In our life, we all make decisions and then, often, have 2^nd thoughts about those decisions. It’s the same way in the sports world except thousands of fans recognize your quick “turnaround”. Here’s a few more situations that may require a “2^nd Thought”

…I’m sure that the Cardinals had years of 2^nd thoughts about the contract of Steve Carlton. It was primarily due to a salary dispute with Cardinals owner Gussie Busch. Carlton was seeking a salary of $65,000 for the 1972 season. Gussie thought that was far too high. From what we know, there never was progress through a give-take discussion between the 2 parties. Apparently, the negotiations became a shouting match between Carlton & Busch. Of course, Gussie won the battle. But he the did lose the WAR as Carlton went on to be a Hall of Fame pitcher.

…Btw…upon his arrival in Philly, Carlton signed a contract…yep, it was for the same $65,000 that he sought from the Cards. Carlton piled up an unbelievable career with Philly. Carlton has the 2nd-most lifetime strikeouts of any left-handed pitcher (4th overall), and the 2nd-most lifetime wins of any left-handed pitcher (11th overall). He was the first pitcher to win 4 Cy Young Awards in a career. He was elected to the HOF on his 1^st year of eligibility. His lifetime stats are unbelievable—according to MLB stats: Win–loss record 329–244; Earned run average — 3.22 Strikeouts–4,136. One of his most overlooked records was accounting for nearly half (46%) of his team’s wins, when he won 27 games for the last-place (59–97) 1972 Phillies. Btw…Carlton was elected in MLB HOF on the 1st ballot as he received 436 of the 455 ballots! He won 241 games & 4 Cy Young Awards (best pitcher of the year) in his career.

…Maybe Gussie was tired of the salary hassle with Carlton. In 1970(2 years earlier) In 1970, he held out for a raise from $26,000 to $50,000, eventually signing a two-year deal for $90,000. On 2^nd thought, I would imagine that Gussie realized that he couldn’t negotiate with MLB players like he did with unions. It’s my impression that the Cards GM did the negotiating after 1972.

…Some MLB trades have given teams “2^nd thoughts”….take a look..

… the Toronto Blue Jay have REAL 2^nd thoughts about this 1995 trade with the Yankees: Traded David Cone to the Yankees for Marty Janzen, Mike Gordon and Jason Jarvis. FUTURE WAR after the trade for NYY– was 22.0. Future WAR traded away in trade was minus-0.5

…the Cubs definitely have 2^nd thoughts about their one-sided trade with the Cardinals on June 15,  1964. The Cubs traded Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio.  Brock would earn 41.8 WAR with St. Louis and make the Hall of Fame. Broglio went 7-19 for the Cubs over three seasons.

…Not only did Brock lead the Cardinals into the World Series, he was a star in his 3 trips.  He was one of the best all-around World Series hitters ever! Brock had a 1.079 OPS in World Series play. Of the 134 hitters with at least 75 plate appearances in the Fall Classic, Brock’s OPS ranks 4th all-time in World Series batting records. The names ahead of him are legends—Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mr. October-Reggie Jackson. Brock is tied for the most stolen bases in a World Series career –14.  Tied with him @ 14 stolen bases  is Eddie Collins.

…speaking of the World Series. I can see why the Cubs fans always seem to have 2nd thoughts about their team reaching the Series.  The Chicago Cubs have reached the World Series 10x total in the following years: 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1945, and 2016. They’ve won the World Series just 3 times: in 1907, 1908, and 2016. Yes, there was over 100 years between WS titles!  WOW!  I’d have 2nd thoughts about betting on the Cubbies!!

…The trading “deadline” seems to be the incentive for teams to improve themselves in some way. Some teams want help right now…others are looking down the road. On Thursday alone, 35 trades were consummated. If you include the numerous swaps that happened on Wednesday, we get an even 50 transactions between teams.

….this year, the Cardinals were “sellers”…primarily they were selling off Ryan Helsley (who’s contract ends at the end of this season) to the Mets. There were no 2^nd thoughts about having to “move” Helsely. It’s apparent that Helsley has started his downward trend in performance. He’s lost just that “little” extra on his fastball. His relative regression this season is shown by the numbers as batters are hitting .406 with a .522 slugging percentage against his fastball, compared to .276 batting average and .367 slugging percentage last year. He also has already given up more home runs this season (four) than last season (three).

… I’m not sure that we’ll ever see any of the “prospects” obtained in the trade reach the MLB. Keep in mind when a team(in this case, the Cardinals)acquire several players for 1 player.  The sum of skills of that group is, in theory, equal to the skill of the 1 player. Sooo…don’t hold your breath on any of them wearing a Cardinal uniform outside of spring training.

…thus far, there aren’t any 2^nd thoughts about the recruiting of SLU Mens-Basketball-HC, Josh Schertz. He’s been out recruiting taller athletes. That’s the way that the game is played now. You’ve got to have several taller, mobile players. At this point, SLU has commitments: From Cameron Hutson–East Lansing HS (East Lansing, MI) 6-6 / 190lbs  and Luke Laczkowski, St. Mark’s (Dallas, TX)  6-8 / 200lbs ranked # 84. As of June 30, 2025, the Billikens have landed several notable transfers, including Trey Green, Brady Dunlap, Dion Brown, and Ishan Sharma, as well as Paul Otieno and Quentin Jones. With Robbie Avila returning, the team is expected to be competitive in the A10 in the 2025-26 season.

