***Official 2016 STL Cardinals Thread***

[BigRedChief]

• 2011 World Series Championship
• 2012 NLCS. One win from another WS appearance.
• 2013 World Series. Two wins from another World Series Championship
• 2014 NLCS. Three wins from another WS appearance
• 2015 Central Division title. Won 100 games. Lost in the NLDS.
• Made the postseason 11 times in the last 15 seasons.
• 67 post season wins since 2004. 24+ wins more than any other team.

SI article on our off season, Gives us a "A". ??:
http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/02/12/win...ouis-cardinals

2015 III thread:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=295296
2015 II thread:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=293412
2015 I thread:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=289085

[Marcellus]

FFS

[DJ's left nut]

BRC, I shit you not, this might have been the most incredible single week I've ever seen from a player. I'm not talking about Bryce Harper and I don't mean 'incredible' as in amazing, I mean it in it's purest form - utterly inexplicable and completely defying belief.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/randa...-very-unusual/

It isn't surprising that Sullivan is as stumped and awed by this as I am; I tend to agree with him more than I don't (except for that time that he said Leake's contract wasn't an absurd piece of shit because Leake's contract is most assuredly an absurd piece of shit).

What's striking is that he appears to have located the outside corner. The problem with Grichuk wasn't just that you could get him out below his knees because that's an easy pitch to miss and get it crushed so pitchers still don't like to throw over the plate and low. The problem was you could also get him flailing at anything within 6 inches of the outside corner. And LITERALLY overnight, it changed.

It doesn't happen. It NEVER happens.

I noted when we got Grichuk that the Angels farm system had a habit of generating hitters with absolutely horrifying plate approaches. Grichuk and Bourjos were there but also Trumbo, Aybar and a bunch of other guys in their low/high minors simply swung at everything (I'm thinking I remember Segura in that sample as well). If Grichuk really can sustain some level even remotely close to this (like I said; 24% K rate and a 3-1 K/BB would be plenty acceptable with his other tools), it's a HUGE indictment on the Angels farm system. It means the only guys they're capable of producing talented major league hitters out of are first-ballot HOF talents.

That is....uh....not sustainable.

Here's my favorite quote and it sums the article up well --

I’m not saying he is disciplined now. I’m saying if he were a disciplined hitter, this is what he would look like.

[O.city]

And you said guys never change. Oh you.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED

Has there ever been a more dominant stretch of pitching than the one Arrieta is on right now? It's absolutely incredible.

Pedro's I think 2000 season, because it was in the middle of the offensive binge. For perspective Clemens finished 2nd in the ERA race and he allowed TWO full runs more per game than Pedro. That is insanely dominant, especially considering the live ball, roid raging era that probably was peaking about that time and he did it in the DH league. I think that probably still stands as the biggest difference in history. Shows you how much more dominant he was than the other top pitchers.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

BRC, I shit you not, this might have been the most incredible single week I've ever seen from a player. I'm not talking about Bryce Harper and I don't mean 'incredible' as in amazing, I mean it in it's purest form - utterly inexplicable and completely defying belief.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/randa...-very-unusual/

It isn't surprising that Sullivan is as stumped and awed by this as I am; I tend to agree with him more than I don't (except for that time that he said Leake's contract wasn't an absurd piece of shit because Leake's contract is most assuredly an absurd piece of shit).

What's striking is that he appears to have located the outside corner. The problem with Grichuk wasn't just that you could get him out below his knees because that's an easy pitch to miss and get it crushed so pitchers still don't like to throw over the plate and low. The problem was you could also get him flailing at anything within 6 inches of the outside corner. And LITERALLY overnight, it changed.

It doesn't happen. It NEVER happens.

I noted when we got Grichuk that the Angels farm system had a habit of generating hitters with absolutely horrifying plate approaches. Grichuk and Bourjos were there but also Trumbo, Aybar and a bunch of other guys in their low/high minors simply swung at everything (I'm thinking I remember Segura in that sample as well). If Grichuk really can sustain some level even remotely close to this (like I said; 24% K rate and a 3-1 K/BB would be plenty acceptable with his other tools), it's a HUGE indictment on the Angels farm system. It means the only guys they're capable of producing talented major league hitters out of are first-ballot HOF talents.

That is....uh....not sustainable.

Here's my favorite quote and it sums the article up well --

I saw an interview with him on Fox. He was talking about going to the slider machine. Just standing in the batters box and letting the balls go by and guessing where they would have ended up. Said something to the effect that it was like resetting his eye to recognize sliders.

Good article. Hope this is a more permanent trend.

[George Liquor]

Matt Adams is so ****ing bad

[George Liquor]

Can we ****ing fire Mabry yet?

Jesus Christ, what a horrible inning.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BDj23

Matt Adams is so ****ing bad

Putting Adams in the lineup is bad enough. Putting him in the 4 hole is asinine. What has he ever done to be a clean up hitter? A power hitter?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by BDj23

Can we ****ing fire Mabry yet?

Jesus Christ, what a horrible inning.

When you are struggling to score runs, you can't put Adams and Tejeda both in the lineup.

Teams are swinging and killing Waino's first pitch and he is still throwing strikes. Wheres the adjustment? Some kind of macho thing, I'm still throwing a strike to get ahead of the count?

[George Liquor]

This team doesn't do anything right.

[George Liquor]

Oh, look... if Diaz isn't a reerun on the bases, it's now 3-2 with a runner on 3rd and 1 out.

(But I'm sure Carp will look at strike 3 again)

[George Liquor]

These guys suck.

[Mi_chief_fan]

If this is who Wainwright is now......then this organization is in deep, deep trouble for the next couple of years.

[George Liquor]

At least Yadi still seems to care.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by Mi_chief_fan

If this is who Wainwright is now......then this organization is in deep, deep trouble for the next couple of years.

If the Cardinals are virtually out of it by August, do you become a seller and put guys like Carpenter on the block to rebuild around Piscotty, Grichuk, Martinez, etc?