:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55589043/809481346.0.jpg)
Here’s everything you missed yesterday:
Ranking the starts of the starting pitchers: Ben Godar uses Game Score to evaluate the performance of the Cardinals’ rotation in the first half of the season.
So Why Isn’t Max Scherzer a Cardinal?: The Red Baron assessed the Cardinals’ position in the 2014-2015 offseason and brainstorms to find the fundamental reasons why the Cards didn’t sign Scherzer. Among the reasons are the fact that the Cards value continuance, over-value their own players, and didn’t feel the need to make a big splash. This a great read, but if you ask me the answer is contained in John’s post:
Re-reevaluating the Mike Leake contract: Say what you want about Mike Leake, but he’s performed well under his much-maligned contract. Not only has he done well in a vacuum, John points out that he’s been one of the few pitching signings from the 2015-2016 offseason to have been worth his deal so far.
To connect the dots on these two, it’s easy for a huge deal for a pitcher to not work out. Guys get hurt, and even if they come back healthy, mechanics can change, and it’s harder than it appears to get right again. In theory, it’s easy to discount a pitcher’s future value because of the inherent risk of time missed, and even absent an injury, sometimes guys just lose stuff. Scherzer has had great health, but so did many others, until they didn’t. In practice, we’ve seen a lot of these deals (Jon Lester and Scherzer being notable exceptions at least so far) not turn out well.
waino has a remedy for dexter fowler: Your Hunt and Peck centers around some special pickles.
What it would take to land a Josh Donaldson: This was published a month ago, but was pulled back up to the front page after some rumors of the Cardinals being connected to the former MVP surfaced.
Cardinals fall short of comeback in 9-6 loss to Marlins: The Cards made it interesting, but still lost. Every loss hurts right now, this one included. Go get ‘em tomorrow Cards.