The Twins’ reported agreement with left-hander Martin Perez won’t preclude them from adding further arms this offseason, writes Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I think there are still some guys on the board that are interesting, certainly that could fit, so we remain engaged with those,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tells Helfand. Falvey wouldn’t rule out adding another pitcher on a big league deal, acknowledging that the team has some payroll flexibility — especially relative to the previous levels at which they’ve spent.
Somewhat surprisingly, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that the Twins are indeed viewing Perez as a starting pitcher. Perez is coming off a season in which he ranked in the bottom one percent of strikeout rate and opponents’ weighted on-base average among big league pitchers in 2018. Perez is still just 27, was once a well-regarded prospect and is a known commodity for GM Thad Levine (formerly an assistant GM in Texas), but the Twins weren’t short on options for the fifth spot in the rotation. Adalberto Mejia, Fernando Romero, Stephen Gonsalves, Tyler Duffey, Kohl Stewart and Zack Littell were all already on the 40-man roster, but the Twins are seemingly more comfortable with Perez as a back-of-the-rotation option early in 2019 than any of that bunch.
More from the central divisions:
- If there’s a key remaining question for the Tigers this winter, it probably relates to the future of Nicholas Castellanos. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press takes stock of the situation. Critically, as he notes, it’s largely unclear just how much interest there is among rival clubs. Castellanos is still just 26 years of age and out-hit most remaining free agents in 2018, but he’s also still considered a defensive liability and is earning a hefty $9.95MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility. Whether a significant offer will materialize remains to be seen; as Fenech suggests, though, it’s hard to fault the Tigers for holding on to a reasonably steep asking price to this point.
- Some potentially eyebrow-raising chatter arose yesterday regarding the Pirates, but Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets that there’s nothing of substance. There’s no possibility of a deal between the Bucs and Dodgers regarding outfielder Starling Marte, says Heyman, shooting down speculation that had arisen. That, at least, had some facial plausibility since the L.A. organization would no doubt be interested in such a pursuit. Heyman also shoots down a much more fanciful idea that evidently arose involving a certain superstar free agent.
- Elsewhere in the NL Central, the Cardinals and Cubs seem to be primed for a feud in the coming campaign. Both teams are dead set on getting back to the top of the division. And now things are getting personal. As Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch deftly explains, Chicago star Kris Bryant’s casual and mostly harmless jab at the city of St. Louis (“boring”) ignited a “scorched-earth response” from stalwart St. Louis backstop Yadier Molina. It might seem like much ado about nothing; it may turn out to be just that. But Molina promises “it will carry” into the season. And as Frederickson explains, the matter touches at something deeper in the psyches of Molina, the Cards, and even the city they play in.
Cardinals players, media and fans need to really get that Eveready battery off their shoulder. Bryant was doing a “skit” at a Cubs Convention and playing up to the fans. Get a grip on reality all you insecure bores.
Molina was one of the better defensive players in the game, but he has acted like a child quite a bit over the years. He’s one of those players that Cardinal fans adore, but other teams hate because of his childish antics.
The older he gets the more he seems to buy into his own legend as one of the last of the ‘old schoolers’ who need to protect the game from any vestiges of being enjoyed by the people playing it…
I used to have a lot of respect for Molina but the past couple of years it’s starting to fade. He just comes off now as emotional… and not in the passionate way. More as in he’s caught the vapors kind of way..
I guess Molina thinks that since he’s now the manager of the team, he can basically say or do anything he wants. I mean, who is going to stop him? Gepetto? Pinocchio? Wainwright? None of the above.
daved. Not once have you provided substance to this message board. Just name calling and provocation. Kris is that you?
haha nice one. We dont tolerate trash talk.
And nobody else cares about the thinness of your skin…
I don’t know about that. It seems that cubs 3b have historically acted in a way that infuriate their rivals. As a met fan in 1969 I remember Ron Santo jumping up and clicking his heels to show up the mets after wins. It became a rallying point for the mets players and we all know how that turned out.
The cubs have a history of not being able to back up the checks they write. Looks to me that Bryant has done it again
Bryant is a World Series champion and better player than Yadier. He’s already backed it up and some. What a ridiculous comment.
Yadi is a two time champion and has a pretty good chance of being a Hall of Famer in a few years.
Whether you agree with him or not, you can’t use championships or who’s “better” to justify either of their arguments.
If Yadi gets in because of his overhyped, inflated GG awards, then Simmons need to get in for his hitting.
Oh, I’m sure it has an effect on the players and galvanizes the fans, but that’s a far cry from ‘we don’t tolerate trash talk’
That kind of ‘we don’t like it so you can’t do it or else’ attitude is just childish
Yadi is one of the best defensive catchers to play the game of baseball, while also not being a bad offensive force.
A career .740 OPS is not an offensive force.
I got news for you, so be prepared when the time comes. Molina is NOT a 1st ballot HOF.
Who said anything about him being a first ballot hall of famer? Being a hall of famer doesn’t mean he’d get in the first time
Yadi is a two time WS champ and Bryant couldn’t carry his jock strap in a suit case..
Yes Ozzie Smith first ballot hall of famer. Ryan Sandburg 2nd year hall of famer
Always fun to hear the inane ramblings of fans whose team has one WS in 110 years, and is more known for blaming fans for huge losses or blowing huge divisional leads at the end of seasons
You have an arrogant, overrated blow hard as a manager, and a team full of big mouths who would have loved batting against a pitcher like Bob Gibson. That you’re taking Molina to task as being a legend in his own mind is not only ironic, it’s hilarious
It’s been my observation that Cards fans always talk in the past tense. Talking about pitchers in the 60s or players who were in their prime 5 or more years ago. What have you done for the game lately?
