2018 STL Cardinals Thread

[BigRedChief]

Opening day lineup

Fowler RF
Pham CF
Carpenter 3B
Ozuna LF
Martinez 1B
Molina C
Dejong SS
Wong 2B
Pitcher

Edit:
Matheny fired 07/14/2018




Opening Day Roster

Spoiler!

St. Louis has opted to carry 12 position players and 13 pitchers to begin the new season, with a four-man bench and eight-man bullpen.

Outfielders:
Dexter Fowler
Tommy Pham
Marcell Ozuna

Infielders:
Matt Carpenter
Paul DeJong
Kolten Wong

Catchers:
Yadier Molina
Francisco Pena

Utility:
Jose Martinez
Greg Garcia
Yairo Munoz
Jedd Gyrko

Starters:
Carlos Martinez
Michael Wacha
Luke Weaver
Miles Mikolas
Jack Flaherty

Relievers:
Dominic Leone
Tyler Lyons
Bud Norris
Brett Cecil
Sam Tuivailala
Matt Bowman
Jordan Hicks
Mike Mayers

On the DL:
Adam Wainwright
Luke Gregerson

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by VAChief

Yes, he was on an unreal run, but it's not like we are talking about Bo Hart here, the man has had a solid history of hitting.

You are right about the supporting cast. I did a cursory glance at straight OPS figures for the past 30 days (roughly aligned with Shildt's entrance) and the only Cardinal regular position player who has been hitting in the "average range" is Gyorko who was at .742,

Wong, .919, Bader, .909, Carpenter .1126, DeJong .878, Ozuna .791, ONeill, .822, Martinez .818, Molina, .766 (slightly above average).

The improved defense of having DeJong, Wong, and Bader up the middle coupled with solid pitching (and pitching staff use) is what has made this run possible. They are hot hitters right now for sure, but you can point to defense and pitching that has helped close that gap quick as well.

30 games is not a season, but like poker, if I'm going to get lucky, I would rather it be when the blinds get big than when they are small.

This speaks to just how bad Mabry was at his job....WOW

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Schwarber still an albatross on defense? News to me. He has a +3 DRS this year and I believe the most outfield assists, I haven't looked at it in a bit. Is he Lorenzo Cain? No. But hes been more than serviceable on defense this season.

Schwarber, according to one site, is about equal in WAR to Ozuna.

Schwarber according to another site is about 2x better than Ozuna in WAR. Which one is it?

You said it wasn't going to be Ozuna over Schwarber...I pointed out that even in a down year...not such a cut and dry case...Yes albatross was probably going to far...but a healthy Ozuna...and that picture looks even murkier.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

About the only thing he was doing in the month prior to the injury was taking walks.

His highest average since the start of the year from month to month is his current .233.

Whatever excuse you want to blame it on, he is not on the same level he once was. The only thing carrying this months OPS, so far, is his 4 HRs.

You mean the 4 he has hit in that time that is just one less than Russell all season long? Russell posted big numbers in 2016. How do they compare now? Congratulations on the reincarnation of Mark Belanger.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

This speaks to just how bad Mabry was at his job....WOW

Something is different there. I think it probably has more to do with less line up tension as well, but yes it appears that many of them have benefited from a different approach.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by VAChief

You mean the 4 he has hit in that time that is just one less than Russell? Russell posted big numbers in 2016. How do they compare now? Congratulations on the reincarnation of Mark Belanger.

You keep on bringing up a guy that I think Theo needs to trade. I'm failing to understand your point.

If you want to bring up single year numbers. Go ahead and compare Ozuna last year to every other year of his career.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

jd is scurred, boys!

[jd1020]

Scurred of the AL.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

You keep on bringing up a guy that I think Theo needs to trade. I'm failing to understand your point.

If you want to bring up single year numbers. Go ahead and compare Ozuna last year to every other year of his career.

You brought him up when you claimed superiority at that position. Baez is the one guy I think has really grown out of those prospects to be what was hyped.

You asked about Molina's replacements? Where are your future pipeline of pitchers?

