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

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Yup, he's scurred

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Getting nervous yet JD?

Originally Posted by jd1020

I'm shaking in my boots.

Originally Posted by jd1020

Makes absolutely 0 sense.

Contreras even in a down year for power is still one of the best hitting catchers in the league.
Rizzo had an extended slump but he's back and hes been better than his career numbers recently.
Baez has been better than ever.
Bryant is an MVP who's "down year" because of a shoulder issue comes out to a 122 OPS+.
Kyle Schwarber is looking like his rookie year with a slight dip in SLG% with 22 HRs.
Jason Heyward is having his best year as a Cub.

The only positions where the Cubs could look to reasonably improve offensively is SS and CF and they just acquired a guy in Daniel Murphy who has a .904 OPS in the 2nd half that allows the team to likely put Russell on the DL with his finger and move Baez to SS. It also frees up Zobrist to play more outfield and move Heyward to CF more often.

If the Cardinals and Brewers were looking to give themselves the best chance to catch the Cubs they both royally ****ed up by not claiming Murphy. Now you just better hope he becomes everything he has shown not to be over his career.

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Yup, he's scurred

JD, PGM is right. You have been posting in here for a while, We know your style. Your postings since we actually started playing good baseball seem like false bravado. If this goes right, we get this guy back, that injured player didn't matter, we still have the most talent etc.

We are not a "real" threat to your dominance this year. But, I think your 4-5 year window when the Cubs were going to dominate the division seems to be less likely every day.

[Marcellus]

Cardinals right now-


JD right now -

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Sucks for the Cubs sure. But they don’t pay dick for any of their position players. I mean JHey and Zorbrist are the only dudes pulling in legit salaries as position players. The Cubs are fine. If they have to pay a little luxury tax so be it.

Kris Bryant will probably get around $16 million in Arb2 next year and if Baez ends up winning the MVP or coming in 2nd, he'll end up around $10 million as well. Schwarber in Arb1 will likely get around 6-8.

Yeah, those guys are below market still, sure - but they're not free either. The Cubs are at $150 million in obligations for 2019 before Bryant, Schwarber , Baez and Russell. Those guys are probably going to get near another $40 million on their own.

Add in Hendricks and fill out the remainder with team control guys and you're looking at the luxury tax threshhold without a single major addition. And do you think the Cubs would be wise to go into next season WITHOUT a single major addition to their starting rotation? I certainly don't.

Unfortunately Heyward has played well enough that they can move him if they so choose and at least get a little salary relief. Not a ton, but they could probably clear half his salary pretty easily (unlike the Cardinals and Fowler).

The Cubs have been leaning heavily on their young position players being cheap for awhile now and it's not entirely accurate anymore. Those guys are starting to cost real money and it may well start catching up to them a bit when it comes to trying to make additions to firm up that starting staff. Someone like Corbin or maybe even a Happ are going to be difficult additions to them if they're facing luxury tax penalties for the privilege of doing so.

[L.A. Chieffan]

I like this Bader, shades of a young Holliday?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by L.A. Chieffan

I like this Bader, shades of a young Holliday?

Trolling us? Really? You think Bader's defense and Holliday's are the same? Really?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Unfortunately Heyward has played well enough that they can move him if they so choose and at least get a little salary relief. Not a ton, but they could probably clear half his salary pretty easily (unlike the Cardinals and Fowler).

They got $50 million extra one time revenue this year from a MLB software sale. What are they going to do with that money? Just pocket it as profit? Use that money to pay off Fowler, send the money to another team and maybe you can get a prospect if they get Fowler for free.


No matter what happens this off season, Fowler cant be on the 2019 team. They must write off that money and move on.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

They got $50 million extra one time revenue this year from a MLB software sale. What are they going to do with that money? Just pocket it as profit? Use that money to pay off Fowler, send the money to another team and maybe you can get a prospect if they get Fowler for free.


No matter what happens this off season, Fowler cant be on the 2019 team.

The decision to add JAG to the 40-man made it clear that Fowler isn't in their off-season plans.

He didn't need to be added this off-season. Unlike Wisdom, who makes no practical difference since he needed to be added to the 40 or lost as a minor league FA this offseason anyway. Adding Wisdom to the 40 man this year made no long-term difference.

JAG, OTOH, could've been kept off the 40 man and not exposed to the Rule 5. Now they either lose the guy they spent a lot of money to buy from Cuba (and who has performed in the minors) or they ditch Fowler. I simply don't see an alternative as I look at the guys who need to be added this off-season and guys that are presently on there and likely to be kept.

The Cardinals telegraphed their plans with Fowler the moment they added JAG and traded for a guy in Williams that also needs to be kept on the 40. Dexter's gone.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The decision to add JAG to the 40-man made it clear that Fowler isn't in their off-season plans.

The Cardinals telegraphed their plans with Fowler the moment they added JAG and traded for a guy in Williams that also needs to be kept on the 40. Dexter's gone.

