ecleme22 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2026 20:33 pm
hugeCardfan wrote: ↑21 Mar 2026 19:32 pm
ecleme22 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2026 10:22 am
hugeCardfan wrote: ↑21 Mar 2026 09:58 am
Here's an idea, if May and Pallante are doing well, rather than handing it off to the "trade brigade" let's see about locking in May and leaving Pallante in the rotation...until somebody beats him out. I am much more interested in focusing on who is producing rather than what pig in a poke we coulda shoulda land if we dupe another franchise into buying "at the top". Hell, we managed to trade Alcantara and Gallen before the league figured out they were just minor league arms ready to fall apart the second they were promoted to the majors.
I don't know if it's 2024 Pallante or 2025 Pallante we'll be looking at this and next year...but I hope coaches and scouts are making decisions and not the trade brigade.
Here we are starting to think that Baez will become the real deal right before our very eyes.... That our pitching in ST was virtually as good as anybody's but lets dump them before they inevitably fall apart so we can dupe some GM out of a guaranteed big league star down the road.
What if Baez, Velazquez, Church and Noot tie down a ML outfield in '27. What if May is the real deal and stays strong in '26 while he builds for a 180 inning rotation piece for the next 3 to 4 years. What if Pallante figures out how to be a consistent #4 or 5 until someone in our system supplants him. I'm not anti trade, but I do believe in maximizing the assets we have as we strive to improve year over year. Trading isn't magical. There are inevitable winners and losers. If it's working, consider keeping what you've got.
Just sayin'.
Well you don’t just trade to trade.
And I wouldn’t compare Gallen and AP, but that’s just me.
If Bloom is able to land young, mlb ready talent, you make the trades.
Precisely, and yet some folks think that May and, even Pallante are destined for trade. I'm not a fan of the contract we made with May; if he succeeds big this year he walks next year....we have not even a QO option. So I would consider hammering out an extension near the TD rather than seeing what we can get. Hell, pitching has been our weakness for at least 5 years. If May is part of the answer to our rotation, let's get it out of our heads that he has to go by end July. Extend.
Pallante is just a talking point. No, he's not Zack Gallen. But, then, neither Gallen nor Alcantara were when we decided to send them packing for "Golden Glove" Ozuna who clodhopped around for 2 years and we proffered a half hearted QO. We didn't even pursue after the rejection of the QO. We effectively let Atlanta walk off with someone we just traded 2 CY hopefuls for. We didn't know what we didn't know.
Most intelligent people would acknowledge that perception of Pallante is he's effectively worthless in a trade. Maybe he serves as a throw in. What's the point? So far, he looks like a member of rotation. I doubt there is ever a critical point when Pallante will be overvalued for trade purpose. Leave him the f*** alone. Someday starting material will take his job. Then we can just send him out on waivers or trade for baseballs.
I'm pretty sure that Bloom won't be interested in trading any member of rotation without an in place plan for upgrade.
A lot of it just depends on what the TDL looks like.
Maybe by the TDL, a number of our young pitchers are vying for the rotation, and May and Pallante look more expendable.
Maybe May has an outstanding first half and he looks destined for a big payday. So maybe you see what you can get for him. MLB-ready talent? Maybe.
About Pallante—-he’s due for arbitration next year, no? So that could come into play and a reason to trade him.
For the record, I liked the May signing a lot. And I don’t mind Pallante, but his high WHIP is suspect.
Lastly, there will be a time, maybe next offseason, where Bloom will be aggressive in FA. So if trading May and Pallante creates a perceived hole in the rotation the last two months of 2026, it doesn’t mean Bloom will carry that hole into 2027.
I get it. But, the May signing reminds me of Carpenter. He turned out to be a pitcher who paid for himself year after year despite the fact that few were willing to bet on him due to his shoulder surgery. May struggled mightily last year and it looks like we got a helluva bargain for 2026. I'd think we won a lottery ticket for 2027 if he didn't have his own out. So, let's say he does have a great Apr thru July period. Sure, we could make a nifty trade...but I wouldn't have traded Carpenter knowing what I know now.... Not sure I want to trade May if we could extend him and make him a Cardinal thru his great career years.
Agressive in the FA market doesn't warm the cockles of my heart. We spent way too much for Sonny and didn't really get a bargain. He was a bit long in the tooth. Trying to outbid the Dodgers and Yankees for the creme de la creme has never worked. Carpenter was a bargain because he was happy to have been appreciated when he was down and never demanded top dollar. We never had to outbid for his services and dollar for dollar he was the best bargain we've had since Gibson. Maybe goodwill with May could work similarly.
Pallante in arb doesn't scare me a bit. We have him under control for 4 years or, however long, short of that, we want.
If we satisfy the need to have a quality rotation without buying a $250-300M overbid, I'll be just fine with that. I think we have lots of options coming on board the next couple years. Heading it up with May and Liberatore works just fine for me. Blending in McGreevy and Mathews works too. By '27 maybe Doyle rounds it out. Eventually we find out if Fitts, Dobbins, Cjentje, Roby, Hernandez, Hjerpe, Clarke or somebody else bumps Pallante et al.
P.S. Forgot Tanner Franklin who looks positively awesome so far.