The Cardinals announced on Tuesday that they’ve activated right-hander Adam Wainwright from the disabled list. The longtime St. Louis ace has been out since Aug. 17 due to an impingement in his right elbow. Wainwright is reportedly ticketed for a bullpen role upon his return from the disabled list, as the Cards will roll with Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn and young starters Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty as their starting five through season’s end. The 36-year-old Wainwright has struggled for a consecutive season, following up last year’s 4.62 ERA with a 5.12 mark in just 121 1/3 innings. He’s signed through next season and will earn $19.5MM next year.
A bit more on the Cards…
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes a lengthy look at the Cardinals’ use of cut fastballs over the past several years, dating back to Chris Carpenter’s emergence with an explosive cutter that transformed him into one of baseball’s best pitchers. Goold speaks with Wainwright, pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, manager Mike Matheny and others about the organization’s use of the cutter. Notably, Weaver tells Goold that he’s begun to experiment with the pitch and ultimately believes that a cutter will be an important part of his arsenal, but he’s not yet fully comfortable with the pitch. It’s an interesting look not only at the Cardinals’ usage of the pitch but also at the more general strengths and weaknesses of the pitch as well as its its usage rate throughout the years.
- MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tackles several Cardinals-related topics in her latest Inbox column, beginning with the omission of Triple-A slugger Patrick Wisdom from the team’s group of September call-ups. The 52nd overall pick in the 2012 draft, Wisdom showed significant power in Triple-A this year, hitting .243/.310/.507 with 31 homers and 25 doubles in 506 plate appearances. As Langosch points out, Wisdom will be Rule 5 eligible this offseason if the Cardinals don’t add him to the 40-man roster, thus making him available to 29 other clubs. The Cardinals haven’t had a significant need at the infield corners this year, however, limiting chances for Wisdom to get a look in the Majors. The Cardinals could, however, still include Wisdom among their final wave of September promotions now that the minor league season has come to a close.
[Related: St. Louis Cardinals depth chart and payroll outlook]
cardinals do need a corner infielder. a power hitting defensive first baseman. wisdom to third, gyrko to first. see ya, matt carpenter.
I agree on Carp, that shoulder injury won’t age well, and he’s a hair clog on the bases, I’d throw in Wong too and his crappy attitude.
As a die-hard fan watching every Cards game, every time Yadi calls for the cutter, especially from Waino, I get squirmy. It really seemed to hurt him in particular this year, and I wonder if it’s a pitch that is more easily taught than say a harder sinking 2-seamer. The Cardinals have always worked to increase GB% with pitchers to great success, and it doesn’t seem like the cutter is helping the staff right now.
Are you stealing signs?
I feel like Wisdom should just be trade bait. Half of the Memphis farm is homerun/strikeout only players. O’Neill, Wisdom, Dejong, etc.. We’ve got enough homerun or nothing players, per Grichuk, Dejong, Gyorko at this point. Gyorko is good defensively but fell off a cliff in the second half.
I think Diaz should play 3rd, I believe his down year (which wasn’t that horrid to begin with) will rebound. Gyorko can be a utility or SS when Dejong regresses. Wong on 2nd, Martinez on 1st. Carpenter should be traded with Grichuk. Pham left, Fowler center, Piscotty/impact bat (JD Martinez?). If we need a 5th OF Garcia or Bader work.
Trade O’Neill, Grichuk, Carp, and some of the other Farmhands for an elite closer (Colomé?) and possibly the impact bat.
I also think people need to realize there is a difference between impact bat and homerun hitting. People gush over Dejong and Grichuk for getting 22,20 homeruns each, however they 57, 55 RBIs on the season. JD Martinez has 40 homeruns 91 RBIs. While he hits many homeruns he also produces runs in other ways.
Diaz’s year wasn’t that horrid? Did you watch any of it? He was absolutely lost the entire year at the plate, with the exception of maybe 1 month total. Pair that with a lackadaisical attitude and piss poor defense and you do not have an MLB player.
Vedder80, I watched it. .250 or so avg, and around.300 OBP. Not good stats. I think his defense was overstated as far as being bad goes. When I looked at when Dejong and Diaz had the same innings, they had the same amount of errors. Plus, there are plays I’ve seen Diaz make that Dejong simply can’t, like charging plays or long extension. I felt like he had fight in him, but he was upset with his own performance, as evident by interviews.
That’s why I said he’s probably better suited for 3rd though, as I believe he has the defensive ability and will probably come out of the sophomore slump. Carp’s arm at 3rd is just too weak and I think Gyorko needs to be a super utility instead of Garcia. Whenever Garcia is in, it’s almost a guarantee that his spot in the lineup is an out. Gyorko could amass a decent amount of playing time with how often Mathney sits people. I don’t see a problem with it.
Facts
What play have you seen Diaz make that DeJong can’t? Diaz has zero range. By every advanced defensive metric, DeJong is by far the better defender. Diaz was a one trick pony. He hit. And it was shocking to everyone when it happened, as nothing he had shown since being signed indicated he would do what he did.
