Cardinal Sin
What a time to be alive! Jack Flaherty on the mound and Tommy Edman starting at shortstop in game 1 of the World Series! All the while Oklahoma is at Ole Miss in a mid season out of conference HUGE game! Wait, what? Flaherty and Edman play for the Dodgers…and it turns out the Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs…in fact there is no rational reason to think they’ll be any good for years to come? Oklahoma is in the SEC…USC is in the Big 10 (18)? How long has TOB been away???
This may surprise most people, but having two kids will put your head in the sand to many “non-essential” events. Non-essential events as defined by TOB’s wife include, but are not limited to: spending 14 hours watching College Football every Saturday from Labor Day thru Christmas, Baseball games that seem to last for 6 hours, work trips that are actually golf trips in disguise because you work with your friends, four day benders in the Caribbean (note - some traction on this one, perhaps back on the table in 2025!), but I digress…
Through this sabbatical, TOB has continued to enjoy the “Becoming Your Parents” ad campaigns. TOB’s latest favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9MgbexiVkA
Dewpoint is a dynamite piece of jargon to drop on someone in the world of weather. Side note, until looking up this commercial, TOB was not sure which insurance company they were advertisements for. By process of elimination, I almost guessed Travelers. Progressive has Flo and her team of stereotypes, Geico has the lizard, State Farm has Jake and misc. celebrities, Aflac has the duck and Dieon, All State has the mayhem guy; who’s left? And who has the caveman? Isn’t Nick Saban involved somewhere? Based on celebrity appearances / marketing budget, TOB has to assume the three most profitable current industries are Pharmaceuticals, Car/Home/Bundle Insurance, and Subway Sandwiches.
Side note to the side note, TOB has met local St. Louis Weatherman Steve Templeton between 2-3 times (inconclusive). Very nice and knowledgeable guy. Similar to the insurance dilemma, TOB has no idea which station he works for, I’ve just seen him on Saturdays when flipping through the channels from 2, 4, 5, 11, 30 watching random football. Keep up the good work Stevie Sunshine.
Coming back up for air, it appears that all things TOB kept holy are in disarray. The SEC now has 16 teams, several of which were just the better teams from the Big 12, the Big 10 now has 18 teams, several of which are three time zones away. How can this be? How can those greedy bastards in the NCAA allow this to happen? Wait, what? Georgia played Texas last week? OU at Ole Miss is a conference game? USC / Michigan; Oregon / Ohio State; et. al will be typical yearly match ups? Take my money!
A much more disturbing development for TOB has been the state of the St. Louis Cardinals over the past 3 years, though it’s been a trend for closer to 10. This is where TOB would put in a sweet spreadsheet showing the downward trend of wins for the Cardinals starting in 2012 when Tony LaRussa retired. However, due to the budget restraints here at TOB, Squarespace will not allow me to import such things, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the trendline has a negative slope. LaRussa leaving was certainly an inflection point for the team, though they went on to win 100 games just a few years later, and reach another World Series. The big dip started around 2016/2017 when the talent just took a nose dive. Not only did LaRussa leave in 2011, but the man behind the curtain also left. Head of scouting, talent development, etc. Jeff Luhnow left the team for a new project never to be heard from again. Wait, what? He went to Houston and helped draft / develop a team that went to the World Series 4 times, winning it twice?
The last All Star the Cardinals developed was Kolten Wong. Pitching has been getting destroyed since the Matheny days (starters getting yanked from the rotation to the bullpen and back, bullpen guys getting burned out, etc.) . Clearly the biggest problem was Matheny’s successor, Mike Shildt. He was fired after the 2021 season and is probably coaching some high school team in Wyoming. Wait, what? He’s managing the San Diego Padres to 93 wins and the second round of the playoffs.
Unfortunately long gone are the days of players coming out of nowhere and/or developing in the Cardinals system into All Stars / Postseason Heroes: Adam Wainwright, Allen Craig, David Freese. Welcome to the land of over inflated expectations: Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker. A bunch of mediocre players that we are pleasantly surprised when they simply don’t suck. Players used to come to STL to get better, now they need to get out to really blossom (Randy Arosarena, Aroldis Garcia, Lane Thomas).
Two big additions have in fact regressed as Cardinals. Paul Goldschmidt’s OPS has dropped by 90 points since coming to the birds.
I know what you’re thinking, Arizona is a launching pad, of course his stats are worse in STL. Well, in his last season with Arizona, his road OPS was 1.053…
At least tickets are cheap so TOB can take his two young kids to the game, get some snacks, and leave without spending a mortgage payment…
Next week - College Football Deep Dive! Fun season so far, chaos abound!
-TOB
