Originally Posted by jd1020:
You can't honestly believe that the Cardinals have the talent to make the playoffs in a division with the Cubs and Brewers.
If the Brewers go out and get an ace before the deadline its gonna be scary.
Hell, if the Reds had pitching they would be pretty deadly. They have the 3rd best scoring offense in the NL.
The Cardinals have a roster full of fringe starters where half of them would be on the bench on a legit contender.
What fringe starters are you referring to? I'll give you Wong and the abomination in RF
Carpenter, Martinez(even though he's a fucking abomination defensively), DeJong, Molina, Ozuna, and Pham have also posted positive WAR. Of those 6 starters, the only one I think you can really argue as being fringe is Pham. Martinez would be starting in the AL at DH. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
Awful news for the rest of the NL central today.
We are not a great team but everyone knows we are underperforming for our talent level. Having Daffy Duck as our manager makes us a better team than a Matheny managed team. [Reply]
Baseball is a funny game and I’m still not sold on that Brewers starting rotation come playoff time. Counsell won’t be able to maneuver a sub par pitching staff for a World Series run like a LaRussa could. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
What fringe starters are you referring to? I'll give you Wong and the abomination in RF
Carpenter, Martinez(even though he's a ****ing abomination defensively), DeJong, Molina, Ozuna, and Pham have also posted positive WAR. Of those 6 starters, the only one I think you can really argue as being fringe is Pham. Martinez would be starting in the AL at DH.
Martinez, Pham, Wong, Bader.
Martinez is not a starter in the NL. Pham is not a starter, period. Wong is good defensively but his bat does not play. Bader came out of the gates blazing but has never been highly regarded at the plate and has a .654 OPS over his last 30 games. [Reply]
The Brewers have a terrible staff and without a run of Royals-esque sequencing luck, they won't be able to maintain during the second half. Regardless, this team still needs to sell. It needs a hard reboot.
Originally Posted by jd1020:
Martinez, Pham, Wong, Bader.
Martinez is not a starter in the NL. Pham is not a starter, period. Wong is good defensively but his bat does not play. Bader came out of the gates blazing but has never been highly regarded at the plate and has a .654 OPS over his last 30 games.
Your comment said on a legit contender. Martinez is a starter on a legit contender, just not in the NL.
The other 3 I don't disagree with and even stated as such. [Reply]
Originally Posted by jd1020:
Martinez, Pham, Wong, Bader.
Martinez is not a starter in the NL. Pham is not a starter, period. Wong is good defensively but his bat does not play. Bader came out of the gates blazing but has never been highly regarded at the plate and has a .654 OPS over his last 30 games.
Bader is on pace for a 4 WAR/600 ABs. That's not even close to a fringe starter. Keep picking those cherries, though. He had a good April, a great May, a terrible June, and has had a very good July so far. If he's a league average hitter (105 wRC right now) then he's basically a cost-controlled version of the guy you're paying 20 million per. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
Your comment said on a legit contender. Martinez is a starter on a legit contender, just not in the NL.
The other 3 I don't disagree with and even stated as such.
I dont even think Martinez could latch on to a contender in the AL. He's more like a decent bat you can plug into at DH but would you take him over other DH's currently on the AL's best teams?
So you are left with Carpenter, Molina, Ozuna, Gyorko, and Dejong. Not exactly a great core to be building a contender around. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
Bader is on pace for a 4 WAR/600 ABs. That's not even close to a fringe starter. Keep picking those cherries, though. He had a good April, a great May, a terrible June, and has had a very good July so far. If he's a league average hitter (105 wRC right now) then he's basically a cost-controlled version of the guy you're paying 20 million per.
Ya ya ya. I'm sure you were singing the same tune to Heywards WAR as well. [Reply]
The Cubs should win this division easily but it doesn’t matter because the AL is so much better this year anyways. I’d like to see the Mariners make a run because they have for the most always sucked ass and I have friends and family who have suffered as lifelong fans. [Reply]
The issue I have with ownership currently is I don't know if they're honestly willing to go all in for a playoff team even if that's the expectation.
I've been on record saying 2019 is the make or break season with this roster and stick by that with regards to making the post season. However, the only chance they have at that is making significant changes to the roster with regards to spending even more.
Solutions:
-Bite the bullet on Fowler. Similar to Leake situation. I liked the Fowler signing at the time but for whatever reason he hasn't really clicked in St. Louis
-Norris needs to GTFO.
-Trade one of Carpenter or Martinez to create more opportunities for Gyorko.
-Give Machado an endless amount of Brinks trucks. Donaldson doesn't do shit.
-Get rid of either Gregerson or Cecil.
-Sign an OFer.
Originally Posted by jd1020:
I dont even think Martinez could latch on to a contender in the AL. He's more like a decent bat you can plug into at DH but would you take him over other DH's currently on the AL's best teams?
So you are left with Carpenter, Molina, Ozuna, Gyorko, and Dejong. Not exactly a great core to be building a contender around.
I'd take Martinez over Gattis and the 2018 version of Edwin Encarnacion.
Ozuna and DeJong are two players who I believe are legitimate core pieces. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
Ozuna and DeJong are two players who I believe are legitimate core pieces.
You only have Ozuna for 1 more year unless you grab a manager in the offseason who's ready to get down on his knees and relax his throat.
Unless you are lucky enough to somehow lure Machado or Harper to play in St. Louis then you probably aren't going to make enough changes to that roster to beat the Cubs or Brewers in 2019. You could hope to re-sign Ozuna, but you still need a bat in the middle of that lineup and its not coming from the minors. [Reply]
