Welcome to the first ever edition of the Perch! The idea for this article is for it to be a weekly Cardinals mailbag, with our writers at Arch City Sports answering a variety of questions about the Cardinals and about MLB. If you’d like to submit questions for this mailbag, please leave them in the comments, or shoot them over to us on Facebook. We hope you enjoy!
1) What do you make of the Cardinals’ recent hot streak: a picture of the team they should be, or a run of good luck in a down season?
Katie Schoeck: I think the hot streak has to do with everything falling into place. The hitters have started hitting somewhat consistently, and the pitchers have started throwing better. Fielding is still inconsistent, as seen by the 4 errors the other day. I think they’re still figuring everything out, which is why it’s so inconsistent.
Andy Cockerill: The Cardinals are what they are: a .500 team. They will be maddening until the end of the season. You will see stretches of great baseball followed by games where you shake your head in disbelief. They’re simply good enough to keep your interest – but not a real contender.
Stephen Ground: I tend to agree with Andy on this one. I think the Cardinals have too many uncertainties and flaws (as Katie put it rightly, inconsistencies) to really contend this year. They are certainly not a threat in the division. So while I think that the recent trend is a “progression to the mean,” I think the mean is about .500, maybe a little bit better. I hope the Cardinals are willing to plan accordingly, with some potentially valuable trade chips coming to the end of their contracts (especially Lance Lynn)
2) Given what we’ve seen in his time with the team so far, what do you think Randal Grichuk’s future is with the Redbirds? Is he a long-term player, a short-term solution, a trade chip, or something else?
Katie Schoeck: Randal Grichuk better have a future with the Cardinals, I think letting him go anywhere would be a mistake. He is still young, only 25, which definitely shows at times. But he is a solid batter and a good fielder and to let him go anywhere else would be a huge mistake.
Andy Cockerill: Grichuk is a guy who should be given every chance to show what he can do this season. He has all the tools – he just needs a consistent look to see if he can be a starter or a good 4th outfielder. I feel he’s a long-term player but not untouchable – there are 0 untouchables on the current team and just a few in the minors.
Stephen Ground: My opinions on Grichuk are very up and down, which is a pretty good description of his major league performance. At times, he shows flashes of brilliance that make you think he projects as a close to elite corner outfielder (thinking of Carlos Gonzales) but at other times he looks like he couldn’t hit a beach ball. But the team hasn’t always given Grichuk a fair shake. I think he’s earned the chance to play out this season, but with outfield prospects ready to make an impact in the near or not-too-distant future (Harrison Bader, Magneuris Sierra, (and, with any luck, one day Luis Robert)) I think this could be something of a make or break year for Randal.
3) What do you think of Mike Matheny’s Bullpen usage?
Stephen Ground: Matheny’s bullpen tendencies scare me quite a bit. No part of the professional game is evolving faster than the use of the bullpen, and I’m not quite sure Matheny has caught up with the rest of the league. His over-reliance on some arms and complete neglect of others is not only frustrating, but dangerous. We’ve seen how it affected Seth Maness, and now we may be seeing the same effects on Kevin Siegrist. There is no reason to have eight men in your bullpen if you’re not going to use them, and I worry especially for Matt Bowman, that he will be the next one whose career is shortened or aversely affected by overuse.
Andy Cockerill: Matheny doesn’t know how to use a bullpen. Whether he let’s guys rot by not using them for 5+ games, or throws a guy 3 days in a row, Matheny doesn’t have a good grasp on how to use his pen. I know it’s important to win every game – but making a 7-8 man bullpen a 4 man bullpen doesn’t help any of them.
Katie Schoeck: Matheny’s bullpen usage is definitely rough. Cecil, Oh, Broxton and Siegrist have all struggled so far this season. I think part of the problem has to do with Matheny leaving pitchers in the game too long. There are several games this season that have definitely been lost because he left pitchers in too long. Obviously, you don’t want to pull them too soon, that’s how you destroy their confidence and use your entire bullpen in a single game. But he needs to pull them before they completely give up the game, especially since the team’s hitting is not always good. Pitching alone cannot win a game, but it can definitely lose one.
4) What storyline outside of St. Louis has interested you the most in this first month of the MLB season?
Andy Cockerill: Who in the NL can give the Cubs a challenge? You have the Colorado Rockies who I think are a true dark horse in the NL. You have the Washington National who look legit, but disappear every October, and just lost a major piece in Eaton. Then there’s LA and N.Y. who both have started out super slow. It’s too early to tell who will challenge the Cubs, but the upcoming months will show who’s for real.
Stephen Ground: One answer almost feels like cheating: Eric Thames. Here’s a guy who was drummed out of the Majors, but chose to keep pursuing his dream by playing in Korea. He became a big star there, and the Brewers took a chance on bringing him back to the states, a chance that so far has paid off far better than anyone could have dreamed. The guy is RAKING, hitting .345 with an absurd OPS of 1.276, and tied for the league lead in HR with 11. (Don’t sleep on Ryan Zimmerman, though, who, as I write, is currently leading the league in all three Triple Crown categories). Of course, the steroid accusations are already flying with Thames, but I will hope he is clean, and will believe he is clean, until something is proven otherwise. It’s not like the league isn’t going to be testing this guy around the clock. Thames is an awesome story and I hope he continues to perform, even if he plays for a division rival. (My second story would be the NL West. A month in and the Rockies and DBacks are fighting for the league, with the Giants dead last and seven games back? It’s early, but no one saw this coming!)
Katie Schoeck: The most interesting storyline in baseball right now, I think, has to be Gift Ngoepe, the Pittsburgh Pirates player from South Africa. He is the first major league player from Africa, and he just got his first major league hit against Jon Lester and the World Series champs last week. I think this opens doors for others, which is incredible.
