***Official 2022 STL Cardinals Thread***

[BigRedChief]

2022 Opening Day Lineup

Spoiler!

#stlcards on opening day:

Carlson 9
Goldschmidt 3
O’Neill 7
Arenado 5
Pujols DH
DeJong 6
Molina 2
Bader 8
Edman 4

Wainwright 1

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) April 7, 2022

2022 Opening Day roster

Spoiler!

Pitchers: Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson.

Relievers: Jordan Hicks, Drew VerHagen, Jake Woodford, Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsey, A. Pallante, Genesis Cabrera, TJ McFarland, Nick Wittgren, Kodi Whitley, Aaron Brooks.

Catchers: Yadier Molina, Andrew Knizner.

Infielders: Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, Paul DeJong, Albert Pujols, Edmundo Sosa

Outfielders: Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, Dylan Carlson, Corey Dickerson, Lars Nootbaar.

On the injured list are Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes

For the new Cardinal fans that joined the Planet since last year, here are some of the historical threads going back to 2006.

Spoiler!

2021 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=337124
2020 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=329273
2019 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=320239
2018 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=312812
2012 Thread
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=254619
etc.
All the way back to 2006 WS
https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=312812

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.

3/5's of the NLC isnt even trying. Winning this division right now is meaningless. Playing to just win the NLC is playing to win the right to be swept in the playoffs.

[bdj23]

That's DeWitts bread and butter

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.

Beating the Reds, Cubs and Pitt doesn’t float our boat. We’d like to win championships.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.

It took two teams having historic meltdowns in August/September along with a 21 game winning streak for the Cardinals to claim a spot in a play-in game. That they lost.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.

If Urias and Adames play at the level they did last year or Yelich shows any sort of bounce back, the Cardinals won't be winning the NLC.

Hell, even that OF w/ the additions of Renfroe and McCutchen (who will take well to that park) is going to be better than expected.

And my problem w/ DeWitt at this point isn't even the spending - he's provided a sufficient payroll for a good team. It's his unwillingness to fire Mozeliak. We spend the money poorly more often than we don't.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And my problem w/ DeWitt at this point isn't even the spending - he's provided a sufficient payroll for a good team. It's his unwillingness to fire Mozeliak. We spend the money poorly more often than we don't.

Mozeliak just does what DeWitt wants.

And the Cardinals haven’t been spending relative to increased revenues involving both the team and Ballpark Village.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

Mozeliak just does what DeWitt wants.

And the Cardinals haven’t been spending relative to increased revenues involving both the team and Ballpark Village.

Mozeliak could've easily convinced DeWitt to go with Harper instead of Goldschmidt if he wanted to.

Mozeliak just makes bad decisions.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Mozeliak could've easily convinced DeWitt to go with Harper instead of Goldschmidt if he wanted to.

Mozeliak just makes bad decisions.

DeWitt flat out said the reason they didn’t sign Luis Robert was because they didn’t want to pay for the second contract.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

DeWitt flat out said the reason they didn’t sign Luis Robert was because they didn’t want to pay for the second contract.

And again - a good GM shows him otherwise.

And you'll get no defense of this organization on LouBob from me. I was EASILY his loudest proponent 'round these parts and others.

I was furious they didn't get that deal done.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And again - a good GM shows him otherwise.

And you'll get no defense of this organization on LouBob from me. I was EASILY his loudest proponent 'round these parts and others.

I was furious they didn't get that deal done.

This is where we'll disagree.

I don't think Mozeliak's bad with what DeWitt demands of him. 2016-2018 was a result of DeWitt refusing to do a proper rebuild.

There are things to criticize Mozeliak about-his relief signings, Fowler(which I'd contend was the right move at the time), Wiggington, only getting Heyward and Ozuna for a short time, etc, but I still don't see why he should be fired.

I'd like to see what he could do if ownership didn't give him a mandate of being "good enough" every year.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

This is where we'll disagree.

I don't think Mozeliak's bad with what DeWitt demands of him. 2016-2018 was a result of DeWitt refusing to do a proper rebuild.

There are things to criticize Mozeliak about-his relief signings, Fowler(which I'd contend was the right move at the time), Wiggington, only getting Heyward and Ozuna for a short time, etc, but I still don't see why he should be fired.

I'd like to see what he could do if ownership didn't give him a mandate of being "good enough" every year.

My criticism of Mozeliak is that he won't put his dick on the table.

He won't take any risks to make the team better.

Yeah, if he goes to DeWitt and says "no, we have to sign Harper instead of this Goldschmidt deal" and sells it, it gets done. And maybe it backfires and DeWitt loses his job.

