Join columnist Ben Frederickson for a live chat at 11 a.m. Tuesday
Ben Frederickson will answer all of your Cardinals, Blues, St. Louis City, Mizzou and SLU questions in Tuesday's 11 a.m. live chat.
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Is the Mikolas extension going to take over for the Carpenter extension in a year as the "what was Mo thinking in 2019" target? This team can fish starting pitching out of its pocket and they are now stuck paying someone who could be replaced by Gomber money that could go towards a 3rd basemen. -
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Time will tell.Mikolas was an All-Star in 2018.He was a league average starter in 2019 who provided 180 plus innings.He got hurt. It happens. Especially with pitchers. I'd like to see what he does once healthy before I assume he won't bounce back. He's earned that, hasn't he? -
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He was already on the list of names to know among rising young coaches, and he will be climbing that list after this season. He made the right call in staying on board with Drinkwitz, and that gives him that many more connections, because now Drinkwtiz can vouch for him. Drinkwitz would be wise to fight to keep him, and to suggest to Walters that he should hang at Mizzou until THE best job comes along, not just any head coaching offer.
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MO for the Hall of Fame... there must be some heavy dose of vodka in his Kool-Aid....
Yes, the Cardinals have had sustained success in a weak division and have made the playoffs too. If that's your standard or bar to be met (being better than the Reds, Brewers and Pirates - and the Cubs to a lesser extent), then so be it, but I think Cardinal Nation and stakeholders of our great baseball traditional deserve more...
The FO and local media will never admit this (Joe Buck did during the World Series which have yet to hear a local media member comment on) the Cardinals have made fundamentally bad trades, signings and evaluations of players that have kept them from being more competitive and in the upper echelon of NL teams - which is where many fans want them to be.
The local media seems to focus on Cardinals success and lesser deals that have panned out positively vs focus on the overall losing trend of deals in recent years or maybe they are just tired of hearing the gripes from fans.
We are not suggesting the Cardinals spend stupid money on players or "superstars"on long-term deals, or give up prospects to make a trade deadline deal, just please stop making so many fundamentally flawed decisions on so many levels.
e.g. if you want to be more competitive now, why trade offense and outfielders who could blossom if given time for pitching prospect and catching prospect a few years away (you already have those) or why trade potential power prospect (which is what you need) for a few relievers that are an easy commodity to get/replace and you have plenty of prospects that can fill that void.
The Cards seem to have bad timing, bad touch and bad evaluations on many recent trades and signings, hope they can break out of their rut. We all realize you can't win all the trades, but you are not supposed to lose them all either. In addition, they trade players at their lowest value, in stead of their peak value and don't evaluate players and their potential very well.
e.g. They are going to be trading Martinez at his all-time low value and do they still think O'Neil can be a power-hitter/run producer in the middle of lineup that already strikes out way too much and does not drive in the many runners they create with OBP.
They have been good at evaluating and developing pitchers - give credit where it's due, but imagine how much better we would be if we still had Alcantara and/or Gallen in our starting rotation.
Power pitching wins in the playoffs, and they have a pitcher friendly park, so load up and stick with what you know and hopefully keep/develop your hitting prospects.
I have been a season ticket holder for many years but it's hard to swallow all the FO mistakes and boring offense, too. -
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Ben, all I was saying earlier that based on Carlos track record do we really expect him to come into camp in February in very good condition? There's a better chance I'll win the lottery Saturday and I don't even buy tickets. I agree he has more value if he's pitching good, I'm just saying based on his track record I wouldn't get your hopes up. Cut bait while you can.
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I'm not defending CMart's behavior. I'm just noting the hypocrisy, and while it's true that there weren't strict "mandates" in place when Bader and the Blues did what they did, that's only because Missouri politicians refused to put mandates into place. By then, everyone knew what the correct course of behavior was and they ignored it. The covid violation is just the new hair color issue for some fans.
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Wrong.The police don't take you to the station for your hair color.States have different rules about everything from sports gambling to marijuana use, and you don't get to dodge a citation because the other state has different rules.You are expected to follow the rules of the place where you are.Martinez did not.And these were not ream rules, either.So, there is a difference. One Martinez's volunteer defense attorneys are ignoring.
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I liked your article comparing Theo and Mo. It gave me a different perspective, but I would like you to expand on something. Who would you pick for the next 10 years? Your comparison takes into account Mozeliak’s success before tank and rebuild took off, and before the Dodgers got a smart front office. I’m not saying what Mozeliak did before should be forgotten, but rather the argument needs more context. In my opinion I’d rather have Epstein. You will have more valleys with him, but you also get the peaks. 10 years ago Mozeliak’s steady, just stay better than average, approach could lead to a championship. The difference between good and bad teams has never been greater. In my opinion what happened to the Cardinals in 2020 is what would have happened with or without COVID. I also believe it’s what will happen in 2021 and beyond if the Cardinals front office doesn’t make a significant adjustment.
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Did the Cubs have more peaks though? Both teams have one World Series win since 2011. The Cardinals have played in two World Series to the Cubs' one during that time. That's the peak right, winning the World Series? There does not appear to be a perfect formula that produces that result; if there was the Dodgers would have more than the one they just won during that span. Given Mozeliak's track record in developing pitching, and Theo's inability to get that right in his career, I think the best 10-year bet would be Mozeliak. And remember, Mozeliak is not the sole reason the Cardinals don't hand out the kind of contracts that could make up the elite talent gaps the Cardinals have between some teams that secured those players via great draft spots via tanking. Ownership has a lot to say in those decisions too. Everyone but the team owner has a boss.
