Is Matheny on the hot seat after this series?

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina underwent a second operation on his ailing left thumb yesterday, reports MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (on Twitter). The first surgery “didn’t take,” as Langosch puts it, and with a second operation coming in mid-December, she adds that it’s likely Molina will miss most of Spring Training.

Molina originally sustained the injury — a torn ligament — in mid-September but returned briefly in the playoffs after sitting out the final few weeks of the regular season. However, he exited Game 3 of the NLDS after very clearly aggravating his hand on a swing and didn’t return for the final game of that series. St. Louis has since added the switch-hitting Brayan Pena as a backup for Molina this offseason, but it certainly seems possible that he’ll now begin the regular season behind the plate with Molina landing on the DL for the early portion of the year.

Molina has suffered a torn ligament in each of his thumbs over the past two years, missing about seven weeks in 2014 before incurring this injury late in 2015. That pair of injuries may have impacted Molina’s offense, as he batted just .267/.309/.317 in 27 games following his 2014 injury and was sporting an uncharacteristically light .270/.310/.350 batting line in 2015 before injuring his other hand.

Beyond that, Langosch also tweets that center fielder Randal Grichuk underwent sports hernia surgery recently but is expected to be ready for Spring Training. Favorable timeline notwithstanding, Grichuk’s situation bears monitoring, as setbacks could impact his availability for the season. Grichuk projects to be the everyday center fielder in St. Louis following Jon Jay‘s trade to the Padres; he will, presumably, be flanked by Matt Holliday and Stephen Piscotty on the outfield corners.

The way Yadi has shrunk since the testing for HGH began is interesting. If voters suspect he got some help for his better years from science, that might eliminate him from consideration. He is a fringe guy to me. He has had a very good career, but borderline HOF worthy.

a no trade clause for that guy?

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25420683/mike-matheny-bothered-by-jason-heywards-cardinals-comments



Matheny seemed to take Heyward's words as being denigrating to Cards' personnel:

"I told Jason this before. I've got a lot of respect for Jason as a person. He's got to go make the decisions he's going to have to live with. If that (core group comparison) is a big deal to him, he's just being honest with people.

"But I don't think we have anything to apologize for in having a group like a Holliday, a Molina, a Wainwright. Those are the kinds of guys everybody wants on a club.

"I see where he's coming from. I mean, look at what Chicago's done. It's very unique in this game — to have that many impact players at that young age. And he's a young player. But I can't say I'm in any kind of agreement with that (Chicago) core being better than any kind of core that we have.

"That veteran group (that the Cardinals have) also helps drive what the younger group turns into.”

"I don't blame him. But I don't like it. I thought we created a really good atmosphere and he had to weigh what was most important to him."

Continuing, Matheny offered, “Say if we hadn't won. ... That would have made a difference. Say if we hadn't created an atmosphere where he was a major part of what we're doing. ... Neither of those is true.

"Say we hadn't made an offer. We made a terrific offer. With all that being said, it comes down to what does a guy want? (Staying in St. Louis) just wasn't what he was looking for."

Is Matheny being fair in his response? Or is he just reflexively standing up for his own guys, while perhaps chewing up a few sour grapes over being outbid for Heyward by their top rival

Check out the entirety of Heyward's response, via the Chicago Tribune, before deciding:

"Being 26 and knowing my contract would probably put me in any clubhouse longer than most people there, you have to look at age, you have to look at how fast the team is changing and how soon those changes may come about," he said of leaving the Cardinals. "You have Yadier, who is going to be done in two years maybe. You have Matt Holliday, who is probably going to be done soon.

"There were already moves with Jon Jay gone, and then Tony Cruz, and Wainwright is probably going to be done in three or four years. I think that's when his contract is up. Not to say he won't play any longer, but guys like that are what really introduced me to the St. Louis Cardinals organization. I felt like if I was to look up in three years and see a completely different team, that would kind of be difficult.

"Chicago really offers an opportunity to come into the culture and be introduced to the culture by a young group of guys. Grow up with them and still watch myself grow up and have some fun with some familiar faces for a long time."

Nowhere does Heyward discount the ability of the Cardinals organization to regenerate itself once the "core group" of current stars have gone away. It's just that the core in Chicago is hitting its stride now. Would Heyward be a lonely superstar among an extended rebuilding operation in three years? The Cardinals have shown an uncanny ability to re-load on the fly over the past 15 years, so Heyward might be underselling them in that respect. Even that could be explained away by Heyward having a simple fear of the unknown. But nowhere does Heyward say "a Holliday, a Molina, a Wainwright" aren't the kinds of guys he wants on a team. He says the opposite of that, in fact.

Matheny seems more interested in creating a subtext of motivation for the coming season (bulletin-board material) than being 100 percent true to what Heyward really said. But that's what managers are for.

Mike Leake signed with the Cardinals.

As a Cubs fan, I'm okay with this. Lefties have hit him well the last couple of seasons, and the Cubs are suddenly very left handed.

Chicago really offers an opportunity to come into the culture and be introduced to the culture by a young group of guys. Grow up with them and still watch myself grow up and have some fun with some familiar faces for a long time.

Leake is a real nice signing by the Cards. With Lynn out and Lackey gone they needed someone like that to fill out the rotation.

SHARK, please tell us if the option is a club option, player option, or mutual option.

I'm being facetious, don't. You're not a reporter. Just link it.

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/statu ... 1280188416

5/$75, with $18M mutual option or $5M buyout.

Leake would be the Cubs 3rd starter. Lackey will regress and they will be in the same boat they are with Hammels.

Leake has worse stats than Hendricks and Hammel.