****The Official 2019 STL Cardinals Thread****

[BigRedChief]

Cardinals announce 25-man Opening Day roster for the 2019 season.

Spoiler!

The Cardinals today announced their 25-man Opening Day roster that includes four first-time Cardinals and 13 players that were developed within their organization.

PITCHERS (12): 60 – John Brebbia-RHP, 22 – Jack Flaherty-RHP, 53 – John Gant- RHP, 49 – Jordan Hicks-RHP, 43 – Dakota Hudson- RHP, 55 – Dominic Leone-RHP, 59 – Mike Mayers- RHP, 21 – Andrew Miller-LHP, 39 – Miles Mikolas-RHP, 29 – Alex Reyes, RHP, 52 – Michael Wacha-RHP, 50 – Adam Wainwright- RHP;

CATCHERS (2): 4 -Yadier Molina, 32 – Matt Wieters;

INFIELDERS (6): 13 - Matt Carpenter, 12 – Paul DeJong, 46 – Paul Goldschmidt, 34 – Yario Muñoz, 33 – Drew Robinson, 16 – Kolten Wong;

OUTFIELDERS (5): 46 – Harrison Bader, 25 - Dexter Fowler, 38 – José Martínez, 41 – Tyler O'Neill, 23 – Marcell Ozuna;

DISABLED LIST (5): 27 - Brett Cecil (10-day, left hand Carpal Tunnel syndrome), 44 – Luke Gregerson (10-day, right shoulder impingement), 18 – Carlos Martínez (right shoulder cuff strain), 3 - Jedd Gyorko (10-day, right calf strain), 67 - Justin Williams (10-day, right hand 2nd metacarpal fracture).

2019 Opening Day Line up

Spoiler!

Starting lineup
Matt Carpenter 3B
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Paul DeJong SS
Ozuna LF
Yadier Molina C
Dexter Fowler RF
Kolten Wong 2B
Harrison Bader CF

Won the Central Division. Won the NLDS.

NLDS Playoff roster

Spoiler!

Pitchers (12): Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Genesis Cabrera, Tyler Webb, Andrew Miller, John Brebbia, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos, Carlos Martinez.

Catchers (2): Yadier Molina, Matt Wieters.

Infielders (6): Paul Goldschmidt, Kolten Wong, Paul DeJong, Matt Carpenter, Tommy Edman, Yairo Munoz.

Outfielders (5): Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader, Dexter Fowler, Jose Martinez, Randy Arozarena.

NLDS Playoff Game 1 starting lineup

Spoiler!

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Tommy Edman, 3B

3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B

4. Marcell Ozuna, LF

5. Yadier Molina, C

6. Paul DeJong, SS

7. Kolten Wong, 2B

8. Harrison Bader, CF

9. Miles Mikolas, P

NLCS Game One Starting lineup

Spoiler!

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Kolten Wong, 2B

3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B

4. Marcell Ozuna, LF

5. Yadier Molina, C

6. Matt Carpenter 3B

7.Tommy Edmond RF

8. Paul DeJong, SS

9. Miles Mikolas P

[Jewish Rabbi]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

This team is teetering between really good and a ****ing meltdown.

Yeah, enjoy this while it lasts because we will see the latter by the end of the season.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Yeah, enjoy this while it lasts because we will see the latter by the end of the season.

Starting pitching is the only real concern right now. Which is a big damn concern.

But I'll be damned if they don't play like a "team" right now and don't do stupid shit to beat themselves. Haven't seen this since around 2013.

[Marcellus]

And good grief the FSMW makeup and lighting crew need shit canned. Dan and Thompson looked like ****ing zombies doing that recap.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Yeah, enjoy this while it lasts because we will see the latter by the end of the season.

we got tonight, who needs tomorrow? why don’t we stay?
/Bob Segar

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Starting pitching is the only real concern right now. Which is a big damn concern.

But I'll be damned if they don't play like a "team" right now and don't do stupid shit to beat themselves. Haven't seen this since around 2013.

Guess what NL team has the fewest fewest strikeouts? It’s still a small sample size, but the shift in approach post Mabry has been productive.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by VAChief

Guess what NL team has the fewest fewest strikeouts? It’s still a small sample size, but the shift in approach post Mabry has been productive.

Yeah, I read an article on the Athletic that broke it down using stats. It was an impressive turnaround. Maybe because I'm a novice using these deep in the weeds stats but, it was an improvement is every way possible. And not just a couple of players but all the lineup.


And another article or maybe the same one.. base running. Complete turnaround. From being shit during the Matheny era to near the top of MLB.

[BigRedChief]

OMG the end of the Matheny era was ugly. From The Athletic

In the waning days of Matheny’s employment, the Cardinals were routinely shoved around at Busch. His final six home games were losses, with the Cardinals getting outscored 44-14.

With restless fans booing a lethargic, careless, mistake-prone team getting bullied by the last-place Reds, chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak reached the boiling point.

After the Cardinals got humiliated by the Reds in two consecutive losses — 9-1, then 8-2 — Matheny was let go and replaced by bench coach Mike Shildt.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

OMG the end of the Matheny era was ugly. From The Athletic

In the waning days of Matheny’s employment, the Cardinals were routinely shoved around at Busch. His final six home games were losses, with the Cardinals getting outscored 44-14.

With restless fans booing a lethargic, careless, mistake-prone team getting bullied by the last-place Reds, chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak reached the boiling point.

After the Cardinals got humiliated by the Reds in two consecutive losses — 9-1, then 8-2 — Matheny was let go and replaced by bench coach Mike Shildt.

Insight coming? The games were just last year.

