The 2017 Cardinals are America

Critical shot: pic.twitter.com/r8WMWsfjUf

— Gif Weaver (@SimulacruMusial) July 20, 2017

pic.twitter.com/iUtBkTEnha

— Gif Weaver (@SimulacruMusial) July 20, 2017

The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game. Outfielder Randal Grichuk and lefty Zach Duke were both activated from the 10-day and 60-day DL, respectively, while catcher Carson Kelly was recalled from Triple-A. Righty Sam Tuivailala and outfielder Magneuris Sierra were optioned to Triple-A last night to open up two roster spots, and catcher Eric Fryer was designated for assignment today in another corresponding move.

how do you solve a problem like carson kelly? on most teams he'd be ready to enter into a time share and gradually take the lion's share of the starts over the next year or two, but that won't happen here unless molina gets hurt. i'd like him to be a part of the next run of success (hopefully eta 2018) but i have a bad feeling he's going to be traded. catching is maybe the weakest position in baseball, prospect-wise, so i'm sure quite a few teams would pay up for him.

the idea of the cardinals being buyers this year gets slimmer and slimmer with every passing game. but regardless, they're gonna have to make some moves because they have too many good OFs to protect in the 40-man. time to bundle 'em up and try to get at least one all-star caliber player imo

naturally they just traded for outfield prospect tyler o'neill (canadian!)

i wish this typo/mistake in the mlbtraderumors description was true:

"Power is O’Neill’s calling card, as he has 89 homers over 396 minor league plate appearances..."

i don't know anything about o'neill but i'm glad they were able to get a good prospect in return for marco gonzalez. marco was really promising before his injury, but the time he missed put him in a weird spot in the organization since there's no opening in the rotation and there's a wave of better pitchers coming up around and behind him.

o'neill has pretty much torn the minors up until the first half of this year, when he struggled and struck out a lot. caught fire this month, tho, with help from a visit to albuquerque, where he hit five homers in five games. i think he's pretty good, but as you pointed out, the cardinals have a lot of outfielders. and tommy pham deserves a spot, dammit

i think pham will keep his spot, at least he gets injured again. i still can't think of him as anything other than an injury time bomb.

at least ^until^ he gets injured again

waino deserved better today

wonder if it's possible to trade away dejong before other teams notice his walk rate

http://i.imgur.com/Q8mv4tf.jpg

(not that we really have a good shortstop ready to move in)

how quickly we discard the fifth-place finisher for 2016 NL rookie of the year, damn

heh, i don't think diaz is bad, but also...probably not good. i think he could probably hold down the fort for the next year or two, though

Congratulations to my cousin Harrison on getting called up to the majors. I think that's pretty cool! https://t.co/UewTv4SD7c

— Chris Baio (@OIAB) July 25, 2017

that's the bass player from vampire weekend

didn't know that, that's kinda cool i guess!

i've been looking forward to bader's call-up for a while, hopefully he can apply some devil magic

almost beat out a routine grounder in his first AB, and got a standing O from the BFIB for it

it was a nice moment, honestly. but, instead of being hailed as someone who Plays the Right Way, i suspect that if he were black, ppl would merely marvel at his speed

trust me, this is paul dejong's body

http://i.imgur.com/1giot0d.jpg

also harrison bader ginsburg

http://i.imgur.com/BSw4v4C.jpg

sorry

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2017/07/31/mike-matheny-complains-that-some-cardinals-fans-are-just-so-bitter/

i guess they almost tried to trade for Sonny Gray (Piscotty + Weaver/Flaherty, according to Rosenthal). glad they didn't do that - starting pitching hasn't been the problem, and they have plenty of depth for next year already (the return of alex reyes, weaver, flaherty, dakota hudson, gant, alcantara, etc)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-can-t-find-a-deal-they-re-comfortable-making/article_ac03c549-404f-5063-957a-8d43e9eeef05.html

it's a shame they're wasting the unexpected great season of tommy pham this year. 18th in WAR despite playing much less than everyone else ranking above him!

6 in a row, one behind Cubs! But their cat is missing.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20304837/st-louis-cardinals-say-rally-cat-missing

the stupid groundskeeper dude who got scratched up decided to run straight out to the stan musial statue and let it go. come on kid, you know someone's gonna want to adopt that cat!

i've been trying not to jinx this winning streak. the team suddenly seems a lot more "fun", but it's hard not to seem like that when you're putting up 8+ runs each night.

wainwright threw a 59.4 mph curveball

don't tell carlos beltran

you said it, not me!

i won't be surprised at all if waino needs some sort of surgery within a couple weeks.

lol

it's a shame that mets fans have basically disavowed him. it was a nearly perfect pitch (if perhaps not as good as endy's catch)

Tired of sputtering along, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright moved to re-establish order. On the Cardinals last road trip, they summoned their teammates to The Precinct, a high-end steakhouse.

