Join Jeff Gordon for his live STL sports chat at 1 p.m. Friday
Bring your Cards, Blues, Mizzou, SLU and MLS questions and comments, and talk to columnist Jeff Gordon in his weekly live chat.
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The Blues will want to extend Binnington because there will be no need to protect Husso. Schwartz we discussed earlier.Letting players go to unrestricted free agency could make sense, especially with teams that are forced to protect some less-wanted guys due to no-movement clauses.It will be interesting to see how many teams make preemptive trades with the Kraken to keep certain players they could not protect. The Golden Knights got rich with such trades last time around -- adding prospects and extra draft picks for playing along -- and some GMs vowed not to play that game again. -
so i saw that in the last blues broadcast they listed parayko as being out with a back. that's the first i've heard about what is slowing the big man down and keeping him out. as an old fart with old man back, this has me concerned. have the blues medical staff confirmed this or was that a bunch of nbs sports baloney? -
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If Carpenter hits, he will play a bit more. But he is a so-so third baseman and he's obviously not playing there much. Same goes for first base. And he's an awful second baseman, so Edman would really have to struggle to lose that job. Maybe Carpenter could play some left field if everybody else fails, but outfield work is not is favorite thing.
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How long did it take for people, media, etc., to turn on Mike Keenan? I remember the excitement of his hire right off the Cup win with the Rangers, and then a strong strike-shortened season, followed by a mediocre regular season that led to Game 7 against the Red Wings, and then his firing the next year. His methods were difficult to comprehend at times, but his teams always seemed to be hard to play against, especially in his time with the Flyers and Hawks. Just looking for your thoughts.
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Mike's problem was getting control over personnel. He made the frenetic Ron Caron look patient. Iron Mike churned through the equivalent of four entire teams during his tenure and he alienated all of his top players. That management/coaching style fell out of favor with an ownership group accustomed to investing in talent and selling star power. As the turmoil got worse and worse, letting him go was an easy decision.
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No word on Dosunmu's timetable, but the fact he finished the game after getting clobbered provides some hope. Right now there's no indication that he won't play in the NCAA Tournament. If he doesn't play, that changes everything for the Illini. It would be very, very hard to make a deep run without him.
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Just to clarify, Gordo, I wasn't advocating for Ponce over Carlos Martinez or Alex Reyes or anyone else for the 5th starter slot. But based on the way he finished the 2020 season I would very strongly advocate that Ponce be given the opportunity to *compete* for the role. Rather than be shunted into a relief role already, and not given a chance to try for 150+ innings.
My question, do you think that Edmundo Sosa is being handed the utilityman role primarily because the club really really liked how he looked in 2020 at the "alternate site," or is it primarily because they want to save a little dough, and Sosa is the path of least resistance? -
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Maybe this is heretical but I prefer Bob Gibson as Greatest Cardinal Ever because of the truly extraordinary World Series heroics (seven consecutive complete game victories spread over three Series and five years), and the 1.12 ERA in 1968, which remains the game's greatest pitching feat in my opinion. Stan will always be The Man, of course. He gets love, Gibby gets admiration & wonder.
My query: if necessary which relievers can be sent down, if everyone performs great in Spring Training? Do Webb and Whitley have options? What about Genesis and Ponce? Thanks, Gordo! -
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Commissioner Gordon, Happy Friday!
Being a Blues Fan has been rough lately....but hey, we still won the cup! Can't take that away from us.
It time for Chief to put Niko in the lineup, take Sanford out for Walker, double shift Hoffman in the first period.. Time to shake things up. What say you Gordo? -
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How ironic would it be, after the starting pitching carried the weak offense for the last few seasons, if the wheels fell off the rotation this year? I have very little confidence in Mikolas or CMart, and Waino will eventually hit a wall. If all those things happen at once it could be a long year, especially since Mikolas and Waino will get extended chances to redeem themselves.
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What you say about the Card owners wanting to keep Busch pitcher-friendly makes sense, in theory. Absolutely, in theory. But in practice the place is killing Cardinal hitters without helping the pitchers. At least that's what the numbers say, in terms of home runs.
My question, Bobo, is about Tommy Edman. The guy has a career MLB on-base of .337, and that's consistent with his minors number of .353 (there's usually some decline, of course). This matches departed leadoff man Kolten Wong's OBP just fine, with his MLB career number of .333. So why is there so much hand-wringing over the leadoff spot going forward? Tommy's OBP isn't great, and it isn't bad, it's okay and that's fine by me. And he's a darn good baserunner, poor 2020 steal numbers notwithstanding. Thanks for the chat, Jeff! -
A lot of pressure comes with that assignment, even though the leadoff guy may actually lead off just once in a game. The team looks to that player to set a tone for the lineup. It took Wong forever to get that chance and it finally came by default. Rushing Tommy into that spot seems risky . . . but there are no good choices there.
