Join Hall of Fame baseball writer Rick Hummel for his live Cardinals chat at 11 a.m. Monday
Bring your Cards questions and comments to Monday’s 11 a.m. live chat.
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Having Monday's as the day-off, not living in StL so can't catch talk radio, and several Monday off days in the schedule make the chat a gourmet delicacy to my Cardinal diet. I think all of Cardinal Nation is lucky to have you and Derrick cooking it up for us. Thanks. Regarding O'Neal, Carlson, and DeJong coming back. Of course being the incumbent has weight, but I wonder how much taste for preferring the kids being better at hitting the other way is being evaluated as a key ingredient? It is just my taste perceiving that, or do stats validate Ypez, Donovan, Gorman as more than one flavor of hitting. Either way, I'm simply glad we're no longer forced to swallow down MCarp futility anymore...talk about having a bad taste left in your mouth!
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Carp is where he belongs now. The Yankees want him to pull--everything. You're right. The young players who have come up have shown an ability to use the whole field, more than DeJong had demonstrated lately. O'Neill was better served when he was doing that, too. Derrick and I thank you.
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Interestingly, I just noticed Juan Yepez has some reverse splits, batting .279 against righties with an .807 OPS and all 4 of his HR this year, vs .222 against lefties with a .626 OPS. It certainly seems like he and Pujols could form the DH platoon without requiring a lefty in there at all (sorry, Dickerson and Nootbaar), save for days when Oli is giving a regular some defensive rest.
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I wasn't able to see the game last night. But I noticed in the box score that Waino pitched seven innings, threw 102 pitches and got exactly ZERO strikeouts. Was that just a statistical anomaly or was his Uncle Charlie curve not breaking? Seems pretty odd for him.
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The way O'Neil finished last year combined with his second Gold Glove, tremendous speed and power would seem to be a keeper. Is his slow start an anomaly? contract related or injury mostly? With that said why would Carlson be the safest in your opinion? My hope is that O'Neil, Bader and Carlson become elite players to stay.
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Hello Mr. Hummel:
“Thank you” from this long time Cardinal fan for sharing your time and expertise in this format. You are consistently enlightening and entertaining.
Many fans express frustration with players who were once in the Cardinal organization finding success elsewhere (Arozarena, Wisdom, Alcantara, etc.)
However, from my perspective, it seems that having successful players from your organization throughout MLB is a sign of the quality, consistency, and overall excellence of the drafting and development of players in the system.
This led me to wonder if there is a resource that breaks down the numbers relative to this - in other words, which organizations have the most players in MLB other than the players on their MLB roster?
I have looked to no avail for this info, but it seems that this might a new and interesting perspective for analyzing a teams’ success beyond the number of wins and losses or championships on the field.
Obviously there will always be a debate as to whether the players moved to other teams are better or worse than the ones remaining on the current roster.
Your thoughts? -
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Commish: Just joining the chat, and I agree with your stance earlier that Donovan has to play virtually everyday. He ticks just about every box--lefty bat, plays multiple positions and does it well, and, most important, GETS ON BASE. I looked up his stats--college OBP: nearly .440. Minor league OBP: nearly .390. Now, .400+ in the majors. That's a skill that tends not to slump. He slots perfectly in the two hole against RHP. He seems to be in the mold of recent Cardinals prospects who come to the majors less heralded but make major impacts (Allen Craig, MCarp, Schumaker, Tommy Edman, etc.). I love the upside of Gorman, but he's going to have his ups and downs. That's a given, and people shouldn't fret. But Donovan looks capable of giving consistent quality on a daily basis.
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Regarding the comment about the 3 best records belonging to the top 3 spenders. So what? The Yankees? Win did they win it all last? The Dodgers? Once. The Mets? The Phillies? If you look at the average payroll of the World Series winners, you will find that it is in line with what where the Cards are every year. Get to the playoffs and anything can happen, look at 2006 and 2011 for examples. Also, to the people who have this 10 year without a ring thing, look at Dodgers (before their last), look at the Mets, look at the Yankees etc etc. Commish, does it seem to you that folks just can't seem to put their thoughts in context anymore?
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What is the Cardinals record when wearing any alternate version of the basic uniform, such as Sunday home single bird on bat hat, Saturday home cream St. Louis jersey, and Saturday away victory blue uniform? I think a losing record with all three! Just wondering. Thanks.
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Trade suggestions crack me up. "hey! We need to trade our .125 hitter for a Cy Young candidate! Why can't Mo get this done? He is the worst!" I don't think folks realize that a trade takes two parties to get done. I am positive that if the Mets would take DeJong for Scherzer, that deal gets done yesterday. I don't think the Mets will have any of it though.
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It seems great credit should go to Randy Flores and his staff for scouting, signing and developing these young players that have come up and greatly produced for the Cardinals the past few years. There is always someone or a group behind successful people in whatever career they are employed in. They are the quiet, unassuming people behind the scenes mentors forming and directing the stars of the future.
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I'm not sure you can really say that Pujols hasn't had many at bats against righties unless you are comparing him to the starters. He has gone 7/56 (.125) against righties and 11/31 (.355) against lefties. That's a little over 64% of his at bats against righties when it was implied if not stated that he would mostly be used as a weapon against lefties.
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Marmol clearly thought Pujols would be able to handle some of the right-handers better than he has. That hasn't worked out. With as few left-handed starters as the Cardinals have seen, many of the regulars have greater than 64 percent of their at-bats against right-handers.
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Another Houston question. For all the nail biting about tanking here's their record " post tanking " in the division. 2nd, 3rd, 1st,1st,1st,2nd,1st, and first place as of now. Again, if you asked the "casual fan" if they would take the Stros experiment, along with 2-3 years of bad baseball, but come out like that on the other end. 90% of reasonable folks sign up for that.
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Commish,
Sorry if this has been asked, I just joined the chat....
Why was Brendan Donavan made to apologize over some comments he made as a young teen to his friend? Who the heck cares what someone said that long ago? Besides, doesn't he have the right to say what he wants? Regardless if someone finds it offensive or not. Still a 1st Amendment Right.
Would like to hear your thoughts on this and also who dug up that stuff kn him and who made him apologize.
Thank you! -
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Commish, follow up to my base running comment. I was referring to Sosa missing 3rd base and Gorman’s two second hesitation before running to first on a third strike. It was more of a tongue n cheek comment but both blunders would have cost the Cards two wins if the Cubs had capitalized.
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