No idea. I haven't seen any credible reports on potential bidders.
I can just see Blues fans yelling "get up!" at the writhing victim of incidental contact every 10 minutes or so of a telecast.
Let's see who fills those spots. Multiple candidates could come from the rotation.
Maybe, but Nootbaar has become an impact hitter who fields well and fills the need to lead off against right-handers. And Dickerson became an impact hitter who offer comparable fielding and the newfound ability to produce in a part-time role.
I suppose that ESPNU exposure has come value, but, yeah, Thursday night is hard sell to an old-timer like yours truly. I hate change!
Jim Bowden keeps pushing the Jordan Walker promotion button, but barring injuries or truly horrific slumps that seems like a stretch. This team already has some tough decisions to make on their roster without adding Walker to the 40-man roster to get him September work at this level.
This assumes that umpires get those calls consistently right. Some of them don't.
Ideally you want pitchers with swing-and-miss to work in those high-leverage spots. So Hudson would be better suited to long relief.
The Cardinals would be happy with a Tommy Edman hitting .260 to .280 at shortstop, stealing 30 bases playing and Gold Glove defense with an elite arm.
That's why I noted either he couldn't muster the intensity to do the work or his body said no. The situation has been compounded by him reporting late, then doing his in-season rehab away from the team, then leaving the team to watch basketball. That speaks to the "want to" element of playing this season.
The issue isn't DeJong vs. Edman at shortstop, it's DeJong playing shortstop and allowing Edman to offer an upgrade at second base over Gorman.
Yeah, some of these at bats have been hard to watch.
In fairness to Rob Manfred -- words I seldom type -- much of what bothers the passionate Hall of Famers about today's game is out of his control. He can't tell hitting coaches not to teach launch angle and managers not to use advanced metrics while mapping strategy. The game evolves through competition. It goes through stages. And many significant changes that could help the game must come through bargaining with the players association. Baseball may never be quite like it was in the old days, but the owners and player can work together to improve the product some. We will continue to see tweaks to the game with that in mind.
Yes, he could travel the Matt Carpenter route once his contract is up.
Playing him against lefties would be more about moving Edman elsewhere to get somebody else out of the lineup against a particular lefty.
True, Perez seems destined to time out as a prospect. But right now Burleson has zero big league at bats, Walker has not hit about Double-A and Juan Yepez has been on the outside looking in.
This assumes Brady Cook will not develop. We shall see. I expect Burden get a lot of touches in catch-and-run scenarios as Drinkwitz tries to establish both him and his new QB. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a bubble screen or two.
This is a temporary assignment. The roster expansion on Sept. 1 will open up another hitting spot. The point is, Yepez is still on the outside of the playing rotation looking in. So to expect hitters behind him in line to leapfrog into the playoff mix seems unrealistic now.
Yes. With today's training techniques, he would be a monster now has he was a monster then.
There will be a review process that assures such pitches are called balls. Batters can still hit them if they choose, but a bounce pitch would not be a strike after the automated pitch-calling comes into being.
It would depend how who is healthy, who is pitching well, who are the Cardinals facing, is it a three-game series and so forth. Generally speaking long relievers have less value unless they are to be used for a piggy-back start.
It is like one of the myriad pro leagues around the world on a lower tier from the elite European leagues. The MLS will feature plenty of players with World Cup experience as well as some players with experience in those elite European leagues.
OK, that it's for this time. Thanks for all the questions and comments. See you next time!
