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Farewell Friends wrote:It appears to me that the Cardinals don't really have a good Plan B to pivot towards once they get rejected. It was going to be Donaldson-or-bust at third base, which I don't mind. But once they reached an impasse over Archer, there were no other pitching options to target via trade and they seem loathe to commit 5+ years to Arrieta or Darvish. I'm more annoyed that they allowed a parade of really good relievers to waltz on by.

MrCrowesGarden wrote:Then you’ll never hear it. This team bunkers as much as anyone. This is basically saying you don’t trust Goold’s reporting, which I suppose you can do but I don’t understand why.

Fat Strat wrote:

Jocephus wrote:

Fat Strat wrote:

ZigZagCardsFan wrote:

Farewell Friends wrote:I'm more annoyed that they allowed a parade of really good relievers to waltz on by.

In the offseason following the trade deadline where 10+ good relievers were dealt for a whole lot of not much and we sat on our hands.

Yeah, we clearly don't want to get into the reliever game again. It's almost like we get burned once and we're afraid not even to touch the oven, we won't even go into the kitchen.

only raw items now

Yeah... trusting mostly in a high floor system has felt like we've settled for gas station sushi. Piscotty, Grichuk, Wong, Wacha -- that one time "next future core" -- has left us with little more than a mild case of salmonella.

MrCrowesGarden wrote:You understand that’s how reporting and journalism works, I hope. He has a source that he trusts provide him with that information. Just because the Cardinals won’t comment doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Derrick Goold isn’t the [expletive] Weekly World News.

Fat Strat wrote:

Radbird wrote:

Fat Strat wrote:

MinorLeagueGuy wrote:The amount of fallback options we have in the current pen is scary. I'd hate to play(pitch) underwhelming baseball in Apr\May watching Luke attempt to get his "legs" back. Flounder in June, while we watch a carousel of Brebbia\Tui\Lyons\Cecil(yep) try to pitch us through 27 outs. Then lurk on the fringe of the trade market, hunting for a marginal upgrade that MIGHT fall to you on the waiver wire...WONT IT BE SO EXCITING?? game over

I have posted about this before, but also consider who is managing all that. Even the club has admitted that Matheny is not the best at handling a pen that doesn’t have set roles. Outside of Gregerson as the defacto “as of today” closer, no one else really has a defined role. Is Lyons the lefty specialist or the fireman? Cecil the lefty guy or the 8th inning guy, since Lyons is the fireman? Or is Tui the 8th inning guy, or fireman because Lyons is the 8th inning guy, or the longman because Cecil is the 8th and Lyons is the fireman?

I am sure that they will come out of spring training with some definition and that will last about 3 games and then typical bullpen hell will break loose and Matheny will flounder until July when we trade a 1st rounder for a Chisek type.

Any chance Maddux can have a positive impact on ‘pen usage?

Maybe! I have no idea. Just depends on the influence that Matheny gives him. I'm sure Goold will have some stuff about that when ST hits because he's been talking consistently about the "color by numbers" pen issue with Matheny.

If Matheny is smart (questionable) and humble (likely), he'll realize his own faults with pen usage and let Maddux and whoever the pen coach is just handle all of that.

MrCrowesGarden wrote:I’m apoplectic here. Of course they’re not going to say anything. What reason would they?