You don't seem to have any more Gleyber's to dangle for rentals like Chapman...that has to make you wonder...did that 3.52 WS ERA and 3.86 NL Pennant ERA really turn the tide for you?

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by VAChief

You brought him up when you claimed superiority at that position. Baez is the one guy I think has really grown out of those prospects to be what was hyped.

You asked about Molina's replacements? Where are your future pipeline of pitchers?

You don't seem to have any more Gleyber's to dangle for rentals like Chapman...that has to make you wonder...did that 3.52 WS ERA and 3.86 NL Pennant ERA really turn the tide for you?

No actually you brought up Russell. I said they were probably equal at SS. Russell is clearly a better defender and DeJong so far has shown to be a better hitter when he probably ends up a league average hitter.

The Cubs arent looking at replacing any of their pitchers in the near future so they have plenty of time to develop a pipeline. It's sink or swim with the current rotation.

Quintana is the nearest pitcher to FA and that wont come til after the 2020 season.

Outside of Darvish returning they also have Drew Smyly about to come back from his TJ surgery and it would be hard to say he wouldn't be an improvement over Tyler Chatwood.

And yes. Chapman absolutely turned the tide. His ERA is what it is because of how Maddon used him. Take any one less elite than Chapman and put him in those same situations and see what happens.

Did the Cubs overpay to get him? Abso****inglutely. It was a stupid price to pay for a rental and I said it at the time. Same thing with the Quintana trade. Theo ****ed those up.

But the Cubs still have chips to trade. They just arent in the minors but they are still young enough to reach their potential while showing they can perform at the MLB level.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

jd is scurred, boys!

Maybe...but if he is honest he has to be nervous...We on the other hand are playing with found money right now.

What this run has also highlighted is how terrible the Fowler signing has been. We dodged a bullet not signing Heyturd and clogging up RF for years to come, and then signed the mirror image of him initially, except now the both offense and defense sucks.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by jd1020

No actually you brought up Russell. I said they were probably equal at SS. Russell is clearly a better defender and DeJong so far has shown to be a better hitter when he probably ends up a league average hitter.

The Cubs arent looking at replacing any of their pitchers in the near future so they have plenty of time to develop a pipeline. It's sink or swim with the current rotation.

Quintana is the nearest pitcher to FA and that wont come til after the 2020 season.

Outside of Darvish returning they also have Drew Smyly about to come back from his TJ surgery and it would be hard to say he wouldn't be an improvement over Tyler Chatwood.

And yes. Chapman absolutely turned the tide. His ERA is what it is because of how Maddon used him. Take any one less elite than Chapman and put him in those same situations and see what happens.

I brought up Russell after you claimed that DeJong was having a "Diaz like decline" even though a better comparison of like decline would have been Russell.

If they don't replace any of their starters that would surprise me. Yu is really the only one you could hope for some kind of bounce back. Any of the others would just be homer talk, nothing about their stuff would argue otherwise. Quintana maybe improves, but he is not trending that way, even with coming to the NL.

[jd1020]

I forgot about Cole Hamels being ahead of Quintana on the FA list.

He has an option, but I doubt the Cubs pick it up because it's $20M. He's really only filling in for Darvish though so I wasn't considering him as a long term rotational piece.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by VAChief

I brought up Russell after you claimed that DeJong was having a "Diaz like decline" even though a better comparison of like decline would have been Russell.

If they don't replace any of their starters that would surprise me. Yu is really the only one you could hope for some kind of bounce back. Any of the others would just be homer talk, nothing about their stuff would argue otherwise. Quintana maybe improves, but he is not trending that way, even with coming to the NL.

How would it be homer talk to expect 28 and 29 year old pitchers to "regress" back to their norms?

Quintana's problem this year has been his control. His stuff is still there so there's no reason to assume hes done. Hendricks is in the same boat. He's struggled to get the ball down at times and he's been giving up a few more hits and homers than normal. His walks and strikeouts are right in line with his norms.

Really the only one that would be homer talk would be Lester returning to his Cy Young form.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Cecil brought in to keep it close...Moosetacos

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Ump has been awful today, but the Cards are tired. Carp and Yadi both could have used today off.