Ben Frederickson Live
Bring your Cardinals, Blues, Mizzou and STL sports questions, and talk to Post-Dispatch columnist Ben Frederickson in a live chat starting at 11 a.m. Monday.
-
-
-
-
-
A few things to consider:1) The Cardinals played five games in four days. One of those days included a doubleheader. There is no hiding bad relievers in this setting. None. Bad arms get exposed, and the Cardinals' bullpen has too many bad arms.2) Shildt has tried to give guys some sort of shot at redemption under his lead. Fowler isn't the only one. That's understandable, to some degree. But I don't think he can be more patient with Cecil, for example.3) Yes, Matheny would have been beaten up for the bullpen this weekend. And yes, some of it would have been unfair. But Matheny had 6.5 years of work that were marked by some bad and questionable bullpen decisions. Both things can be true; Bullpen management was a weakness for Matheny; This Cardinals' bullpen is weak, no matter who manages it.
-
I've written this before and you discounted it. I don't see how you can be supportive of Carpenter batting leadoff long-term when he is 1. Our main power source 2. Our best hitter 3. Our slowest runner 4. Our worst base runner.
I have observed multiple times where we have tried to bunt him over and couldn't because of his speed. Virtually all of his HR's come with the bases empty. He says he can hit in another spot - we must try him at # 3 or #4 or our lineup will always be a mess. Did you notice the difference when he sat and Bader led off - a totally better look - he got on, ran, created stress on the defense. -
-
I crunched some numbers before the start of Sunday's game.Since May, here's how Carpenter ranked among MLB's qualifying hitters ...
15th in AVG: .319
7th in OBP: .415
1st in SLG: .702
1st in OPS: 1.117
T-3rd: in HR: 23
T-1st in doubles: 26
1st in extra-base hits: 49
3rd in total bases: 174The man is in his eighth season. His best -- and this is a run of it -- comes when he's at leadoff. Call it superstitious or whatever you want, but the numbers are the numbers, and there are a lot of them at this point. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Moving Matt Carpenter from the leadoff spot is insane. -
The team, almost across the board, has been taking better at-bats since the house cleaning. Not just better results...the whole approach is visibly improved. The only exceptions I can think of are Ozuna and Wong. What do you attribute that to? Shildt? New hitting coaches? Players receiving the message from the front office that it was put-up or shut-up time? Other?
-
Some of all of the above, probably. An increased sense of aggression is what I see. Carpenter is a good example. He is jumping first pitches and crushing two-strike pitches. I like seeing that instead of him arguing with an umpire about a called third strike, even if replay confirms he's right.
-
-
-
-
-
-
A series win at Wrigley Field might have led to a parade.You are going to see an upbeat approach toward Shildt from the media, because he's massively better to deal with than Matheny.There's no sense in sugarcoating it, or pretending it's not the truth.Media is part of a manager's job, and Shildt does it very well.Matheny's approach didn't help him much.
-
-
-
The guy who is making a late charge into the MVP discussion is a problem. Got it. (He won't win, but his numbers -- even on the entire season -- are propelling him toward the conversation.) Maybe part of the problem was moving Carpenter from what he does well? Hit leadoff.
-
His unwillingness to explain decisions led to questions like the one you just asked.Matheny often reminded me of college basketball coaches who, after a game, are asked about a specific play, then respond by saying they need to review the film.That's a problem.Because games are not coached on film. They are coached in real time.The best coaches can take you play-by-play what happened, in the moment. Now, some of them can do that and choose not to. Others either don't see the game well enough or are not confident/comfortable enough in the decisions made to rehash them on the fly.Shildt sees the game well. He manages to win, and doesn't apologize for it. And he's willing to share what he saw after it's over.
-
Dare I say it, Fowler has looked *better* in the post-Matheny era? The small sample size of .227./250/.455 still isn't that impressive, but it's better than what we've seen the past 3+ months. I may be overly optimistic, but I'll take any positives I can find with Fowler...
-
Offense, yes. Still very early. But safe to assume the commitment has helped him refresh a bit.Defense? Not so much. That booted ball in right field was tough. Kinda looked like he was not familiar with how the ball was going to play in that spot. Kinda looked like the thing that can be tested out during a practice session.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
It’s hard for me to see which contending team in the AL has an opening for JMart. The Yanks have Stanton, Sox have JD, Cleveland has Edwin E., Houston has Gattis and the Mariners have Nelson Cruz. Only team that I could see him fitting on is the A’s? They’re officially buying, he would give them an elite DH bat, and he comes with control, which seems like a Beane would be looking for. Thoughts?
-
-
-
Better questions for the fans than me. The lack of voter turnout from Cardinals fans, I think, was a bit of statement toward the stale state of the season. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. All-Star voting has become about which team is exciting. The Cardinals were not that, to neither the nation nor their own fans.
-
-
-
-
Since the start of the 2017 season, Jose Martinez ranks 17th in average (.302) and 54th in slugging percentage (.492). He has the same SLG as Edwin Encarnacion during that time. He's under contract through 2023. Why wouldn't American League teams that are looking for an offensive upgrade consider him? There is no such thing as too many good hitters if you are trying to win it all. Martinez has a .832 OPS this season, down from .897 last season. I just checked American League team's OPS from the DH. All but three have a lower OPS at their DH spot than what Martinez has provided. I have a hard time believing he could not be move for something(s) that helps this team.
-
-
-
-
Regarding Ozuna's power outage, and this may be a dumb question, but with the dependence on video the hitters of today's game have, why is finding his power stroke so difficult? Surely there must be a drastic change in his swing to go from Hank Aaron to Ichiro. Is it his swing, or maybe the approach pitchers are taking to him (like feeding him a steady diet of sliders or the like). Is it a ballpark effect, with Busch being a pitchers park? Any ideas?
-
Not a dumb question at all. But documenting the differences and correcting them are different things. He has tinkered with his leg kick with varying results. He was being killed with sliders for a while, which was weird because he had hit them well in the past, even during parts of this season. Overall, he just seems to be too willing to help pitchers out. He swings at bad pitches, and bad pitches for him. He's getting hits (nearly all singles) but not getting his barrel on the ball very often. He has looked anxious at the plate for most of the season.
-