GaryWoods

I do, for one. At least I did that series.

Yeah, on a positive lighter note, it'll be interesting to see if he can find creative ways to use Ohtani. On a much more important darker note, this Skaggs situation could turn into a huge mess. I'm guessing there's a good amount of work being done behind the scenes to keep this out of the headlines during the playoffs. The second part is what I was talking about. I live out here and it sounds really bad. It's definitely not Gene Autry's team anymore.

The thing that will forever upset me about the juiced ball era and the Cubs is that all these other teams had guys who struggled to reach 20 home runs crushing 30 dongs a year and our two biggest HR threats, Rizzo and Bryant, can barely reach 30. I know Bryant had his shoulder issues and he was plenty valuable as was, but a fully healthy Bryant should have no issues hitting 40+ in this juiced ball environment and Rizzo shouldn't be struggling to reach a number that guys like Ketel Marte and Yuli Gurriel and Kole Calhoun and Mitch Garver reached with relative ease. Meanwhile, our biggest benefactor from the juiced ball was probably Jason Heyward who hit 21 homers and managed to boost his offense to replacement level production. Huzzah. The juiced ball pushed a lot of warning-track fly balls barely over the wall, which is why Heyward hit a dozen more basket shots than usual. Rizzo and Bryant (and Schwarber, as far as that goes) don't historically record a ton of warning-track outs, so they didn't really benefit from the juiced ball.

Yes, Kolten. The haters were right. Good luck repeating this charade next season, bitch! So people who didn't think the Cardinals would win the division are "haters"? That seems a little harsh considering the fact that many Cardinal fans would have to be included in that broad statement. Coupled with Mike Schildt's assertion that the Braves "started some " just by showing up for their scheduled playoff series and that any team that dares to take the field against them is with them, the current Cardinal culture seems a bit pansyish.

Honestly, I think the complete opposite. Free agency has been particularly unkind to guys in their mid 30's lately, so Rendon's not going to want to sign a deal like that and hit FA again at 35. He is most likely going to geta contract that could be his last, 8-10 years in the 30 per year neighborhood. There's an outside chance he does something short at a crazy AAV, like 4/150, but until we actually see one I'm growing increasingly skeptical that the Dodgers are actually offering these. I happened to read an article about Howie Kendrick in the last couple of days where Rendon was quoted as saying that he doesn't want to be playing baseball when he's Kendrick's age (36). Maybe he was just poking fun at Kendrick, but if he was serious a deal that takes him to age 35 might be exactly what he looks for.

It just comes with the territory for pitchers who keep the ball in the strike zone. Fergie Jenkins was always among the league leaders in home runs allowed.

Dave Martinez seems too nice a guy to do that (or appears too nice to do that). I agree it'd be horsefeathering awesome if he did give that speech lol. For Schildt:

Can anyone else spot what’s wrong with this sentence? So I take this to mean that there are a few closeted black bullpen coaches out there?

But would you trade Yadi for Mike Trout? Yadi will finish his career as a Cardinal, and that has been the plan since Pujols left. He's this generation's franchise player for St. Louis. And yes, I absolutely understand why fans from other teams hate him. I was trying to come up with a comparable player in recent (2 decades) of a Cubs player and how fans regarded them. I'm having trouble finding a 15 year player with multiple all-star appearances and arguably a HOF career. I think Rizzo is probably the closest as far as fans adoring a player. Am I missing somebody? Do we have to go back to the 60s/70s teams to do that? I think Steve Stone comes closest. But that was as an announcer. Rizzo will be that guy if he sticks around awhile and his performance doesn't fall off a cliff. I barely followed the Cubs for about 10 years following the debacle that was the 2004 season so I missed most of the tenures of Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee, but as I recall they were both pretty well loved although their tenures didn't really reach the "forever identified with the Cubs" mark and therefore probably aren't what you're looking for. Sammy Sosa was there up until the 2004 season. Grace was pretty close, but when Rafael Palmeiro started using steroids developed into a power hitter a lot of fans felt like the Cubs had traded the wrong first baseman. Plus he kind of turned into a grumpy old man his last year or so with the Cubs.

Beating Scherzer twice does mean something, lol. Sorry you can't do "small samples!!!" to things like that. That guy wrecked almost every one he faced. Since Jeff Albert (came over from Houston) became the primary hitting coach, the Cardinals have had the 4th best offense in baseball. Nationals, like the Braves, have a crap bullpen. You need that to win in the playoffs. Cardinals will just hack fouls and take take take until the 5th-6th when starters are lifted and feast on their pen. Just like we did Atlanta. I don't put a lot of stock into WAR for pitchers when the stat doesn't consider weak contact/ground balls. And that's the moneyball market efficiency that Cardinals were all-in on. Mikolas, Waino, and Hudson are all groundball specialists. The whole staff is. With Edman and Wong and DeJong in the infield... it'll be smooth sailing barring crazy BABIP luck. Cardinals are the best postseason team remaining with HR/FB rates too. We keep the ball in the park in a homer-crazy league. That's how you win. That's how we'll beat the Nationals. But would you trade Yadi for Mike Trout? Most Cardinal fans I know wouldn't trade Yadi for Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Duke Snyder together in their respective primes.

You forgot to mention the statue of Jobu in Heyward's locker.

I'd prefer Gabe Kaplan.

He'd better just stay there until he catches Catfish Hunter.

The evil part of me wants them to bring in Mike Matheny. Not because I think he'd be a good fit; I just have a few friends who are Cardinal fans who have an irrational affection for the dude and are still butthurt that the Cards let him go, and I'd love to witness their reactions.