3 humbling truths about the Cardinals
(FREE POST) Put your feelings aside and hear me out...
Why is Corey Dickerson still starting games?
To quote Ethan Carter on Twitter, problem #1 with the 26-21 St. Louis Cardinals is the need to keep starting guys who offer little to the team. A reluctance to call a spade a spade and move on.
Save me your hard-hit ball rates and exit velocity charts; Dickerson is hitting .182, going 4-23 at the plate in his last seven games. A shell of his former self, Dickerson shouldn’t keep starting games.
A humbling truth is that Dickerson isn’t the first fading slugger, bargain bin Cardinals pickup. Remember Brandon Moss? It was like watching a bird slowly but surely crash to the ground, smashing into a minivan on the way down.
Start Lars Nootbaar more while Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill heal. Star Edmundo Sosa at short and put Tommy Edman in right on occasion. Dickerson was always a bandage, one that has already lost a lot of its stick.
Humbling truth, aka problem #2 is starting pitching. Jack Flaherty will face hitters Wednesday and could hit a rehab assignment next week, but I wouldn’t expect him for a few weeks if all the reports line up. Once again, he never had a real spring, so that has to happen first--or else he will just be hurt again. Soak it up before he signs with the Dodgers down the line.
Miles Mikolas was bound to catch a dent. That happened today. Adam Wainwright got dinged in his last start. Dakota Hudson struggled to go deep into his game. Jordan Hicks has been relocated to the IL. Jake Woodford will start in his place, but don’t be surprised if Dallas Keuchel is picked up.
A better than average piece of low-hanging pitching fruit, Keuchel was put on waivers by the Chicago White Sox this weekend. He hasn’t enjoyed the finest 2021 and 2022 seasons, but was fairly elite in 2020. A shortened season still saw him post a sub-2.00 ERA. Can he get that back? Probably not.
However, working with Mike Maddux and reentering the National League couldn’t hurt. Pitching in front of the league’s best defense doesn’t hurt at all. A pitcher’s park with a lot of youth playing behind you always gives the fastball extra juice and the breaking pitch extra dip. He has a player option for next year, and Chicago would most likely pay a good chunk of his salary to off him to the NL.
If it doesn’t work, what happens? Flaherty returns, and Dallas goes bye bye. Another surefire early playoff exit is on our hands again if little improvement in the depth department is made. Same story, different year. Sing me the tales of “they still win 85 games and get into the playoffs,” and I will laugh. The team doesn’t make deadline trades of the impact variety. The farm is almost all here, outside of Alex Burleson and Zack Thompson among others.
They earned a split with the Brewers, getting bested by one of the best in the business in Corbin Burnes. But they’ve squandered so many games already, with a lack of starter innings standing out like a sore thumb. The amount of games where a starter barely makes it five innings has mounted. Steven Matz, Flaherty, and Hicks have already hit the mat.
Keuchel helps. Just saying. Liberatore will still be able to find starts in this injury-prone rotation. He’s very young, folks. Don’t rush him in a season where the playoffs are a wildcard/division win hybrid of potential.
Humbling truth #3 is that Nolan Gorman is going to commit a lot of errors at second base this summer. Let it be, as the Beatles lovingly urged. Let him develop like a beast of a hitter he is quickly becoming. That MLB first home run against Milwaukee was a goner from the sound of the bat touching the sweetest part of the baseball. He had four hits, and Cards fans still whined about two errors.
He’s going to do two things of the rough variety, in addition to the strong arm and big hitting potential (LOVE him at #2 in lineup btw). Gorman will strike out and commit errors at second. He is surrounded by Gold Glove winners. The kid will be alright.
Opposing pitchers? Not so much. The youth movement is in full run in late May. I only wish the front office has bolstered the rotation more to account for surefire injuries.
Thanks for reading, and drink a cold one for me, just in case I pass out early tonight. Always remember. We’re. Still. Here. A sad amount of souls are not. Make the best of it.
Cheers.
Here's my three thoughts this morning with my first cup of coffee. I'm thinking a decision on Dickerson will be coming soon. They acted on DeJong, they will sooner than later make a move on Dickerson. Not sold on bringing Keuchel on board, but maybe it's what do you have to lose at his point. Finally, when Hicks returns, why not piggy back him with Liberatore? Hicks is good for about three innings.