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.
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I'm not as convinced as some that Cardinal Nation would have weathered Pujols' bad years in Anaheim, and the contract they came during, as well as some assume. Part of the Musial legacy, additionally, went beyond the field. He was able, mostly due to it being a different era, have personal interactions with so many fans. That doesn't happen anymore really, and that's not at all a knock on Pujols. Just a change in the times, and the growing gap between fans and elite athletes in terms of lifestyles. The counter-argument says Pujols would have played better if he had been here, and maybe so. Monday night was a reminder of how much his connection to Musial meant to him, and of why it's bigger than baseball to have him back, because he will now be around after he's done, and the Cardinals have been losing some titans of their history here lately. One coming home is a big deal. -
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Depends on the player, his position, his age, his overall ceiling and the role.If the Cardinals had the DH when Luke Voit was waiting in Memphis, it would have made a lot more sense for him to be getting DH reps in the majors than playing first base in Memphis.He was a bat-first infielder who had nothing left to prove in Class AAA.He would have been better off getting reps and helping provide production in the majors.If you're a young, raw shortstop with a great arm and a bat that is figuring it out -- it makes more sense for you to play every day in the minors and build your strengths instead of sitting around as a defensive replacement guy late in major league games.
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The Cards want us to believe that any trade will inevitably involve all of their current and future prospects as well as their unborn children. Other teams manage to improve without significantly impact their farm systems. The Cardinals tout their farm system and development model as a strength. When it comes time to make trades, suddenly teams only want the same 2-3 guys. If that's the case, you don't really have a strong farm system, do you? They can't eat the cake and have none of the calories.
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The Cardinals over the past handful of seasons have made trading for help in-season sound like trying to climb The Arch without a safety net. Yet, teams make smart and shrewd trade-deadline moves all the time, and the teams that win the World Series have almost always made at least one. There are other ways to deal than trading your top prospects. Taking on salary from a cash-dumping team is one. Trading blocked or repetitive pieces is another. Sometimes teams win with fresh-start trades that swap players who have clearly hit a wall with their current teams. Is it hard to make great trades? Of course. Baseball is hard. It's hard to hit. It's hard to get good hitters out. That's the game. Something being hard is never an excuse for a Cardinals player. It should not be for the front office.
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Per your piece today: 2 good games all year and we're supposed to believe that Dickerson has found his swing? How quickly we forget the night before when he couldn't even hit a ball in the air to score a man from 3rd with a chance to tie the game. Or how lost at the plate he's looked in every other game since he's been back. I guess we can be hopeful he's figured it out, but he's been an unmitigated disaster to this point. 2 decent games do not absolve him of that.
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Not my call.They are not required anywhere but in the clubhouse and manager's office.We can't get in there without putting them on.It's just theatre at this point, especially considering team employees who share the same press box and elevators with media members are not required to wear them despite always being around us without anyone wearing masks.Silly.
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Regarding giving Burleson a whirl as you suggested below. The most maddening thing this year is I think MO and the Cards have the talent to go all the way this year. It is maddening for him to not use all the assets available to win while watching games slip away. Its one thing to not use those assets to make trades that might be regrettable. Its an entirely different thing to not use them when they are needed and available. DFA'ing Capel to use Burleson would not have impacted the future in any meaningful way... Question, Thompson has been impressive this year. Will he be the starter this team needs after the All Star break?
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Catcher has become an immediate concern. Molina is gone after this season. Knizner has not looked ready to be the lead guy. Herrera has shown his inexperience. The Cardinals probably need to add there before 2023.More injury troubles for Flaherty and the struggles of Dakota Hudson have raised questions about youthful starting pitching. Liberatore comes in to save the day?
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BenFred, what kind of odds are you giving that when Tyler O’Neill comes off the IL (this time) that he plays the remainder of the season? He doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies. It’s obvious how much they need the Tyler from second half season. They need to wrap him in bubble wrap IMHO. Thanks!
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His swing looked really good when he came off the injured list the first time. If that's how it looks when he's back, this lineup gets a big boost. But, that was before he took a pitch off the hand. Those can be tricky. O'Neill staying on the field and in the lineup, along with his tendency to surge and stall, are the two reasons I suggested people cool their jets on rushing some long-term extension with him this offseason.
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I think he's just gassed. He's played in the most games as any major leaguer, and made more starts than any other Cardinal. The Cardinals ran him into the ground last season and talked a lot about trying to avoid that this season. Then DeJong stalled, and Edman was redlined once again. It's a compliment to his reliability and his toughness, but the grind is showing now. All-Star break should do him a lot of good.
