Join columnist Ben Frederickson for a live STL sports chat at 11 a.m. Tuesday
Ben Frederickson answers your Cardinals, Blues, St. Louis City, Mizzou and SLU questions in Tuesday's 11 a.m. live chat.
-
-
My DH stance hasn't changed much. I think the Cardinals should add some been-there, done-that for the position. I thought that before spring became shortened, but the shortening of it makes it an even better idea. Whenever this deal gets done, and hopefully it's soon, there is going to be a flurry of free agency. Guys will be scrambling to get teams and there will be some one-year bargains available. Adding someone who could bring some proven production to this under-pressure lineup would be a good move, especially now that there is a spot in the lineup for a hitter who doesn't even have to bring a glove to the ballpark. A left-handed hitter with power would be good. That's why so many like the potential Schwarber fit. -
Just like the MLBPA union reps answer to the many members of the union, I assume the 30 team owners also answer to a whole lot of people, since they are also representing many other owners, correct? I was reminded of that element when reading stories about Jeter's resignation from the Marlins and his relinquishing of his approximately 4% stake in team ownership.
-
-
-
Darian Devries. He's going to be a name brought up in the carousel this season. Same for the coach he replaced at Drake. That would be Niko Medved, who is doing good things at Colorado State. North Texas' Grant McCasland is one to watch for jobs this offseason. Furman coach Bob Richey is another to check out for schools looking to perhaps catch lightning in a bottle. My buddy Brendan Wiese at KTRS turned me on to him. Good offensive numbers annually, good temp and good shooting. The kind of things you probably want to prioritize if turning the page from a defensive-minded coach. That's usually how it works when things don't work out. A program goes and gets the opposite. If the Tigers make a change, we're going to have plenty of names to consider. Let's see if they decide to go shopping before we get too far down that road.
-
Loved your article yesterday about owner's disregard of fans. Prior to 95 I attended 6-10 games a year. since 95 I've attended 2 games. I love baseball and always will, I will be content to only watch on TV for the rest of my life. I would love to see a fan boycott of at least 1 week and as much as the number of games cancelled this season. Fans need to send a message to owners and players and empty stadiums throughout the county just may get their attention. Second, If MLB cancels any games, I want to see the MLBPA walk away from the table. Owners don't want to negotiate anyway. In 95 I was angry with the MLBPA. In 2022 I'm mad at the owners. IMO they are everything that is ruining the game!
-
The urgency and willingness to compromise shown yesterday down in Florida was encouraging. Should it have been there from the start? Hell yes. But better late than never, and this "deadline" situation is kind of nonsense. They already pushed it back once and could again, and they could get by with 21 days of spring training preparation instead of the 28 the owners are saying as if that's mandatory. Going to bed last night I felt like they might actually be able to get something knocked out in time to play a full season, and that was my hope (and hopeful prediction) entering this mess. If they manage that, they don't deserve a parade. But they will have gotten the big job done.
-
-
-
He hasn't committed yet, so we will see if he was as high on his visit as Mizzou seemed to be on him. Jayden Daniels is the name. After talking with someone who has worked with him and someone who has evaluated him from the vantage point of another Power 5 staff, I think he could be a good-not-great QB that might be better than what Mizzou currently has on its roster for this season, in terms of what he could do on the field during the 2022 season. So, that's worth pursuing. He's a mobile QB who can make big throws, but sometimes makes bad decisions. He is a little light but is athletic and can dodge hits and expand the pocket, a key for converting third downs and making things happen when plays break down. And he can run. He had the most rushing yards of any Pac 12 QB last season. It's hard for me to imagine a scenario in which Drinkwitz adds a three-year starter at QB entering fall camp and doesn't lose one of his current QBs to the portal. That's why so many think either Macon or Cook or both could depart, but that's just speculation at this time. If Drinkwitz can convince them all that despite an addition -- which again, has not happened yet and might not happen at all -- there will be a legitimate QB competition including incoming freshman Sam Horn, perhaps he can keep them all. That would be impressive. But I would not bet on that if Daniels indeed commits.
