Bad decisions and unfulfilled prospects: How 'The Cardinal Way' lost its way

The respected mystique around the Cardinals franchise has all but disappeared.

If you’re spending a rainy Friday evening wondering how the St. Louis Cardinals-once a revered franchise in baseball and even pro sports in general-ran their car off the road during the past ten years, then you’re in luck. It’s not that complicated and I’m here to tell you all about it without making your brain hurt, but taking a sip of something strong to drink first would be a wise move. Why do you think alcohol sales are always over the roof at these games? Baseball isn’t easy to play, or always fun to watch as a fan.

It’s been hard watching the Cardinals painfully overwork obvious Jeff Luhnow-less practices and a general ineptness towards player development since 2014, which also happens to be the last time this team won an NLCS game. The following season was the last time they were truly a threat to win it all. Since then, it’s been a playoff series win or less each season. For a team with modest expectations and a payroll less than $100 million, that would be admirable in many ways.

For a Cards team with a $178 million payroll at the moment and one that ranks in the top ten in payroll across the Major Leagues routinely, it’s bad baseball. The Cardinals went from being a team that would never finish worse than .500 to a team that did it last year by 20 games and could easily finish beneath water again this summer. 2019 seems like a distant memory to St. Louis fans.

That point of view isn’t limited to paying customers. Their once respected mystique that operated like a cloak to the franchise has left the building. No one fears them these days, especially the way their brain thinks. In a poll conducted by The Athletic that was completed by 40 MLB baseball executives that graded every front office in the league, the Cardinals were one of the few teams to not receive a vote. Think about how that grade would come out if Luhnow hadn’t taken his talent to Houston. Much different than stale John Mozeliak ball. It’s not exactly Sylvester and Frank Stallone distance, but those two guys aren’t as evenly skilled as some would have once guessed or assumed a decade ago.

Think about the top prospects who came in hot and left the team feeling cold. Jack Flaherty was a top prospect who fizzled out here into a normal 4.00 ERA at best pitcher. Dylan Carlson was deemed untouchable in trade talks, and now he has a hard time touching the field. Jordan Walker had a great debut season, but has struggled this year and was sent down for the second April in a row. Think of Matthew Liberatore and how screwed up he will be after a few more years of starting and relieving. He started at a deficit, due to being the player sent here for the now-thriving Randy Arozarena.

The pitching side took a huge hit when Mozeliak traded Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen for Marcell Ozuna. The trades they do and don’t make are out of whack.

Mozeliak and company have been fighting off a changing wind with a paper bag since Albert Pujols stepped out of the house and Oscar Tavares’ death crippled the teams outfield plans. A catastrophic sequence of events that saw the team hit a brick wall. Think of how far the season expectations have fallen when 2024 comes to mind. When you’re starting a season out not knowing if the very expensive team will even be able to be better than .500, things have gone off the rails. They’ve been there. I mean, look at these guys.

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It’s not just player development that they’re swinging and missing on; acquiring players is a troublesome practice. The Colorado Rockies playing very dumb in a Nolan Arenado trade takes some of the gloriousness of the steal away. Paul Goldschmidt was a solid acquisition as well, even if the Arizona Diamondbacks (who made it to the World Series last year despite not having Goldy) were ready to deal. The pitching and outfield search hasn’t been as kind to the team, and Mozeliak’s decisions and passes have a bizarre edge to them.

Two examples. First, why do you push hard for David Price, but do a complete whiff on Max Scherzer? Scherzer is a much better pitcher and was exactly what the team lost after Adam Wainwright initially went downhill with the Achilles heel injury, which is a true ace.

Secondly, why choose to take on all of Giancarlo Stanton’s monstrous (Arenado sized vault of Benjamins) contract in a potential acquisition, but completely miss the Bryce Harper idea? Don’t forget they wanted to hand all that money to Jason Heyward too. Thankfully, Stanton and Heyward chose elsewhere. But in an embarrassing way, one could say it was an insult to be denied by a star or highly sought after player.

The team’s odd moves and methods lack explanation or convention. In a not so short span of time, the Cardinals went from being a premier franchise that knew how to build or at least acquire great players to a team that doesn’t know what a good or great player looks like and is too gun-shy or weirdly uninterested in a game changing talent. Their rotation problems wouldn’t have gotten so dire with Scherzer. The outfield would look a lot stronger with Harper in town. Too bad that’s all a fantasy.

Front offices have to be good at a couple things to maintain success: build pitchers from the ground up and be able to acquire key talent in trades. Also, the general practice of identifying good and/or great players. Being able to take a pitcher from college to the minors and into the Majors as a very good player is a tightrope the Cardinals simply can’t make it across. Their concept of hitting is so deconstructive that Walker had to go down to Memphis to retool his swing instead of using top level resources and coaches to do it at the big league level.

It seems like a lot of teams, like the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles to name a couple, have passed the Cardinals by in terms of prospect development and roster construction. Word on the street is that after next season, when Mozeliak’s contract is up, he will retire. Hopefully the method and stale, expired Cardinal Way retires with him. This team has two legit MVP candidates, and can’t reach or win a playoff game. That’s ridiculous.

It’s true that the balanced schedule did hinder the team. Being unable to face the Pittsburgh Pirates sixteen times in six weeks hurts any slumping baseball team. That luxury is gone. The rest of the league is handling it alright. St. Louis, like most things, is being passed by like that granny-driven car in the middle of Daytona Manchester Road Speedway.

Here’s a bigger problem. On 101.1 ESPN, afternoon host Brandon Kiley read off a few stats he had overheard on a Buster Olney podcast. It was about teams being overpowered by fastballs, like the Cardinals. In 479 pitches thrown their way that clocked in over 95 mph, St. Louis only put the ball in play on 79 of them. They only collected TWO extra base hits on those close to 500 heaters. Whoever is teaching hitting in house and down in the minors isn’t preparing these fellas to handle regular straight heat.

In closing, think of what Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane told that room of scouts about the distance between the As and the rest of the league. St. Louis isn’t exactly 50 feet of crap below the other big guns, but the distance is growing every year this team squanders talent and shows an inability to locate and develop it. In this scenario, Mozeliak and company are funneling in the crap themselves.

The Cardinal Way has officially lost its way. It’s not just a fan rumor; baseball executives saw the forest through the trees. This team has work to do, and it’s not just making the playoffs. In my best Jim Mora voice… PLAYOFFS! Their current goal is simply trying to win more games than they lose. Bob Dylan could sing it. The times are… or have changed.