Join Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold for his live chat at 11 a.m. Monday
In this special edition of the chat, Derrick also takes questions about his Hall of Fame ballot.
-
To be fair, one person's "market price" is another person's "sign a big time free agent at whatever dollars it takes and why aren't they doing that?" This is a good recasting of the question, but it should also be noted that the Cardinals avoid the auctions in the open market. -
-
He is not longer on the committee that is involved, as he was a few CBAs ago. That said, DeWitt is one of the most influential owners in the majors. He has the trust of the commissioner and the respect of his peers, and he has for two decades now been involved in the workings of Major League Baseball and offering his interest and opinions.He's not going to make a suggestion based on maintaining one player. He plays the long game, not the short return. That should be clear from how the Cardinals operate.
-
-
-
-
Lester has not said anything official, that I've seen. He said he was going to consider retiring this season, yes. The Cardinals had interest in Happ, but wanted to see if they could get one of the other free agents first, and they signed Matz. They'll revisit Happ, but it may not be an offer he seeks because the opportunity to start isn't going to be guaranteed.
-
Mr Goold,
Fans, who think MLB players have it made, might be interested in the story of 2021 Cardinal - Max Moroff. 2021 was his first year, since he was signed right out of high school by the Pirates, that he spent the majority of the season on a major league payroll (albeit on the 60-day IL).
Now, in the face of the lockout and after labrum surgery, he has to reestablish his value, or figure out what to do now. -
This is a good example of the risks I was mentioning a few minutes ago. Throw in the fact that Moroff was going to get flown to New York to meet with the Mets, really dive deep on the role they thought he could have, the metrics backing their interest, and so on -- and then it didn't happen for him because the Mets suddenly found themselves having to deal with replacing Carlos Beltran at manager. Moroff had nothing to do with that, and yet ...
-
-
-
Solid "bat tool" as they say. Damage by way of doubles. Strong command of the strike zone. Steady approach to increase that OPS by way of OBP. He's capable in the infield. Has the utility feel of how Edman arrived in the majors, and will get work all over in spring training. Probably a comparison there -- with how Edman arrived and made the most of the opportunity he had. Unsure what opportunity will await Donovan but the Cardinals have positioned the roster to have him compete for a bench role in spring training, and they like what he brings as a versatile, appealing bat off the bench or a sub/complement around the middle infield.
-
I know this ground has been covered, but I respectfully disagree with your vote for Bonds and Clemens. The integrity of the game is more important than individuals. I don’t care how good they were. And it would disrespect all the other players who did it honestly—Aaron, Mays, Musial, etc etc., not to mention send a terrible message to future players that cheating is acceptable.
-
I appreciate your point. But isn't the scorn they've faced, the boos they'll hear, the year after year dissection of their careers and flaws plastered all over social media every January, part of the message, too? A plaque in Cooperstown doesn't silence the cacophony of criticism and questions that have greeted them every day since their career ended. At least not to me it hasn't.I'm sure future players see and hear that too.
-
-
I don't know why Tampa Bay would entertain that move. Sure the rest. If those players would accept those kind of offers -- bully for the Cardinals. Nothing wrong with a minor-league deal for a proven major-league performer. Not sure they would sign them, but if they would smart plays.
-
-
-
Curt Flood is a prime candidate for the Buck O'Neil Award, baseballhall.org
-
-
-
-
I could see how you could make that argument. I still think that the numbers that matter in baseball help make the season worthwhile -- and the grind of the game is part of what defines the game, and that only comes with the lengthy regular season that does matter.
-
As I observe MLB slowly commit suicide, primarily because of slow play, I have yet to hear anyone describe the real problem and, until they do that, we will continue to see gimmicks (three batter minimums, limited mound visits, runner on second, etc.) and attempts at quick fixes.
Nobody has mentioned what I call "a death by a thousand cuts". It is very similar to a golf foursome that has one player who takes 15 seconds longer to hit the ball than the other three golfers. That seems like a meaningless time, but 15 seconds times 90 shots is 1350 seconds or 22 minutes. Of course, another slow golfer makes it much worse.
The same thing happens in baseball. Prior to the '70s no player took 5 to 15 seconds to step out and adjust his gloves, no time to wait for the batboy to run out and collect shin guards, elbow guards and gloves and then put on his sliding mitt. It was considered lazy not to run hard to first and then maybe get to second or third. Now the outfielder knows who will not try to stretch a single into a double, so they go slowly after the ball and then lob it into the infield.
Pitchers knew the signs and did not stop to look at a cheat sheet.
None of these single actions amount to a problem, but if you multiply those hundreds of 5 to 15 second actions it makes the games 20 to 40 minutes longer that they used to be and nobody considers ways to get everyone involved in reducing these meaningless actions that are the primary cause of games that last into the late afternoon or night.
An education initiative by the players and coaches and incentives for faster play should be a part of the negotiations. Of course, neither side (a pox on both their houses) is smart enough to even sit down to talk. They both want more money and that makes me think they will be asking for 30 seconds more time between innings for additional ad revenue, i.e. another 10 minutes added to every game. -
I'm glad that you mentioned commercials. Because that is the real culprit when it comes to expanded length of games. Though the 15 seconds of pause that you describe -- that does contribute to the lack of pace some games have. To me, pace of game is the issue. It's not time of game. Trust me, on deadline I would really really really like quicker time of game, but from a fan enjoyment perspective pace of game is the priority. Pause, Pitch, strikeout, pause, pitch, walk -- that's no pace. More balls need to be in play.They have had conversations, they have talked about rules to address your concerns, there are things in place to limit this -- in practice we just don't see it.A pitch clock is something expected in the near term. Both sides seem open to it. We'll see if that gets put back on the table at some point. Rules were pushed off to focus on the bigger, more biting issues, but we could see some of that return to the table ...
-
-
That is a possibility, of course. Gorman at DH is always part of the conversation. Not sure where you'd get the impression it wasn't. Or, you know, DeJong at DH, or Edman at DH, or they could all rotate around you'd see Arenado at DH with Gorman at 3B. This is a given in the conversation to me. Maybe it needs to be stated more, I guess.
-
-
-
-
-
To me, part of breaking a story is being ahead of the story -- informing readers what is going to happen, or what the team is trying to make happen. That's the game these days for many of us, especially with the instant scramble of Twitter. If you tell people what is going to happen an hour, a day, a week, two weeks ahead of time, reporting in real time as it begins and preparing readers for what is about to happen, that is as much a part of breaking a story and reporting a story as it is tweeting out a sentence.Please keep in mind that different outlets have different priorities, and reporters have to respond to what their employers/editors want -- is it a tweet for Twitter or is it a complete article for your employer?To me, staying ahead of the story is more an more important. Telling readers that the Cardinals are actively working on negotiating an extension, reporting the pitcher they're trying to sign, repeating how they're trying to pursue a trade. That's all part of breaking a story ahead of a done deal.Breaking a story can also be being the first to report a significant scoop such as The Athletic's on the Houston sign-stealing or the New York Times' breaking the story on the hacking scandal. And they were broken with complete, well-researched, well-sourced stories.
-
-
-
-
-
-
I have written and suggestions that transgressions should go on plaques as well. Would love to see Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe in the Hall, and right there in bronze on their plaque have it read they were banned from baseball and why. A lesson. I had a conversation once with an official who asked: Would the player show up to hold a plaque that had his PED test results in bronze? Fair question. Guess we'd find out ... Those to players you mention the plaque would have to rely on the strong investigative reporting done by baseball writers and attribute the concern to that.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-