Willie McGee is part of the 2018 St Louis Cardinals

https://i.imgur.com/2agkMIn.jpg

XTREEEMBEARDZ

I may have said this before but: I was an eleven-year-old St. Louisan in 1982. Literally the ONLY sports allegiance I have is to the Cardinals of that era (McGee, Ozzie/Lonnie, Hernandez, Whitey, Sutter, heck, even Andujar). Makes me so happy to see that any of those names are still relevant.

let's give it up for tommy herr too, he doesn't get remembered enough. the 1987 team is the literally the first one i remember (i was 4 then, and i just knew ozzie), but my grandpa had an ozzie smith defense instructional VHS that i used to constantly watch, and part of the tape (the best part) was a highlight reel of all his greatest plays and somehow i absorbed the key players of 1982 through that.

tidbits i had to tune it to the cubs' broadcast to learn (i cannot tolerate jim edmonds in the booth any longer):

jose martinez' dad was carlos martinez, former MLB player. i knew that, but didn't realize that

1) carlos martinez was the poorly performing white sox first basemen when Frank Thomas rolled into town
2) the following year ('91), carlos martinez ended up as the backup to jim thome in cleveland
and most importantly, 3) carlos martinez was the guy who hit the home run that bounced off of jose canseco's head

tyler o'neill: good socks

son of a famous body builder, too!
and he's canadian! (speaking of which, this is kind of nowhere but what happened to brett lawrie? last played in 2016, played above replacement level, still only 28?)

head case: https://jaysjournal.com/2018/02/22/blue-jays-sad-story-brett-lawrie

oh. jeez, i had no idea. he seems very lost.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/M8Qv7fN-a5OOpxHlhEnA14PIhOA=/0x0:1800x832/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1800x832):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10693217/Hicks_FastestPitches.jpg

dr andrews, i place a hex on you. leave this kid alone

Mets are done with the Cards this year, can't say I'm sad.

Gary:
Tommy Pham has 9 career WAR in less than two complete seasons of playing time. Where the hell do the Cardinals find these guys?

Jay Jaffe:
The Cardinals have a great organization, but it also took them until he was 29 to give him 200 PA in a season.

that's true, but he was also injured all the goddamn time as he was working his way through the minors. he missed almost all of the 2011 and 2012 to injuries, played poorly in AAA in 2013, and then suffered through a string of more minor injuries in 2014-2016. he played well in a bench role in 2015, but then in 2016 he was barely above average (albeit dealing with injuries again). 2017 was a breakout year for him, but it was also a rare season where he was healthy most of the time.

He should stop stabbing himself in the face tbqh.

i love that he invented some sort of elastic-band-based custom training tool that is also capable of making his head bleed

Where the hell do the Cardinals find these guys?

the real Cardinals Devil Magic story is Jose Martinez, i think. my co-favorite player (with carlos).

saw rany j being very salty about how the royals just sold him to the cardinals two years ago, didn't even get a player in return

can't seem to find out how much money they got, probably because it would be insulting as hell

i don't really blame matheny for doing it -- it worked! -- but i also don't want to see him use four damn pitchers in a single inning

greg holland - A Proven Closer

we are the goon squad and we're coming to town
beep beep

https://i.imgur.com/hL6iToQ.png

beep beep

dan mclaughlin has been talking about Kingham's perfect game chances since the 4th inning

Jose Martinez compared Carlos Martinez’s slow home run trot around the bases to Yoenis Cespedes, a comparison that’s strikingly accurate.

According to Statcast, it takes Cespedes 27.4 seconds, on average, to circle the bases.

Carlos took 27.9 seconds.

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) May 2, 2018

mike matheny just used carlos martinez as a pinch hitter in the 6th inning. jedd gyorko is still on the bench.

well, yadi's balls exploded, he's out for 4+ weeks. i've always wondered how carson kelly would do with playing time, guess we're about to find out.

damn, the gif of that is hard to watch and hard to stop watching. his junk ripples

doesn't help that it was a foul tip off of a ~100 mph jordan hicks fastball

doesn't help that he wasn't wearing a cup either, lolwtf

that's what i thought, too! has it been confirmed? i mean, it looks like he wasn't. but...shit, i wore a cup when i played catcher in my 10-12 year old league and no one could throw over 70 mph

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/K4oOcnB4ABEAADFvkLx-e_o56d8=/0x0:1286x744/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1286x744):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10791379/Q6pTsmk.png

that was fun, but mostly terrible.

not loading...?

hmm, it's working for me, but it's just the Fangraphs win expectancy graph from last night's game: https://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2018-05-06&team=Cardinals&dh=0&season=2018

piscotty's mom died.

at least he got to spend more time with her near the end. that's sad. just last night ESPN rag a segment about her, after the game

alex reyes will pitch for palm beach tonight

Alex Reyes (SP): 3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K’s

curious about his velocity, which according to earlier reports is "good"

also, Jack Flaherty had a day in AAA: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 13 K’s

the 2019 rotation is very promising

reyes reportedly hit 99 twice

i like these reports

reyes is pitching in peoria tonight if you feel like a road trip

i would have loved to have seen him, but i had to work (for once). that's a good heads up, though! i might try to catch him there another time, if i can, before he heads to STL.

dexter fowler is on pace for -3.2 fWAR over 600 PAs

it's hard to be frustrated with him because he's such a fun ballplayer, has an excellent twitter, he's funny and lighthearted, etc. but even his defense in RF has been awful, to the extent that it makes his protests about being moved from CF (in favor of Pham, Bader, or a number of other better defenders) seem absurd

also, wainwright might be done. done done. both flaherty and reyes are clearly better options in the starting rotation. hell, john gant and a few others are probably better options at this point. after that last awful start, he's kind of in DL purgatory again, resting his arm and waiting for the 2000s to come back. it doesn't look good.

i still hold out hope that he'll take a role in the bullpen and be effective in short outings and get the save in the final game of the world series for the cardinals.

