Cardinals chat with Derrick Goold
Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold takes your Cardinals and trade deadline questions in his live chat beginning at 11 a.m. Monday.
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Keuchel and LeMahieu are two solid players. But they are ultimately role players. The Cardinals need to do what they can to get a player who will be the face of the franchise. Going after Corbin, Keuchel and DJ doesn't change a whole lot in my opinion. They need to go out and get a Machado or Harper. Let them pick their own manager if they want.
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All fair points. St. Louis can change its manager, can change its offer, its jersey, its suites on the road -- St. Louis can change everything in the name of acquiring a free agent but it cannot change its geography or the size of its city for a free agent. The Giancarlo Stanton discussions should have broadcast this fact far and wide. There are no beaches coming here. Madison Avenue isn't coming here. The Cardinals have to be that much better to create that much more appealing of a situation for a free agent of that caliber --- or acquire one via trade.
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I was unable to confirm one tip I got about Cleveland being interested in Jose Martinez. Again, I was unable to confirm that, so I didn't feel comfortable reporting it. I'm even hesitant to bring it up here -- and I only do because it appears the roots of that may be in what you're asking about here. Cleveland's wish for depth in the outfield. I have not heard anything beyond that but it has been 1,000+ days since the last Cleveland-Cardinals deal. They're due.
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At least we're done with euphemisms. Thanks for that. I find it fascinating how people ask for "accountability" when they really mean -- fired. Is that person going to get canned, axed, pink-slipped, the boot? We have all of these terms so we can ask if someone is going to lose their job -- but then we say, oh, but we were so polite about it. Cracks me up. So you want accountability but you don't want to get your fingers dirty by actually asking for a pound of flesh.DeWitt Jr. is pleased with the overall organizational health, the strength in the minors, the way decisions are made, the structure of the club, the communication between groups, and how things look in the coming years. He credits Mozeliak with putting that all together since taking over. DeWitt Jr. likes the health of the organization.The spending on relievers has not turned out well. The manager fallout has to fall on the entire group and lead to some questions about roster management -- for the manager or for the team. And those questions are going to have to be answered -- not from the media (though, we'll ask) but from ownership (they'll ask, too). So, DeWitt isn't looking for "accountability" from Mozeliak, he's an adjustment to the plan that turns the health of the organization into success at the top level.
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Hi Derrick, when I asked if we should expect any new free agent signings to be better than the recent past, i meant is the front office doing anything differently, evaluating players differently, something? or are they using the same models and assuming past results were anomalies. thanks
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Gotcha. No. They will have some changes to the models -- and that's natural. That happens all the time. This decision and its result informs the data for the next decision. Mikolas' success informs their next decision when going abroad for a pitcher. And so on. There will also be at least one new voice in the room, too. The new manger will bring new eyes and new thoughts and if they hire from outside that manager will also come with new authority because he'll have leverage as the new guy asked to take the Cardinals to a place they used to go all the time.
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He will get consideration for the job, yes. I'm pretty sure the Cardinals have already vetted him in someway. He's certainly been on the shortlist for managers to look at, and as mentioned before Mozeliak keeps a running list like that for a lot of positions. Girardi is on it. They know the connections, and they'll already have a good feel for Girardi and his interest and his fit before they go through the possible interviews that seem ahead in November.
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Why does everyone handicap the Cards’ ability to land a prime free agent? Not every player is looking for beaches and night life or Miami would be a huge draw. It is about dollars, years, ability to win and organizational fit in most circumstances. Cardinals just have to break-thru and go for it. In my mind, you only go all out for Arenado in another year.
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You're right it's not about beaches and locale -- it is about dollars. But here's the situation: EVERY TEAM HAS MONEY TO SPEND. They all do. They can afford it. They can usually afford to pay the tax for going over. One of the reasons teams don't want to go over the luxury tax has nothing to do with money -- they all have money -- it has to do with the trimming of picks, the penalties that cost them draft picks and draft spending, and while all teams have money they also love, love, love their prospects, too, it's how they make more money by having prospects that make less at their peak. Cycle repeats.This where we are: If all teams have money to spend and all teams are highly data-driven, then they're all going to arrive at a pretty similar offer and that leaves the player to determine the difference between those offers when it's not money.-- Is it ability to win?-- Is it the city size?-- Is it the city location?-- Is it the laundry?-- Is it spring training in Arizona?-- Is it playing at home?You can start to see how teams at the high end of the free-agent scale are all going to get similar offers from similar teams and thus can make those choices. Consider Nolan Arenado. Southern California kid. How many millions beyond what the Dodgers will likely offer would the Cardinals have to go to make that choice for him? If -- just for example -- he wants to be a Dodger because it's home, it's a big city, it's laundry, is spring training in Arizona, it's so so so many of the things he could possibly want then what price is he going to put on not having those things. And will data allow the Cardinals to go that far above the other teams offering?It took an extra year to get Fowler. It took the Giants bowing out to sign Leake.This is the situation the Cardinals are in.
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In watching the games over the weekend it seems clear to me that Tommy Pham is not seeing the ball well on either offense or defense. His extreme athleticism is covering it up, but it says here that he is not tracking the ball all the way to the plate or all the way to his glove. Having that opinion, I would love to ask you a question about it, but have no idea what you could do to find out, because there is no way the team or the player will talk about it. So I guess it's just a comment that will probably remain in the queue.
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Left unsaid in your comment is a question about his vision. He knows it. The team knows it. You can dance around it all you want -- and we can too -- but that's the question. What we cannot do is crawl behind his eyes to see out of them. So, the team, the media, and the fans in chats can ask Tommy Pham what he's seeing and whether he's having issues with his vision. He insists he does not have issues. He has had to change his contacts this season, yes. He's got to remain vigilant about that all the time. And he knows there questions about it.Shildt has the same situation with his eyes. He can empathize with Pham.
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The 40 man is a big part of it. And other teams have had their chances to get him. There are a few teams that have scouted Memphis recently and come away with interest in Wisdom again. He could also do what we've seen a few others from Memphis do -- go overseas and prove himself there while making some more money. That's an option. He should be with a new team by 2019, if not sooner, Wisdom deserves that chance.
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I’ve submitted this question before … I’m guessing that you haven’t answered it because you don’t have an answer – but here goes again: My question concerns the Cardinals’ draft signings. I believe their signing pool comes to $7,968,400. They can go up to 5% additional and not have any future draft picks at risk of forfeiture. The extra 5% puts the pool at $8,366,820. Now, using the signing amounts for all their picks in the first 10 rounds (according to Baseball America) the signing bonuses come to $8,347,100. Any additional picks that sign for a bonus over $100,000 also count towards the signing pool for the amount over $100,000. Their 11th through 15th round draft picks all signed for $125,000. This is 5 players at an additional $25,000 (or $125,000) that is included in the pool money. This puts the total signing pool money spent at $8,472,100 or 6.32% over the permitted signing pool. Being over the 5% level … do they lose next year’s first round pick??? If so, what a major, major gaff!!!