What if???

[rockondlouie]

I have been very consistent.
This team has enough talent to produce a winning record.
And that should be the expectation.
If that does not happen, there will be only 2 possible causes.
Multiple significant injuries.
Or, continuing incompetence on The Marmot's part.

BIngo

But I'll stick w/my call as well:

2026 Team > 2025 Team

You are correct.
The talent level is higher.

Well it couldn't get much worse but its not going to be nearly enough for this team to approach .500 or better as you and others have predicted.

Everybody whines about Fedde and Mikolas.

Apparently they forgot about this team being near the bottom of the majors in OPS and that aspect hasn't been upgraded at all.

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

[11WSChamps]

BIngo

But I'll stick w/my call as well:

2026 Team > 2025 Team

You are correct.
The talent level is higher.

Well it couldn't get much worse but its not going to be nearly enough for this team to approach .500 or better as you and others have predicted.

Everybody whines about Fedde and Mikolas.

Apparently they forgot about this team being near the bottom of the majors in OPS and that aspect hasn't been upgraded at all.

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

[rockondlouie]

You are correct.
The talent level is higher.

Well it couldn't get much worse but its not going to be nearly enough for this team to approach .500 or better as you and others have predicted.

Everybody whines about Fedde and Mikolas.

Apparently they forgot about this team being near the bottom of the majors in OPS and that aspect hasn't been upgraded at all.

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

No rose colored glasses, just the facts.

While I agree w/you Noot hasn't been the healthiest player we now know, from him, that it was the heel(s) issue that led to (in his opinion) most of his health issues.

He also played 135 games last season and had 583 PA's that LED THE TEAM.

But we know he also played on two bad heels so painful he said he could barely walk up stairs!

That's now been seen to and is taken care of via offseason surgery.

As for my 80 - 84 win total, it's not predicated on Noot but rather on the addition by subtraction of three of the worst starters in MLB last year (Mikolas-Fedde-Pallante and he better not be in the 206 rotation) along w/the the addition of a spark plug named JJW!

A full season of I. Hererra, a continued upswing by Burleson, a rebound from M. Winn plus (finally) Noot by late April and the team should be better than the 2025 edition.

Then anything better from N. Gorman, J. Walker and VSII vs their 2025 seasons becomes icing on the cake.

Never been one to wear "rose colored glasses", you should know this by now.

[renostl]

You are correct.
The talent level is higher.

Well it couldn't get much worse but its not going to be nearly enough for this team to approach .500 or better as you and others have predicted.

Everybody whines about Fedde and Mikolas.

Apparently they forgot about this team being near the bottom of the majors in OPS and that aspect hasn't been upgraded at all.

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

Perceptions can become interesting sometimes.
Few have averaged a lot of games for the Cardinals over the last
3 seasons.

Contreras 114g average
Nootbaar 120g
Donovan 122g
Burleson 132g
Arenado 134g

He is far from a horse is very accurate. It is however what gets noted on him
while others seem to not get criticism for their injuries, namely Donovan always skated free.

[11WSChamps]

Well it couldn't get much worse but its not going to be nearly enough for this team to approach .500 or better as you and others have predicted.

Everybody whines about Fedde and Mikolas.

Apparently they forgot about this team being near the bottom of the majors in OPS and that aspect hasn't been upgraded at all.

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

No rose colored glasses, just the facts.

While I agree w/you Noot hasn't been the healthiest player we now know, from him, that it was the heel(s) issue that led to (in his opinion) most of his health issues.

He also played 135 games last season and had 583 PA's that LED THE TEAM.

But we know he also played on two bad heels so painful he said he could barely walk up stairs!

That's now been seen to and is taken care of via offseason surgery.

As for my 80 - 84 win total, it's not predicated on Noot but rather on the addition by subtraction of three of the worst starters in MLB last year (Mikolas-Fedde-Pallante and he better not be in the 206 rotation) along w/the the addition of a spark plug named JJW!

A full season of I. Hererra, a continued upswing by Burleson, a rebound from M. Winn plus (finally) Noot by late April and the team should be better than the 2025 edition.

Then anything better from N. Gorman, J. Walker and VSII vs their 2025 seasons becomes icing on the cake.

Never been one to wear "rose colored glasses", you should know this by now.

We're not going to agree on the pitching aspect and I was all for jettisoning Mikolas and Fedde long before last season started.

Nobody in the rotation is a given as of yet. Yes Liberatore and McGreevy took a good first step but we're in limbo when the innings begin to pile up out of necessity because I don't believe we can go another season injury free as we did last year.

Fitts, Dobbins and May there are health concerns. Leahy needs to be in the bullpen and so does Pallante. Mathews who knows? and then Hence, Mautz are total wildcards at this point.

I don't how with any certainty you can predict it will be appreciably better.

But this is about Nootbar so I'll just leave it at this. This was about health from day one with my initial comment, with no knowledge of when he'll be back. I don't now if I've ever heard of a baseball player having double heel surgery so I don't have any reference on what a timetable may be. You mentioned late April. We'll see.

