cardsfan

The Cardinals signed South Korean Kwang Kim to a 2 year contract worth $8 million. He will be 32 in July. It says he has an 87 Mph slider. Is that good?

Those last two months for Berrios were pretty bad last season. 38 earned runs in 58.2 innings. You don't know if he will miss time over the next 3 years with injuries and yet you want to dole out for 6 years. I say do arbitration. You have a few years to trade him if you come up with other starters. This isn't an ace pitcher though he has the potential.

You know what I like about Colorado players? They have had all of these great hitters, but, when they go to other teams suddenly their batting average and power numbers go down. I remember Holiday losing HR power and batting average though he didn't bomb like Tulo did.

Arenado can opt out in 2 years.

Ryu had 4 straight terrible games in August and early September and took extra days off between starts last year. 33 next year. This has to be worth $120 million for the Padres for 5 years. He's far from durable.

I'm still trying to figure completely how the Cardinals do it since 2000. Its managing the starting pitching as the top reason. Having good catchers and the MVP3 helped through 2006 with Pujols staying on through 2011. The starting pitching: Nearly all of their young pitchers they developed or traded for (Wainwright) develop arm injuries by the time they are eligible for free agency except rookie Dan Haren who they mistakenly traded for Mark Mulder. So with all of these injuries they must have some type of depth. Because, if you look every couple of years they may only have had one starting pitcher who started 10 games or more for them 3 years earlier. For not their minor league they rehab Chris Carpenter and a Joel Piniero. They sign Suppan for just 3 years. They have 1 year contract with Lohse, re-sign him to 4 years and then after 2 injury seasons get 2 good years out of him. Lucky signing in Miles Mikolas from Japan. Point: Its starting pitching. Years that the bullpen is very good they win more, but, no real great relievers, Isringhausen had a few good years. If the Cardinals would have had Rivera they would have won a few more games a year. I wish they had kept Gallen and Alcantra they they traded for Ozuna though they needed his power hitting. BTW, they have had only two main starting catchers since 2000 which may be coming to an end.

Alcantra doesn't reach arbitration for two more seasons. Though I wonder why the Marlins traded Zac Gallen to Arizona for a young minor leaguer.

That goes on in our main Cardinals message board all of the time. Some of the posters use more than one alias. We are told about our failed signings sometimes blown out of proportion and then urged to assign free agents that usually are disasters. You wouldn't know that the Cardinals were only mathematically eliminated from the postseason for only 3 days since 2011 by reading their posts. They maintained a winning record for 19 of last 20 years. Oh, they made some free agent mistakes and almost re-signed Pujols and Heyward.

You should mention to prevent one of your players from hitting free agency like the Tigers signing Cabrera to a terrible contract.

Why did Donaldson have calf injuries on both the left and right calves like 4 times total? Last year I remember there was a point in the season thay they were concerned. Buyer beware. One year maybe.

What would you think it would take in trade for Arenado who could opt out in 2 years? The poor Rockies have trouble signing pitching, but, manage to find sluggers who can hit are rumored to be shopping Arenado. His lifetime OPS outside of Coors is .799 and batting average of .265. Great defensive player with several gold gloves.

The Mets fans have to be some of the most tortured souls in the National League. They sign some bad contracts.

Well, you could extend someone like Phil Hughes and have buyer's remorse. So you go from grief to remorse.

Hader blowing a save with 2 outs in the 9th which the Brewers would lose in extra innings was a major choke job in Game 161. Could have tied for the division. I'm not sure if the Brewers think a good return for Hader will keep them in contention or his arm may give out.

Killebrew was an 11-time All-star. Blyleven 2. Obviously, there weren't many years in which the managers thought he was the ace on his team or a top 10 pitcher. He lasted a long time.

Same offense for both sides, neutral ballpark, no DH? Drysdale wins 55-60% of the time.

Talking about Miller, do you think he would advise his union players not to cross a picket line such as the umpire's when the umps went on strike? Probably not.

When a pitcher strikes out 3700 batters he will make the Hall of Fame. He started out young like Kaat, stayed healthy, and pitched a lot of innings for small market teams. The teams that traded him away didn't really trade him for other All-Stars. Telling, 1973 when he received a decision in all but 3 games he was 20-17 with 9 shutouts. In the 17 games he lost his ERA was 4.48 and a WHIP of 1.46. That about sums his career. He would pitch some shutouts and then lose some games. Durability, for sure, but, not dominating like a Carlton or a Seaver could be. Only 2 all-star selections despite some below 3 ERA seasons. Traded for cash and minor players a few times though who would trade a starter who would have plenty innings left on his arm?

Blyleven's curve. Drysdale was feared when he was on the mound and was done by the age of 32 Blyleven picked by managers twice to the All-Star Game. Drysdale was 8 timer chosen by managers. Use that WAR if you want, but, after Blyleven turned 23 he never got better. I don't really care one way or the other that Blyleven is in the HOF and would vote for him eventually, but, facing Blyleven wouldn't intimidate your team.

I admire Simmons, also. But, there are reasons why he only received 3.7% of the writers votes.

I grew up watching the Cards. I only remember one season, 1979, in which Ted Simmons was on a homerun pace of 35 before he broke his hand, but, still ended up with 26. He was feared that year. But, fans didn't say I'm going to see him play tonight like say Lou Brock terrorizing pitchers by stealing bases or Bob Gibson pitching or Musial or Pujols hitting or Ozzie Smith at shortstop. He accumulated a lot of hits as a catcher, but, I could see why he wasn't elected by the BBWAA. He needed some peak seasons that were special or some outstanding defensive years and or being a major reason why your team won the World Series such as Brock hitting .348 in 1964 after being traded by the Cubs at the trade deadline. No Brock in 1964 no NL pennant by 1 game. We have several players like catcher Simmons that if you can accumulate numbers you can get in. 3000 hits and 500 homeruns usually does it for the BBWAA. Using WAR to get Blyleven in the HOF after 15 years on the ballot, like really? . Did anyone come to the ballpark with their kids just to see him before he retired? No. Tommy John? Scared to face him? No. Same with Winfield who did get 3000 hits and lasted a long time in the big leagues, but, you wanted seasons where he terrorized pitchers. You went to the ballpark to watch Baines terrorize the opposition? Or Gaylord Perry who won a lot of games, but, who thought if Perry pitches against us we have little chance of winning? People went to see Drysdale and his 209 wins because he could give you a dominating pitching performance you wouldn't forget. The Veterans Committee especially admitting Frankie Frisch's teammates in from the Giants and Cardinals leaves a little to be desired most of the time. Simmons is in. Oh, well fans who know baseball will say it took the Veterans Committee.

They tried with Arrieta. Perhaps they can get out of his contract after 2020. Panicking is not the answer. Could they have NOLA and Wheeler lead them to a title? Perhaps. I can't believe how lucky or fortunate the Cardinals have been even if they didn't win another title looking at the Giants and Phillies. Wheeler with his injury history is not an ace.