Cardinals chat with Rick Hummel
Bring your Cardinals questions and comments, and talk to Hall of Fame baseball writer Rick Hummel in a live chat starting at 11 a.m. Monday.
-
-
Can this team stand another year of the this FO? After all, it is their obligation to put the best team possible on the field and that hasn't been done for a number of years. I'd much rather spend my money on the Gateway Grizzlies. Cheaper seats, lower priced fare, no or little player hype, and the play is about the same as I would see at Busch 3. -
-
-
-
-
-
-
Why are pitchers always monitored on an "innings limit"? Shouldn't it be a "total pitches" limit? During a game, the metric is measured by total pitches, not by innings pitched. If two guys both make 30 starts an average 6 innings/start, they both throw ~180 innings. However, if Player A averages 15 pitches/inning vs Player B at 16 pitches/inning, Player A throws ~2,700 pitches while Player B throws ~2,880, for a difference of 180 pitches. That's basically 2 whole starts of wear and tear on Player B but people will say they pitched the same amount of innings so they should be good to go. What is your opinion on how to monitor young arms or arms recovering from injuries so our staff doesn't burn out the last 3-4 weeks of the season?
-
Pitches thrown probably is a metric that would have more importance. A lot of innings have more stress, and perhaps more pitches are needed, than in others. But I would not get too hidebound with what the numbers tell you. Does a pitcher look tired? Or does he look fresh? Let your eyes judge if you are the manager or the pitching coach. .
-
Speaking of innings limits, even if Reyes comes back completely healthy, wouldn't he be able to approach his innings limit just working out of the pen? I still believe in Carlos as a starter. Known floor. Cy Young winning level ceiling. Reyes & Hicks could be a potent combo handling late innings.
-
Reyes could be that type of pitcher, I suppose, but I've always seen him as a starter. Until they decide how that looks, Martinez still is my closer. Reyes will be monitored closely early in the season and I doubt he would be used as a closer in that instance. Hicks is a little too wild, yet, in that role.
-
Corbin was just mentioned. And with Keuchel and Price (opt out), even Kershaw (ope out) potentially being signed this upcoming year.......would you agree that the Cardinals need another experienced starting pitcher? Wacha/Martinez are unknowns to a degree as starters......Flaherty has potential and Mikolas is in rotation....then there is Waino and all the other youngsters. But, it was Hamels that propelled the Cubs to at least hand on to a tie for the NL central......not some rookie.
-
One more veteran starter, especially if you can get a lefthander, would help. But I think Wacha will be all right. It's not his arm and he will be a free agent after next season. He is primed for a big year. With Mikolas, Flaherty and Wacha, you need only two more from Gomber, Gant, Hudson, Wainwright, Weaver or Mr. Y, where you could leave Martinez in the bullpen.
-
Thanks for the chat, Commish!
Here's an interesting idea, and I apologize if this has already been mentioned today. (I'm late to the chat.) If the STL front office had never signed Fowler or Holland or Gregerson or Cecil (the latter three combined for 70 innings and an ERA over 7.00 this year) the owners would have saved $138,000,000 and the Cards would have won between 5 and 11 MORE games this year, depending whether that quartet were replaced by "replacement level" players, below average guys, average guys, or above average ones. (They didn't need to substitute any all-stars to win 11 more games. Just guys within the system like Tyler O'Neill and Dakota Hudson and Daniel Poncedeleon, for the full season or nearly full season.)
Point being, even though fans don't want to hear it, sometimes spending dough on the free agent market can really really hurt a team. And contrary to what some baseball writers like to say, there CAN be such a thing as a bad one-year contract.
The club averaged 4.4 runs this year with Mabry and Fowler, then it increased to 4.9 runs post-Mabry, and then an amazing 5.3 with neither Mabry nor Fowler. So with Mabry gone (or blame Matheny if you prefer) the lineup is not the problem, once Fowler is traded or released. And despite getting just 40 starts and 250 innings combined from Carlos Martinez, Wacha, Reyes, and Waino, the rotation for the season was 2nd to the Dodgers in the N.L. in earned run average!
That leaves the awful bullpen. And I wish we *could* leave the bullpen. So I say trade Jose Martinez to the DH league for relief help. And trade Kelly or Knizner for relief help. And go to Japan, where the Redbird scouts are outstanding at recognizing talent, and grab the best reliever possible. And that's it. Just do those three things. And you'll have a 95-win team next year. As long as Gregerson, Cecil, and Fowler are no longer in the organization.
But it won't happen, that narrow and inexpensive and incredibly productive offseason. Because the front office knows that would drive the fans nuts, because it would involve a reduction in player payroll.
Thanks so much for letting me rant, Rick. And I'd love to hear your thoughts, on my own thoughts. -
You certainly are welcome and, always room for one more rant. Your point on the amount of money spent being an inclusive answer is a good one. They've notably had bad luck in investing in free-agent relievers, so they are unlikely to go too far down that road again. Had some of the young players been up earlier, things might have been different but you generally side with the players who have track records. Sometimes that goes on too long. However, I still have hope for Fowler and Gregerson. Not as much for Cecil.
-
Thanks for another HOF Season Commish; Call me crazy but I think a 7th, 8th & 9th 3-headed monster of Reyes, Hicks and Cmart make me salivate, I would think Wacha, Flaherty, Mikolas, Gomber, and someone from Gant, Hudson, Weaver, Ponce completing rotation or an outsider to complete 5 like Corbin. Add in Harper and a healthy Ozuna and the stadium is full, everyone is happy!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Mr. Hummel..thanks as always for your thoughtful answers. You've made some really important macro points about this team (too many 7s and 8s and too few 3s and 4s). Is "identity" something you think is important in creating a team? Example: starting pitching is your identity thus defense is most important to optimize that identity? It just seems like the organization keeps trying to fit square pegs in round holes either desperation, creativity...not sure.
-
There have been some square pegs in round holes. And the starting pitching would be even better if the defense is better, especially at the corners. First base is a position that is harder than the Cardinals seem to think that it is. Not everybody _ or anybody _ can play there.
-
Commish the PD published a story today raising question about Carlos Martinez' training habits. Is it possible there could be a similar story about Brett Cecil? I guess there are all sorts of body types in baseball, but he just doesn't look like he is in shape to play big league baseball.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
To the person complaining about Shannon. Enjoy him while you can, he's a Cardinals institution. I live in Florida and subscribe to Sirius in order to get the Cards home game broadcasts. Grab yourself a frosty cold Mike Shannon approved beverage and listen to 60 years of Cardinals history.
-
-
-
-
How do we address the rotation for next year? We have legitimately 11 guys vying for 5 spots. CMart to the closer role could help, but shouldnt we bracing ourselves for a few trades of some of these bright young pitchers we used so much this year? Memphis is only an option for a few i'd think and putting them in the bullpen seems a waste of many of their talents.
-
-
-
Peralta is an interesting option. Lefty with pop. Idk much about his defense though. I’m sure he has a strong arm being a former pitcher but how is he on tracking the ball and routes. When Fowler or Martinez were in the outfield I always figured it was a toss up on whether or not they’d catch the ball or at least keep it in front of them.
-
-
-
-
Since some of these young pitchers only got regular starts from July onward and ran out of gas (Ponce, Gomber, Gant, Hudson, Flaherty) and many were injured or 'lost it' (Cecil, Leone, Norris, Weaver) how can we expect them to be starters or relievers for the whole year when no one can consistently perform or stay healthy. The kids ran out of gas after only 2+ months.
-