The Cardinals are trying to rebuild while contending, which is why they let right-hander John Lackey depart in free agency, writes Mark Saxon of ESPN.com. Their motivation in letting Lackey walk was receiving a compensatory pick in return, general manager John Mozeliak told Saxon. “The big thing for us is, with where we’ve picked over the last five or six years, it’s really hard to be aggressive on our pipeline. Any chance we could get to pick up a draft pick has been something we value. Perhaps you could argue we overvalue it, but that’s been the strategy of late.” As a result of losing Lackey, St. Louis got the 33rd pick – with which it drafted high school outfielder Dylan Carlson in June – while Lackey is now a member of the archrival Cubs after inking a two-year, $32MM deal during the offseason. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Lackey has carried his above-average production from St. Louis to Chicago, having logged a 3.56 ERA, 8.96 K/9 and 2.49 BB/9 across 151 2/3 innings. Thanks in part to Lackey, the first-place Cubs are what should be an insurmountable 13 games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.
More on St. Louis and two other NL clubs:
- Cardinals outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss, an impending free agent, told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’d like to re-sign with the Redbirds. “Honestly, I have thought more about wanting to stay here than I have thought about where I could end up,” Moss said. “I think most guys spend their entire careers trying to get to a place like this.” A hip injury helped lead to a subpar output last year for Moss, who joined the Cardinals in a July trade with Cleveland, but he has rebounded in 2016 to post a prolific .257/.339/.563 batting line through 304 plate appearances. Moss leads the Cardinals in home runs (20) and, among major league hitters with at least 300 PAs, trails only David Ortiz in ISO (.306). Mozeliak spoke highly of Moss last week, though the GM added that it wasn’t the right time to discuss an extension. Whether with St. Louis or another team, Moss looks primed to land a raise over his current salary of $8.25MM.
- The Diamondbacks have removed left-hander Patrick Corbin from their rotation in favor of right-hander Zack Godley, tweets Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Corbin’s demotion to the bullpen comes on the heels of a Thursday start in which he surrendered eight runs (four earned) on nine hits in 1 2/3 innings of a 9-4 loss to Boston. With a 5.58 ERA through 132 1/3 innings, Corbin has unexpectedly produced poor results this year. The 2014 Tommy John surgery recipient combined to throw 293 1/3 frames of 3.47 ERA ball in 2013 and ’15, adding a 46.7 percent ground-ball rate and 7.85 K/9 against 2.18 BB/9. Although Corbin’s strikeouts (7.18) have remained in a similar range and his grounders (52.6) have increased, both his walk rate (3.88) and home run to fly ball rate (18.5 percent) have spiked. Godley, who has thrown 44 2/3 innings this year, hasn’t fared much differently than Corbin (5.24 ERA, 7.05 K/9, 2.62 BB/9, 53.5 grounder rate).
- Jonathan Papelbon didn’t have the smoothest tenure with the Nationals, evidenced by his dugout dust-up with right fielder Bryce Harper last season, but key members of the organization defended the reliever after his release Saturday (via Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post). “It’s always going to be tough for somebody, but he couldn’t have handled it any better, and I truly mean that,” ace Max Scherzer said of how Papelbon dealt with losing the closer role to the recently acquired Mark Melancon. Continued Scherzer, “Unfortunately, some things went sideways and some other way, but when you talk about a veteran guy in this clubhouse and what he can do for us, he’s going to be missed.” Both president/GM Mike Rizzo and manager Dusty Baker echoed Scherzer’s sentiment. “I think he handled it like a professional, like he’s done everything else here,” offered Rizzo. “He was a great teammate. He was popular with his teammates. They knew that he had their back and they had his,” stated Baker.
There is no “rebuilding while contending.” You have to pick one or the other. Period.
Yankees sold off at the deadline and are still contenders. This was the definition of rebuilding while contending.
What are they contending for? The opportunity to get bounced in the wild card game? They have no chance at anything.
Only a Yankees fan would call the Yankees a contender right now.
