Join Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold for his live Cardinals chat at 11 a.m. Tuesday
Bring your Cards questions and comments to Tuesday’s 11 a.m. live chat.
-
The hitting lab is up and running and some of the first young hitters to have had access to it and offseason work in it are now in the majors. Others are the prospects that has everyone talking about the upside of the Cardinals' young hitters all of a sudden.The pitching lab remains Mozeliak's goal, and it may not happen until the capital improvements and rebuild of Roger Dean Stadium's complex that is expected after 2023 spring training. We'll see. The plans are there and the hope is there and the idea is to have that complex in place for 2024. -
Derrick, earlier in the chat you dismissed Andy Andy's comment about Hughes throwing a fastball up in the zone to Albert to see what he could do with it. When I saw the pitch again in replay I turned to my girlfriend and said, "that was a meatball". Let's not pretend that this has never happened before. I'm sure all the true greats who were chasing records late in their careers got thrown a "meatball" or two. If you go back and look at the pitch Al Downing threw to Hank Aaron... that was a meatball. -
Give me a break. It was a mistake. It was a poor pitch. It was not where he was aiming. You actually think that a major-league pitcher, especially that major-league pitcher, would rather give up a home run to Pujols in a scoreless tie than strike out Pujols in a scoreless tie and possibly win the game.What are we doing.
-
-
-
DGoold, I know that this may seem like an overraction because the team has been playing so well recently, but after a loss like yesterday's, do the players/coaches ever have like an after-action review to see where the game plan went wrong? Seems odd that an offense as good as ours could go so cold against a really bad pitching staff especially when they had 2 really bad games in Cincy and 1 against Chicago all in the last week. Worrisome sign for october when the pitching will be elite
-
They always do. They do after wins. They do after losses. Marmol meets with his coaches to be challenged by them on his calls and to challenge all of them on their prep. Marmol also meets with the Cardinals analytics group to hear what they suggest and to have his decisions challenged, statistically, or confirmed. Either way. That is part of the standard post-game and pre-game work that the coaching staff does to evaluate what went right, what went wrong, and where to improve next. As bench coach, Marmol watched all of the games in their entirety and tried to think along with the moves on both sides to see if there was one that could have gone another way. As manager, he does that less so, but still does revisit moments and gets feedback or thinks through it himself on what could have been done for a better result. And then there are games like yesterday that they mostly just ignore and move on.
-
-
Probably not. It was discussed. It was explored. But it would be disruptive to several of the starters that are going well and it would have scuttled the schedule they have planned to bring Flaherty along to be a factor for the postseason. The move to keep Hudson fresh as one he didn't particular enjoy, of course, but was obvious for the team -- keep him starting in Memphis.
-
Count me in the camp that would like to see the fences in a bit at Busch. Hit a ball 400 feet to left or right center, that should be a home run. At Busch it isn’t. Shoot, boot hit one 412 the other day and it was only in the first row! Go for extreme groundball and/or swing and miss pitching and can still play to the park. Then you also don’t need a CF with as much speed or range to excel.
-
-
-
It gets closer. My stance on this hasn't changed: Adam Wainwright will be in Cooperstown, some day. It will either be as a pitcher or a broadcaster, but he will give a speech there in that New York hamlet and be honored forever at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
-
-
-
-
-
Hello Derrick, thanks for your exemplary reporting and wonderful writing. Thinking about the pitching lab that has yet to come to pass-given that the issue is the lease agreement and keeping the facilities the same at Roger Dean on the Marlins side, have the Cardinals considered creating an off-site lab that isn’t too far from the complex? Maybe there isn’t a space for that nearby but it’s something I’ve wondered about.
-
Yes, that was discussed. All of it was explored. The Cardinals purchased the building across the street from the complex to avoid the lease limitations that keep uniformity with the Marlins and their side. (Not uniformity in buildings or use, but in spending and upgrades.) That building is now the home of the minor-league training facility, a workout room, some offices that are rented (one by dentist, I believe), and the media work room, where keyboard crunchers like myself work. So that space is in play, but the preference is to get a better facility on site, one with a better clubhouse, a better workout room, offices, and the video rooms, just modern through and through and that will include an expanse of the current building and a second story.
-
-
-
It was very interesting to hear Girsch talk about signing free agents on the BPIP podcast and how opportunity and the possibility to increase future earnings persuade free agents decision making. How difficult will it be this offseason at SS and catcher if the Cardinals try to go outside to get help when veterans can see that Mason Wynn and Herrera are waiting in the wings and that they could even possibly cut into 2023 playing time?
-
-
-
He is not. He still has the option to accept a $10 million, 10-year personal services contract, and he has said he will satisfy that requirement of his contract with the Angels. That is part of his deal and it triggers when he retires, regardless of what team he's with when he retires.