Your comment is also in the past tense, as mine will be once it’s posted. Baseball is all about stats and history.
Oh yea jut like most cubs fans brag about 2016?
Oh yeah? Well, well… at least we don’t put processed cheese on a cracker and call it “pizza.”
2016 is past tense. Please get an education.
I hate the Cardinals
I just happen to hate the Cubs much, much more
Yadi is a two time WS champ and arguably the best catcher in history. He’s the captain of team and should tell a punk like Bryant to watch his mouth. If anything it’s good advice. Bryant’s a great player but he should respect other teams because you never know if the cubs will extend him and if he’s that young and already bad mouthing other teams, it’s not a good look.
Oh god.
As an objective Cardinals fan, I am willing to admit you make some decent points about the Cubs 2016 championship team still being relevant to the current team. But just to be clear, Heyward took less money so that he could get two opt-outs in the contract, and Stanton knew the Marlins were weighing offers from LAD and NYY such that he wasn’t going to actually stay with Miami.
For the love of God please stop with the Molina is “arguably the best catcher in history.” He’s far from it. A catcher is more than just accumulating subjective gold gloves in an era when catchers in the NL have been about as worthless as teets on a bull. I’ll start with this list of catchers better than him. Bench, Berra, Rodriguez, Campanella, Fisk, Piazza. Then there are those as good as him,,,Posey, Sal Perez, Munson, Boone, Mauer etc. I could go on and on. Don’t give me this crap about running a pitching staff either. Almost every good catcher has that quality. Just stop with the Molina is the best ever. He’s simply not. I could argue he’s not even in the top 10.
You could argue it. You would be wrong, but no ones going to stop you from arguing until you are blue in the face.
I see you still care…why are you obsessing over the cardinals obsessing?
How many Championships do the Cubbies have again? How long was it between championships… sit back and wait another 100… lol
That is b/c you are an idiot. Who knows if you even believe the crap you say. I wonder how many places you post just to get under people’s skin, get a life.
Working with the pitchers is a skill he possesses and has more success with than most. All the pitchers say it, all the coaches, and even the “experts” … some of which may actually be such.
Yadi is a great player and a likely future Hall of Fame inductee (IMO, anyway) … but best catcher in history? Slow your roll, man.
Molina may not have the overall numbers to back it up, but I do believe he’ll be a HOFer, probably first ballot. Objectively speaking, all things considered, he deserves to be in my opinion. Best catcher all time? Nope, not even sort of, I doubt he even believes that.
Very well said Bryzzo2016! What a joke that in defense of their aging catcher, they’re attempting to bash a squad that has accomplished what they have over the past 4 years. Our “blow hard” manager did what nobody could for 110 years. How’s that for a new spin Cards nation?
I can’t wait for baseball when all this garbage talk hits the field and we see how that knee holds up for Yadi…or how “mini Tony Larussa” does in a full season.
I know you’re a Card fan, and Molina has had an excellent career, but is he even the best catcher playing now let alone in the history of the game?
No… and DEFINITELY NO! That said, I do think he’s a HOFer.
As a fan of neither team let’s get this straightened out real quick.
Yadi is the man, but he does need to get a little thicker skin.
No one likes Cubs fans because they can’t figure out how to win or lose gracefully.
Yadi is not the greatest catcher of all time, he’s not even a sure bet for the HOF. His JAWS score, WAR totals, etc all fall short.
Great players don’t strike out 200 times a year like bryant.
Remaining competitive by not having a losing record since ‘07. When was the last time the Cubs has 10 winning seasons in a row? 5?
Chicago deep dish is disgusting! I’m in Florida and a guy from St Louis sells St Louis Style pizza at his restaurant and they line up for it. It is his #1 seller and everything he sells is delicious.
@bryzzo2016
In the final series of ‘18 the Cards won 1 of 3 but that was enough to push the Cubs into a tie with the Brewers who promptly knocked them out of the post season, thoroughly enjoyable! Does 1 game that you lost really even count as making the playoffs?
IDK why you are talking about basketball? You don’t reminisce about Santo or Banks because their teams didn’t accomplish much.
Facts are that y’all can blab on about pizza, night life, the Blackhawks and da’ Bulls all you want. When it comes to baseball Chicago somehow lives in the shadow of that smaller down to earth mid west town to the west and it affects your self worth and gives you identity anxiety.
It wasn’t that long ago that Cubs fans were always saying last year was old news and next year was going to be the year … and well … even a broken clock is right twice a day. The highlight of a Cubs season was winning a series against St Louis and hopping online to talk crap about our city or nit pick our players. Truth is we did then what we do now, defend ourselves from the onslaught of Cubs homers. To us, it wasn’t classy to pick on the Cubs. Somewhere deep inside we felt sorry for, and y’all readily excepted the pity with that “Aww Shucks! maybe next year” lovable loser mentality. I mean c’mon 100 years was a long frisking time dude. We wanted our rival to be relevant, it was an embarrassment to be associated in a rivalry with such a failure of a franchise. Cardinals fans still valued the rivalry b/c it was regional and seemed different than the coasts and showed what the Mid West was all about … the game … but not anymore.
I’d def rather have Fowler’s contract then Heyward’s are you kidding? Dex can bounce back after 1 bad season but you guys are paying a lot of $ for a lot of years for a guy who just isn’t worth it.
Moron Alert…
Whoa! Now that was low. I miss that stuff so much!
