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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Pablo Lopez of the Marlins would make a lot of sense. Miami needs offense -- just struck out on getting Justin Turner -- and has pitching it can and needs to deal from to get other needs. Skip is there as manager, and knows the Cardinals system. Knows who could help him, and knows who the Cardinals absolutely won't deal. Cardinals and Lopez have been on one another's radar before. I think he'd love it here. Conforto is known as a great clubhouse guy. Would be a good fit but not sure Cardinals don't have better options already on the team. I don't sweat relievers. Cards are pretty good at producing them internally. -
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But that wasn't what went down last summer. There's been an exhaustive amount of coverage about what did go down. I'd encourage you to seek it out.Every team in baseball would have traded Carlson for Soto, including the Cardinals.The hypothetical trade package a lot more complicated than what you suggested. The Cardinals were not giving up their tip-top darling prospects, and the Padres were always going to give more, because they don't value prospects very much if at all.
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He's probably a bit busy at the moment, preparing for Braggin' Rights. And I'm guessing, like anyone else trying to potentially hit both Braggin' Rights and the bowl game, he would have a heck of a time getting to the football game considering the weather that is going to be hitting STL Thursday. I think the idea that bowl games are this big thing for recruiting (football/basketball) is outdated these days.
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That's the hope, yes. And it could happen. This is the year Hudson determines his fate with the Cardinals: starter, or reliever. He also needs to respond well to the pitch clock after his delivery time dragged and sagged last season. I think being forced to speed up will actually help him.
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I think they would prefer to start, from left to right, O'Neill-Nootbaar-Carlson, with Walker pounding on the door.But they're going to give Walker a legitimate chance to force their hand at spring training, and no one should be surprised if he does.Don't forget the designated hitter role exists, and could be a good spot for a young player with a major league ready bat to ease into the picture, like Nolan Gorman did, but hopefully in this case with better immediate results.
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Realistically, at what kind of pace will the Blues need to play the rest of this season in order to climb back into the playoff race? Teams ahead of them in the division have games in hand in addition to several more points, and it seems even a 30-20 record from here on out likely won't get it done. Will they have to win 2 out of every 3? Do you think that's doable for such a (so far) streaky team?
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It's doable. Nothing is decided before the new year. Keep beating teams ranked ahead of you in the standings, as the Blues have done every game of this road trip so far, and it gets a lot more realistic. The number-crunching system at MoneyPuck gives the Blues a 15.6 percent chance of making the postseason, as of this morning. It's still an uphill battle, but hope is not lost. And maybe some lasting momentum has been found?
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Not the worst idea. Clubhouse fit would need to be vetted a bit. Depending on which reports you believed coming out of San Diego before the breakup, he was either a great clubhouse guy or a polarizing player there. Sometimes the tone would shift by the day. He hasn't played any corner outfield since 2015. A little more versatility would be nice for that role. The Cardinals have Nootbaar, Donovan, Gorman and switch-hitting Edman and switch-hitting Carlson. And left-handed hitting Alec Burleson. If most of those guys perform, you don't have to tie up a roster spot with a guy who could be past his prime. But if there are more downs than ups for the young left-handed hitting options, not adding some been-there-done-that could look shortsighted. This was the talk the Cardinals were having at Winter Meetings, and I imagine it continues today.
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Hi Ben. What have you heard regarding the Isaiah Mosley situation? It looks like he was given some more playing time Saturday, but still not a lot of information coming from the team as to what's been going on. The obscurity is only hurting Mosley as this point (i.e., rumors).
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Wrote about that here:
BenFred: Lack of clarity on Isiaih Mosley’s situation isn’t doing Mizzou basketball favors
STLtoday.comMissouri basketball coach Dennis Gates says he's trying to protect the player's privacy, but it's opening the door to speculation. -
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Maybe the NFL will cite lack of fan support when moving the Rams to Mexico City, or London?The only thing holding that place up is head coach Sean McVay, who considered leaving his job to go call games for one of the streaming services.He won't like coaching through the baggage of all those trades that sacrificed draft picks.And he won't have to, because he can bounce for something better the second someone wants to pay him to do it and he's tired of Kroenke's crew.When that happens, bad will get worse.
