The bats and balls are now put away. The roar around the ballpark because it’s October no longer exists. The team that many thought would at least win the division will now have the chance to watch the post-season on TV.
This will be a long winter where everyone will wonder what went wrong. That’s a good question and there are multiple answers.
Let’s go back to the end of last season when the Cardinals decided to make a change with the hitting coach. Hal McRae was replaced by Mark McGwire. McRae, an accomplished instructor with a resume that included the development of former batting champion and three-time Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols. The grooming of Skip Schumaker and Brendan Ryan also took place on McRae’s watch, to the point where Schumaker hit .300 and was considered an above-average second baseman in his first year at the position. All three players had subpar seasons at the plate this season.
The McGwire move did not go over well to some, especially when the team struggled offensively. Adjustments were not made by some and things started to spiral. To McGwire’s credit the team had just one player with over 100 strikeouts on the season. In all, though, the offense had too many inept nights that cost them.
The Cardinals’ pitching staff looked like gangbusters coming out of spring training. The rotation looked terrific in the first month. Then the injury bug bit Brad Penny. He went down with what was initally described as a strain. However, the injury put Penny on the shelf for the rest of the season. The book on Penny was he would get hurt at some point. The book was right and, at $7 million, quite costly.
Kyle Lohse was puzzling. Lohse was coming off a forearm injury from last season, only to be ineffective and eventually require surgery. He did not find his real groove until it was almost over for the Cardinals. So now you have two-fifths of the Cardinals pitching staff out for a majority of the season, with the replacements very inconsistent. In all, the back end of the rotation could not keep up.
Pittsburgh was a dreadful team that won on the road just 16 times this season. Along with the Nationals, Brewers and Cubs, they got the best of the Cardinals all season. The Cardinals found themselves with a losing record against teams that were under .500. Strange but true. They never were able to put those teams away.
Also, the Cardinals needed a third baseman. They have not had one since Scott Rolen was traded. This season David Freese was the hope. Freese, a St. Louisan, got off to a good start. He started to cool off after the month of April and was mired in a slump at the time of his ankle injury and season-ending surgery.
Filepe Lopez was signed late into spring traing as an insurance policy. Once Freese’s season ended, Lopez was the man. Unfortunately, it did not work out on or off the field for Lopez. His bat never came around, his glove was a liability and he had a difficult time getting to the ballpark on time. The Cardinals just said enough is enough and released him late in the year.
The second base and shortstop positions regressed dramatically this year where Schumaker had a terrible first half with a .300-plus second half. His glove was nowhere near what it was last year. As for Ryan, it was disappointing from the day he got to spring training, when he was coming back from wrist surgery he decided to have late in the winter after a workout injury. He never got it going. What made matters worse was that he took his poor bat to the field with him and made a rash of costly errors.
When players went down, the Cardinals relied on their minor league system to hold the line. Only John Jay emerged with a respectable contribution. This put Tony La Russa in a tough spot with no help on the horizon. The bench was mostly players who were new to the situation and could not adjust to coming off the bench and being effective.
The Cardinals invested a lot of money in everyday players Pujols, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina, and pitchers Cris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright – all worth the money. It was a high-risk, high-reward strategy. It’s a smart way to go, provided you can stay away from key injury. This season the risk did them in.
So now what? This team needs a leadoff man that can steal a base from time to time. The Cardinals need another starting pitcher. The bench has to be better, and more leadership is needed.
Tony La Russa has been extended an invitation to return. Bank on him being the man next season. La Russa knows that the end may be near and wants one more shot at winning the whole shootin’ match.
This will be an interesting off-season, as the free agent market is not that strong. The trade winds may be blowing for the Cardinals – and blowing in a direction that will not have us here discussing what went wrong this time next year.