****The Official 2019 STL Cardinals Thread****

[BigRedChief]

Cardinals announce 25-man Opening Day roster for the 2019 season.

Spoiler!

The Cardinals today announced their 25-man Opening Day roster that includes four first-time Cardinals and 13 players that were developed within their organization.

PITCHERS (12): 60 – John Brebbia-RHP, 22 – Jack Flaherty-RHP, 53 – John Gant- RHP, 49 – Jordan Hicks-RHP, 43 – Dakota Hudson- RHP, 55 – Dominic Leone-RHP, 59 – Mike Mayers- RHP, 21 – Andrew Miller-LHP, 39 – Miles Mikolas-RHP, 29 – Alex Reyes, RHP, 52 – Michael Wacha-RHP, 50 – Adam Wainwright- RHP;

CATCHERS (2): 4 -Yadier Molina, 32 – Matt Wieters;

INFIELDERS (6): 13 - Matt Carpenter, 12 – Paul DeJong, 46 – Paul Goldschmidt, 34 – Yario Muñoz, 33 – Drew Robinson, 16 – Kolten Wong;

OUTFIELDERS (5): 46 – Harrison Bader, 25 - Dexter Fowler, 38 – José Martínez, 41 – Tyler O'Neill, 23 – Marcell Ozuna;

DISABLED LIST (5): 27 - Brett Cecil (10-day, left hand Carpal Tunnel syndrome), 44 – Luke Gregerson (10-day, right shoulder impingement), 18 – Carlos Martínez (right shoulder cuff strain), 3 - Jedd Gyorko (10-day, right calf strain), 67 - Justin Williams (10-day, right hand 2nd metacarpal fracture).

2019 Opening Day Line up

Spoiler!

Starting lineup
Matt Carpenter 3B
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Paul DeJong SS
Ozuna LF
Yadier Molina C
Dexter Fowler RF
Kolten Wong 2B
Harrison Bader CF

Won the Central Division. Won the NLDS.

NLDS Playoff roster

Spoiler!

Pitchers (12): Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Genesis Cabrera, Tyler Webb, Andrew Miller, John Brebbia, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos, Carlos Martinez.

Catchers (2): Yadier Molina, Matt Wieters.

Infielders (6): Paul Goldschmidt, Kolten Wong, Paul DeJong, Matt Carpenter, Tommy Edman, Yairo Munoz.

Outfielders (5): Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader, Dexter Fowler, Jose Martinez, Randy Arozarena.

NLDS Playoff Game 1 starting lineup

Spoiler!

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Tommy Edman, 3B

3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B

4. Marcell Ozuna, LF

5. Yadier Molina, C

6. Paul DeJong, SS

7. Kolten Wong, 2B

8. Harrison Bader, CF

9. Miles Mikolas, P

NLCS Game One Starting lineup

Spoiler!

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Kolten Wong, 2B

3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B

4. Marcell Ozuna, LF

5. Yadier Molina, C

6. Matt Carpenter 3B

7.Tommy Edmond RF

8. Paul DeJong, SS

9. Miles Mikolas P

[O.city]

So all this talk about the Cardinals farm system and pitching, is it actually good or is that just Cards talk spin?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BDj23

1. Matt Carpenter (L) - 3B
2. Paul Goldschmidt (R) - 1B
3. Paul DeJong (R) - SS
4. Marcell Ozuna (R) - LF
5. Yadier Molina (R) - C
6. Dexter Fowler (S) - RF
7. Kolten Wong (L) - 2B
8. Harrison Bader (R) - CF
9. Miles Mikolas (R) - P

RHP Miles Mikolas

First lineup of the season! Let the bitching begin!

Fine place to start. The team is, sadly, hell-bent on giving Fowler a chance and if you're going to do so, that's not a bad place to put him while trying to minimize his damage during his tryout period. If his OBP comes back, you can move him up a bit, if the OBP doesn't come back but he at least recaptures some of the thump he had during '17, then the 6 spot ahead of the lefty in Wong is also a pretty decent spot.

