St. Louis Cardinals: Redbirds are equivalent to the Boston Red Sox

The St. Louis Cardinals have in their system a major powerhouse of a team in Memphis. These guys could likely go side-by-side with players in Boston.

The Boston Red Sox have a team ERA of 3.45. This ranks them as second place in all of the AL behind the Houston Astros at 3.00. The Memphis Redbirds have a team ERA of 3.54. The Redbirds’ ERA ranks them at the top of the PCL.

The Red Sox starting five goes as follows:

The Memphis Redbirds starting five goes as follows:

Dakota Hudson (yes, I know he has been called-up but he has pitched 115 innings for the St. Louis Cardinals’ AAA team)
Kevin Herget
Daniel Poncedeleon (also now with the Cardinals)
Austin Gomber (also now with the St. Louis Cardinals)
Chris Ellis

When going side-by-side, let’s take a look to see if they match up.

Price vs. Hudson

David Price was at one time a trade target by the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards failed to sign him and he ran to the American League even though he had reportedly stated that he wanted to join the St. Louis Cardinals. At the same time, Dakota Hudson was being groomed by the Cardinals.

Price’s line in 2018 is:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	32	BOS	AL	11	6	.647	3.93	22	22	0	1	0	0	128.1	117	59	56	18	39	0	124	7	0	1	533	112	4.11	1.216	8.2	1.3	2.7	8.7	3.18
11 Yrs	138	74	.651	3.27	291	281	1	17	3	0	1874.2	1670	746	681	185	484	12	1800	53	4	36	7667	123	3.32	1.149	8.0	0.9	2.3	8.6	3.72

Hudson’s AAA line in 2018 is:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	23	STL-min	AAA	13	3	.813	2.50	19	19	0	0	111.2	107	34	31	1	38	87	8	0	5	473			1.299	8.6	0.1	3.1	7.0	2.29	MEM PCL
1 Yr	2	0	1.000	0.00	5	0	1	0	0	7.0	2	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	24		2.43	0.429	2.6	0.0	1.3	5.1	4.00
162 Game Avg.	27	0	1.000	0.00	68	0	14	0	0	95	27	0	0	14	0	54	0	0	326		2.43	0.429	2.6	0.0	1.3	5.1	4.00

In this race, I’d take Hudson all day long. He hasn’t yet picked up the number of innings in MLB as Price, but his youth will only make him better.

Porcello vs. Herget

Again another competition of veteran vs. youngster but this one is more of what one might expect as opposed to the runaway competition above. Here too, when Porcello was in his early years, Herget was just cutting his teeth.

Here’s Porcello’s 2018 line:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	29	BOS	AL	14	4	.778	3.84	23	23	0	1	0	0	140.2	130	65	60	16	33	0	135	11	1	2	591	115	3.65	1.159	8.3	1.0	2.1	8.6	4.09
10 Yrs	132	103	.562	4.22	301	297	2	10	3	0	1812.1	1951	935	850	213	414	15	1309	71	7	63	7666	102	3.99	1.305	9.7	1.1	2.1	6.5	3.16

…and Herget’s 2018 AAA line:

Register Pitching
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2017	26	-0.6	Memphis	PCL	AAA	STL	4	2	.667	4.62	5.05	22	9	3	0	0	0	62.1	68	35	32	7	21	0	60	3	1	5	273	1.428	9.8	1.0	3.0	8.7	2.86
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
Minors (6 seasons)		Minors		38	17	.691	3.28	3.87	206	36	73	1	0	32	463.1	457	199	169	37	123	8	446	15	2	31	1926	1.252	8.9	0.7	2.4	8.7	3.63
AAA (3 seasons)		Minors		12	10	.545	4.48	4.74	47	27	5	1	0	0	178.2	195	94	89	25	53	2	161	4	1	8	765	1.388	9.8	1.3	2.7	8.1	3.04
AA (3 seasons)		Minors		6	3	.667	3.72	4.96	53	0	31	0	0	15	65.1	73	36	27	4	16	4	63	3	0	5	279	1.362	10.1	0.6	2.2	8.7	3.94
A+ (3 seasons)		Minors		7	1	.875	1.36	1.82	57	0	27	0	0	15	99.0	67	20	15	0	19	1	101	2	1	7	377	0.869	6.1	0.0	1.7	9.2	5.32

Notice that this race is considerably closer in numbers than the one above yet has a larger disparity between ERA. This is due in large part to the number of innings pitched– Porcello has pitched many more innings over Herget.

