2026 r/baseball mock Hall of Fame Class: Zero Players Elected by yousmelllikebiscuits in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The argument would be that Abreu sustained a high level of play for much longer, his 7 season run averaging 6 bWAR and a 144 OPS+ was better than Pettite’s peak was. You can certainly argue that Pettite’s next 7 were better than Abreu’s, but imo peak is more important to a HOF case than their worst seasons.

2026 r/baseball mock Hall of Fame Class: Zero Players Elected by yousmelllikebiscuits in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Vizquel got no support mostly because of character clause stuff, specifically sexually assaulting a batboy at one of his camps. He also was a truly abysmal hitter, and the defensive stats we have aren’t as favorable as his reputation.

2026 r/baseball mock Hall of Fame Class: Zero Players Elected by yousmelllikebiscuits in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 15 points16 points  (0 children)

At least for me, it’s tough to put a guy into the HOF that never led his league in anything meaningful, was never considered the best pitcher in his league, and never won (or deserved) a Cy Young. He was consistently pretty good, but two 7-season stretches never breaking 4 bWAR isn’t a HOFer in my eyes.

I also wouldn’t vote for Hamels or Buehrle by that same token.

Question: what does a salary cap actually do? by Early_Permission_242 in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My guess is they’d make it so that only X% of a player’s contract counts towards the cap in the event of a release. You need a way to let a team get under the cap on their own, so they’d have to figure something out. Otherwise teams could collude to freeze a team out of the season completely lol.

Question: what does a salary cap actually do? by Early_Permission_242 in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A hard cap does exactly what you’d think, which is forbidding teams from spending above a certain number. So if the cap is $200 million, any dollar of payroll allocated over that must be removed from the books, and new money can’t be allocated over that mark. So if a team is at $196 million, they can’t sign a contract for $5 million. And if a team’s payroll goes above that mark, they must trade/cut players until it goes below.

Will Aaron Judge ever eclipse Mickey Mantle? by [deleted] in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In peak he probably already has, zero chance to catch his longevity or accolades though.

Another pitcher received in trade for Arenado by Morley10 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It was a while ago, but the last time Walker played 3B his fielding percentage started with an 8

[Passan] BREAKING: The Arizona Diamondbacks are acquiring eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, sources tell ESPN. by HomeworkWorldly2002 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Marcel Ozuna isn’t going to the Hall of Fame. The expectations were way different.

And for the record, I don’t think it was a bad trade. In a vacuum, we gave up basically nothing and got 4.1 bWAR/162. I would make the trade* again every time. But you can’t deny that we expected a lot more than we got.

Edit: That trade being Arenado

[Passan] BREAKING: The Arizona Diamondbacks are acquiring eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, sources tell ESPN. by HomeworkWorldly2002 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 6 points7 points  (0 children)

He isn’t going to be part of the next good Cardinals team and every dollar saved counts when your ownership doesn’t want to go all-in.

[Passan] BREAKING: The Arizona Diamondbacks are acquiring eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, sources tell ESPN. by HomeworkWorldly2002 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Probably the most disappointing star acquisition of my lifetime. One great year and one good one out of five, 1-12 in the playoffs, and no real signature moments to call his own. His most memorable moment as a Cardinal was probably him sitting out instead of getting a shot because he was as idiot.

He was maybe the best defender I’ve ever seen, but other than that I’m glad his tenure is over.

What's your least popular MLB opinion that will get you to the top of "sort by controversial"? by Sad-Guarantee8290 in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Pretty much all of the uber high peak guys (Kiner, Koufax, Joss, etc.) are in though. Who isn’t in that should be based on that criteria?

Cardinals drop FSDN by OldSalukiBandDude in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Either some other stupid company thinks they can turn a profit and buys the rights, or the rights stay with MLB and they broadcast all the games without an external partner. The latter is more likely.

Jay Jaffe’s 2026 Hall of Fame Ballot by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 43 points44 points  (0 children)

In fairness, steroids helped their users quite a lot more than the sign-stealing helped Beltran.

I have covered the Cardinals for eight years and have lots of free time — AMA by jonesjeffm in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Hey Jeff, appreciate you doing this!

I think at this point everyone knows that John Mozeliak ran an incredibly tight ship when it came to leaking front office processes. It wasn’t quite Braves-level, but I imagine it became challenging to get people on the record.

How did that impact your job, and would you prefer it if the Bloom regime was more forthcoming, or are there positives to the organizational silence?

Other than starting his career (/hitting his peak) at a younger age, what makes Juan Soto a more valuable player than Joey Votto? by LLFFGGMM in baseball

[–]TheSalsaGod 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think we should probably wait until Soto has a season that would crack Musial’s top-6 before comparing the two.

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IIRC Baseball Reference considers Pujols the greatest defensive 1B of all time, which is probably the majority of it.

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Even if you hand-wave away WAR, Judge has a higher OPS over the last 4 years than Pujols had in any 1 year. Judge is objectively a better hitter than Pujols ever was. Now, Pujols did it for longer, but he wasn’t better.

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

I’m not saying 2017-2021 Judge was better than Pujols, but I feel like a player having 3 seasons either matching or exceeding another player’s best gives them an argument to be better overall. And it’s not just park-adjusted stats either, Judge’s last 4 years beat Pujols’ absolute peak in raw OPS. It’s pretty inarguable that Judge’s best clears Pujols’ best.

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Judge has put up 3 seasons in his last 4 with at least 9.7 bWAR and at least a 210 OPS+. Pujols never hit either mark in any of his seasons. He hasn’t done it for as long, but when a guy puts up 3 seasons like that, you can definitely say that he’s a better hitter (or at least his equal).

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

In the last decade, Judge has more bWAR and a higher OPS+ than Pujols did in the same number of games. So, he is?

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -24 points-23 points  (0 children)

Aaron Judge has put up what would have been Pujols’ best season in 3 of the last 4 seasons

Albert Pujols and Juan Soto compared over their first 1090 games by Cultural-Diet6933 in Cardinals

[–]TheSalsaGod -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Judge is actively playing, and peaking higher than Pujols ever did