Official 2017 STL Cardinals Thread

[BigRedChief]

My as well get it started. Here's my "Matheny" lineup.....

Fowler CF
Diaz SS
Carpenter 1B
Piscotty RF
Grichuk LF
Molina C
Peralta 3B
Wong 2B
Pitcher

My "Matheny" Starting rotation

Martinez
Reyes
Wainwright
Lynn
Leake

[raybec 4]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Piscotty hit .362 With RISP last year. Its a natural spot for him.

Piscotty hit for shit all Spring, I don't like Matheny's managerial idiocy but my hope is if he starts hitting they move him up in the lineup. It should be Piscotty/Grichuk in either order in the 4/5 spots.

[Marcellus]

6 years $33.5MM for Piscotty. Not bad really.

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

6 years $33.5MM for Piscotty. Not bad really.

It's a good deal if he produces and not a ton of money if he doesn't. He definitely seems to have a much better mental makeup than Wong (not a high bar to be sure) so hopefully he can work out the kinks in his hitting soon. I don't know how many years we bought out of his cheap years, but on the face the contract doesn't look awful.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

6 years $33.5MM for Piscotty. Not bad really.

I was hoping for something more along the lines of what Polanco and Herrera signed - 5 years guaranteed with team options for 2 more, giving you 2 FA years in exchange for the guaranteed money.

That said, 6/33.5 is cheap enough that it's fine. Herrera's deal would be 7/$50 and Polanco's deal 7/$60 if both options were picked up. So Piscotty's deal has a little less team upside baked into it than Herrera's but is actually cheaper than Herrera's deal is through the first 6 (Herrera's would be 6/$41). Then again it should be as Herrera's giving up a 2nd year of FA with that 6th year.

Polanco's deal, OTOH, is quite a bit more expensive than Piscotty's. Polanco's is 6/$47.5 if the 7th year wasn't picked up. So Polanco, in exchange for that team option he gave the Pirates in year 7, is getting almost $15 million more than Piscotty in the first 6 years. And Polanco had the same service time when he signed his deal that Piscotty has now.

[O.city]

Huh, well that locks a lot of guys up thru 2020. Now they just need to find a long term 3rd baseman that can settle right into the heart of the lineup for the next 8 years.

Hum, tough find

[DJ's left nut]

Looks like they got the option for the 7th year afterall:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...ign=user-share

So in essence, they pay a fair amount less than Polanco got through the first 6 years by guaranteeing the 6th (whereas Polanco's is a team option that will almost certainly be picked up). The 7th year is a bigger number than Polanco's 7th but is more than offset by the cost savings in the first 6. And since it's an option, the Cards could walk away from it.

So if you think that Polanco's likely a better player than Piscotty, that makes sense. But if you think they'll be roughly equally valuable (though in different ways), then Piscotty's deal is much more team friendly.

The question is which Piscotty is the real one - if it's the first half of 2016's Piscotty, the Cardinals just got a great deal. If it's the latter half, they have another Wong contract on their hands.

It's a solid gamble.

[raybec 4]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Looks like they got the option for the 7th year afterall:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...ign=user-share

So in essence, they pay a fair amount less than Polanco got through the first 6 years by guaranteeing the 6th (whereas Polanco's is a team option that will almost certainly be picked up). The 7th year is a bigger number than Polanco's 7th but is more than offset by the cost savings in the first 6. And since it's an option, the Cards could walk away from it.

So if you think that Polanco's likely a better player than Piscotty, that makes sense. But if you think they'll be roughly equally valuable (though in different ways), then Piscotty's deal is much more team friendly.

The question is which Piscotty is the real one - if it's the first half of 2016's Piscotty, the Cardinals just got a great deal. If it's the latter half, they have another Wong contract on their hands.

It's a solid gamble.

I don't see Piscotty having a Wong like dropoff. I keep hearing he's trying to change the launch angle of his swing, which IMO is stupid and unneccisary, but who knows. I really have very little confidence in John Mabry. I don't know how a guy who was a career .263 hitter with less than 100 career dingers is a hitting coach but what do I know.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

I don't see Piscotty having a Wong like dropoff. I keep hearing he's trying to change the launch angle of his swing, which IMO is stupid and unneccisary, but who knows. I really have very little confidence in John Mabry. I don't know how a guy who was a career .263 hitter with less than 100 career dingers is a hitting coach but what do I know.

Meet John Mallee, currently the hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs. You may recognize him from his days on the Phillies minor league teams where he hit .208 over his 2 year career while never making it to MLB.

[raybec 4]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Meet John Mallee, currently the hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs. You may recognize him from his days on the Phillies minor league teams where he hit .208 over his 2 year career while never making it to MLB.

Is this the guy "retooling " Heyward? Because he looked lost last night.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

Is this the guy "retooling " Heyward? Because he looked lost last night.

He looked about as I expected. If anything is going to click with Heyward and get comfortable with his new stance it won't be for a couple months. I still don't like how much and how fast he bounces when the pitch is getting ready to be thrown and he still looks like he's getting loaded up way too late.

When the tweets were coming out on Heywards adjustments with his stance he looked way more fluid and rythmic. Only time will tell if he can dump the old habits.

His first AB last night was awful, but I thought his next 2 weren't horrible. The result was weak contact but at least he showed patience and a good eye.

[O.city]

Looks like the same jason heyward we've seen the last 2 or 3 years, imo.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by O.city

Looks like the same jason heyward we've seen the last 2 or 3 years, imo.

He should be batting in the 9 hole.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by O.city

Looks like the same jason heyward we've seen the last 2 or 3 years, imo.

I don't get how you can say this.

He's holding the bat lower which is closer to the point where he starts his swing, his feet are more in line, he's not wrapping the bat around his shoulder, and he's not awkwardly twisting his hand forward around the handle.

The only thing that looks the same is the bounce.

He needs more work on his timing and I'd like to see him ditch the stupid bounce.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I don't get how you can say this.

He's holding the bat lower which is closer to the point where he starts his swing, his feet are more in line, he's not wrapping the bat around his shoulder, and he's not awkwardly twisting his hand forward around the handle.

The only thing that looks the same is the bounce.

He needs more work on his timing and I'd like to see him ditch the stupid bounce.

Just keep holding your breath, I am sure he can hit .230 this season given a few more months of working on it.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Just keep holding your breath, I am sure he can hit .230 this season given a few more months of working on it.

And I'm sure if he doesn't it will matter just as much as last year.