The starting pitching needs to be better and it should be when a healthy Flaherty returns. You can talk about offense all you want but pitching wins. Milwaukee is a prime example.
If Yepez continues to be productive and is not a liability defensively, you can use him in the outfield occasionally and as a DH more often. Corey Dickerson has been productive considering the few hits he has had but somebody will have to go and it won't be Pujols. The Cardinals can't carry three DH types too much longer.
The Cardinals' chances of making the playoffs are a lot better than 50 % when you consider that they have 51 games remaining against the three weak sisters in their division--Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. They also have two-thirds of their games left with the Brewers to be played in St. Louis. The Dodgers were advertised as the best team in the league when the season began. And nothing has changed.
Dickerson has been "relatively" productive, as I said. Nine hits, seven RBIs. Molina, for instance, has 14 hits and two RBIs.
I don't see where the three-batter minimum has had any impact on the length of games. So we don't need that one either.
Not sure where tour will take us but late July is release date.
I wouldn't say "no matter what." But Mo has tied the entire offensive philosophy in the system to Albert and his theories.
Bogaerts is an excellent player. I don't know what Boston's interest would be in moving him but the Red Sox have dug quite a hole already, trailing the Yankees by 10 games.
The lockout didn't help when both Flaherty and Reyes could have used some guidance from the medical staff on what their off-season procedures should be, considering they weren't feeling well.
Wainwright would have to pass a second test in succession. My guess is that he wouldn't pitch before Wednesday rather than Tuesday, with Mikolas already on regular rest.
By the same token, Tyler O'Neill wasn't a 34-homer hitter until he worked more with Albert. And I think you'll find that a lot of teams aren't doing well when they trail after seven innings. Even some of the good ones.
I did notice that both left plenty of runners in scoring position. It wasn't all on Hudson and Cabrera yesterday.
If Edman would go down for two weeks, Nolan Gorman would be here in a heartbeat.
There wouldn't be any need for a roster decision until tomorrow because the Cardinals aren't playing today.
That's a statistic that has been undervalued. But, when he was here for 11 years, Pujols rarely missed a game.
Tampa Bay didn't see a need for him. And that is one of the sharpest organizations in baseball. Not that Gomez be wouldn't be worth a look next year or even later this year.
Ah, but who has the most recent hit with a man in scoring position? Arenado or DeJong?
All good questions. I would leave Edman at second. I wouldn't give up on DeJong yet but I would give Sosa his chance. He was the Cardinals' shortstop when they played their best last September. Pujols' at-bats may decrease if Yepez is productive but I wouldn't make a move with Pujols yet. Any time he thinks he is done, he gets to make that decision himself. Dickerson doesn't have that luxury. .
Yes, DeJong has been awful at the plate. Pretty good in the field. I can't recall any games he has cost them because he couldn't hit. The Cardinals are 16-12, not 4-24.
I don't think it's fair to Edman or the pitchers suddenly to make him a shortstop when he is as good as there is at second base. Yes, he would be all right at shortstop. But I don't know if he has the arm on the backhand side to be great.
A point worth pondering, don't you think?
