As the 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Contreras returns to Wrigley:
The Cubs and Cardinals will meet for the first time this season at Wrigley Field this evening, with Willson Contreras in the middle of the storylines surrounding the bitter rivals. Contreras, of course, departed Chicago this past offseason before signing a five-year deal with the Cardinals to replace Yadier Molina behind the plate in St. Louis. Meanwhile, Chicago signed a veteran stopgap in Tucker Barnhart to pair with Yan Gomes behind the plate as they waited for prospect Miguel Amaya to be ready to take over as the catcher of the future.
A month into the season, the Cardinals are nine games back in the NL Central with the worst record in the National League, and have pulled the plug on Contreras as their starting catcher with mixed messaging surrounding both his role going forward and the club’s rationale in making the decision. Meanwhile, the Cubs called up Amaya when Gomes went on the 7-day concussion injured list last week. The 24-year-old catching prospect has looked solid both at the plate and behind it during his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. Between the Cardinals’ struggles to open the season the Cubs’ record of just 17-17 despite sporting the second best run differential in the NL, both clubs are surely hoping for a big win in this week’s series against their longtime rival.
2. Astros outfielders to return:
The Astros could welcome both left fielder Michael Brantley and outfielder Chas McCormick back from the injured list as soon as today, though GM Dana Brown suggests Brantley could need an extra day before returning to the lineup. The return of both players will be a boon to Houston’s offense; the reigning World Series champions have opened the season with a record of just 17-17 thanks in part to their lengthy injured list. That list includes not only the aforementioned outfielders, but also Jose Altuve, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, and Lance McCullers Jr. Those injuries have left the club relying on Jake Meyers, Corey Julks, and Mauricio Dubon in the lineup and Brandon Bielak and J.P. France in the rotation.
3. Jose Suarez to undergo MRI:
Left-hander Jose Suarez is scheduled to receive an MRI today after leaving yesterday’s start for the Angels in the third inning, having already surrendered seven runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work. The potential injury comes on the heels of an extremely difficult first month for Suarez. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently outlined the options the Angels, who are in second place in the AL West with a 19-16 record, had at their disposal regarding Suarez. After yesterday’s start, the 25-year-old lefty has a 9.62 ERA with an 8.29 FIP over his first six starts. Should the lefty miss significant time, Tucker Davidson and Chase Silseth are the most logical candidates to step into the club’s rotation, with Chris Rodriguez on the injured list.
Cards are a disaster and clearly scapegoating Contreras when literally everyone should share the blame. Starting pitching has been middle of the pack past few years and is regressing. Offense is in the bottom third of the league. Does Arenado even have a pulse? Why is Marmol still employed?
Very interested to see if the Cards leave Willson out of the lineup tonight knowing he is going to get a standing ovation before his first at bat coming back.
Also, will be watching to see if the ump and whomever is catching tonight gives Contreras his time without calling a violation.
I’m sure there will be a nice video tribute pregame but am really interested to see if he’s in the lineup for that first plate appearance.
While there has always been a rivalry, the Cardinals are not petty enough to keep him out of the lineup because of a standing ovation.
Really? Leave him out of the lineup because they think he’ll get a standing ovation? What???
I fully expect Mookie to get a standing ovation when he returns to Boston for the first time in August, JD Martinez too. Thats part of the game and not something you keep a player out of the lineup for because it *might* bother his new team (fairly sure Goldschmidt and Arenado got them in their first games back in Arizona and Colorado respectively)
There’s certainly a lot of blame to be shared, but I’m curious if you can elaborate on the difference between everyone sharing the blame and literally everyone sharing the blame.
Earth’s entire population: 7.88 billion people
Figuratively sharing the blame
They have a new pitching coach too. No blame for him?
Arenado had a sac fly yesterday but was otherwise 0-5. This has to be the biggest slump of his career. Nothing anyone can do but hope he busts out of it soon. Can’t bench him making that kinda money, but you never know – Mo & Marmol always looking for scape goats these days.
He probably keeps thinking about that 100 million he left on the table.
My prediction is that if Arenado does not break out of his slump during the Cardinals road trip to Wrigley and Fenway, Cardinals management will move him from the third base position to the bullpen as a part time reliever and to the third string catcher position.
