The Cardinals’ trade of right-hander Mike Leake didn’t go over well with his now-former teammates, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I said, ’Is this a joke?’ … It was shocking to all of us,” outfielder Tommy Pham tells Hummel, describing the moment he learned of the news. Right-hander Lance Lynn’s comments suggested a bit of frustration as well: “If you look at everything that’s happened so far, there’s been no acquisitions (by the Cardinals).”
Lynn also further addressed the lack of extension talks between the Cardinals and his agents. “I’m sure whenever the time comes — when the World Series is over and five days after, I’m sure somebody will talk to me,” said Lynn. “…They’ve had a whole season. Five days isn’t going to matter. But I just work here.” Cards fans will definitely want to check out the full column for more player quotes as well as notes on Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha.
A bit more out of St. Louis…
- The Cardinals have collected an abundance of outfield talent in the minors and could potentially trade from that depth this winter, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We’re not going to have enough room at the inn,” said president of baseball operations John Mozeliak of his organization’s outfield depth. “That is something we, as an organization, are going to have to take a very hard look at this offseason and decide what makes the most sense.” St. Louis was reportedly open to considering trades involving Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. Their minor league ranks include Magneuris Sierra, Harrison Bader, recently acquired Tyler O’Neill, international signee/former Cuban pro Randy Arozarena as well as the much-improved Oscar Mercado, whose stock has risen considerably in 2017, Goold notes as part of his in-depth look at the team’s outfield stockpile. St. Louis is known to be seeking an impact bat for the middle of the lineup and, more speculatively speaking, could also pursue rotation help (especially if Lynn departs) and bullpen arms.
- Right-hander Luke Weaver has impressed the Cardinals this month and looks more and more like a long-term asset in St. Louis, writes MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. While he was initially stepping into the spot of the injured Wainwright, the trade of Leake now creates a potential long-term opening for Weaver, who has turned in 29 innings with a 2.48 ERA, 11.1 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 50.7 percent ground-ball rate. Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun sang Weaver’s praises when speaking with Langosch after facing him in two separate games this month. And, asked if Weaver will hold a rotation spot through season’s end, Cards skipper Mike Matheny replied, “There’s no reason he shouldn’t be here.”
The players are frustrated. They need a change. I think a great start would be to fire Matheny.
I’m ready for the stubby clapp era..
I once had a case of stubby clapp, but a round of penicillin cured it.
Old man problems: I initially read that as “…a POUND of penicillin cured it.”
Try using a hammer with it on a table, like in middle ages…
Well… sorry, fellas, but it’s a business, too. The team isn’t performing as well as a LOT of people thought they would/should, so yeah, changes are inevitable.
There should be some all around management and coaching changes too but…..
Completely agree.
Things aren’t going well at all and Mozeliak gets promoted???? If I made bad choices at my job, i would not get promoted, I would get fired!!
It’s interesting that players wanted Leake to stay. He’s done poorly for months and his career track record has never been great. I wonder why they wouldn’t want to see someone else taking his spot in the rotation? The minor leaguers have definitely earned a spot and have nothing left to prove at AAA. I can understand he’s a likeable guy, but it’s got to be tough watching him pitch you out of games every five days. Why not be happy for him getting a fresh start somewhere else?-it hasn’t been working for him here. Complaining about him being traded doesn’t seem logical. They act like we just traded a top of the rotation arm.
Also-why aren’t Hummel, Goold, et al. asking the players these very logical questions? Strange story about players complaining about an underperforming teammate that’s hurting the team being traded.
Probably because they are wondering who is next?
Look at the outfield situation. They have several players that could be great 4th outfielders…but none that are really stepping up to be an everyday option.
As for Lynn Cardinals fans talk about how much he could have brought back in a trade…if he brings that much back why haven’t the Cards talked to him about a possible extension?
The Post-Dispatch writers rarely rock the Cardinals’ boat or challenge the FO, and never criticize the owner. I guess they think it’s bad for business. Gordo is the biggest apologist of them all.
