6 Burst results for "Lars Nubar"
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"lars nubar" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"So my last question was about two guys who took steps back in 2022, so I want to ask about two guys who took steps forward, Edmund, you just mentioned and newt bar, you mentioned as well. And he really had a breakout Edmund, just the defense was so spectacular at least by the numbers that he ended up being an extremely valuable player, depending on which war you're looking at. So is there hope that Edmund can continue to be and above average hitter in addition to giving them that kind of glove and then with newt bar who, as you mentioned, it's going to be on the Japan team in the WBC. Is there an expectation that he can maintain that power outburst that he had? Sure. I think let's start with Tommy, right? He is the guy that kind of projected to be their utility player in 2021. He was even playing in right field because the Cardinals had so many injuries at that point. And he seems to thrive anywhere you put him defensively. He was actually so good last year at shortstop that he, for whatever reason, kind of got played out of a gold glove because he wasn't exactly utility player either. But obviously a certainly a deserving candidate there. I think for Tommy, that they don't, again, it's a little bit like mason. They don't need him to be the home run hitter. They need him to be the switch hitting get on base guy. You got a bunch of power behind you if you're Tommy Edmond. You have O'Neill. You have Nolan's Goldschmidt, Contreras. Nubar will get to. You don't need to hit the home run. You just need to get on base. And I think those are that's a fair expectation for Tommy. He can serve as a leadoff hitter. He can serve as a double leadoff hitter in the 9 hole. But if Tommy can get on base, steal a bag and put himself in scoring position, they'll certainly take it. Average, I don't think is a huge stat when it comes to admin that they're looking for, and neither is power, but the on base percentage absolutely. Now for newt bar, this is a guy who barely made the opening day roster last year, actually spent a significant time in Memphis and triple-A and came back in the second half just to completely new person. And the expectations for Lars are heavy in 2023. He was the first player that manager Ollie marble expresses being a regular starter at the winter meetings. He said Lars nubar will be playing ideally every single day for us. And the key for Laura staying in that lineup is to making sure he can hit. He has that lefty power bath, the Cardinals were covered and they were trying to find one over the off season. It did not work out. John Mozilla lamented the fact that they were not able to do so. So it was clear that that was an area that they thought they needed to boost. Now they're going to look for that help internally with Lars. He's been working extensively at driveline, has completely revamped revamped his power, his barrel, exit velocity. Those are all things trending in the right direction. So again, the cardinals are looking for a lefty power bat. They'll hope they have one internally now and will be Lars's spot to win. And I want to ask about another hitter who revamped himself. And that's Nolan Gorman, who I think maybe had the most kind of textbook case of the league catching up to someone. Good prospect and then comes up and hits the ground running and then stops hitting anything because it seemed like he had a hole that the lead kind of cut up to and he has done his best to close it and to counter adjust. So can you explain what he did and how it seems to be working thus far? Yeah, I think that's a perfect explanation for it. The league just caught up to where he was getting exposed, which was the high fastball. Look, we know how Nolan Gorman projects. He is that outstanding left handed power header that we talked about a little bit with the Cardinals needing in Lars. Now the reason that he slumped so poorly in the second half was because opposing teams were identifying the fact that he was really chase heavy on the high fastball. Nolan Gorman's bread and butter pitch is that low off speed down in the zone. If you give them some high heat, he's going to chase. And so to Gorman's credit, he went into the off season working primarily on how to do not necessarily damage with that high fastball. But being able to fall it off or at least put it in play if he can to give him a better shot at the change up or the off speed, which he can do damage with. And the early returns have been very favorable. Ollie marvel says that he came into camp as looking like a brand new hitter, talked to Nolan Gorman after Sunday's game. He fouled all he was in a two strike count and fouled off a couple high fastballs and eventually got one for two run single. And when I asked if he felt like it was a step in the right direction, he said, no, I expect to do that now. I put in way too much work to not have that expectation. So for me, I thought that was a really encouraging sign for Gorman, who acknowledged, you know, I'm not always going to want that pitch. I still want them to pitch me