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I think my standard to stick around as a starter would be at least a .750 OPS but others may differ. Whatever you want to see out of him, how long would you give Walker to meet it before you say it's time to take him out of the starting lineup?

Given that this is basically a AAAA team, might as well just use him all year unless he falls apart and/or mentally needs a change of scenery.

I think it all depends on *how* he is struggling, and if we have any better options.

I don't think we'll have all that better of options, and this is going to be a lost season anyway. I think you keep running him out there to figure it out, unless you think that harming his confidence is going to ruin whatever shred of bust-out potential he may have.

He has close to zero value remaining as a tradable asset. Might as well play him.

Popeye_Card makes a good point about the kind of struggles that we might see from Walker. If he's a slightly-below-league-average player, yeah, they'll run him out until a better option presents itself. If he collapses, I think he'll be in the minors again for an extended stretch.

Clearly, the team wants him to develop and has to think about the best means to that development. It may be in the majors, but he may benefit from extended time in AAA. His performance will decide that for them--especially if he craters mentally.

Based on results so far, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in AAA for an extended stretch this year rather than see him play the whole season in the majors. After that, he becomes a change-of-scenery candidate.

Is this a Cardinal issue? Thinking of all of the outfielders that came up or into the organization with very high upside and potential and none of them lived up to it.

- Walker
- Carlson
- O'Neill
- Nootbaar

I'm sure I'm forgetting others.

Fat_Bulldog wrote: ↑

March 19 26, 10:54 am

Is this a Cardinal issue? Thinking of all of the outfielders that came up or into the organization with very high upside and potential and none of them lived up to it.

- Walker
- Carlson
- O'Neill
- Nootbaar

I'm sure I'm forgetting others.

I'd probably take O'Neill and Nootbaar off that list. I'd argue that O'Neill actually developed more in some areas than expected (speed, defense), had known flaws his profile (high K rate), but could never stay healthy enough to be a consistently good player. Nootbaar I think was better at the MLB level than most would have expected - he was never a top-100 caliber prospect.

But yeah Walker and Carlson are definite misses, along with Rasmus from years ago. The Cardinals always seem to struggle with developing top-50 type prospects into good/great MLB regulars.

It’s over.

I'm firmly in the "it depends on what others like Baez" are doing in the minors. If someone else is tearing the cover off the ball, I give Walker until the all-star break. But if the minor leagues don't have an obvious stud ready to bust out, then just let Walker ride this year and see if he can figure something out.

I do tend to agree with jag though. I think it's over.

Popeye_Card wrote: ↑

March 19 26, 11:44 am

Fat_Bulldog wrote: ↑

March 19 26, 10:54 am

Is this a Cardinal issue? Thinking of all of the outfielders that came up or into the organization with very high upside and potential and none of them lived up to it.

- Walker
- Carlson
- O'Neill
- Nootbaar

I'm sure I'm forgetting others.

I'd probably take O'Neill and Nootbaar off that list. I'd argue that O'Neill actually developed more in some areas than expected (speed, defense), had known flaws his profile (high K rate), but could never stay healthy enough to be a consistently good player. Nootbaar I think was better at the MLB level than most would have expected - he was never a top-100 caliber prospect.

But yeah Walker and Carlson are definite misses, along with Rasmus from years ago. The Cardinals always seem to struggle with developing top-50 type prospects into good/great MLB regulars.

Rasmus was an above-average hitter who produced 20 WAR in 10 seasons. Walker is the worst player in baseball. There are 50-100 minor leaguers who will never get an at-bat in the big leagues who could outproduce Walker this season if given the chance. The only question is how long the Cardinals drag this out. It's painful at this point.

Walker was also an above-average MLB hitter as a 21 year old rookie, in a reasonable sample size (465 PA's). He's still younger than when the Cardinals gave up on Rasmus and shipped him out.

I don't know what happened. I think he's toast too. But the Cardinals are going to be threatening 100 losses this year already, so we might as well give the only RH OF we have some PA's even if it is painful to watch.

I only bring up Rasmus because he's another example of a top tier prospect that failed to develop in a Cardinal uniform.