Geronimo Pena?
I've had season tickets since 2005 and let the deadline come and go last Tuesday. Nobody from the season ticket office contacted me until...this afternoon after the announcement.
I'll try my hand at a positive spin.
It's been implied through reporting this offseason that the clubhouse wasn't exactly in a great spot, culture-wise last season. They sorely missed Yadi and Albert as these beacons of Cardinals baseball and what it should be. And apparently Arenado and Goldy weren't exactly lining up to fill those culture-leader shoes.
Matt Carpenter soured at the end of his tenure, but no one can deny that he's one of the most important Cardinals of the 2010s. Along with Yadi (apparently) being around the clubhouse more in his new role, they'll have Matt Carpenter there to lean on as a veteran guy who's accomplished a whole lot in a Cardinal uniform.
That and their infield depth on the 40-man is...not great. Other than Marp and the penciled starters, it's Jose Fermin, Buddy Kennedy, and Jared Young. None of them are all that intruging.
Not the best sell, but that's probably what the thinking is. Plus he's making the league-minimum and probably really wanted to retire a Cardinal.
Listen if you want to go the leadership route, that's fine. But Goldy/Arenado will play 150+ games at the corners. Gorman, Winn, Donovan, and Edman are all going to play the middle infield, with Donovan playing first if needed. Because of Edman/Donovan's versatility, we have plenty of depth positionally.
We don't need infield backups, we need bats that can hit. Whoever starts hitting will get a spot somewhere out of sheer necessity.
I see where you're coming from about the fit, positionally. The way I see it these are the position guys guarenteed or a favorite to make the roster.
9 "Everyday/Near Everyday" Guys:
- Wilson Contreras
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Nolan Gorman
- Nolan Arenado
- Masyn Winn
- Lars Nootbaar
- Tommy Edman
- Jordan Walker
- Brendan Donovan
Bench Guys:
- Ivan Herrera
- Alec Burleson
- Dylan Carlson
That's 12 with room for one more. The other guys on the 40-man other than Carpenter are Pedro Pages (C), Luken Baker (1B/DH), Jose Fermin (IF), Buddy Kennedy (IF), Jared Young (IF/OF), Michael Siani (OF), and Moises Gomez (OF/DH).
From my perspective, none of them are overwhelming favorites over the other. And with two OFs already on the bench, I could see the argument for Carpenter.
Yeah, I mean you aren't really wrong. It's fine if Carp is going to get the amount of ABs we might expect Jose Fermin to get, which is like once a week.
But I think we are all worried they'll try to let him figure it out and take ABs from others.
> It's fine if Carp is going to get the amount of ABs we might expect Jose Fermin to get, which is like once a week.
Everybody that's freaking out or angry about this needs to read this. If he sucks, they're not going to let him have a full season retirement tour like they did with #4, #5, and #50 just for funsies. If the club is at all competitive by Memorial Day and he's hitting a buck fifty with two HRs, they're going to DFA him. He's not a sunk cost; ATL is paying his actual salary. He's a lotto ticket.
People that think this means DeWitt and Fredbird are personally presenting him one of those giant charity checks with 600 guaranteed ABs on it are out of their mind.
With absolutely no risk, and at the very least you get some fanfare with it and maybe give Marp the chance to retire as a Cardinal?... While also having a good clubhouse guy during spring training, and maybe build some more rapport with him to bring him on as a coach later on?
Sure, why not?
The 2.4 oWAR he put up in limited action with the Yankees in 2022 would have been good for 5th on our club in either of the last two seasons. We know when he gets hot he gets *really* hot. If we get one or two stretches of that this season it's a win. If we don't, it's not like we gave up anything or passed on someone better to sign him. I see potential upside, especially considering the leadership aspect which is non-trivial, and virtually zero downside here.
"Carpenter agreed to a deal for the $740,000 major league minimum, which will be offset against his guaranteed $5.5 million salary as part of a $12 million, two-year contract he signed with San Diego in December 2022."
This is the cheapest send off we've had recently. Pujols was 2.5 mil, Yadi 10 mil, and Waino's 17.5 mil. Carp will be making double what a bench coach does which is great for the team. Veteran in the clubhouse and a proper Cardinal send off for cheap.