low, but if they know that I can foul it off, if they know that I can do damage with it at times, then they're going to stop giving it to me so often and it's going to increase my chance of getting the off speed pitch in the zone that I want. So that's what Gorman is coming into. He's trying to win a spot on this act of roster for opening day. And if he can do some damage or at least put himself in a more favorable position to get to that change up or the off speed stuff, then I think the cardinals will have a really exciting bench and you know he can still play second for them too. I want to talk a bit about the rotation now and maybe we can start with a guy who actually hasn't been with the club all that long in Jordan Montgomery when he came over from New York. He had that like scintillating August and looked so good and then he kind of trailed off after that. He wasn't bad, but he was, he was more sort of what he had been with New York and I'm curious what the club's expectations are for him going into 2023 and how he might work to look more like his August than like his September and October. I think the cardinals are expecting him Montgomery to be a middle of the rotation arm. They'll certainly take it, of course, if he projects to be higher than that. But for Jordan, it's the cardinals are in a weird spot with their rotation because after the season, they only have one pitcher on that rotation that is signed. It's only Steven Matt's. Everyone else is either retiring if you're Adam Wainwright or said to be a free agent. Jordan certainly is obviously under that criteria as well. I think what the cardinals are looking for in Jordan Montgomery is if he can be that durable, utilizing the glove side fastball that brought him a lot of success last year. Get balls on the ground, get quick outs, don't walk, guys. That's the reason why they traded for him at the deadline. They saw a guy that really fit their ballpark and what they look for with their pitchers, the cardinals like.
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"lars nubar" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"But he is learning a brand new pitching staff and he's doing so with a pitch timer and we were talking to this with a couple of relievers who said it is so important for catchers to know their sequences because when you get on the mound with a pitch timer counting down, you can't spend all this time shaking pitches off and you don't want to get yourself into a position where all of a sudden saying yes to something that you don't actually want to throw because the fish timer is at three two one and you're like okay I don't want to get dinged for a violation so let's just do this. They said since Contreras has come in a couple of pictures that I've talked to, there's been no even thought of that. There's been no issue. He is so well prepared. He's been very knowledgeable doing his research. He knows his pictures. He knows the sequences. He knows their stuff. And that's been really helpful. Certainly has not been an easy task. Like I said, but when you are, when you are dealing with a catcher with so much experience, who is actively bought into the organization, I think it really helps. And as difficult as that decision might have been to not play in the world baseball classic, I think that was a nod in the right direction for his cardinals teammates to say, okay, hey, this catcher really wants to prioritize his new team over maybe his personal endeavors or something that he would like to do for his own self. So he'll be in transgenic catcher obviously. It's funny. There are a lot of, you know, there's not a lot of mystery on this roster, but there is some in the outfield I know that there is a bit of a competition between Tyler O'Neill and Dylan Carlson for the center field job. So how do you expect that outfield configuration to shake out? Right, for me, that's the most exciting thing about this cardinals camp. I mean, the 2023 cardinals roll a rolling in with ideally almost the exact same core of their division winning 2022 squad. What I think sets the Cardinals apart in terms of their outfields is their three projected outfielders to start the opening day. To be on the opening day of roster are Tyler O'Neill Dylan Carlson and Lars zubar. And what is special about this group is all three guys can play all three outfield positions interchangeably, and they can all play them well. So the center field competition, I think, is a way to see who can the Cardinals depend on of those three to be the most consistent in center field because for as well as those three can play the outfield. They also have a top prospect named Jordan walker who projects to debut in 2023 and play the corner as well. So I'm not quite I do think that Jordan walker has a chance to make the opening day roster, especially if he hits well. He had a monster home run in his first spring training start off Johnny cueto on Sunday, went about 430 feet, and it just sounded different. But before walker can get to the big leagues, there has to be a pathway for him, and that's why the center field competition. I think is so interesting. Tyler O'Neill is going to play center field for