Two Birds, One Bat - your 2014 St. Louis Cardinals

wow! that came out of nowhere. the payroll is about $15 million less than last year's team. a lot of people were talking about saving that for some sort of big ticket mid-season acquisition, but i think it's much more appealing to use any surplus to nail down guys like carpenter.

seems a little curious -- he's not even arb-eligible until next year, is under team control for four more, and is already 28 -- but i guess they want 'cost certainty' and the arbitration awards probably build quickly when you're fourth in mvp voting

"Carpenter's deal will be worth $50-55MM if completed, Rosenthal tweets"

wonder how much he lost marketwise switching to third

Tim McCarver and Oscar Taveras are starting today.

nice game so far (the one I just tuned into, at least. split squad games today?)

taveras finally plays, is 1 for 2 with a double so far
wong finally gets a hit, and then steals a base, and also hits a double
carlos martinez throws 3 scoreless innings
holliday with 3 hits

matt the batt is 8 for 9

"if he keeps this pace up" etc etc old man joke

good game on the other side, too. waino did well, but lynn came in and quickly gave up 5 runs on 50+ pitches in an inning and a 1/3.

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2014/3/9/5488088/cardinals-sign-cuban-infielder-aledmys-diaz

looks like we picked up Aledmys Diaz. can't say i know too much about it, but previous stuff i read about him didn't exactly make him sound like the future of middle IF for the cardinals:

I haven't seen Diaz since he was in Cuba, but unless he's made big strides over the past year, I see him as a second baseman or possibly third baseman on a bad team or a utility guy on a good team. Defensively, he's not in the same class as Iglesias or Arruebarruena, and a move from short seems likely. Offensively, he projects as no more than an average bat (and even that might be optimistic), and I don't see him having the power to play third on a regular basis, at least not for a good team.

As for his ML ETA, the idea that he's ML-ready or near-ML-ready, as his agent and some media reports have suggested, seems highly dubious. Aside from the fact he's been away from organized baseball for almost 2 years, he'll see more good pitchers in a week in Double-A than he saw in his last year or two in Cuba. By the time Diaz made it to the National Series, the league and especially the pitching had been substantially weakened by defections, retirements, and injuries.

oscar out for today (and probably for a little while, at least) with a sore hamstring.

https://medium.com/double-birds

pro:

cool, kyle beachy's writing for them! he's an old friend from my chicago days (although he's a stl native) and a good guy. looking forward to reading whatever he writes.

con:

"Which is all to say that the St. Louis Cardinals are objectively the best organization in baseball. By extension, the people who root for them are the best at watching and cheering for baseball. These are facts."

i'm sure that was meant to be tongue in cheek...god please let that be tongue in cheek

rough day at roger dean stadium

i dunno, other than the 7-run 3rd and 8-run 4th they did just fine!

i guess it really isn't so bad, though, when you consider that the murderer's row of stoppelman (who? i don't even know and i sorta follow this team closely!), lyons, and butler gave up 15 of those runs

sorry, forgot fornataro too

wait, who?

lance lynn had 10 strikeouts in four innings today, including eight in a row at one point

yeah, that was nice to see! esp. after his slowish start.

oscar t was sent down to memphis yesterday. only got 6 ABs in before the hamstring. i was hoping that 2014 would be his year, but i'm a little worried. seems like one more leg injury that knocks him out for 6-8 weeks could really kill his momentum.

Bryan Kilpatrick at SBN thinks that might've been premature:

Craig and Bourjos haven't exactly been the poster boys for health, either, so it's quite possible that Taveras will wind up getting his shot sooner rather than later, anyway. But getting him some at-bats against MLB-quality pitching now seems just as crucial as having him rack up plate appearances at a level that he's probably going to dominate anyway. It just doesn't appear that the Cardinals are willing to do that yet.

kolten wong: three hits today, 10 in his last five games, now batting .394 this spring

unless i missed it, this seems to be the first spring training lineup that reflects the expected regular season lineup:

1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B
2. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
3. Matt Holliday (R) DH
4. Allen Craig (R) RF
5. Yadier Molina (R) C
6. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
7. Matt Adams (L) 1B
8. Peter Bourjos (R) CF
9. Stephen Piscotty (R) LF

