Join columnist Jeff Gordon for his live St. Louis sports chat at 1 p.m. Friday
3rd & 7 37yd
3rd & 7 37yd
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You had your vacation so where's your levity? Joviality? After all it's just sports! So what do you think of Army's sad offer for Tkachuck? It doesn't look like he was serious. It was like here's Scandella who we like to get rid of--and here's Vladi who's leaving after this year anyway. That's not serious. A serious deal involves Kyrou.Army has done this before he pretends he's interested because the fan base is emotionally involved. He did this with Petrangelo as well fakes being serious to appease the fans. Just so he can say "we tried"!!
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Once Doug Armstrong got Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad on the payroll with cost-efficient deals, it became far less likely that Matthew Tkachuk would be a a real possibility here. And the iffy Nick Leddy contract really slammed the door. Armstrong spent the last of his cap flexibility. I tried to warn you people. I rained on that Tkachuk parade over and over, but fans still believed it would happen.
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Jeff,
Mo gets the credit and blame, but as the Cardinal brain trust is gathering in advance of the trade deadline, I’m wondering how player acquisition and asset management decisions are made. Who is in the room and what is the weight carried by respective advisors and decision-makers in the Cardinals organization? Thanks for shedding any light you can on this rather opaque process. -
As Mike Shildt will tell you, at the end of the day John Mozeliak makes the call and Bill DeWitt Jr. either approves or vetoes the move. In Shildt's case, DeWitt let Mozeliak can Shildt.Many people have input in the process, but the guys at the very top have to make the decision.
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Right now Luis Castillo is pitching well. And he has another year on his deal, so he would be my pick. As noted earlier, Nolan Gorman would be a killer in that park. Malcom Nunez and Moises Gomez has come on as power hitters as well, so maybe one of them could sub for Gorman as the hitter piece if the Reds want Michael McGreevy or Matthew Liberatore as the key pitching piece coming back. I'm guess a package would include at least one of the top few young pitchers and at lease one young power hitter among four or five pieces.
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Good move on Army’s part to sign Kostin to a one-year deal. Hopefully Kostin will meet or exceed the expectations Berube has for him. If that’s the case, maybe he can be used as a trade piece once Toropchenko returns. What other players do you see as having a “make it or break it” type year?
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Krug seems happy here. And he fits well. The issues with him on this roster is the development of Scott Perunovich as a similar talent and the salary cap crunch that awaits this team after this season. Krug's name came up earlier in trade speculation because Armstrong was trying to free up cap space so he could work on other things.
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The taxi squad exists so a player can step right in if somebody gets hurt or falls ill. Otherwise, getting that player from the minor league team to the majors can take time and leave the team short for a day. Also, DeJong's presence allows him to jump right in if another player is traded away. That gives Edmundo Sosa and Nolan Gorman something to think about.
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Not really impressed with Matthew Tkachuck he was after the money. He put Dallas, Florida, on his list states with no state income tax. Like he cares about growing the game in Florida? Sure as long as you pay him. You think it's ok for professional athletes to be self centered and greedy. It's not becoming or an admirable quality in any human being. Same thing for Albert. You know you should take some responsibility for removing athletes from the delusional pedestal fans put them on. Do you really want to promote the false narrative that athletes are mystical magical people that hit home runs score goals and spread love , peace and harmony to their fellow human beings? Hahaha! Many are simply not worthy of the adulation.
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The fact that Gorman's name is the one coming up in reports I think is telling. A top 50 prospect, doing ok in first year of MLB, has a lot of value, but also means the Cards are not shutting the convo down. Which tells me they received the wink from Arenado. Gorman is raw at 2nd base, which everyone can see and 3rd isn't coming open for awhile on this team. He should fetcha quality starter with a 2nd player added, a #3 type.
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For a host of reasons Gorman has become an obvious target for other teams and more expendable than other Cardinals. Brendan Donovan is a different type of player, but a useful one who take over at second base and handle third should Arenado pull the chute after this year. I've always seen Gorman as a DH going forward, but right now Oliver Marmol likes spreading those ABs around.
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The Soto-mania is absurd. His record says he hits .290 and 30 homers in a small ballpark. Good, but hardly Hall of Fame stuff. Yet the mania suggests he would be Musial, Brock, Goldschmidt, Ruth and Gehrig all in one. Boras has puffed up his value and the media is enthralled with his "swagger", (preening and dancing in the batter's box, glaring at pitchers). He's a hot dog, and there's not enough mustard in Busch to coat him. Considering what Washington is demanding, STL fans would long regret his acquisition. Yes?
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Given Mozeliaks history when it comes to trading for pitchers and or signing them as free agents, do the Cardinals really want to trade off some of their best young prospects? This team is going nowhere this year, and certainly won't contend for a championship. Mozeliak had all the time in the world to correct the pitching issues prior to the season starting when the costs would have been much lower, but he chose not to. I say stand pat, retool in the offseason and get ready for next year. This team has not seriously competed for a championship since 2013, and given the current roster construction, has zero chance this year. Save your assets for the next couple of years.
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Good afternoon, Mr. Gordon. Thank you for the chat and your time. Why doesn't MLB allow teams to trade their draft picks in the First-Year Player Draft, as other leagues do? In trade scenarios like Soto, it would increase the number of potential trade partners, and make for a more attractive haul for the team trading the player. Plus, it would create more interest in the draft. Thank you.
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It's not all together true Army's deals with Buchy, Saad, and Leddy prohibited a serious Tkachuck offer. Army doesn't want to pay any player 9.5 million per year. It comes down to how much better are you with Tkachuck then Kyrou? For the payroll increase? It would have also cost us Krug, Bolduc etc. so I see how it's not a good deal for us anyway you shake it. Unless Tkachuck was going to bring us a cup? Hard to guess the future.
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It's true that Doug Armstrong has maintained a pay structure here in the STL and Tkachuk would have altered that structure. I believe he was open to making that deal anyway, but obviously he did not put himself into the best position to make this trade despite knowing last summer that Tkachuk could end up on the market.
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Do you think MO has more incentives in HIS contract based on the bottom line profit/loss performance of Cardinals, INC, or more based the on field performance?
He seems to act like the first...they do JUST enough to keep the turnstiles turning...they are at $162 in salary, vs. 181 in 2019, 175 in 2018..... -
Well, there was a pandemic that cost the Cardinals a nine-digit total in revenue. That helps explain the lower budget this year. In his role, Mozeliak's job is to keep the Cardinals in the chase year after year after year while peer franchises come and go from the playoff race. Mozeliak has met that objective and kept business brisk in non-pandemic seasons.
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