Fire Dan and Al. Embarrassing a team like this has those clowns calling games. They should be across the state.

They're all the same. You can't find a local crew that isn't all about inane babble and ball-washing.

But at least put Edmonds up there more often. That guy was entertaining as hell.

I'd take anyone over those morons. Such amazing comeback win game ending calls like..."LOOK AT THAT BENCH!!"

These are hysterical...well, presuming you watched The Office.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Episode 1: &quot;The Interview&quot; <a href="https://t.co/18Esl7IJgr">pic.twitter.com/18Esl7IJgr</a></p>&mdash; Double Birds (@2xBirds) <a href="https://twitter.com/2xBirds/status/843996112155566081">March 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Episode 2: &quot;The Slump&quot; <a href="https://t.co/gAf1CuEIGM">pic.twitter.com/gAf1CuEIGM</a></p>&mdash; Double Birds (@2xBirds) <a href="https://twitter.com/2xBirds/status/844356906995105792">March 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Episode 3: &quot;The Investment&quot; <a href="https://t.co/7SJTw9sefA">pic.twitter.com/7SJTw9sefA</a></p>&mdash; Double Birds (@2xBirds) <a href="https://twitter.com/2xBirds/status/844713655480598534">March 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="et" dir="ltr">Episode 4: &quot;Team Chemistry&quot; <a href="https://t.co/8gMkmtX18w">pic.twitter.com/8gMkmtX18w</a></p>&mdash; Double Birds (@2xBirds) <a href="https://twitter.com/2xBirds/status/845078848098197504">March 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Holy shit, those are hilarious. especially the Bankruptcy one, I was laughing too loud at work.....way too loud

People actually stopped by my office. I was crying.

"I. Declare.....BANKRUPTCY!!!!!"

Dying. Just dying.

Piscotty is also struggling this spring, but at the league minimum. If he busts he costs virtually nothing. Heyward has been trending down for years. We are lucky the baby bears wanted him.

What would we have to give up?

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the Cardinals "have quietly showed interest" in White Sox starter Jose Quintana.
Heyman notes that the Astros and Pirates have been the perceived frontrunners for Quintana, but he calls their pursuits of the left-handed ace "passive" up to this point. In his report Heyman then labels the Cardinals a "sleeper team," with the "combination of young players and prospects to make it work." The asking price is undoubtedly sky-high for Quintana, who boasts a 3.35 ERA over the last four seasons and a team-friendly contract that runs through 2020. He is currently projected to serve as the Opening Day starter for the rebuilding White Sox.

p.s. Flying to STL tomorrow for my ninth Opening Day in the last 10 years! Let's hope for good weather and a Cardinals victory on Sunday night.

They can't trump what the Astros will be able/willing to offer, IMO.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me to see the 'stros eventually decide to part with Bregman if needed. They'd surely do everything in their power to avoid it, but if they're sitting there in July and feel they're a legit top of the rotation starter away from putting some distance between themselves and Texas, I think they'll pull the trigger. They have the prospect depth to take the hit.

At the very least they'd eventually give up Kyle Tucker and I can't see the Cardinals dabbling in that rich a pool. Unless Bader were to elevate his prospect status to at least within shouting distance of Tucker, I don't think they can pull it off. Even if Bader were to make that leap, the Astros would likely be able to include Martes with Tucker and where's that leave STL? Weaver and Bader doesn't get near that.

Maybe the 'Stros have some information on their prospects in some type of database the Cards could get a look at. That would be really cool.

Looks like a Yadi extension just got done with details still coming out. I dot have much perspective on the amount but nice to see him extended.

Ken Rosenthal‏ @Ken_Rosenthal

Sources: Molina three-year extension with #STLCards will be between $55M and $65M.

I think I read that the WSox have inquired before about Kelly. It most likely would have to include him. Kelly, Bader, and Weaver would be our top three rated prospects (not necessarily how I would rate them). It could be enough.

Steep price to still be worse than Chicago at every spot on the field...

Definitely risky, but we don't have any real upside lefties anywhere on the horizon.

https://youtu.be/zWmIb5kdz9s

In honor of our last glorious day.

(Baseball is finally here)

Cool, the perfect cure for insomnia

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...6844bfff2.html

20 million per year for Yadi. That's a tough one to know which way to go on that one.

Too much $ period. Seems like a reactionary deal to me. They didn't want to lose another HOF player to another team to end their career so they over paid.

Our march to the World Series starts now.

Go Cards go

(I'm drunk btw)

Anyone else think that anthem was terrible

Chuck Berry certainly didn't pass any of his talent to his daughter.

Not starting Wong opening night. Starting the mind **** early I guess

Hope the Cubbies do damage tonight.

