I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
As Billy Beane said in Moneyball, "If we don't win the last game of the series, they'll dismiss it."
Winning fixes all. If the Cardinals have a good first half, the bullpen ends up being nails, Gray gets 2nd in Cy Young, Lynn/Gibson pitch 400 innings of 4.00 ERA ball, they add an ace at the deadline, and win the World Series... every fan that has been negative will be right back to "The Cardinal Way pays off" "The Devil Magic is back!" and "The Cardinals will always be the class of the NL".
I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.
I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.
If they're correct (finances are their problem), then why did they barely finish .500 with the 2nd largest payroll?
I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.
If they're correct (finances are their problem), then why did they barely finish .500 with the 2nd largest payroll?
Probably because they let themselves routinely get outbid for elite players and then end up paying 2nd tier players. If they would spend more money at the top, they’d have more wins.
I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.
If they're correct (finances are their problem), then why did they barely finish .500 with the 2nd largest payroll?
Probably because they let themselves routinely get outbid for elite players and then end up paying 2nd tier players. If they would spend more money at the top, they’d have more wins.
So we agree that it's not about spending more money. It's about spending wisely, while you develop differnce-makers within your system.
However I wouldn’t hold out hope that anything significant is still coming. It is becoming apparent to me that the Cardinals are being very conservative with spend and contract lengths until the Bally situation is cleared up. Also not going to rule out that they are tidying up the contracts for a potential sale of the team.
Right, not banking on it but even BD3 yesterday said it's there for the right deal, but they're not going to spend to spend, which is back to business as usual for Cardinals fans. I'd rather this and the possibility of adding a starter even by the trade deadline of playoffs look like a probability than give Jordan Hicks $10M/yr because the self imposed budget space is there.
It's interesting also that the Yankees had the 2nd highest payroll in baseball last year, barely finished .500, and their fans still think that the problem is financial.
Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.
If they're correct (finances are their problem), then why did they barely finish .500 with the 2nd largest payroll?
Probably because they let themselves routinely get outbid for elite players and then end up paying 2nd tier players. If they would spend more money at the top, they’d have more wins.
So we agree that it's not about spending more money. It's about spending wisely, while you develop differnce-makers within your system.
Poking around fangraphs and going by the last 3 years, here's where Kittredge ranks vs last years bullpen over that same period:
(min 90 innings, since he's at 97 over that time)
ERA - 1st
WHIP - 1st
K/9 - 5th
BB/9 - 1st
K/BB- 1st
FIP - 2nd
xFIP - 1st
WAR - 3rd (tied with Hicks, but with 13 fewer innings)
Maybe there's some context I don't know about, and it'd be nice for the Ks to be higher, but if he's fully recovered that seems good for Palacios.
To me it's a good trade already. You took a player who's probably at the height of his value that didn't have a chance to be anything but a 5th outfielder at best on this roster and turned it into a possible late inning reliever. It's a no brainer imo. Only risk is he hasn't been healthy.