I still can't believe that the Cardinals' manager in 2014 made Michael Wacha pitch with the season on the line after not pitching for a month. No wonder he couldn't find another managing job.

— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) May 17, 2018

GREG HOLLAND IS A PROVEN CLOSER

also carson kelly to the 10-day DL with a hamstring injury. Adam Wainwright to retirement the 60-day.

Nope. Out of every pitcher who’s thrown at least 20 innings, Hicks has the second-lowest strikeout rate, ahead of only Alex Claudio. And out of the same pool, Hicks has the single lowest K-BB%. Over the past five years, when position players have taken the mound, they’ve posted a collective K-BB% of -4.3%. Hicks is at -7.4%. Out of 95 batters faced, he’s struck out nine of them, while walking 16. He’s also hit another three. The saving grace here is that Hicks has a top-ten rate of ground balls. He hasn’t allowed a homer. But his xFIP is 53% worse than the average. Jordan Hicks is perplexing.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/baseballs-hardest-thrower-gets-the-second-fewest-strikeouts/

that's crazy, i assume his pitches have little movement?

besides his fastball which i assume has next to none

yeah, plus he currently lacks an effective second pitch

he still has a ton of promise, of course. he never pitched above A ball last year, and then was promoted to the big leagues after spring training, so he missed out on the kind of development time that will hopefully lead to a better arsenal at some point

i think reyes is ready

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2018_05_24_okcaaa_mrbaaa_1&t=g_box&sid=milb

first pitcher in the 115-year history of the pacific coast league to fan nine in a row

Apparently one of the innings was 9 pitches, all swinging strikes.

the only reason he’s not up already is because of Greg Holland. I know their fates aren’t tied together now but it would be so satisfying to DFA Holland (and fire Matheny) on the same day Reyes gets brought up

Yeah for that reason alone I hope he doesn’t go there but who knows he might go off after being traded, very intriguing if you consider Chaim is likely involved in trying to get him

he can hit but is too fey for the BFIB

it would help to calibrate my fey scale if i knew how fey the following players were, on a scale of 1-10:

ryan theriot
skip schumaker
pete kozma
willie mcgee

i'd have given you scott spezio, but

Scott spezio ruined the dyed goatee for a generation.

It sounds like this trade might have legs so in recognition of your likely new 1B (who Chaim loves 🥺🥺🥺)

This thread: Thread of future Red Sox superstar Triston Casas

Shorter version: every home run he’s ever hit

Whenever someone says to trade Triston Casas, I recommend just showing them this pic.twitter.com/5tOfX8FXQN

— Nick J (@NickJJ95) November 27, 2024

Casas on him hitting in the box and the little voice in his head: "That alter ego comes out in that box, there’s a little switch you have to flip, so that’s who I talk to. It’s very demanding, it’s very harsh."
— Julian McWilliams (@byJulianMack) September 24, 2022

lol

God I love that freak

He’s too fab to function i love him

Where are we seeing these rumours he’s going to be traded?

i haven't come across them myself, but i the only place i check is mlbtraderumors (where it hasn't been mentioned)

but i'd guess it's because there have been a lot of arenado to red sox rumors, which would mean devers moving to first, which could mean casas getting sent to the cardinals?

the problem is, on the cardinals rumors side, it doesn't look like arenado is going anywhere, and casas seems awesome and i would love to watch him goof around, but he doesn't really fill a function on the cardinals, either - they're trying to trade arenado so they can clear space for a few good hitters / poor defenders (jordan walker, nolan gorman, alec burleson) to play 3B and 1B

There have been rumors about him being shopped for the last year

Not the last year really, since September. Iirc it stems from them wanting to move Devers from 3B and Yoshida’s contract being impossible to move, and he’s probably one of the biggest trade chips they’d feel comfortable moving. Anyway the account that threw in his name has since walked it back and I’ll go with what you said about their roster construction, cos I know they have a lot of young guys they want to play before Chaim takes over next year.

Also, Arenado and his sulking, idk man, I wish the Dodgers would just swoop in and add him to their 60 man roster like he wants, it’s crazy the Cardinals had that deal with the Astros lined up with them paying a significant amount of money and he invoked his ntc.

CNN.com: "Only a few cardinals have the skills to be pope. Here are the frontrunners." I think you know who's fleet of foot and has all the skills...

it's gotta be pete kozma

Pete Kozma was part of the 2018 Detroit Tigers, so no, not even close!

hope Quinn Priester gets traded to STL

(or Andrew Abbott?)

it’s over.

THIS TEAM IS FUCKING OVER

St. Louis Cardinals 2026 - 20?? : the Best Fans in Baseball Have Never Known What’s Going On

today is willie mcgee's 67th birthday <3

loved him on the Giants

willie mcgee made his major league debut 44 years ago today <3

Today I found out about JJ Wetherholt and his historic rookie defense:

https://www.mlb.com/news/jj-wetherholt-is-on-a-historic-rookie-pace

Suggested nickname: Hunsecker.

(If I were John Schneider, I'd just say Holtzy.)

what is going on in STL besides darkhorse central?

i sacrificed a clydesdale under the blood moon

alex reyes is In The Best Shape Of His Life and his replacement arm from Dr Andrews should arrive in the mail around early May. he might end up replacing wainwright, whose best case scenario is making a heroic relief pitching appearance in the playoffs and then retiring. carlos martinez continues to be the best thing about the team.

it’s fun (for me) revisit all the hilarious and tragic ways in which in my 2018 op predictions played out

jimmy crooks is a great baseball name!