But we're a lot closer to contention with the reigning NL MVP in his prime than we are with an aging RH slugger.

Mozeliak has fallen firmly into the Carl Peterson trap of never being willing to take risks because he knows that he won't get fired for what he DOESN'T do.

And that's the reason this team has such a low ceiling.

And frankly at this point I'm convinced that the reason Mozeliak won't take risks is because he's simply not confident that he's right. He's lost the feel for this job.

As I've said before - I don't need a reason to fire a guy who has one of only 30 jobs in the league. I need a reason to KEEP him. And Mozeliak's record over the last 5-8 years gives me exactly zero reasons to keep him (and no, the Fowler signing was obviously stupid from the second it was made. Just as the Leake deal, Miller deal and Cecil deals were).

The man's set $200 million on fire in a half-decade on replacement level (at best) players. Even if you don't see that as a reason to fire him (though you really should), I certainly don't see any reasons to retain him either.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

My criticism of Mozeliak is that he won't put his dick on the table.

He won't take any risks to make the team better.

Yeah, if he goes to DeWitt and says "no, we have to sign Harper instead of this Goldschmidt deal" and sells it, it gets done. And maybe it backfires and DeWitt loses his job.

But we're a lot closer to contention with the reigning NL MVP in his prime than we are with an aging RH slugger.

Mozeliak has fallen firmly into the Carl Peterson trap of never being willing to take risks because he knows that he won't get fired for what he DOESN'T do.

And that's the reason this team has such a low ceiling.

And frankly at this point I'm convinced that the reason Mozeliak won't take risks is because he's simply not confident that he's right. He's lost the feel for this job.

As I've said before - I don't need a reason to fire a guy who has one of only 30 jobs in the league. I need a reason to KEEP him. And Mozeliak's record over the last 5-8 years gives me exactly zero reasons to keep him (and no, the Fowler signing was obviously stupid from the second it was made. Just as the Leake deal, Miller deal and Cecil deals were).

The man's set $200 million on fire in a half-decade on replacement level (at best) players. Even if you don't see that as a reason to fire him (though you really should), I certainly don't see any reasons to retain him either.

Who would you have signed that offseason instead of Fowler?

Holliday was nearing the finish line, Pham was an injury prone AAAA guy, Grichuk was supposed to become something of a note, Bader hadn't made his debut, Hazelbaker was given consistent ABs, and Piscotty at this point hadn't had his mom diagonsed with ALS.

I guess Austin Jackson or Ben Revere would have sufficed as a short-term solution?

As for your criticism about him not putting his dick on the table, I don't disagree with you, but again, I don't know how much of that is him choosing to do that or being handicapped by DeWitt. They fired Shildt so they could basically have an echo chamber.

And no, I don't think as long as DeWitt is owner, they'd sign someone to a contract as long and expensive as Harper.

[DJ's left nut]

I wanted them to hand the reigns to Grichuk and embrace him for the player he WAS rather than the player he WASN'T. Same thing I wanted done with Bader and O'Neill.

And I'll never understand why the Harper contract's length is such a stumbling block. The Cardinals will be giving Goldschmidt the same amount of money through the same age as the Phillies will be giving Harper. The difference is that by the time that Harper's that age, that money will be even further devalued and in the meantime you get Harpers PRIME.

If you'll give Goldschmidt $26 million to play from ages 31-36, why the hell wouldn't you throw a few more years at the FRONT end to a better player at the same rate in Harper?

Again - because this is a stupid, gutless organization. The Mark Ellis signing was the first LOUD warning that these guys have no concept of aging curves and it's gotten far worse since then.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

This is where we'll disagree.

I don't think Mozeliak's bad with what DeWitt demands of him. 2016-2018 was a result of DeWitt refusing to do a proper rebuild.

There are things to criticize Mozeliak about-his relief signings, Fowler(which I'd contend was the right move at the time), Wiggington, only getting Heyward and Ozuna for a short time, etc, but I still don't see why he should be fired.

I'd like to see what he could do if ownership didn't give him a mandate of being "good enough" every year.

He should have been fired for extending Carpenter alone! Maybe the stupidest thing he could ever do...no one else was bidding against him. Just un-forgiveable.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by VAChief

He should have been fired for extending Carpenter alone! Maybe the stupidest thing he could ever do...no one else was bidding against him. Just un-forgiveable.

They wanted everyone to feel comfortable in the locker room. Safe and comfortable with long term contracts for everyone is not a championship method to success. That’s only used for the Harper’s and Molina’s of baseball. Not on an obviously declining older player.