Bobo's here. With Cardinals fans in a state of panic, we might as start letting the masses in. Enjoy!
Yep, the Cardinals are on pace to lose 162 games.
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. That seemed like an idea time to plug Carlson in and keep him engaged after starting Opening Day on the bench. Obviously Walker is still learning the position and I expect him to be switched out of a lot of games this season when the Cardinals are holding a late leader.
I have not seen anything on that. But bulk of the food/beverage sales obviously comes in the first seven innings, counting pregame. So the impact of shorter games should be disproportionately smaller on food/beverage sales. And there should be some savings on labor costs as well.
Great question! I all worked put for Toronto, but that was an obvious managerial lapse for Toronto.
Typically they stay in a hotel until the team tells them it's safe to rent place because they are sticking around. Sometimes a player will stay with another player.
That was a big topic in last week's chat. It was like we sensed a disaster on the horizon. A few years back the Cardinals were hoping that Ivan Herrera could develop into Yadier Molina's successor. Now the team would settle for him developing into Willson Contreras' backup/injury replacement.
Donovan went to work on improving his exit velocity. And it worked. He is hitting the ball harder. That improvement -- to go with his patient hitting approval and his ability to play everywhere but behind the plate -- makes him very valuable.
That is a fair point. Pitchers will need to learn to reset quickly. Catcher visits are limited as are coach/manager visits, so for the most part pitchers will need to learn to slow themselves down. When a pitcher gets hammered, especially a young one, you often hear his manager say that "the game sped up on him." Mental toughness becomes even more important in the pitch-clock era.
A number of top pitchers had rough starts, including Jacob deGrom, Corbin Burnes, Zac Gallen and Blake Snell. An old adage said that pitchers are ahead of hitters early on, but that may not be the case. Perhaps the previous point about the pitch clock helps explain that.
Sure. If you hit consistently well enough, you can win that way. The Padres invested a fortune in their offense and their top two starters, at least by salary, are Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell. Those guys are fine, but they aren't Max Scherzer in their prime.
The Cardinals have played one game and the roster is not frozen for the year.
It could either way, but Edman has Gold Glove credentials at two spots and more experience -- so I believe Donovan could end being the guy who moves around.
I can't help you that one. I do know that Bally was hoping to build a robust direct-to-customer business before running into bankruptcy. The goal was to get folks to buy a baseball package directly from it.
How about a loud clock ticking sound over the stadium speakers, then a foghorn?
Ah, it's what the analytics folks call the "shape" of his fastball. Some guys can throw a 96 mph fastball with angle/movement that makes it harder to square up than another guy's 99 mph pitch.. The analysis of pitching mechanics and pitch movement has reached higher and higher levels. I'm guessing that engineers who couldn't land a gig at NASA found work at pitching labs instead.
We touched on that earlier. Starting pitchers will need to train themselves to slow down mentally and physically without stepping off the rubber. That's tough to do in a marathon inning that Miles Mikolas and Ryan Helsley endured.
He has a lot of preseason support for that. I believe Juan Soto is primed for a big year. So is Trea Turner. But Arenado's fielding brilliance could earn him the award if he has a peak offensive year.
Yes, it does appear some fans have already lost all hope. This IS going to be a hard first month in terms of the scheduling and if Contreras misses notable time, the task will get even harder.