Join Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold for his live chat at noon Monday
Bring your Cards questions and comments to Monday’s noon live chat.
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Derrick, you just stated:
“ Mozeliak used it as an example when he said, on the record to me at Dodger Stadium, that his plan was to bring everyone back because of what the staff was able to do.”
So were wounds about hitting just reopened in the meetings that followed? Did Shildt demand changes? Something happened THAT WEEK that I still just don’t have a beat on. What caused Mo to change his mind that week? -
I have the feeling we're going to be relitigating this for a long time, and will be doing so while trying to swim upstream against presumptions and guesses, when there's been a lot of coverage of this that is right at your finger tips. Some quick hits, and then a link:-- Mozeliak, DeWitt have both said that they left LA on the team plane expecting to work on an extension with Shildt when they got back to STL. Both have said that.-- Mozeliak said the hitting coach/hitting approach was not the sole reason for the change.-- Mozeliak was not present in the meeting where things started to awry, and it was only after "circling back" -- his words -- that he was able to get the information that he felt necessitated a change. It happened that week.There are more details in this story, from that same week:
Two out, pressure’s on: After firing his second homegrown, hand-picked manager, Mozeliak’s next choice a defining one for Cardinals
STLtoday.comA winning team with returning stars had momentum building for 2022 before the sudden dismissal of manager Shildt allowed frustrations, questions to surface. -
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Amazing what happens when a player cannot be dreamed-on anymore and actually gets to the majors and fails for the first time. Is it better to be the prospect that never reaches the majors and thus never loses that luster, or the one that does and plays a long career failing along the way, but being so good to earn those failures, despite fan frustrations?
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Wainwright. Has. Not. Said. He's. Retiring.No matter what the Cardinals front office has tried to suggest, Wainwright has been quite clear, and it's his decision to make, not theirs. He has said he may pitch beyond 2022, and that he may pursue 200 wins, and that it's a discussion he'll have with his wife at the end of the season first, not the media or the front office. That's the call.It would not surprise me if the Cardinals have something cooked up for Molina and Pujols at the end of the year that would be a nod to how their numbers will never be worn other players again.Redcoats -- no. Something else -- yes.
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In your story on Gordon Graceffo you mentioned he spent the winter training at Annex Sports Performance Center in NJ. How much of that is with the organization's approval/oversight? Are coaches checking in with players during the winter?
(Ducking in case you throw a link of a story covering this entire topic at me) -
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That was not my story. That was Daniel Guerrero's story. He's the new addition to the baseball team. We've made two hires, and on Tuesday we're going to launch a brand new way to get content from the Post-Dispatch's baseball writing team. It's going to answer a lot of the questions I get in here about subscriptions, for example.Daniel did an excellent job on that story.This past winter was different, right? Players on the 40-man roster could not contact the team, could not interact with the team, and so the day that Arenado, Goldschmidt, and Carpenter spent in Baton Rouge at the Lab there was not done with any contact with the team. They did that on their own. A Driveline visit from Arenado, same thing. But players like Graceffo could be in communication with the team and its Department of Performance, and that is a big part of the discussion. Players can seek out ways to improve. They are encouraged to do so. Find a hitting coach. Find a nutritionist. Need help? The team will help. They want to find ways for players to improve. That's the goal. And so they work with the players, when permitted.
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So what does Marmol have against Woodford? He's outperformed VerHagen and Brooks this spring by a fair piece, AND was solid last year (ERA 3.99) AND was excellent down the stretch -- shut out the Brewers for five innings in September, TWICE. And yet Marmol won't reward him with the 5th starter slot. What gives?!
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Nothing "gives." He has nothing "against Woodford." The front office is actually a strong advocate of Woodford, and all parties have been impressed with what he's done this spring. He's in the mix for that fifth starter role. They also, again, like him in that swing spot, that one-time through the order middle of the game type pitcher. He's been effective in that. They also think he could be strong in piggyback model. He's going to have a prominent spot on the pitching staff. It just may not be fifth starter.
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I would like to push back on the idea that the Cardinals would have to trade their best prospects to make a deal. 10 years ago the Cardinals best prospect might have only been the 5th best in other systems, but that’s not the case now. Guys like Yepez and Burleson should have some real trade value. Other teams with farm systems similar to the Cardinals are able to make trades without giving up their top prospects. I realize teams have their own independent evaluations, but that means sometimes the Cardinals players would be more valuable too. Can we please stop with this would you trade Gorman for Manaea? That’s not the type of prospects it takes for every trade, and the Cardinals have that type of prospect.
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I understand where you're coming from, but please let me offer this rejoinder: It's not about offering the "same level" of prospects all the time. It's about what the team wants from you. There have been many examples through the past 20 years when the Cardinals aren't able to make at trade with a team only to see the player move and go, huh, well, the Cardinals have prospects like that. Doesn't matter. That's not the prospects the other team wanted from the Cardinals. Not too long there was a trade where the Mets wanted O'Neill or Bader in the deal. The Cardinals did not want to give either of them up for a rental. The deal that the Mets ultimately got was less than an MLB starter, one who could have gone right into the lineup, and the Cardinals had options like that. Didn't matter. To do the deal with the Mets, the Cardinals had to meet the Mets' price.They cannot impose on a team and say, wait, you were willing to take this Grade-B+ prospect from that team why not take this Grade-A- prospect from our team? The other team its own view of the talent it wants, and it's not always Baseball America's or Pipeline's rankings.There are dozens of other examples like that, and that's true on the Cardinals' end, too. They saw a chance to get Liberatore and wouldn't come off of him for the Rays. Now, they might have ended up trading Martinez eventually or Arozarena even maybe, but it would not have been the Liberatore equivalent from another team. They wanted Liberatore.The top eight prospect for the Padres, might be a top three prospect for the Cardinals, and you can see why the Cardinals would be reluctant to move that player.If anything, this is a referendum on the Cardinals' farm system. It's top heavy. It's got a gap. And it's not expected to produce impact beyond the top group. That's the issue. Not that they don't make the trade -- that they don't have anyone to get the ask off the best they've got.
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Studies have shown that it does not as much as other elements of the game, no. The shift still needs balls in play to matter, and the game is come to a halt because there are fewer balls in play. It doesn't matter where the fielders are if the outcomes are strikeout, walk, or homer. They could shift to the dugout. It's not the shift. It's the lack of balls in play. More balls in play and you'll see the shift adapt, too.Let's see a substantive move to improve the game, not a cosmetic one.
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I don't know. I watched him this week competing for the fifth spot. I watched him answer VerHagen's outing with a strong outing that thrust him right back into the mix for the role. I know he has a champion for the role inside the walls of the ballpark. So, I don't know how else to say it. Please don't put words in my mouth. I can do that just fine on my own.
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Right-hander. Throws hard. Breakout player from this past year. Blazed through the 2021 season, and then went to the hitter-happy Arizona Fall League and absolutely tamed hitters there. He was impressive. He misses bats. He has a biting fastball that can work to both sides of the plate. He is effective against lefties and absolutely minimizes the damage they can do. He can throw with power. Has a strong breaking ball. He brings velocity beyond his size. His fastball has sizzle.