The P-D’s best Cards columnist, Bernie Miklasz, left for his own local gig, and he often empties both barrels in refreshing contrast.
He’s done poorly for a few weeks (excluding his last start, which was pretty good). Overall, he’s had a decent season.
I agree, he was pitching around 4 innings a game and he wasn’t worth his contract. I get they liked him but he obviously could be replaced. I can understand the disappointment of losing a teammate, however if you aren’t doing your job it’s time to give it to someone who can.
154 innings in 26 starts = 5.92 innings/start. which is not around 4. If you just mean in a sss of recent games, 5 August starts and 25.1 innings is again not around 4. You can be disappointed in Leake, but his number of innings pitched isn’t really the best place to support that.
As a Mets fan, it’s nice to see that things like this also happen to other teams sometimes and not just the Mets.
An underperforming team upset over an underperforming player being traded. I just laughed so hard I almost spilled my yak.
Im not so certain that the first sentence of this article jives with the rest of it. ‘Didnt go over well’? Ok. Who got mad? Much ado about nothing
I like Pham and all but where does her get the idea that he can makes comments like that because he is having one good season? The dude also said if he started the season he would have been an All-Star. Which it is a possibility yet still a smug comment. He mannerisms now a days come off as if he is better than everyone on the team. Add that with his age, I would consider trading him this off season while his stock is up. There is no reason they can try and trade Grichuk, Piscotty, and/or Pham this offseason for bullpen help or prospects. Cardinals defiantly need an impact bat and that can come from a new OF- Possibly JD Martinez?
You may be right. But my opinion is he looks like hes playing with a chip on his shoulder. I think Pham’s comments were reflective of what every Cards fan was thinking.
Good, maybe some of the babies on the team will wake up and realize their crap attitude and performance for the first three months of the season didn’t warrant throwing good money after bad and wasting their time on a team that never looked capable of making the playoffs.
Regardless of how they’re doing right now, they’re not winning a playoff series. the pitching staff is pretty inconsistent and mostly terrible. The offense is bursty, either they win big or lose big and that doesn’t lend itself to what tends to happen in the playoffs when you get the best effort from the other guys most of the time.
Hopefully they’ll cut bait with the rest of the complainers and underperformers and put together a good team next year.
It says a lot that the team would rather have nice guys on the team than guys who don’t come and drop a turd in the middle of what was at one point a decent attempt at being in a pennant race.
chesteraaurthur ok I probably didn’t represent my facts very well but the fact remains he was hurting the bull pen lately because he didn’t pitch very deep into games. Also I may add that some games where he was torched for many runs he was left in the game longer than he should’ve because they didn’t want to put more innings on the bullpen.
“I just work here.” says Lynn. If STL has any intention of re-signing him, that mindset will be tough to overcome. I gotta think they’ll offer him the QO. He’ll get multi-year offers elsewhere, so that probably won’t fly.
A QO isn’t what it used to be with the old bargaining agreement. All we get now is a compensation pick after the second round if he signs elsewhere. I like Lynn and he’s been the best started we’ve had this year, but I too worry about declining speeds for a fastball-only pitcher as he moves into his mid-30s…
The culture of this team is not good.
Heyward was right in his assessment. Cardinals have underachieved for several seasons now.
Several? Meaning more than 2? Cubs have been dominant for ‘several seasons’ Maybe youre a time traveler or something. In the future, does Heyward hit .300/40/100?
Jay Hey sure knew the time to jump ship and head to a winner.
Well, Mo finally buried his second-worst free agent signing. The worst is going to be playing CF for 4 1/4 more years.
Piscotty to the giants
I think that Matheny needs to go after this season. Missed the playoffs the past few years.
As for Leake didn’t care for him and wondered why they’d sign him for so long.
Glad to see him go and hope he’s inspired to get a haircut with his new team