NL Central Discussion

[markedman5]

Kenley Jansen and the Red Sox defense hand the Cards another win.

[Frisbee Slider]

[BruisedCrew]

The Cardinals are breaking out the HR whooping sticks on the Dodgers. 

And the Dodgers are whooping back. 

But no match for the Cards 7 HR. 

[Jake McKibbin]

Wainwright with one strikeout in 5.2 innings and a lot of hard contact. Shame we didn't catch him

That cards offense is firing though

[BruisedCrew]

Wainwright probably thinks it’s a shame that he didn’t get to face the Brewers instead of the Dodgers.

[SF70]

1 hour ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Wainwright with one strikeout in 5.2 innings and a lot of hard contact. Shame we didn't catch him

That cards offense is firing though

The breakout of Nolan Gorman has given the Cardinals their 3rd MVP candidate and makes their lineup as strong as any in the game, if not the strongest.

The team is so deep in quality position players they don’t even miss O’Neil or Carlson who both are injured and out of the lineup. 

[owbc]

We've seen teams like the Cards before that mash the ball and do very little else right. If they make the playoffs it will be because their pitching climbs into the upper half of MLB, not because they are winning a ton of 12-8 games. 

[StearnsFTW]

On 5/19/2023 at 3:52 PM, owbc said:

We've seen teams like the Cards before that mash the ball and do very little else right. If they make the playoffs it will be because their pitching climbs into the upper half of MLB, not because they are winning a ton of 12-8 games. 

And because the rest of the division stinks.  I'll be shocked if the Cardinals win 85 games, but 84 may do it in this division.

[wiguy94]

Cardinals losing 10-3 to the Reds in the top of the 9th. The Cardinals active pitching staff has just 4 pitchers with an ERA under 4.00

[BruisedCrew]

The Reds are pounding on the Red Sox for their fourth straight win. 

They could have a chance to take over first place this weekend. 

[BlightyBrew]

At the End of May with 1 game left in the month:

Cardinals are 15-13

Reds are 13-13

Brewers are 10-16

Cubs are 10-17

Pirates are 7 -18

Wonder if at the end of June the above will be the standings in the NL Central?

[Jopal78]

The Brewers have given over 1200 PAs this season to players with a sub .700 OPS, and continue to play three of those hitters on a near daily basis. 
 

The Pirates have only 700 PAs by players with a sub .700 OPS. 
 

The Reds approx 800 PAs to hitters with sub .700 OPS

The Cardinals approx 640 PAs to hitters with a sub .700 OPS

The Cubs approx 600+ PAs to hitters with a sub .700 OPS.

Milwaukee’s roster construction is such that the pitching staff works without a safety net. If their offensive production was even close to comparable to the rest of their division they’d be 10 games in front. 

 

 

[umphrey]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

The Brewers have given over 1200 PAs this season to players with a sub .700 OPS, and continue to play three of those hitters on a near daily basis. 
 

The Pirates have only 700 PAs by players with a sub .700 OPS. 
 

The Reds approx 800 PAs to hitters with sub .700 OPS

The Cardinals approx 640 PAs to hitters with a sub .700 OPS

The Cubs approx 600+ PAs to hitters with a sub .700 OPS.

Milwaukee’s roster construction is such that the pitching staff works without a safety net. If their offensive production was even close to comparable to the rest of their division they’d be 10 games in front. 

 

 

I was looking at stats and we are essentially bottom 5 in offense, bottom 5 in pitching (both bullpen and starters) and 1st in defense. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that the offense has been letting the pitching down. They both stink. Good defense, great luck and a relatively soft schedule is all we have going for us. 

[Jopal78]

3 hours ago, umphrey said:

I was looking at stats and we are essentially bottom 5 in offense, bottom 5 in pitching (both bullpen and starters) and 1st in defense. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that the offense has been letting the pitching down. They both stink. Good defense, great luck and a relatively soft schedule is all we have going for us. 

Pitching staff is 5th in Runs Allowed. 

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Pitching staff is 5th in Runs Allowed. 

