It's hard to blame the Cardinals when they let Wong be the starting second baseman and he goes out and hits .238/.292/.322 in the second half of 2015 and struggles to make the basic play time after time after time after time. And it's hard to blame them for getting a platoon partner when he hits .229/.275/.277 against lefties. 

They gave him every opportunity to seize the job for good last year and he fell off a cliff. He's 25. He's been on the big league roster since 2013. It's time to put on the big boy pants and go out and perform. Everyone on this team besides Holliday, Carpenter and Molina has had to fight for their playing time. Piscotty, Garcia, Diaz, Gyorko, Moss and Adams have contributed; Wong has not. So it's hard for me to stick up for a guy who was given a 5-year extension in spring training despite having done nothing to earn it in 2+ seasons and he goes out and continues making the same stupid mistakes over and over and over again.

Greg Garcia is the anti-Wong. This guy was hitting .660 when he got demoted, kept at it, gets recalled only for as long as Matt Carpenter was on paternity leave and he goes balls out against the Nationals. That's a guy who knew he had few opportunities and had to take advantage of them. What does Wong do this weekend? Swing for the six-run homer. I was Wong's biggest fan when they brought him up and thought he was on his way to big things, but the guy is an emotional trainwreck and the Cardinals can't leave the training wheels on for another year.

Last edited by tkihshbt (6/06/2016 9:17 pm)

I agree with tk.  Wong is what he is at this stage. Regardless of how 2016 goes he will end his career as a multi millionaire and skip showed more reliability at second.  Id trade him to the highest bidder and if all they get is a alen watson rookie card then so be it.  He is an athlete, ill give him that.  Every once in awhile you see that athletic ablity shine but i dont think he has a place on this club.

https://www.google.com/search?q=empty+between+the+ears&prmd=ivsn&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&fir=PmtymZiC0FgFKM%253A%252CUuw0lexCg-0I1M%252C_%253BA0b8ytJWaCtE8M%253A%252Cu8vWCRQRppreSM%252C_%253B4qBJP-0Vx0KAyM%253A%252Cxi4FHD2bgvN9WM%252C_%253Boh6PZ_ijO_LvKM%253A%252CN0gRhe3LblikXM%252C_%253BYM1tdvdwqFdTnM%253A%252CN0gRhe3LblikXM%252C_%253BQGZVZdwfY8Or3M%253A%252C3yHDOZmLG3Gf4M%252C_%253B6cQbN4RbwXS23M%253A%252CR4ZVI2eEAAl0KM%252C_%253BWcKDJi0NWxat_M%253A%252C3yHDOZmLG3Gf4M%252C_%253BWpfsc-6Kq2byCM%253A%252CAB5Cch5XpMH5-M%252C_%253B4nzvgUJcH3NR0M%253A%252CXOvTJlmOEYHGwM%252C_&usg=__Uup6uoGRuPMxgdYdxZp1h0gxZAg%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8zO6r9pTNAhUPEVIKHQPdA_8Q420IQA&biw=768&bih=928#imgrc=QGZVZdwfY8Or3M%3A

Still looking....

"Nobody else has wilted under pressure like Wong."

You're clearly too young to remember Donovan Osborne.
I think your point about the front office being too optimistic and Don's point about him being a cementhead are valid. You can't fix stupid, right? At some point, as you say, he has to get over himself and realize the end of the free world isn't looming because he goes 0-for-4 in a game against the Reds in July. 

APIAD wrote:

Even if he does find his stroke in memphis who does he replace? He wont be better then carp and he wont be better then diaz. He wont be better then the 2015 or 2014 version of Peralta. Outside of injury or peralta failing i dont see a spot for him.

Either Diaz falters or there's an injury.
 

"I'm not sure I know what you think the Cardinals did to stunt Wong's development"

I'm not sure I know, either. As you say, he's played the best when they put his name on the lineup card every day and told him he's the starting second baseman. He's not the type of player you can kick in the ass. He needs to be coddled and reassured. Whether the Cardinals ought to or should do that is another discussion, but I think the Gyorko acquisition wounded him, maybe mortally as far as his career in St. Louis is concerned. Again, whether the St. Louis Cardinals ought to be dabbling in child psychology is another discussion, but they should have known about his fragile psyche when they drafted him.

"Wong is about 5'2.  His game should be about putting the ball in play, on the ground and using his speed.  Tk's right, that it often looks like he's trying to hit a 6 run HR.  Wong's swing shouldn't look like Brandon Moss', but all too often it does."

Agree 100 percent with you and TK on this point.  

artie_fufkin wrote:

Agree 100 percent with you and TK on this point.  

My average of being right is on par with Ryan Howard's batting average, so this makes me feel good.