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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Late to the chat BoBo as always thank you for your time! If Mo is going to trade an outfielder wouldn't Carlson get the best return instead of Oneil? Don't get me wrong I'm a huge Carlson fan but if Mo wants another good return like he received from Bader he will have to give someone to get someone and I think 4 years of Carlson could get Sean Murphy via a three way trade and I doubt 2 arbitration years of Oneil could return the same. -
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Hey, Bobo!
I'm glad someone mentioned Dakota Hudson and the pitch clock. For some reason Hudson threw 105 and 109 pitches in his pair of AAA starts after having thrown no more than 97 over the preceding three months. And he did so with less time between pitches, thanks to the pitch clock.
I understand that fans and sportswriters want a crisper pace to the games, but aren't we (at least a little bit) increasing the strain on pitchers' arms by asking them to alter a pace they may have used for 10, 12 years or more? I'm extremely concerned that the lessened recuperation time between pitches will have some very negative unintended consequences for certain veteran pitchers. Your thoughts? -
There are plenty of pitchers who work very quickly and who last a long, long time. Intuitively, pitchers who work quickly would seem less likely to load up and go "max effort" on every single pitch. They whole max effort thing has increased the injury risks in pitching. Working quickly would seem to allow pitchers to settle into an easier rhythm.But I certainly welcome evidence to the contrary. That's an interesting point.
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you're right ... MU is now a bottom tier SEC team. What a shame. Just a few years ago, twice, we were 1 victory away from playing for the national championship. And now, we're bottom feeders because of poor coaching hires - Barry Odom with 0 HC experience, and Drink with 1 year in a tier 2 conference. Gotta find the money from donors to go after an experienced heavy hitter power 5 conference coach with a solid track record as an HC. If not, we will be perennial door mats
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Missouri had a few great runs under Gary Pinkel, but the Tigers were punching above their revenue/recruiting weight each time. And that's hard to do. Also. during their early SEC years their half of the league was down. That is no longer the case and things will soon be far, far harder for Truman. A heavy hitting coach won't do much good if the schools with much bigger revenues are making proper use of their financial edge. For a long while, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee were no doing that. Now they are . . . and here comes conference reorganization with Texas and Oklahoma coming.
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Barry Bonds belongs on the Mount Rushmore of drug cheats along with Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, and Alex Rodriguez. These people are unpopular for very good reasons.
My question, Gordo: If you were Mozeliak, would you be willing to make a truly extravagant offer this winter to Jordan Montgomery? Because that's what it will take to keep Boras from leading Monty to free agency waters after 2023. (By extravagant I mean at least 6 years and at least 22 million per year.) Thanks for the chat! -
You are right, it will take large dollars, uncomfortably large, to get Montgomery to sell off his potential free agency. The Cardinals really like this man's makeup and the team paid big dollars to Miles Mikolas in a somewhat similar scenario, so I say yes.Ah, but would Bill DeWitt Jr and John Mozeliak say yes? I would just be guessing on that. Good question.
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Good day Gordo,
I'm absolutely going down the path that Drink doesn't know how to build an SEC worthy program. He never had to build a program at his other stops. Great team at App St but I argue he inherited it.
3 Defensive coordinators in 3 years, is just one example. Far too much staff turnover to build continuity. This year he finally has a QB coach.
His comments after KS St does not sit well with me. You never, ever, heard Pinkel say stupid stuff like he did about the MU fans or anyone else as far as that goes. He reminded me of "Darth Vader" Mullen's ridiculous moves, Butch Jones at TN, and the list goes on. But what's common with them is by the end of the year of their comments they got the short haircut.
You put up a good argument about the modern day HC challenges, which i don't dispute, but he needs to learn the fine art of Shutting Up. He talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk. A lot sizzle and no steak. -
More toxicity! I agree that Drinkwitz did not help himself with his remarks post-KSU. He took responsibility for the loss, but a coach should never, ever come off as complaining about negativity after taking such a thorough and dispiriting pounding. Nor should a coach use setting a small fire as a motivating force . . . but that was a different guy. After games like that one, projecting unflinching faith in your program-building is the way to go. At least that sends the right message to the team.
