Yes, the team needs him. He was a solid pitcher back in his Toronto days and he changed up his offseason weight work looking to avoid the shoulder trouble with plagued him last season.
Yes, there is hope the Blues could turn around faster than, say, the Red Wings and Ducks have. Those teams are still struggling years into the rebuild. Vrana and Kapanen may just be stopgap guys, but at least they are keeping the team from bottoming out.
True. But I do not miss cleaning fryer hoods, breaking down the broiler or mopping up regurgitated Whopper -- which is a fine sandwich, but one that didn't always set well for diners 13 sloe gin fizzes into their evening.
Again, checking the prices pitchers are getting. A .500 pitcher who can log a ton of innings with good stats is getting paid, because the W-L doesn't matter as much as regularly delivering six or seven good innings.
A hedge fund owner would run this team like the Pirates or A's, stripping it down year after year, banking a nice profit off MLB's huge shared revenues before selling the franchise off at some point. Bill DeWitt Jr. runs this team like a business that he hopes will continue succeeding at a steady pace to keep the ancillary businesses humming as well.
The next time the Cardinals win the bidding for a top-of-the-market free agent pitcher will be the first time. Bill DeWitt Jr. is risk-averse and nothing is riskier that singing pitchers to really long contracts for crazy dollars.
Such a trade would well occur once the team sorts through the outfielders and develops a need elsewhere. Wainwright's injury reminded us that an OF-for-SP trade could make a lot of sense at some point.
It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals fill all that pitching need for next season. We know they aren't shopping the top of the market, whatever that will be, Also, it's unrealistic to believe that any of their prospects will be more than No.. 5/No. 6 guys next year. And like you say, Mikolas and Matz are mid-rotation guys. Their best bet would be acquiring a good pitcher this summer who had contract term for year too. They will have some assets to move, but will anybody bite?
Other franchise aggressively sign their young players -- and even some of their prospects like Walker -- as soon as possible. Oddly, the Cardinals haven't been as aggressive. If they want to follow the Atlanta model, then they need to commit to their guys if they can find the right price. Edman fits that. We know that Winn is the future shortstop and we know that teams like more power at 2B than Edman has, but he is still a nice asset.
We are on the same page with Walker. As for Herrera, it's all find and good to say you want him playing every day in Memphis so that he could fill in if Contreras got hurt or he could come up in midseason to give Contreras more DH work. But it seems odd that he was not kept in the big league camp until the very end to maximize his exposure to the game's highest level.
Many fans resent DeJong's lingering existence, but the team was going to owe him that money whether it brought him to camp or not. That money was always going to him, not to the No. 1 starter the team was never going to buy in free agency.
It could go that way for sure, since Tres gets good marks for fielding and handling pitchers. And he has drawn some walks in the spring, which speaks to his approach at the plate. But it's hard not to see this position as a roster hole right now.
Until Jack Flaherty pitches like the old Jack Flaherty, then he will be a concern. We have no idea whether he can even approximate the form he had when he was briefly at his best. Flaherty has millions and millions at stake. If fails, Cardinals management will have to seek his replacement while feeling some relief that he doesn't have a long-term deal here.
Perunovich hasn't been as productive in the AHL in this tour compared to his previous one, so I'm guessing he has to scrape off some rust. Rosen could be an odd man out and Tucker could fly back and forth from the AHL. Bortuzzo has a modest contract and the ability to excel as a part-timer, so I'm betting on him being here.
I get what you're saying, but starting the year with a competitive hitter in the backup catcher role give Contreras more down time as a DH. There could be big value in that.
I can't answer that. It was obvious they were lame ducks in their final season, but I can't define when that was "officially sealed." It was certainly inevitable long before that. When Jeff Fisher is answering questions about franchise move logistics during his job interview, that is an indicator.
I agree. He doesn't strike me as an everyday centerfielder. I would bet on Nootbaar for that role, if Carlson can't figure out his left-side hitting.
Again, the next time the Cardinals win the bidding for a top-of-the-market pitcher will be the first time.
Maybe the telecasts could just start playing music with five seconds left on the clock like this was an acceptance speech running too long.
I like the additions of Kaspanen and Vrana. Joel Hofer looks solid in goal. With Neighbours here, Bolduc and Snuggerud in the pipeline, and all the draft picks queued up, I am already feeling hopeful about the Blues even in the short run. Am I wrong, Jeff, and, if so, why? Thanks.