Join columnist Jeff Gordon for his live St. Louis 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.
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With Jake Garcia coming to Mizzou our QB situation just got a lot more competitive. With our new offensive coach I am hoping Mizzou offense will be better. I am still concerned about the offensive line and tight end. Mizzou men's basketball, beating ARK was incredible, the fans are back after 10 long years of small crowds except Martins first year. And it was so good to see Isiah Mosley get some playing time. GO MIZZOU -
TigerFan sighed with relief with the addition of a quarterback who brings some experience and an excellent recruiting profile. But, yes, there will be work to do once Missouri (and every other program) reassesses its roster in the spring. Yes, the offensive line is especially critical. As for basketball, the Tigers needed that victory over Arkansas to stay on the NCAA Tournament radar screen. The fact that this team has delivered late rallies and tight victories speaks to Dennis Gates' ability.
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Alright Gordzonga let the games begin! I'm looking forward to breaking in the new guy Matt next Wednesday. He sounds very NHL knowledgeable. I hope he has a sense of humor! Why are we chatting at all if we don't have fun right? Just tell that to Jimmy who declined my invite at Mullet arena on the 26th--I guess he's too important to have a laugh with me. I 'll wear my favorite Blues shirt my son wears a Coyote's one. We have fun.
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Last year the Cardinals traded away their Center Fielder and throughout the year they struggled against RH pitching and they never had a constant lead off batter. I'm hoping you can enlightened me why Scott Hurst didn't even get an invitation to Spring Training, given that he is a Center Fielder with speed and a great glove, bats LH with a slash line against RH pitching of 310/423/443 with an OPS of 866 at AAA and no one is talking about this guy. To put this in context Burleson at AAA had an OPS against RH pitching of 889 and Mo is hesitant to trade Burleson for much needed pitching and I can understand why there is hesitation because of Burleson's stats, but they need to give Hurst some credit.
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Yeah, Hurst got stuck in that "depth outfielder" slot given the team's general outfield depth. This team has a bunch of guys with more power but less fielding in their profile. Hurst was a classic Cardinals draft pick -- productive college player, capable of rising quickly to the big leagues in a depth role, but lacking a high ceiling. The Cardinals may have a roster spot for a center field defensive replacement this season, but the brought Oscar Mercado back to compete for that spot.
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Did you read what Wayne Gretzky said in the Hockey Beast? He had agreed to a contract with the Blues but Keenan/Jack Quinn withdrew it because he had a bad game 2. Unbelievable! Gretzky decided right there he would never play for the Blues. Keenan also embarrassed him after game 2. Keenan stories will be told when we're gone!
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Good afternoon, Mr. Gordon. Thank you for your time and the chat. It looks like this is a typical Pingeton Mizzou women's basketball team: good enough to beat up on the mid-majors but a bunch of plodders who lack the talent and athleticism to stay with the better teams in the SEC. Pingeton is supposed to be a good recruiter, but Mizzou will never get the players to consistently compete with South Carolina, Tennessee, and LSU. Instead, Mizzou is destined to be a lower- to mid-tier team in the SEC. In a good year, it might make it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, in other years it is a NCAA bubble team or a perennial participant in the NIT (Not Interested Tournament). Do you agree? Also, what is your favorite memory from your years as one of the Antlers? Thanks.
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Yeah, well, welcome to the SEC. Your summation of the women's basketball program could apply, generally speaking, to a lot of Missouri sports. The school is in the second tier among conference athletic programs and the resource cap will only worsen when Texas and Oklahoma arrive.As for the Antler Era, the highlight I always repeat involved Oklahoma standout Cary Carabine. We had a taunt -- "Cary, we've got your brother!" -- that we used on him. Then, as luck would have it, his little brother came over to us doing a game and allowed himself to made into a mock hostage. "Cary, we've got your brother! No, seriously, we've got your brother!"
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Kostin did good in his fight with Maroon last night. He's got 5 goals for Edmonton. Now I'm thinking with him and Fabbri the Blues gave them years to buy into their system. North South 200 ft game that won us a Cup. Fabbri didn't want to play defense. Kostin I think didn't like being a 4th line guy. Kostin is fast big and strong and he fights you think Berube would have liked him. The Blues give a young player time to "buy in". If he doesn't then they trade him after trying for a while. They love Kostin in Edmonton but he didn't fit here?