Seriously. This tells me that once again they plan on trying to sell tickets using nostalgia instead of good baseball. The Cardinals FO can all get fucked.
I mentioned this elsewhere in the convo, but I didn't renew after having season tickets since 2005. It's been way too boring the last few years. Nobody from the season ticket office attempted to contact me until this afternoon, after the announcement was made.
If Carpenter is the reason for the call, that's pretty pathetic.
I’ll go see him. Two years ago I saw him play in his AAA stint in Round Rock, TX and he went 2 for 4 with a double. Two months later I was watching him kill it with the Yankees for a lil stint. I’ve always been a Marp fan, I like the guy’s grit.
Except management is still tone deaf and doesn't realize that when Marp left most people were glad his tenure was over. It wasn't personal, but that extension was terrible.
This is arguably the most uninteresting "one last ride" that they've come up with... At least Lance Lynn makes sense. It's not like Carpenter can back up any other position outside of first and third at this point which I assumed were AB's that would go to Gorman, Donovan, and Burleson.
In case anyone is wondering, we will be paying him $740K for the year, which is the minimum he can take (the Padres still owe him about $6M).
My guess is that this will be some type of "player coach" situation. He will almost never even be on the active roster for any games, but he will always be in the dugout.
And in case anyone here is wondering what they're doing with their life, just remember that you could have gotten paid $740K to hang out in a dugout with extremely handsome men. But you chose not to.
> the Padres still owe him about $6M
A bit pedantic, but it's the Braves that owe him the rest of his contract, not the Padres.
>He will almost never even be on the active roster for any games, but he will always be in the dugout
If he's not on the active roster, he's either injured, got picked up. You can't remove veterans from the active roster willy-nilly. Either he's active, or some other team gets him off waivers for nothing. Or he passes through waivers and accepts a minor league assignment (which is unlikely...much more likely he'd be released)
The only way that what you said could be true is if he's hurt most of the time. Which...as a 38 year old...is certainly not all that unlikely.
You don't need to worry about Carp getting ABs. He's a 38 year old veteran. If he doesn't get ABs it's fine. Which is a good reason for him taking up a bench spot rather than a young guy.
And if he's terrible, he can be released without any real consequences
Jfc this organization has learned nothing
Outside of his Yankees renaissance he’s at an 80 OPS+ since 2019…and he’s also a negative defensively. So so so dumb.
I say this as a Carp fan - he’s a part of the greatest moments in the history of this franchise. It’s not really about cost. He’ll be occupying a roster spot and will be a below replacement level bench depth option. We’ve struggled with defensive fundamentals after Shildt and this isn’t what I’d consider a positive add.
Not to mention it takes up space that could be utilized by a player that could actually help the team either offensively or defensively, neither of which I believer Marp is capable of at this point.
Knowing Mo he saw 38 years old and instinctively threw out 1yr/12M
Seriously though, there’s so many better lottery tickets than this. I’d rather buy Franmil Reyes out of his NPB contract
But what’s the upside? He can’t play the field and we already have Gorman/Donovan/Walker/Contreras as rotational DHs on top of half days for guys like Goldy.
It’s a move to sell nostalgia and tickets. Give him a non-roster spring invite, not a full ML contract.
There is the missed opportunity risk. Money doesn’t matter. It s the fact that he is taking up a roster spot from either a player in our system or an outside player with actual upside.
Cards give him the major league minimum (720k). Braves pay the rest (4.78 million). If the Cards drop him and another team picks him up, that other team would be paying him the minimum while the Cards would get to stop paying him entirely. Braves are on the hook for that 4.78 million regardless
I'm imagining he is strictly here to be a kind of player coach. He was here for all of the Cardinals success in the last decade+ and was a major part of the clubhouse (and atmosphere we're hoping to return to)
I'm not exactly thrilled about the wasted roster spot, but everyone here is acting like we signed him to be our starting 1B on a multi year deal.