I sure hope your right.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I sure hope your right.

I said Matheny was gone.

Granted, I said it would be in the offseason, but I said immediately following the Bowman implosion in Philadelphia that Matheny was a dead man walking.

Fowler ain't coming back. There's just no way to make the roster work.

[BigRedChief]

You bring your #1 starter back as a 7th inning reliever. We can see the 3-4 mph drop off of his fastball. Even when he can air it off in relief.


Anyone else concerned he has an injury?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

You bring your #1 starter back as a 7th inning reliever. We can see the 3-4 mph drop off of his fastball. Even when he can air it off in relief.


Anyone else concerned he has an injury?

I'll stand down on the velocity concerns right now.

He had NO feel for his 4-seamer last night. None. His cutter was around 91 and his 2-seamer was 94ish. That's about right for him. He just never took it up to 97-98 because he couldn't get on top of his 4-seamer at all and damn near killed Taylor with it on a 2-strike count at one point.

So Yadi shelved it and Martinez tried to make due without it. If he has it one day, is using it and it's coming in at 95 then I'll be more concerned.

That said - he DOES have an injury of some sort. It is probably just some kind of lingering soreness that he can't shake and needs short bursts to keep it from flaring up. But there's a reason different parts in his throwing arm keep failing at their weakest points. He's covering for something and developing mechanical glitches.

I think the hope is that throwing in relief keeps him from tiring and thus losing his mechanics and stressing whatever that is more.

To me the guy's just having a snakebit season and like Weaver, he just needs to get this season over with and start fresh next year. I mean for ****'s sake he just had a ball hit through his chest. Some years just aren't your year. If we can get him some relief appearances in the hopes of convincing him that he'll be sound next season - great.

But that should be the only goal. I'd close the book on meaningful contributions from him this year.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Makes absolutely 0 sense.

Contreras even in a down year for power is still one of the best hitting catchers in the league.
Rizzo had an extended slump but he's back and hes been better than his career numbers recently.
Baez has been better than ever.
Bryant is an MVP who's "down year" because of a shoulder issue comes out to a 122 OPS+.
Kyle Schwarber is looking like his rookie year with a slight dip in SLG% with 22 HRs.
Jason Heyward is having his best year as a Cub.

The only positions where the Cubs could look to reasonably improve offensively is SS and CF and they just acquired a guy in Daniel Murphy who has a .904 OPS in the 2nd half that allows the team to likely put Russell on the DL with his finger and move Baez to SS. It also frees up Zobrist to play more outfield and move Heyward to CF more often.

If the Cardinals and Brewers were looking to give themselves the best chance to catch the Cubs they both royally ****ed up by not claiming Murphy. Now you just better hope he becomes everything he has shown not to be over his career.

Good lord man, I only said that lineup is down compared to 2016, and the evidence (you know reality) actually supports that notion. Sure if Bryan and Rizzo return to their 145 OPS+ production it will look differently. Baez has taken a leap, Schwarber is having a nice year, Russell well below average offensively, and Heyward hanging around slightly below average offensively. Contreras has dropped off considerably from 122 to 102. Cubs 2016 OPS+ 103...2018 96

I mean to say it makes absolutely 0 sense seems is strange. Murphy may help give them a boost, time will tell. I think it was a smart signing for you. I don't think it royally screwed us. They went with Adams instead, who I think will also fill a similar need.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by VAChief

Good lord man, I only said that lineup is down compared to 2016, and the evidence (you know reality) actually supports that notion. Sure if Bryan and Rizzo return to their 145 OPS+ production it will look differently. Baez has taken a leap, Schwarber is having a nice year, Russell well below average offensively, and Heyward hanging around slightly below average offensively. Contreras has dropped off considerably from 122 to 102. Cubs 2016 OPS+ 103...2018 96

I mean to say it makes absolutely 0 sense seems is strange. Murphy may help give them a boost, time will tell. I think it was a smart signing for you. I don't think it royally screwed us. They went with Adams instead, who I think will also fill a similar need.

Since Mo blew up the bullpen the Cubs are 11-10, We are 5.5 games better than that.

Since Schildt took over we are 22-11. The Cubs are 17-14. If the Cubs continue to just look "meh" we could play ourselves into a threat to them this year.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Since Mo blew up the bullpen the Cubs are 11-10, We are 5.5 games better than that. If the Cubs continue to just look "meh" we could play ourselves into a threat to them this year.

The Cubs do this, though.

Maybe it's just a product of that team having so many young players that all came up together, but they're kinda willing to coast when they can. They did it last year for a bit as well when the season started.

When they finally get challenged, they wake up a bit and I expect they'll be the #1 seed going into the post-season this year out of the NL.

But I also think they'll have a pitcher blow a tire pretty much every other game in the post-season and the 2011 Cardinals are the only team I can think of that managed to weather that kind of spotty pitching to accomplish anything.