2018 STL Cardinals Thread

[BigRedChief]

Opening day lineup

Fowler RF
Pham CF
Carpenter 3B
Ozuna LF
Martinez 1B
Molina C
Dejong SS
Wong 2B
Pitcher

Edit:
Matheny fired 07/14/2018




Opening Day Roster

Spoiler!

St. Louis has opted to carry 12 position players and 13 pitchers to begin the new season, with a four-man bench and eight-man bullpen.

Outfielders:
Dexter Fowler
Tommy Pham
Marcell Ozuna

Infielders:
Matt Carpenter
Paul DeJong
Kolten Wong

Catchers:
Yadier Molina
Francisco Pena

Utility:
Jose Martinez
Greg Garcia
Yairo Munoz
Jedd Gyrko

Starters:
Carlos Martinez
Michael Wacha
Luke Weaver
Miles Mikolas
Jack Flaherty

Relievers:
Dominic Leone
Tyler Lyons
Bud Norris
Brett Cecil
Sam Tuivailala
Matt Bowman
Jordan Hicks
Mike Mayers

On the DL:
Adam Wainwright
Luke Gregerson

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

Can I share my Braves excitement here? we've done well historically with this - but yeah - I have no else where to go - Ronald Acuna Jr is wrecking shop for us.

& there it is - #walkoff - you're welcome

Ronald Acuna Jr. obviously hasn’t conceded the NL Rookie of the Year to Juan Soto. Two of the best under-21 players you’ll ever see.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 15, 2018

[Pasta Little Brioni]

2 more bombs for Acuna

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Bullpen made it terrifying, but at least they didn't completely shit themselves again.

God, I ****ing hate relievers so much.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

DeJong saved his ass

[Frazod]

Back to 10 games over, 4 games behind the Cubs.

**** you Matheny.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Back to 10 games over, 4 games behind the Cubs.

**** you Matheny.

1 game back from playing in the WC game.

[George Liquor]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

1 game back from playing in the WC game.

That's insane.

Matheny should have been canned after the 2013 World Series.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

1 game back from playing in the WC game.

One series at a time...keep playing with energy and good things could happen. Defensively, situational hitting and base running looks for the most part looks like a totally different team.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BDj23

That's insane.

Matheny should have been canned after the 2013 World Series.

According to what I've been reading thats the time he started playing "favorites" more. Ones that happened to be a part of his bible study class taking place in the locker room. BTW, who the **** allowed that to happen? You want to meet, got to your own place or a hotel room on the road.

He started to ignore the statistics he was given and trust his gut more. Let players "play through" a downturn until it was way too late and cost the team too many wind. Freese and Craig come to mind. He would play vets over young players, even ones that joined the team this year and are batting .200 (Moss).

He would only trust 1-2 relievers. He would pitch them until they broke down and their careers were over. He would trust his pitchers to get out of jams when everyone in the ball park could see they were having issues with control on that day. Cost us so many wins. And the 2013 World Series.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Having a true every day lineup and getting rid of guys that should be backup role players (Turdy Pham) did wonders. Who knew??

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Having a true every day lineup and getting rid of guys that should be backup role players (Turdy Pham) did wonders. Who knew??

So you’re going to ignore that Mo just gutted the bullpen?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Of mistakes he made? Fire his ass. The pen collapse is coming too...This run is a mirage.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Of mistakes he made? Fire his ass. The pen collapse is coming too...This run is a mirage.

Its not like they will keep winning 7 out of 10 the rest of the season but this isn't a mirage, but its probably too late. The Cards lost a lot of close games due to shitty hitting and bullpen meltdowns.

They still have the best record inside the division. They weren't that far off before. The toxic combo of Matheny and Mabry created this mess. (And I saw on the Star where the Royals are intrigued by Matheny )

Here is some interesting info on the new hitting approach. The dramatic drop in strike outs is not a mirage or a coincidence. A lot of the improvement is from actually hitting the damn ball.

It might sound elementary, but Budaska’s arrival has coincided with a remarkable revival of the Cardinals’ offense. In the month since the team replaced manager Mike Matheny with interim manager Mike Shildt and replaced hitting coaches John Mabry and Bill Mueller with Budaska and George Greer, the team is first in the NL in runs per game (5.2), wRC+ (119) and last in strikeout rate (17.7 percent).

At the time of the change, the Cardinals were scoring 3.9 runs per game, good for 10th in the National League, and were seventh in both wRC+ (94) and strikeout rate (22.7 percent).

Budaska’s influence can’t be ignored in the sudden surge of scoring. Before his arrival, Cardinals hitters would sometimes describe their trips to the minors as “Buddha reboots,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Now they can save on the airfare.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Mabry was a disaster from the start. Gotta love the good ole boys network.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Having a true every day lineup and getting rid of guys that should be backup role players (Turdy Pham) did wonders. Who knew??

Having set roles can be helpful as guys try to prepare. It has seemed to give Wong a lift, which allowing him and Gyorko to play everyday has helped shore up the defense. We have gone from suspect (at best up the middle) to a strength.

Playing Carp at second, Martinez at first, Munoz at short, Carp, Fowler and Ozuna hitting well below expectations for nearly the first quarter of the season, Matheny's usual ineptness with his bullpen were the biggest reasons we sucked for so long. Carp, obviously finally took off about the time that Pham started his slide.

Pham was the only one they could free up, but he wasn't the drag on our line up that you keep insisting. Should he have been hitting down in the order after he started slumping? Sure, but we are still below the Pirates right now with out his offense earlier in the year. You could make a case tha Ozuna was a bigger drag on our offense. He has an OPS+ of 93. Pham was 98. Pham has a 5 year OPS+ rating of 122. In hindsight he probably should have been playing a corner position with what we now know about Bader. Pham is a plus corner outfielder, especially in left, but average in center. Fowler totally shitting the bed offensively combined with his uncanny ability to have good wheels and yet let more balls fall in front of him than Molina could have caught was a much bigger factor than whether Tommy Pham started or was a fourth outfielder.

I was wrong about Fowler, he was a horrible choice for our team. We overreacted to someone that was never really a good center fielder. I thought his offense and on base abilities would add some life, but he gave us one marginally adequate year.