Willie McGee is part of the 2018 St Louis Cardinals

https://i.imgur.com/qhSEVKT.jpg

is it kind of weird that i'm most excited about the new coaching staff? willie fucking mcgee is part of this team now. jose oquendo is back. chris carpenter is back and ready to yell fuck. ozzie smith is finally beginning to get over tony larussa. mike maddux is the new pitching coach, replacing the guy who stares blankly while mike matheny calls on matt bowman for his 114th high leverage appearance of the season.

lynn is gone, mikolas replaces him and no one has any idea how good he'll be. projections are fairly high on a guy who hasn't ever had success in MLB and has been pitching overseas since 2015. 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.

jose martinez is fun too, and if matt carpenter's back continues to flare up (it's happening already in spring training) he may end up getting a lot of playing time at 1B (please no luke voit, please). i haven't watched ozuna play that much. i hope that i like him. i have reasonable expectations for him, but i'm cautiously optimistic that he can put up at least one great (>4 WAR) season during his stint here. tommy pham is no fluke, and i'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in a full season. i'm also terrified that he'll get injured, like he has been almost every year except for 2017.

pre-season predictions are kind of silly because a team's final record depends so much on whether the front office decides to go for it or fold at mid-season. but i think they're capable of putting up 95 wins. if things go bad, they could be around 80 wins. i'd guess they end up around 87 or 88, hopefully enough to barely slide into the wild card.

best thread title

Was thinking something like “How ‘zuna is now?”

Outfield is better.
Infield is same.
Starters I’d bet shakes out even.
Bullpen is worse.

Treading water unless Reyes magically comes back at 100%.

i know cubs are the faves but i can see another tight season between the cubs/brewers/cardinals, like last year

does Willie still look like E.T.? (popular observation by Howard Cosell during '82 WS)

https://i.imgur.com/QT9ktTH.jpg

he's hanging in there! just heard a story on a broadcast that he was only tossed out of one game in his pro career, and that was in the minor leagues (after throwing a helmet in frustration) and he vowed to never let it happen again.

i know cubs are the faves but i can see another tight season between the cubs/brewers/cardinals, like last year
it's definitely possible, but i'd guess the cubs will only get tangled up in that if they have another slightly underwhelming year (obv they were good last year, just not as good as most people thought they'd be). i'd be pretty happy if the cardinals can split the season series with the cubs this year. but the brewers seem like the more imminent threat to the cardinals chances to snag a WC spot.

Outfield is better.
Infield is same.
Starters I’d bet shakes out even.
Bullpen is worse.

Treading water unless Reyes magically comes back at 100%.

i pretty much agree with all of that, except i think the bullpen might actually be better. i kind of agree with the strategy of countering the volatility of relief pitchers by building a deep bullpen with many options (https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2017/10/25/16524650/the-cardinals-should-build-a-bullpen-through-quantity-not-quality). last year's group seemed kind of top heavy, and when those options disappointed (oh all season, and cecil in the first half) the team was just kind of fucked (until rosenthal stepped it up, RIP). but i feel pretty good about starting off with gregerson, lyons, cecil, leone, and then supplementing with the surplus of guys on the cusp as the season progresses (reyes, as he eases back into playing time, guys like helsley, hicks, etc).

i don't know. all of that depth is countered by the matheny factor, which will hopefully be at least somewhat countered by the maddux factor.

https://i.imgur.com/yeXWuQb.jpg

the determination you've come to expect from the 2018 willie mcgees.

it would be bad if he made the team, performance-wise, but i root for him all the same.

breaking: bernard gilkey is also on the coaching staff, at least in spring training

now all they need is mark whiten

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBg3dX7AdSg

i think i might like rick ankiel more than ricky horton, as a broadcaster? he's just doing guest color commentary on this game (and one earlier this week), and i'm not sure he's been considered as anything full-time. but he's pretty good at it already, for a beginner, and i imagine he would just get better. he has a natural grasp for the cadence of color commentary - when to shut up, when to talk. just the sound of his voice is good for tv. he has a sort of interesting twang that's hard to nail down but easy to listen to. he says interesting things and his little jokes are actually kinda funny, usually.

he just fucked up now, a little, by starting to discuss a strikeout sequence just as they were headed to break. but even then, he caught it and stopped himself short with a "...he's just dominatin' "

this kid has skills.

also he seems to be more knowledgeable about the game than horton (and by extension, hrabosky, who is kind of turning into a joke). example: just about a week ago ricky horton seemed to think he was really bold in saying that the astros "have a chance" of being good for the next few years. uuuh yeah, usually young teams that win 100 games and still have a top 10 farm system are predicted to be pretty good for a while. anyway, but just now they were talking about kyle tucker and ankiel kind of offhandedly mentioned that tucker would be starting for some teams, but the astros have excellent depth so he'll have time to develop. nothing groundbreaking, but a basic bit of understanding about the other team that the other announcers rarely seem bothered to mention, if they're even aware.

also - he has an ohtani-like advantage because he was an amazing pitcher AND a MLB-worthy hitter and genuine threat for a couple years, with that really unique, swing for the fences final season when he struck out 44% of the time but with an .ISO of .234. there aren't too many people who have a view on the game like him.