(And by the way, putting a bunch of sauce on a loaf of bread isn’t any better)
Piazza! Hahaha
So it’s ok for Bryant ( or any other player from any other team) to talk trash, but the moment a Cardinal defends himself, the team or the city, now HE’S the one in the wrong?! Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Just like if the same Cardinal initiated the situation, then you’d blame the Cardinal for talking trash. Everyone should be held to the same standard of conduct, regardless of uniform.
Bottom line, haters gonna hate.
It would have been fine if Molina had simply fired back. instead he tried to play the whole sanctimonious ‘unwritten rules’ card while Twitter is full of dopes screaming for Bryant to be physically assualted
I think the whole thing is ultimately dumb, but if you’re using Twitter randoms to make a point, that is severe cherry picking and I can guarantee I could go to anything and find just as many Cubs fans threatening violence against someone else. Really weak argument. Twitter is a cesspool.
Like when Ryan Theriot was traded to the Cardinals from the Dodgers and said he was “finally on the right side of the rivalry” and Cubs fans lost their minds
If it was a skit it was scripted to be funny, it wasn’t really funny. Red meat for the savages, I suppose. But jokes have a punchline, that was just a cheap shot. Chicago is a great city, but so is St Louis. The St Louis metro is a great place to raise a family and offers every thing from a theme park to the Fox theatre. From boasting one of the best Zoo’s in the country to not just a top notch MLB organization but a world class sports franchise that is adored so much you can’t understand it.
Plus the food is slamming!
p.s. I live in Florida
Daved the biggest flubs troll their is.
Ha! I love all the Cardinal fan downvotes. Petty as ever!
If your team needs a manufactured temper tantrum at a fan fest to get amped up, you’ve already lost the mental game.
“manufactured temper tantrum?” I saw the video. I never saw anyone throw a temper tantrum. Once again, get the battery off your shoulder. That goes for all the STL people blowing a gasket about the Rams being in the Super Bowl.
We may be on be same topic, but I don’t think we are talking about the same aspect.
After reading yadis Instagram comments I think it was just Yadi sticking up for his team and city which he should but now he is just having a little fun. I would not even be surprised if him and Bryant talked about it.
downvoted
So, if I declare that I’m downvoting your downvote declaration, would you downvote my downvote of your downvote? (As a mobile only user, I am blissfully free from the voting element some of you more cantankerous posters seem obsessed with. Please don’t take my attempt at humor as an indication that I want to be involved. Nothing could be further from the truth.)
K.
Boy, I hope so. Bryant is the last guy to try and stir things up. It was the damn Cub convention for pity’s sake.. All in fun. Jeez…
Being a person who grew up and lived in Chicago and now live in St., Louis…the comment isn’t far off. The downtown is trying to revitalize and Busch Stadium and surrounding area are the crown jewel of that project. Overall, I tell people that STL is an underrated city and gets a bad rap on crime. As for Yadi…..he lived on the Illinois side of the river for many years and only recent moved to the Missouri side.
The Tigers should really just hold onto Castellanos and possibly re sign him. He wants to stay with Detroit and is young enough that he will still be in his prime when the Tigers except to be on the upswing of their rebuild. But I totally agree with moving him if a team wants to overpay but there is no need to force him out
Well said!
Agreed. It’s not like the season depends on moving him or not.
I’m thinking a top tier free agent signing(Harper, Machado), Tigers might contend in a weak Central. Lots of salary clearing off the books soon.
I have seen nothing that indicates he wants to stay in Detroit. He appears to be a good team mate, a team leader, but he has not been open to an extension. If he repeats the year he has, make the QO, and he will have little choice but to take it, giving the Tigers an extra year.
So, if they keep him, do you offer him a Qualifying Offer next winter? Or just let him walk and get nothing in return?
If the Pirates were able to pry Stripling and Verdugo from the Dodgers for Marte, I would be ecstatic. But knowing Huntington, he would probably settle for Yimi Garcia and International bonus pool money.
No way the Dodgers front office agrees to that.
The dodgers wouldn’t even do straight up Verdugo for Marte……. so yea of course you would be ecstatic if you could get that return
Why would you want Stripling??? He’s a #5 at best. The Pirates certainly don’t need
him. Plenty of depth in the starting rotation. And Verdugo by himself isn’t nearly
enough for Marte. Just another overrated prospect.
Stripling is MUCH better thena #5. Not sure which Stripling you’ve watched pitch but it’s not Ross.
For…. Half a season.. then his body broke down cuz he can’t handle multiple innings.
That guy, who’s been a career mid-reliever, is the guy you think deserves a title of more than just a #5 ????
He’s the definition of a 5…
Cannot believe the pile of dung the Twins continue to send out on the mound.
Especially considering we don’t have a proven closer on the team, and an elite closer in Kimbrel has been available for months.
When the Twins had all those playoff teams in the past, they always had a solid closer (Reardon, Aguilera, Nathan). The team has zero dollars committed after this season, so there’s zero excuse not to sign Kimbrel.
Twins have No reason to sign Kimbrel or any other top closer at this time as they will not be contenders for another couple years !! Let the younger guys grow up as some may be better in the long run vs signing a big $$$$ FA ..
Just Sayin .
In the A.L. Central they are already contenders. Any other division, less likely.