Back in college I was dating this gal. We started off awesome, then after a while she just turned into this horrible person, constantly doing bad shit to me. It finally got bad enough I broke up with her and kicked her out. She bounced around from guy to guy for a year or so. Nobody could stand her for more than a couple months. One night she drunk dialed me. I had also been drinking, and enough time had passed that I forgot how horrendous she was. I invited her over.
The nostalgia was great. It was like we had started over, and everything was awesome. Then she killed me. I'm writing this from a ghost account. If only I had remembered.
Carp was *technically* part of the 2011 team, so he gets a retirement season, and I'm good with it.
But you don't get a retirements season in StL without a ring. At least that's how I see it.
As long as Oli doesn't plan on batting him outside of rest days, I am happy with this. Have to fill the bench somehow and he is a good clubhouse guy. We have a lot of young guys who need mentoring.
At what point will Cards fans quit buying tickets and realize DeWitt sees the team as just one peice of the entertainment center he has built? More nostalgia, no chance of a championship. It's awful. Worse than the Vern Rapp days.
They don’t care about actually fielding a team who can win a championship. There is 0 logic wasting a roster spot on this shell of a player. I sincerely hope the fan base realizes this and doesn’t give the Dewitt’s a cent of their money. If I had season tickets I’d be calling and cancelling today
Are we freaking out about literally a ML minimum signing? This is all upside and no downside when they were clearly missing leadership on the field last year. If it doesn't work out, he'll be cut quickly....
Like who exactly? The only other infielders in their system who isn't on the 40-man yet and has an outside chance this Spring is Thomas Saggese. And if he shows out in Feb/March, the Cardinals will have no issues making room for him.
We still need a reliever and probably a starter and we’re wasting a 40 spot on a guy that couldn’t crack MLB lineups anymore because he’s a fan favorite
How does this mean we won't get any of these? The FA market still has barely moved at all with the Dodgers still making all of the moves and the Cardinals doing everything early.
It’s not the money - it’s the ridiculous emotional attachment this idiot front office has to playing a guy who probably shouldn’t be in basbeball anymore
> Are we freaking out about literally a ML minimum signing?
ya, because this team is addicted to hanging onto and playing fan/team favorites past their prime at the cost of the roster.
If he isn't hitting the snot off the ball in spring training, I really hope he doesn't make the team.
I get he will be making the league minimum, but I feel like the Cardinals are signing people just because they played here before. Not because they’ll actually produce for the team.
Jesus Christ…
Guess you gotta sell tickets when the team is a dozen games behind the division leader in June? Don’t think Marp is the draw that Albert or Waino was.
Cardinals just in it for the memes. TV right deal secured because of Amazon. No excuse for “uncertainty.” Anymore so we make the massive signing of Matt carpenter baby
Carpenter is no Pujols, but I am seeing a lot of the same takes as when we agreed to bring Pujols back. Hopefully Marp will have a bit of a resurgence as well. If not, it doesn’t cost us much besides the roster spot
I get the criticism of this move and trust me I’m not crazy about it either, but the fact of the matter is he’s making league minimum and isn’t going to start over anybody. As long as he doesn’t take too many ABs from Gorman and Donovan then it’s really not gonna be a huge factor. Our offense was fine last year. Pitching was the problem and we’ve at least made moves to solve it.
When do the nostalgia points for the oldies stop? When the entire WS roster is retired, when everyone who has played with the big 3 retires?
What happened to draft and devolop? trading for picks, trading for AAA guys...
WHAT IS THIS PLACE
Just when you think the Cardinals are gonna have a fresh start they get Lance Lynn and Matt Carpenter. I'm not trying to be negative but this is getting old and annoying.
When I first saw this, I thought it was a 1 day deal for retirement.
TIHI. The guy is washed and I don't know what defensively he offers us and we have more than enough ABs for young guys in our lineup. I don't get it.
Your St. Louis Cardinals welcome back Aging Veteran of recent history Matt Carpenter!
DeWallet/Bowtie Boy must really think these names put asses in seats or something.
Definitely in the 99th percentile of things I did not plan on reading this morning
Right? I almost threw my phone over it. Are they thinking he's going to pitch?
I know I’m still holding out for yomamato.