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That sums it up. Klim Kostin got chance after chance after chance here. The same head coaches at Springfield and St. Louis got the same disappointing results season after season, so it was time for a fresh start. Kostin wasn't going to play in the AHL forever, given his options in Europe. And the Blues weren't going to keep offering him contracts. Edmonton lacked depth in the bottom six and the Oilers gave him a path to stick in the NHL.
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Yes, that is the big challenge. The Blues must explore all options on defense to add good young talent there because they have other positions covered. Finding a foundational piece is hard, which is why the Blues draft a D-man in those rare instances they got a really high pick. Since then, they have traded for D-men or signed them in free agency. Unless this team bottoms out, adding a perennial all-star defenseman in the draft will be difficult.
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I was listening to this guy who rated the NHL farm systems. He said that the game is actually slower than it's been. It's not back and forth crazy like some projected. It's about pick possession now. I do notice teams cycle back a lot more to organize an entry into the offensive zone. Hockey is evolving. If you look at the world Juniors USA team the US kids look like water bugs darting all over the place small fast little buggers. Going to be a lot of Kyrou's and Cole Caulfield's coming. Conner Bedard is only 5'10".
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Coaches will always try to steer the game back to a safe place. They are risk averse. They want to give themselves a chance in every game. They do not want games to get away from them. We've seen that caution with 3-on-3 play.But the rules changes and the skill/speed development at the youth levels have changed the game for the better. Forwards like Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou will keep flowing into the NHL.
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Steve Cohen may have fallen short of getting to spend half a billion dollars on a team that may or may not win the East this year, but his aggressive spending has exposed the obvious fraud perpetrated on fans by owners in place like Pittsburgh, Miami, and Oakland. Baseball is awash in cash, and the idea these teams can't spend at least 100m on payroll is laughable. As a rule, billionaires hate to be embarrassed publicly. Jeff, how do you think the other owners will push back against Cohen for exposing their grift?
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Steve Cohen impresses me as somebody who will not be swayed. He can buy and sell a lot of these owners. He irritated people in the financial world with his aggression and he built a fortune. I imagine he will shrug off whatever pushback he gets from his fellow owners.
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That will likely be the biggest name available closer to the deadline. By then, the Cardinals will have sorted their assets to see who they want to go forward with and which players they can sell off. If most of the young guys pan out, the Cardinals will need to trade from the surplus because keeping all of them on a 26-man roster won't be possible.
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MO and Dewitt at the Winter Warm-up said something to the effect that the model of getting into the playoffs works, but, that the last several playoff losses in short series to the Dodgers and Phillies were too small of a sample size to be meaningful. Had the results been the same over longer playoff series, i.e. 5 or 7 game series, that would merit further consideration. Do they not see the contradiction that building a team that can finish in the top 2 so they can avoid the short series to begin with is an important step? I found that comment and the total disconnect it had with how that can be avoided interesting. If the model works when you get into a longer series, great. But, if the model doesn't get the team into the longer series to begin with, do they really have the model they think they do?
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The Cardinals' model is to contend for postseason play every season, over the 162-game grind. They sell tickets for 81 games and they want traffic at Ballpark Village through the summer.Three-game, five-game and seven-game series are all short. They can all produce unexpected results. Inevitably, really good teams go home from the playoffs early.Getting a bye from the wild card round certainly makes it easier to advance. That is a worthy goal. But it guarantees nothing, as the Dodgers and Braves can attest.
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All of that is plausible. I'm taking a wait-and-see approach with Walker, given his youth, but his upside is immense. And if Tyler O'Neill stays healthy, yes, he could become a trade chip as he moves closer to his potential big-earning years. His injury history could make him a risky investment for the long term.
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I’m getting tired of Mo’s double speak. He always say “obviously.” Well if it’s so obvious (like the need for top line pitching), then why doesn’t he do something about it? Same goes for DeWallet. He cares about the bottom line, and I don’t mean winning another WS.
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