Carpenter now under .200 30 games in is getting to be a concern.
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He gets some leeway because he came back last year to have a good year. But, he needs to be moved down the lineup until he finds whatever he needs in his swing. Not to fucking 3rd. At least 6th. He should have been given the day off. Bet you anything he lobbied Schildt to not give him an off day. He needs to stay in to get right.


If I'm remembering last year right, he was sat for a few games and went down in the lineup before he got hot and back to normal.
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O'Neill's biggest supporters say he needs regular ABs to stay sharp. I'm generally opposed to that school (you want 'em, earn 'em) but I see some possible logic in it.

The problem is that he's NOT going to get regular ABs on this squad. It just isn't gonna happen short of injury. And he has options left so if someone's injured you just call him up.

Meanwhile Lane Thomas has a much lower maintenance swing and a more sound approach. He may have less of a ceiling but he has a higher floor and I think he'd be far more capable of providing quality AB's in a reserve role.

I think we've reached a point with TON that he needs to go to Memphis and Lane Thomas should get that 5th OFer role. And with Munoz committing the error(s) that cost us that game while having a virtually identical offensive profile to Gyorko, I don't understand why he's on the team either.

Bring up Edman and Thomas, send down O'Neill and Munoz. Your bench is immediately more versatile and better for situational use.
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There is a lot there I can agree with, especially with Munoz and I too think Lane Thomas profiles well as an extra outfielder. It is that we so rarely have grown power hitters in our organization that when the potential that ONeill has comes along, I don't want to squander it. Last night not withstanding he had seemingly matured in his approach prior to the DL. He just looked different taking pitches, which in the long run I felt like was going to make him even more productive. With Ozuna rebounding and Fowler/Martinez productive he really is blocked from regular time. So maybe regular at bats at Memphis is best, I just think he has gotten all he can get out of AAA. It's a difficult decision.
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What potential does O'Neill really have? And I'm not asking that rehtorically.

We're in an era where I can find you a couple dozen guys in the minors who you could call up and get 30 HRs with a .325 OBP and 180 strikeouts. They're just awfully damn fungible these days. His offensive skill-set, especially from a RH hitter, just isn't all that difficult to find anymore.

I agree that he's gotten all he can out of AAA, but the problem is that we NEED more than he can give in short stints at the MLB level. And he's getting nothing from this either. So you're better served keeping him in a holding pattern at Memphis than you are having him up here hurting the club.

Because Goldschmidt likely shut the door on Ozuna coming back next season, especially if he continues to play well. The Cardinals aren't paying him $25 million going forward; I'd be surprised if they'd even pay him $20 million. So send O'Neill down, bank service time, keep him swinging the bat, see if he can figure out how to stay healthy (because right now you can't give him a starting job with his health history) and bring him back in 2020 when you can give him ABs.

This arrangement isn't working for anyone.
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Lilliquist got shitcanned by the Nationals. Maybe the Royals can hire him as a roving special assistant to antagonize and ignore the Analytics Department.
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Goddamn Carpenter is a fucking dumpster fire.
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Did you see when he got gassed at the letters by 87 mph and then held his finish and stared into the outfield like someone would when they really get ahold of a good drive?

I'm just dumbfounded by what he's doing up there. That's just...odd. Like he's just completely out in space.

The guys just such a damn headcase.
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This year is different. I argued last year that his early season performance was largely driven by batted ball luck. His exit velocity and hard hit numbers were excellent even though his counting stats didn't reflect it. Then they normalized and he ended up about where you would expect. Similarly, the same thing happened with Pham during his slump last year, and then he was one of the ten best players in baseball after getting traded. This year Carp is making consistently poor contact, which, given his age, points to a likely decline. As he was already under contract for next season and they could have QO'd him the year after, his extension looks even more buffoonish now than it did a few weeks ago.
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When he goes cold he looks like he has hardly played baseball in his life. Its that bad. Maybe he will find some magic salsa or some shit to get him out of his funk. They need to drop his ass to the bottom of the lineup until then though.

The extension makes zero sense. None.
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He should start juicing
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Way to shit your pants today fellas.
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63 pitches in the 8th inning. 2 hits. 0 runs. That’s also a team approach at the plate issue.
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When you can rarely make contact with the ball, roids wont help.
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at a minimum he needs to be dropped to the bottom of the order until he snaps out of this. Fuck his ego. They just gave you more money they didn’t have to, suck it up for the team.
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