Sorry but that’s just plain incorrect, the Twins window is now, or they need to trade everything they can and just start over and plan to contend like 5 years from now. Most ofer the “developing young guys” are hitting arbitration and will be FA’s in the next 2-3 years so you would just be developing them for other teams or you re-sign them and don’t have extra cap space. The twins have a decent lineup if Sano and Buxton can become half of what they were projected to be and they have an OK rotation with Berrios, Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda, and the guys they have coming up. Which makes the Perez thing even more stupid, he’s not an upgrade he’s just using a roster spot. With all that said I don’t think they should sign Kimbrel, at least at what he’s asking or what MLBTR projects him to sign for. Closers, or any relief pitcher, by nature are streaky so I’m ok with signing a guy more like Cody Allen (which they should have IMO) or a high mid-level guy like that over Kimbrel. The real issue is that they should be in on Machado at least feeling him out and they are letting guys like Allen, Familia, Herrera. Kelly, etc. sign elsewhere for salaries they could have easily beat without over paying. Also, not a big fan of letting guys like Curtiss go after 18 innings of MLB action.
(for Kleppy12)….. While I like everything you said, I’d rather they sign Kimbrel now because they let all the other options (like Allen) sign elsewhere. And Kimbrel’s track record is solid.
Regarding Machado, it’s just hard to watch your team invest that kind of money in someone that admitted his lack of desire to hustle. We’ve listened to fans complaining about Mauer’s contract for years, and he was still productive compared to other long-term contracts, especially those where the player couldn’t play out the contract.
Wrong. That division is anyone’s.
Well besides, Detroit… And the White Sox in denial of literally being just as… bad as the Tigers.
You made many great points. The Twins should save their money for at least a #2 pitcher. Kimbrel would be overkill at this point and I think May or even Moya should be given a shot at closing, just like Perkins went from being a so-so to washed up starter to a solid closer. I’d rather see the roster spots used on talent that is likely to get better rather than a prospect that had a shot and hasn’t done much, I’m surprised they let Curtiss go without getting a decent chance to perform. The FO seems to go after players they knew on their other teams rather than judge talent independently. They also seem to like going after medical cases and hope they return to their prime.
Why would Kimbrel want to sign with the Twins? Not trying to be snarky but any team can offer the sun and the moon to any player but the player still has to be willing to play for that team. You see the same comments from fans of every team saying that their team needs to just sigh payer “x” It does not happen that way. in the real world.
With just weeks til spring training, it’s hard to imagine Kimbrel turning down a long-term contract offer in his price range from the Twins (or anyone).
Agreed. Other than Harper, I really don’t think any of these guys care where they end up, so long as the price is right
Yadi likes to get fired up at little comments. Who can forget the brawl that started after he came up to Brandon Phillips at the plate?
I like him as a player, but he needs thicker skin at times.
Jason Larue certainly never will
I will boo Johnny Cueto until he retires. That man’s career should be over because he ended someone else’s career.
Yeah, I mean what would you expect Cueto to do when he’s backed up against a wall with about 40 men pushing him back? I mean, he could have just fallen on the ground and been stepped on with cleats.
Kicking his feet like a scared little girl was probably not the best choice he could’ve made.
I tell you what. I’ll get 40 of my friends and meet you at a baseball field. We’ll bull rush you up against the backstop. Then we’ll see how you defend yourself, tough guy.
I wouldn’t start kicking and flailing like a coward, internet tough guy
Right, because it was TOTALLY 40 on 1 and everyone was out to get him. Have you even seen the video?
He kicked his former team mate Jason LaRue in the head with cleats while two other reds players held LaRue back from kicking his ass … he should have have been thrown out of the game … watch the video
40 men from the 25 man roster uh huh mmhmm
let’s not forget that BP called the Cards a bunch of b****es, which as a Reds fan I was completely ashamed of and do not blame Molina one bit for his stiff response, I’d hope the captain of my team would do the same. The ensuing brawl however I think is a dark spot for both organizations. What Bryant said doesn’t even come close to this
Kind of silly for Bryant to be knocking one of his possible suitors. I mean – he could have just cost himself a few million…
good skit bro.
I’m sure that’s exactly what Bryant thought. I might play for STL someday, how stupid of me.
I’m sure Dexter will give him a great sales pitch to change his mind
I’m sure Heyward already filled him in.
You obviously didn’t see Nelly with Bryant and Harper…Don’t be the guy who thinks Bryant wouldn’t play in STL….don’t be that guy.
mlb.com/cut4/bryce-harper-and-kris-bryant-got-a-pi…
He would if they gave him 300 million, I’m sure.
But consider me skeptical that they’ll be the highest bidder.
I’ll be that guy. I’m smart enough to realize Bryant won’t play here.
Doubt you’re smart enough for many things.
Do you really think that St Louis would sign a player that will cost as much as Bryant? Feels like a pretty safe bet to say they won’t. And maybe he means it and wouldn’t have wanted to play there anyway. Life is too short to spend so much of your time working in a city you don’t like, if you have options
Kris Bryant: “Hey man St. Louis sucks!”
Yadier Molina: “I’m gonna put so much stick um on my chest plate.”
Sammy Sosa: I’m gonna put so much cork in my bat.
Cubs fans: Its all Bartmans fault, no, a billy goats fault, no, a black cats fault…
Bryant must be seeing a StL dentist.
In other baseball news the Minnesota Twins are set to win the North Division of AAAA league this year. “Yeah we found some great players released by their MLB teams this winter and are optimistic.”
If the Twins front office called Boras, it would surely pop up on his phone as an “unknown number”.
Outside of a few Internet trolls and tough guys, St. Louis fans do not care about Bryant’s comments one bit. But if it helps you sleep better to think it stirred stuff up with the 11 WS Cardinals, more power to you.
Yay! We won WS in the 20’s, 40’s and 60’s. Everyone over 60 years old unite.
Historically and mathematically challenged.
So, the Cardinals did NOT win WS in the 20s, 40s, and 60s? Interesting.. Since their last 1960s WS title was 1967, that would be 52 years ago, meaning you would have to be 60 to actually have any recollection of it. So what part is historically or mathematically challenged.
