Sometimes before important times in your life, some may check out themselves BY LOOKING IN THE MIRROR. The Trading Deadline Forced the Cardinals to take a long LOOK IN THE MIRROR at themselves. They weren’t happy with what they saw in the mirror. A last place club with some key veterans close to the expiration of their contracts. Soooo…. this year was the 1st in a long time as the Cardinals became “sellers” i.e. trading off their best assets to “build for the future”. The Trade Deadline Made them LOOK @ THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR!!
…Since the trading deadline was modified from June 15 to July 30, it seems to me that more transactions have occurred. Since 2/3 of the season has passed by July 30, teams may feel more willing to “go all in” or to get an early start on next year by “dump & start over”. Clearly, the Cards LOOKED AT THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR and realized that this team wasn’t going anyplace. It’s been a long, long time since the Cards were dumping at the deadline.
….After StL LOOKED IN THE MIRROR, they made it very clear at the deadline that ’23 was a throw-away year. They traded away their 2 best pitchers of the last 2 months. Jordan Montgomery had really become the ace of the staff. He was 8th in the National League in Earned Run Avg (ERA); 16th in NL in Inn pitched; 15th in the NL in WHIP (walks/hits per inn pitched). He was traded for pitcher Tekoah Roby, infielder Thomas Saggese (drafted by Tx in the 145th pick of the draft) and LHP John King, who has pitched 127 1/3 MLB innings. Clearly none of these players will improve the Cards this year. That wasn’t the plan…but, will they EVER make the Cards into contenders?
…Experts think that Saggese could be up with the Cards in ’24. He’s played all 4 infield positions. With the Cards, it’ll have to be as a middle-infielder since Arenado/Goldy aren’t going anyplace. SS Thomas Saggese is having a strong year in AA baseball. He carries a .313 avg; 16 HR, 79 RBI, OPS-.895. To me, it seems that he’ll have the 1st crack @ SS for 2024. If a team is trading away their ACE on a weak pitching staff, these players REALLY need to contribute immediately. If Saggese DOES play that makes one wonder where Tommy Edman fits in?
…Hopefully, the Cards won’t be totally into their mix/match lineup in ’24 as they have attempted in’23. Sure…one batter may be .1 or .2’sh below another bench player. Establish an every day lineup. Maybe 1 platoon position of veteran players. Players need reliability, stability, confidence shown by the manager. The analytics “numbers” game does have severe limitations when it is the ONLY source of the daily juggling of lineups. LOOK IN THE MIRROR ABOUT the lineups. Just 5 years ago, the Cardinals had 4 different players playing 148 games or more. And…oh yea…the Cards won the NL Central division that year. In 2023, the Cards have played 109 games (as I write this). Goldy has been in 105 games, Arenado-104 games. Surprisingly, Nolan Gorman has the 3rd most appearances with 96. I would anticipate as the Cards stumble around…maybe moving up a notch or two….we’ll see a wide variety of players. Thus far in 2023, we’ve seen 44 different players.
…I tend to think that the Cards next SS will be Masyn Winn. Winn has been fantastic this year in MiLB. The 21-year-old since July 1 (23 games) holds a .344 avg/.413-slug/.719-OPS line with eight homers, two triples and eight doubles. His 69 total bases are third-most in Triple-A in that span, and he’s pushed his max exit velocity to 110.1 mph. For reference, Nolan Arenado has maxed out at 110.3
….Tekoah Roby was the 86th pick in 2020 draft. His Minor Lg Career Stats: record-7-16 era:4.47 Inn-173; K’s-211. Clearly the Cards treasure the strikeout numbers since the latest trend in the MLB is the 3 outcomes—HR, Strikeout, Walk. LOOKING IN THE MIRROR..I’d have to wonder—strikeout fastball stuff but does he have the control that he could actually WIN games?
…The Cards did part with their pitching ace of the ’23 season. They also sent off the next best starting pitcher of the last 4-8 weeks–Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has rubbed some Cards fans “wrong” with his actions/antics that seem to be forms of “cockiness”. (I’m one of those guys) He’s been with the Cards for parts of 7 years!! His lifetime record is 41-31…. surprising to me. He had a winning season of 11-8 in 2019 and in 2021 was 11-8. Reliability has been a weakness. In the last 3 seasons (20-21-22), he only pitched a grand total of 154 innings. LOOKING IN THE MIRROR, the Cards realized that Flaherty wasn’t going to come back to the Cards. Why? Who knows? How he was handled in the rotation? Was he going to the money that he wanted? How he was handled medically? Coaching approaches to him that “rubbed him wrong?” Who knows.. at any rate, Flaherty was traded to Baltimore (a contender) in the last season of his contract and becomes a free agent after this year. Flaherty was traded for SS Cesar Prieto, Drew Rom, Zack Showalter. Btw…Flaherty was terrific in his 1st O’s game. He chalked up a win with 6 innings, 8 strikeouts, giving up 1 run. He probably LOOKED AT THE MIRROR himself and had a quick self-evaluation.
….Meanwhile, another youthful Card acquisition from the Flaherty trade, Cesar Prieto, was rated the #25 prospect this year. He currently holds a .349 avg in AAA. Drew Rom is a LHP. He’s been in the O’s system since 2018.To me, it seems like a really long time for a really “top” prospect” to be lingering in the minors. Zach Showalter is in his 1st year of MiLB ball. He’s a 19 year old RHP. In his brief time there, Showalter is 0-2, 30 inn, 26 hits, ERA-2.37, bat avg against him .234. So, he’s just started his professional career this year. LOOKING IN THE MIRROR in this transaction… 2 of the 3 players seem to be huge gambles-one who’s been in the MiLB a long time & the other just beginning!
…Soooo….what does this insurgence of younger, unproven, cheaper players mean to the Cards? The Trade Deadline absolutely pushed MO into a corner. The 2023 team is bad! The starting pitching may be the best aspect of the team with their 2 best pitchers being shipped out. There’s a reason for that.. the other teams don’t WANT those ineffective pitchers. Clearly, the Cardinals HAVE TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR and see how other teams are developing pitchers. The Cards just traded away the #1 in Montgomery and #2 Jack Flaherty (who actually had the most wins on the team). Also shipped out the pitcher who was their intended closer for ’23- Jordan Hicks. His inconsistency with getting outs and walking batters often led him into trouble. I personally think that his pitching effectiveness and control dropped off with runners on base. Maybe, he was just better off the windup?
….Well… I’m LOOKING IN THE MIRROR now…it’s time to go. I want to hear from you! Everyone has their own thoughts…there’s no right or wrong (I’m not teaching Math any more where it was RIGHT OR WRONG). Thanks for the read! Bob
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