Pitching staff plus defense (1st in DRS) plus some degree of luck (league high LOB%) are 5th in runs allowed

Pitchers are 13th in K%, 5th in BB% and 14th in HR/9 making them 12th in FIP.

[shanedog19]

This season was marketed by the team as the year of "the Freshmen", as evidenced by all those videos they did. Well, two of them have been hurt most of the year, one is a platoon player, and the other one has a .578 OPS. All that youth movement energy has been sucked out, and we are left with a bunch of middling, average players that are hard to watch. Maybe the excitement returns when Woodruff and Frelick are healthy, but I'm not holding my breath at this point.

[umphrey]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Pitching staff plus defense (1st in DRS) plus some degree of luck (league high LOB%) are 5th in runs allowed

Pitchers are 13th in K%, 5th in BB% and 14th in HR/9 making them 12th in FIP.

Idk I checked FIP rankings on 2 different websites and they both had us at 25th with 4.72

[sveumrules]

2 minutes ago, umphrey said:

Idk I checked FIP rankings on 2 different websites and they both had us at 25th with 4.72

All the rankings in my post were among NL teams only.

[wibadgers23]

Winker and Wiemer have provided next to nothing offensively.  Turang has provided very little.  Mitchell and Frelick were supposed to provide a spark offensively but have been injured all year.  Urias has also been injured all year.  Brian Anderson started out hot but has since cooled.  Yelich and Contreras have been alright but nothing earth-shattering.  Tyrone Taylor has provided nothing offensively since returning from injury.  Tellez, one of the team's best hitters, only plays against RHP.  Before getting injured, Adames was hitting near the Mendoza Line.  Owen Miller is probably the lone bright spot.  The offense is a hot mess right now.

[Underachiever]

Watching Pittsburgh beating the Giants 8-4. I hate that I’m jealous of the Pirates’ lineup. Especially that leadoff guy, McCutchen? The one with the .810 OPS.

[rickh150]

On 5/31/2023 at 11:52 AM, sveumrules said:

Pitching staff plus defense (1st in DRS) plus some degree of luck (league high LOB%) are 5th in runs allowed

Pitchers are 13th in K%, 5th in BB% and 14th in HR/9 making them 12th in FIP.

Sveum, I think this is very perceptive and so under radar. Our defense is essentially keeping us in 1st place. It also should be incredibly encouraging that we can be even better with IL guys coming back, defense being more consistent than pitching/hitting, and doing this with our best starting pitchers (Burnes/Peralta) struggling.

[rickh150]

20 hours ago, Underachiever said:

Watching Pittsburgh beating the Giants 8-4. I hate that I’m jealous of the Pirates’ lineup. Especially that leadoff guy, McCutchen? The one with the .810 OPS.

I do not take Pittsburgh seriously and will hope they beat Cubs/Cards well into September.

[rickh150]

21 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

Winker and Wiemer have provided next to nothing offensively.  Turang has provided very little.  Mitchell and Frelick were supposed to provide a spark offensively but have been injured all year.  Urias has also been injured all year.  Brian Anderson started out hot but has since cooled.  Yelich and Contreras have been alright but nothing earth-shattering.  Tyrone Taylor has provided nothing offensively since returning from injury.  Tellez, one of the team's best hitters, only plays against RHP.  Before getting injured, Adames was hitting near the Mendoza Line.  Owen Miller is probably the lone bright spot.  The offense is a hot mess right now.

Urias and Hiura, two others that provided depth, also out. Crazy that we are in first, especially if you simply look at all the unknown names across our roster, bullpen especially. And Owen Miller is our bright spot!

[wiguy94]

Cardinals bullpen blew a 5-1 lead to the Pirates in the 7th inning. They currently don't have a single pitcher on their active roster with an ERA below 3.50

[Frisbee Slider]

9 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Cardinals bullpen blew a 5-1 lead to the Pirates in the 7th inning.

Yeesh, just when we want to count on Saint Louis to steam roll back to the top of the division, they are still eight games under .500 and on pace for fewer than 70 wins.