"not worthy of its own thread" offseason thread

[MinorLeagueGuy]

Theoretically hasn't sales dropped for merchandise, etc? I mean tickets are a slippery road; we all know the team announces tickets sold per game, regardless of "butts in seats". But if the team had a bonifide contender, not some fringe competitor, they'd be selling MORE of virtually EVERYTHING. There's never an end to how much you can profit; if you think you've maxed profits, you are missing the bigger picture because there's always a way to earn more thinking outside the box. But this FO thinks they're teetering on some precipous. Struggling to spend 'just enough' to waiver between rebuilding and retooling.

[ZigZagCardsFan]

I can’t really remember a season before 2016 where that was the case. I do know that the Cardinals are flush with cash and prospects, so it’s malfeasance to leave this many vulnerabilities.

Agree with this 100-percent. And it's compounded by not addressing the most glaring issue from the previous season.

They must really believe in this wave of young arms that are going to be graduating from the minors soon, but if that's the case, I don't think they have the right person managing to get the most out of the volatility that these young arms are likely to bring.

[pioneer98]

I'm OK with the lineup. Not blown away by it, but there are enough above average players in the lineup that it's justifiable to go with what they've got there. Marp, Fowler, Ozuna, Pham is a pretty solid top of the order. Gyorko, Dejong and Wong could even be above average hitters.

The rotation is not quite as strong. If Mikolas comes close to hitting his Fangraphs projection (120IP and a 4.12 ERA) and Weaver also delivers, then it may be OK, too. Maybe not as solid as the lineup, but not awful.

The bullpen has the most questions and right now it looks below average to me. There's just nobody there that I think is reliable besides Lyons. I actually like the Gregerson signing if we were signing him to be a 7th inning guy. But he's going to be the stopper you bring in with the game on the line? It's hard for me to picture any of the current bullpen arms coming in for a 4 out save in a 1 run game. It would be really, really nice to have that kind of player, and would bump Lyons and Gregerson into slightly lower leverage situations where they probably belong.

Agree all around.

This is my feeling heading into the season. I am very worried the bullpen will take us from a potential 92 win team to an 85 win team.

I'm worried the bullpen will take them from an 88 win team down to an 81 win team. I don't think this is a 92 win team right now. I think if they had 1 more starter and a solid closer, then maybe. Or maybe if they had Donaldson and a closer. Just adding the closer by itself just kind of raises the floor of this team.

[pioneer98]

A couple of veteran RH relievers that might be worth kicking the tires on: Koji Uehara, Matt Albers, and David Hernandez.

I wouldn't mind Bruce Rondon getting a minor-league contract with an invite to ST.

I would not mind Albers at all. He's not the closer we are looking for, but he would add some depth in case one of our other bullpen guys flames out.

[pioneer98]

Albers had a ridiculously low ERA that is unsustainable (1.62 ERA versus a 3.40 FIP last year). But he did have 63 K's in 61 innings, and only walked 17.

[Jocephus]

worst contracts per team

St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright ($19.5M), Mike Leake ($6M). Wainwright has certainly given the Cardinals a lot of value over the years, but the $97.5 million extension signed in 2014 has provided just one stellar season, one injury season, a 4.62 ERA in 2016 and the 5.11 ERA of 2017. A couple of nine-run, blowup outings hurt the ERA, and then he tried to pitch through a back injury in August (and missed September), so don't rule out a better season. The Cardinals will pay the Mariners $15 million over the next three seasons to help cover Leake's contract.

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post ... l-30-teams

[MrCrowesGarden]

He's right that the team is 9th in revenue, but payroll has been 13 and 14 the last two seasons and is down again this year.

[Socnorb11]

I think you're right that they were around 13 last year. It looks like they were right at 9th in 2016.


http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2016/




Edit: According to this link, they were actually 16th in 2017.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I think you're right that they were around 13 last year. It looks like they were right at 9th in 2016.


http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2016/




Edit: According to this link, they were actually 16th in 2017.

I have seen sources that say they were 9th in 2016 and sources that say 14th, so I'm not sure where the discrepancy comes from.

[Magneto2.0]