I’ve seen the cardinals win 3 WS….and go to a few more…..and I am no where near 60.
How many have you seen? Or is that a d*ck move too?
The point being, when you mention 11 WS, nobody cares about the ones from 50-100 years ago.
Um………Gee Daved………I would agree that the ones from the 20’s & 40’s mean nothing today….1967 is pretty far back too.
But I wonder where you were in 2006 and 2011…???
Cardinals won BOTH of those World Series……..
2006 they beat the Tigers 4-1
2011 they beat the Rangers 4-3
The only reason you don’t care about the older WS is because your team doesn’t have them. They are a source of pride for teams with rich history and tradition, ask fans of any of the teams with that history and most will tell you that.
^Uh, didn’t the Cards win in 1982? And 2006? And 2011? Daved, first double check before you post and while you’re at it may want to ask someone close to you why they misspelled your name.
So Yankees fans only care about the ones they won in the 90’s and 2009?
Oh you care daved. You care alot. That’s the point I’m a met fan and I know a liar when I hear one. Cubs fans keep trying to say that the past isn’t relevant. But one in 110 years is always relevant
Dave D, Nothing incorrect.
Congrats, you’ve moved into first place as the worst person on these boards. No one likes you. Go away.
Cool, I’m the worst person on the board. Yippee!
The goto rebuttal for Cubs fans lol. “But, but, but, you won them too long ago so they don’t count. We are relevant now, so only since 2016 does it count”.
Truth is……the further away from today that they are…..the less they matter for a conversation Today.
History is great, but Today counts for more than 10 years ago. What’s current is more pertinent than 20-50 years ago.
Putting too much emphasis on 30 years ago is commonly known as….
“Resting On Your Laurels”……….(look it up)
The Yankee fans are Pros at that…….
Kbarr at least they have laurels to rest on. They are still relevant the only people who deny their relevance are those who don’t have them to rest on.
Keep spinning the narrative in your artificial world
What a fun pissing contest. Waiting for a Yankee fan to chime in and urinate all over everyone. A fan of a team other than the Yankees must agree that the Yankees are better than you and you are subservient to them if you use the number of championships argument.
The face of the franchise called a rival team’s best player stupid and then puffed his chest all weekend. Yadi Molina not getting offended at something innocuous would be the real news. For the record, Bryant is dead wrong.
Hang in there Cub fans. We will get the last laugh. With Grandpa Lester and that pitching staff you may not reach the post season. The young guns of St Lou will be there.
I’ll take the Cubs starting five over pretty much any combination the Cardinals are going to run out there
Lester is a much safer bet than the health of Wainright or the brain of Martinez..
Lester is a cheat. He got caught in the WS on live tv and LaRussa gave him a pass.
Young guns? Waino, Mikolas and Wacha. Old, fluke and injured in that order.
Jack flaherty, Austin Gomber, Alex Reyes, Daniel ponce de Leon, Dakota Hudson, and many others. If I remember correctly to mikolas went 18-4 and wacha went 8-2 until he got injured
I know Bryant was playing to his Chicago fans. As a Cards fan I’ve got no problem with that. The game needs a little more ‘home town pride’ chatter. I miss the days when a player would spend their entire career with 1 team.
“Bet the house” that Cardinal players and fans have both said disparaging comments about the Chicago Cubs…….LOL
I know…..because those comments are “All Over Twitter”….every single day!!!
Cards fans (some of them) can be Brutal when it comes to anything to do with the Cubs. Some of those guys truly think “It’s THEIR Team” I think……..LMAO
Finally, a STL fan that understands what context is. It was a skit at the convention. It’s not like he called Bob Nightengale with a hot take. Yadi needs a safe place for his delicate sensibilities. Contreras hurt his feelings last off-season with a harmless comment not even directed at STL.
Cardinals are snowflakes
Peace and harmony does not a great ballgame make.
Can’t we all agree to take snowflake out of the vernacular?
I know, right? But then tough guys would have to come up with a new epithet for people who don’t agree with them.
The left has a bunch of epithets for people that don’t agree with them. Racist, sexist, homophobic, islamophobic, etc. etc. The right just boiled it all down to one word, snowflake.
Both sides are idiots.
I don’t know, for what users of it want to convey, it’s pretty apt.
Unique, soft, light, melts at any heat or pressure.
I don’t use it but it pretty much nails what it is meant to.
Braves need to hurry up and trade for Starling Marte. Imagine the starting four as..
Acuna
Donaldson
Freeman
Marte
Could you imagine the damage they could do.
I watched the Cardinals win the World Series in 1964. I watched them win in 67. Lost a tough one in 68. Watched them win again in 82. Was cheated out of a win in 85. Lost another in 87 as they couldn’t see fly balls in that stupid metrodome. Cards also appeared in the 04 series won again in 06 and 2011. Lost in 13. In all I’ve seen them in 10 World Series winning 5 of them. Now ok cub fans tell me what you’ve seen in the same time frame. I’ll be waiting. Not even going into the number of playoff appearances.
So after all that. Which city has had more excitement and which city has had more boredom?
What city has had more excitement? Which city has had more NBA and NHL titles? If baseball is the only thing that excites a city, then I know why Bryant called STL boring.
One other thing. The cub fans like to say the Cardinal successes were mostly in the 20’s 40’s and 60’s. So I guess that makes there Championships meaningless huh? Hey cub fans the Cardinals have been in 4 count em 4 World Series this century. With twice as many World Series Championships so I get the jealousy.
This is about baseball son. Know the history!
