Willson Contreras will return to catching duties on Monday, per John Denton of MLB.com. He’ll catch Jack Flaherty’s start. The move comes almost a week after the team revealed they’d be using Contreras exclusively as a designated hitter.
“We felt really good about the progress that we’ve made and it lines up really well for him to catch on Monday with Jack (Flaherty) on the mound,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Denton).
It marks the latest twist into what’s become quite the saga for the Cardinals and their major off-season recruit. Just a week ago it was reported that the team would rely on Andrew Knizner and Tres Barrera for catching duties, as they worked through issues the team described as a “lack of confidence”.
It hasn’t taken long for that to turn around, but questions will certainly be forthcoming over the team’s handling of this, and whether it needed to be played out as publicly as it was when all it took was Contreras skipping a week or so of catching duties – roughly one trip through the team’s rotation.
The Cardinals have won four of the five matches they’ve played since shifting Contreras off catching duties, but run prevention has remained an issue through those games, with the team giving up 21 runs through that period. At the time of Contreras’ demotion, the Cards ranked 24th in starting pitching ERA, and they’ve slipped back to 26th since.
For Contreras’ part, he struggled at the plate over the past week, hitting just .192/.250/.346, but it is of course impossible to know exactly how the team’s decision affected his performance at the plate. On the season, Contreras has continued to be a strong threat with the bat, and is hitting .263/.340/.406 with three home runs so far, good for a 109 wRC+.
It’s been a challenging season so far in St Louis, with the team sitting in last place in the National League with a 14-25 record. As noted, they have been a bit better over the past week but there’s still a long way to go for them to turn their season around.
He’s our catcher… wait he’s our DH and sometimes OF… no he’s actually full time DH… Actually he’s our catcher again. What the heck is going on with the Cardinals?
Mostly to me it seems that Marmol is talking to the media way to much about everything.
Congratulations Willson you are teams new batboy till Monday.
Wilson!
Wilson!
Ah Wilson!
Geez do the Cards fluctuate much? First of all announcing they weren’t going to let him C was a stupid idea. Not doing it, Just announcing it. Now they look even dumber for reversing it. They should of just let him play other places and not said anything and it would of been fine. The Cubs did it and it was fine so…… This whole thing has been ridiculous, Giving him that much dough was not going to help them. The next 5 years should be interesting to say the least. Maybe they should send him to Puerto Rico and enroll him in the Molina School of Catching. A couple of years there and he should be good to go. What a farce.
brew – Seems like Marmol has two common afflictions:
1) Can’t keep anything to himself, has to broadcast everything to the world like the narcissists who put pictures of every meal they have on Facebook and constantly update their status to reflect how they “feel” at every moment.
2) Doesn’t think things through, makes rash decisions without any contemplation first. If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.
He’s got his head up his a__.
The media is the main reason he got the manager’s job in the first place.
mlb – Yeah he’s only 36, how much wisdom can he possibly have managing for only 2 years in the NY Penn league and 2 years in the FSL.
He wouldn’t have even made the postseason last year if he wasn’t in such a garbage division. Half of all MLB 100-game losers were in the NLC and there was only one other team in the division that didn’t have a winning percentage of less than .460
I am 36 and have more wisdom.
I concure with only 33
Can we please get the Cardinals FO to learn the word “temporarily” please!!
Marmol really seems unfit for the job. I will never understand why they let Mike Schildt go.
Shildt isn’t a yes man.
He spent years grooming the upcoming Cards. More years than Marbol spent doing anything. In Mo-Mo’s world, that means nothing.
He was let go because he told John Mozeliak he was going to manage the team the way he felt was the best way. Mo said you will manage the way I want you to. They disagreed on it and Schildt was terminated. He was loved by the fans, was becoming successful and was speaking up. Those are things that Mo doesn’t want from his manager. Too much success and a voice. He just wants a yes man. Do you think Mike Matheny really wowed the Cardinals front office more than Terry Francona????
You got that right, the Cardinals are not my favorite, although I keep up with them. This should have not be made public. Someone should lose their job. This is nothing but bush league.
And that’s the second veteran player Marmol has humiliated.in public. So much for being great with the media!
He’s pitching today
And tomorrow. oops. He’s the closer tomorrow.
Actually, tomorrow he’s catching a cold.
Monday he’ll try to catch a break from all this drama.