Lance Lynn is dad. Miles Mikolas is stepdad.

yadi went 4/4 with 2 HRs and a double today, and the double bounced off the very top of the outfield wall. he also picked a guy off first.

jordan hicks made the roster(!)

he has not pitched above high A

He’s good! My guess is that as soon as wainwright or gregorson some back from the DL he’ll be first back down

early season fun: matt carpenter probably has no business playing 3B (bad arm) or 2B (horrible range), but he'll keep doing it because jose martinez is the best hitter on the team right now and 1B is pretty much the only place he can play (he can technically play corner OF but it's pretty ugly).

also apparently ozuna's right arm has been bothering him since last fall and throughout spring training, and already yesterday there was an Outfielder who can't throw Situation where a ball hit to Ozuna in LF in a sac fly situation was awkwardly handled by Tommy Pham in CF, presumably because Ozuna couldn't throw home with authority.

How hot is Dominique Leone in person?

That was a wild game. I’m happy and sad to have seen it in person! First game that started and ended with back to back HRs (and on consecutive pitches each time too.)(and the CF and RF hit them for each team?)

btw https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/04/02/tommy-pham-st-louis-cardinals

Call hurts #STLCards
Ball 1 should be strike 2
Top 2 Wacha vs Marte
0% call same
11.4in from edge pic.twitter.com/MbQ8i8f9uW

— Cards Strike Zone (@CardinalsUmp) April 7, 2018

pic.twitter.com/eOMvgjby4y

— VanHickslestein (@VanHicklestein) April 7, 2018

Combination of terrible framing by the catcher and the pitcher completely missing his target, but yeah...

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.

Thanks for posting that. I can see matheny sticking around KC for a while, but he seems to be particularly ill-suited to an up and coming team of prospects. In STL he was known for favoring poor-performing veterans for years at a time while providing inconsistent playing time to the prospects underneath. Maybe that won’t be such an issue in KC.

happy willie mcgee's birthday, everyone

happy willie mcgee's birthday. he's 62, today.

https://i.imgur.com/oY2lPtW.jpg

MC Gee is on the mic tonight

not sure what other teams were covered under fox sports midwest, but it's now sinclair_gambling.jpg(tm)

...

Fox Sports Midwest (along with most other RSNs acquired by Sinclair) will be renamed some permutation of Bally Sports, thanks to a deal with gaming and casino giant Bally’s Corporation.

Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley promised more integration of sports betting into the broadcasts, in an effort to “gamify sports.” That may involve some new technology for viewers to place bets via the TV or app they are watching on. But even without some new technology, if betters are watching the game and placing bets on their mobile apps - and they are - if Bally’s can drive those fans to bet via their book rather than DraftKings or William Hill or someone else, that’s a money-maker.

The silver lining for Cardinals fans is that this deal aims to provide more options for you to watch the games. Ripley also announced a plan to offer a standalone subscription for RSNs in their given territories. In other words, you will be able to subscribe to just Bally Sports Midwest (or whatever it’s called). Ripley promised this was being developed aggressively and would launch next year, though it is not clear if that will happen before Opening Day.

My guess is this will come in the form of a Bally Sports Midwest App, likely available on all your mobile devices, AppleTV and Roku, etc. And yes, I would expect that while you are streaming the game on your Bally’s Sports Midwest App, you can get some action on the Jack Flaherty strikeout prop.

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2020/11/25/21718960/the-deal-between-ballys-and-sinclair-will-provide-more-ways-to-watch-cardinals-baseball
(stupid URL)

missed this, 6 years ago, but it's great:

https://www.sbnation.com/2014/5/15/5717272/sb-nation-reviews-willie-mcgee

...When he got to the plate, he looked like he had just been beaten by angry people with truncheons, a crouched, stiff figure who didn't swing a bat so much as he threw it at the ball hoping for something to happen. It was a half-swing, really, the kind you'd take if an old war injury had left you with half a shoulder joint and shards of depleted uranium in your knees. He leaned backward waiting for pitches like a 75 mile an hour gale was blowing in his face. He looked, in the words of his teammate John Morris, like he "was in a lot of pain, and having a miserable time."