Yes grandpa themed, it does make them meaningless. Why? Because it has exactly NOTHING to do with the current teams. It’s in the past. Those rings don’t help this current roster. Gibson isn’t taking the bump anytime soon, Ozzie isn’t playing SS and Whitey Herzog isn’t leading these guys out of the clubhouse. So, enjoy your memories of the invention of the color TV and the Model T Ford and go watch some Matlock.
I prefer Diagnosis Murder myself, but my ex wife loved herself some Murder, She Wrote and Matlock lol…
Wait….basketball, hockey, and football are allowed to enter the conversation as a plus for Chicago but St. Louis can’t have their history of great baseball teams????
huh?
That’s what I was thinking.
In Pittsburgh, we got 14!
WOW! You’re old themed, congrats on your ability to use a cell phone. We’ll be sure to try and stay off your lawn.
It’s difficult to imagine you believe the things you say. As if Ruth, Hornsby, Cobb, Musial, the Splendid Splinter and others have no relevance to the game today.
And then talking down to someone likely much older than you, even though he was just talking about the World Series back then.
Just not right.
Haha, just stay off his damn lawn!
Cards fan here: Bryant’s comments were nothing but fun. Yadi went a little overboard, but someone has to light a fire on this team. Bryant’s a solid player, and generally seems to be a likeable guy off the field — a combo that reminds me of McCutchen. This should have been a non-story.
Have to laugh that while the entire division makes improvements to stay competitive—and that includes a vastly improved Reds—the Pirates have spent the winter dropping relatively affordable contracts of Mercer, Harrison and Nova. It’s not that any of those guys were superstars but huge upgrades over what is left
It’s mind numbing now that with salary dump 2018 complete, perhaps the waters are being tested for more dumping with Marte.
Dear God
No wonder the marketing department spent two weeks tweeting about bobble heads
the Twins have room to sign Kimbrel to a one year $20mm deal. it’s getting late and I’m sure Kimbrel doesn’t want camp to open unsigned.
This Cubs/Cards beef is such a nonstory lol. Both players getting their fans and teams pumped up, who cares? Players do it every year to bring the intensity to the rivalry games, and those matchups are going to be big ones this year. Should be fun.
This Molina-Bryant thing is staged. Bryant will tap Yadi’s shin pad and all will be forgiven and forgotten. We are in the softer era of major league baseball. If we weren’t we’d still be watching runners destroy catchers at home plate and runners breaking up DPs. We’d stop seeing umpires overprotect players on hit by pitches and let the players sort things out for themselves. They are all part of a union and I’m sure they can figure things out on their own. This is to drum up more interest in the Cubs/Cards rivarly. Doubt there any genuine animosity.
the problem is that cardinals feel like everyone should get on their knees and kiss the ring. they act that way because they have “the greatest fans in the world” and, baseball would be dead without them. they allot like notre dame fans.
They act that way because of all of there recent domination of the National league and deserve the respect that the cubs could only wish for.
Time to retire Yadi nice career but your time has passed just like the winning ways your city use to have
He’s still better than anything the cubs put behind the plate.
really? time to retire…didn’t he win a gold glove last year…he is way better then contreras
Ok, there needs to be at least a shred of credibility in these infantile comments. Molina is clearly better than any Cubs catcher I can think of… ever. I know some say his overall numbers make him a fringe HOFer at best, but all things considered, factoring the entire body of work (some of which doesn’t show up on a box score) He is absolutely a HOFer and in my opinion, first ballot. Not a fan of his personally, but I respect the hell out of his career. How could you not if you’re being objective?
St Louis is a boring town, what’s wrong with stating the obvious?
What about this for castellanos? Dodgers trade for him. Bellinger moves to the OF to fill that need. Then castellanos can play first. And dodgers could headline it with Pederson going back
So where are is Muncy gonna play in this plan?
I’m not advocating reading Marte unless it’s a return haul that’s too good to pass up, but I am curious as to what the local fan reaction would be to Marte being dealt. On the one hand he’s one of the only “name” players left on the roster, is still young enough to be in his prime, isn’t showing signs of slowing down, and we still aren’t too far removed from the Bucs dealing away McCutchen. In the other hand, he hasn’t been as good since his 80 game steroid suspension a couple years ago, there were a lot of fans who weren’t (at least initially) forgiving of his suspension when he returned, and he could probably fetch the best return of anyone on their roster.
Marte was worth 3.7 WAR in a season that was perceived as mediocre. He’s, by far, the best position player on the team and, probably, in the organization.
Swaggerty is, at least, two years away, also.
If his comments fire up the team or gets the fans energized about the team then he’s done his job as a team leader his team and fans respect him what else matters?
If anyone gets fired up by someone calling a town boring, they’ve got some big problems ahead.
Not feeling it with the Twins. They added some talent this off season, but I’m not convinced they’re all not yesterday’s news and I don’t see them fitting together. Hope I’m wrong.
I see them as the team that will challenge Cleveland this year. Unlike Chicago, Detroit and KC, they have ML quality at every position. Not all stars, but solid players. I think they might open some eyes this year.
If you want to be incredibly depressed, imagine the lives of people who defend the honor of baseball teams online.
Infinite clap emojis.
Even in jest Kris Bryant might know a thing or two about what constitutes a “boring city”. He was born, raised and still calls Las Vegas home, played college ball in San Diego and has spent his MLB career in Chicago. He also visits St. Louis on a regular basis annually as a Cubs divisional rival. It doesn’t take a rocket or social scientist to make the distinction of “boring”, at least among those four cities.