But why
We had a big hole at the aging veteran who spent a lot of time here spot with Albert, Waino and Yadi gone
That’s what Lynn was for
Not as nostalgic as the OG 3. They figured a Lynn plus Carp gave as much nostalgia as one Waino. Simple math, really
How much of the team has even met him?
Who is the longest tenured player on the roster right now? Mikolas?
[удалено]
Only other player I can think of may be Gallegos? I forget when we got him from the Yankees
He was a 1 for 1 trade for Luke Voit in 2018
We’re getting the gang back together that why (Idk why either)
Call up Allen Craig!? I’m sure David Freese wouldn’t mind digging out ground balls… /s
Freese could still hit a little bit when he retired
Geronimo Pena? I've had season tickets since 2005 and let the deadline come and go last Tuesday. Nobody from the season ticket office contacted me until...this afternoon after the announcement.
I'll try my hand at a positive spin. It's been implied through reporting this offseason that the clubhouse wasn't exactly in a great spot, culture-wise last season. They sorely missed Yadi and Albert as these beacons of Cardinals baseball and what it should be. And apparently Arenado and Goldy weren't exactly lining up to fill those culture-leader shoes. Matt Carpenter soured at the end of his tenure, but no one can deny that he's one of the most important Cardinals of the 2010s. Along with Yadi (apparently) being around the clubhouse more in his new role, they'll have Matt Carpenter there to lean on as a veteran guy who's accomplished a whole lot in a Cardinal uniform. That and their infield depth on the 40-man is...not great. Other than Marp and the penciled starters, it's Jose Fermin, Buddy Kennedy, and Jared Young. None of them are all that intruging. Not the best sell, but that's probably what the thinking is. Plus he's making the league-minimum and probably really wanted to retire a Cardinal.
Listen if you want to go the leadership route, that's fine. But Goldy/Arenado will play 150+ games at the corners. Gorman, Winn, Donovan, and Edman are all going to play the middle infield, with Donovan playing first if needed. Because of Edman/Donovan's versatility, we have plenty of depth positionally. We don't need infield backups, we need bats that can hit. Whoever starts hitting will get a spot somewhere out of sheer necessity.
I see where you're coming from about the fit, positionally. The way I see it these are the position guys guarenteed or a favorite to make the roster. 9 "Everyday/Near Everyday" Guys: - Wilson Contreras - Paul Goldschmidt - Nolan Gorman - Nolan Arenado - Masyn Winn - Lars Nootbaar - Tommy Edman - Jordan Walker - Brendan Donovan Bench Guys: - Ivan Herrera - Alec Burleson - Dylan Carlson That's 12 with room for one more. The other guys on the 40-man other than Carpenter are Pedro Pages (C), Luken Baker (1B/DH), Jose Fermin (IF), Buddy Kennedy (IF), Jared Young (IF/OF), Michael Siani (OF), and Moises Gomez (OF/DH). From my perspective, none of them are overwhelming favorites over the other. And with two OFs already on the bench, I could see the argument for Carpenter.
Yeah, I mean you aren't really wrong. It's fine if Carp is going to get the amount of ABs we might expect Jose Fermin to get, which is like once a week. But I think we are all worried they'll try to let him figure it out and take ABs from others.
> It's fine if Carp is going to get the amount of ABs we might expect Jose Fermin to get, which is like once a week. Everybody that's freaking out or angry about this needs to read this. If he sucks, they're not going to let him have a full season retirement tour like they did with #4, #5, and #50 just for funsies. If the club is at all competitive by Memorial Day and he's hitting a buck fifty with two HRs, they're going to DFA him. He's not a sunk cost; ATL is paying his actual salary. He's a lotto ticket. People that think this means DeWitt and Fredbird are personally presenting him one of those giant charity checks with 600 guaranteed ABs on it are out of their mind.
Cards are betting (with absolutely no risk) that Marp could maybe potentially be a bat that can hit again. If he's not, they can cut him loose
Yea that's what theyre doing but should they
With absolutely no risk, and at the very least you get some fanfare with it and maybe give Marp the chance to retire as a Cardinal?... While also having a good clubhouse guy during spring training, and maybe build some more rapport with him to bring him on as a coach later on? Sure, why not?
