Former Cardinals Watch

[lukethedrifter]

Grichuk just took a steel chair to the head.

https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp ... _2500K.mp4

[SHOW]

Damn. Coulda taken a stool leg in the eye.

[Big Amoco Sign]

Tommy Pham raking in Tampa.

151 wRC+ since the trade and improved defense.

Still pissed about this trade...

[Jocephus]

How binding is Pujols' personal service contract? Would Angels really prohibit him from coming back to Cardinals in some capacity after his playing days?
by Big Al 5:00 PM yesterday

Yes, if he wants to get paid. It's a mutual agreement worth, I believe, $10 million.
by Derrick Goold 5:01 PM yesterday

[cardsfantx]

trevor rosenthal article...

http://www.stlsportspage.com/CARDSBASEB ... yV6Qj.dpbs

[Jocephus]

Sleepy
10:55
The A's lead all of baseball in position player WAR. What a world.

Jeff Sullivan
10:55
In the second half they have a wRC+ of 121. No one else is above 110
10:56
It's been quiet, but the discovery of Ramon Laureano and the understandable turnaround of Stephen Piscotty have been enormous
It's no fun to analyze a situation like Piscotty's, since he's been through more than most people could imagine, but holy hell has he ever been good

[InvincibleCakeEater]

Pham has a 16 game hitting streak and is hitting .321 .418 .548 .966 since the trade.

[CardsofSTL]

How binding is Pujols' personal service contract? Would Angels really prohibit him from coming back to Cardinals in some capacity after his playing days?
by Big Al 5:00 PM yesterday

Yes, if he wants to get paid. It's a mutual agreement worth, I believe, $10 million.
by Derrick Goold 5:01 PM yesterday

Hrabosky should use a little more subterfuge in selecting his user names when trying to troll Goold.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

Robert Stock has a 2.31 ERA and 2.84 FIP in 35 IP this year.

[Jocephus]

Jonny
12:09
With the Cardinals being in the thick of the race now, and Tommy Pham putting up a 166 wRC+ and 1.1 WAR so far with the Rays, do the Cardinals regret that trade now? Or do they really think Pham is a net negative? Or do they just really really like Justin Williams?

Jay Jaffe
12:14
We know that tensions were pretty high between Pham and the team based on a number of issues, including playing time, his contract renewal, and his long road through the minors. We also know that the Cardinals have had tremendous outfield depth in recent years, depth that led them to trade Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk this past winter and not miss them at all. I can't say I know much about Williams, but I do know they wanted to create more space for Harrison Bader and Tyler O'Neill

[Hoot45]

OF Traded: 4.9 total bWAR among Piscotty (2.4), Grichuk (1.6), and Pham (0.9 since trade).
OF Added : 7.5 total bWAR among Ozuna (2.6), Bader (3.7), and O'Neill (1.2).

It's easy to look former players up and lament trading them away, but sometimes there are valuable guys who just aren't the right fit for what you're trying to accomplish. People want to look at what Pham is doing in Tampa in isolation and say we made a bad deal, but the game isn't played on paper and that complaint doesn't take into account what we replaced him with.

Getting Tommy out of the organization was a good call and that's not a slam on the Cards or Pham. He just wasn't the right guy. Meanwhile, creating playing time for Bader/O'Neill worked.