-
I can understand why there would be little interest for Mo to pursue Contrerous. It seems that Roberto Perez could be a excellent choice for Mo. What range of salary would it take to get him? He's making $5 million this year would that be enough to get him next year? Would it take a two year contract? Thanks for the chats!
-
Interesting suggesting. Not sure it would take that much -- two years, I mean. Will depend on the competition for him, mostly, and I don't have a read on that at the moment. He's a 33-year-old catcher, who has 21 games in the majors this season and a .700 OPS, up from a career OPS that's in the .600s. Splitting time with Knizner in this suggestion? Sure seems like a conversation with Oakland about Sean Murphy is a place to start. Not sure it gets anywhere, but it would be worth the phone call ...
-
-
We'll find out. I don't have a good idea at this moment. I was quizzed about this by players recently and held to account for the voter who did not vote for Derek Jeter. (It was not me. I make my ballot public.) Rivera being unanimous was as much of a surprise as Jeter not being and Griffey not being. If Griffey wasn't and Jeter wasn't, goodness, nothing is guaranteed with Pujols.He should be. And voters who don't include him, should explain themselves.There should be accountability.Would respect that greatly.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Hi Derrcik, thanks for the chats. With Oli's new lineups, isn't he essentially batting the "pitcher" 8th? Nootbar and Edman in the 9th spot are the leadoffs after the first inning to be on base for Goldschmidt while still making sure Goldy bats in the first. Isn't this the exact same thing La Russa did with Pujols? Is this just getting less attention from people who hated this strategy because of the DH, even though it creates the same lineup dynamics (especially with the way our 8-hole hitters have produced)?
-
Yes, but it's actually the reverse of how you present it. La Russa was drawing inspiration from the double leadoff notion of the American League and trying to stack as many hitters in front of the best hitters as possible, to keep the pitcher away from the No. 3 hitter, for example. That's because the lineup only goes in order once. From there, the innings could go:7-8-9-1-2-3, or5-6-7, or9-1-2-3And so on. So you think of the lineup like a spectrum and it make sense to get the best hitters the most plate appearances, and get the worst hitters as far as away from the best hitters as possible so they have someone on base when the best hitters come up.Marmol is using an AL lineup because he has the DH that La Russa did not in STL.
-
-
I have. Twice now. In Cincinnati, and then again in St. Louis. And when a colleague asked a third time, Marmol looked at me as if I had set it up. (I had not.) It's a question he openly acknowledges is fair and one that is on his mind, and he has told us and Carlson that the time is coming for him to get a run. Not a day. But a run. A good stretch. He doesn't want to put Carlson in against a right-hander and go here's your one day. That's not fair or realistic. At the same time he's juggling production from others. So, as the production slips from one hitter, the opening is there for Carlson to get that look in the lineup, and it appears the moment is arriving.
-
In your conversation with Girsch, I thought it was striking how indifferent he was about past performance and seeming had tunnel vision on projecting the future. It was a great podcast. While I understand he's not concerned about what has happened but instead focused on what will happen, does the front office use past performance and factor that in to the predictive stats and calculations they use? For example, if Arenado's hard hit rate or exit velocity slumps next year for whatever reason, do they adjust the model in expectation of him normalizing his numbers to prior rates?
-
Past performance informs future expectation, absolutely. Whether that's with data that can be predictive -- such as hard-hit rates, exit velocity, BABIP, and so on. All of those things matter. The Cardinals will use pitch makeup to know how best to use a pitcher and deploy those pitches, but the pitcher must have thrown that pitch in the past for them to know. They're not going to project that Montgomery has the body type to throw a wicked gyroball and say that's the key to his future performance, when he hasn't thrown one in the past. So, past informs the predictions, for sure.The data is just getting better to do so. Girsch's point as about not really thinking about the counting stats, but rather the data that got the hitter there and suggests he'll continue to do so.If Goldschmidt wins the Triple Crown, they'll know it, but they'll look beneath those baseball card numbers for the reasons that project he'll continue that performance.I'm not quite sure how to answer your example with Arenado. I'll try. If his predictive stats slip -- hard hit rate, exit velocity; excellent examples by you -- then they'll look for the cause (injury, age, flawed mechanics, something?), try to figure out what gets him back to the baseline, and if he cannot get back to that baseline then the predictions will have to downshift, too. Part of the beauty of these improved predictive stats is that they can form a way for the team to truly measure that a player has returned to past performance.We've seen this most recently with Jack Flaherty. His return to the majors was guided by how closely his pitches today came to mirroring how they did spin rate, velo, depth, all of it from 2019. The Cardinals could look at those numbers today, compare them to past performance, and come together on what prediction looks like for the coming weeks.
-
-
-
-