I’m pretty sure when they first announced he would be taken off catching duties they said it would only be for 20 days or so. It’s not out of the question for him to return after only 10 days if he has corrected the issue. I think getting out front of the switch wasn’t as bad as most are making it. If they had done it quietly, reporters would have for sure started speculating once they saw he was the DH multiple games in a row.
I appreciate the defense of the situation, but there really is no way to talk around this. This situation has been a total botch-job from the get. No amount of excuses will change that.
Lol
Way to go, Mo.
You just realized that Cardinals pitching can still give up five runs a game since removing Willson from the catcher position.
What a joke. Everyone in leadership should be canned for this clown show
Starting pitching wasn’t any better without him. Flaherty is especially terrible with any catcher right now.
@Garywall – If that were the case then the whole team would be a cancer as the team as a whole took a knee. Dumbest comment of the day. But keep it political.
@GaryWally57 hey thats a racist comment, why did you have to make it racist? Typical Cardinals fans, always making it right wing. Flaherty is an African-American, you absolute slimeball. If you hate the melting pot that is the USA, then please leave1 Go try Italy, you’d love it there! Australia too!
The aggrieved old white guy has entered the building!
Hey boomer,
Shut up bigot as well as making light of someone like he’s cancer. Have you had cancer the disease he’s nothing like that. Now maybe he’s still finding himself as a pitcher but it’s about time some of you either get on board with equality or keep your trap shut. As a cardinal fan who’s a POC I always lol at respect your elders when elders didn’t show respect to me as a person!
Hey asdfghasdfgh,
Your comment has as much to do with equality as it has to do with baseball.
Respect is something one has to earn – not something one deserves because they show up.
@Samuel,
We’re all here trying to kick Garebear in his old, aggrieved, white nuts. Please stay on subject.
Equality is great. Equity is not.
Don’t loop me in with this clown
Oops, sorry GB!
Cry more, boomer
Cry more boomer
@Garywally57 I actually partially agree with your statement. The same thing happened to Dom Smith of the Mets. He was having the best season of his career in 2020, after taking the knee, his stats started to plummet and hes never been the same since. Baseball is a mental game as much as it is physical. I garentee it that in the back of their minds they think about that moment which causes them to perform worse. For what ever reason that is, I don’t know. I’ve brought that up about Dom Smith before and everyone called me crazy but its 100% true
Your analysis is so low rent and awful here, did you bother to look up any other possible reasons why Dom Smith started slumping? Nope. Which stinks, because you’d find dozens of red flags about him. Gotta be the FOX News propagandized boogyman “BLM” – btw the USA govt officially hired proud boys (E Tarrio) to promote that BLM was bad and you ate up the propaganda hook line and sinker – how does it feel being controlled?
@StephCurryRetiresWith8Rings its sunday morning, isn’t it a little early to be wasted?
@StephCurry… It seems as though you still haven’t realized, all mainstream media from all sides is propagandized to frenetically fan the flames of division and mislead the populace. Media is one of “their” best tools to keep the D&C Agenda effective and efficient. This is a basic truth of reality regardless of where you live, because every country wants to keep its monetary slaves as patriotic as possible, so the “ruling class” can eternally be the “gods” who control the lives of their underlings.
Honestly, you did no better assuming that a typical Cardinals fans is right wing and that all right wingers are racist
What ? I know a lot of Americans are totally ignorant to what exists outside their borders , but on what basis would he love Australia ?
If Australia is not the most generally happy, incredibly diverse multi cultural country in the world, then I’m not living here.
@rols1026, weren’t you just on a roll complaining about a MLBTR article’s typos and silly mistakes a few days ago?
“Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez” was the article rols1026 appeared ‘soft’…
Cant assume whats a fact
“If Australia is not the most generally happy, incredibly diverse multi cultural country in the world, then I’m not living here.”
I have some bad news for you, the country where Rupert Murdoch is from is massively right wing conservative (Pauline Hanson exists), and that makes you “happy”. Nope. Wrong. The way white Australians hate Asian Australians blows USA racism out of the water….but this has nothing to do with MLB, lets stay on topic.
BTW google search “world happiness map” Australia isnt even top 5.
Your a typical Cardinals fan folks
Ha ha ha. I live here. You know nothing.
