ST. LOUIS — There's a secret in town that everybody talks about, yet nothing happens and things stay the same.
It's called the St. Louis Cardinals' problematic offense and its feeble nature of scoring three runs in the span of 14 innings. That's what they did Thursday in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who entered the day 7-19. While Pittsburgh does have fine young pitching, the buck shouldn't stop there for the opposing Redbird lineup.
Classic Cardinals in 2020. A step forward, two steps back. After winning a thrilling yet poorly played game on Wednesday evening, the Cardinals had some opportunity for momentum entering a series with the Pirates. But after losing a close Game 1, they practically failed to show up at the plate in Game 2. The game went faster than a Greg Maddux clinic, and left the Cardinals shut out, 2-0.
So far in 2020, the Cardinals are averaging just over four runs per game, which is admirable from a glance. They are getting on base, generating opportunities and setting the table for something big. But the problem is nothing big happens after all the noise. It's like walking over the creaky floor all the way to the kitchen when the fridge is ultimately empty. They are slugging just .376 at the plate. The slugging percentage was just .415 and .409 the past two years. Average or bad output from a roster of hitters with more hope than finish in their plate DNA. The Cardinals have just 27 doubles on the season through 22 games.
This team puts runners on first and second, and then they forget how to bring them home. Bases loaded with one out will look the same after the third out. They are losing runners on the bases again, but their attack at the plate is abysmal. Sometimes, you think they're up there just hoping to walk. Other times, a moderate fastball gets by them. A fly out to rather deep left. Sharp grounder that finds a couple of gloves. The threat vanishes into thin air.
When I say the Cardinals have themselves to blame, I am pointing my finger directly at the front office. They had endless opportunities to insure this offense for the past few offseasons. They may have swung hard at Giancarlo Stanton (who stood them up), Bill DeWitt Jr. didn't open the wallet at all when Bryce Harper was a free agent. They refused to re-sign Marcell Ozuna, but then didn't take a single look at notable hitters like Corey Dickerson and Nicholas Castellanos. When presented with the opportunity to sign Cuban prospect Luis Robert, the Cardinals whiffed on price.
A team publicly willing to spend money, but only if it's their kind of player or a very rare reach for a superstar. A team that tries to be too specific comes away dissatisfied with their product. They like courting baseball players, but don't bring them in as easily as they once did. David Price made it known that he loved St. Louis and the Cardinals made an offer that simply wasn't rich enough.
You can choose to look at the glass half-full point of view, and say they had a price and stuck to it. Another outlook is that they don't want to go the extra mile to spend championship-required cash. Things that recent World Series winners like the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox do often.
If the Cardinals showed Harper the money, he'd be here with his seven home runs and 1.091 OPS helping the Cardinals win close games. Acquiring and extending Paul Goldschmidt was a nice move, but it wasn't enough. Getting him and Harper would have significantly raised payroll but their title chances as well. Instead, the Cardinals opted for young players and internal help.
They are hanging their hat on Dylan Carlson the same way they did with Oscar Taveras, labeling him as a savior. They signed Dexter Fowler to do what he had been doing, and there have been mixed results. The Cardinals can churn out 1-2 year sustainable outfield talent like Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty, but haven't hit the Juan Soto jackpot yet. Maybe Carlson is that guy, maybe he's not. We won't know for a couple years.
Matt Carpenter hasn't struck his comeback trail just yet, looking like the same guy who struggled last year mightily since receiving an unnecessary two year extension. Fowler is playing above average, but still unable to affect the outcome with his play. Tommy Edman came back down to earth, and Tyler O'Neill's performance hasn't kept him in the lineup every day. Harrison Bader is hitting better, but Cardinal Nation treats every hit from him like extra icing on the cake. Goldschmidt is on a tear so far, but again, he's not just not enough. Yadier Molina has looked very good at the plate since returning from a positive COVID-19 test, but this team shouldn't be waging their offensive firepower on Molina's bat.
It's all a little less than desired. Spinning wheels with no change. After seeing their bats shut down by Washington in the National League Central Division, the front office went out and signed Brad Miller to a contract. Did you know who that was before this past spring? Don't lie. You didn't. They let Ozuna walk, and replaced him with O'Neill. Lane Thomas couldn't find the lineup, and Carlson isn't a savior in 2020. The team hedged their internal options that weren't ripe just yet.
The Cardinals had championship aspirations and charged into the 2020 season with O'Neill, Bader, and Fowler as their method of attack. If that doesn't worry you and spell the reason out for their weak start, I don't know what to tell you. It's all right there.
The 2019 bats ran out of gas fast, and little improvements were made to change the course. Dickerson or especially Castellanos would have been a nice supplement for the youth attack, a way to bridge the gap between the needs of the present and the desires of the future. The Cardinals have seen plenty of Castellanos recently, and not in a good way. He's reaching base off them instead of for them.
How would one expect it to get better? Outside of Carlson just going off, I don't know where it's coming from. Bader hasn't been consistent for a long time at the plate. Fowler can only do so much. Carpenter doesn't look to be improving. Paul DeJong is finding his swing again, and Kolten Wong looks better at the plate. Goldschmidt can't hit third and fourth. If you're expecting something to improve based on what's currently here, I'd like to know where you're getting the data. Projections aren't reality.
All I know is at the moment, it's either the Cardinals falling short or somehow finding a way to pull off victory, like Wednesday night's walk-off walk from Wong. The only problem is you don't get to play against a Mike Matheny-managed club every night. Speaking of which, has the lineup really improved since his departure and Jeff Albert's introduction as hitting coach? I would say no.
Albert came here as a hitting guru who made the Houston Astros' bats fly, right up until St. Louis' lumber didn't and the Astros were nationally revealed as cheaters. The second part doesn't fall heavily on Albert, but it does call into question somewhat his true genius. Can he do wonders here? My appreciation for hitting coaches is lacking, so I'd still say it's a long shot. What's he going to do here: Magically turn a few "ifs" into finishers?
The Cardinals will stay in contention due to their pitching and farm system, but what else can this group of players be expected to do? It's a large payroll, but feebly spent in many ways. There surely wasn't a large push to improve an offense that ranked 23rd in slugging percentage in 2019.
You can never have too much pitching, but you need bats to win the close games. The Cardinals have proven time and time again that their bats can be the deciding factor late in close games, but not in the way you'd like. They may go off and score 10 runs tonight, but they're more likely to score 10 runs over the weekend combined.
Cardinals fans can just wait, hoping for someone to light up the lineup for more than a week. All the team can do is stare up at the front office, and wonder where the new offense is coming from.
