Bobo has pulled himself away from lunch. t's time to get going!
The Cardinals certainly understands there are tiers. That said, the stated goal is to contend every year because Bill DeWitt Jr. likes having a competitive team every year and it's very good for business. He has won division titles, pennants and World Championships with his approach and he's comfortable with that. He is not going tank multiple seasons to build a team that, on paper, appears to have a better chance of winning a championship. Nor is DeWitt Jr. going to spend to the luxury cap trying to outdo the Dodgers. Maybe the next ownership group will use one of those approaches, but don't hold your breath expecting this one to change its business model.
Berube is going to lean hard on his veterans given the 56-game schedule and the fact there are eight games against other playoff hopefuls. He made it clear in camp that there would be little experimentation. He set his lines and pairings right away. He will tinker on the fly, as always, but he wanted to establish the team's identity from Day 1 and run with it. Husso will play a bunch of games and Mikkola may be his turn if there are injuries of breakdowns. But this season features more than the usual amount of urgency.
Molina is a proud guy. If he considers a contract offer to be an insult, he won't take just because he wants to keep playing. As we note every week, that fierce pride is made him the enduring force he's been. When he broke ini as a light-hitting catcher with a great arm, who among us believed he would have this great of a career?
That's a very good looking team. The roughest part of the Big Ten schedule is ahead, but it appears that brining Juwan Howard home will pay off better than bringing Jim Harbaugh home.
Actually, that was the Penguins deal that brought Oskar here. Berube uses his fourth line A LOT in many games, relying on it as a shutdown unit. This is not the more typical fourth line that settles for the occasional shift. And he will move up in the lineup from time to time, either because of injuries or the need to shake thiings up. But given the depth of this team up front, it is really hard to see him playing in the Top 6 with O'Reilly, Schenn, Perron, Thomas, Schwartz and Hoffman already there and Tarasenko on the mend.
It's April, which is really, really late.
I don't notice that at all.
I would not be interested in trading Daniel Ponce de Leon until I saw how all the pitching sorts out. There are so many questions right now, with the Miles Mikolas comeback, the lost year of Carlos Martinez, Dakota Hudson's surgery, Adam Wainwright' status . . . there is a lot of figure out. At some point this team will have an pitching surplus again, but I don't see it now.
I believe he would sit rather than settle for a salary that offended him.
Yes, he is getting a long look. He lost last season due to injury and, of course, he needed to fill out at least a little. I always liked his shot. It looks like he may finally be ready to take a step. But short of leading the Sabres to the Stanley Cup, there is nothing he can do to make that Ryan O'Reilly trade look better for Buffalo.
Tommy after a game was a piece of work. Reporters would gather in his office after the game. Often he was tearing into a pile of food while answering questions in his usual animated style. You didn't want to get too close.
The Cardinals targeted hard-to-fill positions with speedy shortstop Adari Grant from the Bahamas and swich-hitting catcher Leonardo Bernal from Panama. Scouts believe Bernal can stay behind the plate, so perhaps the Cardinals can add him to the long-term pipeline there. But it will be a long while before we have any idea if these guys or any other signings will pay off at the big league level.
That wil be especially important this year. At any point, the team could lose several players to a COVID-19 quarantine. But teams will be expected to play on.
Fans have whined about this team's speed for years. The Blues were fast enough to wini a Cup. But, yes, the addition of Torey Krug creates a quicker look. if Jordan Kyrou plays regularly and Robert Thomas gets more minutes, that will add to the team's ability to strike off the rush as well.
Perhaps not, but in the end he can decide not to sign if he believes the money is too low.Yadier puts himself through a lot to play as well as he does at his advanced age.
The Blues can get overlooked because experts don't believe in Jordan Binnington yet and the team lacks a dynamic superstar like a Nathan MacKinnon. But, yes, a team can win with quality depth as the Blues did. That can happen in baseball, if the quality depth translates into great top-to-bottom pitching and a deep lineup with matchup flexibility.
It's more pride than greed with Molina, in my opinion, and pride has done served Yadier Molina well. If it drives him retirement, then Molina will exit while he was still a very good player.
I might argue that having a relative handful of teams making the playoffs regularly hurts. That does take away some buzz. An eight-team playoff would get different teams into the mix and create at least a chance for an upset. Getting different programs in that Final Four mix -- if if they are high-profile ones like Georgia, Oregon or Wisconsin -- would help the industry.
Robert Thomas will play more minutes when The Chief is pleased with his defensive zone work. Also, Thomas must get better at faceoffs. As I noted earlier, Craig Berube will use the fourth line as more of a shutdown line -- especially while protecting a lead -- so that impacts playing time for the second line. Berube plays the heck out of O'Reilly because he can win draws and check. Tyler Bozak can also win draws, so he can be relied on for defensive zone starts.
Did the Cardinals organization learn the wrong lessons from '06 and '11? For years, the front office has taken the stance that getting into the playoffs gives a team a chance at winning a championship. But if you look the teams that have actually won, that's simply not true.
Happy Friday Commissioner Gordon. Thank you for the chats!