5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: 5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

Post by Big Amoco Sign »

MrCrowesGarden wrote:
May 25 22, 10:35 am
I think Hudson can be passable as a 5th starter, but that's it. I think the Cardinals see him as more of a 3. There's definitely a playing with fire element to Hudson. Fortunately, Mikolas has been pretty good this year, so that's mitigated some of it, but the pitching staff by and large is still bad.
Agree. They are 6th in rWAR but 26th in fWAR. They really benefit from batted balls and a good defense. They spit at walks and aren't threatened by a first base baserunner. I worry about that strategy with so many rookies in general and rookies/young players in positions they aren't ideal for. Donovan in the OF, Gorman at 2B, Dickerson in LF....all at once, etc.

Flaherty is back around July. Muddling until then is what they'll do. I am guessing when Matz is back, Liberatore gets a chance to take Hicks's job, or they become tandem. Or Hicks and Hudson become tandem.

And if Hicks isn't making scheduled appearances and is back in the pen and unpredictably used again, what does that mean for his elbow/arm? Wasn't the whole point to get him on a scheduled and rigid regimen?

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Popeye_Card
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Re: 5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

Post by Popeye_Card »

Magneto2.0 wrote:
May 25 22, 9:50 am
Popeye_Card wrote:
May 25 22, 7:18 am
Magneto2.0 wrote:
May 24 22, 10:13 pm

Hudson has walked 19 batters and has 22 ks in 40 innings pitched with a 4.88 FIP. He's going to implode at any minute. He needs to be out the rotation asap. I'm not mad at your argument about Hicks may need to be stretched out in AAA instead of the majors, but we really don't have any better options that will clearly give us more innings. They're not gonna push Liberatore.
This has been Hudson's performance his entire career thus far, and he's yet to implode. I don't have any illusions of Hudson being a top-tier starter, but he's perfectly fine as a back-end starter to eat innings and give the team a shot to win on most nights. As long as he's generating ground balls and limiting HR's like he has always done, he'll be a serviceable starter with the Cardinals' defense.

Hicks should be in the bullpen or AAA, and the Cardinals need to bring in an external option as a starter. That's been clear since before spring training, but here we are muddling around again.
He's only had 1 real season as a starter. He's only started 17 games in the last 3 years combined. The implosion is eventually gonna come. Almost every pitcher who pitches like him, eventually get bombed out of the league, save for maybe 1 or 2 who hung on by the skin of their teeth.
Counterpoint. He's only started 17 games in the last 3 years combined, which are also his age 25-27 seasons. Which are typically the seasons that make or break pitchers - they either correct the problems holding them back (which usually are control/command related), or they never find the next gear. Hudson simply hasn't had the opportunity to see which way it is going to go yet.

I think everyone continues to undervalue the skills Hudson *does* possess. He has a great, heavy fastball that hitters have a difficult time squaring up. That's a huge building block. He and the coaching staff need to focus on that and shy away from his lesser secondary pitches. Throw fastballs, most importantly throw strikes, and let's see what the results are. Best case is maybe a Lance Lynn. Worst case is...well, a crappy pitcher that you can toss in the recycling bin like everyone is already apparently prepared to do.

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Re: 5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

Post by Jedibaracuda »

Hudson is like alot of pitchers the Cardinals have had in their back end and they managed to get by. He’s fine as a #5 option. The Hicks project is much more worrisome. He was pitching no more than 2 innings at a time previously and needed TJS. Now they are trying to stretch him into a starter in the high pressure environment of major league games after missing 2 seasons. Not only is that begging to lose games. It’s also begging to send him right back to the IL. That’s not even accounting for what it is doing to our bullpen.

There’s simply no excuse, especially with all the money that came off the books this season, for Mo not to get another starter. Flaherty went down before the season even started and you can’t just tap into your internal options like he’s done in the past because we simply don’t have the depth anymore and haven’t for the past few years. It took a 17 game winning streak to get us out of the muddle last year. Is he really banking on something like that again?

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Re: 5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

Post by Big Amoco Sign »

The starters are a problem. But is anyone else concerned about the pen only having two reliable arms?

Pallante is still about to implode himself. 4.18 xFIP and cartoonish fake GB% and LOB%. I think he's decent but not sure I am buying in fully. They need another solid arm in the pen. McFarland isn't it. And Cabby fell off.

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Re: 5/24 GDT: Blue Jays(Gausman) vs Cardinals(Hicks) 6:45 PM CT

Post by dmarx114 »

Jedibaracuda wrote:
May 25 22, 1:36 pm
Hudson is like alot of pitchers the Cardinals have had in their back end and they managed to get by. He’s fine as a #5 option. The Hicks project is much more worrisome. He was pitching no more than 2 innings at a time previously and needed TJS. Now they are trying to stretch him into a starter in the high pressure environment of major league games after missing 2 seasons. Not only is that begging to lose games. It’s also begging to send him right back to the IL. That’s not even accounting for what it is doing to our bullpen.

There’s simply no excuse, especially with all the money that came off the books this season, for Mo not to get another starter. Flaherty went down before the season even started and you can’t just tap into your internal options like he’s done in the past because we simply don’t have the depth anymore and haven’t for the past few years. It took a 17 game winning streak to get us out of the muddle last year. Is he really banking on something like that again?
Why do you believe this to be the case? The organization believes it's better for his health to be a starter.

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