I'm more concerned by your reports of him being at a low 3/4. That's not common for him.

He's always been something of a typical 3/4 delivery guy and even a little bit of a short-armer so it's given him really good deception and depth on his pitches.

If he's gone to a low 3/4 he's protecting something. That's almost always a bad sign. Or, God help me, he's doing that same stupid bullshit that Reyes did at about the same time when he decided that merely being good in the mid-90s wasn't enough. He needed to be bad and erratic in the HIGH 90s so he started coming off late and from a lower arm slot to find velocity.

Then again, it may just be early season buildup. It's hard to get your arm up there (my PT when I broke my shoulder knew I played ball as a kid because my right shoulder just doesn't go up as high as my left - she said it happens to anyone who's played baseball, just a lot of buildup in there). Early in the season he may just be needing to loosen that stuff up to find his correct arm slot.

I'll worry more if he's still at a low 3/4 by May. With the truncated spring I may have to give more latitude here than I otherwise would.
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I don’t see the issue if Yepez isn’t ready. Let him get full playing time in Memphis and when he’s ready bring him up.

I have more of an issue with Matz being the prize of this off-season.
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He tore the cover off the ball in Memphis last year. He has nothing to learn from AAA pitching.

What’s he going to learn from 600 ABs in Memphis that he won’t learn better from 450 ABs in the majors?
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The ability to not be only restricted to DH at age 24 and be able to actually play 1st at a passable level moving forward. I'm also not sold on a guy being ready for major league pitching with how he's struggled (granted, it's spring training).
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But that's the thing - sending him back to AAA isn't going to help there. That's why I cited Carlson.

Sending Carlson back to AAA wouldn't have ultimately helped him last year. He NEEDED to see these guys who were pitching him backwards or who would throw breaking balls in fastball counts.

I've NEVER seen a rookie get pitched like Carlson got pitched coming up. I talked about it several times on here - that guy would get 3-2 breaking balls. He'd get first pitch changeups with RISP. He got his ass tossed into the deep end of the pool and it was the ONLY thing that was going to help him.

And who says he can't play passable 1b? Moreover, why does it even matter? We're stuck with the aging 1b with the most fungible skill-set on the planet at 1b for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, he played 3b and LF last year in the minors while playing mostly 1b. And WTF can Albert Pujols play? Not a thing - that's the guy that's knocking him off the roster. A guy who can't play anywhere defensively and can't score from 2nd on a single if his life depended on it.

Pujols is NOT a better player than Yepez right now. He doesn't do one single thing better than Yepez right now. If you put Pujols in AAA he wouldn't manage a .970 OPS w/ nearly as many walks as strikeouts. And as for Yepez's 'struggles' - dude has .230 BABIP and 5 walks to only 3 strikeouts. He's right there. He's taking good ABs.

That's a guy that needs MORE time on the field against big league pitching, not less.

He's also 24 yrs old in his 7th season as a professional. You don't need to worry about the 40 (he's already on it) or options (he'll make it or not well before his 3 option years are burned off). This isn't some 19 yr old kid who had a big year fueled by a good BABIP despite a poor approach. He did EVERYTHING you can ask for of a young hitter and he did it at the age where he's ready to advance.

This isn't a move a serious organization makes.
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My counterpoint to you would be do you think Yepez would become a blackhole at DH and bring no other value to the team while he's slumping? Carlson, even when slumping, still played good defense.

Yes, Yepez has nothing to prove. I don't think how the roster's constructed he'd be getting routine ABs (whether he and Gorman should split DH ABs is a different story, but I'd be onboard with that, if they're ready). FO wanted the farewell tour while doing a half ass upgrade with getting Dickerson. Given that's the situation they put themselves in, I'd much rather have Yepez take more time to see pitches and become a better fielder than getting 5 ABs in a week.

Also, Carlson was hailed as probably the Cardinals best or second best (Gorman being the other) offensive prospect since Taveras. Yepez was a lottery ticket traded for Matt Adams.
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I just don't care how good a fielder he becomes. He's never going to be more than a backup at 1b or in the corners, at least not until he's in his late 20s at best and I ain't keeping him in Memphis that long.

For the next 3+ years he's a DH or a minor leaguer.

And he should just be the DH. Again, it's not like that lumbering fossil that's taking his place on the roster can do anything to add value other than swing at a few lefties every week. And unlike Pujols, Yepez can actually take quality ABs against righties.

As of today, no - he wasn't going to get many ABs.

But prior to this acquisition I think he would've been lined out to get the lion's share of the ABs from the right side of the platoon and eventually could've earned a much bigger load (as his upside is significantly higher than Noot or Dickerson).

It's the 'halfassed fairwell tour' that I take specific umbrage with. Molina has reached the Mathieu level of being an overrated, overpaid and ungrateful red-ass at this point. In the end I think this is a 3-4 win better team with additional financial flexibility had they gone with Yan Gomes as a 2-year placeholder for Herrera and stuck Juan Yepez at DH instead of giving Molina a raise after last-seasons awful year and getting the band back together.

The team is focusing on the gate not the product on the field.

Par for the course really.
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Pujols was/is my favorite player since Bob Gibson. He gave us the best 11 years in a row any player has had in MLB history. That said……

Pujols on this team in 2022 will slow down or block younger players. But, It’s a done deal with Mo. the choice has been made.

I thought that Mo and Dewitt got rid of Schildt to make sure we played more younger players?
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Oh. That's cute.

You believed that?

They fired Shildt because he wouldn't take "we're going to go cheap and you'll get Steven Matz and like it..."

DeWitt doesn't care about playing young players - he cares about turning a profit. Oftentimes one begets the other. But in this case more profit is to be made by running zombie Pujols out there.

Fucking DeWitt, man.
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Yeah pretty underwhelming off-season at best with Matz being about it. Not much of a surprise though.
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Of course not. It was sarcasm. Ever since the 2011 World Series Dewitt has been all about the money, not winning championships.
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They just had Pujols walk out from the locker room onto the outfield and into the dugout at the end of the first half of the 1st inning. Of course, he got a standing ovation from the fans and players.
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Let's hope after a month of ovations as a Card, he decides to retire or they agree he goes to IR (he has feet issues they could use at the very least) and he hangs around the dugout as a bench presence for the younger guys. Probably not what they are doing, but that I could at least stomach.
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I wish the rumor that Mike Shannon said about the club being for sale was true. This club makes so much money compared to other franchises; our prized FA addition should not be Matz.
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Cardinals are going to win the NL Central and yet everyone will bitch about DeWitt's spending.
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