If we could fast-forward and see how Herget would fair at a full season, perhaps his numbers would be as impressive or more impressive than Porcello’s numbers.

Eovaldi vs. Poncedeleon

Too bad for Eovaldi that he doesn’t have the come-back story that Poncedeleon has. On the season, Eovaldi has a 3.38 ERA in his time with the Tampa Rays and now the Red Sox.

Pocedeleon’s come-back season has been stupendous. Where Eovaldi is a mid-season pick up, Poncedelon’s “rehab” season (from the frightening, near-death line-drive shot to the temple) has been a shot in the arm of the St. Louis Cadinals.

To the numbers, Eovaldi:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2018	28	TOT	AL	5	4	.556	3.38	12	12	0	0	0	72.0	55	27	27	11	9	1	62	1	0	1	274	121	3.83	0.889	6.9	1.4	1.1	7.8	6.89
2018	28	TBR	AL	3	4	.429	4.26	10	10	0	0	0	57.0	48	27	27	11	8	1	53	1	0	1	224	94	4.27	0.982	7.6	1.7	1.3	8.4	6.63
2018	28	BOS	AL	2	0	1.000	0.00	2	2	0	0	0	15.0	7	0	0	0	1	0	9	0	0	0	50		2.15	0.533	4.2	0.0	0.6	5.4	9.00
7 Yrs	43	50	.462	4.14	146	139	3	0	0	811.0	837	389	373	77	248	14	601	18	0	24	3449	96	3.85	1.338	9.3	0.9	2.8	6.7	2.42

The king of the comeback, Poncedeleon:

Register Pitching
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2018	26	-0.6	Memphis	PCL	AAA	STL	9	3	.750	2.15	3.42	18	17	0	1	1	0	92.0	66	35	22	4	48	0	103	6	0	3	391	1.239	6.5	0.4	4.7	10.1	2.15
Minors (5 seasons)		Minors		34	16	.680	2.65	3.35	83	79	0	3	1	0	435.1	353	162	128	21	161	1	389	29	0	22	1820	1.181	7.3	0.4	3.3	8.0	2.42

This is an easy vote for me (albeit, I am biased to the lucky sucker because he is blessed and because he did an interview with me). The numbers don’t hurt either.

Pomeranz vs. Gomber

Like the other young arms before this comparison, Gomber is outstanding and already has my vote. But Pomeranz brings with him a great deal of experience too. Let’s dive right to the numbers.

Pomeranz:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	29	BOS	AL	1	5	.167	6.31	11	11	0	0	0	0	51.1	61	37	36	10	32	0	44	2	1	4	240	70	5.95	1.812	10.7	1.8	5.6	7.7	1.38
8 Yrs	43	47	.478	3.86	181	122	14	0	0	3	687.1	627	320	295	84	293	7	665	17	2	31	2934	112	4.14	1.339	8.2	1.1	3.8	8.7	2.27

And Gomber:

Register Pitching
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2018	24	-2.6	Memphis	PCL	AAA	STL	7	3	.700	3.42	3.42	12	11	0	0	0	0	68.1	65	26	26	9	20	1	76	1	0	0	286	1.244	8.6	1.2	2.6	10.0	3.80
Minors (5 seasons)		Minors		41	23	.641	2.92	3.36	92	91	0	2	1	0	520.1	435	194	169	44	156	1	508	15	0	25	2131	1.136	7.5	0.8	2.7	8.8	3.26

Still, for my vote, I’m going Gomber.

Johnson vs. Ellis

I’m ashamed to say that I had no idea who Brian Johnson was but then again, I don’t watch American League games. Chris Ellis, on the other hand, was a name added to the St. Louis Cardinals when the team traded Jaime Garcia to the Braves. Oh, and the Cards got John Gant in that deal too.

To the numbers… Johnson:

Standard Pitching
Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	27	BOS	AL	2	3	.400	3.74	28	7	10	0	0	0	65.0	70	30	27	9	22	0	63	0	0	1	282	118	4.02	1.415	9.7	1.2	3.0	8.7	2.86
3 Yrs	4	4	.500	4.11	34	13	10	1	1	0	96.1	105	47	44	14	34	1	87	0	0	1	422	109	4.29	1.443	9.8	1.3	3.2	8.1	2.56

Ellis has pitched 60 innings acorss 11 starts posting a 4.92 ERA. Where Johnson is 27, Ellis is 25. In this race, the win goes to Johnson.