2023 thread. Walker makes the roster. I'll update the rosters and opening day lineup when its official
2023 Opening Day Lineup
Spoiler!
Donovan 2B
Nootbar RF
Goldschmidt 1B
Arenado 3B
Wilson Contreras C
Tyler O'Neill LF
Gorman DH
Jordan Walker RF
Tommy Edman SS
2022 Opening Day roster.
Spoiler!
The Cardinals anticipated 26-player Opening Day roster projects as follows, but will not become official until Thursday, March 30:
PITCHERS (13): Jack Flaherty-RHP, Giovanny Gallegos-RHP, Ryan Helsley-RHP, Jordan Hicks-RHP, Steven Matz-LHP, Miles Mikolas-RHP, Jordan Montgomery-LHP, Packy Naughton-LHP, Andre Pallante-RHP, Chris Stratton-RHP, Zack Thompson-LHP, Drew VerHagen-RHP, and Jake Woodford-RHP;
CATCHERS (2): Willson Contreras and Andrew Knizner;
INFIELDERS (6): Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman and Taylor Motter;
OUTFIELDERS (5): Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O’Neill and Jordan Walker;
INJURED LIST (3): Paul DeJong-INF, Wilking Rodríguez-RHP, Adam Wainwright-RHP.
For the new Cardinal fans that joined the Planet since last year, here are some of the historical threads going back to 2006.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Imma assume you didn't watch him.
He sucked. No life on anything he threw. The slider was working a bit in his last inning but prior to that the hitters were just standing there waiting for him to throw them something.
He essentially lulled them to sleep.
He was bad today, ERA be damned.
His tank is empty, I doubt he makes it to the all star break without breaking down again. Jake Woodford will be a more reliable starter and that isn’t a good thing. [Reply]
Big day for Gorman so far and love seeing Noots ass on the bench and Burleson contribute. Mo still sucks...but love seeing the LeBluejays beat down [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pasta Little Brother:
Big day for Gorman so far and love seeing Noots ass on the bench and Burleson contribute. Mo still sucks...but love seeing the LeBluejays beat down
Walkers raw power has NEVER been in question. I saw him hit a 118 mph double last season.
The issue is that 118 mph shouldn't be a double.
There's a ton to work with here. That kind of raw power and plate discipline is a spectacular foundation. And then a plus hit tool to boot. Everything is there to be a star.
But he's gotta unlock that swing to turn raw power into game power. [Reply]
Originally Posted by raybec 4:
The offense was never the question.
Yeah, this kind of lineup depth is damn near immune to slumps. You'll still have bad days but you shouldn't have a series where your guys get shut down. There are just too many guys on the roster capable of hitting the ball hard and going 9 deep in the lineup makes life hell on a pitcher.
It'll grind SPs into powder all season and if you can do that early in a series and start taxing/exposing that bullpen on G1, it's going to snowball for teams.
But they're drawing dead in the post-season as this pitching staff presently stands. And frankly, they're not just one arm away. They probably need 3, be it via promotion (on or off the present 26 man) or acquisition.
If they're serious about doing damage in October, they should be stretching Thompson out to see if his stuff will play in a starting role. With a 97 mph fastball from the left side, solid command an a hammer curve, he's a starting pitcher if he has the stamina to throw 90+ pitches.
Maybe Liberatore or Graceffo can force their way onto the roster as well.
But as it stands there are 2 guys who project as plus SPs over 160+ IP on this roster - Mikolas and Mongomery. Matz won't answer the bell that many times, Flaherty/Wainwright are toast, Woodford doesn't have the pitch mix.
And that's before you get into September/October attrition when you figure Mikolas will be wearing down anyway.
Maybe I missed it in the offseason but I was surprised they didn’t bring in some more dumpster diving type vets or given all of the question marks in the rotation. Even on paper, where were all of the innings going to come from?
There was just no way something like Wano getting hurt before the season wasn’t going to happen with that group. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
This team can't pitch for shit.
And this was expected.
That's a damn shame too. Everyone who watches this team knew it would be like this. Woodford totally got his shit pushed in today. Social Justice Jack pitched awful and lucked into a W. This is not a contending team unless they get some arms to compete. [Reply]
My wife asked me if I wanted to watch the game with her. I told her that it's hard to care about a team that doesn't give two fucks about winning anything when your other team is the Chiefs. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Pretty please learn to lift the ball, Jordan?
I mean he's hitting absolute rockets out there. I don't need a 20 degree launch angle here but man if you can just get that up to 12% instead of hitting missiles into the dirt, you're gonna be a DAMN dangerous hitter.
His hustle actually caused that error. Classic case of a guy having plenty of time to settle and throw but he saw Walker sprinting down the line and Biggio rushed the throw. That should've been a pretty routine smother/throw sort of out but Walker's hustle forced the mistake.
Is this something that can be taught without ****ing him Up?
He’s hitting 107 MPH grounders routinely. Get some lift and those are home runs. Can it be done? He’s only 20, so maybe he’s not so set in his ways. [Reply]