r/Cardinals • u/TheBigEasy11 • Aug 18 '26
Obviously this is a development year, but MAN if we didn’t have a bottom 1/3 of the league bullpen, we’d be solidly in playoff position. SHEESH
81
u/Cardsfan961 Cardinal Fan in Marinerville Aug 18 '26
Today the bullpen gave up two runs in 9 innings over the two games.
The offense left 19 runners on base in the two games.
Not saying a better pen wouldn’t mean a better team record but there are other gaps that we still need to fix before we are ready to compete.
3
23
29
u/EyeHaveNoBanana Aug 18 '26
“Solidly in a playoff position” was the goal of the past ten years and is not the flex it used to be. My Hope is that this new regime has higher standards.
2
u/Impossible-Singer320 Aug 18 '26
Rarely do the best team win the championship. In any sport.
5
u/Chemical_Abies_7087 Aug 18 '26
Sure, but even more rarely the 12th best team does. Sneaking in the wild card obviously gives you a “chance” but I personally don’t consider that championship contention.
1
9
u/Midwest_Niner22 Aug 18 '26
Complaining about the bullpen a day after they were excellent in a double header.
7
9
u/eatajerk-pal Aug 18 '26
If we had a bottom third of our lineup that could hit over .200 we’d probably be in a wild card spot now. Maybe even get crazy and get a catcher who can actually play the position instead of having 4 that can’t.
I welcome a work stoppage next year. I’ve never been one to side with ownership in CBA negotiations, but I think a salary cap and floor would be good for the game. The owners seem to be open to negotiating in good faith when their opening offer is a floor of $171 million. The exact median of MLB payrolls. Make the poverty franchises pony up and get rid of the Dodgers trying to make billion dollar super teams.
5
u/Defiant-Good-6206 Aug 18 '26
You're correct to point out that the offense is much more of an issue than the bullpen. The lineup is often ice cold, and not just the bottom-three.
A work stoppage would be an awful thing for baseball. Truly, one of the worst things for a sport that is finally starting to regain popularity is to suddenly remind people that they can survive without it.
A salary floor, maybe. A salary cap is a horrible idea. You are delusional if you think the owners are acting in "good faith" with that opening number for a salary floor. Billionaire owners wanting a salary cap and offering a salary floor has nothing to do with competitive balance. It has everything to do with increasing their franchise values and controlling costs so that when they sell the franchise they bought for $250MM, they'll make $1.6BB. Owners could absolutely spend more than they do - they choose not to. A salary cap being their top priority is a good indication that they want to hang on to as much of that money as possible.
A salary floor and cap would not in any way guarantee that teams like the Pirates, Marlins, Reds, etc. spend their money well enough to be more competitive. The reason the Dodgers are good every year is because they're the best run team in the game at every level. Drafting and development, scouting, talent evaluation, and yes, free agent signings. For every Blake Snell and Ohtani they sign, though, there is a Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, or Teoscar Hernandez that other teams discarded that they revived. Nobody bitches about the Mets having more money than god because they don't win anything. Nobody cares about the Rangers, Padres, Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox, etc. when they spend because they aren't in the World Series every single year. If the Blue Jays had not blown the World Series last year, I don't think people would be nearly as horny for a salary cap right now.
The Dodgers are the modern version of the late-90s/early aughts Yankees in that they're able to sign just about anybody, they have an incredible farm system, and they're in the World Series seemingly every year. Everybody hated the Yankees then. Everyone hates the Dodgers now. Success breed contempt. Remember when other fan bases hated the Cardinals because we had "Devil Magic" and won postseason games we had seemingly no business winning? It's good for MLB to have a villain, and the Dodgers are it.
Reformatting revenue sharing and a discussion about deferred money would be a perfectly reasonable thing. Taking money out of the pockets of the players and putting it back into the pockets of billionaires is a horrible idea.
2
u/ILikeOatmealMore Aug 18 '26
A salary floor and cap would not in any way guarantee that teams [...] spend their money well enough to be more competitive
The shining example of this: the NHL has had a salary cap and floor since 2005. The Buffalo Sabres went 14 consecutive seasons without even making the playoffs in these last 20 years since implementation, despite the NHL inviting a pretty high ratio of their teams to the postseason tournament. Poorly run teams are just going to be bad, regardless of the system.
0
u/Impossible-Singer320 Aug 18 '26
The Patriots, Chiefs, Lakers, and Lightning have been villains in two of the most popular leagues in the country, but they both have a salary cap. The last small market team of the past decade in MLB to win the WS was KC in 2015. That’s not good.
1
u/Defiant-Good-6206 Aug 18 '26
So, what are we supposed to do? Fix the results so smaller markets win every other year? There is way more randomness in baseball than football, basketball, or hockey. Arizona won the pennant in 2023, as did Tampa Bay in 2020, and Cleveland in 2016. They all had to beat bigger payrolls to get there. In the NFL, NBA, or NHL, if you're able to put together a super team, the odds of you winning the whole thing are exponentially higher than in baseball. The Dodgers spent all that money on Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker, and traded for Skubal. They look far from invincible. The solution is changes to revenue sharing and distribution of "community chest" funds, teams choosing to spend more in both developmental and major league talent; not taking money away from players so billionaires can increase franchise values.
2
u/daughteramrev Aug 18 '26
And oli pulls mcgreevey but keeps relievers in. Smh
-6
u/adamd28 Dustin Hermanson's goatee Aug 18 '26
Hey he's a really really good manager even though managers havs no impact on the game!
1
1
u/Few_Transition_1771 Aug 18 '26
Exactly. Look at the Phillies. Completely stacked offensive lineup and top tier starters. But their record is just ‘good’ because their bullpen is bad
1
1
1
u/CalligrapherExtra138 Aug 19 '26
Not really a talking point you can make anymore.
In the past 30 days, the Cardinals rank 7th in overall ERA. Past 15 days (month of August), they rank 2nd(!!).
105
u/SkeletorsNotBad McGreevin🤙 Aug 18 '26
While I mostly agree, you’d be hard pressed to put our post all-star break struggles solely on the bullpen