 …how has Detroit Tigers jumped into 1^st place this year?  Well…there’s several statistical factors…5^th in runs scored in MLB; 8^th in HR in MLB; 4^th in fewest double plays hit into in’25. Pitching tied for #9 (through #19)’ tied for 4^th in issuing fewest walks; tied #10 in team ERA. And…the most important stat, the Tigers have 9 game lead over the 2^nd place Cleveland Guardians. Sooo…any 2nd thoughts that Detroit has been “lucky” thus far, just doesn’t hold much water

….Outside of statistics…some strength’s thus far:  like all good teams—strong starting staff—it’s good right now & holds promises of even better in the future. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Jackson Jobe. Skubal is considered one of the top pitchers in the league and is a strong contender for the Cy Young Award.  Yes…that’s the same Jack Flaherty that once wore a Cardinal uniform(2017-2022-6 seasons).  He’s in his 9^th season now.  In his 21 starts, Batters are hitting a weak .232 against him in2025. Some MLB experts have 2^nd thoughts that this starting staff can remain so strong throughout the entire 2025 season.

…. In addition, the Tiger offense has seen a significant improvement in scoring runs and overall offensive statistics. They boast the 5th-highest scoring average in MLB, according to a June 3, 2025 MLB.com article. This improvement has been driven by increased production from players like Spencer Torkelson and Javier Báez, who are hitting significantly better this year.

…Before we leave baseball….the NL Central division has been labeled the “weakest” division for years. It doesn’t look that way to me.  The Brewers, at this moment, have the most wins in the entire NL. While the Cubs are just 1 game behind them. In this interleague play, the overall record REALLY DOES  say something about the overall strength of the team. No 2^nd THOUGHTS ABOUT THAT!

…Let’s look ahead @ NCAA football. The defending champion, the Ohio State Buckeyes open up with a game against Texas! What a GREAT game to open the 2025 season. There’s no 2^nd thought about that game being the best of week 1 of 2025 NCAA Football Season!

…As a baseball fan reviews the Rookie of the Year since the year 2000, it’s a bit surprising. Take a look: Rafael Furcal (2000), Albert Pujols (2001)—btw, Albert’s 130 RBI’s in his rookie year is by far the highest of this group!  Jason Jennings (2002), Dontrelle Willis (2003), Jason Bay (2004), Ryan Howard (2005), Hanley Ramirez (2006), Troy Tulowitzki (2007), Geovany Soto (2008), Chris Coghlan (2009), Buster Posey (2010), Craig Kimbrel (2011), Bryce Harper (2012), Jose Fernandez (2013), Jacob deGrom (2014), Kris Bryant (2015), Corey Seager (2016), Cody Bellinger (2017), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2018), Pete Alonso (2019), Devin Williams (2020), Jonathan India (2021), Spencer Strider (2022), Corbin Carroll (2023), and Paul Skenes (2024). There’s certainly no 2^nd thoughts about who was the Best Rookie of The Year since 2000. BTW…Albert was the only Cardinal Rookie of The Year from 2000-2024.

…As disgusted as I am about the adoption of the NIL money to college sports, why not take it from behind closed doors, to an open procedure.   Let each player be called on the stage and then the bidding would begin by the NIL donors from each school (they aren’t part of the school). There’d be a 3 minute time limit on each player.  It would sure beat all the “behind the scene” transactions that are currently taking place in the NCAA. I suppose that there would probably have to install a limit for each team in the total spending in each sport. I just want to get their “pay” out in the open .. I have no 2^nd thoughts  about that !! I’ve been asking for 6 months now…how can we call these players “amateurs”?

….what are their chances of minor league players (in general) reaching the MLB…well , the percentages for ALL drafted minor league players reaching the MLB is 11.2%!  In Math terms … rounding off…it’s about 1 out of 10 will make it. That may be 1 reason why athletes are having 2^nd thoughts about making baseball their career!!

….many MLB fans are having 2nd thoughts about the Detroit Tigers currently. After a red-hot start to the 2025 season, the Tigers have sagged a bit. The Tigers are 2-12 in their last 14 games and are around .500 since mid-May. Their scorching hot start combined with the AL Central’s overall mediocrity means Detroit still has a comfortable 9-game lead in the division. But, Bullpen help is badly needed here. I would expect the Tigers to add at least one reliever this week, probably 2 or 3 !

…Finally, maybe some fans are having 2^nd thoughts about the lack of action in baseball. I personally think that MLB games are “moving along” at a much better clip than years ago.  But…a couple nights ago, the wildest baseball game in a long, long time took place. In the Braves/Reds game, EACH team scored 10 runs in 1 inning!! Marcel Ozuna drove in Matt Olson with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 12-11 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night in a game that featured a total of 12 pitchers and 30 hits combined. In the 8^th inning alone, Combined, there were 5 pitchers, 25 batters and 16 hits in the eighth inning!! Boy…does it seem like Marcel Ozuna played for the Cardinals a long, long time ago to  you, too?

…That will wrap it up for today…no 2^nd THOUGHTS ABOUT THAT 😊  Thanks for your time & read! YOUR THOUGHTS  (1^ST OR 2^ND)  on any part of the Buzz are always invited!  Bob