Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
Not sure if I said it here or elsewhere, but I was wanting them to sign a CF to at least be able to platoon with Carlson or make it possible to have Walker play the OF less.
A Winn/Edman IF could be so lethal. Edman is probably my favorite Cardinal currently, though, and I argued 2 years ago that signing Contreras over Trea Turner would be a bigger upgrade to the team (and I still will die on that hill). Edman is super under appreciated.
I have no problem with playing Gorman at 2B, but the issue becomes WTF do you do with Walker. He isn't someone who should be in the OF. They should move on from Goldschmidt to make him room for him and allow Edman to be in the field more often as well as giving Gorman opportunities to DH more. But that won't happen.
Edman/Winn at the keystone would be one of the strongest up the middle defenses we've seen in 20 years. It would be unbelievable.
Gorman has the baseline athleticism to be a fine LFer. Shit, we're putting Burleson out there and I'm not convinced he ties his own shoes. Juan Yepez stumbled through.
The problem with Gorman is his lower half is stiff as hell. You can't be a viable 2b long-term that way. It's not ideal at 3b but it's manageable. You can get away with it okay in LF (and he'd at least have a plus arm out there).
Gorman at DH would force Donovan to...where? And frankly, Donovan's a better pure hitter by a fair bit. And he doesn't have the arm strength Gorman has. If you have Winn/Edman at SS/2b, you don't have a home for Donovan and this lineup needs him. He can/should be a more polished version of Craig.
So if you're married to Arenado long-term and won't deal him, then you need to put Gorman into LF so you can get Donovan the ABs at DH.
As for Walker - well, that guy should be in AAA. He's not a big league baseball player and if you continue to try to play his slice, his CEILING will be Stephen Piscotty. You can't do that. His tools are way way way too loud. You send him to Memphis and tell him that he can come back when he can start keeping his front shoulder in gets his hips into his swing (instead of way out in front). There is so much talent there and he's getting in his own way. [Reply]
In Whitey’s prime our outfield right now would Garcia, Arozerena and TON/Carlson. How do I know? Because he had an approach speed, defense, get on base. You would see Edman/Wynn up the middle for the same reason.
Oli and Mo have no idea what approach to take, it’s scattergun at best. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Tell him to check the box score of todays game and ask himself why with a day off tomorrow the best young hitter on the team is on the bench.
I don't follow, Brendan Donovan and Ivan Herrera are both in the lineup...
But hey, gotta get Brandon Crawford some work, man.
Side note - Brandon Crawford got fat, man. That's pretty funny to me. [Reply]
Originally Posted by raybec 4:
I don't feel like he's defending them but he's definitley trying to to throw a wet blanket on our unbridled hate.
Yeah - it's more like throwing a little baking soda at a grease fire. I mean it's an effort, but a half-hearted one and not likely to get you anywhere.
Too much heat to the hate here, Ramsfan. And the skillet's been left on the burner faaaaaar too long.
Get the kid outta here. That was awful. Worse, it was lazy. Took a bad route and then compounded it by drifting to the spot instead of beating the ball there.
That's as bad as you'll see on a ball like that. [Reply]
Remember at one point we had Walker. Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen in the middle of the order...our broadcasters act like we have that NOW. Last night.....500 ball and the bats haven't heated up yet! What a lineup! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pasta Little Brioni:
Remember at one point we had Walker. Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen in the middle of the order...our broadcasters act like we have that NOW. Last night.....500 ball and the bats haven't heated up yet! What a lineup!
Herrera didn't come through in that AB w/ the tying run in scoring position, but if I could choose anybody in the lineup to be up in that spot, it's him. Maybe Donovan. I guess I could live with Contreras as well.
But that's the state of the lineup. Goldschmidt is done and was a hollow-offense compiler at his best. Arenado just seems to be hunting for mistakes at this point. Gorman and Walker are disasters. Winn will probably put it in play but isn't exactly putting a charge into the ball. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Jordan Hicks pitching well for SF today. Again.
But hey - how can Mozeliak have expected him to go someplace else and be good? He was only here for 6 years.
Yesterday, a buddy sent me a Spotify link for Bernie's podcast, where they had a guest from San Fran who also has experience with the Cardinals. He said that the Cardinals really didn't support him when he tried to start. Rather, just be you and let 'er rip.
The Giants, on the other hand, slowed him down to 95 so he's not at max throw each time and he is more accurate. They slightly changed his arm delivery and wanted him to add specific pitches, rather than tinkering with a little bit of everything.
It was quite maddening to listen to and eventually I just had to stop.
There are some serious problems in the Cardinals leadership. [Reply]
Forward-thinking organizations would have traded Goldschmidt after 2022 knowing that the decline was coming. I advocated for it that offseason. The most galling part of these fuckups is how predictable they are. [Reply]