5 takeaways about the Cardinals' 2023 start
Liberatore can't just be a solid #3 starter, folks.
Let’s go baseball heavy here as April starts to check out and other previously hidden sports are making some noise.
The St. Louis Cardinals are struggling out of the gate, losing four of seven series and hanging out below the Cubs in the division. 9-14 isn’t sweet cake at all, even in the spring. This team has a problem with getting their collective resources to fire on all cylinders at once.
The starting pitching gaining a quality start is treated like Christopher Columbus finding America on the broadcast, and the bullpen has created more raging waters than easy rides so far late in games. The lineup is robust, but it can also be shut down like church mice. Add it up and you have a team with plenty of time to get it right, but also lacking the options to immediately turn the tide.
Put down the Kool-Aid and battle axe for a second, and digest these five things.
5) Adam Wainwright. Ladies and gents, he’s not going to come back and save the rotation. You can’t do that with low velocity and aging health. But he can get them innings and add a steady hand, as long as new teams on the schedule don’t destroy him first. The truth is we don’t know which Waino is returning, and that’s a slippery slope for John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt Jr. to ride. It’s also one of their favorites.
4) Matthew Liberatore will make a start with the team soon. That’s my prediction. Gordon Graceffo is also making noise in Memphis. Liberatore has been discussed the past couple weeks, with radio hosts and sportswriters noting his uptick in velocity. Dan McLaughlin was on the Fast Lane via 101.1 ESPN yesterday, and said the Liberatore/Randy Arozarena trade could work out fine for the Cards if the young pitcher turns out to be an able rotation arm for years to come.
Disagree. He needs to be more than a nice-looking Jeff Suppan. Liberatore cost the Cards a very, very good outfielder who just needed more time to marinate on the Cards roster before being traded out. Liberatore doesn’t get to be Miles Mikolas 2.0 for that. Be more, kid. That’s how this game works, at least for St. Louis. With the way this rotation looks, they need him to be more.
3) 71 at-bats into his 2023 season, and Tyler O’Neill has been about as impressive as a wet fart. He has two home runs, but also owns the most strikeouts on the team at 25, four more than Nolan Gorman. O’Neill is on borrowed time with St. Louis, desperately needing a season similar to his MVP-caliber campaign that seems like five years ago but is only two.
The Cards need him to be more than a gold glove-winning leftfielder. A .683 OPS, with a particularly weak slugging percentage, is painting a picture of O’Neill on another team come August. His early season spat with manager Oli Marmol is more notable than anything that happened on a baseball field.
2) Nolan Gorman is out of this world. Rocket man work. Jordan Walker is impressive, but the second-year slugger is single handedly winning games for the Cardinals. Nobody on this team is swinging a better bat. Gorman has more hits (22) than strikeouts (21), an impressive start for his plate discipline. The six home runs in 71 at-bats is a rate that destroys his 2022 long ball path. Without his work, the record would be at least three games worse.
1) Jack Flaherty’s start isn’t as rough as some have made it out to be. Walks were and seem to be a common problem with him, but the ERA and ability to restrict another team’s offense are nice indicators. Like Liberatore, the team needs Flaherty to ace material. The rotation doesn’t work without Flaherty being a top dog. Five guys need to know their roles, even when it comes to starting games.
Flaherty’s work in Seattle; solid innings, few free passes, dominance; has to be a given each time out. If not, the team suffers.
Stay strapped in, Cardinal Nation. 2023 is going to be a bumpy ride, full of highs and lows. The Pirates lead the division right now. That’s how weird it’s going to get.