I don’t get why some are mad at the Jack trade you got a kid now rank number 9 in prospect in your farm system. Seems like a fair trade to me
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Our farm is shattered ass. The Rangers gave up their 13th ranked prospect and he slotted in as our 4th ranked.

That number 9 prospect isn't in the top 300 on any lists that go that far. He's a non-factor.

The draft pick and simply retaining Flaherty as a bullet shield to protect the rookie eligibility of our young SPs would have more value to us than trading Flaherty for a poo poo platter of AAAA guys.
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Remember when your bitch ass ran away after the Royals swept your ass
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Probably a combination of over valuing what Flaherty was worth and the Cardinals not packaging him with someone to get a better return.

They took quantity over quality and got back 3 players that project to have the ceiling of a 26th man.

Should have packaged him with one of those surplus OFers the Cardinals have and gotten a somewhat interesting prospect in return.
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Ah shit, I forgot he was an Orioles fan.

Downvote it is...
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The silver lining in all this is that the Cubs dog-walking us convinced them to add instead of trade Stroman or Bellinger who could've netted them a HELL of a return.

That said, when Morel is on one of his hot streaks, that lineup is suddenly pretty feisty from top to bottom. Madrigal getting significant PT is odd, but at least he doesn't take anything off the table (he's pretty much Prieto's best case scenario outcome and that's 'meh' on a good day).
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Ya I'm not at all thrilled with what the Cubs did at the deadline.

I was having conversations about thinking outside the box and trading someone like Nico Hoerner to the Dodgers for a pretty serious return. That opens up Morel at 2B and injects a serious power bat into the lineup and giving him his best defensive position. That was never going to happen.

Instead we limp our way to the finish line by trading nothing much to cry about for Candelario and immediately diminish his value by moving him from 3rd to 1st so we can play Nick Madrigal at 3B.

Cubs fans are generally thrilled with this shit, but its nothing more than a continued half ass approach to everything Jed Hoyer has done since Theo Epstein took his umbrella and left. I think Hoyer is a fucking terrible PoBO for a large market. His approach is more suitable for a team like the Pirates.

We didn't sell or really buy, but we are going for it in 2023 with this roster. What is the fucking point? To cross your fingers and hope for another 2020 finish? Hey look we won a terrible division and got swept in the playoffs! Woohoo! Now we have to replace Bellinger, Stroman, Candelario, and probably Hendricks. Completely worth not trading Stroman in that market.
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I am sure that deep down we all knew that this was how it would end up. Mo threw darts at a board and came away with trades that made all our trade partners better and made no discernable difference for the Cardinals.
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the damage was limited. None of the players traded would be a part of the Cardinals org in 6 weeks.

Mo starts trading Walker/Winn/Gorman etc. He could have ****ed us worse. Anyone trust Mo on trades?
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I don't, which is why I wanted him to keep the two biggest pieces we traded away and give them QOs instead. That way, Flores could potentially acquire someone of value.
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I think we probably could have done more good with the draft picks honestly. However, with the group of middling pitchers they drafted this year I'm not so sure about that either. I'm not certain any of those guys make an impact on the big club in the next 4-5 seasons.
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Yeah, some shine has worn off Flores as well, IMO.

I mean its obviously too soon to close any books on the 2021 draft (or even really start writing them), but we took another pitchability college righty who was supposed to move fast to the majors. Turns out that guy was Gavin Williams and we just missed. Or maybe it was Andrew Abbot. Bryce Miller or Tanner Bibee. It hasn't been Mike McGreevy, that much is known.

I mean, if you're gonna go floor over ceiling, shouldn't your guy get there with some level of haste? Instead he's been jumped by our 5th round pick that year, Gordon Graceffo.

But you may say "yeah, well we took McGreevy so we could afford Josh Baez..." which is an okay argument but James Wood went 5 picks after Baez and could likely be dealt straight across for Dylan Cease right now. Neither of those guys are holding pace with their peers even among prospect rankings.

Now the 2020 draft was a monster - Walker, Winn, Hence, Burleson have all been exceptional picks. So definite feather in his cap there.

19? Thopmson, Fletcher, Locey, Pallante, Thomas; 18 was Gorman and scraps and EVERYONE said Gorman was an easy pick there. He was a no-brainer. I'm not sure we even sent anyone to the 2017 draft - it's that bad. '16 was another solid one even with a miss in the first (Delvin Perez). Carlson, Hudson, Gallen, Edman, Knizner - that works. But we had 3 1st round picks that year so we had a TON of capital we were able to leverage and to have 3 firsts and from that pool net Carlson and Hudson is...iffy. Is Carlson a solid 1st rounder? Disappointing development or not, he's been better than most. But then again we passed on Pete Aloso, Bo Bichette and Bryan Reynolds for him. So....it wasn't THAT good. Sean Murphy evidently cost too much to trade for but we could've drafted him instead of Connor Thomas that year. Or Civale, Luzardo, Dustin May.

Now none of that is to say I think Flores is actively bad at his job. I just think he's ordinary. So I'm not gonna presume he's going to work miracles anymore because as often as not he just hasn't.

I was always torn on 'fire Mozeliak' because that'll take Flores down with him. I'm really not anymore. If you can't find a scouting director who will give you returns roughly on par with what Flores has done, you're doing it wrong. He's been...average.
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This is a very fair point as well. Like DJ said, the farm system wouldn't be as barren if Flores was tremendous at his job. He's better at his job than Mo is at his, but that's damning with faint praise.
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This gonna trigger somebody.

Since 2022:

Lars Nootbaar:
682 PAs .253/.360/.447/.807
127 wRC+, 5.4 fWAR, +1 OAA

Randy Arozarena:
1091 PAs .260/.341/.441/.782
127 wRC+, 5.2 fWAR, -2 OAA

Adolis Garcia:
1110 PAs .254/.314/.478/.792
120 wRC+, 7.5 fWAR, +1 OAA

Noot is a freaking stud �� pic.twitter.com/eWlxm2Kd9H

— Cardinals Stats And Facts (@STL_Stats_Facts) August 3, 2023

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Yeah - Lars is legit. Brandon Nimmo made bank to be a lesser player than Lars. If Moe is gonna hand out one of those 6 year PR extensions next spring, Lars is the only guy on the squad worth giving one to.
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