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The Blues just got eliminated from the playoffs--again. Wainwright is out for the season. The Rams are moving to LA. This would be the perfect time for Tatum to commit to his hometown Billikens. He's the hero that this city needs right now.

All is lost...including Hitchcock's job...

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If "leadership qualities and maturity" are what the Cardinals are looking for on the mound, maybe they should sign Jake Barnett for the rotation vacancy. But personally, I'm pulling for Marco Gonzales to get a shot. Martinez has lived up to every bit of the hype so far.

The Cardinals and Grizzlies are the only pro teams I follow, so after this weekend I would certainly appreciate some positive, non-catastrophic injury-related sports news.

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If "leadership qualities and maturity" are what the Cardinals are looking for on the mound, maybe they should sign Jake Barnett for the rotation vacancy. But personally, I'm pulling for Marco Gonzales to get a shot. Martinez has lived up to every bit of the hype so far.

The Cardinals and Grizzlies are the only pro teams I follow, so after this weekend I would certainly appreciate some positive, non-catastrophic injury-related sports news.

Problem is with Wacha, Martinez and then Marco being limited on innings we'll need some help from Cooney or somewhere else. Now is the time for Jaime to somehow be able to pitch some good innings when he's healthy ... lol, like that'll ever happen.

I am do not want to trade Martinez or Marco for Hamels even if I knew ahead of time we make the playoffs this year with Hamels and miss without.

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Waino is on the decline anyways. If anything, this is an opportunity for one of the young guns (i.e. Wacha) to step up early into the future ace role. We'll need him to anyways in the next few years, might as well start a little bit ahead of schedule.

As for the Blues, I'd like to see a "clean house" type offseason. Get rid of Hitch, Backes, Oshie, Berglund, Jackman, and Bouwmeester. Trade Elliot for a first rounder in the 2015 draft. Hire Dan Bylsma, and start establishing the new core of Tarasenko, Schwartz, Petro, Shattenkirk, and Allen.

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Problem is with Wacha, Martinez and then Marco being limited on innings we'll need some help from Cooney or somewhere else. Now is the time for Jaime to somehow be able to pitch some good innings when he's healthy ... lol, like that'll ever happen.

I am do not want to trade Martinez or Marco for Hamels even if I knew ahead of time we make the playoffs this year with Hamels and miss without.

Yeah, it's a tough spot. The Cards have already given up a bunch of years of young pitcher control for short-term impact with the Lackey and Heyward deals. Pretty uncharacteristic. I would hate to see them give up any more of the young arms, and getting Hamels would almost definitely take one or more of them.

Might finally be time to try a modified six man rotation. Keep Lackey and Lynn on their regular schedules, but give extra rest to Wacha/Martinez/Gonzales/Garcia, if by some miracle they are all still pitching by the end of the season.

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Waino is on the decline anyways. If anything, this is an opportunity for one of the young guns (i.e. Wacha) to step up early into the future ace role. We'll need him to anyways in the next few years, might as well start a little bit ahead of schedule.

As for the Blues, I'd like to see a "clean house" type offseason. Get rid of Hitch, Backes, Oshie, Berglund, Jackman, and Bouwmeester. Trade Elliot for a first rounder in the 2015 draft. Hire Dan Bylsma, and start establishing the new core of Tarasenko, Schwartz, Petro, Shattenkirk, and Allen.

if by declining you mean from a top 5 pitcher in the game to a top 10 ,... I'd agree. There is no way to look at this as a good thing. You are right though in that there is an opportunity for at least 1 pitcher to step up and establish himself as an ace

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Waino is on the decline anyways. If anything, this is an opportunity for one of the young guns (i.e. Wacha) to step up early into the future ace role. We'll need him to anyways in the next few years, might as well start a little bit ahead of schedule.

As for the Blues, I'd like to see a "clean house" type offseason. Get rid of Hitch, Backes, Oshie, Berglund, Jackman, and Bouwmeester. Trade Elliot for a first rounder in the 2015 draft. Hire Dan Bylsma, and start establishing the new core of Tarasenko, Schwartz, Petro, Shattenkirk, and Allen.

