The St. Louis Cardinals have held firm at the trade deadline in recent years. However, this year, with all of the injuries, that will not be an option.
The Cardinals are within striking distance, just a half-game back of the Cubs for first in the NL Central, and a game behind the Dodgers for the second NL Wild Card spot. But despite this, there are several gaping holes that need to be filled in order for them to stay afloat and reach the postseason for a third straight year.
The Bullpen
This is the most obvious weakness with the team right now. The return of Andrew Miller on Thursday should help some, but thus far, the bullpen has been a mess, which is surprising considering how dominant it’s been the past two years, leading the NL in saves in 2019 with 52 and remaining consistent throughout the shortened 2020 season. Outside of Alex Reyes, Giovanny Gallegos, and Genesis Cabrera, the rest of the bullpen has struggled, entering last night’s game with a 4.82 ERA, 21st in all of baseball. The normally stout Tyler Webb has a 12.33 ERA, and Ryan Helsley has also been inconsistent, pitching to a 6.75 ERA in 24 games.
The biggest flaw in the bullpen is the amount of walks allowed. Even Cabrera and Reyes have struggled in this regard. The Cardinals pitching staff as a whole has walked a total of 245 batters, the most in baseball.
It also certainly doesn’t help that two of their big arms are on the shelf. Though Miller returns tomorrow, St. Louis is still without Jordan Hicks, who is out with elbow inflammation and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star Break.
St. Louis would be wise to search the trade market for bullpen help. They’ll need an equalizing force that can help take some of the pressure off of Reyes, Cabrera, and Gallegos in order to get the pen back where it was just a year ago.
Starting Pitching
The rotation has sure taken its nicks and bruises, with the most recent casualty being ace Jack Flaherty, who landed on the IL yesterday with an oblique strain, joining Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson.
The Cardinals starters have struggled to go deep into games. John Gant has the best ERA of the bunch, but has struggled to make it past five innings in several of his starts. Kwang-Hyun Kim has also not made it through six innings in any of his starts this year.
That leaves just Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martinez, who seemingly have returned to form after dealing with several injuries over the years, but that won’t be enough to carry them deep into October.
Names like Max Scherzer and Sonny Gray stand out. Both are pitching for sub .500 teams at the moment, the Nationals and Reds, respectively. It may take a large haul from St. Louis’ farm system to acquire either one of them. There is always a chance though that it might not take too much, given how little the Cards had to give up for Nolan Arenado.
Scherzer is also in the last year of his deal with Washington, and it’s also worth noting that the Cardinals didn’t have to gut the farm system when trading for Paul Goldschmidt, who was also a free agent to be, before St. Louis extended him. But just like the bullpen, the rotation needs some patching up for it to carry the team, as it has for the past several years.
The Bench
Admittedly, this is less of an issue than the rotation or the bullpen. Nonetheless, it is an area where the Cardinals are a bit thin.
Thus far, Matt Carpenter and the others have not panned out, and in reality, the Cardinals passed up a great opportunity when they didn’t pursue former franchise icon Albert Pujols after he was let go by the Angels.
The bench may be getting stronger soon, as Paul DeJong is expected to come off the IL sometime in Mid-Late June. Edmundo Sosa has filled in for him quite nicely at shortstop, as his batting average currently sits at .290. St. Louis can move DeJong to the bench and have him as their go-to guy, or they can start him and move Sosa back to a reserve role.
Still, this is an area where the Cards could look to improve at the deadline. It was also quite foolish of them to not re-sign Brad Miller after he led the team in home-runs in 2020. St. Louis could look to bring him back, as he is hitting .282 with five homers and 15 RBI’s with the Phillies, another sub .500 team. The reality is, Carpenter just isn’t what he once was, and the rest of the bench is sub-par at best.
If the Cardinals address these key areas at the deadline, they might just set themselves back on the right path. They have a solid team right now, but if they’re serious about making a deep run into October, they can’t afford to do nothing come July 31.
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