He's never been able to put together a healthy season and if he didn't do it as a younger player hard to bet on him doing it from here on.

Believe it or not I hope he tears it up for three months and the Cardinals can get something of value for him. I'll bet they are too.

[rockondlouie]

Getting rid of N/A is alone a huge upgrade.
Soon subtracting Mootbaar as quickly as possible will be another.
Adding Wetherholt to one of the 2 tops spots in the lineup will help fix one of The Marmot's greatest areas of incompetence.
Last year, in a display of unbelievable ignorance on the part of The Marmot and Super Slo Mo, Burleson was the very last man who made the roster as the 26th roster decision - and that has been corrected.
The bench and depth are also improved.
Gorman will produce and we shall see if Herrera can provide the production he hinted at in September.
Crooks has a better bat than either Pages or Pozo, which should upgrade the tandem approach the tea will use.
Yes - the team stupidly traded Donovan (based on the low return acquired) and made a calculated risk in trading Contreras, but on balance the offense should unquestionably be improved.

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

No rose colored glasses, just the facts.

While I agree w/you Noot hasn't been the healthiest player we now know, from him, that it was the heel(s) issue that led to (in his opinion) most of his health issues.

He also played 135 games last season and had 583 PA's that LED THE TEAM.

But we know he also played on two bad heels so painful he said he could barely walk up stairs!

That's now been seen to and is taken care of via offseason surgery.

As for my 80 - 84 win total, it's not predicated on Noot but rather on the addition by subtraction of three of the worst starters in MLB last year (Mikolas-Fedde-Pallante and he better not be in the 206 rotation) along w/the the addition of a spark plug named JJW!

A full season of I. Hererra, a continued upswing by Burleson, a rebound from M. Winn plus (finally) Noot by late April and the team should be better than the 2025 edition.

Then anything better from N. Gorman, J. Walker and VSII vs their 2025 seasons becomes icing on the cake.

Never been one to wear "rose colored glasses", you should know this by now.

We're not going to agree on the pitching aspect and I was all for jettisoning Mikolas and Fedde long before last season started.

Nobody in the rotation is a given as of yet. Yes Liberatore and McGreevy took a good first step but we're in limbo when the innings begin to pile up out of necessity because I don't believe we can go another season injury free as we did last year.

Fitts, Dobbins and May there are health concerns. Leahy needs to be in the bullpen and so does Pallante. Mathews who knows? and then Hence, Mautz are total wildcards at this point.

I don't how with any certainty you can predict it will be appreciably better.

But this is about Nootbar so I'll just leave it at this. This was about health from day one with my initial comment, with no knowledge of when he'll be back. I don't now if I've ever heard of a baseball player having double heel surgery so I don't have any reference on what a timetable may be. You mentioned late April. We'll see.

He's never been able to put together a healthy season and if he didn't do it as a younger player hard to bet on him doing it from here on.

Believe it or not I hope he tears it up for three months and the Cardinals can get something of value for him. I'll bet they are too.

Not sweat, always enjoy our debates, respect your opinions and I know you'll be rooting hard for Noot to do well.

I like the SR.

Libby-May-McG-Fitts-Leahy or Dobbins.

While you have a point on the healthy of May-Fitts-Dobbins, I feel confident two of the three (May-Fitts) are now 100% healthy.

May in particular could surprise and be a nice trade piece midseason for C. Bloom.

[11WSChamps]

We'll see.

Still don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS with Burleson playing 1B.

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

No rose colored glasses, just the facts.

While I agree w/you Noot hasn't been the healthiest player we now know, from him, that it was the heel(s) issue that led to (in his opinion) most of his health issues.

He also played 135 games last season and had 583 PA's that LED THE TEAM.

But we know he also played on two bad heels so painful he said he could barely walk up stairs!

That's now been seen to and is taken care of via offseason surgery.

As for my 80 - 84 win total, it's not predicated on Noot but rather on the addition by subtraction of three of the worst starters in MLB last year (Mikolas-Fedde-Pallante and he better not be in the 206 rotation) along w/the the addition of a spark plug named JJW!

A full season of I. Hererra, a continued upswing by Burleson, a rebound from M. Winn plus (finally) Noot by late April and the team should be better than the 2025 edition.

Then anything better from N. Gorman, J. Walker and VSII vs their 2025 seasons becomes icing on the cake.

Never been one to wear "rose colored glasses", you should know this by now.

We're not going to agree on the pitching aspect and I was all for jettisoning Mikolas and Fedde long before last season started.

Nobody in the rotation is a given as of yet. Yes Liberatore and McGreevy took a good first step but we're in limbo when the innings begin to pile up out of necessity because I don't believe we can go another season injury free as we did last year.

Fitts, Dobbins and May there are health concerns. Leahy needs to be in the bullpen and so does Pallante. Mathews who knows? and then Hence, Mautz are total wildcards at this point.

I don't how with any certainty you can predict it will be appreciably better.

But this is about Nootbar so I'll just leave it at this. This was about health from day one with my initial comment, with no knowledge of when he'll be back. I don't now if I've ever heard of a baseball player having double heel surgery so I don't have any reference on what a timetable may be. You mentioned late April. We'll see.

