Cardinals chat: Derrick Goold takes your questions at 11 a.m. Monday
Bring your Cards questions and comments to a live chat with Derrick Goold at 11 a.m. Monday
-
Maybe this is crazy, but I would be fine with players, coaches, staff, etc being near the top of the vaccine line and get spring training and the season going on time. At least watching, listening to and reading about games would bring some normalcy to our lives until they actually are. -
I don't agree, but you give me a chance to bring up something that will be in the conversations going forward -- and that is requiring vaccines. The clubhouse is like any place of work, and that means there are definitely different views and opinions there, and MLB and the players' union are going to have to discuss what they can and cannot mandate, where civil liberties end and professional need/safety begin as far as mandating a vaccine. This comes at a time when the union is already hyper-aware of the medical/private data being collected by teams about the players. Just keep all of that in mind as baseball tries to create their next return to play plan. -
-
-
I appreciate what you say about the cosmetic changes about "pace" that have not made substantive improvement on "pace" while also ignoring what is really causing the drag on "pace." Penalizing tanking has sure lost some volume as an issue because of everything else going on. There was some interest in taking away the incentive for tanking and doing so via the draft and comp picks, but I haven't heard much about that recently because so many other issues have now dwarfed that one in the conversation. I'll be interested in asking about that though this spring, because it should not be ignored.
-
-
-
-
I just don't know. I wish I did because then we would be moving in a positive direction with the virus and toward clarity on the 2021 baseball season. We're all trying to figure that out. It's not a simple question. What kind of proof would the team need? What kind of proof would a fan have to provide? There is so much unknown -- and that begins with when it will be available in a widespread fashion and what we learn in the coming months about the vaccine.
-
-
Ivan Herrera -- Deserves to be considered one of the top catching prospects in all of the minors, and is.Jhon Torres -- Rising talent. Intriguing bat. Legit possibility as a corner outfielder, and should get more attention from Cardinals Nation than he does, because he could be one of their Top 10 prospects by season end, and he'll come up in trade talks.Jordan Walker and Tink Hence -- Too early to tell. Haven't seen them in person. Haven't had a chance to talk to anyone who has seen them in a pro game. Why the Cardinals drafted them is obvious. They have talent, for sure. But I'd like to see what direction they go with development.Trey Fletcher -- Intriguing athlete. Still so relatively new to baseball. Has the widest spectrum of outcomes of any highly touted prospect in the Cardinals' system.
-
-
You know this ... because? What baseball did was purchase the tests from the manufacturer. That's how they got access to more tests and to the amount of tests they needed to pull of a season, and they pledged publicly that they not be taking from the stash needed elsewhere, but rather paying for their own tests to be manufactured. We can take issue with that, for sure, and we should ask for the receipts on those tests that baseball promised local first-responders and medical-care workers. At last check, there was no indication of how that went into effect in STL. Would still like to hear, and so I'll ask again.MLB converted its drug-testing lab to be a COVID-testing lab, and that's why there weren't minor-league drug tests this past year. There also weren't minor leagues.Now, as to early access -- I don't know. No clue. We'll find out together.
-
-
-
As of right now, they are the same cost -- which is the marketplace. Now, part of the Cardinals passing on Wong's option is because of a player like Hernandez. The Cardinals felt they could get the same production at a lower price point because there was going to be more supply of similar infielders than demand. Hernandez is one example. Essentially, the Cardinals were willing to pass on their homegrown player to save immediate money and also signal that they think they could get more value (if not a better player) in the marketplace.
-
-
-
-
-
-
I am shocked by the Reds one-year parachute. Yep. And I don't think the Phillies are a deterrent. They're too easily dismissed for how they operate. The teams that want to be the smartest in the room will still think they can tank better than the Phillies because the perception will be the Phillies just did it wrong, not that the idea was wrong.