Wow! This is off the charts crazy! KB says something so trivial…and it’s at the Cubs Convention! It was a comedy skit! And since when is referring to a city as “boring” so terrible & offensive? Also, why is Molina paying attention to the Cubs Convention? Sounds like the Cubs are really in Yadi’s head.
It’s not uncommon for a front office to not value the guys they inherit as highly as their predecessors but Falvey and Lavine seem to have zero regard for the players they inherited, especially the pitchers. They’ve let go of JT Chargois, John Curtiss, and Nick Burdi for nothing despite their promise. Bringing in Perez on a major league deal is equally puzzling, nothing about him seems like he’d be better than Mejia, Gonsalves or Romero.
Wah, wah. St. Louis is boring and Chicago is a murder capital. So Molina thinks a “boring” slight will make him and his teammates play better? Our world is doomed.
Can we just play some ball for Pete’s sake (yes, Rose, Peter Rose)!
So we can’t express an opinion about a city anymore? Saying a place is “boring” is not close to inflammatory. Molina is just embarrassing himself trying to employ the old school tactic of motivating his teammates by using the “bad guy who dissed us” routine. You can’t create a fire without a spark. Bryant and Harper grew up in Vegas, so I imagine a lot of cities may not be as exciting to them. I wouldn’t take offense if someone told me there is nothing to do out here in the Sonoran desert.
Lol why do people get so hurt about Molina?
From this thread Yadi’s response made cubs fans cry a lot harder than what Kris Bryant and Dempster (who’s time with the cubs was irrelevant but acts like he was on the roster in ‘16) said about STL in “jest”
In Bryant’s defense, it was some stupid, one-off on some kind of skit or dumb late night show between him and Dempster.
In Yadi’s defense, honestly, looking at the comments, especially in print, those were some awfully barbed things to say. Anyone in a regular conversation would have taken offense had this been said about them or a person they knew. It seemed that the comments did go a little far. And Yadier loves it here, which I appreciate a lot. He has become somewhat of a legend in his own mind, but what doesn’t change is his love for the city and his team, and it does not go unnoticed.
But for the rest of us, considering, you know, we don’t play baseball for a living, life went on. Until the news outlets picked it up and made it a thing. And even then, I was not bothered, and neither was anyone else. I thought, if anything, that the responses were exactly in line with the original comments, and I loved Ozuna’s response (best part of the story). I got just as big a kick out of that as I did Bryant’s comments.
And that brings me to why nobody cared. We don’t think it’s boring, we don’t think it’s a terrible place to play/live, and it was humorous to hear someone from out of town assert otherwise. We laughed, because we were secure in the fact that it is most certainly not those things.
But now it’s a news story manufacturing controversy, and here we are, arguing over inanity. Can we get the FA’s signed, get the offseason news out of the way and just play already?
Best comment on here!
And since when is Kris Bryant the nicest guy in the MLB? Pretty obvious that Rizzo is the humble/likable one between the two. This article rushes to Bryant’s defense like he’s a damsel in distress.
Perhaps you forget the incident in Cincy some years ago when Rizzo more or less staked his claim to being the Cubs on-field leader. Rizzo does offset that tough guy image by all of the tremendous charitable work he does, especially for kids with cancer.
I don’t know anyone who said Bryant is a nice guy – always seems kind of arrogant to me, although in fairness to him I’m only assessing him from such inane activities as post-game interviews, but I agree with your point about the tone of the article, that good ole Kris is being unjustly attacked by big, bad Yadi.
To me, it’s what Cubs and Cards players SHOULD be saying during the offseason. Keep the fan bases churned up and marking off the calendar to the first head-to-head games for 2019.
Who cares if it was a joke and who cares about Yadi’s response. Do people not want to see rivalries ignited ? There is a reason why the MLB has the boring reputation it has. “Rivals” playing patty cake w each other. That’s why the Sox/Yankees rivalry was pretty much dead till this past year. Everyone wants to play nice these days.
See my response above. Part of the reason everyone plays nice these days is because of the level of personal attack they receive from sportswriters and talking heads when there’s an on-filed incident. Nobody wants Ken Rosenthal or Bob Costas or Generic Sports Commentator on ESPN calling him a thug.
I agree. I don’t care if Bryant said anything, I do like that yadi and brebbia responded to it. Gives my cub fan co workers and I something to disagree about till they start playing
Not surprised that most of the comments here relate to the “war of words” – or better, sophomoric exchange of insults – involving Bryant and Molina. Unless/until it ripens into something on field – like Bryant getting ear-holed in his first AB in St. Louis this year, it’s all just horse exhaust.
As far as the Cubs-Cards rivalry is concerned, it’s been too one-sided for way too long to think that it’s as hot a baseball rivalry as Dodgers-Giants or (ugh) Yankees-Red Sox. Grew up about 120 miles south of Chicago and 225 or so east of St. Louis. Seems everyone was a fan of one or the other, except for the outliers like my brother, a White Sox fan, or my high school coach, a Reds fan. The Cubs have won once in 110 years while the Cards are the closest thing to the Yankees in the NL. Not really much of a basis for a rivalry,
I say this as a Cubs fan of over 50 years. My grandfather, my dad and my uncles who cared about baseball were all Cubs fans. Damn heredity, anyway. So we have this mountain built out of a molehill after a puerile exchange of unpleasantries in the offseason by two of the star players of the respective teams.
For what it’s worth, I don’t put Molina into the same level as Bench or Fisk or Berra or Campanella for the combination of offense and defense those guys all had, but he is the best in today’s game, if only because he’s done it at a high level longer than Posey. Maybe if there was a way to combine Piazza’s offense and Molina’s defense …. I can understand Cubs fans “hating” Molina – pretty much the same way I felt about Pete Rose back in the day – he was a jackass, but I would have loved to have seen him play for the Cubs. At the very least they would have had a leadoff batter who was not allergic to getting on base. Bet on it.