team Canada and the world baseball classic and Lara's new bar will be out playing for team Japan, which means the Cardinals really have a limited amount of time to see who you play center here. It's really Dylan Carlson spot to win, I think. What about the bats of those guys? Because of course O'Neill had the huge breakout season in 2021 and then took a big step back offensively and missed some time last year and then Carlson sort of same deal. I think people were expecting maybe more out of him and got a little less and I know you wrote recently that he was dealing with a finger thumb hint issue of some sort that may be played a part in that. But what are the expectations for them bouncing back to what they were in 2021 or something along those lines? Yeah, the expectations are they have to hit. I mean, the defense of those three really are unquestionable. They've all proved. I mean, Tyler O'Neill has two gold gloves, Dylan Carlson, a very serviceable outfielder, same with Lars nubar. Laura's 12 at Lars took a major step forward offensively last season, O'Neill pretty much struggled all season long, and Dylan played the second half, admittedly hurt and said that was a lesson that he needed to learn and went to rest his body and take some time off. So Tyler O'Neill, the key to him being successful offensively is just to stay healthy. This is a guy that is a tremendous athlete with some tremendous power and pop in his bat, but he does have a bit of an injury history and that's really hindered him in the past. So he spent the entire off season in St. Louis, reworking his training program, working with the Cardinals training staff to make sure that he was training in a way that made him more durable for the season. Same with Dylan. When he was right, he can be a versatile piece in the Cardinals lineup. He can hit pretty much anywhere. I would think he actually did hit one through 9 at some point during the season last year. He just has to be a little bit better against right handed pitching. He's a switch hitter of the cardinals have no plans to change that, but he needs to be more consistent against variety so that he can remain a staple in the lineup, otherwise they will platoon him like they did in the second half. The hope for Dylan is talking to him that he can just be more consistent. He feels like with the hand injury behind him that this is something that he'll be able to implement more and obviously the reps with both Tyler and Lars gone for the world baseball classic will help him in the spring. You mentioned walker and how he's basically going to have to be an outfielder at this point because, you know, there's a guy we all know over at third base. I wanted to ask and he's a little further away from the majors. I would imagine, but about the future home of mason Wynn, I was there to see his incredible throw at the futures game, but it isn't as if the cardinals are hurting for infielders. So what do you think his eventual home will be when he makes the big leagues and when do you expect that he might debut? Yeah, mason went to such an electric talent, former two way player, now primarily an infielder. I think with mace and I do think there's a path of him to the Saint Louis Cardinals because no matter I don't know how they do this, but the cardinals are so good at drafting versatile pieces that can move around the infields play different positions and I think mason one is one of those guys. They value versatility, so he's a guy that can play both middle then field spots, just like Brendan Donovan, who is currently on the squad. And I do think while he may have a little bit of a blockage with Paul de young and Tommy Edmond, the Cardinals always have a way of needing that depth. They Ollie marble, their manager really likes to implement lineup fluidity. He likes to implement flexibility in that lineup and very rarely does he use the same lineup twice in two days. A mason win has a little bit to go. I believe he'll probably start the season in triple-A. They like the defense. He's working a little bit more on being a more fine tuned offensive player. He said last year, you know, he's a small guy. He is not like his good friend Jordan walker. 6 5. He's a little smaller. Profiles in the middle and Fielder. So he said he tried to get too big with his swing and double-A last year. He was trying to be the home run hitter. He was trying to hit for power and he realized last season while talking to the Cardinals player development staff. That's not the player he is. He is the line drive singles get on base, use your speed and be the steady defender on the Enfield. So that is what he is trying to do. He's young, just like Jordan, he's still working at it, but I do think there is a path 2024 as the window for mason, in my opinion. But again, you know, the Cardinals have always needed depth in their infield. So I do think that they see him as part of their long-term plan. Yeah, when we ran our interview with Randy Flores last week for prospect week, he obviously talked about walker and when and I found a photo of them from spring training and yes, the difference in stature is noticeable, especially when they're next to one another.