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Notre Dame just fits better with Big Ten culturally, so that's where I figure it winds up if it joins one of these mega conferences.Maybe it can avoid it for a while.Lots of talk about Notre Dame being able to pick its own timeline and negotiate a massive price, but if the two super leagues decide to not schedule Notre Dame, things for Notre Dame get not so great, and fast.
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I think it makes sense ($$$) for the people who make the decisions but not much sense for college football fans, including ones of those schools.It does nothing good for anyone else that I can see.I don't see any reason why the Big Ten would want Mizzou enough to pay the SEC exit fee, especially when it could have had Mizzou for nothing and was not interested when Mizzou was determined (smartly) to leave the Big 12.Mizzou fits in the SEC now more than ever with Texas and Oklahoma joining. Culturally makes more sense than before. Tigers just have to figure out how to be more competitive. Would be same challenge in Big Ten.
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The Cardinals didn't fire Mike Shildt because of philosophical differences.They fired him because he had a falling out with the front office.Much of Marmol's philosophy is similar to Shildt's, but it's clear he's way more interested and invested in the new-age analytics and that method of player evaluation and performance.That is clear in how he talks about offensive production and pitcher performance.He's well-versed in the language and metrics used by the numbers guys in the front office.
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How did you take Marmol's comments about his guys performing up to their capabilities? Do you think he was saying like Mike Shildt, that he's playing the cards he's been dealt and that they just aren't good enough, or are do you think he was in some way under the impression that his guys were doing a good job despite not being to score any runs?
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I don't think he was campaigning for a bunch of new hitters at the trade deadline or anything. I do think he was suggesting a lineup that is pretty wiped out during this 17-game stretch and thinned out by some significant absences is not one that is a good bet to do a lot of damage against a locked-in pitchers. Some key guys are out. Edman is really searching. That day the lineup basically ended at Carlson. I think that was his point.
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BenFred - I’d love to hear your thoughts on MOs strategy for free agent signings. Between verhagen, brooks, matz, mcfarland, Dickerson, etc. We have 20+ million tied up in smallish contracts for players that are not contributing anything to the success of this club. Is this typical across the mlb? Seems like a go-to and maddening strategy for this front office, especially considering the strength of the farm system
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I've argued before that the Cardinals are better off shopping at two levels of free agents: the top shelf expensive aisle, and the bargain bin section.When they try to nail the middle, it rarely works out.Dexter Fowler. Mike Leake. Brett Cecil and the rough run of overpaid relievers. Etc.This offseason they mostly played it safe. Dickerson, Pujols and the relivers were pretty cheap. If they don't work out, move on and no big deal.The middle-ish guys were Matz and I suppose you could argue VerHagen. If they can't get healthy, stay healthy and produce . . . more bad middle-shelf adds.Way more than trades, it's the front office's trade misses that are beginning to stand out.
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I love the vibe and energy that Harrison Bader brings to the team but do you think Carlson's defense in CF has changed the outlook on Bader's long term future with the team? Super small sample size, I know, but his free agency years are approaching and the team does have a surplus of OFers...
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I don't think the Cardinals have many doubts about Carlson being able to handle center field, and he's proven during Bader's absence that his confidence is growing there with more time spent at the position. It's Bader's job as long as he's here and healthy, but if there comes a time when he's not, Carlson can slide over no problem. And Carlson's going to be here for a long time, I imagine.
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BenFred - seems like everyone in the world besides Mozeilak saw this starting pitching crisis coming in the offseason. You’d think after last year he’d have learned his lesson and stocked up on innings eaters with clean health track records. Knowing his aversion to shipping out prospects, his best bet will always be adding through free agency. Any excuse for him on why that didn’t happen?
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Kind of an inside baseball question but I saw you reference Waino's interview on 101 radio and it got me thinking. How in tune are you to the coverage from other media sites/radio shows? Do you check in to see whats happening or mostly focus on your own work? And if you are checking in, is it mostly to established places like MLB.com and The Athletic? Or also to sites like Viva El Birdos and Redbird Rants? Thanks for always chatting with us!
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I read and listen to lots of stuff. I thought Wainwright's answer to Randy and Michelle that day was really telling, and it represented a bit of a change in messaging, from the Cardinals giving Molina as much time as he needed to get right, to expressing that they were missing him and wanted him to return. Wainwright pitched that day so he was off limits before the game -- and I had a deadline that needed to be hit before the game ended. I interviewed Marmol, Mozeliak and Pujols at the ballpark but thought Wainwright's quote from the radio should be included as well. That was how it worked out.
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Man, tough call. Seems to me like the heat is really being turned up on Matheny in KC -- but I don't think he even deserves that, really? TLR as you mentioned has the protection. Not sure Matheny does. I don't think TLR will get canned but would never be surprised if he just walks if he feels he's not wanted by the bulk of the fans. So, I'll go with Matheny. I don't think he would walk on his own. Tony could.
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