Although they were overshadowed by Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen were impact bats. And McGwire obviously fits the definition.

I’ll agree with you about Beltran, but a 2009 version of Matt Holliday would vastly improve this team. While it would be nice to get a guy who could hit 40 HR, more important to me is getting a guy who might drive in 100+ runs. Allen Craig wasn’t a huge power guy, but a pre-injury Allen Craig would really help.

The Cardinals haven’t had a player drive in more than 85 runs since Holliday did it in 2014. Molina led the team last year with 82. That was 55th in baseball. That’s unacceptable, or at least it should be.

APIAD wrote:

2011 berkman should be getting some love in this conversation.

Hell, a 2008 troy glaus wouldnt be bad.

Those guys were both one and sone players who brought value without much risk.  I brought them up but that is just the type of move i expect and dislike.  This cardinals team needs a player to build around.  Neither glaus or berkman were centerpieces.  They were additions to pujols and holiday.  Both actually.

I would put Berkman in the same category with Beltran—an aging veteran they took a chance on who exceeded expectations. Like you, that sort of move wouldn’t thrill me.

So if stanton is unwilling to come to stl and for whatever reason, the fo is against jd Martinez, who is left.  Nobody imo

I find it hard to believe the Cardinals would make the type of financial commitment they need to make to land Stanton.
Are there any urinals left from the old stadium? I'll buy a couple if they promise to put it toward Stanton's salary.

artie_fufkin wrote:

I find it hard to believe the Cardinals would make the type of financial commitment they need to make to land Stanton.
Are there any urinals left from the old stadium? I'll buy a couple if they promise to put it toward Stanton's salary.

Hard for me to believeas well but they do have the resources both in money and prospects.  If you are going to spend the prospects a return like stanton would be nice.  I know i could talk till i was blue in the face but i hope stanton takes his opt out.

artie_fufkin wrote:

I find it hard to believe the Cardinals would make the type of financial commitment they need to make to land Stanton.
Are there any urinals left from the old stadium? I'll buy a couple if they promise to put it toward Stanton's salary.

I share your skepticism, but the one thing that seems a little different is the team is catching heat locally, and there has been plenty of discussion about the lack of butts in the seats at the end of the year.

There’s a lot of speculation that attendance could start trending down. Reportedly, the secondary markets got killed last year (people who buy tickets just to list them on StubHub and profit)  The decrease in people going to games hurts them in concessions and at Ball Park Village. If people actually stop buying tickets, they’ll have to do something.

One other thing that can’t be disregarded—they’ve finished behind the Cubs in back-to-back years. By a lot. That’s putting a lot more pressure on them than if the Pirates or Brewers had won the last 2 division titles.

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

I find it hard to believe the Cardinals would make the type of financial commitment they need to make to land Stanton.
Are there any urinals left from the old stadium? I'll buy a couple if they promise to put it toward Stanton's salary.

I share your skepticism, but the one thing that seems a little different is the team is catching heat locally, and there has been plenty of discussion about the lack of butts in the seats at the end of the year.

There’s a lot of speculation that attendance could start trending down. Reportedly, the secondary markets got killed last year (people who buy tickets just to list them on StubHub and profit) The decrease in people going to games hurts them in concessions and at Ball Park Village. If people actually stop buying tickets, they’ll have to do something.

One other thing that can’t be disregarded—they’ve finished behind the Cubs in back-to-back years. By a lot. That’s putting a lot more pressure on them than if the Pirates or Brewers had won the last 2 division titles.

Good. Maybe one of the good things to come out of the Rams' departure from St. Louis is there's even more focus on the Cardinals to perform well, because the only other team in town is the Blues.
In a related event, I usually listen to AM radio in the morning for the traffic report, which is preceded by a sports segment at the quarter-hour. The reporter qualified Stanton's selection as NL MVP with "Future member of the Red Sox ..."
I wanted to rip the radio out of the dashboard.
 

Cards make formal offer to marlins for Stanton.

No indication of who the Cardinals are offering. If Reyes ends up moving, I'll be upset.

"The San Francisco Giants have offered second baseman Joe Panik and two prospects for Stanton and second baseman Dee Gordon, according to Sirius XM Radio’s Craig Mish."

"Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals have have offered a package for Stanton, according to Fox’s Jon Paul Morosi. Their offer is believed to be built around young pitching prospects."

Cardinals must be pretty low on wisdom.  I was suprised to see a guy with 31 home runs and 89rbis left off the 40 man.  I think i read that the front office views wisdom as a AAAA player.  Imo, id classify bader as that.

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Cardinals must be pretty low on wisdom. I was suprised to see a guy with 31 home runs and 89rbis left off the 40 man. I think i read that the front office views wisdom as a AAAA player. Imo, id classify bader as that.

The CW on Wisdom is he strikes out too much, doesn't hit for average and doesn't have a defensive position. But the power numbers do jump out at you, and he last year posted the highest OPS of his career since he played at the low-A level.
 

What’s his launch angle and exit velocity?

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Cardinals must be pretty low on wisdom. I was suprised to see a guy with 31 home runs and 89rbis left off the 40 man. I think i read that the front office views wisdom as a AAAA player. Imo, id classify bader as that.

The CW on Wisdom is he strikes out too much, doesn't hit for average and doesn't have a defensive position. But the power numbers do jump out at you, and he last year posted the highest OPS of his career since he played at the low-A level.
 

Interesting.  You've got some good sources.  All along, I've been reading about how strong he is one defense but the box scores don't seem to bear that out.  He's supposed to have the strongest infield arm in the Cardinals system but it has seemed to me that he has a problem with accuracy.  One of the things that bothered me last year was seeing a guy with his alleged arm putting in so much time at first base.  But of course a lot of that was a consequence of giving Diaz some time at 3rd.

Aside from his strikeout rate, a big problem is his age.  Once a guy hit's 26, there's an almost irrebutable presumption that he just doesn't have that many good years in the future.  I don't know if that has always been true.  Harvey Haddix was 26 when he went 2 and 2 in 1952.  The next year he was a 20 game winner.  He had 12 more seasons after that.  But for the most part guys who haven't made it by 26 really don't get much of a chance, and very few have productive years if they so.


 

Last edited by Mags (11/21/2017 3:32 pm)