imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
What jumps off the page to me is only 15 career home runs. That's in 176 games (659 PA).
Is it safe to say Herrera is NOT a power hitter.
Career splits:
Vs RHP .285 .357 .381
Vs LHP .283 .378 .484
2025 splits:
Vs RHP .266 .332 .339
Vs LHP .324 .435 .662
Is he basically a platoon DH against LHP? Looks like he should bat about 7th against RHP.
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Don't forget, he just turned 25 a couple months ago. MANY power hitters don't develop their power until mid-to-late twenties.
I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He's not hurting the lineup, plays solid LF, and will hopefully develop. Unless you got a haul in return, I'd keep him another year or two. He has a solid swing and a good batting eye so I don't see his value dropping, unless via injury that is...
"He has a solid swing and a good batting eye "--are we talking about same guy who came on with bases loaded and no outs in critical situation and promptly hit into double play
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
What jumps off the page to me is only 15 career home runs. That's in 176 games (659 PA).
Is it safe to say Herrera is NOT a power hitter.
Career splits:
Vs RHP .285 .357 .381
Vs LHP .283 .378 .484
2025 splits:
Vs RHP .266 .332 .339
Vs LHP .324 .435 .662
Is he basically a platoon DH against LHP? Looks like he should bat about 7th against RHP.
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Don't forget, he just turned 25 a couple months ago. MANY power hitters don't develop their power until mid-to-late twenties.
I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He's not hurting the lineup, plays solid LF, and will hopefully develop. Unless you got a haul in return, I'd keep him another year or two. He has a solid swing and a good batting eye so I don't see his value dropping, unless via injury that is...
"He has a solid swing and a good batting eye "--are we talking about same guy who came on with bases loaded and no outs in critical situation and promptly hit into double play
Yes. Do you think there’s a baseball player who ever lived that played in a lot of games that didn’t fail in those situations sometimes? He’s hitting .346 with a .971 with men in scoring position and you act like he’s a failure with men in scoring position
If you put any stock in what opposition thinks, after yesterday’s tough loss in extras Brewer manager Pat Murphy said this about Herrera
‘Sign him up. Herrera knows how to hit.’
So there is one observation from unbiased baseball guy.
Last year’s Manager of Year
ramfandan wrote: ↑14 Sep 2025 17:56 pm
If you put any stock in what opposition thinks, after yesterday’s tough loss in extras Brewer manager Pat Murphy said this about Herrera
‘Sign him up. Herrera knows how to hit.’
So there is one observation from unbiased baseball guy.
Last year’s Manager of Year
Gee, maybe because he rakes vs the Crew this year...other teams he started 6 games against...Dbags, Rockies, Marlins, Dogturds ... wouldn't
ramfandan wrote: ↑14 Sep 2025 17:56 pm
If you put any stock in what opposition thinks, after yesterday’s tough loss in extras Brewer manager Pat Murphy said this about Herrera
‘Sign him up. Herrera knows how to hit.’
So there is one observation from unbiased baseball guy.
Last year’s Manager of Year
Gee, maybe because he rakes vs the Crew this year...other teams he started 6 games against...Dbags, Rockies, Marlins, Dogturds ... wouldn't
He’s also batting .284 .371 OBP .832 OPS this season and career .286 .368 .800 hitter yes he knows how to hit
Hes a solid bat that looks better next to the rest of this lineup. This team still needs a legit power bat. Nobody on the current roster fits that description.
ramfandan wrote: ↑14 Sep 2025 17:56 pm
If you put any stock in what opposition thinks, after yesterday’s tough loss in extras Brewer manager Pat Murphy said this about Herrera
‘Sign him up. Herrera knows how to hit.’
So there is one observation from unbiased baseball guy.
Last year’s Manager of Year
Gee, maybe because he rakes vs the Crew this year...other teams he started 6 games against...Dbags, Rockies, Marlins, Dogturds ... wouldn't
He’s also batting .284 .371 OBP .832 OPS this season and career .286 .368 .800 hitter yes he knows how to hit
Yes, In 95 games Herrera has 16 HR in 345 at bats.. Burly has one more HR (17) with 111 more at bats. Herrera has 57 rbi 3rd on team in 95 games.. more than Winn, Noot, Donovan, Gorman, pages, and whi have many more a bats some over 109 more.
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Who here thinks Blaze Jordan would hit better than Herrera in 2026. Should the Cardinals plan on him coming north with a good ST? (I see he's sucked at Memphis so far, what's the deal?)
I don’t think he would
If Blaze Jordan changes his swing....until then, he's a ground and pounder like the other Jordan in the Org.
Two power hitters that ground and pound the ball....really sad.
I guess from now on, we stay away from players named "Jordan"
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Who here thinks Blaze Jordan would hit better than Herrera in 2026. Should the Cardinals plan on him coming north with a good ST? (I see he's sucked at Memphis so far, what's the deal?)
JuanAgosto wrote: ↑14 Sep 2025 20:45 pm
Hes a solid bat that looks better next to the rest of this lineup. This team still needs a legit power bat. Nobody on the current roster fits that description.
CardsTalk has always had an unusual contingent always wanting to trade away our best players. Yes, sometimes you have to trade your good players for good return, but it seems that some folks here want us to be the Pirates. I don't want to be a Pirate.
When evaluating batting these days, one must first calibrate expectations to conditions. MLB is experiencing a hitting trough. The MLB batting average is .246 and will mark the 6th season in a row in the .240s. Hitting has been on a slow decline since the most reacent peak of .270 only 25 years ago in 2000. A guy hitting .265 in 2000 was performing below average. A guy hitting .265 now is among the league's better hitters. At .284, Herrera would be 8th in the NL in hitting if he qualified with number of ABs.