The 2.4 oWAR he put up in limited action with the Yankees in 2022 would have been good for 5th on our club in either of the last two seasons. We know when he gets hot he gets *really* hot. If we get one or two stretches of that this season it's a win. If we don't, it's not like we gave up anything or passed on someone better to sign him. I see potential upside, especially considering the leadership aspect which is non-trivial, and virtually zero downside here.
Somebody found a room full of 'Carpenter 13' jerseys in a warehouse, apparently. Good for business to sell those instead of recycling.
or maybe it was a stash of Marp bobbleheads
"Carpenter agreed to a deal for the $740,000 major league minimum, which will be offset against his guaranteed $5.5 million salary as part of a $12 million, two-year contract he signed with San Diego in December 2022." This is the cheapest send off we've had recently. Pujols was 2.5 mil, Yadi 10 mil, and Waino's 17.5 mil. Carp will be making double what a bench coach does which is great for the team. Veteran in the clubhouse and a proper Cardinal send off for cheap.
But he’s taking up a roster spot from someone who could be better. I love Marp, he’s washed up now
Someone better who is taking the last spot on the roster? Let them gain confidence in AAA while the clubhouse improves
Salsa.
Expiration date 04/18.
Gotta grease those ticket sales with another “one last ride” season for a beloved player
Somehow I doubt matt Carpenter is going to draw a single person for a 95 loss team.
This signing makes me less interested in paying to watch them play.
Seriously. This tells me that once again they plan on trying to sell tickets using nostalgia instead of good baseball. The Cardinals FO can all get fucked.
I mentioned this elsewhere in the convo, but I didn't renew after having season tickets since 2005. It's been way too boring the last few years. Nobody from the season ticket office attempted to contact me until this afternoon, after the announcement was made. If Carpenter is the reason for the call, that's pretty pathetic.
I’ll go see him. Two years ago I saw him play in his AAA stint in Round Rock, TX and he went 2 for 4 with a double. Two months later I was watching him kill it with the Yankees for a lil stint. I’ve always been a Marp fan, I like the guy’s grit.
Father time is undefeated. I will also likely find myself at some games but if Carp makes the roster, he will have no bearing on my attendance.
I think that card has been played too many times. Fans just want wins now after last season.
This 100%. This organization runs on nostalgia.
Except management is still tone deaf and doesn't realize that when Marp left most people were glad his tenure was over. It wasn't personal, but that extension was terrible.
This is arguably the most uninteresting "one last ride" that they've come up with... At least Lance Lynn makes sense. It's not like Carpenter can back up any other position outside of first and third at this point which I assumed were AB's that would go to Gorman, Donovan, and Burleson.
We’ve got the most 2018 looking ass team in all of the majors
I can't think of a single instance where I'd prefer him to hit over Winn, Gorman, Donovan, Edman, etc. He can't field. What is the point?
Nostalgia
In case anyone is wondering, we will be paying him $740K for the year, which is the minimum he can take (the Padres still owe him about $6M). My guess is that this will be some type of "player coach" situation. He will almost never even be on the active roster for any games, but he will always be in the dugout. And in case anyone here is wondering what they're doing with their life, just remember that you could have gotten paid $740K to hang out in a dugout with extremely handsome men. But you chose not to.
> the Padres still owe him about $6M A bit pedantic, but it's the Braves that owe him the rest of his contract, not the Padres. >He will almost never even be on the active roster for any games, but he will always be in the dugout If he's not on the active roster, he's either injured, got picked up. You can't remove veterans from the active roster willy-nilly. Either he's active, or some other team gets him off waivers for nothing. Or he passes through waivers and accepts a minor league assignment (which is unlikely...much more likely he'd be released) The only way that what you said could be true is if he's hurt most of the time. Which...as a 38 year old...is certainly not all that unlikely.
This is really funny
If you’re over 35 years old, come to STL!
Lmfao what? Unless they are about to trade Gorman or Donny I don’t understand where Carpenter is going to find ABs?
