SocraticGadfly: Rating, and overrating, the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals

December 18, 2013

Rating, and overrating, the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals

Jeff Gordon has passed out grades for this year's St. Louis Cardinals, and he gets a fair amount right, but several wrong.

The ones that he misses?

Allen Craig did not get an A. Injury alone, even if not his fault, knocks him down to an A-minus. Actually, he was more like a B-plus.

Ditto, Matt Holliday should be an A-minus, not a straight A.

And, likewise, Carlos Beltran. Looks like Gordon's doing a bit of grade inflating.

And, you simply cannot give Michael Wacha a full A based on just 65 innings as a starter. I would do a multiple grade, like A-minus/Incomplete. And, Trevor Rosenthal also should be an A-minus based on limited sampling size.

Shane Robinson? Oh my doorknob, he's a flat C, not a flat B.

Kevin Siegrist? I'd actually bump him up to B-plus from Gordon's B.

Sam Freeman? A month's worth of end-of-season set-up work doesn't even deserve a grade.

Daniel Descalso? D-plus instead of C-minus.

Kolten Wong? "Incomplete" as a grade is understandable, but then why not do the same for some other younger players?

Oh, and Mozeliak deserves better than a B-minus as general manager.

And, Mike Matheny deserves less than a straight A as field boss. Shelby Miller post-season issues aside, he's not higher than an A-minus.

See, it's crap like this that leads fans like us to come to the conclusion that plenty of modern sports writers are hacks.

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