The Cardinal Way Part 2: Ascension

[royals19]

Owner's Office
St. Louis, MO
May 30th
7:00 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

What are you doing Bill!? You can't flippin' do that to Mike!

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill DeWitt

This ball club needs to start winning games Willie. Lesson number one is don't get too sentimental in this industry.

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

Well that's understood... But you can't fire a man who's had this much success for this franchise. Just because the team is going through a rough stretch doesn't mean we have to can our manager.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill DeWitt

The key word there is had. If you weren't blind as a bat, you'd see that this ball club needs a new voice!

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

Don't you dare tell me what my ball club needs and doesn't need! I got my coach out there working his tail off and you send him to KC with his damn pants around his ankles!

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill DeWitt

Business is business Willie. Besides, he might rise to the occasion... He might not... We'll see in time.

And with the last sentence, Willie turned and left DeWitt's office before he decided to do something he would regret. He didn't have time to goof around with DeWitt and his silly demands. He had people to see and games to watch... But first, a layover in KC was necessary with so much at stake...

[royals19]

While Mr. Singleton and the ever friendly Bill DeWitt duked things out in the Front Office, the Red Birds were busy trying to catch the Pirates and Brewers. They'd managed to get over .500 heading into KC but after dropping the first 2 against KC in St. Louis, it was definitely looking like Mike Matheny was going to be on his way out along with most of his good players.




As rain saturated the field, the Willie called a closed door meeting with the players and asked them to win this game for Coach Mike. After all, they were playing the Kansas City Royals... the goof balls of baseball.

Early on in the game, Yadi Molina set the tone early with a pair of doubles.


While he did work in this game hitting rockets to the fence in each of his 4 ABs, we've been considering benching him this whole year. I don't care if you're the greatest catcher in the world and can call pitches like nobodies business... You can't hit .198 through 2 months in the season and call it good. The only problem was the lack of a real back-up that could step in.

So while Yadi did work, and so did the rest of the team trying to win big today, Adam Wainwright was on the bump trying to do work.



To be completely honest, Wainwright just isn't the same pitcher he was last year. Yeah his ERA is under 3, yeah he's not walking anyone and yeah he's Adam Wainwright but he just simply isn't ace material any more.

He threw 107 pitches in just 5 innings of work. He allowed 7 hits and no walks while striking out 3. While the numbers might look decent, he's been so damn lucky this season. His control is god-awful and he doesn't have a swing and miss pitch like last season. Wainwright typically misses his spot by a good 6 inches to a foot on a good day. The only reason he's at where he is this season is because he's effectively wild.

If you had to put a label on him now, Wainwright is basically a really expensive #3/4 type starter.

But through all the goof ups and head shaking, I'm proud to say...

THE CARDINALS HAVE FINALLY WON A GAME!



We've finally broken the curse! Folks, this is the first USER game the Cards have won since we tried that little stunt against the Brewers. While the Brewers have essentially run away with the division since the beginning of WWIII, we've been hanging out in the basement... actually the stairs to the basement.

With this little win, before you know it we'll have won 100 games and gone through the postseason undefeated... That's the way it' supposed to work out right? We're a little new at this winning thing.

[royals19]

Local Ball Park
Los Angeles, CA
June 4th, 2014
2:15 PM

"Number 11, please take the mound!" Boomed a scout's voice. Willie Singleton sat by himself in the seats behind home plate with his radar gun and clip board waiting for Flaherty to take the mound.



WHOOSH.... POP!

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

Good... 94 on that one Jack! Throw a couple curves.

WHOOSH..... POP!

The kid unleashed a great curveball with plenty of bite on it. It reminded Willie a lot of Wainwright's curve. It wasn't particularly hard but the pitch had some great action on it and he had good control of it.

Willie wrote something down on his clip board and called back out to the kid on the mound.

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

Alright, show us why your a first round pick... Throw the change piece!

WHOOSH...... POP!

The change up was by the far the best he had seen in the prep class. It had a noticable difference in velocity, great rotation and great late bite on it.

Willie scribbled something down and called the scouting director.

Quote: Originally Posted by Willie Singleton

This kid is our pick at 27.

[royals19]

As everyone should know, the draft has always been a huge event for baseball; especially our friends the Cardinals. Looking up and down the Cardinals current 25 man roster, the vast majority of the guys have come from the draft. Historically, the Cardinals have been terrible in the draft... picking guys like Leron Lee, Paul Coleman and Dan Larson. Aside from Albert Pujols, the Cards haven't really had that much success in the draft until recently when the minds of John Mozeliak and Jeff Luhnow turned the organization upside down. In recent years, the draft has yielded talent such as Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Matt Carpenter, Matt Adams, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha, Stephen Piscotty, James Ramsey, Marco Gonzales, Rob Kaminsky and Craig Romo.