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Is there *really* room for TON, Carlson, Noot, Burleson, Yepez, AND Donovan? Just seems like a couple would have been traded by now, esp those who are "bat-first." And do you think they really want to give DeJong another chance or just haven't had any attractive offers to this point? Thanks for the chat. Happy holidays to you and yours.
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With how many guys the Cardinals have participating in the World Baseball Classic, there's nothing wrong with getting DeJong a bunch of reps at spring training. Maybe someone's shortstop goes down, and then his demand is up because of another team's need and whatever he can put together during spring. At worse, he sticks around as an overpaid depth guy. He's not the starter at shortstop. I'm not sure why people keep suggesting he will be. That's Tommy Edman's job for now.
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I asked Eli this week how much his job has changed since he was hired, and he said it's a totally different gig. Think about it. He's hired. Boom, pandemic. Boom, NIL floodgates. SEC has made plans to expand, likely scrambling divisions. And don't forget, he's got a new AD. What a whirlwind. At least he get paid well. Even better now than before.
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HI Ben,
Always appreciate your honest take - even if I don't agree all the time. .
With the Cubs signing Swanson does that put more emphasis on Cards doing one more deal?
We know they won't publicy admit that they are influenced by anything other teams do and what fans say, but now seems the time to double down on your investment - either with another power pitcher or two or a proven LH bat.
Secondly, I would never think about trading Helsley - a proven, young cost-controlled All-Star closer for a back up catcher like Jansen... that was more than a bit off-base notion at best. -
The Cardinals shouldn't be motivated by the Cubs. They should be motivated by the Mets, Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, Padres. Divisions matter less than ever before, unfortunately, as evidenced by the Cardinals first-place NL Central finish last season being rewarded with . . . hosting a Wild Card Series while the top two NL teams rested.It wasn't an off-base notion. When the Cardinals were vetting the Jansen idea, Helsley was in play if things progressed. You have to trade talent to get talent. The Cardinals have been pretty good at developing good young relievers, and they have more guys coming who could check some of the boxes Helsley does. You don't love to trade any performing piece, but for an every-day catcher compared to a player who has one of the most volatile, unpredictable jobs in the game, you consider it.
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Contreras basically is replacing Molina's output this year. The team still needs a big bat to replace Pujols (will that be Walker or a FA?)
You can also always count on 2-1 starting pitchers having an injury issue or just plain bad. The Cards only had one year when their 5 starters went the whole year (2004?). Quintana is gone, as is Reyes....Every other starter outside of Montgomery has had injury issues the last two years (Hudson, Flaherty, Matz, Mikolas and even Waino). So, are they just going to roll the dice with these guys and hope they stay healthy? -
I think that would be a mistake, if they did.Have written that, and mentioned it here countless times.We'll see what they do.On Contreras, he doesn't replace Molina's output. He does that and then some. Contreras produced an adjusted on-base plus slugging percentage of 128 last season. League average is 100. Molina was at 53. Pujols was at 154.
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My gut says the small bears are 1 more average player away from being a problem. Cards better take notice. Since the small bears decided to sell off, the Cards haven't really taken advantage. Now there's 3 teams actually trying. And, TBH, they both have better starting pitching. Uh oh.
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After trying to convince you all the Brewers are more legit than most realize for seasons, I'm down on Milwaukee. The Hader trade shook me. Cubs will be better, but will they be better than if they just kept their good players? I'm not convinced. Again, the idea of being motivated (or not ) by your division is getting outdated fast. The motivation in the expanded playoff format should be the National League, and avoiding a Wild Card Series as a wild-card team or third-best division winner.
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I have been a Cardinals fan for 40 years and will continue to be. But it really seems strange the last few years.The Shildt firing was egg on the face. Maddux leaves to have less demanding position, then takes the same elsewhere, all while saying in an MLB network interview that he will appreciate a manager who doesn't have to take all his directives from the front office. Albert leaves because the fans were too hard on him--but is spun that he really just left for a better position. They're raising payroll until they aren't Arenado stayed because of the elite farm system? At some point I feel like we can't really believe Mo. Even as he does his best at every chance to talk in circles and say nothing. What gives?
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