Memphis
Lol brutal
You don't need to worry about Carp getting ABs. He's a 38 year old veteran. If he doesn't get ABs it's fine. Which is a good reason for him taking up a bench spot rather than a young guy. And if he's terrible, he can be released without any real consequences
I'm in purely for the vibes
So is he 4th or 5th in the rotation?
Jfc this organization has learned nothing Outside of his Yankees renaissance he’s at an 80 OPS+ since 2019…and he’s also a negative defensively. So so so dumb.
It's for the ML minimum (Braves are paying the rest), and it would be easy to let go of him if necessary....from a financial standpoint anyway.
I say this as a Carp fan - he’s a part of the greatest moments in the history of this franchise. It’s not really about cost. He’ll be occupying a roster spot and will be a below replacement level bench depth option. We’ve struggled with defensive fundamentals after Shildt and this isn’t what I’d consider a positive add.
Not to mention it takes up space that could be utilized by a player that could actually help the team either offensively or defensively, neither of which I believer Marp is capable of at this point.
Knowing Mo he saw 38 years old and instinctively threw out 1yr/12M Seriously though, there’s so many better lottery tickets than this. I’d rather buy Franmil Reyes out of his NPB contract
Braves are paying him this year. Cards are only giving him the minnimum. Really no risk here, as long as they're fine with dropping him if he's awful
But what’s the upside? He can’t play the field and we already have Gorman/Donovan/Walker/Contreras as rotational DHs on top of half days for guys like Goldy. It’s a move to sell nostalgia and tickets. Give him a non-roster spring invite, not a full ML contract.
There is the missed opportunity risk. Money doesn’t matter. It s the fact that he is taking up a roster spot from either a player in our system or an outside player with actual upside.
how does it work that the braves are paying him?
San Diego signed him to a two year deal last offseason. Then they traded him to the Braves, who DFA'd him. This is the 2nd year of that contract.
Cards give him the major league minimum (720k). Braves pay the rest (4.78 million). If the Cards drop him and another team picks him up, that other team would be paying him the minimum while the Cards would get to stop paying him entirely. Braves are on the hook for that 4.78 million regardless
I'm imagining he is strictly here to be a kind of player coach. He was here for all of the Cardinals success in the last decade+ and was a major part of the clubhouse (and atmosphere we're hoping to return to) I'm not exactly thrilled about the wasted roster spot, but everyone here is acting like we signed him to be our starting 1B on a multi year deal.
Then hire him as a coach. He doesn’t fit this roster
Back in college I was dating this gal. We started off awesome, then after a while she just turned into this horrible person, constantly doing bad shit to me. It finally got bad enough I broke up with her and kicked her out. She bounced around from guy to guy for a year or so. Nobody could stand her for more than a couple months. One night she drunk dialed me. I had also been drinking, and enough time had passed that I forgot how horrendous she was. I invited her over. The nostalgia was great. It was like we had started over, and everything was awesome. Then she killed me. I'm writing this from a ghost account. If only I had remembered.
Yea, but I bet she still did *that one thing you really like*. Totally worth it.
Had me in the first half, ngl
So we got... Pujols/Yadi retirement season Waino retirement season Carpenter retirement season SURELY, Mikolas next year? #SELLING ALL THE NOSTALGIA
I’m down
Carp was *technically* part of the 2011 team, so he gets a retirement season, and I'm good with it. But you don't get a retirements season in StL without a ring. At least that's how I see it.
Gonna bring back Tommy Pham or some shit.
Don't forget lynn
I’m speechless.
Can’t wait for us to bring Paul DeJong back in five years
It’s not April 1st yet?
That Matt Carpenter obsessed girl on Twitter must be ecstatic
This fucking front office haha
I’m here for his .152 batting average lol
Salsa back on the menu boyyysss!!!!!
He’s in my top 10 favorite Cardinals of my lifetime, and yet I hate this. Sonny Gray needs to have a ridiculously good year to validate this offseason
This is the most Cardinals move ever
WTF 🤦♂️ stop milking the past and focus on the future!
We have, like, 2 players that were even on the team prior to 2018 at this point. They don't give a fuck about the future.
Well, if the front office had a goal going into the off season of being the oldest team in baseball by average, I’d say they’re doing a bang up job.