3.5 games back in wildcard is being in contention. It’s possible but unlikely they sneak into playoffs.
For sure contending…that’s a hot streak away from a WC game
No it’s not. The Yankees punted on this season. I do expect them to try and contend in 2017 and beyond tho.
Sneak into the playoffs and then what? By the way the wild card came is not a playoff game. The winner sneaks into the playoffs. Being 3.5 games back from the second wild card slot does not mean you are a contender
Exactly, the Yankees aren’t trying to contend this year. You don’t trade Aroldis Chapman if you’re trying to contend.
The winner of the wild card games in 2014 met in the World Series.
Obviously they traded their best players and are setting up for the future. All I’m saying is their not that far out of the wildcard right now. If they sneaked into the wildcard game anything could happen. Do I think this will happen, probably not. Have I watched enough baseball to see some crazy things happen, yes I have. Doesn’t matter anyway, Cubs will prob win it all.
The wild card game is officially a playoff game, not game 163. It may not be the same as the rest of the playoffs but it is still part of it
Since when? The Cardinals, Pirates, Dodgers, and possibly the Yankees and Rockies are doing it.
Don’t forget the Tigers. They have completely revamped their line up several times since the Leyland Tigers surprised in ’06. Sure they traded some pieces last year, but Fullmer, Boyd, and Norris have provided the youth to the pitching, that along with Castellanos, JD, Iglesias, McCann, Collins, the youth to the offense, have continued the rebuild.
Tigers clearly chose a direction at the 2015 trade deadline and that direction was “selling.” This did mean they punted their chances of making the playoffs in 2015 and put an end to what was the longest active streak of making the postseason among AL teams but it set them up much better for the future because they got Fulmer, Boyd and Norris and because they tanked the rest of the season they were able to sign Zimmermann and Upton last offseason without forfeiting their first rounder.
Cardinals and Dodgers aren’t rebuilding at all, Pirates and Yankees are punting on this year but will probably still try to contend in 2017 and idk what the Rockies are doing.
1.5 back in the wildcard is “punting”.
Trading your closer is punting.
Wrong. The Cardinals did precisely that when Mozeliak first took over. The first couple seasons were kind of patchwork teams just trying to contend for a season. What resulted in the end was the #1 farm system in baseball and 6 straight playoff appearances. A good GM can rebuild without making his team the laughing stock of the league. I agree with Mozeliak that it’s probably a good time to try to do that.
No, when you rebuild you have to commit to rebuilding. Otherwise you just stay stuck in the middle like the Padres have been for the past 15 years.
Soft rebuilds have happened a lot in baseball over the last 10 years, happens all the time.
Sell assets that don’t help you win in the next year or two, focus on three years from now while keeping enough assets to allow you to try to win 90 games on a season.
Yeah but when you do soft rebuilds you aren’t trying to contend in that next year or two. If you wanted to contend in those years you should have kept those assets.
Bottom line, the middle is the worst place to be in baseball.
The cardinals didn’t sell by letting a free agent go, the Yankees are in no way contenders
“Unfortunately, some things went sideways and some other way, but when you talk about a veteran guy in this clubhouse and what he can do for us, he’s going to be missed.”
Except when he violently assaulted a teammate.
“I think he handled it like a professional, like he’s done everything else here,”
Except when he violently assaulted a teammate.
“He was a great teammate. He was popular with his teammates. They knew that he had their back and they had his,”
Except when he violently assaulted a teammate.
Great summary. Of course he is a great guy ‘except for the times when he chooses to violently assault his own teammates’
HAHAHA well said. I’m not a fan of Harper but what Papelbon did was totally wrong… having said that, I’ve had issues with teammates where we’ve come to blows but afterwards with patch it up and become friends again, in fact even better friends. So while I understand that Papelbon could have redeemed himself in the clubhouse I kinda don’t believe it.
What are any current players gonna say “Oh man I’m glad to see that guy go he’s toxic”, “Yeah good riddance he sucked as a player and acted like a baby when he couldn’t close games anymore”.