He's never been able to put together a healthy season and if he didn't do it as a younger player hard to bet on him doing it from here on.

Believe it or not I hope he tears it up for three months and the Cardinals can get something of value for him. I'll bet they are too.

Not sweat, always enjoy our debates, respect your opinions and I know you'll be rooting hard for Noot to do well.

I like the SR.

Libby-May-McG-Fitts-Leahy or Dobbins.

While you have a point on the healthy of May-Fitts-Dobbins, I feel confident two of the three (May-Fitts) are now 100% healthy.

May in particular could surprise and be a nice trade piece midseason for C. Bloom.

Trying not to seem negative.

I just believe this rebuild is going to take longer and be a bit more painful than most realize.

I'm one of those who are still trying to get over how we got here in the first place.

Moving foward.

[imetsatchelpaige]

What if the Cardinals had a winning record and made the playoffs?
It could happen. Maybe not, but possible.
How would it feel to complain and cry all off season, Spring training and I’m sure most of the season for absolutely nothing?
As I get older, I say enjoy the game.

I have been very consistent.
This team has enough talent to produce a winning record.
And that should be the expectation.
If that does not happen, there will be only 2 possible causes.
Multiple significant injuries.
Or, continuing incompetence on The Marmot's part.

Two things can be true at once. In part for the same reason.

[rockondlouie]

Noot --- .747 career OPS

So he'll be in the lineup opening day?

Where did you see that?

No mention of "opening day", just "don't have an OF'er with a .700 OPS" when of course we do.

Didn't mention anything about players being unavailable either.

And his OPS was under .700 last season. So no we don't have one.

Ha!

So you cherry pick one season vs his entire career?

C'mon WS that's weak.

We have an OFer w/a career .747 OPS.

What's weak is counting on a player who cant stay healthy .

If the player isnt available then what good are any numbers.

Maybe and hope doesn't cut it.

And he couldn't stay healthy because of the two bad heels that are now repaired.

C'mon WS, you're a smart guy why are you denying the truth?

We have an OF'er on the team with a .747 career OPS, you claimed we didn't have one.

Let's look at this without the rose colored glasses.

He's never been healthy a full season. That's always been a question with him and you know it.

When he can stay healthy a full season and put up that OPSthen you might have something.

If you’re seeking the truth how do you propose the kind of win total you've predicted when we don't know how much of the season he's going to miss with rehabbing the heels and then with his history another injury later on missing more time?

How can you legitamize a guy who cant stay on the field?

No rose colored glasses, just the facts.

While I agree w/you Noot hasn't been the healthiest player we now know, from him, that it was the heel(s) issue that led to (in his opinion) most of his health issues.

He also played 135 games last season and had 583 PA's that LED THE TEAM.

But we know he also played on two bad heels so painful he said he could barely walk up stairs!

That's now been seen to and is taken care of via offseason surgery.

As for my 80 - 84 win total, it's not predicated on Noot but rather on the addition by subtraction of three of the worst starters in MLB last year (Mikolas-Fedde-Pallante and he better not be in the 206 rotation) along w/the the addition of a spark plug named JJW!

A full season of I. Hererra, a continued upswing by Burleson, a rebound from M. Winn plus (finally) Noot by late April and the team should be better than the 2025 edition.

Then anything better from N. Gorman, J. Walker and VSII vs their 2025 seasons becomes icing on the cake.

Never been one to wear "rose colored glasses", you should know this by now.

We're not going to agree on the pitching aspect and I was all for jettisoning Mikolas and Fedde long before last season started.

Nobody in the rotation is a given as of yet. Yes Liberatore and McGreevy took a good first step but we're in limbo when the innings begin to pile up out of necessity because I don't believe we can go another season injury free as we did last year.

Fitts, Dobbins and May there are health concerns. Leahy needs to be in the bullpen and so does Pallante. Mathews who knows? and then Hence, Mautz are total wildcards at this point.

I don't how with any certainty you can predict it will be appreciably better.

But this is about Nootbar so I'll just leave it at this. This was about health from day one with my initial comment, with no knowledge of when he'll be back. I don't now if I've ever heard of a baseball player having double heel surgery so I don't have any reference on what a timetable may be. You mentioned late April. We'll see.

He's never been able to put together a healthy season and if he didn't do it as a younger player hard to bet on him doing it from here on.

Believe it or not I hope he tears it up for three months and the Cardinals can get something of value for him. I'll bet they are too.

Not sweat, always enjoy our debates, respect your opinions and I know you'll be rooting hard for Noot to do well.

I like the SR.

Libby-May-McG-Fitts-Leahy or Dobbins.

While you have a point on the healthy of May-Fitts-Dobbins, I feel confident two of the three (May-Fitts) are now 100% healthy.

May in particular could surprise and be a nice trade piece midseason for C. Bloom.

Trying not to seem negative.

I just believe this rebuild is going to take longer and be a bit more painful than most realize.

I'm one of those who are still trying to get over how we got here in the first place.

Moving foward.

Same here