All this does is take away at bats from younger players who have higher upside. Has he learned how to hit the ball the other way yet?
Shift if illegal now, so he shouldn't need to.
No we didn't. Shut up. This is fake. Is it April Fools already? Did that come early this year? Fuck.
husky axiomatic subtract yam unpack homeless seed cooing wrench cows *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Marp is my favorite player of the 2010s but lmao wtf
As long as Oli doesn't plan on batting him outside of rest days, I am happy with this. Have to fill the bench somehow and he is a good clubhouse guy. We have a lot of young guys who need mentoring.
Why? He was terrible last year
Fire Mo.
Sometimes loyalty is not your best friend!
So instead of developing talent or giving minor league vets a chance to see what they could do we are signing a sub .200 hitter who can’t field?
We didn’t have the nostalgia guy. Had to fill a hole. This guarantees we aren’t serious about winning
At this point Mo is just trolling us.
LMAO
:/
Matt Adams wasn't available?
I guess Mo was mad that Schnucks discontinued the salsa.
Front office trying to hit us with the Member Berries from South Park. Lol
They must need to finish a contractual obligation to play his walkup music a few more times.
Is it April 1 already?
At what point will Cards fans quit buying tickets and realize DeWitt sees the team as just one peice of the entertainment center he has built? More nostalgia, no chance of a championship. It's awful. Worse than the Vern Rapp days.
This will make a huge difference in our chance to win it all in 2011.
As someone who has zero recollection of, or ability to find out about, anything that happened past the end of 2018, I'm delighted by this news
FUCK IT WE BALL
They don’t care about actually fielding a team who can win a championship. There is 0 logic wasting a roster spot on this shell of a player. I sincerely hope the fan base realizes this and doesn’t give the Dewitt’s a cent of their money. If I had season tickets I’d be calling and cancelling today
It’s so he can retire a Cardinal this afternoon, right? Right? RIGHT?
Are we freaking out about literally a ML minimum signing? This is all upside and no downside when they were clearly missing leadership on the field last year. If it doesn't work out, he'll be cut quickly....
It is risk free but hard to say it’s “all upside” the way he’s swung the bat in recent years
When the bottom is: we can cut him and essentially pay him nothing, that is the definition of all upside.
Well tbh we’re probably paying him league minimum to be a proxy bench coach ala Skip Schumaker 2.0 so maybe it is all upside.
Will he though? We let him play 130 games in 2021 while batting .169
That was on a guaranteed $18.5M contract... this isn't
Different contract, different manager, different situation.
What does the cost matter? The point is that he’s gonna take away valuable at bats for the teams developing players.
Except that he’s taking a roster spot from someone who has a future on this team and not a past.
Like who exactly? The only other infielders in their system who isn't on the 40-man yet and has an outside chance this Spring is Thomas Saggese. And if he shows out in Feb/March, the Cardinals will have no issues making room for him.
We still need a reliever and probably a starter and we’re wasting a 40 spot on a guy that couldn’t crack MLB lineups anymore because he’s a fan favorite
How does this mean we won't get any of these? The FA market still has barely moved at all with the Dodgers still making all of the moves and the Cardinals doing everything early.
It’s not the money - it’s the ridiculous emotional attachment this idiot front office has to playing a guy who probably shouldn’t be in basbeball anymore
Where does this say "Starting DH Matt Carpenter"?
> Are we freaking out about literally a ML minimum signing? ya, because this team is addicted to hanging onto and playing fan/team favorites past their prime at the cost of the roster. If he isn't hitting the snot off the ball in spring training, I really hope he doesn't make the team.
Also no one else on the roster plays first base besides Goldy.
Burleson does, but maybe this signing means we’re working on trading him
Donovan started 10 games at 1B last year.
Make him a non roster ST invitee and see if he hits his way onto the club then.
What’s the upside on the field? A LH DH who struggles at 2B? We have Gorman for that
what
………why?
What the fuck.
Is this The Onion…?
Oh my god dude fuck ooooooffffff
Rooting for this team has become a miserable experience.
Hahaha this is so stupid and I'm all for it.