Just everyone who heard it that's not related to the Berry family.

3/60 extension for a catcher with 14 years under his belt? Why?

Not going to be fun watching Peralta all season

I hope this Schwarber in leadoff experiment doesn't last long.

Please just put Zobrist there and let everyone else drive him in. Asking the pitcher and Baez to get on base for him is like forfeiting 30 RBIs.

I would have better at bats against Lester than he would. He should never, ever, ever, ever start against lefties, especially ace lefties.

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Maddon can't manage without getting cute and acting like he is smarter than the game. Great manager overall but does stupid shit at times

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I don't understand tonight's lineup at all for the Cubs.

I can understand it from the perspective of Schwarbers batters eye, but they have no one in the lineup to put in the 9th spot that makes consistent contact and gets on base other than Zobrist but you aren't going to bat him 9th.

Maddon was brain dead in the WS with Zobrist hitting clean up in Chicago and it took a miracle and a stupid ass All-Star rule to get RBI hitters in RBI spots to start scoring runs. Luckily he still had Fowler to save his ass in the leadoff spot but now he's gone and Zobrist is the only one that can fill that role but he's a power hitter now, apparently.

C-mart dealing

Watching Heyward continue to suck ass makes me smile. That's s bad player on a good team.

Wonder why the Cubs didn't challenge Fowlers slide. Slid through the bag and ended up 3 feet passed it while kicking his legs way out of the base path to make contact with Russell. Cheap way to get a double play but that's about as clear cut as it gets.

Matheny kept him in too long though.



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Martinez was fine starting the 8th. Oh needs to not shit the bed.

God I wish Rizzo was thinking bunt on the first pitch.

That was a free run with that defense. 3rd baseman was playing at shortstop.

Got away from that one.

There you go, grichuk

Fastballs to a guy that can't hit a slider with a guy that has a very good slider.

Whatever. Way to many walks from the pitchers today and a stupid lineup from Maddon just to get all the players from the world series on the field.

Feel free to **** off

Nice brain fart Marp

You could almost feel that one coming.

Oh first?

That didn't work.

You wear the horns tonight Marp

That IBB rule just seems awkward.

Carp blew it but why is Mike trying to get 6 outs from Oh in the opener? That's just stupid. Use the pen, tomorrow's an off dsy.

Way too close to take with a 9th inning tie Piscotty

Shitty defense was a real problem last year, it's opening day and it's already a problem again

Kid Randall

Ayyyy

Martinez was nails tonight

Another walk to set up the game winning hit.

I agree, I don't like it at all.

Glad he was. Jesus, could they have possibly stranded any more ****ing runners? That was uglier than a bulldog's asshole. :banghead:

I don't see why they couldn't just implement what video games have been doing for a long time now... 1 pitch with the catcher signaling for a walk. At least then you would still get the feeling of an at bat.

That last AB demonstrates why Grichuk can't bat 8th. Hell, his HR did as well.

In the 8th, Oh had already been doubled switched into the cleanup spot (because Matheny is reeruned). But the unintentional consequence of that was to ensure that there's someone that can actually swing a bat behind Grichuk. So what happened? He got the strike he needs to do damage.

In the 9th with the bases loaded and nowhere to put him, of course he was going to get at least one pitch to hit.

Randall Grichuk is just so damn dangerous when he gets a strike that one of the very first considerations for Mike Matheny when putting together a lineup should be "will this get Randall Grichuk at least 2 pitches to hit today?"

Because the guy has genuinely game-changing power. And if you bat him 8th, teams will pitch around him any chance they get. Why throw him a strike when the pitcher's behind him and he has a below average O-Strike rate? He's a guy that will chase pitches and if you put him in the 8 hole pitchers are all the more likely to throw slop up there to get him to get himself out. Worst case scenario is they walk him and the pitcher strands him.

It's ridiculous that Grichuk was batting 8 today. It's literally the single worst spot in the entire lineup for him, including leadoff.

I don't have any idea who should bat cleanup but I hope it's not Peralta all year.

As DJ mentioned above, the 8 hole ain't for Randal, I don't think the 4 spot is ether, but that's where I'd hit him. With the top 3 in the order currently as constructed, the cleanup guy is gonna have a **** ton of guys on base in front of him all year.

Put grichuk there.

Why not Piscotty? I think he strikes out less.

He will end up there in the end unless he regresses.

I would imagine piscotty ends up there, and striking out kills, but I'd like to see grichuk hit as much as possible with guys in base

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

And right on cue the Cards sign Piscotty to an extension.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

http://chicagocubsonline.com/wp-cont...llee082315.jpg

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.

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.

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

He should be batting in the 9 hole.

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.

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