As shitty as that game was, and the SRod experience will continue to be, I still can't let my excitement for tomorrow really wane. Expectations are going to be very high for Archer, and this won't exactly help matters, but the closest analogue to this is when we had top prospects like Cole and Taillon making their debut. Except in Archer's case, we're seeing the debut of someone who should already more or less be the best player on the team, not someone we hope will step up and fill that role eventually.
In terms of the concrete, the Cardinals offense is about average, so it's probably not the wisest move to expect 7 shutout innings with a bunch of Ks or something. But regardless of what happens, the fact that we have Archer stepping in tomorrow is simply monumental. Last night was a "good" lesson in how tough making the playoffs is actually going to be, but can you imagine what the sentiment might be if we hadn't acquired him? We'd be coming off two disaster starts from Kingham in a row, wondering if fatigue has just overcome him, wondering if Kuhl might actually pitch again, debating over whether we should just put Glasnow in the rotation and hope for the best, etc.
We clearly need Dickerson back ASAP, and to find some kind of a solution in the infield somehow, whether it's calling up Kramer (potentially injured last night, but has been on a torrid pace in June and July) or Newman (has tapered off at the plate a little bit in July), or getting lucky with Harrison.
I'm preaching to the choir, but even strategically, Rodriguez is somewhat superfluous if we're going to keep Luplow around. Luplow provides a big RH bat as 4th OF, and having somebody like Kramer in the mix would give you a good balance in the infield, with him and Moran as lefties and Freese and JHay as righties. The big weakness, I guess, is who backs up Marte in CF, but it's not like Rodriguez is actually a plus defender there, just maybe the best of the bad options. I think with an ideal roster, we have Dickerson and Bell back, Kramer up, another pitcher (Burdi? 1 pretty bad outing in AA, but 9 Ks in 6 innings is a good sign) up, and Bostick, Frazier, Osuna, and SRod all down. Maybe you keep Frazier over Luplow, especially if he's going to hit, and maybe a different pitcher also comes up for McRae.
The Pirates should be all over Shawn Kelley being DFAd by the Nationals. He's had some HR problems, but if you fix those, he's a very good arm, and if you don't, at least he's more than adequate in middle relief.
For those who need some kind of Pirates fix today, Keller is starting for Indianapolis tonight. I don't know if it's possible to find decent minor league streams - it's so dumb that MiLB is a separate package from MLB tv, and I really wonder how much money they actually make off it.