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I would put that at 1 percent. Scouts wonder if he will have the mobilty to play third base, much less second. Also, he has yet to prove he can hit above the advanced Class A level. We might want to pump the brakes on this.Could he become the left fielder by sometime in 2022? Maybe.
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Here's a fun stat, Bobo. Combining all of their MLB relief appearances for the Cards, the total for Gallegos, Gant, Reyes, Hicks, Helsley, Webb, Whitley, Cabrera, and Ponce is 492 games, 551 innings, and a 3.09 ERA. Pretty, pretty good considering only 3 or 4 teams per year boast a sub-3.50 bullpen ERA. (And then you've also got Martinez and Miller for support.)
But I do worry about the rotation. If Odorizzi were willing to take a 1-year deal, how high do you think the Cards would be willing to go in guaranteed money? Just 7 or 8 mil, or as much as 10 or 11? Because I think they need just one more arm who can at least potentially offer 170+ innings, Gordo. And I despise the idea of Odo going to the Brewers or Cubs, and being a thorn in the Cardinals' side. -
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Jeff, in 2019, I brought my sister to her 1st MLB game in 30+ years. During warm up, she turned to me and said, "What happened to all the black players?
As we know, African-American participation has plummeted since 1990, even if Afro-Latin has not. Clearly, skin color and racial optics have nothing to do w/ skill or performance. Even so, the Cardinals are a profoundly White (and Latinx) team (as are many others in baseball.)
Yet, take a look at the Chicago White Sox, my favorite AL team, a modern-day Murderer's Row of 5+ tool, All-World sluggers, most of whom are (a) people of color (b) w/ outsized personalities (see, e.g., Abreu, Robert).
Assuredly, neither Bill DeWitt nor John Mozeliak consider racial dynamics in roster construction; nor should they. Yet, also, each of us has an affinity for those personality types that align w/ our own or those idealized versions of ourselves that others possess (see, e.g., Barack Obama and Donald Trump.)
By that measure, the team clearly prizes a certain modulated personality type, notwithstanding Tyler O'Neill's swagger. Clearly, the role of professional athlete requires a significant amount of self-belief. Yet, even our All-Stars (e.g., Yadi, Arenado, Goldschmidt, Flaherty) are relatively-modulated in their personalities.
I have no idea how to calculate SLG%, nor am I truly certain what it means. Yet, while surfing the web in 2019 for any sign of offensive help, even I could see that Randy Arozarena's prowess (despite him doing so in SPR & MEM) was infinitely better than what our beleaguered, sub-Mendoza-line hitting OF could muster. If I could see it, anyone could, except obviously, Mozeliak, who waited nearly the entire summer before calling him up, to Mike Shildt, who rated him less than Bader, O'Neill, Thomas, etc.
Arozarena does not possess the personality qualities our F.O. prizes; he's brash and intensely performative - that he's also afro-Latin is incidental. Yet, DeWitt, Mozeliak & Shildt's preference for certain types of players is a form of cognitive bias preventing them from seeing the value in certain players that other F.O.'s clearly recognize (see, e.g., Tampa's Erik Leander).
Each of us is biased, incl every club owner & G.M. Yet, the Cardinals' particular bias, against players w/ outsized personalities who are also - incidentally, or not, field players of color - means 5 Tool sluggers like Arozarena who Lane Thomas said was the best player on every team he's ever been on, means those players often end up in another team's line-up.
What say you? -
The Cardinals just traded for Nolan Arenado. That was kind of big deal. They banked on Oscar Taveras to be a long-term cornerstone. Tragically, that did not happen. They have drafted two Black high school sluggers and one Puerto Rican shorstop in the first round since 2015. They traded Jason Heyward, spent big to sign Dexter Fowler, traded for Marcell Ozuna, and spent a fortune on various Latin American sluggers -- like Malcom Nunez, who remains in development. They are giving Justin Williams another look this spring. Edmundo Sosa has a good shot to make the group.As for Arozarena, he needed 1,149 minor league at bats for the Cardinals to hit 38 homers. He finally hit well in 2019, but that came after various other outfielders passed him. And we're still not sure if Arozarena is is the Next Luke Voit or not. Remember that he would not have made the Rays out of spring training.
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