JV wrote:

This is on me. STL went up in the 10th while I wasn't watching and as soon as I came back to check the game went south.

So that's what happened! Let's try to tidy that up after the AS break.
 

APIAD wrote:

Part of me says this team needs a break and part of me says this team is closer to being the team we have saw the last couple weeks then the team that got all the good fortune.

They played the second-best team in the league at their place and were walked off twice. A couple things out of a hundred go differently, they win 3-of-4 in the series and we're whislting Zippity-Do-Dah out of our assholes this morning.
Let's not forget the Cardinals still have the best record in baseball despite season-ending injuries to their opening day pitcher and their opening day cleanup hitter, playing without their number three hitter for the past five weeks, playing without their best right-handed setup guy for the past 10 weeks, injuries to two other starting pitchers and virtually no contribution from their starting centerfielder. They played a doubleheader last week and the starting pitchers were two guys who began the season in the minor leagues.
If someone had told me in March the Cardinals would be the best team in baseball, at least by record, at the All-Star break if Adam Wainwright went down in April and Mark Reynolds was getting most of the reps at first base, their bench was comprised of guys like Pham and Scruggs and Ron Johnson or whatever the hell his name is and Socolovich, Tuivailala and Charlie Newhouse were coming out of the bullpen in medium and high-leverage situations, I'd have been thrilled.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/13/2015 8:43 am)

There is no doubt in my mind that first base will be addressed.  To what level of player they get idk.  Seems like lind is the best name mentioned.  That woukd mean the brewers would have to deal within the division and idk if the cardinals farm system has the pieces to deal for him. 

As far as starters go Mo has said he isnt adding anyone.

They know they need a first baseman, preferably a left-handed hitting one. Whether they get a righthanded bullpen arm comes down to if and when Walden comes back. I really don't know what you go out and get, short of a blockbuster trade that gets you a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. 

Yeah i read that.  I dont really disagree.  And i realize alot of how the second have shakes out depends on how holiday and walden do.  Garcia is the wild card.  If he repeats the first half then this team is set.  If he falls to injury they go from a deep one through 5 rotation to needing top help.  I wouldnt count on marco.  This seems like a year lost.  I dont have an issue with him filling in to provide inmings but as a permanent replacement..idk


Lind looks to me to be perfect.  He kills right handed pitchers.  Platoon him with any right handed hitter and i think ur leeps and bounds ahead of where the team is not.  He is a certifiable middle of the order hitter.  Plus he us used to the central division.

Wong
Carp
Holiday
Peralta
Lind
Heyward
Grichuk
Molina


Or something like that

Well, the way I see it is Pittsburgh is coming, and they are definitely real. I don't see the Cardinals making much of a splash this year, because there's so much sitting on the injured list, you're either hoping to pay cheap for that FA to be, or strengthening the mound (hoping that pitching beats hitting).

We have the answers for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they are Adams, Holliday, Garcia, Wainright, but this season might be better to let some of the younger players get healthy big league time, maybe catch a wild card, and give them valuable postseason reps, and just fold the hand. Trying to make a competitive solution that is expected to go deep into the postseason might cost us quite a lot.

APIAD wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Lind would seem to be a good fit. He's owed what's left of $7.5 million this year, and $8 million next, with a cheap buyout. The questions are what will the Brewers want back, especially from a division rival, and how many other teams will be in on him. 

And mo is saying he doesnt want anyone who blocks adams for next year which is dumb to me.

Yeah, I don't get that. Worry about 2016 in November. And it's not like a ~$12 million commitment to Lind is going to change the entire organizational structure.
It may not seem it the way the Cardinals have played for the last 15 years, you don't get a shot at the post-season every year, so when you do, you'd better go for it. I'm not saying I agree with Billy Beane that the playoffs are a crapshoot, but I allow you don't have to be the best team to win a WS, you have to be the team that's playing the best. The '06 team proved that. The '11 team, too, probably.
There's going to be a time, maybe not in the very near future, when the Cardinals aren't very good, like they were in the '70s and most of the '90s. I hope we're not looking back in 10 years when the Cardinals are in fourht place saying, "Why didn't they go for it in 2015?"
 

Guys, I wouldn't read too much into Mozeliak's comments about Adams. The Cardinals might not dump him, but I don't think Mozeliak seriously looks at him as the first baseman for the next five years. 

First base is hard to upgrade in the present. Lind is the best fit, and I think the Brewers would be open to moving him to a division rival, but would it cost Piscotty? Grichuk? Kaminsky? Reyes? One player I would keep an eye on to be included in upcoming trade talks is Patrick Wisdom. He's supposed to be a stud defensively, but was a terrible hitter up until about two months ago. He's hitting the shit out of the ball right now and might be a good sell-high candidate. 

Beyond Lind and a lesser guy like LaRoche, look at the first basemen:

Tier One: Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Cabrera, Votto, A-Gon, Belt, Freeman
Tier Two: Lind, Pujols, Hosmer, Teixeira, Duda, Abreu, Encarnacion
Tier Three: Moreland, Davis, Santana
The Rest: Morrison, Carter, Mauer, LaRoche, Napoli, Howard, Alvarez

Nobody in the first tier is available. 
Lind is arguably the only one in the second tier, and beyond that, it's a lot of "ugh." 

What is the hands in the air thing the cards are doing?