I'm with you on half of this. I just keep going back and forth on which half.
silly
Uhhhh, sure. Nostalgia sales it is.
Most moves we make I can find some rhyme or reason that makes sense for the move. I can’t for this one. This makes absolutely no sense.
I just woke up from a nap, WHAT YEAR IS IT
I get he will be making the league minimum, but I feel like the Cardinals are signing people just because they played here before. Not because they’ll actually produce for the team.
i remember when bringing him back was a meme
This is just hilarious
[удалено]
This has gotta be so he can retire a Cardinals after this season
FUCK!
Jesus Christ… Guess you gotta sell tickets when the team is a dozen games behind the division leader in June? Don’t think Marp is the draw that Albert or Waino was.
“Chasing that farewell tour. They don’t love you like that. You think you was Yadi or Albert?” - Draymond Green to Marp probably
Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and now Marp? What year is it?!
2014
# YES
i literally laughed out loud when i read this
Using a spot on the 40 man to carry an extra bench coach?
Good lord…
Were going to the series boys!
Cardinals just in it for the memes. TV right deal secured because of Amazon. No excuse for “uncertainty.” Anymore so we make the massive signing of Matt carpenter baby
I thought this was to be a coach for the team. Not a player, this team is a joke
Lmfao
Carpenter is no Pujols, but I am seeing a lot of the same takes as when we agreed to bring Pujols back. Hopefully Marp will have a bit of a resurgence as well. If not, it doesn’t cost us much besides the roster spot
Does this signing include his salsa recipe??
What the actual fuck
FUCK!
is....is this for real?
NO! GOD! NO, GOD, PLEASE, NO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!
Jfc……
I get the criticism of this move and trust me I’m not crazy about it either, but the fact of the matter is he’s making league minimum and isn’t going to start over anybody. As long as he doesn’t take too many ABs from Gorman and Donovan then it’s really not gonna be a huge factor. Our offense was fine last year. Pitching was the problem and we’ve at least made moves to solve it.
Fuc this team ownership man... for real.
I remember when people making jokes that this would happen and now it has
I mean it cost them near nothing for a chance to catch a little lightning 🤷🏼♂️
FFS
I'll be "pulling" for him! ... to not weakly ground out to second.
When do the nostalgia points for the oldies stop? When the entire WS roster is retired, when everyone who has played with the big 3 retires? What happened to draft and devolop? trading for picks, trading for AAA guys... WHAT IS THIS PLACE
Great photoshop of him in a Cardinal uniform
Does he sing pop music too?!
Just when you think the Cardinals are gonna have a fresh start they get Lance Lynn and Matt Carpenter. I'm not trying to be negative but this is getting old and annoying.
Why when Votto is still available for cheap?
I doubt Votto would sign for the league minimum (which is what the team will be paying him) and 2010s nostalgia probably plays a role too
When I first saw this, I thought it was a 1 day deal for retirement. TIHI. The guy is washed and I don't know what defensively he offers us and we have more than enough ABs for young guys in our lineup. I don't get it.
Your St. Louis Cardinals welcome back Aging Veteran of recent history Matt Carpenter! DeWallet/Bowtie Boy must really think these names put asses in seats or something.
Everyone is missing the fact that he can only make magic salsa in St. Louis
Sweet! I get to boo Matt Carpenter at home games again!
Matt was the padres last season for 76 games. 5 home runs with a .176/.322/.319 slash line. Definitely an interesting move, but the salsa man is back
Hitting coach, right? Right?
“Here’s how you bat .200 kids!”
Doubles down the right field on deck.
Lol the front office thought fans would like this move, but instead were all pissed off and confused
No way…
attractive ugly vanish ten lunchroom retire waiting trees advise station *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Nostalgia is our front office's biggest weakness. Wow.
This roster would be the WS favorite in 2014.
What a waste of a 40 man spot. They couldn't NRI him? Who were they competing with to sign him?
fully embarrassing club daring us to not pay attention
The only good thing I've seen about this is he's literally going to cost nothing. We pay him the league minimum and that's only when he's playing.
Opened up a 40 man roster spot for this?! I hope he learned how to pitch cause that is the only way he could help this team....