The Lead
"lars nubar" Discussed on The Lead
"Well, that team turned it around. They fired their manager Joe Girardi and rob Thompson has led this team to what in the end was a kind of roller coaster wild card finish, but this team is built on their bats. So this is a team that's built to make some noise in the playoffs. And the big question was, can you get here? And then now that you're here, as far as the lineup goes, they're pretty well set to scare just about anybody. And if you look at the rotation, that's where things as ever with the Phillies start to not fall apart, but get a little shaky. They have Zack Wheeler leading the charge. They have Aaron nola who's been very, very good. But after that, it's ranger Suarez is Kyle Gibson Bailey falter. They want to syndergaard. It can work, but it's going to need the offense to carry this team. And then the bullpen, the Phillies bullpen is what felt like the single biggest reason they didn't get to the last ten years. And it's patched together a little bit, but they have some arms and so they're going to need, I think, to get a lot of the starting rotation because I don't think the bullpen really necessarily has what it takes to carry them if it's four innings and out. I think they have to lean on these guys a little bit more like horses. Now the Cardinals got an MVP caliber season from first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Tell us a little bit about what he accomplished and who else do they have around him that stands out? Paul goes for it just keeps laughing at like the aging curves that all these projection models have. You're not supposed to be doing this at 34 35. You just turned 35. Years old, this is a three 17 season, a one 80 OPS plus, if you know what that is, that's just 100 is league average. So he's 1.8 times the average player. 35 homers and a 115 RBI. This is like peak stuff. Goldschmidt hits it out to left and this will do it. And he does it in gray. Style. Heads a grand slam. Goldie, the walk off grand slam. And he's doing it with a team that has another MVP candidate in Nolan Arenado. And this is a team that's, it's a really fascinating one because this is a lineup that can contact you to death at times. It can hit the Homer. I mean, if Albert Pujols coming out basically taking a victory lap here on his wonderful career, people were pulling for him to get to 700 homers, but it seems really unrealistic this year. He was 21 homers, I think, short at that point. Well, he goes ahead and his 24 homers drives in almost 70 runs. And gives you a one 54 RPS plus. Storybook fairytale stuff. Taylor's back at the wall and 700. Albert Pujols. Has joined the 7 hundred home run club. We'll see how that one ends, but what a way to end his career. And they've also got some young players like Lars nubar, Brendan Donovan, who have had really big moments this year, they'll have to come through an important moments for this team, because it can't just be aeronaut on Goldschmidt, but that's a really, really solid middle of the lineup in aeronautic, of course, one of the best defenders in the league as well, third base. Well, you know what time it is, prediction time who advances between the Phillies and the Cardinals. Give me, oh, I'm gonna go fill it. Oh. The depth of the Cardinals lineup is interesting to me, but I do worry that if one of their starters gets dinged, where do they go from there? This is more of just a gut feel here. And if you ask me tomorrow, I might feel differently, but whoever takes game one here is probably gonna be the winner, but I'm gonna put my imaginary money on the Phillies. All right, fair enough. Now the winner gets the braves who it pains me to say as a mets fan, won their 5th straight NL east title winning a 101 games, which is also the same as the mets, by the way. So for my fellow non braves fans out there, what makes this team so tough? Do you want to take this one? I'm going to let you go, or else I'm going to go in an explosive rant. So the brain is a little unfair how they've done this again, because they've done it in a bit of a different way, where if you remember last year it was, well, this is a team that lost Ronald Acuna. They had just a huge loss. Everyone just kind of leaving them out of the postseason conversation because, oh yeah, they were under 500 team at the all star break. But this was an opportunity where Alex and the GM went out and got a bunch of small upgrades, basically everywhere. Let's just get a whole new outfield and it won't cost us a whole lot because we aren't getting the top guys that we're not going to get Juan Soto. We're going to get some of these guys who teams are just hoping to not have to pay the salary the rest of the season to be honest. And there's enough of those opportunities out there that they were able to upgrade across the board. And it turns into a magical run the O2. Left side Swanson. To first. And they now are doing it with the help of some younger players they've integrated. Of course they're doing it without Freddy Freeman as well. They replaced him with Matt Olson, who has been really good. He's not Freddie Freeman, and I don't think it's really worth us having the debate every day of they're both great, but they have met Olsen and they have extra money now to use elsewhere and what have they done with