forsberg_us wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Strauss is pimping Shane Robinson this morning in an effort to be contrarian. 

You really hate Strauss don't you?  I assume you're talking about his interview where Strauss' "pimping" consisted of answering a question about Robinson and concluded that Robinson had a shot at making the roster since the Cardinals announced Beltran wouldn't play CF.

As I recall, he was talking about how Robinson takes good at bats, is a good fielder and the Cardinals shouldn't be embarrassed to carry him on the roster. He's a good fielder, but takes tough at-bats? Puts the ball in play? He struck out in 17 percent of his at-bats, which isn't terrible, but also doesn't fall into the category of "puts the ball in the play." I took it as his opinion of Robinson, which is only half right. 

I realize Sugar is heading north, but Strauss's comments about him seem to be related to his opinion that Oscar Taveras is too immature to play right away in 2013. I get that Taveras just isn't going to make the team unless he's in a position to play every day, but his incessant whining about narratives really grates on me and it influences his opinions on other topics. 

APIAD wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Matt Adams is a pretty interesting problem to have. 

id trade him.  if craig gets hurt adams would be usefull.  i domt know if it is worth keeping him tho.  his value is peeking
 

 
Maybe the Patriots would pay cash for him.

No doubt Strauss likes to tweak a certain segment of the fan base.  The stat geek portion of the fan base doesn't like Strauss when he mentions that the intangibles Skip Shumaker (or Shane Robinson) brings to the clubhouse have more value to the team than Tyler Greene's AAA OPS.  Those who closely track the minor leagues (the hyperventilating prospect geek fraternity or HPGF) don't like it when he suggests that a prospect isn't as highly regarded (usually by the organization, not Strauss personally) as the HPGF thinks he should be.  And there's a segment of the fan base who take offense when Strauss questions the notion that St. Louis is home to the "Best Fans in Baseball" and refers to the label as a marketing ploy of the front office (which is exactly what it is). 

But here's the thing--more often than not Strauss' reporting is spot on.  It was Strauss who first reported that things were not all rosy between management in the Pujols camp when many fans (myself included) thought Pujols would almost certainly re-sign with the team.  It was Strauss who first reported that Rasmus' maturity issues were becoming a problem.  It was Strauss who questioned whether the Cardinals' "prospects" (say 2005-09) were as highly regarded around the league as the Cardinals were suggesting.  Strauss supported the Holliday trade when some thought the Cardinals had traded away the greatest offensive talent since Babe Ruth.  Strauss questioned the front office's assertion that Wallace would ever play 3rd base in the major league.  And so on and so forth.

Having said that, Strauss has spoken very highly of the current crop of prospects within the system--Taveras and Shelby Miller included.  Where he has disagreed with some is that he's preached patience rather than a "throw 'em all in the fire" sort of approach. 

As far as Taveras' off-season "missteps," you may consider it small potatoes, but do you know how the front office felt about selling 400 autograph tickets for Taveras and then having to tell fans he wasn't going to show up?  It may mean nothing in terms of his on-field performance, but when the organization tries to present a fan-friendly enviornment, for all we know they may have been pissed.  And where you see a dig at Taveras, I see a positive regarding Beltran.  Carpenter mentored Rosenthal (and made the offer to Miller) in the off-season.  I seem to remember Holliday doing something similar the previous off-season with several recently drafted Cardinals (including Wong).  If Beltran approached Matheny (as is reported), perhaps Beltran also felt Taveras had maturity issues.  I don't know, but Strauss' access to the team is a heck of a lot better than ours.  And of the people currently reporting on Cardinals baseball (Goold, Hummel, Miklasz, Burwell, Gordon), I'd take Strauss' work over any of them.

ETA- Perhaps I should have gone to the P-D website before I came here.  Strauss' piece today is on Taveras.  I can't link it since posted links no longer seem to work on this site.  The piece is very favorable, but then goes into detail about the perceived "missteps," which include an organizational decision to bench Taveras after the minor league all-star game due to perceived "focus" issues.  Tk, are you suggesting that it's unfair or inappropriate to report an incident such as this?

 

Last edited by forsberg_us (3/01/2013 11:42 am)

forsberg_us wrote:

  The piece is very favorable, but then goes into detail about the perceived "missteps," which include an organizational decision to bench Taveras after the minor league all-star game due to perceived "focus" issues.  Tk, are you suggesting that it's unfair or inappropriate to report an incident such as this?

Well, I think it was already known that he got benched after the ASB; it just wasn't that big of a discussion. I was actually replying to what Derrick Goold had said in his chat when someone asked him about Strauss's typical cryptic comments about the "missteps."

Today's column was very well-written, but again, the whole premise was to poke at the fanbase over "Christmas gifts." I've heard many well-reasoned arguments that Taveras is not yet a finished product and while I think I would probably bring him up, it's not the worst thing that he spends time in Memphis. Even Evan Longoria did. 

But it's the way he goes about it that's grating.