For those of you who get XM89, the venerable grouser Al from White Plains called in with a scathing but highly accurate diatribe about the owner and the front office. Would have been at about the 24 minute mark of the Front Office show. The hosts didn’t even try to argue, they just went to commercial after he hung up.
Those of us who are Cub fans realize that Contreras is an offense-first catcher. But this scapegoating led by acquiescing to complainers on the pitching staff is ridiculous. They still gave up six runs to horrible Detroit on Sunday.
Marmol should have come out and said: “I’m giving the pitchers three times around the rotation to prove to me that they are not the problem. Show up and get it done, or else I will find new pitchers.”
Good shout. Just listened and it’s spot on.
I listened to it live and was afraid poor Al was going to stroke out. Definitely the most angry I’ve ever heard a caller be on the radio.
I chalk up Al’s emotional outburst and management’s inexplicable decisions of late to the fact they don’t know how to handle true adversity. All of a sudden Cardinals have a clubhouse culture issue and those of us who are fans of one of their division rivals couldn’t be happier for it.
Not sure where you are getting that info… a big part of the regression is due to Contreras not being overly interested in game planning with his pitchers. Look at the comments from Mozeliak where he talks about what Contreras has to do to get behind the dish again. He specifically mentions this aa a break to allow Contreras to get to know and get on the same page as the pitching staff.
Let’s say all that is 100% true. Did the FO not have any of this information about Contreras before giving him that 5-year contract? Doesn’t require a Cracker Jack scouting analysis for anyone in STL to have been aware of his game-calling shortcomings. They saw it with their own eyes for 6+ years when they played the Cubs! It would be like signing Joc Pederson to a similar deal, and 5 weeks into the contract the FO is more or less fussing because Pederson sucks in the field, and he’s a streaky free-swinger. They only have themselves to blame if they’re suddenly taken aback by the fact that Willson isn’t the QB behind the plate they were hoping for.
Suarez can’t pitch again for this team.
STL GM. Don’t trade for S Murphy and sign Contreras (with a full no trade) instead. 1 month into that, move him to DH where they already had a surplus of players that could/should have been traded for Murphy. Just because you have your job doesn’t mean you are qualified to do your job. Time to go.
Moving Contreras should come as no surprise. This is the same team that moved a starting pitcher to anthem singer on opening day,
It’s also, why didn’t STL do what ARZ did and trade some of your young talent (STL has too much in the OF even to entertain ever putting Willson out there, that was backtracked)? Varsho to TOR for Gabriel Moreno helped both out — why couldn’t STL not benefited from that unless they were filling the pressure of trying to fill Yadi’s shoes and they were too risk averse to pursue a young catcher like Moreno?
Regardless of what Moreno has done with the bat after being thrown into full-time duty, Moreno has been one of the best at SB prevention so far this year, even challenging the likes of “king of pop time” Realmuto.
Cardinals are a disaster right now. Prediction: they won’t finish last and will pass the Cubs and Pirates before it’s over. Sadly their goal each year is only to get a Wild Card playoff. That’s not even impossible at this point. A few hot weeks changes everything. Are they a championship team? Not even close. Maybe this year will help them realize that they MUST spend on pitching with either $$$ or prospects.
I don’t think they will pass both the Pirates and Cubs. One or the other, yes. Both, no.
The Brewers should be running away with this division. Of course people said that about the White Sox last year. Only the Cardinals are keeping everyone from criticizing the Brewers.
@Brick –
Agreed, I don’t see them passing both teams as one team is at .500 and another is 5 games over .500 while the Cardinals are 13 games under .500.
As for the Brewers, it’s hard to run away with the division when they are dealing with their own significant injuries. B. Woodruff who made only 2 starts before going on the IL isn’t expected back until the end of June, Houser missed a month with an injuy and just returned from the IL. And Urias isn’t expected back until sometime in June, Mitchell , their starting CFer is out for the year, Taylor is back off the IL but his bat is suspect and Ashby is likely done for the season.
I’m impressed that they are over .500 without Woodruff, Houser and Mitchell,
Marmol should have been fired days ago. You can’t blame a catcher for your problems
You KNOW the FO is patting themselves on the back over Sunday’s win even though moving Contreras off the plate played literally no part in how that game transpired. Pitching staff still gave up 6 runs to the Tigers, but we won’t cloud the issue with facts.
