Idk if he needed more time in the minors or if it was nerves but holland isnt ready for the regular season.

APIAD wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

One day closer to having a new manager.

If only

 
This man played in the majors for a dozen years and he's managed for a half-dozen, and he still makes decisions that make no sense. If he doesn't know it by now, he's never going to. How many times have you seen a pitcher walk FOUR batters in the 10th inning? Horton can grouse all he wants about the Cardinals only scoring one run with the bases loaded and no outs in the 9th, but part of that is because the manager doesn't understand how to use a bullpen, so he has to have eight relief pitchers out there and if one guy in the lineup gets hurt the best they can do for a pinch hitter is Greg Garcia. The Brewers won this game because the manager in their dugout is smarter and understands the game better than the manager in the Cardinals' dugout. Period.

They don't have the young guys to start over with.  Other than outfield, and maybe catcher, the system doesn't have position player talent.

I've thought for a long time the lineup was poorly constructed, and nothing about this team convinces me otherwise.  They might as well go ahead and put Carpenter back at leadoff, because he refuses to approach at-bats like an RBI-producer.  He is absolutely the most selfish player I've ever watched.  Move Martinez up to #3, Molina to #5 and DeJong to #6.  Fowler and Wong can bat #7 and #8 (who bats where doesn't  really matter to me).

I realize the small sample size pace stuff is meaningless, so I probably shouldn't even waste the time typing it, but through 10 games the Cardinals have 5 guys with 10 or more strikeouts.  DeJong is on pace to strike out over 240 times.  You can have a lineup with a couple of guys like that, but you can't have an entire lineup of guys like that.  

Ozuna, Molina and maybe Martinez are the only guys on this team who show the willingness to do what is necessary to drive in runs.  That requires occasionally shortening your swing to ensure you make contact, but also occasionally swinging at a less than perfect pitch.  DeJong doesn't do the former, and Carpenter refuses to do the latter.  This team will live and die by the HR, because it's unlikely to put together enough good at bats to produce a long rally of hits.

The bench is an absolute embarrassment.  Munoz was a cute story this spring, but he's clearly over-matched.  I know Moz wants to show off the shiny toy he acquired in the Piscotty trade, but 1 for 9 with 7 strikeouts isn't going to cut it.  And that's the only hit the current bench has produced.  Garcia is 0 for 7, Bader 0 for 3 and Pena hasn't received parole papers allowing him to play yet.

"Munoz was a cute story this spring, but he's clearly over-matched."

I probably watched portions of about five spring training games, none of which I saw Munoz participate in, but judging from what I've seen from him in the regular season I can't fathom how he warranted a spot on the major league roster. He has a long swing, doesn't appear to recognize pitches well and he flails at pitches outside the strike zone. Defensively, he appears to be no better than average, either in terms of arm strength or range. He fielded Sogard's bunt in the 10th inning that was clearly going to end up in foul territory and nearly threw it into right field, though that's not all on him because the catcher is supposed to let him know if the ball is going foul and Holland was struggling so much to throw strikes at that point he was probably better off taking the out.
My thoughts about Carpenter are well-known and well-documented, and I thought I had become so negative about him I drove TK away from the board.
Martinez is a nice story - guy who finally gets a shot after toiling in the minors for almost a decade, but he's a DH. His footwork around the bag is the Worst capital W for emphasis I've ever seen among major league first basemen, and every time a ball is hit or thrown in his direction, I hold my breath until he catches it.
I'm not as critical of Molina because he's still productive and still better defensively than most of the catchers in the league. The only problem I have with him is they're still going to be paying $20 million in two years with money that will be better spent elsewhere. But that's a front office issue, not a Molina issue.
Pham disappointed me with his comments about starting off last year in the minors. Sure, he ended up having a great year in 2017, but raise your hand if your name isn't Tommy Pham and you saw that coming. And one good year doesn't make you the second coming of Stan Musial. It makes you the second coming of Joe Charboneau.
I worry DeJong will end up being Randal Grichuk v 2.0. Arizona fed him breaking stuff all weekend long and he struck out eight times in 11 at bats, and he looked pretty terrible doing it. He's not good enough defensively to warrant at bats if he's hitting under .250.
Good luck figuring out Wong. He's their best defensive infielder, by a lot, but he'll look terrible at the plate for a week or even two weeks and just when you're ready to write him off he'll remind you why the Cardinals picked him in the first round. His at bat against Hader last night was brilliant.
Bader - and O'Neill for that matter - needs to play every day, and if they're not going to move Pham or Fowler to make room for one or both, then they ought to consider trading them for a corner infielder.
I've been done with Garcia for awhile now. He's not a good enough player to warrant the 300 at bats he got last year. All weekend as I was watching Descalso I thought the only reason one and not the other plays for the Cardinals is $1 million out of a $120 million payroll on a franchise that's probably worth $2 billion. Not that Descalso is the second coming of Mike Schmidt, but he's a much better defensive player and he hit more home runs and drove in more runs last year alone than Garcia has in his entire career.

2 very good post there folks