(of course holliday would be in LF and piscotty's spot would be the pitcher during regular season games)

i guess i shouldn't put much stock into it but i'm surprised if they're thinking about batting adams behind peralta

anyone else see diaz yesterday? he managed two hits off of gio in two at bats, and wasn't embarrassing at SS. that last part is the key - he'd likely be a better backup SS than descalso right now, hitting-wise, but if he sucks at SS the whole thing starts to make no sense for this year.

also, here is diaz hitting his first EVER home run, at 8 years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_PHk08FZTY

ugh. joe kelly will be the 5th starter. carlos martinez will begin the season as the setup man to rosenthal.

https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/447833280172556288

i'm going to take the optimistic view that martinez isn't starting the season as a SP because he simply hasn't built up his arm to throw 150+IP yet. he's never close to that many in a single season. so maybe they're looking to promote him to rotation sometime midseason as they head (hopefully) toward the playoffs.

but there's something that just SUCKS about joe kelly, out of all people, winning the spot when there's so much talent in the cardinals organization.

Taveras (leg) slipped coming out of the batter's box Monday and will be held out of action Tuesday and possibly longer

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/taveras-to-be-rested-again/article_3edbb6e8-68e1-5d97-a7f2-07463850b809.html

starting to have a baaaaaaad feeling about oscar. :(

he's no piscotty anyway

if he's ever healthy for more than 3 days straight he's gonna tear it up, mark mah woids

I'm going to take the optimistic view that martinez isn't starting the season as a SP because he simply hasn't built up his arm to throw 150+IP yet. he's never close to that many in a single season. so maybe they're looking to promote him to rotation sometime midseason as they head (hopefully) toward the playoffs.

but there's something that just SUCKS about joe kelly, out of all people, winning the spot when there's so much talent in the cardinals organization.

― love and light (Karl Malone), Sunday, March 23, 2014 9:53 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think most GMs approach is to let the prospects kick the door down and dethrone Kelly.

They could also easily stretch out Martinez once the season is underway and they can replace him in the pen at the deadline.

yeah, i think you're right. also, not to totally jinx everything but it looks like we should be in decent shape to make the playoffs this year. it doesn't make sense for the organization to stretch out Martinez until they need him (heading toward postseason).

meanwhile: New St. Louis Ballpark Village Has A Ridiculous Dress Code

http://i.imgur.com/9tQung9.jpg

i feel like the fact that it mentions sleeveless shirts is progress for the area. finally we are discriminating against all poor people equally!

final real spring training game is today (they play one more against memphis tomorrow). wonder if this is a preview of the starting lineup for the opener:

Carpenter, M, 3B
Peralta, Jh, SS
Holliday, LF
Craig, RF
Adams, M, 1B
Cruz, T, C
Wong, 2B
Bourjos, CF
Wacha, P

with Yadi replacing Cruz in the 6-spot, of course. i like this lineup, and i like bourjos in the 8th spot. hopefully there will be some good opportunities with our speedier guys getting on to start an inning (wong + bourjos), a bunt to move them over from the pitcher, and then carpenter getting some more RBI opportunities

@JosephKellyJr 8m
I feel like I have something to do today

lol

wish the game was a little later so i could watch it!

living outside the lou again is going to hurt me. i am inching closer to the mlb.tv purchase

despite all my whining about it (esp. when the cards are in DC and the game is blacked out on mlb.tv), i am now a 3-year subscriber.

@Jhoanmanuel23 6m
Lineup #Cardinals:

Carpenter 5
Wong 4
Holliday 7
Craig 9
Molina 2
Adams 3
Peralta 6
Bourjos 8
Wainwright 1

that's deep baby :)

my dream lineup for the end of the season is something like

Carpenter 5
Taveras 9
Holliday 7
Adams or Craig 3
Molina 2
Peralta 6
Wong 4
Bourjos 8
Wainwright 1

with either craig or adams being traded midseason to make way for incoming legend oscar taveras

it'd be nice to see wong or ourobourjos push carpenter out of leadoff. but not until OBP justifies it.

don't think bourjos ever will tbh. his obp is probably going to land at around .310 or so, unless john mabry can teach him a thing or two this year. wong might have a chance some day!

that 1st inning catch by bourjos just made me smile

he played deep, but was able to cover so much territory that it was just an ankle high catch, gracefully made. jon jay would have started by running backward, reversing course, then diving at the last second straightforward. every once in a while he would actually make the catch and everyone would be like "god jon jay is great at diving catches" but it's so much more satisfying to have someone who just sprints in and catches it without too much fanfare.

