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The St. Louis Cardinals are off to a horrible start to the season. In fact, it’s their worst start in half a century.
Due to questionable decisions by the front office and some poor on field choices by manager Oli Marmol, the Cardinals find themselves looking up at the rest of the league. At the beginning of May the Cardinals had the worst record in the National League. Baseball heaven is more like baseball purgatory at the moment.
Cardinal Fans are Losing Patience
St. Louis Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has repeatedly asked for patience from the fanbase. The St. Louis Cardinal fans are some of the most knowledgeable fans in baseball and their patience is running thin. The starting pitching was the team’s biggest weakness going in to the 2023 season. The fans knew it and the experts knew it. It seems the only ones who didn’t think so were the Cardinals’ front office.
The Cardinals did nothing to improve their starting pitching in the off-season. There were rumors about them going after Carlos Rodon but nothing ever materialized. Most likely because they are never willing to pay for the top arms but instead go after middle of the road pitchers that rarely pan out. The amount of money this organization has wasted on mediocre pitchers could have been better spent going after the likes of Verlander, Scherzer and Cole
St. Louis Cardinals’ Centerfield Experiment Fails
The front office made a questionable choice at the start of the season. Mozeliak decided he wanted to give Tyler O’neill a shot at the center field job. On paper it probably looked great. O’neill has great sprint speed, a decent arm and had already won a gold glove in left. However anyone with any baseball knowledge could plainly see he is better suited in left. He often takes bad routes and has to use his speed to make up for it. This is not a characteristic you want to see from a centerfielder.
Dylan Carlson should have been the starting centerfielder from day one. He’s the best defensive outfielder on the team and it’s not even close. This decision hurt the team in two major ways. It weakened their defense and probably hurt Carlson’s confidence and development. Carlson is still young and he’s not going to find his way watching from the bench. This situation was yet another mistake by Mozeliak.
St. Louis Cardinals Sign Contreras to DH?
The most recent and perplexing management decision is the Contreras controversy. Their biggest off-season acquisition was signing the best free agent catcher on the market to a five year/87.5 million dollar contract. Only one month into the season management has decided he won’t be catching and will be the DH until further notice. This move is viewed by many as an attempt by upper management to make the pitching problems somehow partially Contreras’ fault. After one time through the rotation that has been proven to be untrue. The pitching staff’s numbers have been equally as bad with Knizner behind the plate.
Contreras has been criticized in the past in regard to his framing and pitch calling but in the end, it’s the pitcher’s job to decide what to throw and to make a good pitch. The Cardinal pitching staff were spoiled through the Molina era. They never had to think for themselves. Molina was like having another coach on the field and always seemed to know what pitch to call. That isn’t something that can be expected out of any other catcher.
Marmol, Wainwright, Flaherty and Contreras had a recent meeting that seemed to have a positive outcome. Furthermore, Wainwright made it known publicly that he wanted Contreras behind the plate. Also, Contreras will be catching Flaherty in his next start versus the Brewers. Hopefully this nonsense will be over soon.
Ownership Needs to Hold Mozeliak Accountable
It’s time for the St. Louis Cardinals’ ownership to hold the decision makers at the top accountable. All of their decisions leading in to the season have culminated into a last place record. Their current approach of being just good enough to win a weak division and hope for the best in the playoffs isn’t working. They have been repeatedly outperformed on the mound by whoever they meet in the first round. Cardinal fans want World Series titles not National League Central titles. It may be time for a philosophy change at the top or a change in personnel, otherwise there’s no reason to believe they will be competing for a title any time soon.
