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Join columnist Jeff Gordon for his live STL sports chat at 1 p.m. Friday

Bring your Cards, Blues, Mizzou, SLU and MLS questions and comments, and talk to columnist Jeff Gordon in his weekly live chat.

3rd & 7 37yd

Jeff, a couple of weeks ago I listened to KMOX's Sunday morning interview with Mo. In the interview he was asked about bringing up Gorman and Liberatore. His reply was basically, "they aren't ready.... and this is not a developmental league". OK, so why again is Hicks being groomed as a started in St. Louis and not Memphis? Oh, and as for your comment that he throws 100 miles an hour... it you can't throw it over the plate it doesn't matter, even if you can throw it two hundred miles an hour. There were better options.

by timothy mark 5/27/2022 7:51:19 PM
Now that Hicks is injured, his next several starts will come in the minors. Problem solved.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 7:51:44 PM
Marcus Stroman is averaging barely 5 innings per start and has an ERA just under 4.80. Not exactly the stuff of a difference-maker. Just a reminder, Jake Woodford had an overall ERA of 3.99 last year, and 2.51 when allowed to take half a dozen starts last September. Woodford hasn't allowed a home run to an MLB hitter in roughly 200 at-bats, counting the 40 or 50 AB's in Spring Training. Why would anyone be against just giving this guy a rotation opportunity? Because he doesn't throw hard enough?

by Brian Jordan was twice as good as Bo Jackson 5/27/2022 7:51:57 PM
I believe your dream of seeing Woodford in the rotation is about to be realized.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 7:52:58 PM
Is Jon Hamm in town. We need all good luck charms present

by Liz 5/27/2022 7:53:17 PM
Last I saw Hamm he was hitting on Flo in a Progressive commercial. Not sure where he is today.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 7:54:01 PM
Happy Friday, Jeff!
Perhaps Michael McGreevy should be a sell-now candidate. The most overrated prospects are invariably the 1st-round draftees, and McGreevy was absolutely clobbered last night in his AA debut. Maybe some other franchise will give up more than they should for the 21-year-old?

by Silver King 5/27/2022 7:54:26 PM
Well, trading guys like Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara worked out so well for the Cardinals so, sure, trade top pitching prospects from an organization that has a shortage of them,

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 7:55:41 PM
How much more important do you suppose on the scale of 1 to 10 is it for the Cardinals to win their division vs merely qualifying for postseason via a wild card?

by Nick N 5/27/2022 7:56:01 PM
Now that MLB has done away with the stupid single wild card, I'd say about a 7. In this new format a wild card team has every chance to advance. Now, earning one of the top two seeds in each league has big value because those teams avoid the three-game wild card round. That is a different question.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 7:59:58 PM
Cale Makar was on that Canada Junior Team too.

by Liz 5/27/2022 8:00:00 PM
What did you think of Kyrou's effort, or lack thereof, on the McKinnon dash?

by DCG 5/27/2022 8:00:04 PM
He was at the end of the shift, trying to get off the ice.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:00:18 PM
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but, in 3 years the Cardinals are set up to be awash in cash, even more so than they are now. With all the prospects that are just hitting the roster this year, and the soon arrivals of Walker, Burleson,Winn, Herrera and a 2-3 pitchers; together with he Wainwright, Molina, Goldschmit, Mikolas, DeJong contracts all coming off the books, the front office is going to be in a great spot to make some strategic moves. The young guys like Edman, Kniszer, Carlson and even ONeill and Bader should not be too expensive at that time. I have to imagine that this is what the front office was envisioning with the draft and develop model they have adopted......now lets just hope they don't muck it up!

by Todd 5/27/2022 8:00:41 PM
While fans rage against management incompetence, the Cardinals have actually done a nice job setting up the long-term payroll to ensure continued competitiveness.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:01:43 PM
Someone earlier asked how we would make up ground on the Brewers, but if I’m correct havent the Cardinals played a whole lot more games against opponents above 500 then what the Brewers have to this point?

by MAP. 5/27/2022 8:01:53 PM
Yes, but the Brewers are clearly superior with that pitching, Their issue will be that offense. What can it do against better pitching?

