TON at 3 is exactly what needs to be done right now. DeJong's hand/wrist is unlikely to be right for the rest of the season; it's just the nature of those kinds of injuries.

If DeJong can't hit for power, he doesn't bring much to the table. It doesn't even need to be homers - he simply has to make hard contact because he doesn't make enough of it. If he's swinging and missing then hitting flares or soft grounders, he's pretty much useless.

We don't have anyone else that can play SS competently so he has to be in the lineup, but at this point you have to move him down to the 7-8 hole.

Carpenter - Moline - O'Neill - Ozuna (best choice we have) - Jedd - Bader - DeJong - P - Wong

With Carpenter's thump in the 1 hole and his mental block anywhere else, try the pitcher 8. DeJong can maybe fall into a few in front of the pitcher as well.

We're probably 2 pieces short with DeJong struggling and Ozuna being so erratic. There's not a way to make a good lineup right now but there are ways to lessen the pain of the bad.
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He's not a reliever. A 31 yr old JAG in the 5th spot in the rotation is kinda exactly what we need. Gant's just not a starter, IMO. He's too prone to getting waxed early.

I think Ross can give you 5-6 largely forgettable innings from the back of your rotation right now. That's something the squad needs with Martinez and Wacha down, especially with the bullpen needed the innings from guys like PDL and Hudson.

He's 90% of what you get from Mike Leake with no financial outlay. It's a solid addition and something we could really use right now.
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first two innings, 1st and 2nd no outs. Delong and Ozuna do shit. 4th inning, 1st and 2nd 1 out Dejong grounds into what should have been a DP. They are killing our offense at the top.
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I mean it depends on your definition of 'top of the rotation', but yes. I think he could be a #2 starter if everything goes exactly right. I don't see an ace there because the frame isn't projectable enough to get him to true innings eater status.

Like I said - I'm a big fan. I agree with the author; he was definitely the best piece from the Pham trade. He could be a solid lefty starter with an occasional All-Star caliber season similar to Gio Gonzalez if everything went to script.
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I could care less about some old guy pitching for the next 6-8 weeks. If we need starts we should be letting our young pitchers like Hudson take those. Let them and the team learn and see how they respond.

You think we are going to get a wild card spot?
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thats great news. At some point, we are going to have to give up some of our top young pitching to get better offense. The more we have, the better.
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Hudson's looking very good in relief and learning how to use his stuff against big league hitters. Gomber's doing the same. Those guys are banking innings while they learn how to get big league hitters out.

PDL is over 100 innings already after throwing 20 last year. Hudson threw 150 last year and is throwing higher stress innings this year at the big league level as he approaches 100. Gomber's nearing 100 as well. I'm not really all that concerned about this year but I don't really like the idea of asking 30 innings/month from those kids in August and September either. Let's just get them out there where they can learn how to get big league hitters out and when rosters expand in September we can feed them a few starts as well.
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okay, that was my point. You say they are learning and the club about them, that’s good enough. That should be the goal, not blowing up theirs arms like Meathead did to so many promising pitchers.
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And Ross helps prevent that.

I'd imagine he'll be waived within a couple of weeks in his own right. I don't think Wacha will be shut down all year. I suspect they'll try to give Waino one last ride and weirdly the team hasn't given up on Martinez coming back.

This is a short term measure designed to keep the kids a little sheltered. They haven't been on starters schedules in a few weeks now and those that have could use a bit of a blow if possible. So getting a warm body in there to absorb a bullet or two is a good idea.
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I don’t know about the 1st priority thing but I’d sure like to see a return to the Cardinals teams we are use to seeing. Good defense, base running and didn’t beat them self’s very often.

First issue Cardinals management must address for 2019: What veteran players still make same dumb baserunning mistakes they made 4 or 5 years ago? Identify, remove, make your team smarter.

— Bernie Miklasz (@miklasz) August 5, 2018

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Okay - but how do you do that when your worst baserunner is your best hitter and your dumbest baserunner may be the only chance you have in the entire organization for a legitimate cleanup hitter.

Carpenter's just bad. He got thrown out at home because he just didn't round the bag worth a damn. Wrong foot, wide turn, lost his stride. It was a mess. But you have to deal with it.

Ozuna's hurt and out of sync. He's not going to be what we thought he could be this season but that doesn't mean he can't get back to being a 30 HR, .850-.900 OPS hitter next season if he just gets a chance to get his shoulder right and step away for a bit. Yeah, he makes some mistakes on the bases but damn man - he's a run producer and it happens.

With O'Neill, Wong and Bader you have some very good baserunners. Yadi's a smart baserunner if a terribly slow one. Hell, DeJong is a pretty savvy baserunner most of the time and I can't think of any real big mistakes by Jedd. Pham and Fowler had their share of issues but they're also not around anymore.

They only have a couple of truly bad baserunners. The array of mistakes prior to Shildt came from an organizational philosophy that encouraged recklessness out there. I suspect we'll see major improvements there without any significant personnel changes.
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yep, your worse base runners you can’t get rid of. Oquendo just needs to adapt to have a “Carp” rule of sending him home. Figure he’s going to screw up rounding the base and not take a good route to the plate.


I agree. We are going to get the truth after the season from Ozuna. He’s been hurt.
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Welll what do we have here. Looks like Holland Is viable again? LOL

The Nationals are in discussions with veteran reliever Greg Holland, according to people familiar with the situation. https://t.co/oIVYZkEbnr

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) August 5, 2018

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Cardinals are paying his salary so it makes sense that a desperate team like the Nationals would kick the tires.
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Joining Kelvin Herrera. Interesting.

Nats need to add Wade Davis next.
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