The sixth of FOX Sports Midwest’s live chats of the 2010 season will be held throughout Friday afternoon’s Cardinals-Cubs series opener. Join in the discussion with me and the FSM personalities.
You can participate via the frame below or through FOX Sports Midwest’s website.
Chris Carpenter (5-1, 3.09) faces Randy Wells (3-2, 3.99) as the Cards try to open the season series with a victory.
Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 1:20 P.M. Central.
Also, immediately following the radio post-game show, my weekly segment, “Cardinal Talk,” will be streamed live on KXnO FOX Sports Radio Des Moines.
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[...] Claimed Noel Feldman, the producer for Fox Sports Midwest TV broadcasts for the Cardinals. But Brian Walton of the excellent Cards blog The Cardinals Nation said that there are two sides to every story like [...]
Playing the Cubs and approaching the US amateur draft may be an apt time to take stock of the minor league talent pipeline. For the Cards, its not strong.
Some disappointments of April/May include C Stock, OF Darryl Jones, OF Ryde Rodriguez, CF Parejo, LF Conley, an operation for RHP Bittle, an injury to RHP Gorgen, RHP Garceau giving up. RHP Shelby Miller, who some were hoping would begin the year at Palm Beach, has an ERA over 5 in the Midwest League, not a phenom’s performance. The system W-L record is better, but this is unimportant and just reflects the Cards having a lot of players so they can stock teams with age suitable players (many without a lot of upside potential).
The Cubs unearthed SS Starlin Castro in the Dominican and he has risen meteorically to the majors almost as fast as Pujols did. And the Cubs have more good talent in their system.
The Cards had the Wagner Mateo eye problem. And fired one Dominican bonus baby pitcher for steroids or false identity, I forget which.
There are positives too. Its not an entirely bleak situation. But the Cards could use some good choices in the upcoming draft and July 2nd signing season.
The Cardinals are too reliant on college players in the draft to hit the lottery very many times. The College guys just aren’t gonna be difference makers for the most part. I told everyone Stock needs to be put on the bump.
I have almost given up on Stock as a hitter. If he wants to catch, he could try for another 1.5 seasons and see how much hitting improvement he achieves. Hitting does not come naturally to him or he would be hitting better at QC, after three years at USC. The good news is he has pitching to fall back upon.
Its not a simple black versus white between college versus high school signees. The Red Sox found Pedroia, Papelbom, and Ellsbury in colleges. The Cards might have drafted Ryan Howard and an OF named Taylor, but left both college sluggers to the Phillies, who put more weight on potential. Its a matter of identifying high upside tools and skills, whatever the amateur background. Also the Cards should aim to identify negatives (disqualifiers) that will make it hard for some to succeed.
The Cards, like the As, tend to be a collegiate drafting team. Its a competency of the organization and they can improve on it, but should not discard it.