The Cardinals designated Jhonny Peralta for assignment today, though that was only one part of a larger shakeup for a team mired in a seven-game losing streak. Some details on the day’s news out of the Gateway City…
- With Kolten Wong coming off the disabled list today, GM John Mozeliak told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) that he didn’t explore the trade market for Peralta prior to the designation. Of course, the club still has the ten-day DFA period to potentially find a trade partner for the veteran infielder, though with interest likely to be pretty low, a club that fancies Peralta could simply wait until the Cards release him once those ten days are up.
- Midseason coaching changes are pretty rare, though the Cards made multiple adjustments to their coaching staff today. Quality control coach Mike Shildt becomes the new third base coach, replacing Chris Maloney (who will be reassigned elsewhere in the organization). Mark Budaska will replace Bill Mueller as the assistant hitting coach, while Ron Warner will also join the coaching staff in an unspecified role.
- Both the coaching shuffle and the Peralta DFA were a response to the Cardinals’ 0-7 road trip, as Mozeliak made it clear that things needed to change. “You cannot blow the whole thing up, but we had to do something different. … I think the road trip definitely said we had to do something different,” Mozeliak said. “In our case, this was not working. Everybody is frustrated. This is not meeting our expectations….This is a breakdown on many levels. What today represents is people are being held accountable for what we need to do.”
- Shildt “has juice with the GM,” according to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter links), and Shildt’s promotion could be a sign that manager Mike Matheny is under extra pressure to turn the Cardinals’ season around. Matheny’s job is “secure” under club owner William DeWitt, Miklasz feels, unless the Cards’ struggles begin to impact the team’s profitability.
- Randal Grichuk has been promoted up to Triple-A. The outfielder was demoted all the way down to Class-A Advanced ball last week so that he could work with offensive strategist George Greer on a new hitting approach, rather than a normal demotion to Triple-A so Grichuk could simply get his confidence back. Mozeliak was frank in discussing Grichuk’s long-term status with MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch and other reporters, stating that “at some point we’ll have to get Grichuk the opportunity to do this every day and either sink or swim. Because as we start to look at what 2018 looks like and beyond, we need a real sense of where we are [with him].”
They need to more than demote a 3B coach expect a turn around. Why isn’t Oquendo available to come back?
Oquendo apparently wants to stay in FL and teach minor league players. I think they definitely need him, since defense and 3rd base coaching has been poor. Even if he was a coach in the dugout it would be an improvement.
oquendo doesn’t like Matheny’s approach. oquendo was of the same mindset as LaRussa’s and Matheny has a clashing view with the old guard
Nah, Matheny is part of the “old guard”. Oquendo is old and just doesn’t want to spend most of the year travelling to be a coach. Maybe he would be interested in travelling to be the manager….
But he made it pretty clear after his surgery last year that so much travel and time away from family wasn’t something he wanted to keep doing.
Mo passed on Oquendo to be the manager when he hired Matheny. I don’t blame Jose for not wanting to be apart of Matheny’s staff. I really do hope Oquendo is named our new manager this off season.
Good question about Oquendo. When asked, Mo was evasive with any information pertaining to him, his status, or any of Oquendo’s plans or plans for him in the organization. Every loyal Cardinal fan sees the parallel of the poor defense of the Cardinals infield and Oquendo’s exit. Hard to deny
The cards went in with a plan of grichuk piscotty Diaz take steps forward and are a middle of an order. There was no plan b if one didn’t work out, c…., d… etc. they need a plan d and there isn’t even a plan b. There’s no shame in selling, I’m a rangers fan here and hate this market, but they will accept a slight rebuild, lynn etc sell em off
Mediocrity leading to paralyzation at the deadline because of outside hopes of WC2 is worst case scenario. In a world where so many maintain those dreams, committed sellers can fetch a fortune from a dozen plus bidders. Lynn duh, if a team lacked a 2b and could add marp, jackpot, gyorko a utility bomber, oh, they could clean house
I agree. The only names that should be off the table are Yadi, Waino (simply bc he has full veto) and C-Mart. I’d listen to offers on anyone else.
The fact someone feels Matheney’s job is secure as long as the team is making money is pretty disheartening to hear as a fan. I know a lot of owners’ ultimate goal is to make money, but you’d like to at least think the DeWitts want to prioritize a winning team over profits.
Yes this is disappointing, because I’ve suspected profits were superceding winning, but it’s becoming more obvious by the day. DeWitt has to be pleased that the Cubs are the team to beat, because their fans fill up Busch stadium 9 times a year. That greed will backfire over the long term.
It was very obvious in the GM’s press conference that Mo was very uneasy when questioned about possible discussions with Jose Oquendo. Mo was very vague in his responses pertaining to him. Every loyal Cardinal fan who keeps up or watches every game, can see the direct correlation between the time Oquendo’s departure and the beginning of the non-Cardinal like demise of the Cardinals infield fundamentals.
Do you really think that 1 guy was responsible for good fundamentals? These guys have been playing baseball since they were kids, and have been taught at every level…they don’t get to MLB without fundamentals and then pick them up or maintain them because of 1 guy on the MLB coaching staff.
That entire idea is just post-hoc lazy narrative.
To be fair, he was one of the most respected coaches in the game. It would be similar to Bob Bowman teaching a swimmer or Bill Belichick coaching a football team. Their success is hard to deny.
The idea that Oquendo’s departure caused the deterioration of the defense and ultimately the erosion of the franchise is ludicrous. The problem is a fundamental lack of talent. This team right now is a budding No. 1 pitcher (Carlos Martinez) surrounded by a couple of aging stars (Wainwright, Molina) and a lot of easily replaceable journeymen (pretty much everyone else)..
There’s no there here. This is a roster full of Matt Adamses. Cardinals need to be active sellers at the trade deadline and get whatever value they can out of some of these guys.
Over valued their own prospects, when moz won it was w/dejon’s pieces, could never understand fundamental change in past proven history n goin bat 1st on bad D SS, peralta, hard times, Wacha, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelley…..he’ll even Fowler…its karma 4 winning WS w/spent Jeff Weaver as ace….just enjoy the arc!