No. Losing Waino hurts badly, a huge loss, there goes 200+ innings with a low era, tremendous veterans leadership, the kind of man that can make the difference that can take us to the goddam World Series. It isn't about someone stepping up to be the ace, it is about the difference between him and whoever replaces him in the rotation. I like Gonzales but he is unproven, Garcia is totally unreliable health wise, though I guess it is possible he could go for 4-5 months in this case; his mechanics are flawed, he cannot sustain his success, maybe we will get lucky this year. Oh, and you cannot be successful with a CF batting 6th with (for a CF) "F" power, "F" arm, "C-" below average speed, "C-" below average range/glove. Get Grichuk in there, asap...5 tool potential.. hell even play Bourjos if necessary.

Blues? Clean house? Blues were a tired club coming into the playoffs, Hitchcock is a good coach but does not rest his team (especially veterans) all year like Quenneville and other savvy coaches do. Hitchcock is sophisticated, knowledgeable, uses 100 fifty cent words that most of the team does not understand, he is a good man but it is time for a change. Blues are not built for the playoffs... 1) you cannot win the playoffs without an excellent goalie, Allen is not ready 2) a KEY to NHL hockey is depth with defensemen # 4-7 and the Blues do not have it, and 3) in the NHL you need your forwards # 7-12 to be punishing, hard hitting... and you need # 1 - 6 to have 3-4 real scorers, which the Blues also do not have. The Blues need to restructure, but not clean house. A new coach, probably.

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No. Losing Waino hurts badly, a huge loss, there goes 200+ innings with a low era, tremendous veterans leadership, the kind of man that can make the difference that can take us to the goddam World Series. It isn't about someone stepping up to be the ace, it is about the difference between him and whoever replaces him in the rotation. I like Gonzales but he is unproven, Garcia is totally unreliable health wise, though I guess it is possible he could go for 4-5 months in this case; his mechanics are flawed, he cannot sustain his success, maybe we will get lucky this year. Oh, and you cannot be successful with a CF batting 6th with (for a CF) "F" power, "F" arm, "C-" below average speed, "C-" below average range/glove. Get Grichuk in there, asap...5 tool potential.. hell even play Bourjos if necessary.

Blues? Clean house? Blues were a tired club coming into the playoffs, Hitchcock is a good coach but does not rest his team (especially veterans) all year like Quenneville and other savvy coaches do. Hitchcock uses 100 fifty cent words that most of the team does not understand, he is a good man but it is time for a change. Blues are not built for the playoffs... 1) you cannot win the playoffs without an excellent goalie, Allen is not ready 2) a KEY to NHL hockey is depth with defensemen # 4-7 and the Blues do not have it, and 3) in the NHL you need your forwards # 7-12 to be punishing, hard hitting... and you need # 1 - 6 to have 3-4 real scorers, which the Blues also do not have. The Blues need to restructure, but not clean house. A new coach, probably.

I actually agree with all of this. Everyone tries to compare it to 2011 when Wainwright went down but even that team had an always reliable and clutch Chris Carpenter to lean on.

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No. Losing Waino hurts badly, a huge loss, there goes 200+ innings with a low era, tremendous veterans leadership, the kind of man that can make the difference that can take us to the goddam World Series. It isn't about someone stepping up to be the ace, it is about the difference between him and whoever replaces him in the rotation. I like Gonzales but he is unproven, Garcia is totally unreliable health wise, though I guess it is possible he could go for 4-5 months in this case; his mechanics are flawed, he cannot sustain his success, maybe we will get lucky this year. Oh, and you cannot be successful with a CF batting 6th with (for a CF) "F" power, "F" arm, "C-" below average speed, "C-" below average range/glove. Get Grichuk in there, asap...5 tool potential.. hell even play Bourjos if necessary.

Blues? Clean house? Blues were a tired club coming into the playoffs, Hitchcock is a good coach but does not rest his team (especially veterans) all year like Quenneville and other savvy coaches do. Hitchcock is sophisticated, knowledgeable, uses 100 fifty cent words that most of the team does not understand, he is a good man but it is time for a change. Blues are not built for the playoffs... 1) you cannot win the playoffs without an excellent goalie, Allen is not ready 2) a KEY to NHL hockey is depth with defensemen # 4-7 and the Blues do not have it, and 3) in the NHL you need your forwards # 7-12 to be punishing, hard hitting... and you need # 1 - 6 to have 3-4 real scorers, which the Blues also do not have. The Blues need to restructure, but not clean house. A new coach, probably.

