****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

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And regarding Wacha, since his return to the 'rotation' the Cardinals have gone 2-2 in his outings with the two losses being games where they scored 0 and 1 runs respectively. Those are likely losses with Flaherty on the mound. Hell, those are likely losses if Verlander's making those starts.

Shildt's running with a real talent disadvantage quite often and he's managing to milk .500 baseball out of Wacha starts by getting his ass out of there pretty quickly and letting Helsley do some lifting for him. It's a terrible position to put Shildt in but one he's handling very admirably.

As for Carpenter - I think Shildt is predisposed to giving Carpenter every chance he can, yes. But I also think he gets a LOT of pressure from on high to put Carpenter out there and try to justify that extension. If the Cardinals could just decline his option this off-season and move on, I think Carpenter would've been a bench bat weeks ago.

I don't think Shildt is completely without blame, but it's probably an even 50/50 split between him and the front office. And even at that, Edman appeared to have supplanted him as the starting 3b before Wong took the foul ball off the toe. I think going forward you'll see that alignment far more often than not.

Carpenter's season is winding to a close. His Cardinal career should be as well but $$$ dictates that they'll give him every chance to keep that 3b job (because he'll be gifted it to start the season) next year.

Yes, where he has really started to stand out to me is he seems willing to make some clear decisions when they needed to be made that Matheny was unwilling or incapable of doing regularly.

We have seen him pull starters WITH a clear lead in the 5th inning because he saw it was going to be a track meet all game.

You know what that does do your position players who just put up crooked numbers? It makes them trust you even more.

It wasn't his fault that we extended Carpenter. I think you are right had that not happened, I think you see him limited even more to a bench role and spot starting.

[Marco Polo]

I have to say that I'm a fan of Shildt but we haven't seen him in the postseason. I'll reserve judgment if/when we get there.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Every manager of every team in every sport is going to do things that piss you off. Routinely.

If your favorite manager/coach/whatever took over the team you root for daily, you'd see a whole lot of warts you didn't see when you weren't watching them like a hawk.

I learned my lesson after Matheny took over for LaRussa and I realized what a true mouth-breather looked like. After years of focusing primarily on what LaRussa did poorly rather than what he did well, we ended up with a manager who ONLY did things poorly. And I can't help but think we kinda deserved that.

So with Shildt I have taken a more relaxed approach and really the one I should've taken with LaRussa more often than I did. I have to give him a fair, 1,000 mile view of his overall body of work. And with that in mind, occasional gaffes notwithstanding, it's hard not to conclude that he's done an outstanding job.

Man if that ain't the truth. TLR drove me crazy at times....... sure miss that guy.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Marco Polo

I have to say that I'm a fan of Shildt but we haven't seen him in the postseason. I'll reserve judgment if/when we get there.

Not his fault this roster has way too many aging overpaid players. Thats on Mo.


Defense and base running are cleaned up. Bullpen decisions of when to pull a pitcher and who to put in are solid. Thats about 90% of what a manager can control in game.


His positive spin about every player and situation in his press conferences grinds my gears but I guess that's who he is or wants to project. I can live with that. He has favorites but every manager has too. How many pages did we spend in here bitching about Larussa playing favorites and he is light years ahead of Matheny in that dept.


One thing I'd like to see but wont for a while is to demand Mo do something to improve the team. Bernie was telling a story about how we made that trade at the 2011 deadline to bolster our bullpen. Mo and Dewitt were not going to do nothing. Larussa went to Dewitt and demanded that they get some bullpen help and the team will respond trust him. Not just once but several times trust him. So Dewitt told Mo get some bullpen help.


Matheny was a very popular player. He had a successful spring training. Yadi struggled with his offense. Mo was sending Yadi down. Larussa said no way, he may be a future hall of famer. You have to move on to the young talent.

[Frazod]

Well, looks like we'll be losing a full game today. Lost to Milwaukee and the Cubs curbstomped Syndergaard for six runs in the first inning.

Useless ass Mets.

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Well, looks like we'll be losing a full game today. Lost to Milwaukee and the Cubs curbstomped Syndergaard for six runs in the first inning.

Useless ass Mets.

Commentators at the Pirates/Cubs game from Williamsport on SNB made the comment that technically it was a road game for the Cubs and could this be the turnaround of their road woes.I told the mrs if they turn it around and start playing well on the road it's gonna be another one of those moments for me in professional sports.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Nzoner

Commentators at the Pirates/Cubs game from Williamsport on SNB made the comment that technically it was a road game for the Cubs and could this be the turnaround of their road woes.I told the mrs if they turn it around and start playing well on the road it's gonna be another one of those moments for me in professional sports.

The Cubs have the most talent in the division. They have been underperforming all year, especially on the road.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

The Cubs have the most talent in the division. They have been underperforming all year, especially on the road.

Yeah, I don't think anybody here would argue that they aren't. They should be running away with the division. But they aren't.

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Yeah, I don't think anybody here would argue that they aren't. They should be running away with the division. But they aren't.

The powers that be have to keep it interesting

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Nzoner

The powers that be have to keep it interesting

Nah, I think they're just choking douchebags.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

The Cubs have the most talent in the division. They have been underperforming all year, especially on the road.

I cant agree they have been underperforming. It's been 2 years of the same roster with the same results. The team is just flawed and the Nationals series exposed every bit of it.