These quotes seem like worthless rhetoric to me, don’t even know why we quote anyone anymore, it’s all so contrived. “I was just looking for a good pitch to hit and I got it” instead of “He always throws a slider on a 2-2 count to me, I knew it was coming and I took him deep”… well I know you can’t give away your line of thinking but you never get the truth until someone leaves the game so let’s stop pretending we’re getting anything of substance from these guys.
Rebuilding while contending meant signing Leake to a long deal with a no trade clause to fill the hole in the rotation. Not likely a compensation pick makes up for the mess that is Leake’s contract.
Papelbon statistically is one of the greatest closers of all time. Then you watch him work; he is slow as molasses, and essentially just has the fastball, and one other pitch. If he can’t get out of an inning, he very easily loses his temper or throws one down the middle and blows up. Every time he came back to Philadelphia, he gave up blown saves because the fans just got to him mentally. He had several episodes while he was in Philly that could only be labeled as bizarre behavior. The fight he had with Mr. Harper was unconscionable–the Commissioner should have banned him for at least a year, and required Mr. Papelbon to seek anger management therapy. It seems pretty obvious that Mr. Papelbon suffers from intermittent explosive disorder, which leads him to have uncontrollable outbursts of anger. That can be managed, but it requires medication and therapy. He is an amazing athlete–but he must meaningfully confront his demons and get help for himself. Under the ADA and the CBA, he has a right to work but as a practical matter, his next set of 24 teammates aren’t going to put up with him until he gets the help.
@ ronhoward1b Wow… that was strongly worded.
There’s a lot of players who are prone to outbursts and some clubs have even put punching bags in the clubhouse so they can work out their anger. Do you think Papelbon is on another level altogether from other whack job closers? I mean most closers are a little weird anyway and spend a lot of time to craft a “persona” in order to intimidate batters. I haven’t seen Papelbon play a lot (have you? It seems like you have) but you really think he would fall the Americans with Disabilities Act? Is he that out of control? Just curious as to what makes you sure that he’s struggling with these issues, is it a personal opinion or has this actually been diagnosed?
Also I’m not asking you to be a smart a*s, I’m genuinely asking because I’m curious.
Yankees need to add quality pitching in order to contend in 2017
Has anyone noticed that since a 2011 trade that brought Lance Bergman to the Cardinals, Mozelack has done absolutely NOTHING to help
The Cards …. before, during or after the seasons ??? Low hanging fruit, That rarely blossoms. Has no ability to pick up any impact players.
Rebuilding while contending has been done by the Cardinals. They have absolutely done just that and have for years. Every time they start to look a little old and washed up, new guys step up. They are very much in the hunt this year and yet they’re future looks very bright. Hard to understand in a world of tanking for a few years, then going all out. Cards are competitors every year, yet always building for the future.
Rebuilding while contending is defined as finishing last place in national league once since 1918, and being second winningest team in baseball. The Redbirds should trademark rebuilding while contending. Unlike the red sox who finish last place, then win, last place, win. Cubs who tank for 5 years, then are good for 2 and tank for 5 more. It’s the Cardinal Way.
There is no rebuilding while contending. Just ask the Padres.
Ha ha well I wouldn’t ask the Padres about contending, period.
I love Holliday, but I would much rather see Moss in left if we are going to go for mediocre.
““He was a great teammate. He was popular with his teammates. They knew that he had their back and they had his….” -Dusty Baker
I think he was talking about the ball boy because Palpabon is basically the opposite of all of that. He is literally the prime example of a bad teammate who was unpopular with his teammates and couldn’t be trusted to have your back because he is a ME FIRST guy. But yeah Dusty…keep on talking about how great he was to have on your team.
Ha! Amen!
The Cardinals have been known for rebuilding from within. However, it may be catching up with them. Besides Diaz, and Piscoty being average to above average, unfortunately the others are showing to be average to below average players. Some of Metheney’s starting line ups have a combined batting average of less than .240. That’s not good. Something is currently wrong some where!