The Cardinals are an even one hundred games into the season after taking the first two of a 4-game set against the Pirates, sport a 53-47 record, have leapfrogged the Brewers into second place by a game and a half, and now find themselves trailing the NL Central-leading Cubs by a mere game in the standings with the trade deadline looming on the near horizon.
If one didn’t know any better, one would conclude that we’re in for a solid second-half finish, a dog fight to the very end to declare the winner.
Ah, but don’t be misled by their current position.
A much closer look reveals that the division has become mediocre at best to the surprise of many although Chicago has come out of the All-Star break guns a-blazin' to the surprise of none. They’re clearly the most talented team even though the Cardinals have climbed within striking distance by going 8-2 in their last 10 ballgames.
But if the Cubs continue their winning ways, the race for the top spot will be academic within two weeks, particularly if the Cardinals’ front office fails to secure a bonafide, top-of-the-line, bulldog of a pitcher for the starting rotation. A bat wouldn’t hurt either. Problem is, there are none available.
That ship sailed when the Cardinals’ brass passed on free-agent third baseman Josh Donaldson and former Cleveland Indian outfielder Michael Brantley, opting not to address the other glaring need leading up to the 2019 MLB season.
Why such a short timetable?
Because a nonaggressive president of baseball operations, general manager and owner of an obviously mediocre ballclub have done absolutely nothing the previous three years and will do absolutely nothing again this year to bolster a poorly constructed roster with proven, talented major league baseball players who could have, who would have made the difference between missing the playoffs in 2016, 2017, 2018 and making good on all that offseason propaganda on the importance of 2019. It was all talk, a bunch of hot air and still is.
Believe the bill of goods John Mozeliak, Michael Girsch and Bill DeWitt, Jr. are trying to sell if you’d like but it’s more than a team’s best players being the best players. It’s as simple as identifying an available player via trade, on the free-agent market or farm club who could make a huge impact, even be the difference between playing in October at the end of a season or beginning of another.
Donaldson could have been had at the trade deadline last year to fortify a team, a lineup that was sputtering towards the end after a managerial change and infusion of youthful players led to the Cardinals going on a tear only to cough up the Wild Card lead in the very last week of the season.
Inexcusable. Inexplicable. Reprehensible. Donaldson wound up signing a modest one-year, $23 million dollar contract with the Braves for 2019 and has helped Atlanta scalp the rest of the division en route to a 60-41 record, good for first place and on pace for Red October. He’s blended in nicely with both his glove and bat. The former Blue Jay and American League MVP is batting .253 with 23 homers, 58 RBI, 21 doubles and a .373 OBP. Not bad for a guy who’s at home in Georgia among the likes of Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna, Jr., Dansby Swanson, Nick Markakas, Ender Inciarte, Brian McCann and Ozhaino Albies. That is a lineup that can be described with one word – potent!
And, try not to cry in your Budweiser after dialing up Brantley’s stats with the AL West front running Houston Astros. Their wealth of talent alone should be a crime!
The Cardinals? Mediocre. Still, don’t think that Donaldson’s bat would have played well in last year’s as well as this year’s St. Louis lineup? Think again. As for Brantley’s? Please.
Former All-Star and Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel signed a free agent deal for $13 million. The crafty, ex-Astro lefty now is entrenched in the Braves starting rotation. He is 3-3 with a 3.58 ERA, 22 strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP.
The Cardinals’ front office signed Miles Mikolas to a four-year extension of $68 million after he reinvented himself as a pitcher upon his return from Japan’s NPB. True, Mikolas was an All-Star last year, going 18-4 with a 1.07 WHIP, 2.83 ERA and 146 strikeouts against 25 walks. His spot was a given – Michael Wacha and Adam Wainwright’s, both sporting horribly high ERAs, particularly on the road, should not have been. The front office and owner’s blind loyalty and preferential treatment of the veteran, underperforming players, will once again prove very costly. Cardinal Nation has seen this movie before and should not be surprised by its outcome – this year or the preceding three.
As for playing the best players, how is it that Yairo Munoz has not found his name consistently etched onto the starting lineup card? All the versatile Munoz did in the Redbird’s 3-1 victory over the Reds Sunday was homer, triple, hit a single and drive in 2 runs.
Why isn’t he regularly playing third base or someplace while Matt Carpenter is on the IL? Why isn’t he or Dexter Fowler batting lead-off? Why isn’t catcher-in-waiting Andrew Knizner behind the plate more in Molina’s absence? Folk rave about his defensive skills and hitting ability. Did I mention the Cardinals are mediocre?
Why was infielder Edmundo Sosa called up from Triple-A Memphis? Why wasn’t outfielder Harrison Bader, hitting .207 with 6 homers, 19 RBI and a .325 OBP not sent down and Randy Arozarena, hitting .348 with a .422 OBP .539 SLG, not called up? If the Cardinals were truly looking for lightning-in-a-bottle, why didn’t they simply promote from within, give him a shot like they’ve given shortstop Tommy Edman? Arozarena has been “raking” in the words of Tommy Pham and continues to do so but we see what that got the former Cardinal for his outspoken candor - yeah, a trade to an American League playoff contender who would be in first place if the Rays were in the mediocre NL Central.
So, once again, don’t expect the Cardinals’ front office brass, with the owner’s blessing, to make any moves. This club, starting at the top, is mired in mediocrity, sinking deeper into the delusional quicksand of reality and, contrary to their offseason sales pitch, 2019 will be no different!