-
-
-
-
-
You bring up several important talks, so let me try to do my best to address them and separate them with answers worth of the question.In talking with agents and players and free-agent players in recent years, I can tell you that the hacking scandal has come up precisely ZERO times when it comes to why players don't sign with the Cardinals. It just hasn't been a factor at all. Maybe it has with the public perception, and it's certainly made the Cardinals an easier target for Cubs fans, but it has not been a factor or part of the conversation at all when it comes to free agents or trades. The only time a no-trade clause has been invoked against a deal to the Cardinals in recent years was Stanton, and that was telegraphed: The four teams he said he'd accept a trade to were the four teams in the ALCS and NLCS the previous year and two of them happened to be the biggest-spenders in the biggest media markets, Yankees and Dodgers. Shocker. What worked against the Cardinals in that case was geography -- and not being in the playoffs the previous year.I don't know of any comments that Jason Heyward made that were that specific, not in the way you imply. Perhaps you could share a link to them or quote them? He did speak in general terms about the Chicago atmosphere, and that he was drawn the clubhouse there and saw it as a contrast to the clubhouse he experienced with the Cardinals. No kidding. One clubhouse had Joe Maddon as manager and penguins, and the Cardinals had Mike Matheny as manager and he and the influential players set a different tone. I remember in 2016, there was a report -- based loosely on Twitter -- that Heyward heard racist taunting from the stands at Busch Stadium. The toxic words were allegedly picked up on the ESPN broadcast. I went through the entire game again as did the people at ESPN, with the sound enhanced, and there was no evidence of it, and Heyward the next day said that he didn't hear any during that game. But ... but ... he added that he has heard it in the past and learned to ignore it at ballparks that he declined to identify. He said ballparks, as in plural. Which should alarm all of us.It was after the 2016 season that Dexter Fowler signed with the Cardinals. He was coming off of a World Series win with the Cubs and Heyward, and he was the top free-agent leadoff hitter available. Yes, the Cardinals upped their offer with a year beyond what other suitors -- like Toronto -- were offering, and it's worth noting that Fowler spoke with Ozzie Smith about his decision to come here. The protests in Ferguson and the perception of St. Louis were questions he and other free agents have asked the Cardinals about, and they have had to be ready for answers. Coming out of 2020, those conversations are rightfully going on throughout the leagues.
-
-
I think they know not to waste their time when they don't have a seat at the table. It's between the commissioner's office and the union, and certainly DeWitt and other owners have let the league know that they want resolution. The Cardinals' front office sought it as early in the winter as November, and they were told they'd likely have it -- already. And they don't. Teams know this is happening at the level above them, and so they move on. The Cardinals are one of 15 teams who would really like this answer, and that tells you about what good it does to "aggressively" push for resolution behind the scenes. It's not like teams don't try.
-
-
I'm not sure that's the case, though. DeJong was a third baseman in the minors who became an All-Star shortstop in the majors. Kolten Wong has won two Gold Glove awards. Matt Carpenter has been an All-Star at three different positions -- all of them in the infield. Tommy Edman is just arriving in the majors, and Gorman is on the way, along with Mendoza. Luke Voit led the AL in home runs. Matt Adams has had a strong career in the majors, and Daniel Descalso put 10 years in the majors by moving around the infield. That's a pretty good list of infielders, and what's the list of catchers ... Yadier Molina and Carson Kelly. And ... ? I guess I don't buy your premise.Now, if you want to talk impact bats, we can have a different discussion, especially when it comes to the outfield.
-
-
-
-
-
-
DG, You touched on a point with the failed Cards deals in the past that I think adds to some frustration. The Cards do identify a need and attempt to address it. Then when their plan A doesn't happen the weakness that they themselves identified doesn't get addressed. They seem to put a lot of eggs in a basket, wait until most plan good B's are gone then are left with we tried but came up short. I'm aware of the Cards successes, which is why I'll always be a fan. This offseason they and all the public has identified a bat again, now if no bat arrives how can one not feel the chance to compete is diminished?
-
Your last sentiment is exactly right, the way I see it. A bat is an obvious need. Well, more precisely, an improved offense is the need. How do they do that? Well, it has to come from outside and it could require some creativity by creating complements at multiple positions. If the Cardinals don't do anything to address the need to improve the offense and they've diminished the defense in the process, then absolutely the chance to compete is diminished and all sorts of criticism is warranted.I don't agree with your premise that the Cardinals don't have Plan Bs, or that they're gone. The examples I can think of all show how they work through their options. Stanton didn't agree to the trade, so they moved on to their Plan B and their Plan C which was to keep talking to the Marlins until one of the outfielders was there, and if they needed a Plan D then it could have been Andrew McCutchen. In December 2016, the Cardinals talked to the White Sox about Adam Eaton and were floored by the package of players the Sox got from the Nats, and so they pivoted to their alternate Plan -- sign Fowler, and they upped the offer to do it because of what Eaton commanded via trade. The Cardinals wanted David Price because they wanted David Price, and when David Price got overwhelmed with a better offer from the Red Sox, then the Cardinals had to find their pitching elsewhere, knowing that it wouldn't be David Price. It was Mike Leake ... who we're all guilty of seeing as a fit, no?
-
-
Having Molina play 3B ahead of other options, to me, would not be wise. That's not why he's on the team. He's exceptional catcher, and the Cardinals should be looking for power and force from third base if they don't have the natural fielder to handle that spot. Also, it's not giving him a break at all. Let him rest, for crying out loud.As far as grooming for first after Goldschmidt -- yes, to all of those names.
-
-
-
-
-