Goldschmidt hasn’t fixed everything that ails him. His walk rate during his recent hot streak is worryingly low, and his performance on high-velocity fastballs, which Jay identified as a problem last year, is the lowest of his career. He’ll need to adjust again if pitchers counter his recent aggression on inside pitches. For a batter who was metronomically consistent for so many years, his future is startlingly unsettled.
At the moment, though, the chaos is working for him. Goldschmidt has been one of the best hitters in baseball for the past month, powering a Cardinals offense desperately in need of consistency. He’s shown, with adjustments small and large, why the Cardinals were so eager to acquire him this offseason. After all the early-season struggles and worries about age-related decline, it seems surprising, but this season has gone about how many would have predicted this spring. The Cardinals are locked in a three-way dogfight for the NL Central, and Goldschmidt’s hot bat is keeping them in the race. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, but for now, a season of highs, lows, and dramatic adjustments has ended in a predictable place.
I understand that Goldschmidt has been good, and definitely carried us for that week after the All-Star break. But, am I alone in feeling like, as good as he's been, he still hasn't been good enough? For Aug, he's hitting - .286/.324/.400. It kind of seems like he had one amazing week, and other than that, the Goldschmidt from before the break is the same Goldschmidt as after the break. Hopefully that will change, because we need more of 900 OPS Goldschmidt and less of 700 OPS Goldschmidt.
Fat Strat wrote:I understand that Goldschmidt has been good, and definitely carried us for that week after the All-Star break. But, am I alone in feeling like, as good as he's been, he still hasn't been good enough? For Aug, he's hitting - .286/.324/.400. It kind of seems like he had one amazing week, and other than that, the Goldschmidt from before the break is the same Goldschmidt as after the break. Hopefully that will change, because we need more of 900 OPS Goldschmidt and less of 700 OPS Goldschmidt.
If we had good Goldschmidt with some good Ozuna and maybe a little above average Carpenter and a solid DeJong...we'd really have something.
Goldschmidt has been a bust. There's no way to really sugar coat it. He would have had to have like 3 months like July to offset the suckage from the first half of the season and be the player they thought they were signing. He could go on a tear here for the last 6 weeks of the season and salvage something, but it's getting late. And he's only getting older. This was the year they needed him to be like top 3 in MVP voting in order to justify the back end of his contract.
The last thing we need is Pyriteschmidt (used with gobirds' blessing) hanging around with hardcore youths and riding matteesses down hills or skateboarding through abandoned warehouses every time some guy shouts 'Surge!'