***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

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

And the opening day first baseman is... Matt Holliday

figure they didn't want Moss or Adams dealing with Lorianno

[Mi_chief_fan]

Gonna bag a lot of 2-1, 3-2 type losses this year; might be the best pitching staff in the NL, but this offense could be record-breaking bad. I just don't see any improvement, especially since Mo already went all-in on an "in-house" solution.

Fellas, this year might be painful. Luckily, ou rebuilds are always less than a century to complete.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

I'm just sayin': Carpenter probably should be playing 1st and hitting 3rd and we should have signed Freese to play the hot corner.

Didn't Freese hit .250 last year with little power? How does that help our offense?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Mi_chief_fan

Fellas, this year might be painful. Luckily, ou rebuilds are always less than a century to complete.

Never too early for Cubs smack.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Didn't Freese hit .250 last year with little power? How does that help our offense?

He would have been our third best hitter last year with a 110wRC.

Put in Freese, move Carp to first and you wouldn't need Moss or Fat Adams.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Mi_chief_fan

Gonna bag a lot of 2-1, 3-2 type losses this year; might be the best pitching staff in the NL, but this offense could be record-breaking bad. I just don't see any improvement, especially since Mo already went all-in on an "in-house" solution.

Fellas, this year might be painful. Luckily, ou rebuilds are always less than a century to complete.

I do kinda like our low minors.

But DeWitt has shown that he's unwilling to foot the bill to compete during down cycles in our player development system. Our high minors is absolute garbage and was last year as well. Grichuk is a pure mistake hitter and Wong's looking more and more like a fringe starter at best. **** Matt Adams in his fat ****ing face. Piscotty is the only guy out of this class of players that will be a long-term plus contributor, IMO. Oh I suppose Grichuk's defense in CF could make him a 2-3 WAR guy, but he's never going to be a reliable hitter; he's a hollow offense guy that will beat the hell out of middle-relievers in blowouts and that's it.

The last wave of young hitters just isn't very good so we're stuck waiting in the hopes that DeJong, Bader, Denton, Plummer, Sierra, Kelly and Sosa turn into legit prospects/players. If Mozeliak did his job (unlikely given his track record with young hitters), we should be about 3 years away from the next up-cycle. Sadly, next year's FA class is shit and Mozeliak and co. bitched out of this year's class so what you see right now is what you're getting for at least the next 24 months.

Yes, it's going to be ugly. This isn't a good baseball team.

[O.city]

Gonna have to sit thru it. Tough it out til the next wave and hope the pitching holds up.

Pham to DL, Diaz up.

[DJ's left nut]

Glad to see that Heyward has elected to keep that piece of shit swing of his.

I've never seen a player sabotage his power potential like Jason Heyward. Thank God he didn't do anything silly like revert to that textbook power lefty swing he had as a rookie.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Glad to see that Heyward has elected to keep that piece of shit swing of his.

I've never seen a player sabotage his power potential like Jason Heyward. Thank God he didn't do anything silly like revert to that textbook power lefty swing he had as a rookie.

I didn't even get to watch the first half inning because for some dumb **** reason ESPN2 is airing ESPNEWS for me instead of the game, even though the guide says Cubs vs Angels.

Having to use a shitty pixelated free stream.

**** Uverse.

[jd1020]

Arrieta not missing many bats so far.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I do kinda like our low minors.

But DeWitt has shown that he's unwilling to foot the bill to compete during down cycles in our player development system. Our high minors is absolute garbage and was last year as well. Grichuk is a pure mistake hitter and Wong's looking more and more like a fringe starter at best. **** Matt Adams in his fat ****ing face. Piscotty is the only guy out of this class of players that will be a long-term plus contributor, IMO. Oh I suppose Grichuk's defense in CF could make him a 2-3 WAR guy, but he's never going to be a reliable hitter; he's a hollow offense guy that will beat the hell out of middle-relievers in blowouts and that's it.

The last wave of young hitters just isn't very good so we're stuck waiting in the hopes that DeJong, Bader, Denton, Plummer, Sierra, Kelly and Sosa turn into legit prospects/players. If Mozeliak did his job (unlikely given his track record with young hitters), we should be about 3 years away from the next up-cycle. Sadly, next year's FA class is shit and Mozeliak and co. bitched out of this year's class so what you see right now is what you're getting for at least the next 24 months.

Yes, it's going to be ugly. This isn't a good baseball team.

I was kind of snooping around and from what i've read on DeJong and Bader, they seem to be pretty interesting bats in the system. Did I read right that they skipped single A this year?

They're super high on Grichuk. Dude's got power, but I tend to see him thru the same glasses you do, but for our sanity's sake, hope we're wrong.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

I didn't even get to watch the first half inning because for some dumb **** reason ESPN2 is airing ESPNEWS for me instead of the game, even though the guide says Cubs vs Angels.

Having to use a shitty pixelated free stream.

**** Uverse.

No free preview for MLB Extra Innings?

In either event, Richards just absolutely butt-****ed Heyward with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out. Then Zobrist grounded into a DP to end the inning.

It took $40 million in free agent to **** up that rally with an assist from Joe Maddon by batting Zobrist 3rd instead of Anthony Rizzo. I'm fairly confident that I'd have gotten a text update if Anthony Rizzo were traded or dead, so in a world where Anthony Rizzo is a real person that you can freely put in your lineup, choosing to bat Ben Zobrist 3rd instead is weapons-grade stupidity.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

No free preview for MLB Extra Innings?

Nope. Apparently Uverse doesn't like baseball. I just checked on their website for their 450 package, which is their premier package, and they only have NBA and NFL. Pretty reeruned.

And ya, this lineup from Joe is questionable to say the least. Move your power down in the lineup for a contact hitter in the 3 hole. Ummmmm.....

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

I was kind of snooping around and from what i've read on DeJong and Bader, they seem to be pretty interesting bats in the system. Did I read right that they skipped single A this year?

They're super high on Grichuk. Dude's got power, but I tend to see him thru the same glasses you do, but for our sanity's sake, hope we're wrong.

Yeah, looks like both guys are going straight to AA. Good thing; we need some legit hitting prospects in the worst way. Now I wonder which one Moe will trade to the Indians to replace Moss/Adams and the gaping hole he left in the OF?

Oh, and they're flat wrong on Grichuk. A player will not succeed at this level with no understanding of the strike zone and Randal Grichuk very clearly still has no understanding of the strike zone.t

He may hit 30 largely meaningless homeruns, but he'll be a liability at the plate in every key spot his entire career. If he's the 6th best hitter in your lineup, you're probably okay carrying him despite his flaws. As the 3rd best? Yeah, you're probably ****ed. He's a guy you need to hide in the 6 hole; let him just swing for the downs to re-set the lineup ahead of the dregs (i.e. Molina and Wong....and Adams/Moss....and the pitcher....**** this lineup is awful)

[POND_OF_RED]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Nope. Apparently Uverse doesn't like baseball. I just checked on their website for their 450 package, which is their premier package, and they only have NBA and NFL. Pretty reeruned.

And ya, this lineup from Joe is questionable to say the least. Move your power down in the lineup for a contact hitter in the 3 hole. Ummmmm.....

Do you live in Chicago? I'm watching the game on MLB tv and it's the ABC7 broadcast so maybe they blacked out the ESPN coverage for local coverage.