If Hudson were out of the rotation, he would move, first, to the bullpen where he was quite effective when he came up. No need for that yet. He hasn't been horrible, just not very good.
I have seen opening days in many places and the Cardinals just do it better. I know the Yankees have brought back their greats for a summer-time reunion but to see some of the greats of the past and recent past rolling around the Busch Stadium track in their vehicles and then standing together at home plate always gets my attention.
That date is not imminent for several reasons. First, Edmundo Sosa would have the next crack at shortstop if the Cardinals moved away from DeJong, which is not being discussed. Second, Gorman needs more work at second. Third, Edman hasn't really worked at shortstop all spring.
I don't think it's wise to be changing the rules once the season has started. It sets a bad precedent and baseball has enough problems anyway because of its recent tinkering with the rules.
I would guess Jack Flaherty could be back in he majors in mid-to-late May. I wouldn't expect to see Alex Reyes until at least June.
Gorman is mashing the ball in the last week. He did not in spring training. Remember that some of these Triple-A parks are chummier than in the majors. But if he continues to hit, the club would have to find a spot for him, even it meant some DH at-bats. He is not yet a polished second baseman.
Runners still can try to break up the double play but they have to slide directly to the bag. We don't need any automatic outs, though. The infielder might throw the ball away.
Maybe. The Cubs have got a good chance at finishing third, but many games behind Milwaukee and the Cardinals.
There is no set time for a move at shortstop but you pretty much have answered your own question. The Cardinals have played eight games, not 80 or not even 18.
We've discussed Flaherty's timetable as some time next month. Madison Bumgarner might be a consideration but not sure what that would take or how much he would help. He may not be as good as Steven Matz at this stage and we haven't seen what Jordan Hicks will amount to as a starter. He might be good at this when he can throw more pitches.
The DH spot is No. 5 because manager Marmol wants some firepower behind Arenado. Pujols provides that. I haven't seen anybody else I like there, other than DeJong and he hasn't hit well enough yet to spot him there.
The managers who will go into the Hall of Fame generally will go in on how many games they won and how many championship rings they have--whether they got them from sitting on their hands, or not.
The Cardinals wanted to see what would happen if a "young boy" took on the "men." If Walker succeeds at Class AA this year at only 19 (he will be 20 in May), that just means he is that much closer to the majors. By the age of 21, he might be here.
Drew VerHagen went the first week without pitching after doing fairly well in the spring. He is a control pitcher whose control has been off, so he clearly needs more work. But he has to earn it, too. He is not yet 2018 Mikolas 2.0 although his first outing was better than his second.
If you look around, a lot of teams have pitchers who have looked good and bad in their first two starts, with San Diego's Yu Darvish as one example. Shortened spring trainings can do that. The pitchers aren't as ready as the hitters. It will be a bad sign if any or all of the four have more poor outings than good ones. I have thought for a while the Cardinals needed another top-of-the-rotation starter. Perhaps Jack Flaherty will be that when he comes back. Perhaps Steven Matz could be that. But it is too early to go shopping. You don't know exactly what you have yet.
There always is that chance that Hudson will need more time. But, based on his spring, he was deemed ready. It is unusual to see him behind in the count so much and that is not a good recipe for winning baseball. Hicks is a complete unknown as a starter. Woodford is the Cardinals' fail safe but I would like to see more of him.
I don't like the shift but I might be OK with it if all the infielders were on the dirt and not playing in short right field, or deep right field, as Manny Machado did, at times, for San Diego last year.
The mind was willing. But the flesh wasn't.
Dickerson has had two good late-inning at-bats in the past two games. I'm OK with him as a DH but, not necessarily hitting fifth unless he is going to show more power.
Ball Park Village revenue is independent of what is spent on the club's payroll although, obviously, if more people are at BPV, it means that something good is happening with the team. The Cardinals' payroll largely is tied to attendance at the stadium, which has been down (or non-existent) in the past two seasons because of COVID-19.
Commish, the month of May has the Cardinals playing 29 games in 31 days. Nineteen of these games are against teams with a record over .500. May 1st MLB rosters go back to 26. Are you concerned at all that May 2022 could be this year’s version of June 2021 for the Cardinals? If you had to guess today, what two players will be removed from the 28 man roster?