They lost the first game of their experiment, with their ace on the mound.
Contreras was in the dugout making faces at Waino which is why he imploded in the 5th.
Should they get swept in Chicago this week, he will be fired by the weekend.
Doesn’t matter what the Cards record is…they always play the Cubs tough. The Cards have been gettin kicked around by everybody this season. But they’re liable to come in to Wrigley and sweep the Cubs.
Trouble brewing in Baseball Heaven?
Trouble in Iowa?
“Traded in mid-2002 to the Cardinals, Rolen referred to St. Louis as “baseball heaven,”…”
Jay Jaffe/Sports Illustrated
Some advice on the off chance decision makers in the Cardinals front office read these comments:
Fire Marmol. Everybody in the league knows he’s going to be fired eventually
But maybe “everybody in the league” doesn’t care.
Someone in saint Louis needs to step up and be the whistle blower. How disfunctional the front office is, needs to be known. But it needs to come from a player. It’s been bad for about a decade now, but winning seasons (though it not because of TLR’s players folllowed by a tanking division) covers up what people don’t want to recognize.
Might as we’ll be O’Neill – they’ll trade him by the deadline regardless of where they are in the standings, so he’s got nothing to lose.
I was a Cardinals season ticket holder from 2006 -2017. Told my sales rep after 2017 I don’t like the direction the team is going and i won’t renew until Matheny and Mozaliak were gone. This was easy to see coming but scapegoating a different player every two weeks is pretty Busch league. It’s time to clean house. Maybe they can get David Stearns now and DeMarlo Hale to manage after the season.
“scapegoating a different player every two weeks is pretty Busch league”
I see what you did there 🙂 And totally agree.
Their staff is experienced. They should be able to throw to anyone. They’re just not that good.
I’ve seen this movie before.
It doesn’t matter who the Cards have, their fans write them off in May, they go on some ridiculous August winning streak, win the division, and then come playoffs those same people are gloating and how they believed in the team all along.
Spare me, please.
Well that ridiculous August winning streak better play to the tune of something like a 27-2 record for the month.
Same theater—-completely different movie this year.
@njbirds –
Barring a total collapse by the Pirates or Brewers and a historic winning streak for the ages in August. You would be seeing the same movie. I can’t recall ever seeing a movie where the team was 13 games under .500 in May, had no pitching, a struggling offense and went on to win the division.
Their next 13 games come against the Cubs, Red Sox, Brewers and the Dodgers. And they are coming off a 1-3 series vs the Tigers. Yeah, good luck with that movie.
Cards need a complete house cleaning. The team is in a mess and doesn’t make sense to blame one guy who’s hitting around his career numbers. Should first be dumping their manager, who thought it would make sense to call out, publicly, a below-average player on their team for not running hard enough. Marmol is a clown.
What team is getting Goldy at the end of July? Who will they trade for him?
Niether Goldschmidt nor Arenado are going anywhere.
I agree on Arenado. But moving Goldy would be smart for a quick retool to get some pitching. It also clears a space for Walker next year. Would you rather double down on another 3-4 year extension at Goldy’s age starting 2025? As seen at Cot’s, he doesn’t have a no trade clause.
I’d rather see them move Goldschmidt to more time at the DH position. That would hopefully extend his productive hitting career. I want to keep a player as long as he’s performing at MVP level with a very reasonable salary. Everyone besides those twor are available for trade with the right return.
Given that Walker is a 3B, wouldn’t Arenado be better for clearing a spot for him? He has full no-trade so it’s unlikely anyway but he seems like the better emergency option than shipping off Goldy.
I also agree with the others that neither is going anywhere
Cardsfan –
You’re going to move Arenado, a 10x Gold Glover, who just won his 10th straight gold glove to a full time DH? And replace him with Walker at #B over him?
Man, I will definitely have whatever it is you’re smoking.
Cardsfan also felt that many teams in the league would be open to acquiring Contreras in a trade right now and that Contreras would waive his no trade clause to join any of them. He’s full of fun ideas.
Many predicted this. There’s a reason the Cubs didn’t even offer Contreras a low ball deal in spite of still needing a veteran backstop. He’s terrible at calling a game, pitch framing, etc…. As a pure DH he’s mid at best and obviously severely overpaid.
