Well, there are 140 or so games to go. Three weeks from now, things could look entirely different although I do not think the Reds will be contending for anything. If you look at it, the Cardinals are on a 90-win pace.
DeJong has been showing gradual signs of pulling out of his funk of a couple of seasons. Mo's patience may be eroding as it is for many of you but it is not quite the witching hour. There are not many shortstops to be had externally. Tommy Edman could be a shortstop of the future, I guess, but he would not be a Gold Glove caliber player or as good as DeJong defensively. For now, DeJong would be satisfactory as a bottom-of-the-lineup hitter if some of the rest of the lineup--O'Neill, Carlson--would perform as they were expected to perform. This is not all on DeJong although there has to be some improvement. I do not think Edmundo Sosa is the answer as an everyday player. And I am uncomfortable with an up-the-middle defense of Nolan Gorman at second and Edman at shortstop.
Hicks threw the ball well on Sunday and the time before that. Ultimately, he will have to get to the 75-to-80 pitch range and we'll have to see how many innings that might entail. The experiment is going a bit better than I thought it might.
When a team has games on 20 consecutive days and 35 days out of 36, the manager and players sit down and map out a scheduled day off for a particular day, no matter how hot that player is or how well he may do against a particular pitcher. It did seem, odd, that Goldschmidt was out Sunday against a fellow he has hammered.
If Nolan Gorman is hitting as he is a couple of weeks from now, the Cardinals will have little choice but to insert him into the DH role, at the least, or map it out where he could play a couple of different positions, like second base or left field besides being a DH.
It won't be long before Ryan Helsley will be more of a ninth-inning than Giovanny Gallegos although both could do it. Part of Gallegos' charm is that he is equally as good against left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters but nobody is hitting Helsley.
I know there's going to be a lot of chatter about Gorman taking over at second and Edman moving to shortstop but can you weaken two middle infield positions defensively when defense is the strength of your club?. This may be a decision the club will have to make soon but it doesn't just involve the offense the Cardinals are not getting at shortstop. They're not getting it from the corner outfielders either.
It's fair to take management to task for not signing Scherzer although the Cardinals were the first team to draft him out of high school. Scherzer chose to go to Mizzou instead.
I suspect the Cardinals are hoping Aaron Brooks clears waivers so that they can assign him to Memphis. He has good stuff, but he has had trouble keeping it in the ball park.
Not easily answered other than pitchers often are getting them on pitches that aren't in the strike zone.
First, $44 million for four years for Matz is not a below-the-radar signing. Wittgren seems to be tireless and will be a durable reliever. Dickerson is showing signs of lifting the ball better. VerHagen has been hurt. And Brooks is gone, for the moment. The short answer is that none has been lights-out but the team has played only 21 games.
No, it is not too small. Final verdict may come in the next month or so. But not after three weeks.
Umpires receive four weeks' vacation. A player is not charged with an at-bat on a sac fly.
There is concern. But Carlson's finish to last season shows you that there is a lot more to see with him. There might be a way you play somebody else in the outfield more often until he finds himself.
The gamble is that with several teams missing pitchers because of COVID that somebody else picks him up, even if it is only for the short-term.
To wrap this up, DeJong still provides quality defense. How much do you value that? He is not the only regular not hitting. It's as simple--or as complicated--as that.
No question that the Cardinals' offense has been disappointing. Baseball is headed for its lowest offensive production in years, so the Cardinals are not outliers.
The team is over .500 without its best starting pitcher in Jack Flaherty and with three or four regulars contributing little offensively. I have no argument with Marmol's first month. .
Albert will have to be able to play the bag once in a while if the Cardinals want to give Paul Goldschmidt some rest along the way. Once or twice a month might do it.
These questions better are answered after 100 or so games and not 20.
Wins and losses should count the same at any time of the season.
Flaherty is getting close to throwing off a mound--perhaps a week from now. Look for him to be pitching for the Cardinals late this month. You won't see Reyes pitch here until June, He is playing catch.
Rick, it’s only taken about three weeks for all NL teams except Atl to fall into place in their respective standings. The elite teams are obvious, the tank teams are already fishing at the bottom, and as expected the Cards again are playing as a mid tier team competing for a wildcard, notwithstanding a collapse of a better Mil team. Any more complicated than that?