That sounds bad, but it got worse. At one point, provided McGee threw the bat and it made contact with the ball, there was a point where Willie McGee, all pained face and salvage-grade joints, had to begin moving like a human. Once he turned and got over the shock of hitting the ball-- and no matter the situation, McGee always looked shocked he'd made contact -- McGee would lurch forward and begin running on the balls of his feet, always at a ridiculously pitched angle like he had an invisible drag chute bolted directly to his shoulder blades.

It looked fast in motion, but let's specify what kind of fast. There is the fast of a Usain Bolt, the kind of effortless, long-striding speed, and there is the bull-strong intimidation of a Lamborghini you get when someone with giant traps can also run a 4.4 second 40 yard dash. (Think Bo Jackson in his prime.) Then there is the kind of fast that terrifies you for all the wrong reasons, like when a toddler in a grocery cart gets loose and begins rolling downhill in a busy parking lot. That is the kind of speed Willie McGee had: something that once in motion begs for a merciful stop, and the immediate intervention of safety authorities.

You may like an athlete because they happen to be very good at what they do. You won't love them for this, though, or at least not without combining it with other variables that make them unique. There were players as good as Willie McGee, but none were as entertaining to watch based strictly on quirk and the apparent misery that every step caused him. That misery was only part of it, though. McGee chose the odd set of options in life in every facet of the game, a switch hitter who looked equally strange from either side of the plate, a superb center fielder prone to rare but grandiose mistakes in the field, and a man who could not take a baseball card portrait without looking like you had just:

a.) bought him the most adorable rabbit in all the world

b.) made it his only and best friend

c.) slaughtered this rabbit in front of his horrified eyes

d.) put a bat in his hand, and pointed him toward the DonRuss artist while tapping at your watch

It's easy to explain why you love a conventionally excellent player, but way, way more fun to try and explain the appeal of a top-flight athlete whose every step and twitch appeared to be bringing him dangerously close to death itself. You had this guy, St. Louis, and he was awesome and everything, but every time he hit a triple he'd pop up and have the saddest look on his face like everything he loved had died, and left him with the soul of an ancient, sad, and immortal Golem. It was like watching Buster Keaton play centerfield, and he was like that every time he played.

That’s great.

i've come to the conclusion that he is my third-favorite ballplayer of all time

the two ahead of him either shared my surname or gave me a childhood lesson in decency, and both played for my home team.

willie mcgee is just a guy who was really good at baseball, and completely took over game four of the 1982 world series, and fucking look at him. <3

Mookie Wilson and ???

lol

dave parker & willie stargell

I was close!

Wild guess:

Parker = surname
Stargell = decency

Obviously, Mookieproof’s real name is Cobra.

willie mcgee is 63 today <3

https://greatestondirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/willie-mcgee-1983-smiling.jpg

From Goldschmidt's Baseball Reference page:

Nicknames: Goldy or America's First Baseman

Really? Someone somewhere has actually called him "America's First Baseman"?

i called him that, but the full quote is "america's first basemen in being a moran"

Hes America's first basemen because he isn't allowed anywhere else

yadi is (allegedly) skipping 2 games to watch the puerto rican basketball team he owns play in the championship

yes, but during that time his knees will heal

lol

Goldschmidt just isn't letting up. His OPS+ after yesterday is 202; the only players this century to finish with an OPS+ over 200 are Bonds (4 times), Soto, and Sosa. I can't see a first baseman who did it since Bagwell (213) and Thomas (212) in '94. I expect he'll fall back, but what a season. (Judge is at 194 right now.)

also has a legit shot at the old-school triple crown; he's three homers behind schwarber and two RBI behind alonso

i haven't looked it up, but i suspect he might be having an all-time platoon split season, too. vs lefties this year, in 111 PAs he's .435/.527/.848, wrC+ is 276

Leading in the slash TC right now, too. Huge lead in slugging, comfortable lead in batting average; Soto will probably overtake him in OBP.

Should also mention Freddie Goldschmidt out on the coast: second in BA, third in OBP, sixth in SP.

Willie >>>>> pic.twitter.com/nqCIv6KHvV

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 25, 2022

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.

i was so otm in 2018

Whoah--definitely making a run at the Triple Crown.

