mul21

Seems like it's been mostly high heat from observation and it also feels like he's swinging more.

Yeah, I have the same issue with Bally Sports here in STL. Seems like most of those very specialized apps aren't available directly through the TV.

He's not Javy, but he's been really good from what I've watched so far this year.

I think the cancer piece and him wanting to secure his financial security are things that really, really have to be considered here on top of the timing/track record. Add in the fact that this front office drafted him and traded for him twice, it was a significant leap of faith and trusting in their own judgement to sign that deal when they did. I don't feel a bit sorry for him when he could have gotten a longer, better deal from the Cubs and now comes out with this nonsense. GTFO.

Absolutely awful fundamentally. Over ran it and didn't set his feet at all to throw. So bad.

Some of you need to work on your math. That deal is for $210M, not $300M+.

As someone who supports a mostly reviled sports team with a new and eminently likeable coach, I can assure you that you will find new reasons to hate Duke. Yeah, it'll be really easy for Illini fans especially since Scheyer rejected them to go to Duke back in the day.

Problem isn't Poles, it's your expectations. Poles wasn't going to come in and build this team into a contender with 5 draft picks, little cap room, and like 23 players under contract. What's the threshold for you to be ok with what he's done? Did you want to pay Christian Kirk 19M per season? Did you want to trade 1 or more of the limited draft picks just for the right to pay a WR 20-25Mil/year (Cooper, Hill, Adams)? He tried to add Bates, but the deal was matched? They were in on other linemen who got paid more than they were willing to pay, and probably went to teams closer to winning than the Bears are. I would have liked a stud lineman or proven WR as much as anyone else, but the only reason why you are disappointed is because he didn't do what you wanted him to do, not because of what he's done/hasn't done. If the Bears had signed Terron Armstead and traded for Robert Woods (using him because his trade value and contract are most reasonable of the deals made) they'd still be a team that's not good enough to seriously compete for a Superbowl, maybe not even a playoff spot. If you're that far away and need 21 other players, there's really not a point in hampering your future ability to add players by giving 15M/year to a 30+ year old or trading draft picks for a big salary or injury risk, in Woods' case. The GM and the coaching is the help this year. Clearly those were huge issues for Fields last year, by his own admission at least in the Cleveland game. Just relax and give it more than 2 months. I don't really disagree with you much, but if Fields gets killed this year because the O-Line is so bad and turns into David Carr then you've set yourself back another 3-4 years. It's certainly a fine line to walk.

Idiot Cards fans have caused the ticket price for the last home game this year to already spike after he signed. I was giving my friends down here a hard time and said they should plan on the last home series of July for his last game. I will say this, I don't think it's a wise decision for him to be on the Cardinals roster if they intend to win the division. But, I think it's great that he is getting a chance to end his career with the organization he started with and for the Cardinal fans. It's the sort of thing an organization that cares about its fan base does. Javy, Bryant, and Rizzo aren't in the same category of player that Pujols is/was with the history he has with the Cardinals, but if the Cubs aren't competitive I would love to see them get to retire as Cubs. I strongly suspect the Cubs are not like the Cardinals though. Sentimental nonsense, I know. Yeah, I thought it would have been a dumb move for any team trying to win games, which was why the Colorado rumors made a lot of sense to me. I'm definitely hoping for an ugly end to things and all those people who called him a trader, dropped the N bomb on him and otherwise disparaged him for signing with the Angels come back out of the woodwork. A buddy told me the last like 11 Instagram posts from the Cards have all been Pujols related and now they've started selling a 5 game Pujols ticket package. I'd be pissed if I was guy who was going to be an everyday contributor and he's the guy getting all the press when he's going to be a bit player at best.

I'm bracing for him to magically revert to at least something resembling STL performance levels for short stretches and be overall way better than he has been most of the time since he left. I know it's unlikely but this is STL and I never rule anything out Idiot Cards fans have caused the ticket price for the last home game this year to already spike after he signed. I was giving my friends down here a hard time and said they should plan on the last home series of July for his last game.

What happened to Hendricks starting?

That last 4th and inches call will put a damper on what was a fairly decent game plan. That was ugly as a call. Then things spiraled in minutes, mainly because they had no choice but to try and let Mitch win it. I don't tend to get too caught up in the individual play calls. Every playcall looks terrible when it doesn't work and brilliant when it does. They went 4-for-5 on 4th and short. Sometimes the defense just wins. Generally I'd agree with you, but that play had no chance from the outset. 2 receivers bunched to one side with a rollout that way and nobody going downfield on that side to clear any defenders. They'd crammed it down their throat several times already and gotten them with a spread formation. Why they didn't go with some variation o f what had already been successful I have no idea. Give it to Monty and have him get you a yard or have Mitch sneak it again. That's too pivotal a moment in the game to do something gimmicky like they did.

Nagy is bad. I have no idea what happened to the plays KC runs with guys wide open across the middle all the time but this offense is trash in terms of design.

Looked like pretty obvious DPI to me.

He really needs to be hitting 2nd or 3rd in this order Don’t move him and horsefeathers him up again like last year.

Oof, Chris Duncan in the OF is an easy list topper there for me. Todd Hundley in the OF is close too.

I think the difference is that the Marlins has a pretty good idea of who had been exposed and who hadn’t while the Cards tests have been trickling in little by little and they have no idea who may or may not test positive, so it’s hard to just bring in new guys not knowing if the guys who haven’t tested positive yet still might.

I don't know what changed but ever since the great blackout of 2020, this site is marked as suspicious and inaccessible at work. Therefore, I rarely visit anymore because I can't pull it up there. Anything that can be updated to change that?

That's terrible math. And he's wrong. The benefit was more than 50% greater than the misses.

Yeah, I may have worded it badly... my scenario high school draftees and college draftees contracts are for a different number of years for that very reason. EDIT: probably should have said high school draftees are for X years, college draftees for Y years, etc. I think that situation would be easily avoided if you make it X years from signing with a caveat that says not to exceed Y years in MLB. So if it's a 10 year window from signing and the player is in MLB after 2 years, there's a 6 year maximum at that point from the time of promotion.

Well that was a nice little performance in West Lafayette tonight. This Illinois team is really good when they’re hitting shots and I really like the defense and rebounding.

Eh, you wreck an ankle like he did and it takes a long time before you get back to 100% on strength and range of motion and sometimes you never fully get it all back. I would bet he's at a stage now where it's something most of us won't notice but he can still feel it a little bit.

Saw the headline, has he been hurt? Or just trying to get out of the NFL alive? He missed like 7 games this year due to concussions.

Martinez is terrible in the field but the dude hits every time he's in the lineup. He's not gonna get you 30/100 or anything but he'll probably hit .280+ and OBP .350+ with a decent slug.

They're still way too inconsistent in effort on a game to game basis.