[DJ's left nut]

My worry right now is that I think the offense will cool somewhat and the SP may absolutely crash. There are some real alarming numbers under the hood here.

The Cardinals did some stuff shortly after LaRussa where they followed a year with unnaturally good string luck on offense with a year of unsustaintably high strand rates with their pitching staff.

The offense looks to have some staying power but the pitching isn't gonna keep stranding 80% of their runners, not when they struggle to generate strikeouts. Hudson, Wacha and Wainwright are borderline MLB starters right now based on their stuff, IMO. Mikolas has better stuff than his results but he just makes too many bad pitches; he's a poor man's Syndergaard right now in that he's just constantly making a bad pitch at a bad time.

The starting pitching to this point has been bad so many folks assume it's gonna improve. Folks - there's a decent chance the results get WORSE. There's a ton not to like about this starting staff.

Personally I think they need to work a lot harder on un-****ing Carlos Martinez and getting his ass in the rotation. They really need any version of the 2015-2017 Carlose Martinez in there.

[seclark]

****in dj comes in here and pisses in the corn flakes.
Sec

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by seclark

****in dj comes in here and pisses in the corn flakes.
Sec

I'll do that.

But I still like Mikolas. His velocity is down about a half tick (and velocity has stablized by this point, as a general rule) so that's probably the new norm, but he can pitch well at that velocity anyway.

His problem is that his bad pitches are just too damn bad. Now just a little more luck in that regard will help (folks eventually start missing even the bad pitches; Dotel pitched for 2 years at the back of his career throwing pitches too shitty to hit), but he also needs to do a better job of keeping his head in the game and not just firing cripple pitches.

Garrett Stephenson was a !@#$ing pro at that sort of thing. You don't want to be a rich man's Garrett Stephenson.

Flaherty's a goddamn stud, so no worries there. And occasionally Wacha will make a pitch where I just kinda drop my jaw. That amazing change will show up 3-4 times/game (or roughly 1/3 as often as he throws it). He threw some hellacious 2-seamer thing his last outing that just massacred poor Soto. But Wacha's just so friggen inconsistent that I'll never trust him.

And I don't understand what Austin Gomber needs to do to get a shot up here. Yes, he's lefthanded. No, he doesn't throw 98. That doesn't mean he's a LOOGY. That guy's arsenal is a LHSP through and through and every time you let him do that in AAA he does it well. Can you please give him a legitimate shot to stick up here - he can do the job.

[Jewish Rabbi]

Originally Posted by seclark

****in dj comes in here and pisses in the corn flakes.
Sec

He’s right though. This is probably the best the offense can perform, and that probably won’t last all season. The pitching has been meh and other than Mikolas they are getting the results they should be.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

My worry right now is that I think the offense will cool somewhat and the SP may absolutely crash. There are some real alarming numbers under the hood here.

The Cardinals did some stuff shortly after LaRussa where they followed a year with unnaturally good string luck on offense with a year of unsustaintably high strand rates with their pitching staff.

The offense looks to have some staying power but the pitching isn't gonna keep stranding 80% of their runners, not when they struggle to generate strikeouts. Hudson, Wacha and Wainwright are borderline MLB starters right now based on their stuff, IMO. Mikolas has better stuff than his results but he just makes too many bad pitches; he's a poor man's Syndergaard right now in that he's just constantly making a bad pitch at a bad time.

The starting pitching to this point has been bad so many folks assume it's gonna improve. Folks - there's a decent chance the results get WORSE. There's a ton not to like about this starting staff.

Personally I think they need to work a lot harder on un-****ing Carlos Martinez and getting his ass in the rotation. They really need any version of the 2015-2017 Carlose Martinez in there.

Agreed on Martinez, we need him as a starter. It would also help if someone finds the Alex Reyes voodoo doll and destroys it.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'll do that.

But I still like Mikolas. His velocity is down about a half tick (and velocity has stablized by this point, as a general rule) so that's probably the new norm, but he can pitch well at that velocity anyway.

His problem is that his bad pitches are just too damn bad. Now just a little more luck in that regard will help (folks eventually start missing even the bad pitches; Dotel pitched for 2 years at the back of his career throwing pitches too shitty to hit), but he also needs to do a better job of keeping his head in the game and not just firing cripple pitches.

Garrett Stephenson was a !@#$ing pro at that sort of thing. You don't want to be a rich man's Garrett Stephenson.

Flaherty's a goddamn stud, so no worries there. And occasionally Wacha will make a pitch where I just kinda drop my jaw. That amazing change will show up 3-4 times/game (or roughly 1/3 as often as he throws it). He threw some hellacious 2-seamer thing his last outing that just massacred poor Soto. But Wacha's just so friggen inconsistent that I'll never trust him.

And I don't understand what Austin Gomber needs to do to get a shot up here. Yes, he's lefthanded. No, he doesn't throw 98. That doesn't mean he's a LOOGY. That guy's arsenal is a LHSP through and through and every time you let him do that in AAA he does it well. Can you please give him a legitimate shot to stick up here - he can do the job.

They let Gomber’s spring dictate too much and they overvalued Hudson’s spring. Gomber has pitched pretty well at AAA so far, he has an excellent WHIP and still striking out a batter an inning. He probably get’s the start instead of Ponce if he hadn’t pitched the day before, at least I would hope so. He should be the first call up once Waino hits the wall, and he unfortunately I think he will. Wacha I can’t figure out, he looks hurt at times throwing a maxed out 91 mph fastball and the next batter he he throws a free and easy 95. His off speed stuff has been inconsistent as well.

Mikolas I think will be fine, his stuff is still good. He should eat more innings for us too as he he gets on track.

[George Liquor]

Anyone we can trade for this summer? Bumgarner?