How to fix the Slug problem?

[Youboughtit]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

[Talkin' Baseball]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

You just sign Bregman to play third, Kyle Tucker to play right, and move Big Burly to DH, silly.

[Youboughtit]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

You just sign Bregman to play third, Kyle Tucker to play right, and move Big Burly to DH, silly.

I am talking realistic options. They aren’t adding $60m to payroll although I agree with you. Let’s say they have Arenado Gorman and $20m to make it happen? Some mid tier power bats. A DH can be reasonable or the other option is if one of their Catcher prospects has legit power and Hererra goes to DH.

Murakami and Ozuna?

[cardstatman]

Yes, too much slug in the lineup.

Sprint Speed (ft/sec)
24.8 Pozo - bye
25.1 Baker - bye
25.5 Arenado - on the trade block
25.5 Burleson - on the trade block
25.6 Pages - excused; he's a catcher
25.9 Gorman - on the trade block

[Talkin' Baseball]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

You just sign Bregman to play third, Kyle Tucker to play right, and move Big Burly to DH, silly.

I am talking realistic options. They aren’t adding $60m to payroll although I agree with you. Let’s say they have Arenado Gorman and $20m to make it happen? Some mid tier power bats. A DH can be reasonable or the other option is if one of their Catcher prospects has legit power and Hererra goes to DH.

Murakami and Ozuna?

Sorry, my reply was obnoxious. We will not finish 29th again (I don't think). Under your scenario, plugging in Wetherholt instead of the production we got from LF, counting Herrera as a catcher would help the slug. I do think Scott will improve to some extent, but it might not actually be "slug". Gorman's numbers as a DH were actually good. I think his OPS as a DH was something like .840? Hopefully Joshua Baez will help when he arrives.

[C-Unit]

I don't feel they intend to rectify this specific problem in a major way for 2026. Contreras may not even be on the team. Long-term, you hope players such as Josh Baez, Rainiel Rodriguez, Deniel Ortiz develop into part of the solution. Of course, there will have to be outside help also. For this upcoming season I can see the need, I can even see the Cardinals bringing in shorter term veterans to backfill what they trade. Cheaper end power bats would be cool. It will have to be ones that can either be traded at the deadline or kept around for 2027 if they fit well. I don't know who that would be.

[jcgmoi]

Ozuna slugged a cool 400 last year and dropped to 40 XBH after a couple of years at 550 and 70. He doesn't play OF anymore. He'll turn 35 next week and would cost, say, $12M-$15M. I would pass and save the money for players who might play for the next quality Cardinal team.

[Youboughtit]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

You just sign Bregman to play third, Kyle Tucker to play right, and move Big Burly to DH, silly.

I am talking realistic options. They aren’t adding $60m to payroll although I agree with you. Let’s say they have Arenado Gorman and $20m to make it happen? Some mid tier power bats. A DH can be reasonable or the other option is if one of their Catcher prospects has legit power and Hererra goes to DH.

Murakami and Ozuna?

Sorry, my reply was obnoxious. We will not finish 29th again (I don't think). Under your scenario, plugging in Wetherholt instead of the production we got from LF, counting Herrera as a catcher would help the slug. I do think Scott will improve to some extent, but it might not actually be "slug". Gorman's numbers as a DH were actually good. I think his OPS as a DH was something like .840? Hopefully Joshua Baez will help when he arrives.

I disagree. They need a major power upgrade somewhere. A rookie with limited HR power will not move the needle much his rookie year. Maybe some doubles but 15-20 HR max.

[Talkin' Baseball]

29th in slug will not cut it. I feel this is the fast way back to a contending offense. Having a CF SS and Catcher with no power will not help. I can see why they want to move Hererra back to C to open DH for a power bat. So I ask. If they do with the same roster as last year and can only add a 3B because Arenado and Gorman are traded and DH to improve slug what would be the answer? Slug only. Trade or FA. Who’s your target?

1B Contreras
2B Wetherholt
SS Winn
C Hererra
LF Donovan
RF Burleson
CF Scott/Church
3B ?
DH ?

You just sign Bregman to play third, Kyle Tucker to play right, and move Big Burly to DH, silly.

