Willson Contreras's front office request should sound familiar

He wants more help from his fellow Cardinals hitters. Wake up, decision-makers.

Nolan Arenado may be a playoff ghost, but he expected more from the St. Louis Cardinals’ front office in waiving his opt-out clause twice since coming over from Colorado. A Bleacher Report statistic showed that Arenado had won more playoff wins with the Rockies than St. Louis, which is depressing.

Bill DeWitt Jr, John Mozeliak, Michael Girsch and company like having all-star players come to St. Louis and perform; they just don’t get them enough help. While the claims last fall and winter were on the pitching side and the repair of the starting rotation, this coming offseason will be about improving an offense that often wasted good pitching, or placed the entire bullpen in a close-game vice grip.

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Willson Contreras is the latest Cardinal to voice concern over an offense that contained too many holes. In a report from Cardinals beat reporter, Jeff Jones (he may hate me, but he does good work), the catcher hopes the front office makes improvements.

Contreras should be hungry for two reasons: bone injuries ruined an otherwise strong season, and he gets to watch his brother head to the playoffs with the division-winning Milwaukee Brewers. I’d want the moon, but Contreras would settle for some help in the bat department.

It wasn’t pretty for the high-paid veteran hitters in St. Louis. Arenado hasn’t exactly helped his case with performances that range from disappointing (last year-ish) to WTF (most of this year). Paul Goldschmidt also took a fine tumble down the hill, satisfying only with the long ball, stolen base via pitcher nap, or a set of doubles. Like medication taken while sick, it only worked for a matter of hours before wearing off.

Contreras makes a fine case. Without the newbies and/or rookie players, the hitting would have been futile for most of the season. Masyn Winn maintained an OPS that threatened to dip, Tommy Edman-style in the final few weeks. Alec Burleson remained a multi-faceted threat. Jordan Walker had a turbulent season, but started finding answers here in the past couple of weeks.

Brendan Donovan, well, he’s Brendan damn Donovan. Able, consistent, and with a touch of power; Daniel Descalso rolled into Placido Polanco with defensive versatility. If any Cardinal deserves a lock-in contract, it’s the guy who used to be an extra on Yellowstone. Not really, so let’s consider that my one dad joke for the article.

Blowing it up would help shape the offense, but it might not exactly improve it. Still, the odds of throwing Luken Baker two months at first base/designated hitter to find answers while signing a very good bench bat, recurring lineup dweller or two would make sense. Rebuild, retool, C4-laden reshaping, or whatever. St. Louis does need a new identity on offense.

Look, MoWitt, I am one rough season away from demanding gumption from this team. They’re not hockey players, or anything that requires gumption (I miss Darren Pang, cut me slack) or anything outside of doing your job.

For too many Cards this season, they couldn’t do their job. If you make a lot of money and come up short, it’s one of many ditches for a team costing over $175 million. Losing one of Goldy or Arenado’s offensive output would throw a dagger into the side of the ship; losing both in essence was too much for the lineup to bear.

Avoiding a re-sign of Goldschmidt would do them some good, but finding a way to move Arenado’s pricey contract could do wonders for a lineup that needs a moderate amount of work to function properly again. Yes, his fWAR of 2.9 was an improvement over his 2023 total, only due to a much better (not Gold Glove worthy) performance on defense. His offensive WAR contribution was negative, down by half from last year.

The bat will only slow down at this point, and his defense could drift back to middle. It’s not a likely scenario due to the DeWitt family loving at least one established star player on their roster--even though Arenado isn’t exactly drawing people to the ballpark. Pushing at-bats to younger players is the wiser path, and also the cheaper one. For a team looking for television rights stability, leaning on the young guns isn’t a bad idea.

Winn, Burleson, Walker, Thomas Saggese, Donovan, Baker, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani and Ivan Herrera should all get a healthy amount of reps. See what they got. Scott II offers more pop than Siani, if I believe the latter player’s bat could improve with another season of reps. Herrera, in patches of playing time, put together a nice season and helped the team win a series against the mighty Cleveland Guardians.

There’s tons of upside, but a trustworthy bat wouldn’t hurt to stabilize the ship. Unleashing the young guns completely may not give the team the necessary nudge that Contreras wants, but there’s a way to get the best of both worlds. I don’t know who could come in or what could happen in a trade, but the team needs answers and firepower in the lineup. The hitters that could once be counted on for big things have run their course, so a few legit faces need to further bolster the starting nine.

Baker and Burleson would cost you a whopping $1.1 million to plug a gap at first base after a Goldschmidt exit. Winn and Walker are under salary control for a while. Donovan should be extended, but otherwise isn’t a free agent until 2028. There’s time and space to perhaps get an outfielder with some proven experience and pop. Scott II, Siani, Lars Nootbarr, Walker, and Burleson will get the playing time, but another hat in that ring could help. If not traded, Arenado will anchor third base, but he’s on the way out of the castle on the horse if you know what I mean.

Maybe, start looking for long-term answers at certain positions while keeping a fair amount open for competition, at least in the 2025 season. The pitching will need its own repairs (16th in ERA), but the offense drifted too far to help cement a ton of close games. Ryan Helsley is amazing, but he can’t swing a bat.

Thank you, Mr. Contreras, for speaking up. The front office needs to be all ears, because their recent precision leaves lots of room for repair. Start the power washer, my friends. There is one week left of Cardinals baseball.

Then, an unconventional offseason begins… at least in St. Louis and other cities whose team will view the playoffs from the bleachers.