?

They fired Shildt because he wouldn't take "we're going to go cheap and you'll get Steven Matz and like it..."

DeWitt doesn't care about playing young players - he cares about turning a profit. Oftentimes one begets the other. But in this case more profit is to be made by running zombie Pujols out there.

****ing DeWitt, man.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

I don’t see the issue if Yepez isn’t ready. Let him get full playing time in Memphis and when he’s ready bring him up.

I have more of an issue with Matz being the prize of this off-season.

Yeah pretty underwhelming off-season at best with Matz being about it. Not much of a surprise though.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Miles

Yeah pretty underwhelming off-season at best with Matz being about it. Not much of a surprise though.

Of course not. It was sarcasm. Ever since the 2011 World Series Dewitt has been all about the money, not winning championships.

[BigRedChief]

They just had Pujols walk out from the locker room onto the outfield and into the dugout at the end of the first half of the 1st inning. Of course, he got a standing ovation from the fans and players.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

They just had Pujols walk out from the locker room onto the outfield and into the dugout at the end of the first half of the 1st inning. Of course, he got a standing ovation from the fans and players.

Let's hope after a month of ovations as a Card, he decides to retire or they agree he goes to IR (he has feet issues they could use at the very least) and he hangs around the dugout as a bench presence for the younger guys. Probably not what they are doing, but that I could at least stomach.

[Marco Polo]

I wish the rumor that Mike Shannon said about the club being for sale was true. This club makes so much money compared to other franchises; our prized FA addition should not be Matz.

[ChiefsCountry]

Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.