STL sports chat with Jeff Gordon
Bring your Cardinals, Blues and STL sports questions, and talk to columnist Jeff Gordon in a live chat beginning at 1 p.m. Friday.
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Hi, Jeff. Thanks for the chat. I don't think most chatters appreciate the Post-Dispatch's coverage of the Cardinals. It's excellent -- way better than other papers cover their teams in cities I've lived in. I have a question, though: why hasn't the P-D questioned "Mo" about all the misses (and hits) the Cards have had in recent years. I realize Mo can't be part of an online Q&A with fans -- it would be too toxic from the fans' standpoint, but I think.a lot of fans would be interested in seeing Mo's answers. Thanks.
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Mozeliak is asked about these things all the time. For instance, this is what he said after Brett Cecil finally got the short haircut: “The first season went well. Then injuries and frustration did set in. He is a great guy . . . and worked hard to get back. But, unfortunately our depth made this move happen.”Here is what he said about missing out on Louis Robert, who the Cardinals persued at the risk of incurring a dollar-for-dollar tax that would have pushed his bonus price past $50 million: "'All negotiations have different nuances. All negotiations have different risks. All negotiations have different upside. This was certainly a unique opportunity for us because historically we are not playing or trying to sign these types of players. I don’t second-guess our strategy or second-guess our approach.“When you’re looking at the overall investment it’s real and historically there aren’t too many players who sign for those type of dollars. It’s really hard to justify those types of dollars for any player with a lack of a proven track record. No matter how you try to equate the Cuban league or his international experience, it’s very hard to calibrate what that means to here (in the majors). Our baseball development did a good job of trying to position this as why we wanted to go through the chase.”
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The Cardinals developed Matt Carpenter into a highly productive hitter. Then he got old. It took a while, but Tommy Pham deveoped into a very good hitter. Stephen Piscotty had work to do coming out of college, but he made the transition. Luke Voit became a beast in New York. Paul DeJong developed into one of the better power-hitting shortstops in the game. Kolten Wong has realized his potential as well. I'll put a bet down on Carlson making it. So the development track record is not all that bad.
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“Are the other teams not trying? I am baffled.”
Yes it’s often called “tanking”. The Cardinals benefit from it. With the way teams are constructed now winning the World Series is harder than ever, but just making the playoffs is easier than ever. Even without the pandemic the second wild card, and tanking teams to fluff your wins, made just getting in much easier. You have a very valid point about the loosing seasons in a tank in rebuild sucking, but if you really think that the Cardinals have a chance to win it all the way they are currently constructed....I’ve got some ocean front property that I would like to show you. -
The Dodgers are obivously the massive favorites to win the World Series. Of course they are. If the Cardinals slip into the expanded bracket they will be lucky to win a series -- as they did last year, when they were dogged month after month after month in this chat.Your point about other teams tanking is quite valid. By not tanking, the Cardinals just fall into some victories against terrible teams. Look at what they did against the Pirates until that last doubleheader. By not tanking, they contend for the playoffs by default. So, yes, they benefit from the trend that has most franchises content to endure long stretches of failure to save money and build up for an occasional playoff run. DeWitt won't do that because he likes to sell tickets and he prefers to put competitive teams on the field.
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Right now I'll say the NHL because so much has to go right for you. Puck luck is a thing. There is no equivalent in the NBA. One player, a hot goaltender, can lift a lesser team past a superior team. The parity in the NHL is tremendous thanks to the salary cap. Loading up a Dodgers-like juggernaut is not possible in hockey. Injuries are a factor in every sport, but the NHL is up there with the NFL in terms of the quanitity of guys getting hurting and trying to play hurt. And in a normal year, winning 16 playoff games after an 82-game grind is extremenly difficult.
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That's a good one. Also, Eric Brewer was an all-time whipping boy due to the Pronger trade, how bad the Blues were and the fact Brewer was diminished by injuries. Jackman took heat just because of longevity. He kept coming back to the team afrer the Blues failed to win. Also, the game did change with the crackdown on interference and he lost his edge. But Barret was a heart-and-soul guy who had a heck of NHL career.
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Gordo....for every one of the middle of the road developments you just quoted, I have a Harrison Bader, ONeill, Grichuk, Fat Adams, Aledmys Diaz and 6 other pitchers who have failed. Other than Flaherty, Wong and DeJong who only made All Star because someone had to go...what others over the past 5 yrs have been impact guys.
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Matt Adams was actually a success story, given where he was drafted out of Slippery Rock. He had a couple of good years here before tearing his quad muscle in 2015. More recently he put together a string of 20-homer seasons bouncing around as a fill-in. He's had almost 2,400 big league at bats as a 23rd-round pick.Diaz is a pretty good hitter -- .274 career average in four-plus seasons. That does not scream failure.The Cardinals did not draft Grichuk, but he did hit 63 homers in three seasons here playing less than full time. Then he hit 56 homers the last two seasons in Toronto and he had nine at last check this season. That does not scream failure either.
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Can't teach scrappy! Hell of a story here:
After being held at gunpoint six years ago, Morgan Ensberg has had a tough time recovering
ESPN.comSix years after he was held at gunpoint, Morgan Ensberg is still facing down his fears -
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Nothing has been decided on the 120 minor league markets to survive, but it make sense for the Cardinals to keep their top four affiliates in place. The rest the diminished prospect pool will work out in Jupiter, I suppose. I imagine the Dominican Summer League will remain and perhaps expand, since teams won't have rookie league teams in the U.S. to put those prospects on. The Cardinals would lose three teams in this, the GCL Cardinals (in Jupiter), State College and Johnson City.
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The cards front office better not use covid as an excuse as a reason while they are a .500 team...if there had been no shutdown, the cardinals would be exactly where they are now...middle of the road...this team can't hit, they have no superstars and they have a GM who loves handing out ridiculous contracts...carpenter, mikolas, fowler, Cecil, Leake, etc...
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I heard all the same whining last season before the Cardinals reached the playoffs and beat the Braves. So who knows how a full season might have played. The top 20 Cardinals pitchers have performed well, so that might have given them a nice edge over the long 162-game haul. Also, Dylan Carlson could have gained valuable minor league at bats before making the leap.