I am talking realistic options. They aren’t adding $60m to payroll although I agree with you. Let’s say they have Arenado Gorman and $20m to make it happen? Some mid tier power bats. A DH can be reasonable or the other option is if one of their Catcher prospects has legit power and Hererra goes to DH.

Murakami and Ozuna?

Sorry, my reply was obnoxious. We will not finish 29th again (I don't think). Under your scenario, plugging in Wetherholt instead of the production we got from LF, counting Herrera as a catcher would help the slug. I do think Scott will improve to some extent, but it might not actually be "slug". Gorman's numbers as a DH were actually good. I think his OPS as a DH was something like .840? Hopefully Joshua Baez will help when he arrives.

I disagree. They need a major power upgrade somewhere. A rookie with limited HR power will not move the needle much his rookie year. Maybe some doubles but 15-20 HR max.

They do need a power upgrade, but under your premise you locked us into the current roster and only left 3B and DH open to gain the improvements. The approach has to be broader than that.

[cardstatman]

Current players only... adding Wetherholt.

If Herrera could catch, that makes a difference. You can replace Pages C with Burleson DH in the lineup and move Herrera to C
If Walker goes to AAA, that makes a difference. You can replace Walker RF with Wetherholt 2B and move Donovan to LF, Nootbar to RF.
Scott remains as a major black hole.

2024-25 stats (AVG OBP SLG)
.290 .373 .451 C Hererra
.259 .358 .455 1B Contreras
.???? .???? .???? 2B Wetherholt
.261 .312 .391 SS Winn
.257 .310 .387 3B Arenado
.238 .332 .384 RF Nootbar
.206 .283 .293 CF Scott
.282 .347 .419 LF Donovan
.279 .328 .439 DH Burleson

.204 .284 .385 DH Gorman
.233 .275 .368 C Pages
.211 .270 .324 RF Walker

[Hoosier59]

The Angels are looking to move either Ward, or Adell. Either one in LF would help immensely. Put Donovan at 3rd, Burleson at DH if Contreras is kept. At 1st base if he’s traded. Burleson could also play outfield if Walker isn’t in the line up. They could then add another bat for DH.
There really is a lot they could do, but….will they?

[Melville]

How to fix the slug problem?
Ummm...play the sluggers.
Next question please.

[renostl]

The Angels are looking to move either Ward, or Adell. Either one in LF would help immensely. Put Donovan at 3rd, Burleson at DH if Contreras is kept. At 1st base if he’s traded. Burleson could also play outfield if Walker isn’t in the line up. They could then add another bat for DH.
There really is a lot they could do, but….will they?

There is a potential trade there. There's even some verbiage about Arenado there. It might get interesting if
they added a couple pieces each way.

[Youboughtit]

How to fix the slug problem?
Ummm...play the sluggers.
Next question please.

Who did they not play last year that will move them from #29 to top 10?

[TheFantasyStud]

I really wish Baker would have panned out as a bench bat with slug. Ugh.

The key is 100 plus games with Herrera at Catcher
Improvement from Walker and Scott (can the be any worse. No!)
Donovan replacing Arenado is an upgrade.
Burly in Left is an upgrade over Noot
And Gorman as a DH fulltime
Whetherholt adjusting quickly to the bigs.

Theres 6 or 7 ways we will improve. We won’t be im the top 10 but maybe the top 15-20.

Oh and bring in the walls!

[Youboughtit]

I really wish Baker would have panned out as a bench bat with slug. Ugh.

The key is 100 plus games with Herrera at Catcher
Improvement from Walker and Scott (can the be any worse. No!)
Donovan replacing Arenado is an upgrade.
Burly in Left is an upgrade over Noot
And Gorman as a DH fulltime
Whetherholt adjusting quickly to the bigs.

Theres 6 or 7 ways we will improve. We won’t be im the top 10 but maybe the top 15-
Oh and bring in the walls!

So all 7 improvements of won’t happen. Maybe 3 or 4. They still have below average slug at CF and SS. And average everywhere else. To compensate I think a premier power bat needs added at one of the 2 openings 3rd or DH. Gorman Burleson and Hererra played almost all last season already. Internal growth will be minimal however Hererra for Pages is one thing that will help. But at the expense of a bottom 3 defensive catcher. What I would do is add Pete Alonso.