The team has no leadoff hitter so they decided to ruin a good thing and take Heyward, who was legitimately having a good year, and put him in a position that he doesnt feel comfortable in and is hitting like .160 or some shit.

Last I checked only 2 teams with a winning record strike out more than the Cubs and the answer was to call up Ian Happ?

I can't imagine another offseason of basically no moves and I wouldn't be shocked if it involved moving one of the core 4. The team needs a pretty good overhaul of the lineup and find somewhere to increase the amount of contact at the top and bottom and how do you do that with the 2020 FA pool? Sign Rendon? Don't have that kind of money. 2 years left of the core and you can't continue to pray they all hit homeruns at the same time for an entire month. Time to Garciaparra someone.

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I cant agree they have been underperforming. It's been 2 years of the same roster with the same results. The team is just flawed and the Nationals series exposed every bit of it.

The team has no leadoff hitter so they decided to ruin a good thing and take Heyward, who was legitimately having a good year, and put him in a position that he doesnt feel comfortable in and is hitting like .160 or some shit.

Last I checked only 2 teams with a winning record strike out more than the Cubs and the answer was to call up Ian Happ?

I can't imagine another offseason of basically no moves and I wouldn't be shocked if it involved moving one of the core 4. The team needs a pretty good overhaul of the lineup and find somewhere to increase the amount of contact at the top and bottom and how do you do that with the 2020 FA pool? Sign Rendon? Don't have that kind of money. 2 years left of the core and you can't continue to pray they all hit homeruns at the same time for an entire month. Time to Garciaparra someone.

Have no fear Zobrist is on his way back

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I cant agree they have been underperforming. It's been 2 years of the same roster with the same results. The team is just flawed and the Nationals series exposed every bit of it.

The team has no leadoff hitter so they decided to ruin a good thing and take Heyward, who was legitimately having a good year, and put him in a position that he doesnt feel comfortable in and is hitting like .160 or some shit.

Last I checked only 2 teams with a winning record strike out more than the Cubs and the answer was to call up Ian Happ?

I can't imagine another offseason of basically no moves and I wouldn't be shocked if it involved moving one of the core 4. The team needs a pretty good overhaul of the lineup and find somewhere to increase the amount of contact at the top and bottom and how do you do that with the 2020 FA pool? Sign Rendon? Don't have that kind of money. 2 years left of the core and you can't continue to pray they all hit homeruns at the same time for an entire month. Time to Garciaparra someone.

Agree with this and I'm a Cubs fan.

Look, I've been waiting for years for the day when Bryant and Rizzo carry this ****ing team.

If I were them I'd trade Bryant for some young arms. I thought getting Castellanos was wise, but you're 100% correct they don't have shit at leading off.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Agree with this and I'm a Cubs fan.

Look, I've been waiting for years for the day when Bryant and Rizzo carry this ****ing team.

If I were them I'd trade Bryant for some young arms. I thought getting Castellanos was wise, but you're 100% correct they don't have shit at leading off.

Trade Bryant and then what? You better have an ironclad handshake agreement that involved blood to sign Rendon if you are going to walk down that path. There's no other replacement to be found and there's no way you risk completely throwing away the last 2 years of the rest for pitching prospects.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I cant agree they have been underperforming. It's been 2 years of the same roster with the same results. The team is just flawed and the Nationals series exposed every bit of it.

The team has no leadoff hitter so they decided to ruin a good thing and take Heyward, who was legitimately having a good year, and put him in a position that he doesnt feel comfortable in and is hitting like .160 or some shit.

Last I checked only 2 teams with a winning record strike out more than the Cubs and the answer was to call up Ian Happ?

I can't imagine another offseason of basically no moves and I wouldn't be shocked if it involved moving one of the core 4. The team needs a pretty good overhaul of the lineup and find somewhere to increase the amount of contact at the top and bottom and how do you do that with the 2020 FA pool? Sign Rendon? Don't have that kind of money. 2 years left of the core and you can't continue to pray they all hit homeruns at the same time for an entire month. Time to Garciaparra someone.

I cannot for the life of me understand how they have not addressed the leadoff spot.

Maddon was too cute by half with that last year and it hurt them. But they they did NOTHING when they realized it was going to fail. That's just organizational malpractice when you have the kind of run producers in the middle of that lineup that they have. How do you have 4 genuine RBI guys in Rizzo, Bryant, Baez and Contreras and then not bother putting a table setter or two ahead of them? In the National League no less, where you know the pitcher is going to break up some rallies.

And wow man, you ain't kidding on Heyward leading off. He's been a disaster there. I don't suppose I can blame them for trying - I would have as well because that's weirdly the kind of player he's turned himself into (dude has 30 HR raw power and has turned his swing into this slappy 'fence drill' monstrosity), but it certainly seems to be time to pull the plug.

Rizzo should probably hit 2 and Bryant 3 - I think they can get away with that. Baez 4, Contreras (when healthy) 5, Schwarber 6 (5 with Contreras down).

With 2 and 3 hitters with good OBPs setting up Beaz at 4 where the power behind him should get him good pitches to hit...how the hell can you just not care about kick-starting that offense with a viable leadoff hitter?

And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure you called me an idiot last year for mocking the Cubs decision to go this route but that could've been my Cub fan co-worker. As badly as Cardinals fans dislike Dexter Fowler - losing him really hurt that club. They could use him back in a big way.

(I'm sure y'all could have him for the right price....)