it? Well, they have locked up Austin Riley to a long-term contract. They brought up Michael Harris from double-A and he's also going to probably win The Rookie of the year over his teammate Spencer strider. And they give him a long-term contract. This is a team that they made a lot of moves this year to make you say, oh, they might not be going anywhere for a little while. I know pains you to hear. But you paired that lineup in a bat they have there with a rotation of max free to take another step forward this year. Kyle Wright, who's been really, really good since coming off the injured list. Charlie Morton hasn't been as good as in the past, but they certainly trust him in the postseason. He's been one of the better posts and pictures of the last decade. And I didn't even mention Spencer strider there. They could use him in any kind of role they want right now. He's coming back from injury, but in that bullpen you have basically three, four potential closers. It's a complete package, and it's unfortunately for mets fans, a team that looks like it's poised to keep its players as well, which is hard for teams to do these days. It's hard to talk guys out of taking that trip to free agency, but anthropologists and the braves ownership has been able to fork over enough money to talk to these guys out of it. Over on the other side of the national league bracket, we've got the Padres up against the New York mets. First, San Diego. This team really went all in at the trade deadline adding Juan Soto, Josh hader and Josh bell. So how are those moves looking now? And how is this team looking heading into the playoffs? It hasn't exactly not worked because the whole point was to get to the playoffs and with Juan Soto get three cracks at it before he is a free agent and maybe they'll sign a long-term as well. But it really hasn't played out the way a lot of us expected. You went and got Josh bell as well who was the best first baseman on the market in terms of how he performed so far this year, first base slash DH. And Josh hader, who was the brewers closer, really head scratcher why the brewers got rid of him, but he is not even been in a priority role really for the Padres because of his inconsistency. He's just not been there. But Juan Soto is a good isn't the right word. He's a great enough player that even when he is not putting up MVP numbers, he's still going to be getting on base a ton. He's still had almost 400 on base percentage with the Padres so far. Josh bell has been really not good. Having covered him in Pittsburgh he is a streaky hitter. He has, if I'm not mistaken, no post is an experience at this point. And so this is his first opportunity in these big moments. And you know there's more in that the one 92 batting average he's put up in the three homers since going over to San Diego. Strange, it's a head scratcher, but there's still time to figure it out. And then hater, I mean, he's still got enough of an arm that teams don't want to see him coming out of the bullpen, but he doesn't always know where it's going and we'll see where they go with that. But it's a team that did everything it could truly at the trade deadline to put itself in the playoffs and here it is. So they have their shot. The mets had a great regular season winning a 101 games, but lost out on the division title. But interesting contrast to the Padres here because the mets really didn't make any big upgrades at the trade deadline, which has been a criticism of the team. What would you say is their most glaring weakness heading
AP News Radio
Zach McKinstry homers as Cubs beat Cardinals 7-1
"Zach mckinstry and Nico Horner were two of the cubs hitting stars in a 7 one downing of the cardinals that gained street belted a two run Homer and had three RBIs while Horner had three hits Jan Gomes drove in a pair for the cubs who have split the first four games of their 5 game series Lars nubar homered for the red birds and Corey Dickerson went four for four The cards dropped to 17 and 5 in August Rowan wick got 5 outs for the win after Luke Farrell had his first cubs appearance since 2018 Miles Michaelis took the loss I'm Dave ferry
AP News Radio
Cardinals beat Diamondbacks 6-4 for seventh straight win
"It's a 7 game winning streak for the Cardinals following a 6 four decision over the Diamondbacks Nolan Arenado laced a two run single in the 7th inning to put the red birds ahead 5 four Arenado finished with three RBIs to help St. Louis keep its 5 game lead over the brewers atop the NL central Lars nubar hit his first career leadoff Homer Tommy Edmond editor run scoring single in the 8th inning of the Cardinals 16th win in 19 games The cards posted their 7th series sweep of the season I'm Dave ferry
AP News Radio
Gorman, Nootbaar homer as Cards beat Nats 6-2; Soto 1 for 4
"Nolan Gorman in Lars nubar hit back to back homers in the 6th inning of the Cardinals 6 two win over the nationals The redbirds led three to one until Gorman smacked the two run Homer off loser Annabel Sanchez Newt Barr's blast chase Sanchez St. Louis scored three in the third on a pair of ground outs in a wild pitch Miles Michael is allowed two runs in 7 innings for the cards who have their first winning streak in 13 days Then that's hit a pair of sacrifice flies but were zero for 9 with runners in scoring position I'm Dave ferry