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Who here thinks Blaze Jordan would hit better than Herrera in 2026. Should the Cardinals plan on him coming north with a good ST? (I see he's sucked at Memphis so far, what's the deal?)
I don’t tho k he would
With the way Herrera has heated up since I made this thread, I'm a lot more encouraged that he might continue to improve overtime. Initially I was worried that his power streak in April was a bit of a floozy. Herrera could be a consistent hitter with enough power to justify a roster spot as a primary DH/1B/LF. The offense does have to be pretty good to justify that, as we know. I brought up the Jose Martinez example because once he started to struggle, it didn't take much struggling before he was suddenly a negative value player all things considered.
I still like Blaze Jordan. I think he is the best thing we have in house for maybe who could become the heir apparent to Contreras (34 next season) at 1B over the next 1-2 years.
JuanAgosto wrote: ↑14 Sep 2025 20:45 pm
Hes a solid bat that looks better next to the rest of this lineup. This team still needs a legit power bat. Nobody on the current roster fits that description.
CardsTalk has always had an unusual contingent always wanting to trade away our best players. Yes, sometimes you have to trade your good players for good return, but it seems that some folks here want us to be the Pirates. I don't want to be a Pirate.
When evaluating batting these days, one must first calibrate expectations to conditions. MLB is experiencing a hitting trough. The MLB batting average is .246 and will mark the 6th season in a row in the .240s. Hitting has been on a slow decline since the most reacent peak of .270 only 25 years ago in 2000. A guy hitting .265 in 2000 was performing below average. A guy hitting .265 now is among the league's better hitters. At .284, Herrera would be 8th in the NL in hitting if he qualified with number of ABs.
Herrera has an OPS+ 134 this season, 126 for his career. He is an above average hitter. Using context clues, I can see this OP was written before the hot streak Herrera is currently on. It was written at a time when it was certainly valid to question whether the hot streak we saw at the beginning of the season (he had a total of 10 home runs, 4 of which came in a span of 4 at bats) was not indicative of the player he really was.
Now, it's about 15 days later, and it looks like he may be more than a fluke. Although I will still point out the Jose Martinez example. Because that is an example of a player who once his "batting average" started to slide, he quickly became a player who was replaceable, considering the added context of other aspects of his game outside his "batting average," including the defensive position at which his "batting average" occurred and the quality (or lack thereof) at which he played his defense at those positions.
On the positive side, maybe Yandy Diaz is an optimistic comparison. That is a player who may have a similar hitting profile to Herrera (good batting average, exceptional on base skills, decent enough power) who has enjoyed a 5-6 year stretch of being a starting player as primarily a 1B/DH.
Last edited by imadangman on 15 Sep 2025 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
What jumps off the page to me is only 15 career home runs. That's in 176 games (659 PA).
Is it safe to say Herrera is NOT a power hitter.
Career splits:
Vs RHP .285 .357 .381
Vs LHP .283 .378 .484
2025 splits:
Vs RHP .266 .332 .339
Vs LHP .324 .435 .662
Is he basically a platoon DH against LHP? Looks like he should bat about 7th against RHP.
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Don't forget, he just turned 25 a couple months ago. MANY power hitters don't develop their power until mid-to-late twenties.
I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He's not hurting the lineup, plays solid LF, and will hopefully develop. Unless you got a haul in return, I'd keep him another year or two. He has a solid swing and a good batting eye so I don't see his value dropping, unless via injury that is...
"He has a solid swing and a good batting eye "--are we talking about same guy who came on with bases loaded and no outs in critical situation and promptly hit into double play
Yes. Do you think there’s a baseball player who ever lived that played in a lot of games that didn’t fail in those situations sometimes? He’s hitting .346 with a .971 with men in scoring position and you act like he’s a failure with men in scoring position
Well said,Ozziefan ! Even hitting into a double play means you put the ball in play .. Other guys strike out Not every batted ball goes for hits .. If you get hits 3 of ever 10 times you come to the plate, you are a .300 hitter how many of those do you see today ? slim to none
imadangman wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025 14:48 pm
Maybe Herrera is the first guy to move on from, if you find a team that values him in a trade.
But the question remains, where will the Cardinals find their right-handed hitters?
Who here thinks Blaze Jordan would hit better than Herrera in 2026. Should the Cardinals plan on him coming north with a good ST? (I see he's sucked at Memphis so far, what's the deal?)
I don’t tho k he would
With the way Herrera has heated up since I made this thread, I'm a lot more encouraged that he might continue to improve overtime. Initially I was worried that his power streak in April was a bit of a floozy. Herrera could be a consistent hitter with enough power to justify a roster spot as a primary DH/1B/LF. The offense does have to be pretty good to justify that, as we know. I brought up the Jose Martinez example because once he started to struggle, it didn't take much struggling before he was suddenly a negative value player all things considered.
I still like Blaze Jordan. I think he is the best thing we have in house for maybe who could become the heir apparent to Contreras (34 next season) at 1B over the next 1-2 years.
A lot of people thought because he didn’t hit home runs immediately he didn’t have power but he’s always had raw power. He said He’s went to a heavier bat and started looking for pitches to ambush at certain times in the count to try to drive for power and if he doesn’t hit it then he goes back to the normal approach of just trying to get it in play. The reason I like him is unlike just about every cardinals hitter he has slumps when pitchers adjust to him but he doesn’t let it derail him he adjusts back