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:02:33 PM
BoBo fans complained that the Cardinals couldn't develop a power hitter because they didn't have anyone besides Goldy at one time. Now they desperately need some pitching because they traded away their pitching prospects for a power hitter and started developing power hitters. Do you think the Cards are playing a game of Wack A Mo?

by Jimmy 5/27/2022 8:03:17 PM
Besides the disastrous loss of Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen in the Marcell Ozuna trade, the Cardinals hit a stretch where they didn't hit on enough pitching prospects on a year-to-year basis. To use one of John Mozeliak's favorite phrases, they failed to backfill. They are still in the process of trying to do that. All this reminds why it's hard to remain consistently successful.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:05:52 PM
It seems to me that the Blues are in the process of being the rare team in the NHL that transitions from one winning core to a new one. The emergence of Thomas and Kyrou this season is going to make up for the decline in Schenn and O'Reilly over the next few seasons. Such are the benefits of building a deep roster rather than a top-heavy one. I do wonder, though: is there much in terms of forward skill developing in the minors? If they were to move Barbeshev or Tarasenko this summer, where do they make up those goals?

by Dave G 5/27/2022 8:06:11 PM
The next big offensive hope is Zachary Bolduc who has scored 55 goals in 65 games in the QMJHL this year. He made be a few years away, but he'll be a player of interest in training camp next time. Also, Jake Neighbours has some Ivan Barbashev-like potential.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:08:46 PM
Hey, Gordo!
I think the chatter who was willing to trade Juan Yepez is looking at the player's skillset and seeing meaningful limits to his *overall* upside. And Alec Burleson is hitting exactly as well in AAA at age 23 right now as Yepez did last year at the same age. (In fact, Burleson is striking out less often.) Yepez, even if he keeps killing the ball, is a Luke Voit/Allen Craig type of player, and thus limited to 3-WAR potential realistically. (As opposed to Gorman, Walker, and Winn, who could each have a few 5-WAR seasons in their future.) Given their needs, if the Cards can get multiple years of a mid-rotation starting pitcher for Juan Yepez plus a small sweetener, that feels like a smart deal to me.

Question, Jeff: Do you know why Moises Gomez has not been promoted to Triple-A yet? He's 23 himself, and might actually turn out to be that rare meaningful mistake by the Tampa Bay front office (like when the Dodgers shockingly blundered and gave away bat-first Yordan Alvarez a few years back). Thanks for the chat, Bobo, and enjoy the weekend!

by Silver King 5/27/2022 8:10:09 PM
Moises Gomez hit just .171 in a full season of Double-A ball last season, so I'm guessing the Cardinals want him to enjoy sustained success at the level before moving him up.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:13:05 PM
I thought Jake Woodford proved his value as a starter during the 17 game winning streak last year?

He doesn’t walk batters and seems to pitch to contact ( if that’s a goal with this defense)

What’s missing from this picture?

by Saytreykid 5/27/2022 8:14:36 PM
The rotation for this season was set in the spring, not last summer.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:14:51 PM
For those who are skeptical of Nolan Gorman's glovework, please consider this information. There are only two public websites that quantify individual defense at the minor league level. (Baseball-Prospectus and Clay Davenport.) If we average the values at those websites, and use multiple seasons of course, we should have at least a pretty good idea, a reasonable estimate, of how good or bad Nolan Gorman and our minor leaguers are at defense. Over the 2021/22 seasons both websites rate Nolan Gorman an asset in the field. And if we average them together, they value him at +8 runs per 150 games played, which is excellent. He won't be Edman or Wong, but he sure shouldn't hurt you in the field. Thanks for letting me ramble, Gordo!

by Silver King 5/27/2022 8:15:18 PM
Also, Gorman appears to be a good athlete who works hard. That gives him a chance to keep improving at the age of 22.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:16:00 PM
why are you called BoBo? Thanks

by Roy Hobbs Wife 5/27/2022 8:16:08 PM
In honor of Bobo, the heckling clown who sits in the midway dunking booths at county fairs. As in, "Bobo's here, where's all the ballplayers?" That's pretty much how this particular task plays out.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:17:39 PM
We get if Jeff Gordon, fans want to see a champion, and you are content with mediocrity,

by Cbow 5/27/2022 8:17:46 PM
I'm guessing the Cincinnati Reds would better fit the definition of mediocrity, as opposed to the Cardinals with 14 straight winning seasons and 15 trips to postseason play since 2000.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:20:54 PM
The Cards have two superstars in Goldschmidt and Arenado that will age over the next few years. Are you as surprised as me, that Bill DeWitt didn’t surround these two with better talent - especially with pitching that could have elevated this team to tier 1 status before these two stars decline with age? Most championship teams in any sport have at least one or two stars with a strong supporting cast. The Cards are lacking the strong supporting cast. Agree?

