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 BigRedChief

Damn Carp leaves the game after hit by a pitch on the hand.

Woot!

Update on Matt Carpenter: X-rays were negative #stlcards

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) August 16, 2018

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Also to be fair he’s really only using 24... has Pena even played since the switch?

thats a Molina thing not a Shildt thing. Yadi is having his best year since he was in his prime. Because of that and his past contributions, he should get to decide when he takes a break.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Harper's getting locked in. I can't wait to get his ass out of here.

he’s welcome to come back next year and start in RF.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Goddamn, I ****in hate relievers.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Good win, but Norris is a timebomb at this point. Hasn't been able to throw his breaker for strikes in several appearances, and every fastball in the zone is piped.

[George Liquor]

8 in a row!

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Good win, but Norris is a timebomb at this point. Hasn't been able to throw his breaker for strikes in several appearances, and every fastball in the zone is piped.

It will be interesting to see how Martinez responds back in the pen.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by VAChief

It will be interesting to see how Martinez responds back in the pen.

you can slot him to take Norris’s spot. I’m with Hamas, he looks like he’s getting ready to blow up like Holland.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BDj23

8 in a row!

thats a good thing. Last year 87 wins got you into the WC game. I think it’s going to take 90 wins this year.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Arguably saved 2 runs on defense and created 1 run on the bases tonight so far.

He plays defense like this and can hit .275 consistently, he's a All-Star. I knew he was fast. But, not this fast.

Harrison Bader will make your jaw drop on a nightly basis! 👏 pic.twitter.com/npSkp0gIC2

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 16, 2018

[BigRedChief]

True story. Matt Carpenter just told us in the clubhouse that after X-Rays were negative on his hand, he proved to the #STLCards trainer that his hand was OK by ... opening a jar of salsa.

— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) August 16, 2018

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

True story. Matt Carpenter just told us in the clubhouse that after X-Rays were negative on his hand, he proved to the #STLCards trainer that his hand was OK by ... opening a jar of salsa.

— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) August 16, 2018

I will feel better if he is still playing and producing a week from now. I have had two fractures, one in each hand/wrist area at different times in my life. Both times the initial results were negative, but fractures were found later with additional testing. Hands and wrists are so tricky, but hopefully it is a good sign and not bravado. Hopefully he was lucky, but it is too soon to think it is good to go.

Man that would that suck...he wasn't going to continue at the torrid pace he was on, but because he was so hot he was beginning to affect how other teams pitched everybody as they had an eye on when he was getting ready to hit again. That is an intangible effect that you can't really quantify fully, you just know it is there.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

FWIW, it's also nice to have a manger that used more than 23 guys on the roster.

From Viva EL Birdos

Shildt has taken an aggressive, youth-first approach with the bullpen and it’s completely paid off, as the team’s 2.09 ERA since July 27 is the best in the majors in that span.

The bullpen isn’t the only source of young talent contributing to the team; far from it. Overall, the St. Louis active roster has an average age of 27.2, tied for the third-youngest in the majors and sandwiched between five rebuilding teams: the Rays, Padres, Marlins, Orioles, and White Sox.

The Cardinals are the youngest team in the NL Central, ahead of both the rebuilding Reds and the hybrid Pirates. For what it’s worth, this Cardinals team is roughly two years younger than both the Brewers (29.1) and the Cubs (29.2). The age alone should speak to the potential of this team in the future, given that they’re in the thick of a postseason race at this moment.

The young players have responded to the trust put in them with some very solid performances. The Cardinals have both a position player and pitcher who are close to leading the fWAR leaderboards for rookies on the season.

Jack Flaherty is in a three-way tie for fWAR among rookie pitchers with 1.6, just 0.2 shy of the Giants’ Dereck Rodríguez (though Flaherty has pitched about 23 more innings than Rodríguez). Harrison Bader has been perhaps the most impressive, as his 2.5 fWAR has him in sole possession of second place on the rookie position player boards, 0.2 behind teenage phenom Juan Soto—and Bader has done so in 44 fewer plate appearances than Soto. He sits ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr., Miguel Andújar, and Brian Anderson, all having accumulated more PA than Bader. Though his total isn’t outstanding, Yairo Muñoz’s 0.3 fWAR has him 24th on the rookie list

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

From Viva EL Birdos

Shildt has taken an aggressive, youth-first approach with the bullpen and it’s completely paid off, as the team’s 2.09 ERA since July 27 is the best in the majors in that span.

The bullpen isn’t the only source of young talent contributing to the team; far from it. Overall, the St. Louis active roster has an average age of 27.2, tied for the third-youngest in the majors and sandwiched between five rebuilding teams: the Rays, Padres, Marlins, Orioles, and White Sox.

The Cardinals are the youngest team in the NL Central, ahead of both the rebuilding Reds and the hybrid Pirates. For what it’s worth, this Cardinals team is roughly two years younger than both the Brewers (29.1) and the Cubs (29.2). The age alone should speak to the potential of this team in the future, given that they’re in the thick of a postseason race at this moment.

The young players have responded to the trust put in them with some very solid performances. The Cardinals have both a position player and pitcher who are close to leading the fWAR leaderboards for rookies on the season.

Jack Flaherty is in a three-way tie for fWAR among rookie pitchers with 1.6, just 0.2 shy of the Giants’ Dereck Rodríguez (though Flaherty has pitched about 23 more innings than Rodríguez). Harrison Bader has been perhaps the most impressive, as his 2.5 fWAR has him in sole possession of second place on the rookie position player boards, 0.2 behind teenage phenom Juan Soto—and Bader has done so in 44 fewer plate appearances than Soto. He sits ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr., Miguel Andújar, and Brian Anderson, all having accumulated more PA than Bader. Though his total isn’t outstanding, Yairo Muñoz’s 0.3 fWAR has him 24th on the rookie list

Jordan Hicks - 21
Paul DeJong - 25
Luke Weaver - 24
Harrison Bader - 24
Tyler O'Neill - 23
Jack Flaherty - 22
Dakota Hudson - 23
Austin Gomber - 24
Mike Mayers - 26
Daniel Poncedeleon - 26
John Gant - 26
Alex Reyes - 23

It's one thing to have young players but a whole other animal to have young players that produce. That list excludes Martinez, Wong and Ozuna who are 26, 27 and 27 respectively.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Swanman

Jordan Hicks - 21
Paul DeJong - 25
Luke Weaver - 24
Harrison Bader - 24
Tyler O'Neill - 23
Jack Flaherty - 22
Dakota Hudson - 23
Austin Gomber - 24
Mike Mayers - 26
Daniel Poncedeleon - 26
John Gant - 26
Alex Reyes - 23

It's one thing to have young players but a whole other animal to have young players that produce. That list excludes Martinez, Wong and Ozuna who are 26, 27 and 27 respectively.

If we had been 7-8 games over .500, Matheny doesn't get fired and a lot of these players don't even see the field or would not have the same playing time as now under Schildt,

We are now moving forward instead of stuck in the damn "meh" brand of baseball.