4/30 GDT: Cardinals(Dobbins) @ Pirates(Skenes) 11:35 AM CT

[cardsfantx]

There will be some bright spots, sure. But the roster is still not good, and watching this pitching staff all season is going to be painful. Occasionally fun should not be conflated with "good".

As a reminder, last year's squad was 8 games over .500 at the end of May. They went 45-59 from that point on.

Yes but that 2025 squad had established guys like Contreras, Donovan, Gray, Arenado, Helsley and more

We ain’t got no one this year lol…I mean stanek is our veteran this year

It ain’t gonna be great, but I’d rather watch this than that 2025 squad

[sighyoung]

Yeah, watching this team is like playing with house money. They're not a playoff-caliber team, their pitching staff is weak, and they've got significant offensive holes. Still, there have been plenty of entertaining individual performances and surprising team wins. Even after a bad series, they don't fold.

They're a young team that's fun to root for. When Stanek or Svanson begin melting down, well, I've got plenty of household chores I can turn to.

[Popeye_Card]

There will be some bright spots, sure. But the roster is still not good, and watching this pitching staff all season is going to be painful. Occasionally fun should not be conflated with "good".

As a reminder, last year's squad was 8 games over .500 at the end of May. They went 45-59 from that point on.

Yes but that 2025 squad had established guys like Contreras, Donovan, Gray, Arenado, Helsley and more

We ain’t got no one this year lol…I mean stanek is our veteran this year

It ain’t gonna be great, but I’d rather watch this than that 2025 squad

Yes and no?

Sure, watching Arenado be a shell of his former self was not great. But watching Donovan, Gray, Contreras still on the squad was fine.

The expectation piece is different. Last year was a former hopeful contender still trying to hang on, and not commit to a rebuild. That's more depressing to watch than a team committing to a youth movement.

But it is still difficult to watch the pitching in particular, when the silver lining is somewhat thin. So many of our salary dumps brought pitching back in return, but there seemingly still isn't a whole lot to look forward to. Other than the Dick Fitts puns, of course.

[jagtrader]

The offseason isn’t looking so hot. Fitts injury was a crusher. They better get something out of the Donovan deal or all they really achieved was saving DeWitt money.

[jagtrader]

Baez is striking out way too much and Matthews is walking everyone. It’s been a big setback for prospects at Memphis.

[TGantz]

They better get something out of the Donovan deal or all they really achieved was saving DeWitt money.

We can pretend it was about getting valuable players for the rebuild, but it was always just about saving money. None of the teams involved budged so they took an average deal to get rid of a fan favorite and save money in a losing season before the CBA lock out.

Imagine replacing outfields of Church, Scott, Walker or Fermin, Church, Walker with Donovan, Church, Walker.

[ghostrunner]

A couple things are different than last year, at least so far.

We're hitting homers. 11 more than than this time last year. If that's anything close to real, it's a different season offensively.

Also infield defense appears to be up upgraded at 2B and 3B. Again - so far. Gorman's actually ranked second defensively among active 3rd baseman right now. That could be random/SSS, but Wetherholt appears to be a big upgrade defensively vs Donovan/whoever else. So that's him and Winn up the middle, which is pretty nice.

Total runs so far isn't a huge difference vs this time last year, but we haven't gone completely dead as often. This time last year we had 8 games under with 1 run or less, so far this year it's only 3.

Compared to last year overall, we're 4th in WAR among non-pitchers, and last season we were 20th. And this year's team is being dragged down a lot by Victor.

[Popeye_Card]

It is wild to transition from one of the best fielding 3B's of all time to Nolan Gorman, and see the defense improve.

[jagtrader]

Urias has played nearly half the innings at 3B, which says what the Cardinals really think of Gorman’s defense.

[TGantz]

Urias has played nearly half the innings at 3B, which says what the Cardinals really think of Gorman’s defense.

Urias also started off pretty well at the plate. I imagine playing time will go down.