♫ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9bfBJG_OCE ♫

St. Louis Cardinals ‏@Cardinals 10m
Estimated start time of tonight's game is 8:50 p.m. Central Time.

wooO!

where da bats

delayed start, apparently at 4:15 EST

and yeah, they seem like they left the bats back in jupiter.

oh my fucking GOD cardinals outfielders, call for it #@$(@#$

i'm blaming this on jon jay even though even though holliday isn't exactly brooks robinson either

yikes, jon jay, yikes. he redeemed himself by driving in a run with a double, and then got thrown out trying to steal 3rd, for no reason, with lance lynn batting and 1 out. it made no sense to steal there. it's almost like he's subconsciously trying to compensate for his inadequecies as compared to bourjos (he fucked up in the field, and so he tries to steal a base)

So, Matt Adams...

has that fan made it out of the hospital yet?

the NL central has some crazy good young pitchers. cingrani to cole in a 3 game span :[

matt adams otm

woooooooo

― mookieproof, Sunday, April 28, 2013 6:32 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am going to save my counter-woooooo until the day the bucs inevitably fall below .500 in mid-august

― your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Sunday, April 28, 2013 7:26 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

― mookieproof, Sunday, April 28, 2013 7:30 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

holy fuck

so easy to forget these things can happen

RIP

this is the worst

woah - had no idea he was also a Canadian citizen

Me neither ... he lived in Montreal from ages 12 to 16.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/08/top-prospect-has-canadian-passport-to-wbc

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B09u5_6IMAAlHCy.jpg

dang, his girlfriend died too. brutal.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1Ebx89IUAEyFOb.jpg

Cardinals leave right field light on to honor Oscar Taveras

o man

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1n8KkXNzUsZvyQRw4YnPN2lImBE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2415500/xW956Yv.0.jpg

happy 56th birthday to willie mcgee

#51 4eva

lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1yvA_fIIAAwD93.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1yvA_hIAAAnggJ.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1yvA_eIQAIM8TW.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B6O5CmHIMAAoG7p.jpg

released today!

http://mikematheny.com/book-matheny-manifesto

with an afterword by Bob Costas.

*fart noise*

i vote to wait a few days, start a new cardinals 2015 thread, and pretend the matheny book never, ever happened

Matheny’s tough-love philosophy contained his throwback beliefs that authority should be respected, discipline and hard work rewarded, spiritual faith cultivated, family prioritized, and humility considered a virtue. In The Matheny Manifesto, he builds on his original letter by diagnosing the problem at the heart of youth sports—Hint: it starts with parents and coaches—and offering a hopeful path forward. Along the way, he uses stories from his smalltown childhood, as well as his career as a player, coach, and manager, to explore eight keys to success: Leadership, Confidence, Teamwork, Faith, Class, Character, Toughness, and Humility.

we can't bring him in, tie-game situation. we're on the road.

we can't bring him in, tie-game situation. we're on the road.

should have been the title of the book

The Matheny Manifesto is co-written with Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the Left Behind series

LEFT BEHIND

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Trevor+Rosenthal+World+Series+Media+Day+rxjqmwwNBhdl.jpg

i vote to wait a few days, start a new cardinals 2015 thread, and pretend the matheny book never, ever happened

― ♪♫_\o/_♫♪ (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 3 February 2015 16:00 (2 days ago) Permalink

Amen, preparing for the rapture of a new thread.

You know I'm going to post about that book right at the top of the 2015 thread once you start it, right? Nothing personal; it's just a Cards thing

^^^

From “The Coach Is Always Right, Even When He’s Wrong” to “Let Your Catcher Call the Game,” Matheny’s old-school advice might not always be popular or politically correct, but it works.

Take that, PC police!

"Carlos is going to be the recipient of baseball talk."

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/109429988/with-new-role-cardinals-right-hander-carlos-martinez-gets-new-locker-near-catcher-yadier-molina