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Do you really see a college basketball season happening? College football has been holding on by a thread, and it's an outdoor sport. After wrestling, basketball has to be the most Covid dangerous sport. As a follow up, do you think college sports should even be happening? The findings about what Covid can do to the heart, organs, and brain are frightening, and they can happen in asymptomatic patients. These kids aren't getting paid, so they are putting themselves at risk with the millions to fall back on that the pros have. I've been troubled about the ethics of college sports in this pandemic from the get go.
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It's already happening. It will be mangled by postponements and cancellations, but hopefully it's enough to produced a bubbled-up NCAA Tournament. If we are going to dive into the ethical side of the equation, college sports in general, sans pandemic, should not be happening like it is. Millions of dollars are made because of the play of unpaid players. That's fundamentally messed up. The pandemic has just made it even more obvious.
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I love these chats from the PD writers. I’m however growing tired of them morphing into political/society rants and raves. My hope is that people come on here as an escape from the day to day craziness that is life. Sports is supposed to be a distraction. Discuss lineups not policy.
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I would like to hear how NHL owners would respond to a request from the players' union to renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement the two sides agreed to just four months ago.The players would get laughed out of the room.But, of course, that's exactly what the owners are asking for now.There are perks to, you know, owning the teams.Owners can't say they did not expect the pandemic to change the picture. This CBA extension was initially agreed upon during the extension! The league took a victory lap after it for being a smoothly running machine compared to the disaster that was the MLB's return to pay nightmare.Here comes the hangover effect it seems.I grow a little bit more concerned about the NHL by the day. The schedules remain missing. That Jan. 1 start date remains tentative and you can imagine how it could be pushed back again and again until the discussion suddenly transforms into one that questions the integrity of the season.But, in the end, the owners and players both know the same thing. The players are the ones with the shorter career spans in this thing. The players are the ones who are punished most by a skipped season. So, the owners can lean on players to give up a little bit more in terms of deferred compensation that will help any liquidity problems for the owners, and the players will eventually agree to some form of that most likely.I think there will be a season, but the timing of this snag is not ideal, and you are fair to wonder if it means the initial plan for the season's start could change.
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I didn't mean to suggest that Arozerana was cheating. I think his "gaining 15 pounds of muscle in a month" is HYPE and impossible to do in a MONTH without legal supplements and weight training. I think the PD writers know it's hype and are helping the Cards hide behind the hype. If Arozerana bulked up overnight like they claim this is a bigger failure of the Cards organization like MCK pointed out.
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I have not weighed him, before or after, so I don't know his weight.Please tell me how we have helped the Cardinals dodge the Arozarena criticism when we have covered him constantly, asked the Cardinals about him constantly, both before he was traded and after.They under-projected him. They messed up. They admitted it.I don't care if he weighs 150 pounds or 200, he spent this season hitting like an outfielder the Cardinals needed. This has been pointed out a lot. Where's the cover up?
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As noted below, DeJong's contract is not a bad one. Neither was Wong's. But neither player ascended after being extended to be a player to build around. You could argue DeJong regressed offensively after signing his extension. The successes Mo has had have been "low impact" wins, players that fill a need for a year or are a piece in a bullpen. Who was the last long-term star, even borderline star, he has unearthed?
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Paul DeJong is 27. I don't think we have seen him at his career best quite yet. Totally fair to say the Cardinals are overdue for some homegrown stars, and their hope is they have some coming in Dylan Carlson and Nolan Gorman. If you meant players in general, Paul Goldschmidt is going to be a long-time Cardinal by the time his contract ends. That contract has worked out well for the Cardinals so far.
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When it comes to Mo/DeWitt the narrative is always sustained success. And arguing that they have not won consistently is as dumb as arguing they haven't spent money. But just as there are different levels of spending, there are different levels of winning. Their model has become too flat, with no spikes that show progress, just status quo sustainability.
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If they don't win a World Series this season, it will be a decade without a ring.That's not a small number for the team that leads the National League in rings.Especially when the Dodgers just ordered a new one.What the Cardinals' desire is for another championship is a big question moving forward. It should be the focus, in my opinion, not misinformed hollering about how the team doesn't care about winning or doesn't spend.
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Your description of UTK was exactly how I would have described based on what I saw when I was there. The factions are so fascinating, and Fulmer--can't figure how he is the Teflon Don there. It got me thinking about Mizzou, which has had some bizarre moments with the whole Bill Laurie court-naming fiasco, among other things. But the BoC's intervention in the football hire last spring has got to be one of the all-time great moves by such a body in college sports, right? Drinkwitz seems like the real deal, and he definitely brings the kind of sizzle that none of Sterk's original list of snoozers did. Can you think of another situation where an AD was basically "redirected" in a search and it turned out well? I realize I'm giving ED a lot of credit for just six games so far, but he just seems to be the right guy, right?
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So far so good on Drinkwitz. He continues to say and do the right things. He has to wish he could have that Tennessee game back, by the way. Mizzou would win that game going away if it was played tomorrow. The wheels are off for the Vols. But yes, to your point, the rewriting of the initial coaching search list -- however it is phrased, that's what it was -- appears to have been a rare thing for Mizzou -- a moment of dysfunction that turned into something good instead of something bad.
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Can we all just agree that from now on the Cards need to make sure all the players in the minor leagues are eating right and lifting weights as tailored to their position? The idea that his putting on muscle unlocked some other-worldly potential, if true, is really just too much to take. How can this ever be an issue or the issue? I do think the PD has covered this whole thing fairly. If there is any truth the narrative that was prominent during the playoffs about his sudden explosion attributing much to the idea that he really got his nutrition and weight-lifting in order? Just unreal and that deficiency in the Cards approach should be reported on.