In the futuristic movie “I, Robot” starring Will Smith, the vision of U.S. Robotics was to produce and place a line of robots in every home that would do the work of humans better, faster, essentially replacing the need for the human touch, creativity. USR co-founder Lawrence Robertson was naïve to the potential evolution of their product, but Detective Spooner, played by Smith, was not. “You can trust them if you want to” was the key line in the film. It also underscores the Cardinals’ approach to the construction of the starting rotation which is now beginning to look a little ugly.
The team is in the throes of having lost six of their last seven games, a stretch that has seen every starter not named Miles Mikolas pitching ineffectively.
That includes Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha, both who were questionable well before the regular season even got underway. Add Dakota Hudson and an underachieving Jack Flaherty to the mix and eighty percent of the projected starters (or "protected" starters in the cases of Wainwright and Wacha) have been mostly responsible for the overuse of the bullpen.
"You can trust them if you want to," but that type of preferential treatment by the organization regarding an aging veteran and player with a recurrent shoulder inflammation issue didn’t bode well and now that the lineup is in a hitting funk, has proven to be the primary reason for the club’s inconsistency.
The starting pitching hasn’t been good.
Walks have exceeded strikeouts, giving up homers is a norm and their failure as a unit to go deep into ballgames has led to the bullpen’s being placed on alert for an ever increasing number of innings thrown, which, of course, will lend to arm fatigue.
How much longer is management going to wait before making the call to the minors for Austin Gomber and Daniel Poncedeleon who was excellent in his only start in place of IL-ridden Wacha or a trade for a proven veteran like Madison Baumgarner or the highly unlikely dream addition of native St. Louisan Max Scherzer, a complete bulldog on the mound, but one the ‘Birds failed to pursue when he was a free agent. Big mistake at the time that’s evolved into a huge one presently!
You can trust the front office if you want to. I can’t see John Mozeliak and Michael Girsch basically saying “we’ve seen enough, we have an adequate sample size, we’ve diagnosed the problem that’s our most glaring weakness and we’re going to do something about it NOW to avoid falling further behind the competition”.
Wainwright will wear a red jacket. He’s a sure-fire Cardinal Hall of Famer but he’s no Max Scherzer who is a sure-fire MLB Hall of Famer who’s still going strong, throwing strong. Not that a deal can happen, but the Cardinals have an ample surplus of pitching prospects and outfielders, both positions of strength.
Wacha is just brittle and will need to be replaced sooner than later. Maybe following tonight’s outing against the Pirates. For starters, the Cardinals’ brass will have to do something or this season will evolve into something catastrophic. Everyone not named Mikolas would be on notice effective immediately! Stop doing these guys favors in a performance-based industry and do what’s best for the team, including addition by their subtraction!
You can trust them if you want. Like Will Smith, I refuse to be naïve that they’ll make an extraordinary move that signals they’re serious about a post-season appearance. The Cardinals’ nonsensical construction of the starting rotation is more than enough proof. It’s early May but never too soon to change the course of this team’s evolution.
