Cardinals Rumors: Dodgers still aren't happy about this weekend
Saturday's Dodgers vs. Cardinals game came down to the wire, with a controversial strike call to Mookie Betts handing St. Louis a victory. While Betts and the Dodgers played nice for the most part after that game, Sunday's outing sent Max Muncy into a frenzy.
Muncy suggested that the Cardinals had spent much of the series bullying the home-plate umpire into making said controversial calls. Yes, I'm serious.
Willson Contreras, the ultimate bully.
Contreras was replaced at catcher just a few weeks ago, only for St. Louis to reverse course and reinstall him part time. You're telling me that guy has the confidence to sway any umpire in his direction? Heck, he can't even get his own teammates and manager on the same page.
Thomas Carranante at Dodgers Way had an interesting take on the matter, suggesting that players shouldn't be influencing said calls one way or the other:
"Muncy said catcher Willson Contreras chirped at the ump, telling him that he had missed the call, leading home plate ump Nic Lentz to call a strike on the next pitch. Once that happened, Muncy lost his cool, admitting that he took it too far when he approached Emmel at third base…If that was the case all weekend, then there's absolutely a reason for MLB to be in the know because players cannot be influencing calls. Like Muncy said, whether it was a ball or a strike, it didn't matter — all that matters was that the calls were consistent so the players would be able to get a grasp on the crew's tendencies. If they're flip-flopping, then there's utter chaos."
Muncy noted a previous pitch on a 2-2 count which was called a ball in relatively the same spot. Umpires cannot be perfect, and until we finally receive an electronic strike zone of some sort, this will always be an issue.
This weekend, the Cardinals were the benefactors.
Cardinals Rumors: Who needs a trade?
Madison Bumgarner and the Arizona Diamondbacks clashed stylistically, with MadBum being slightly more old school for what's otherwise a younger pitching and coaching staff. In an article from The Athletic on Monday, general manager Mike Hazen made it perfectly clear what went wrong with MadBum in the desert.
A lot of times, highly successful people are resistant to change, and this was a highly successful guy," Arizona pitching coach Brent Strom told reporters. "Perhaps the changes I tried to make and introduce and this and that, it just didn't take. We had an amicable divorce."
Bumgarner refused to take any shots at Arizona, but did mention that the way he prepared for opposing hitters was altered near the end of his tenure with the Diamondbacks. This perhaps could explain his high ERA in 2023.
Assuming the Cardinals don't mind handing Bumgarner some sort of scouting report on opposing hitters — something Arizona reportedly wasn't doing, at least not to Bumgarner's knowledge — then this could be good match.
St. Louis is often mentioned in the pitching market, and for good reason. But rather than dealing away some valuable assets, could the instead first take a chance on an old dog resistant to new tricks?
Cardinals Rumors: What the St. Louis rotation could be
The Cards have made several questionable moves involving their starting rotation in the last half-decade. While St. Louis still has some top-notch pitching prospects in the pipeline — looking at you, Mike McGreevy, Cooper Hjerpe, and Gordon Graceffo — there's no telling how good this core could be had they just held on to the likes of Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, among others.
FanSided's Miranda Remaklus laid out the Cards dream rotation — all of which were on the roster of late and could have been retained — and it's a sight for sore eyes:
- Sandy Alcantara
- Zac Gallen
- Marco Gonzales
- Michael Wacha
- Lance Lynn
Sure, it's easy to play revisionist history now, but the Cardinals were not under much pressure to make any of these moves. Sandy Alcantara, the defending NL Cy Young award winner, was traded to the Marlins for Marcell Ozuna, a player who is no longer on the roster and has recently been in off-field trouble. Gallen was also another piece of the puzzle used to get Ozuna, but as Remaklus points out, perhaps the Cards gave up on him a little too soon or underestimated his value.
"This season Gallen is 6-2 in 10 games started for the Diamondbacks. He's pitched 61 innings over the season and has a 2.95 ERA and 70 strikeouts. Gallen primarily uses a fastball that averages 93.6 mph. He has developed his curveball in his putaway pitch. Gallen's curveball averages 82.8 mph with 51.2 inches of vertical drop. That's just impressive.
He's earning $5.6 million this season and will be arbitration-eligible until he becomes a free agent in 2026."
The other names, while painful to look at, are at least somewhat understandable given their value at the time. But as Mozeliak looks to upgrade his pitching staff this deadline, never forget what the Cardinals did have at one time.