-
BenFred,
I know many people will tell me I don't know what players are thinking, but the 2nd half of the Mizzou MBB game with LSU was horrendous. If that's not a team giving up or not trying I don't know what is. Even Pickett said once LSU got across half court no one defended. The body language the players exhibited told the story.
I'm still trying to stay in HC CM's corner, but seeing this really made me wonder how they go forward. I don't see CM's message resonating with the players. You could see it in his message and on his face in the post game presser. Several times this year he's related in the post game how they've given the players the scouting reports and what to do or not to do but it doesn't appear to ever matter.
Is there something in the water in COMO? MBB won't follow the coach's instructions. WBB has 3-4 players out for non-injury issues. -
There's not much left to analyze when it comes to this season. It's toast. Everybody knows it. The meaningful discussion is about what happens after it ends. If Martin has a convincing plan to make this very bad year become a forgotten memory, and there is enough support left to make that happen, then Desiree Reed-Francois and those involved in the process have to decide if it's worth one more go, or if it will be just delaying the inevitable. If they think it's too far gone, time for a $6 million buyout and a coaching search. That's the story now.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Baseball will want to -- and has to by design of the calendar -- come out of this work stoppage sprinting. As soon as the official business of baseball can resume it will, and it will be quite the blitz. Like the flurry before the lockout, but faster probably. Don't know when it starts because there is no telling when -- if -- they will be done with a deal but I'd bet on free agency firing up soon after it's finalized.
-
-
-
The Cardinals have not been talking much at all since the lockout, and certainly not about roster plans. Adams would love to be back with the Cardinals but I think that window has probably closed. Same for Luke Voit, who another chatter asked about earlier. Plus, Voit is right-handed and that's not as much of a need.
-
What is the approach that StL PD media take with Russian Hockey players? Will they ask them political questions? Personally, I feel it is in poor taste considering they have no control over the matter, and the Russian Government does not take kindly to people speaking out.
-
Jim Thomas has talked to Ivan Barbashev's agent and had a story recently.I'll link it below.My personal take on it is that players who want to speak about it should be given that opportunity, but no one who wants to decline should be forced to.Seems like the right approach, at least to me.
Blues notebook: Agent says Russian players under threat in wake of Ukraine invasion
STLtoday.comOne of the players he represents is Blues forward Ivan Barbashev. -
So, Mizzou has lost 10 games this year by 19+ points. The SEC has a total of 10 by ALL other teams combined. Plus Mizzou is 354th out of 360(?) in 3pt%. They aren't competitive at all. I don't consider a fluke 1 pt loss to an obviously flawed Auburn team all that competitive when the majority of their games are listless and sloppy, with bad coaching and bad talent who makes bad decisions. It's painful to watch and the sad thing is, Mizzou won't pay Martin 6 million to go away and most of these players will be back as well.
-
Coming up with the $6 million to make the coaching change is not something out of Mizzou's capabilities. It can find the money to fire Martin and move on, and it seems increasingly likely it will. Hiring a new coach will relieve some of the angst but if the Tigers don't find ways to close the gap in some of their non-coaching areas like recruiting funding and name, image and likeness deals, the new guy will face tough sledding, too.
-
-
At spring training, yes. That's already happened. Hopefully something can be salvaged. For the regular season, not yet. It can be avoided if they can hammer out a deal in these marathon sessions. If they can't, I'm not sure they will have properly estimated the amount of backlash there could be from the fans who help bake that revenue pie both sides are fighting over.
-
-
-
Sounds like it's mostly mental with Binnington. He's talked about getting that edge back. We may never know or maybe he will share more after the season depending on where it goes from here but I'm curious what his truth-serum answer would be when asked about how much his bout with COVID impacted him. Some high-level athletes have taken a while to truly get back to feeling right.
-
Ben - Why don’t players get any blame for the lack of progress in talks? Everyone agrees that the owners “won” the last deal. Further, if the players really wanted to increase the pay of young players, they’d start in the minor leagues. An easy start would be to require MLB minimum for players on the 40-man regardless of where they are organizationally.
