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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Landon Sim and the Russian kid who got a hat trick were the best offensive players in Traverse city. Neighbors was a non factor. Maybe a little faster.but for a guy set up to make the team you think he would have at least stood out. The guys on PTO should beat him out really. Not sure why you think he had "positive reviews " he didn't do anything. Not going to get much help from Springfield this year. We should have giving Sonny Milano a PTO he's better then Neighbors to.
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Jeff, pick one: the Cards horrific near historic offensive slump is due to: Pujolsmania; horrid plate discipline- see the Snell game who only threw 10 pitches over the plate; the two stars who abruptly stopped hitting leaving a team of mostly mediocre role players badly exposed; sheer randomness - nothing more. Outstanding pitching isn’t included here given the Cards played Wash, Cinc, and Pitt in Sept - three of the worst teams ever put on the planet which makes this slump beyond perplexing.
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It's bad enough Army let Husso walk. Most fans thought he would keep Chuckie Sideburns. He only got 1.1 million AAV from Washington. Less then Gries AAV. Our quality goaltending depth is gone. Playing with fire. Hofer got beat out by Chuckie in the playoffs last year. You said Hofer is weak in his crease. This is a strength turned into a weak spot by Army. Ben Bishop 2.0!!!
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Doug Armstrong would have gladly signed Charles Lindgren to a one-year, one-way contract to stay, But he got a three-year offer from Washington. Given Lindgren's limited track record, Armstrong did not want to make a three-year commitment. Hence the one-year deal for Thomas Greiss instead.
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Gordo,
I feel like a lot of Blues fans have quickly forgotten how dominant this club became last year once Leddy's acquisition. It solidified the D, and ultimately the Blues played the 'Lanche harder and more physical than any team during that run. and the crying over Perron....yes, he was a great player.. but he missed a lot of time, and to be honest, he's one hard hit away from being shelfed. The PP last year was great, and certainly Perron was on PP1 when he was healthy. But they had some guys who couldn't even get on a PP unit consistently (Saad, Kyrou, etc) who I think can slide in and keep that PP scoring at a high rate. -
Certainly that is what the team hopes. Jordan Kyrou is a willing shooter, so he's first up when it comes to that PP role. Nick Leddy proved quite useful getting the puck out of the defensive zone last year. He can skate and he is an deft passer. But can he improve on his ability (or inability) to defend the rush and prevent opponents from sustaining offensive zone pressure? That's what we will all be watching.
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The cause for concern is that so many guys quit hitting at once. It's OK to have a fluid lineup because you have so many guys who ARE hitting at once, thus allowing the manager to play matchups as the Dodgers and Rays have. Right now Oliver Marmol is hunting for hits game to game and inning to inning. That is definitely not good, but there is time for that to change.
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Thompson always had a wicked shot. He just needed to fill out his very wiry frame and play with more pace. Brown has a decent skill set, but doesn't have the wicked shot and he has yet to push his game to a faster pace on a consistent basis.Big forwards can take five full seasons to develop. Thompson turned that corner and now the Blues will see if Brown and/Kostin (who has a nice shot) can do the same.
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Can Mizzou beat Auburn? Sure, if Truman can make a quantum leap with offensive line blocking. But based on what we saw the last two weeks, it's hard to be optimistic. This deep into a season it is very, very, very hard to make that sort of improvement. At this point you pretty much are who you are.
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If the Cardinals win the division, this season will rate as a moderate success. That achievement alone would exceed the preseason expectations most had for this team. But given how well the team played for two months, not getting past the wild card round would be a disappointment. Certainly the Cardinals would not feel like it was a huge success.As for me, I will be here most Fridays until further notice. We'll have plenty of college football, college basketball and hockey to discuss.
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If Quintana dazzles tonight, Flaherty overcomes his Milwaukee demons on Wednesday and Waino throws another shoe on Sunday is there a real conversation about Waino's place in the playoff rotation? I think it's okay to discuss this, the man is 41-years old, he is going to hit the wall at some point and it may have been in late August.
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At the very least, Adam Wainwright would enter a postseason start on a much shorter leash if he fails to reverse his current form. If he can't reverse his recent form and if the others all pitch well, that would certainly put manager Oliver Marmol on the spot. He has let performance drive his personnel decisions this season -- more so than previous managers, I'd argue -- but not starting Wainwright in the playoff opener would be the hardest call of his young managerial career.
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Calla Rosen was good in the playoffs last year. We have a lot of left side depth on defense. If Perunovich steps up I think playoff bound teams with weak PP will want Krug. Still with his contract the teams that can trade for him is very limited. Boston misses him I'm sure. Ottawa wants a veteran on defense and they have cap space. But do teams want the term of Krugs contract? So difficult to make trades!
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Krug is proven offensive commodity and he is still in his prime -- so if Scott Perunovich finally stays healthy and proves his offensive worth, we can expect more speculation around Torey. The Blues like the player and his fit with the group, but major salary cap challenges face this team after this campaign.
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Some players are more concerned about where they hit in the batting order than others. Some players have wilted in the leadoff spot, for instance, given the perceived important of that role as a table-setter and tempo-setter. The same goes for the cleanup spot. Marmol likes Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in the 3/4 slots versus 2/3 slots because they are comfortable there. Check the batting splits for all the regulars and semi-regulars and you see some clear differences in success depending on where they hit in the order. So a manager always has to be aware of the psychological aspect to batting order placement.That said, hitters can't use their placement in the batting order as an excuse for not hitting. That's a sign of mental/emotional weakness.
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Gordo,
Can we please stop the Corey Dickerson nonsense? I know he "had the highest BA since the AS break" which was DRIVEN into our ears by announcers, Cards approved media. Dude has NO POWER. It's dinks and dunks, squibbers into LF, and infield hits. I feel like he would be complete liability in the playoffs and hitting him top 5 or 6 is a mistake. For a late PH with a RH on the mound, I'll take my chances with Gorman off the bench. At least he can put one in the air. -
In admittedly very limited at bats,, Dickerson posted on-base plus slugging percentages of 1.333. .930 and 1.000 in June, July in August. So that's notable. This month the OPS is back to a more characteristic .599 so, to your point, that is is NOT a middle-of-the-order bat to get excited about for postseason play. He has returned to Earth.
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As a fan, I don't want to be sold O'Neill and Carlson bounce back seasons this winter as a reason the Cards are not investing heavily in a bat (C, SS, OF). Nor do I want to hear that Nootbaar and Walker are the answer either. Now, if they want to go get Trout and put Walker on one side and Nootbaar on the other, fine.
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Ville Husso and David Perron were really nice adds to the Red Wings, along with Andrew Copp for the No. 2 center spot. Now the team has a nice veteran/prospect mix and it's ready to win more games. But can the Wings find another 25 to 30 points over last year's team? That is a big ask.
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