Schedule
- Lance Lynn and Tyson Ross start tonight at 9:10 central.
- Joe Kelly pitches against Jesse Hahn tomorrow at 9:10.
- Shelby Miller and Odrisamer Despaigne throw Thursday at 2:40.
The Cardinals
The Cards sit just 1.5 games back of the Brewers, who are next on the schedule after San Diego. Beating the Padres would be nice, but it's the trade deadline, Thursday at 3:00 central, that's drawing more fan attention right now. It's impossible to tell what sort of deal truly stands a chance of happening, but it certainly seems possible that the franchise will look very different Friday morning. Should it?
One one hand, there's a legitimate risk that the Cardinals could make a trade, even for a star, and still miss the playoffs or only grab one of the coin-flip wildcard spots. The Cardinals are missing Yadier Molina and Michael Wacha, they're getting no production out of right-field, and to talk about the thing that nobody wants to talk about, Adam Wainwright's peripherals are a little frightening right now. Is this a playoff team? Their current pythagorean record sits at a modest 53-51. This team, this year, might just not be that good, and not worth fortifying at a heavy cost.
On the other hand, the NL Central crown appears attainable. The Reds are falling apart, the Pirates don't seem particularly scary, and the Brewers are below .500 since the calendar flipped to May. The schedule is highly favorable to the Birds, and as Craig pointed out yesterday, Matt Holliday's power is finally coming around, which is a key development.
The Cardinals have been on an incredible run of success recently, and because of that they don't have the same pressure to win now that a world series starved team feels. l think they should and will sit on their hands given all the circumstances and the extremely challenging market with one exception:
If the Cardinals FO thinks Carlos Martinez and/or Oscar Taveras are going to be busts, they should trade them now. Those two players likely have immense trade value, and as Shelby Miller has taught us, a lot can change in a year.
Speaking of, in this series I'm interested in Shelby Miller most of all. I'm deeply skeptical that he's turned any sort of corner, but his command really was a little better against Chicago. We'll see. Expect to see AJ Pierzynski at least twice, and hopefully Oscar Taveras at least twice as well against the Padres' all righty pitching trio. Also, Carlos Martinez has not yet appeared out of the pen, and isn't that curious?
The Padres
Their offense is terrible.
- They have a .219/.279/.339 line as a team. For comparison, here is Daniel Descalso's career line: .238/.303/.337.
- The Padres current team wOBA is .275. If they don't improve on that number by the end of the year, they will be worst by that measure of any team in 42 years (The 1972 Rangers put up a .270).
- Here is the complete list of players in baseball this year who qualify for the batting title with a wOBA below .275: Everth Cabrera, Nate Schierholtz, Zack Cozart, Jean Segura Dominic Brown, Nick Swisher.
Keys to the Series
Just don't allow any runs.
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