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I would take the chance. Gyorko’s better at third than his natural position.

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.

MrCrowesGarden wrote:

dmarx114 wrote:

MrCrowesGarden wrote:

dmarx114 wrote:

MrCrowesGarden wrote:JD Martinez who won’t even get a look. Possibly others depending upon the price.

Who goes to the bench if we sign Martinez?

Gyorko. I play Martinez at first, Carpenter at 3rd and live with the defensive liabilities.

I don't recall Martinez being able to play first base.

Is your plan to give $100mm+ to a guy who has never played a position before, and has only played 125+ games once in his career?

Yes it is. And I teach him how to play first base. Because JD Martinez is a top 5 hitter who you can really say “the bat plays” about unlike Matt Adams.

So is failing to land Martinez to play 1B such a mistake that you would criticize the front office for not getting that deal done?

Is there a point to all this? I knew Martinez was such a non-starter for this team I never truly considered him a possibility. Much in the same way Cespedes was last year. I was happy with the Fowler acquisition with the caveat they do more (they didn’t.) I thought Ozuna was a good acquisition but felt there was more that needed to be done (they won’t.)

If you’re satisfied with this roster, good for you. I’m not. Even if they didn’t go dynamic, there were brain dead moves that could’ve been made and weren’t. Both Reed and Nicasio (Reed to close, Nicasio for 7th or 8th) qualify. I’m not going to blindly put allegiance in their models.

pioneer98 wrote: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.

ZigZagCardsFan wrote:That's unacceptable to me as a fan given how the last two seasons have gone.

In what was supposed to be a big offseason to turn things around, they added a bat (which is good), a meh reliever, and a questionable starter.

[expletive] fantastic job, boys.

I like how you think

There are still a few interesting options out there for the Cardinals, with dwindling teams seeking to add significant dollars. As prices drop, it makes the warts of these players easier to handle.

SP:
* Yu Darvish. Obviously an upgrade to the rotation.
* Jake Arrieta. Ditto.
* Lance Lynn. Comfortable. We know what we are getting.

Corner IF:
* Eric Hosmer. Still hasn't signed, where it looked certain that he was a couple weeks ago.
* Mike Moustakas. Yep.
* Todd Frazier. Has the market dried up enough where he starts looking attractive?
* Logan Morrison.
* Lucas Duda. Value signing for bench power, and get another lefty into the lineup on occasion?

Bullpen:
Starting to get slim pickin's.
* Greg Holland. Guy who we were rumored to be in on from the start, still out there.
* Tony Watson. Yep, getting pretty slim.
* There are some other random vets out there that may be good value signings. Sergio Romo. Koji Uehara. etc.

MrCrowesGarden wrote:Is there a point to all this? I knew Martinez was such a non-starter for this team I never truly considered him a possibility. Much in the same way Cespedes was last year. I was happy with the Fowler acquisition with the caveat they do more (they didn’t.) I thought Ozuna was a good acquisition but felt there was more that needed to be done (they won’t.)

If you’re satisfied with this roster, good for you. I’m not. Even if they didn’t go dynamic, there were brain dead moves that could’ve been made and weren’t. Both Reed and Nicasio (Reed to close, Nicasio for 7th or 8th) qualify. I’m not going to blindly put allegiance in their models.

The point is that you are disingenuously coming up with a way to criticize the front office. Martinez at first base is so impractical, it's not even worth discussing. So when DeWitt Jr. says there aren't big moves to be made, I see where he's coming from. I think Darvish and Arrieta are the only 2 options to be considered, but they are also not guys I would break the bank for. No one else makes sense. Especially not Martinez at first base.

I do agree about Nicasio. And I would definitely add Morrow to that list.

Is it that there aren’t big moves to be made, or is it that they are hard to make? The two aren’t the same.

I’m criticizing the front office for seeming content to enter the season with holes, just as they’ve done the last two seasons. 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.

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.