Agree with all of this, I just meant that if we're losing Wainwright for the whole season then it will be a good opportunity for someone to step up. It's definitely a huge blow to any World Series hopes.

And while Allen is inexperienced, he was definitely not the problem in the Minnesota series. Armstrong has focused so hard on goal tending these past few seasons when it's really never been the primary issue. Our core leadership not showing up has been the problem, and so I expect there to be some big roster changes (Oshie is gone for sure)

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I actually agree with all of this. Everyone tries to compare it to 2011 when Wainwright went down but even that team had an always reliable and clutch Chris Carpenter to lean on.

Lance Lynn right now is a better pitcher than Chris Carpenter was in 2011. People remember the historic postseason, but forget that Carp's overall numbers that year were a big dropoff from what he had done previously. Carp was running on fumes in 2011, but Lynn is primed for a career year. Lackey and Wacha this year also compare pretty well to the 2-3 starters from 2011 (Lohse and Garcia).

For that reason, I don't think losing Waino will hurt as much as it did in 2011. The bigger difference is that this team is going to have to out-pitch teams to win. The 2011 team had a much scarier offense. No surprise, though, that MB73 is part of the hysterical anti-Jon Jay cult. Just not scrappy enough, I guess, but he's a solid major league center fielder. One of the 10 or 12 best in the game over the past five years.

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Maybe I'm the only who thinks this but I believe the Blues would have won a cup one of the last 4 years if they would have just let Elliot play. I don't know what this guy has to do but he's been the team's best goalie for 4 years and they won't start him in the playoffs. Certainly this year the problem wasn't the goaltending but sometimes you need a couple shutouts to get you through a series. Elliot could have peovided it.

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Seriously... Cardinals blues Rams? This is Tatum.com... I will bite tho. Blues are miserable, they will clean house and start over. Cardinals won't have the money to compete in the new tv landscape. Rams are moving..... Tatum could be top billing in a good sports town. All the stars are aligning. This is a perfect storm

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Lance Lynn right now is a better pitcher than Chris Carpenter was in 2011. People remember the historic postseason, but forget that Carp's overall numbers that year were a big dropoff from what he had done previously. Carp was running on fumes in 2011, but Lynn is primed for a career year. Lackey and Wacha this year also compare pretty well to the 2-3 starters from 2011 (Lohse and Garcia).

For that reason, I don't think losing Waino will hurt as much as it did in 2011. The bigger difference is that this team is going to have to out-pitch teams to win. The 2011 team had a much scarier offense. No surprise, though, that MB73 is part of the hysterical anti-Jon Jay cult. Just not scrappy enough, I guess, but he's a solid major league center fielder. One of the 10 or 12 best in the game over the past five years.

That last part simply isn't true at all. I like Jay, and he has stretches where he's dangerous on offense, but defensively he is one of the worst center fielders in the league.

There's plenty of articles about this but here's one I found with a quick search: http://redcleatdiaries.com/2014/06/14/why-jon-jay-is-overrated/

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Maybe I'm the only who thinks this but I believe the Blues would have won a cup one of the last 4 years if they would have just let Elliot play. I don't know what this guy has to do but he's been the team's best goalie for 4 years and they won't start him in the playoffs. Certainly this year the problem wasn't the goaltending but sometimes you need a couple shutouts to get you through a series. Elliot could have peovided it.

He did take over in 11-12 after Halak got injured first round against the Sharks so played in 8 games and was in net during sweep against the Kings. Also started the playoffs in 12-13 when the Blues lost in 6 to the Kings. It was last year when Miller replaced him and this year with Allen.

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That last part simply isn't true at all. I like Jay, and he has stretches where he's dangerous on offense, but defensively he is one of the worst center fielders in the league.