Needless to say, whoever the Cardinals drafted this year was going to be in good company.

At this time, we could head right into the draft room and take in the sights and smells of a bunch of baseball guys yelling at each other in a crowded room with chewin' tobacco flowing like water but I'm not sure that description would exactly be doing justice to the scene...

For the sake of the kids' ears and my sanity, we'll just skip over that part and cut to the chase...

Quote: Originally Posted by Bud Selig

With the 27th selection of the 20,014 draft, The St. Louie Cardinals select... Jack Flaherty. A Right Handed Pitcher from Harvard-Westlake High School in studio city California... That concludes the first round of the draft... I think...

To be honest, no one else was going to be stupid enough to pick Flaherty in the first round... Sure the kid has a great mix of pitches and is everything you look for in a starter...

"So why did you get to draft him all the way at 27?"

Well the part of the story I neglected to tell you about was how he had a strong commitment to North Carolina and how he also wants to play infield at the next level... heh... whoops. So with that being said, the negotiations at the picnic table should be a point of interest once we get to that point in the season.

With all that being said, this draft was made up much more of than just Jack Flaherty. Let's go ahead and examine how some of these picks played out.

Round 1- Supplemental pick for losing Carlos Beltran
James Ramsay-CP-B POT-Yale University

You typically don't want to select relief pitchers in the first round but given the current bullpen situation, Willie and his crew had no choice but to take the kid out of Yale. At 6'5, the young man will throw his 2 seamer at about 93-96 and offers a good split and a hard slider that's one of the best in the class. He's also just 21 years so he'll need to make the typically run through the system before debuting. More than likely, this kid will be a fast riser through the system.

Round 2
Orlando Rosario-RHP-B+ POT-Dominican Baseball Academy

The big need for our organization was second base and starting pitching. In the past 3 years, the Cardinals organization has graduated so many arms that it's time to restock. It was pleasing to see a talent like Rosario left on the board because he's 6'6, has good potential and plus pitchability. At this point, he reminds me a lot of Michael Wacha before he really busted onto the scene. The size and arsenal are nearly identical.
Round 3
Harvey Rincon-2B-C POT-Dominican Baseball Academy

In the third round, there weren't many options left and ultimately, the pick came down to Rincon and another reliever. This draft was deep in high ceiling second basemen but none of them fell to Cardinals Brain Trust who would've surely taken one. Rincon probably shouldn't have been our pick here because he's another glove-first second baseman and our system is currently loaded with players of the exact same type. I won't complain though if he develops elite defense. At second base, we've got a ton of above average defenders and bats but none of them have that one tool that makes them a great Major League option. Hopefully Rincon changes our fortunes.

Round 4
Robby Romero-RP-A POT-USC

This was by far my favorite pick of the draft. Somehow in the 4th round of the draft, an A potential reliever fell to us and he's extremely close to major league ready. When I first saw him, he reminded me a lot of Marcus Stroman as far as stuff and build. He's short but he's pretty well put together and he features a great fastball and hard slider to go with a solid split piece. Look for Robby to be a fixture in our bullpen within 2 years. This kid is insanely good for a 4th rounder.

Round 5
Darryl Irizarry-LHP-B POT-Miami

And of course the best pick was saved for last. Willie and the boys hadn't done any home work on the guy and by the time the 5th round rolled around, none of the guys they scouted were available. Ultimately, they decided to go fishing with this last pick and select the coolest guy left on the board. By doing so, it landed the Red Birds a 6'6, 250 left hander who's a fireballer but with little control. We wanted Tyler Kolek and we basically ended up with a left handed version of him (but with less polish).

[royals19]

Our last update of this series sends us down to Tampa Bay where the Cardinals engaged the local Rays in a friendly baseball match. Let me start off by saying, the weather in the dome was fantastic... some of the best we've experienced all season long. A cool 75 degrees with a slight breeze to the southeast.

*CRASH!*

What in Sam Hill was that?




Ohhh don't mind that, it's just Oscar Taveras hitting his first homer of the day.

You know, I try to give other guys credit when we win games or when I'm doing write-ups but I have a heck of a time when I'm not writing about Oscar Taveras. I mean, Matt Holliday is in the hunt for the MVP Award and already has 20 dingers on the year... Jacoby Ellsbury has already stolen 30 bases this season... Trevor Rosenthal hasn't allowed an earned run all season... The list just keeps going on and on.

If you were in my position, you'd also be struggling to write about other guys when Oscar Taveras is doing crazy and unbelievable Oscar Taveras things.



Today was another one of those days as Taveras hit Home Runs 16 and 17 and turned in 2 web gems. I wish I could've got some video of all this but unfortunately I had to stop mid-game and save it.