I knew that a fanbase that grew accustomed to watching Yadi handle a staff would lose their mind watching Contreras try and fill that void. Somehow we all knew more than the Cards GM?! Inexcusable. Mo had the pieces to trade for Murphy, a perfect fit on this veteran club and chose to overpay (and give a no trade) for an overpaid, underperforming DH. Ineptitude to a spectacular degree. Fowler 2.0 (ironically another former Cub that wasn’t even offered a low ball deal that the Cards pounced on)
It’s sad Fowler was the best player in the team during his time with the Cardinals.
You are right about everything except no one could have ever predicted it would be quite this bad so soon. It’s so weak to take this route scapegoating Contreras when clearly the pitching is the issue. I predict Contreras will be back behind the plate soon and will catch more often than he plays the outfield when it’s all said and done this year. Marmol is looking weaker by the minute. He needs to get the team to win some games right now or he will be gone. Too bad they will never fire Mo. He can do no wrong in DeWitts eyes.
Contreras has had 4.1 and 3.9 WAR marks the past two seasons, Murphy’s were 2.7 and 3.5. Higher WAR wins games, not silly things like knowing what pitch to call or where to locate it. Next thing you know people will be looking at the mental part and game preparation of every position…..crazy talk.
Bryzz—they offered him over $19M as a qualifying offer.
The lack of a long term offer — regardless of how many perceive him to be defensively — fell directly in line with the route they took with Schwarber, Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, etc……they were not going to enter into long term deals with players risking that were entering that life time altering contract.
Willson wanted that life securing contract (and got it). The Cubs just weren’t committing the years and dollars like they didn’t on the above.
I do think the Cubs (as they have the last almost 15 years) have been well ahead of the curve at predicting trends, but in the same amount of time that Contreras has been with the Cards, let’s not pretend that the find of a gold glove catcher in Tucker Barnhart has been any better—-just a different direction and usage of resources. Barnhart at two years, $6.5M is just as painful to watch as any catcher I can imagine.
@Bryzzo
He may have had pieces, but they evidently weren’t the ones the A’s were looking for. He also didn’t sign or trade for any other C. Don’t forget to complain about that, too. I’m sure Realmuto would look good as a Cardinal. Maybe he should have talked Posey out of retirement? Would you be happy with Gary Sanchez? If they had signed GG Mike Zunino Im sure you’d complain about his bat. Some are never happy.
I’ve never been a MO hater. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because of the success. No more. This is severe disfunction which begins with him. He’s overstayed his expiration date. Accelerate his already announced plan to transfer his duties. Fire Girsch and bring in the best GM available with full authority on baseball decisions.
Firing Marmol does nothing to correct this problem. Did he DFA Taylor Motter, sign him back, then DFA him again a week later? The very public firing Contreras as the catcher 1 month into the contract justifies cleaning house. Management is the problem when everyone except 1 or two players are underperforming this much. I’m sure most of the players have completely lost faith in management.
Decisions have been bad. The communication of those decisions has been even worse.
I agree with everything you say but Mozeliak has a boss too. Billionaire Bill Dewallet is just as much to blame as anyone. Mozeliak’s job is to make him money. I doubt if Mozeliak can sign free agents without the approval of the Dewallet family. They needed to make some real improvements the past few off-seasons and didn’t do it.
DeWitt isn’t to blame for the chaos and dysfunction around this team. Not signing top free agents is one thing. What’s happening now is all on MO. Where’s the pitching coach? Who pick a guy with zero experience as any sort of coach?
I agree with what you said too. Mo can’t spend Dewallet’s money without his approval though. This team is a mess.
So did DeWitt order Mo to spend his money on Contreras just so that people couldn’t say he’s unwilling to splash the cash, but also did so knowing Contreras was bad and the move would cause fan base unrest thus leading to the removal of Mo as GM? DeWitt truly is a diabolical genius.
So Suarez is getting an MRI but no mention of where or why? I don’t know if an MRI can pinpoint why he has an ERA around 10.00 other than just not being very good
Rsox-
It’s because of left shoulder discomfort which sounds like he tried to pitch through from the beginning of the season.
That seems to be omitted from the article but thanks for the clarification.
St Joseph Urgent Care because they have a coupon.
Molina returns at the break.