As far as Bryant is concerned, hopefully he’s figured out his launch angle mechanics so that he won’t spend all of 2019 battling a bum shoulder again
Otherwise, the whole Bryant-Molina chatter is much ado about nothing, at least until either or both of them takes one in the ribs.
I like the part of not much of a rivalry. Your right Cards dominated most of the time.
No question that was the case until the last 3-4 years. When I was a youngster learning baseball in the 60’s, the Cubs had three consistently good offensive players in Williams, Santo and Banks and nothing much else. I rmember the tragedy of Ken Hubbs – a great defender at 2b who died too young – before he learned to hit. Dick Ellsworth lost 20 games in two different season while Bob Gibson was winning 7 straight WS games over ’64, ’67 and ’68. Both teams were pretty forgettable in the 70’s with the main question at Wrigley Field games being which young lady had the best halter top in the bleachers. The Cards won again in ’82, lost their composure in the ’85 WS and lost flyballs in the hefty bag roof in Minnesota in ’87 while the Cubs gagged in ’84 and after a surprising 1989 regular season, got b-slapped by Will Clark in the NLCS. In short, the two teams were seldom competitive at the same time in the larger scheme of MLB until relatively recently. That might sharpen the edges of the rivalry. That would not be all bad.
Granted, the cards have more ships. Everyone knows that. But the regular season matchups have been pretty even all-time, with the Cubs having 60 more wins against the birds. Not to mention the playoff series win. Don’t let your bias blind you from the fact this is one of the best rivalry in sports.
Bias? Ok. I’m a Cubs fan whose bias is for basic facts. There have been some great regular season games and therefore is no doubt that in the flyover territory between Chicago and St. Louis where I grew up, the fans are passionate. You’ve conceded championships. I don’t discount those since winning championships is why professional teams play the games.
The other numbers give more credence to the rivalry. Cards have 20 MVP winners, Cubs have 11. Cubs have the edge in Cy Young winners (5-3 – wonder how many are surprised by that number). Each team has six ROY winners. Cards have more GG winners at 8 of 9 positions (thank Ryno for the 12-2 Cubs’ advantage at 2b). Each team has 11 HOF players (as determined by “cap on the plaque.”
It’s a good rivalry, especially in flyover land, but any rivalry is better when both teams are competing for titles, not because of regular season head to head or local fan spittin’ contests, To the credit of the two teams’ fans, the rivalry has relevance b/c of the passion of the fans.
My comment was meant for themed sir
But yes I completely agree a rivalry is at best when both teams are relevant.
Oh by the way. That win discrepancy came mostly from 1900-1930 if you’d like to check that out. So completely irrelevant.
Well, St. Louis is boring.
And Chicago is a cesspool
Calm down “Yadee-Ay.” We all know you’re the best in the division and are easily
gonna beat everyone. You’re clearly the top dogs and everyone will be hunting you. There’s a lot of pressure on you guys to perform, since the new free agents were signed. ((Reverse psychology))
I’m a huge Pirate and Marte fan. However, Marte for Taylor would interest me a ton. Taylor is basically a platoon piece in Los Angeles, but he can play a decent SS. He’s not likely to win any Gold Gloves, but he’s good enough. His bat has has flashed brilliance, and is at least solid, and with power. Good outfielders are easy to find. Good shortstops are not. Cervelli+Marte for Taylor and Stripling. That may be weighted in favor of the Bucs, but Taylor and Stripling are depth for them while Cervelli and Marte would be clear starters. Plus, the Bucs could throw in a decent prospect and/or a bit of Marte’s salary.
Trade Marte and Cervelli for Taylor and Stripling. Sign someone like Cargo, Jones, or Marwin to fill the OF void and pair with Chisenhall. Then sign a good defensive backup (ie, Maldonado) to Diaz.
C-Diaz; 1-Bell; 2-Frazier; 3-Moran/Kang; S-Taylor; L-Chisenhall/Jones; C-Dickerson; R-Polanco
Not sure if this could come together or not. Dodgers may balk. Huntington is also famous for highly overvaluing his players, and then later trading them when their value is lower for sub-par returns.
There isn’t a weak hitter in this lineup ^^^. Moran as your #8 hitter is not a bad spot to find yourself. A lack of star power, yes; weak? No way.
However, I do share your opinion of Huntington and his value system. And how long will the people keep listening to his redundancy on financial flexibility? Last I read, Nutting was the 9th richest owner in MLB.
A couple of problems with this scenario. Not that they wouldn’t love to shed Cervelli’s & Marte’s contracts, but the Pirates don’t really have any decent prospects to throw in a deal after nearly selling the farm (no pun intended) in the Archer & Kela deals. In addition, they don’t really sign free agents that are good – or that you’ve heard of – because even if they kick the tires on someone (usually a public relations stunt as they try to retain their 100 or so remaining season ticket holders) they know they’ll easily get outbid by an organization that cares about winning. But hey, they can tell their busload or 2 of fans they tried, while being fiscally responsible of course, right?
I read through the comments and I still hold my same opinions regarding Cubs and Cards fans.
It’s not good.
Why can’t some of you guys take Bryant’s and Yadi’s comments for what they are? Fuel for the rivalry. Neither of them were out of line and personally I think it adds to the entertainment value. Both of them said exactly what each of their respective fanbases would want them to say. Can’t wait for the 2019 season.
Pirates doing anything remotely good for the benefit of the team is fake news.
I’m trying to locate a “like” button for your comment.