So throw in all the Oscar Taveras stuff, add a dinger from Matt Carpenter and another from Jacoby Ellsbury and what do you get?



Son... Of... A....

We win that game against the Royals and head down to Tampa for similar success and what happens? Everything unfolds in the last inning!

J.P. Howell walks the leadoff runner and then proceeds to throw the ball into the stands on a pickoff attempt. Now with the runner on second, James Loney hits a base hit to right center. Ellsbury fields it at the fence and hits the cutoff. Throwing it back into the infield, the cutoff then proceeds to throw the ball over the second baseman's head and right for our dugout. J.P. Howell hauls *** over there to stop the ball from rolling into the dugout. And guess what happens?

The ball rolls into the dugout.

Boom. Game Over. Head Shake. Face Palm.

I love the coaches in that shot because you can tell they're all standing there thinking "you gotta be bleepin' me". Out of all the coaches, I like how Mike Matheny has his head down and is like "Oh lord... not again."

So right after our first win in a month, I'm right back into shaking my damn head mode...

[AdamJones113]

YOU... NEED... A BULLPEN!! (Howsabout Motte?)

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by AdamJones113

YOU... NEED... A BULLPEN!! (Howsabout Motte?)

This bullpen is really starting to get on my nerves. Our starters basically have to go 7-8 innings every time out because the middle relief group can't be trusted. There hasn't been that bridge to Choate/Seigrist territory this year. We saw a little bit of that last season and we tried to address it in the offseason but so far to no avail.

The middle relievers don't allow runs by the groves like it seems. In fact, they usually allow one or two runs a night then call it good. Only problem is, those one or two runs costs us the ball game usually.

Having actual relievers in the St. Louis bullpen isn't a very old practice. What they like to do is place starting pitchers into the bullpen in order to ease them into the major leagues like they've done with Rosenthal, C-Mart and Seth Maness. That process has been kind of screwed up by bringing in guys like Howell and Neshek. I'm kicking myself but at this point it is what it is.

As far as Motte goes, I called him up after that Rays game and sent Neshsek to AAA. Motte was supposed to be back by Mid May but a pair of shoulder strains held him back another month. I would've covered his rehab stint but where's the fun in talking about a guy mowing down minor leaguers all day, every day?

[royals19]

I had to take a couple days to get that sour loss out of my head. I don't think I'll ever get over losing a game by letting the ball roll into the dugout. If we don't make the playoffs this season, we can look back on that moment when we ask where it all went wrong.

Against Tim Lincecum, things started out like they usually do. Everybody swinging at everything... roll over ground balls left and right... We could probably chalk this up to USER error but it's much more fun to blame the virtual players.

I'll admit, I was already shaking my head by the 2nd inning. 2 innings and 40 pitches by Jaime Garcia will do that to you.



This made me shake my head even more... How the hell can we be barely be over .500 and have 3 guys in the top 10 batting averages? I mean... I don't know what to say! I'm flabbergasted! We lead the league in Home Runs! We lead the league in Batting Average! We lead the league in Stolen Bases and Triples! How are we only playing .500 ball!?

I've toyed with the sliders and I've already maxed out the difficulty. I knew it was going to be easy but damn... it shouldn't be this hard.

...In other news, Matt Carpenter is a freaking baseball machine.



Last season he was good... hit .298, about 12 dingers I think. The Front Office boys pretty much had him projected at .280 and 10 dingers with elite level defense. Where is he now you ask? .316, 10 dingers through June with elite defense.

I'll go ahead and say it because it's on everyone's mind. Matt Carpenter is the best third baseman in the league. Hands down... David Wright? Get outta here son...

Instead of his wide stance, Carpenter has a new stance this year that has contributed to his success. The only way to describe it is he looks like a drunken sailor holding onto a torch for dear life.

I guess he can do it if he works...



All be darned another wh...whind...wind... win? Is that how you say it? I'm sorry we're new to this whole winning thing.

We forced Jaime Garcia to labor through 7 innings tonight even though he clearly didn't have his best stuff. After allowing a dinger to Pablo Sandoval, the pitching coach Derek Lilliquist came out and told him to throw nothing but hooks. So that's what we did and they didn't hit the ball hard all game.

In a matter of weeks, Garcia has gone from looking like he's going to rebound to a complete mess that I want to trade away. He's a damn fool if he thinks there isn't anyone to replace him with. We sent Shelby Miller to AAA... ain't no reason we won't send his *** to AA.

The usually sharp Trevor Rosenthal almost blew the lead tonight too. Luckily, he throws cool octane from the right side and was able to work out of the jam and save me another headache.

For our next update, we'll go ahead and send things down to the sticks of Springfield, Missouri...