To appreciate the Cardinals’ recent surge and their newfound belief in each other, it helps to understand what transpired at a former Cincinnati police patrol house on Aug. 3.

That’s the night Molina, Wainwright, Matt Carpenter and a few other veterans dropped the law on their teammates and pulled them into a more united team.

“The message that was given both by me and collectively from everybody was that if we’re going to win this thing we’re going to have to do it together,” Carpenter said. “That’s why you see the new rallying cry that’s happening.”

In case you’re wondering, the Cardinals’ new rally cry is a two-handed gesture. The players execute it in their teammates’ direction after clutch hits and runs. They lift their hands near their heads and then interlock and unlock their fingers as they bring their hands together and squeeze multiple times, symbolizing team unity.

well great, first rule of fight club etc

have to admit that the new rally gesture is possibly better than the last one, though, which i believe was the miming of tit-squeezing

http://deadspin.com/cardinals-rudely-presume-feral-cat-that-ran-on-field-is-1797920735

i know this is coming from a known anti-cardinals publication but jesus fuck i hope this cat is not allowed to be adopted by the fucking cardinals, this is absolutely gross

It is now up to St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach to determine whether living in a ballpark with Mike Matheny as caretaker qualifies as a “happy and healthy life.”

loooooool

St. Louis Cat Nonprofit To Cards: Bullying Us Over Rally Cat Is "Inconsistent With The Cardinals Way"

it's actually consistent with the Cardinal Way. It's in there near the end. They added it in after LaRussa left. I've been trying to tell people about this for years but everyone has blinders on

http://i.imgur.com/QON7ugb.png

Adam Wainwright is on his way back to St. Louis to have his arm examined by Cardinals team physicians, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Wainwright allowed five runs in three innings yesterday and has been plagued by persistent pain in his elbow when pitching. MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch notes that Wainwright hasn’t reached 90 mph in either of his past two starts and has yielded nine runs on 15 hits and nine walks with just one strikeout in his past 11 innings (Twitter link). Wainwright recently spent a bit more than two weeks on the disabled list due to a back injury.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIH3g_YU0AAeHje.jpg

timely

America

Jack Flaherty, 21 (Harvard-Westlake HS), tonight becomes youngest starting pitcher to debut for Cardinals since Rick Ankiel in 1999.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) September 1, 2017

now 2 behind the Rockies for WC2

lance lynn is outperforming his FIP at a historical level (ERA of 2.99, FIP of 4.71)

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-sabermetrics-analysis/2017/9/7/16248452/cardinals-lance-lynn-earned-run-average-fielding-independent-pitching-luck-peripherals

my condolences to whoever wins the Lance Lynn free agent sweepstakes

(to be clear, i think he'll be a solid #3 in someone's rotation for a few more years at least. but i can also imagine a team overpaying for that shiny sub-3.00 ERA)

pham picked up both his 20th SB and 20th HR today

it's been about a minute since he hit the HR, and somehow the broadcasting team has not made a reference to 20/20 vision. i don't understand why it's taking them so long since they talk about his vision every single game

tommy pham, despite missing the first month because mike matheny thought it was a better move to play matt adams in left field, is 10th in the NL by fWAR. and by fWAR/600, he's second, just ahead of harper and behind only rendon. definitely a bright spot in an otherwise frustrating year

http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/2016/06/16/images/mlbf_818435583_th_45.jpg

look you don't know any better, Matheny gets up close views of his players in action, he knows their strengths

Juan Nicasio batted with two runners on in the 9th inning of a pennant race. WITH A 40 MAN ROSTER. https://t.co/edzYDcRjPf

— stlCupofJoe (@stlCupofJoe) September 23, 2017

of course it worked out because the pirates WAIVED A DECENT RELIEVER LEST HE BE CLAIMED BY A DIVISION RIVAL

FOR WHOM THE PHILLIES AT LEAST GOT SOME SHITTY PROSPECT

jfc

man i know Bryant is hot right now but Matheny just IBB'd him to load the bases with 1 out and Rizzo and Zobrist on deck

ha and it paid off of course

bad process / passable results is the matheny way

congrats to the cubs btw

Players with at least 23 HR, 23 SB, .410 OBP since 1987:
Altuve
Trout
TOMMY PHAM
A-Rod
D Wright
Abreu
Chipper
Bagwell
L Walker
Rickey

— viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) September 28, 2017

arb eligible at 31, free agency at 34 ;_;

RIP 2017 cardinals, and america

that final play was a perfectly agonizing, fitting end to the season