-
-
Ben, thanks for the chat. I will NEVER for the life of me understand people who call the players "greedy" and don't mention one damn word about the the owners' finances. Do people even realize how much money DeWitt has made since owning the Cards? It's a legal printing press for straight cash and bully for them, but don't whine about the players trying to get theirs as well.
-
I hear from people on all sides of it, with opinions shaped from their past experience with baseball work stoppage, or their personal work experience in their respective field. Mostly I think people are to the point of, wake me up when there's a deal, or don't. It's a small percentage of fans who really get into the nuts and bolts of the bargaining.
-
How do you see the difficulty of a new coach building a program as compared to the past? With the new transfer rules immediate help with a year or two of previous experience is available compared to relying on bringing in the new coach's recruited players who fit his model or type of game. In years gone by it was always 4-5 years to build a program into that coach's vision, but with today's rules is it more reasonable to expect 2 years?
Do you see much difference comparing football and basketball program building? -
Football and basketball are different beasts.Football is still going to hinge on primarily high school recruiting, which means a coach's first couple of signing classes are going to need 3-4 years to bloom -- or not -- into his team on the field. Transfers can fill holes and expedite the process, or make up for departures in the recruiting classes along the way. But it's still a 3-4 year process before you get a real sense of what a guy is doing in terms of building his program. Not that every coach gets that amount of time. But speaking in general here. A fair shake means 3-4 years.Basketball is in a different place. A team can now -- not that I would recommend it -- basically be flipped annually and rebuilt on the fly with transfers. It's incredibly hard to keep and develop a player for his full college career during this grass-is-greener era if you are not one of the elite, established programs. It takes a mix. Some guys who come as high schoolers, stay and get better every season. And some guys added on the fly. It's not as much about a year mark as it is about a direction, a trend line.
-
I've always loved baseball. Non fans see a game of man throw ball, man try to hit ball, but we fans know it is so much more than that. It has always been exciting, till now. The 3 true outcome game that is played now is boring.Has been for some time. And the sense that now is the time to fix that somehow is real. The players are trying to address the tanking problem in the CBA, and that is a step forward. When a third of the league is not trying to win we have WEEKS where the outcome of your main rival is predictable. 12 straight games against tankers. So .900 win % is normal.
My question is, if the owners can't address these problems during the CBA negotiation, when can they? Even fans like me are not going to wait another 5 yrs to return the game to it's traditional excitement. It feels like the eleventh hour now. Any form of entertainment is better than something that has become this boring. Thoughts? -
Among the flurry of things that came out of Florida late last night was the topic of the owners asking for a more expedited timeline to introduce new rules to the game. That could be good or bad if passed, depending on the rule. There was also at least some discussion of shift banning and a renewed push for pitch clock enforcement, which would actually, I think, be really good for the game. So much wasted time could be cut there, if pitchers were forced to work briskly and hitters were forced to stay in the box. I hope that happens. Should these topics be the big story? Yes, because they are the ones the fans care a lot more about. But this fight, first and foremost, is about the dollars and how they are split, so the rules issues tend to get pushed to the back burner.
-
-
-
It's a good question they're going to have to answer if it comes to pass, and I expect it will.It's not about how you enter. It's about where you go once you are in. That is what is going to change, I think. Fans are smart. They are going to know the difference between first-round flameouts from an expanded postseason, and a team that is capable of having a legitimate chance of doing some damage in the postseason.That doesn't mean good teams won't get knocked out early.That happens.But the idea that simply getting to the postseason means it was a successful season goes away when that postseason expands, especially if it's to the 14 teams owners would prefer.
-
I'm a displaced Cardinals fan, living out of state. Typically my wife and I have traveled back to STL to catch 2 to 3 games a year, and to opposition stadiums for another 1 to 2 games, then caught the rest on MLB.TV. We will not be planning to attend any games this year, home or away, and I've cancelled my MLB.tv subscription and will pirate any games I want to see. While I can't imagine abandoning baseball entirely, I'm firmly downgrading my status from fan to casual observer. Some of it is the lockout's complete disregard for the fan experience, and another portion is my lack of interest in three outcome at bats. I think the MLB should be more worries about fan apathy that doesn't voice itself more than they appear to.
-
-