The Cardinals' front office and dugout are disconnected, and it's emptying Busch Stadium
There's a reason why Tuesday night's attendance was the lowest in Busch Stadium III history, COVID restrictions not included.
Bases loaded. One out. Busch Stadium and its 15,000 (generously speaking) in attendance coming alive. Paul Goldschmidt steps to the plate facing a pitcher with a great fastball/changeup combination in Devin Williams. Nolan Gorman, cradling the .200 mark with his average and showing nothing for all the playing time given, waits on-deck for his opportunity to strike out.
Outcome: They both struck out. Cardinals lose, dropping to 61-64 and 12 games behind Milwaukee, who did the beating last night. The Chicago Cubs leapfrogged over them to acquire second place, even if they’re only one game better than St. Louis. The Brewers, a team that lost key players and their manager Craig Counsell to the Cubs, is all but assured a division title. That’s how it’s going in 2024, but the on-field product is only part of the mess for St. Louis.
Making matters worse is the disconnect between the front office and dugout, especially in the unfortunate case of top prospect turned lost at sea Memphis Redbird, Jordan Walker. Last week, he was called up from Memphis after being down there since April 23 working on his swing. Shortly before that call-up, when John Mozeliak was asked what Walker’s role would be if he was brought back to the team, he flat out stated that he must play everyday. I agree, John. Keep reading for how it goes to shit.
But when manager Oli Marmol was asked shortly after Walker got here about his role, he said it would be more of a platoon role to help out against those notorious lefties on the mound that the team can’t solve. Never mind the fact that Walker hits both arms well, it’s a complete mixup of messages from two different factions of the team. Your President of Baseball Operations is saying one thing, and then your manager says something completely different. Meanwhile, the fans are sitting in the dark wondering if Walker will be the next young Cardinal to watch his future dashed in a flurry of poor decisions by his bosses.
In a series of roster moves (hello at last, Luken Baker, bye Brandon Crawford) this week, Walker was sent back down to Memphis, less than a week after being recalled. When asked about the move, Mozeliak reiterated that a young guy like Walker needs to play every day if he’s going to be here. So, why call him up in the first place? This is embarrassing, and also why the front office is laughed at around the league these days. What once was the cornerstone of how to do business has dissolved into this miscommunication of public message by the team.
It’d be one thing if the team put together a great roster, and things simply fell apart due to injury or a series of circumstances. If Walker got the call and was just flopping, the urgency to jump on the team would be less. But it’s all a misguided mixup that has left the team in a playoff-less path with half of their roster underperforming drastically. Why does Nolan Gorman continue to get opportunities if he’s got holes in his bat and swing? How many starts does the overrated Lars Nootbaar deserve?
It’s a laughing stock, and further proof that the team makeup needs to be blown to smithereens. Get a front office and dugout that knows how to communicate so the public understands the plan. If not, those big chunks of empty red seats at Busch Stadium will only increase. Before long, it’ll be like a Miami Marlins game a few years back where 1/4 of the stadium is used.
Here’s the final thing before I get back to work: I want them to lose. It’s what is best for the future of this team, not a small comeback and record that sits around .500 or slightly above the even mark. Lose, and lose badly. Make Rachel Phelps happy with this kind of losing. For the first time in my Cardinal fan life, I want them to crater and come apart at the seams. Lose 85-90 games. As my good friend PJ said recently, “I’d rather them lose 100 games on purpose than 80-85 games like they could this season.”
It’s safe to say Mozeliak dealt Marmol a rough hand of cards to play with when promoting Walker in an assignment that they struggled to interpret with the media. But I don’t think either knows what to do in order to get better play out of this team, and better results out of the system. Yes it’s true--Marmol’s team won 91 games in 2022, looked awful last year, and will finish no better than average this season. How much faith do you have in his ability to conjure up more wins in 2025?
The answer is about as much faith as one would have in Mozeliak treating his final season as Prez like a leisure walk through Forest Park in one of his wrap-around polo sweaters.
If you’re going to lose, do so with purpose. What the fans are seeing up top and on the field is only getting worse. Fix it, and you do that by breaking it apart.
Fire Mozeliak, Marmol, and anybody who thinks like them. Thanks for reading, and enjoy tonight’s game with the division-leading (for a while, most likely) Milwaukee Brewers--the same team St. Louis beat in the 1982 World Series, which happens to be the same year I was born. Man, those were the days.