by Jack 5/27/2022 8:21:30 PM
At the moment, due to massive injuries, the Cardinals have a so-so supporting cast. When healthy, this could be a pretty good supporting cast. But that may not happen for months, so the team needs to add a couple of pitchers for sure.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:25:10 PM
No one says the Cardinals have to scrap their model of staying competitive year in and year out. Fine.. But, there are moments that a big push will not just get them in the mix, but give them a real shot to go all the way. Being competitive, 'in the mix' is fine. But, there are moments when you pay the 30 million for a 1/2/3 year contract and trade 1/2 of your blue chippers (we have 5, 6) to get a solid if not spectacular starting pitcher.. The Cards are desperate for either right now. Not sure what your resistance is to this idea. Yes, you regurgitate the Cardinals model, but don't YOU think they should go for it once in a while.. Like, really go for it? The Cardinals don't have to trade all their top prospects to greatly improve their world series chances... Maybe just 1/2

by pugger 5/27/2022 8:25:39 PM
I agree that there are times to really go for it. But frankly, this team does not look like such a team. I see the 2022 Reunion Tour buying time for the blue chip guys to develop (or not) as injury replacements and set the franchise up for a significant reset when dollars come off the books.
Had Jack Flaherty stayed healthy, Paul DeJong located his swing and Tyler O'Neill stayed his all-star-caliber course, maybe this team would have been a candidate for that sort of a push. Given all that has already gone wrong, now I'd play the kids, focus on development, made some stopgap adds and save the major assets and payroll space for later plays.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:32:24 PM
It seems to me that the Cardinal "operating model" fully (if tacitly) acknowledges how the last two World Series titles were won -- teams in 2006 and 2011 that had so-so regular seasons barely squeezed into the playoffs then got hot.

While I wish the Cards were as smart as the Brewers have been over the past half decade, their future remains strong going forward in terms of position prospects in particular. Much stronger than any of their N.L. Central rivals, in fact, with the possible exception of the Pirates, who have some really good minor leaguers (Oneil Cruz, Henry Davis, Liover Peguero) but are starting in a pretty deep hole at the MLB level.

If I had to bet which N.L. Central team will win the most games from 2023 through, say, 2026, I would still bet on the Birds. Not by much, but still I'd bet 'em.

by Silver King 5/27/2022 8:32:29 PM
Trying to contend every year does not preclude building great rosters in given years. It's just hard to do that, because building a great roster usually takes a succession of prospect-for-veteran trades that eventually catch up to a franchise. It also requires all-out spending, which can put a franchise in a multi-season jam. Bill Dewitt Jr. tries to avoid each of these scenarios.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:36:49 PM
If the Blues move on from Leddy, I'd love to see them sign Zadorov from Calgary, since he will become a UFA after the cup series. Big wingspan, shoots the puck hard and is gritty and mean. I paid particular attention to him when he was on the ice last night and I don't see much difference between him and Parayko, Ottawa is willing to trade their #7 first round pick for a top four defenseman with years of control. Trade Parayko for a much needed 1st round draft pick, sign Zadorov, save $4m.

by timothy mark 5/27/2022 8:37:41 PM
The Zadorov love is another puzzler for me. Sure, he is big hitter. He also plays third-pairing minutes and Parayko is a high-end defensive defenseman who logs big minutes. This suggestion would create a huge setback for the Blues.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:39:06 PM
Why did you fire Tom Timmerman and Jimmy from Net Front Presence? I'm boycotting! You need to pay them better! Upgrade their Subway account or something!

by Roy Hobbs 5/27/2022 8:39:24 PM
Those guys were on our podcasts this week. Not sure what you are talking about.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:39:47 PM
Ten bucks says Alcantara and Gallen never had a single game in AA or AAA where they were destroyed like McGreevy was last night. It was carnage, Gordo.

Anyway, trading McGreevy for another pitcher who is more MLB-ready doesn't feel real risky. (And don't tell anyone, but Gordon Graceffo is a better prospect, draft round notwithstanding.)

by Silver King 5/27/2022 8:40:04 PM
If McGreevy's career has indeed been ruined, then other teams will notice that and he won't have much trade value.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:40:37 PM
I told my friend that Scott Stevens would not be effective in todays NHL. But I forgot what you told why that is? Mobility?

by Roy Hobbs 5/27/2022 8:40:46 PM
Scott Stevens was the king of crunching blue line hits that would earn NHL suspensions today. He would be fine in the 2002 game, minus the head hunting. He would have to adapt.

by Jeff Gordon 5/27/2022 8:42:35 PM