Goldman and Freeschmidt came up again on James' site yesterday, and one reader pointed out how similar Goldschmidt and Bagwell are (per 162 games):

PG: .296/.392/.529, 145 OPS+, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 5.9 bWAR, MVP pending?
JB: .297/.408/.540, 149 OPS+, 34 HR, 115 RBI, 6.0 bWAR, 1 MVP

But neither is on the other's Similarity Score list.

Arenado is going to wind up with his best bWAR this season. I’d say he and Goldschmidt are both locking down their HOF chances, though I guess Nolan could always do an Andruw Jones and nosedive before he clears the bar. I’m guessing that’s highly unlikely though.

yeah, he is a very competitive guy. i was reading a little blurb about the birth of his child the other day, and he was basically like "i'm just glad it went smooth and calm so i could get back to the team for the next game". he seems genuinely driven to win a WS (goldschmidt as well) and he seems pumped to get a decent chance to do it

He did win one back in 2006!

weather permitting, i'm going to tonight's game! i was originally planning on going tomorrow, figuring a sunday day game against the Cubs would be ideal. but then i noticed that Wainwright is pitching tonight, which means Yadi will be playing, and the Cubs are starting a LHP, Drew Smyley, which means Pujols will almost certainly start as well. might be my last chance to see any of those guys play again (unless I splurge for playoff tickets, if they get that far).

it's kind of an odd situation because i'm not sure if i'll be standing room only or have a seat somewhere. i was able to get tickets, just $11 for a pair, this morning through the First Pitch Program. Not sure if there's a similar deal at other parks, but basically you get a voucher, and then when you show up at game time they tell you where your seats are (or more likely for this game, standing room since it'll probably sell out).

$11 gets you a hot dog at the Rogers Centre.

That’s a great deal for last minute seats!
The jays are probably too popular to do something like that, but my gf would be all over it if they did.

That’s a great deal for last minute seats!

totally agree

i chatted with a few different people in the line about their experience with the program. one guy told me that he used to have season tickets and gave them up because so many of the voucher seats end up being so good. they come from unsold/unused tickets that were set aside for workers and players etc to give to their families - so they're a mix of the worst seats and also some really nice seats. because i'm an unforgivable weirdo, i asked him to give me a rough probability distribution. he told me that about ...he paused for a long time here to calculate...three out of ten were 100-level, meaning field level. another 3-4 out of ten in the mid-tier levels, and only 2-3 out of ten were nosebleed/standing room only.

for a game like tonight, with the cubs and the oldsters (who are my age) playing, the chances are very high that i'll get standing room only. but for an early season game against teams that are not the Cubs, Brewers, Yankees, or Red Sox, apparently the chances of getting a great seat are very good. For $5.50 a seat! the only catch is you have to live near Missouri, which is fucking terrible

it's extremely cheesy and i don't think i would participate irl, but i think it would be kind of neat if the fans started chanting MVP as goldschmidt bats, and then continue with no interruption to chant it with Arenado hitting after him

(i don't think Arenado has a chance of winning, and will probably end up more like 3rd or 4th or 5th. for those that don't get to see them play every day, amazing, superlative defense is hard to demonstrate with numbers in the same way that a triple crown level season does)

because i live in the world of regression to the mean, i never expected to see a mvp-like year from goldschmidt or arenado. it is very cool to see them do it in the same year, and to be equally as wrong about pujols

also, in the continued mea culpa that is my life, i was extremely wrong about wainwright. i wanted him to retire circa 2019. what a doof

I saw the play he made on that incredibly high chopper--amazing.

wait, hold that.

peninsula. penin.

hmm

sorry, wrong thread

If Goldschmidt doesn't get the Triple Crown, I hope it's because Freeman overtakes him in BA, rather than Schwarber winning HR--he's such a one-dimensional player.

dang, wish i would have gotten cheap-ass tickets for today's game, too! this is probably low on the list of notable career records, but wainwright and molina are tying the record for most starts as a battery. which is pretty cool. but also, alec burleson is making his debut in RF. probably not a household name, possibly DH bound, but he's a good hitter and will probably (hopefully) stick around for a while.

Not related to the Rooster, I'm sorry to say.

dang. i should gone. Burleson, it is clear to me from watching him track down (1) ball on the right-field line, is just too slow to be even an average fielder. he is a DH. bummer.

however, he took an easy 4-pitch walk in his first PA and then got to score on a Yadier Molina HR to Big Mac Land, which is what the upperdeck area is called on the LF line where McGwire once sent home runs with startling regularity. it is owned by mcdonalds

by bWAR, the cardinals have the top 3 position players in the NL

the outfield has been weird and catcher has been a black hole, but the infield production has been pretty phenomenal this year

Goldschmidt, arenado, and the best of them all albert pujols

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