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reading these chats---is there more vitriol towards Ollie than there was for Shildt? Do you think it is because of his age, his background, his bluntness, his "analytical" bent (although that pails in comparison to a Jace Tingler)? I think the way the Cardinals got rid of Shildt was horrible...but, I think Ollie has done a nice job. Pitch hitting for Pujols at times? (outstanding) letting pitcher multiple innings more---GREAT! letting Jack talk his way back too soon from a rehab assigment---not great. overall, pretty good IMHO
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Marmol hasn't taken all that much abuse yet, certainly compared to Mike Matheny in his day. And fans grew impatient with Mike Shildt until the team went on it's amazing late run. His habit of polishing post-digestive droppings with his postgame media session wore out some fans.
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Everyone brags on Drink's recruiting, which on paper is good. However, he just got his rear handed to him by a team that averages a recruiting class ranking of 58-60 over the last 3 years. Star rankings are not worth the paper they're printed on. It's about development and I'm not seeing it. They're in the 3rd year and half the starters are still Odom recruits even with all of the top recruiting classes.
While I'm a big proponent of locking down the boarders for recruiting, it's been said many times, and even in the Dispatch that many of Missouri's high school recruits are over rated because of lesser competition. I've lived in both Texas and Georgia and it's an entirely different atmosphere across the entire state concerning football at all levels. Even small town teams have 4 start recruits playing and often 5 star. It's simply not like that in Missouri. Kansas city and St Louis have the larger teams but they still don't compare. Even a town the size of Springfield should have at least a dozen FBS Power 5 four star recruits, but they don't. -
Those rankings matter when programs can stack four- and five-star recruits on top of each other. Some programs do better (Alabama, Georgia) than others (Texas A&M), but the rankings still matter.But, yes, player development is equally huge, as Gary Pinkel proved. It's fair to say that Drinkwitz and his ever-changing coaching staff has not matched Pinkel's ability to find the right three-star guys and develop them.
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My prediction has been retirement, due to his family commitments. His return home to be with his daughter recently illustrated the personal price he has paid for playing so long.But it's a coin flip. The man loves to compete and he loves it when we in the media suggest he is no longer up to the big challenge. He just digs in more. His drive is off the chart.
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Jeff, that Nootbar fella is a keeper in right field. Not all prospects hit paydirt. I'll bet between all these guys you will eventually end up with a very good outfield before next allstar break. Everyone in the STL Posts chats have screamed for the Burleson to come up and mash ( he hasn't). I think being patient and see what you have is sometimes the hardest but the best move ( unless your trading for a superster).
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Okay Gordo,
It seems the thing to do is compare Drink to Kentucky's Stoops. Fair enough.
First question; what is MU's identity when it comes to football? If it's bubble screens then I'm in agreement. But I see nothing. With Stoops it was a power game with good lines on both sides until he started getting some skilled players. Stoops had a plan and identity.
Coaches and Program: what is Drink doing with it? How many coaches, assistants, analysts, etc., can one HC go through? We watched Ryan leave for Illinois for a failed attempt with an NFL coach. And defensive line coaches. I have no idea what the Special Teams coach is doing, but it's not coaching anyone in the return game and the punter has no idea where the ball is going.
Have you ever heard Stoops make terrible comments like Drink did this last weekend? -
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Gordo,
There was an article attributed to I believe McElroy, the guy doing I believe it's radio, who was previously an Alabama QB.
On the show they called Missouri players duds and talked about a cultural problem in the program. Is this just an Alabama alum talking crap about a team who just took a beating, or is there something to this? They referenced how Drink insisted Badie no play in Bowl game for his future, yet he was a 6th round draft choice. Are the players being oversold on their worth? -
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Just speculation and armchair analysis, but it seems like Hudson pitches better when he works faster like under the pitch clock in AAA. He appears to struggle when he takes more time to think about what he’s going to throw. Like he gets bogged down by anxiety and it negativity impacts his performance. If so the new pitch clock rule may end up helping him considerably.
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He has always hit in the minors. The problem has been his play behind the plate, which has not been good enough to earn him regular work in the majors. Teams place so much emphasis now on pitch framing and pitch calling that a "bat first" catcher can have trouble advancing.
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The team can trade any of these guys. But selling low on them versus selling high has some risk. Fans complain when the team hangs on to young players . . . and they complain when the teams trade young players who excel elsewhere. The key is trading the right guys at the right time. As Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and Randy Arozarena can attest, that hasn't always happened.
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