Bader's exactly where he should be against righties unless/until he shows some ability to lay off breaking balls in the dirt. Wong is a wild card until he isn't.

That's a good lineup. For now.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

So all this talk about the Cardinals farm system and pitching, is it actually good or is that just Cards talk spin?

It's deep. It doesn't have the high end, top of the rotation kind of prospects it did just a year or two ago, but there are a lot of bodies to throw at problems as they arise.

It's the same way in the OF.

[bdj23]

Also, wtf? LG doesn't support MLB.tv anymore? Wish they would have told me that before they automatically renewed my subscription.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's deep. It doesn't have the high end, top of the rotation kind of prospects it did just a year or two ago, but there are a lot of bodies to throw at problems as they arise.

It's the same way in the OF.

That was kind of my take on it. I also think "Deep" sometimes is code for meh. and not much separation.

The pitching high end guys are hopefully just now getting to the big club so that should help.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

That was kind of my take on it. I also think "Deep" sometimes is code for meh. and not much separation.

The pitching high end guys are hopefully just now getting to the big club so that should help.

When you're talking hitters I will agree that 'deep' often means 'meh'.

But with pitching, quantity has a quality of its own. Guys get hurt and relievers are volatile as hell. When you know that 1 or 2 guys you counted on in the bullpen will likely be ineffective and another 1 or 2 guys in your rotation will likely be injured/ineffective at some point, having 3-4 guys that you trust to come in and be league average is huge.

Especially when league average starting pitching cost $12-$14 million/season and 8th inning guys cost $8-9 million.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by O.city

So all this talk about the Cardinals farm system and pitching, is it actually good or is that just Cards talk spin?

It’s good but don’t think it has a bunch of obvious high-end/high-upside talent.

Gorman and Nunez could be star hitters but are really far away from the show.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

It’s good but don’t think it has a bunch of obvious high-end/high-upside talent.

Gorman and Nunez could be star hitters but are really far away from the show.

With Gorman, Montero, Nunez and Torres the Cardinals have the best group of young hitting prospects they've had since I started following the system closely.

Now you can generally guess that 1/2 of those guys will wash out entirely and at least one of the other ones will disappoint. But when you have 4 guys with potential 5 win bats parked in the low minors, you really like your odds of getting at least one impact hitter out of that lot.

It's pretty far removed from the days where we had Drew down there and were waiting on him. Then Rasmus. Then Taveras. We have usually had one premier hitting prospect in our low minors that we followed with baited breath in the hopes that they develop perfectly. Then we'd get to overrating someone like Evan Mendoza and calling him a possible All-Star. Right now we have numbers we can throw at it and that's a biiiiiig difference. A guy like Mendoza is someone that a honk such as myself says "man, just see if you can get some solid innings at SS with him, pump his value in the Tx league and trade his ass for a lefty reliever with a couple years of control..."

This system could explode up the rankings next season if even 2 of those guys do well in full-season ball (or a taste of a full season level), especially if Carlson puts himself into the top 50 conversation as I expect he will.

[O.city]

Thanks guys.

The rate at which they can't develop bats has been fun to see. On opposite day.

[Prison Bitch]

No system has ever had four 5-win bats in it

[bdj23]

Holy shit, Wong crushed that ball.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

No system has ever had four 5-win bats in it

What part of "maybe one of them develops" is lost on you?

Scurry back to the ****ing pit of dispair/royals thread, cumstain.

[Miles]

That other fun trade from last year - Voit just hit a 3 run HR.

[Prison Bitch]

The max fWAR from the Royals all-time best 2011 system was only 4.1 (Hoz 2017). Altho, Whit was 5.2 last year so anything is possible.

[bdj23]

Why does this team struggle so hard to get pitchers out? Year after year it seems. Chacin is 2-2 with a HR today.