Join baseball writer Derrick Goold 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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My question is the significance of doing due diligence on players before trading for them or offering them free agent contracts. My mother always said if you cannot say something nice about someone then don't say anything at all. I say this because in chats I keep hearing a certain players name come up for a possible Cardinal. By chance a couple of weeks ago I googled a newspaper in that players city. A sports article that day was scathing about him. Suggesting he was a head case and hopefully to be good riddance. I presume the Cardinals front office checks all that out? -
They are paid to check that out, yes. Ownership expects them to do that work, and then we see how much front office's trust the media in some towns, or some outlets. I'll offer you this: There have been a few times when a team has made a move for a player, and I wince and go -- goodness, they may have wanted a subscription to the Post-Dispatch. So, no front office is foolproof. But, yes, they do that due diligence, research. I even know of at least one team interested in adding a writer (or few) because of the reporting, research that writers do for feature stories and interviews that might make for stronger scouting reports beyond just the stats data. -
Forget Bellinger. Let's talk about the other former Dodger, Trea Turner. How serious would you characterize the Cardinals in pursuit of him? Other SS they seem to be serious about? I'll be one frustrated fan if they come out of the last two years of historic free agent SS classes and decide to punt both years.
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Serious? Not very at last check. Would be a compelling addition for this team. For sure. No doubt. A lot of what the Cardinals could benefit from getting. Shortstop. Leadoff hitter. Offensive jolt. Will age well. All of it. Plus, I could write epic stories on the elegance of his slides.Just imagine for a minute how much I would overwrite those rhapsodies.But, at least check, they are on the periphery of this market, not making the play for the big names, other than the usual conversations about cost and such to know where the market is going.
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Homegrown pitching, in Houston and St. Louis, has been a great way to build an annual contender. Drafting high for offense, in Houston and Chicago, has been a great way to build a team that has the thump to win a title.Drafting high for offense and getting homegrown pitching, well -- Houston.And to think they passed on Kris Bryant in the draft. Imagine that team -- and where the Cubs would have ended up going instead.
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DG,
What’s the current length of MO’s contact.
We (St. L fans. Me included) might have been a tad hard on the guy, at times…
But he has been good for both sides of the org. We’ve nearly always had a shot. Some years better than others, but good baseball during regular seasons.
Would the Angels consider trying to lure him? -
He has a year remaining on his contract. He has specifically said that St. Louis is his home, that he has other interests beyond baseball, and has not actively pursued someopportunities beyond the Cardinals. Never got much traction when I ask him if there's any interest in returning to Colorado to revamp and solve the Rockies. (The Cardinals haven't exactly given him reason to leave, though a peer of his recently told me that he could seek a payday at some point that would not come with the same security ...)
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Happy Monday and thanks for chatting, Derrick.
I'm afraid that Jesse Winker cannot "play the outfield." You can put him out there. You can put anyone out there. You can put my 83-year-old mother out there, or Lucy Van Pelt, or even Juan Yepez. But they can't play the outfield and neither can Winker. Per Baseball-Reference, Jesse Winker has been worth just 5.1 WAR in 6 MLB seasons despite being a really good hitter -- because he is a nightmare in the outfield. The Cards have multiple DH types already in Yepez & Burleson, plus Marmol's single smartest tactical move was probably giving more planned days off, and half days off to his Durability Trio of Edman, Arenado, and Goldy. And DH time is part of that. So no, no, no Winker, please. -
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An unconventional and probably wrong-headed question I will dare to ask anyway - if Adam Wainwright's late-season shakiness rears its head again early next season, could he benefit from a move to the bullpen, where he could perhaps pick up a tick of velocity and just throw that curveball as much as possible? Aside from whether this makes sense or not, it would be fascinating to see him end his career in relief the way he started it so epicly...
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He has said that he would move if that's what was best for the team. Obviously, they don't think it will be. The Cardinals committed money to him being a starter. He's committed the time to correct what happened. And both sides are confident clearly that he has. But he's brought up the relief possibility before -- if there are five starters better than him.He is intent to show there are not five starters better than him.
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Food for thought, but I don't think there would be much tax savings by deferring money like Waino's instance. It would still be treated as wages and 1 MIL or 20 MIL is probably in the same bracket. Plus they lose the opportunity to invest over those years. I would think they would do it to help the on field talent more than anything.
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Um, I'm not sure they would ... I don't get much connection between Nimmo and the Cardinals, and what Nimmo is out to command based on the description from his agent is -- a lot. Good for him. He timed a career year well. Some teams will avoid that. Especially conservative teams. Haniger would be a different category all together.
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(The Cardinals haven't exactly given him reason to leave, though a peer of his recently told me that he could seek a payday at some point that would not come with the same security ...)
By this you mean he'll ask for a salary that's high enough to warrant a firing if he doesn't push the Cards over the top? -
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Since his 2019 MVP season, Cody Bellinger has been worth a TOTAL of 1.2 WAR in nearly 1,200 plate appearances. At that rate he's not even a good bench player, folks. (Even with 2.1 WAR over the past 3 seasons, as at Fangraphs, that's still just an average bench guy. Not someone to pursue.)
The Birds have outfielders, and Jordan Walker on the way. All their energy and resources should be directed toward Sean Murphy, and somehow trading up for an Ace pitcher -- although who that would be other than Alcantara, I have zero idea. Unless of course they want to shell out $300M and make Trea Turner their center fielder of the future. That could work. But I don't see it happening. -
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Very interesting to see the things people are tired of when it comes to the Cardinals. i hear and see a lot of griping about over-paying for mid tier players, lots of consternation for the team "sitting out" top tiers, and it wasn't very long ago that the major complaint would be that fans being tired of hearing the team "came in second" on a big name player. Sports fandom is funny. Go birds
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