Dejong is hitting 285 w 23 dingers slugging 532 ops 854. If he had Enough at bat he would be in top 10 in all categories. Would like more RBIs but he can’t make guys get on in front of him. How are you going to trade Marp 3 20 Hr seasons, his average is not great but he’s been playing hurt. Hes not untouchable but I am trading gryko first.
Redbirds22, If Dejong had enough at-bats, you’d see more of the regression that’s already setting in. It’d probably look more like .255, maybe 30 HR but .300 OBP, .450 OPS, 200K, 25 BB.
And Carp’s main asset is walks, which isn’t productive in big moments. He does has 20 HR but like I said we already have many homerun hitters, and we need more big hitting. Singles/Doubles when men on 2nd and 3rd, etc.. I’m sure Jose Martinez could get you 20 HR in a full season, as well as Gyorko (who could go in place of Caro for all I care). I just think Gyorko is better defensively.
Who are the “many HR hitters”?
CompanyAssassin: I do agree with you about DeJong. He strikes out a lot and never walks, and his D is limited.
Other than your thinking that Gyorko can play SS, that Martinez has the glove for 1B, that Diaz will be a worthwhile starter, and that the Cards can shed failed prospects and past-prime vets for both an elite closer AND an impact bat (!), I see much Wisdom in your post.
I think Gyorko was a SS in San Diego, I don’t think it’d be much of stretch for him. I also don’t know if Diaz should start as much as just platoon with Gyorko in a sense. I think the Cards could muster the prospects/MLB players to facilitate only one of those trades, not really both. And I feel like Carp and Martinez have about the same defensive ability at 1st, except Martinez has more extension, thats why I like him there.
In a perfect world, I’d like to see the Cardinals sign JD Martinez, and trade for Alex Colomé using a package that looked somewhat like: Grichuk, Junior Fernandez, Patrick Wisdom/Tyler O’Neill. Maybe a lower farmhand too. Now that I read that back, it seems low but I’m not a GM. But if that were the case, the lineup would look more like Fowler, Pham, Dejong, JD, J. Martinez, Molina, Gyorko, Wong, or something similar depending who was playing. I feel thats a much stronger lineup by changing just one player.
The opportunity is there for the Cardinals, the FO just has to pull the trigger.
Cardinals might get Stanton
No way they go after Stanton. I agree the cards need to make some moves. But that won’t happen.
The move is for Manny Machado.
He is tied for the best defensive 3B with arenado. Has potential to hit .300 unlike Stanton. Won’t hit as many Homers as Stanton but is good for 35 a year for at least five more years.
This trade just makes so much sense. The cards would have to give a good package but machado had a little bit off a down year( Terrible first Half). His stock with never be lower, the complete opposite of Stanton.
Cards package: Grichuk, Weaver, Hudson, and Sosa maybe. A lower hitting prospect for the 4th guy. They have Chance Sisco , their #1 prospect, so no need for C Kelly
They need to trade him cuz the orioles won’t re sign him next year.
Cards tried to pay Price and Hayward 200 million. Give the money to Machado!!!
Machado is a free agent after next season. Weaver also looks to be in the rotation next year, as he should be. Lance Lynn may be gone, we need Weaver.
Machado is going to either Miami (home) or New York (to play with Gary Sanchez). No advantage to playing in St. Louis; every team is going to offer him the money.
It’s comical to see fellow Cards fans talk about Weaver as if he is the next all time great pitcher. yet many were calling Weaver crap just 7 weeks ago.
I don’t see they Cardinals giving up young talent for one year of Manny Machado. Plus he’s coming off a down year. Stanton would be a nice pickup but his contract is huge, and with injury concerns I don’t know if that’s a good trade either. I do think they need to trade for a big bat and try to get a plus reliever like Wade Davis, Andrew Miller, or trade for a guy like Colome or Brach. I don’t see Weaver going anywhere I don’t know why people keep saying to trade a future star. They could also sign Justin Upton or J.D. Martinez. I don’t know what lies in the future for the Cards but they aren’t to far from becoming a 100 win team again as long as they front office does their job and make the team better
Exactly… some pretty easy calls. Sign Upton or Martinez (preferably Martinez), trade for a big closer, and I mean elite not just resigning Nicasio. I also think resigning Nicasio should be a priority though. Right there you’ve already stacked the team. If they wanted to go all out, they could try signing a big name pitcher again. But we see how that’s turned out before.
The*
Hey Steve, you link the wrong Chris Carpenter in this article. Just FYI.
Every team has AAAA players so what the Cardinals have isn’t unique,the guys you’re wanting to trade, nobody wants. Ownerships lack of spending money has developed this team. It’s not terrible it’s just not exciting. While they have floated offers to a few players in free agency, nobody wants to take their money.They realize something we don’t, nobody want to play for Matheny