There's plenty of articles about this but here's one I found with a quick search: http://redcleatdiaries.com/2014/06/14/why-jon-jay-is-overrated/

That blog is total BS. Jay had a bad defensive year 2 years ago. Last year and this year have been fine. A couple of good catches over the weekend,2 good catches tonight. Arm not that strong but that's today's baseball. Not too many Ankiel's out there.
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Outfield defense matters: the World Series last year: KC Royals year had great outfield "D", SF had excellent outfield "D".

John Jay has by far the worst arm for a starting major league center fielder that I can recall in a long time. Decades? This costs plenty of runs, but is not directly measurable. It is something a civilian fan does not understand. Runners go from first to third at will, then score on a ground ball or fly ball, this matters. Jay seems to be getting to the ball better this year, but overall his range is below average. Some stretches he seems to see the ball and get to it OK, then he regresses, I cannot figure out why. Overall his arm is an absolute "F", worst in the league, and his range/glove skills over the last 3-4 years is "C-" at best for a major league center fielder.

SS, C, and CF are clearly the key positions defensively for baseball. All others are of secondary importance, far, far less skill is required.

Hitting? Jay slaps the ball to left, draws some walks, but has NO power, and has below average speed running the bases for a center fielder.

Grichuk immediately improves the team with 1) his plus arm, 2) his plus range in the outfield... offensively he 3) has much better running speed than Jay, 4) has superior power, but in his brief career has not yet demonstrated ability to hit for average... but it is more than possible. SO he has 4 tools better than Jay, and the 5th is to be determined.

He should play.

(hsmith19, another subject down the drain, we need to find something you are good at... like Pyle in Full Metal Jacket)

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That blog is total BS. Jay had a bad defensive year 2 years ago. Last year and this year have been fine. A couple of good catches over the weekend,2 good catches tonight. Arm not that strong but that's today's baseball. Not too many Ankiel's out there.

Reputable websites have written about how poor he is on defense. I'll try to find more about it.

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As I said he had a bad year 2 years ago. People such as MB 73 label him. He made a decent throw to the plate tonight. Didn't get the out but it was fairly close. Haywood is a gold glover. There were at least 2 plays this year where he did not make plays on catchable balls. He has the rep so he gets the benefit of the doubt. Jay has a bad rep which I think is overstated.

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That last part simply isn't true at all. I like Jay, and he has stretches where he's dangerous on offense, but defensively he is one of the worst center fielders in the league.

There's plenty of articles about this but here's one I found with a quick search: http://redcleatdiaries.com/2014/06/14/why-jon-jay-is-overrated/

Jay is 11th in WAR among major league center fielders over the past four complete seasons (2011-2014). He does not have a plus glove, but he is also far from terrible. Your link calls him "slightly below average." That is pretty accurate, and is a far cry from "defensively one of the worst center fielders in the league." Jay's overall defensive numbers are dragged down by one bad season (2012), but outside of that he has actually been pretty decent. And a 110ish OPS+ from a slightly below average defensive center fielder = a solid major league player. His sky-high BABIP numbers won't last forever, but while they do he is a decent bat.

Think there have been more than 10 better than him since he broke into the majors? Try naming them...

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It is something a civilian fan does not understand.

"Civilian" baseball fans are the ones who make up labels like "five tool player" to describe a guy with a .320 lifetime OBP over 2300 minor league PA, and who was not even a good enough defender to play CF regularly in A ball. Both offense AND defense matter, and Grichuk is limited on both sides of the plate.

Grichuk's power makes him a useful guy to have around, but there is nothing in his professional record to suggest that he will get on base enough (particularly against righties) or defend well enough to play center field on an everyday basis. He is a classic tweener. Hopefully he develops into a good platoon guy.

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Cardinals won't have the money to compete in the new tv landscape.

The Cards will be fine financially. They were just ranked the most profitable of the 30 major league franchises, and that is with an outdated TV contract that will improve drastically in just a few years. They won't get NY or LA TV money, but they have never needed that to compete under DeWitt.

Reputable websites have written about how poor he is on defense. I'll try to find more about it.

UZR, +/-, and DRS (the big three of defensive metrics) all have him average or above outside of that one season.

For a while Al Hrabosky and a few fans were calling him a gold glover. That was ridiculous, but so is the overreaction from fans on the other side. He is far from a butcher in center field.

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