Massive right wing conservative is ridiculous. Yes, Pauline exists. Out of a country of 25million massive right wing conservatives would be less than 1%. Many of those have taken Americas lead. We just elected a left wing government in a landslide. We just elected even lefter independents in many regions. We don’t hate Asian Australians at all. We embrace them. In fact I’m currently holidaying in Thailand by working on a Buffalo and rice farm.
For the record, the overwhelming majority of us don’t hate. We accept differences. Which is why we accept “I know everything” American ignorance.
I’m not sure which was worse – the decision to remove him from C in the first place or the sudden backpedaling. In any event this episode was entirely unnecessary and a distraction.
Total backpedaling. They said they were removing him from catching duties for a couple weeks and now he’s back in a week and a half?!?!? The entire front office and coaching staff needs to be fired. Phillies front office needs to fire the entire medical staff for the unnecessary distraction Bryce harpers quick recovery caused.
Someone coming back from TJS sooner than anyone ever has was a problem? Weird take. Very weird.
He’s being sarcastic.
@CujoMarlin,
I thought he was leaning more toward ironic; but hey, tomayto – tomahto.
Those 3-4 days make a huge difference apparently
If you can’t commit to your words, then don’t do it publicly bc no one is going to trust what you say the next time which includes a locker room full of egos. If the Cards don’t right their ship soon, they should definitely can him.
@gary, watch more baseball and less faux news, you and everyone around you will feel better, plus you’ll sound like less of a silly bones. I say this because you are a silly bones…that’s right…a SILLY BONES!
Please correct If I wrong but one of reason Carlton Fisk was to play so many years was he was rest and he was used as a DH. Why not do the same with Wilson Contreras
That’s exactly what the Cubs tried to do last year with Willie. And he had a career year offensively. Look, everyone knew what Willie’s issues were/are. That’s why Jed and Rossy didn’t want him catching any more. But in my mind, you don’t sign a guy and move him from the position where he gained his value from. I wouldn’t have signed him if I wanted a catcher who does his homework and handles pitchers well and can give a good target. Those are not his strengths, and again, everyone knew that. Except the Cardinals, I guess.
Agreed. The Braves did a lot to get Sean Murphy because they value the C position highly. Not saying the Cards don’t, but maybe after years and years of Yadi having it locked up, maybe they took having a high-level C for granted after all that time.
Fisl played 2,226 games at C, 166 at DH. I don’t think Fisl DH’ing once in a while made much difference.
Fisk…what an odd typo, twice.
I don’t know when his DHing started, but that’s about once a week for six years. That plus a day off each week could do a lot for a catcher’s knees in their later years
You’re wrong. Fisk rarely dh’d. He played as long as he did because he went against a long-held belief that bb players shouldn’t lift weights. That made Fisk stronger, not muscle-bound and helped his overall game. He was the best catcher of his time and a legitimate HOF’er.
I get what you mean, but… literally every player is different.
You can say that again!
A rare post with nothing stoopid in it. Kudos.
When you just signed a catcher to a deal that size, he needs every opportunity to catch…. To my non trained eye he didn’t seem awful blocking, throwing, etc. Freeing up the DH spot for Gorman, Yepez, Burleson, Donovan and days off for others is valuable to say the least.
How true, Knizner is the BACK UP CATCHER and NOT THE EVERYDAY CATCHER!!
As a Cardinal fan who’s been watching all the games and talking to many people about the calamity of this season and hearing radio guys, etc., literally NOBODY was blaming Contreras for the team’s problems…yet Mo and Marmol pulled this brain fart out of mid air…that said, the team is playing better and seems to have pulled out of their funk, winning 5 of 6.
Could this move have helped the team gel and rally together against a common enemy (the front office)?
Baseball is weird.
It was the only option after Gary Sanchez signed with the Mets
Lol what a joke. Never seen anything quite like this. Is this team really this much of a mess?
Apparently it is. The front office is so embarrassing. You cannot make this stuff up.
They panicked. They just stopped panicking (or maybe unpanicked?), which is a mercy
Strangely, the team really isn’t a mess. Clubhouse seems good, guys are playing hard, guys are taking good at bats.
It has been the craziest perfect storm of marginal pitching getting crushed, pitchers not finishing guys off with two strikes, outrageous numbers of guys stranded on base, some weirdly-timed bad defense, lots of bad luck, some bad management by Ollie, the rest of the division playing out of their minds for a few weeks, etc.
There’s too much talent on this team for this to continue. This is a really good group of players. Anyone counting out the Cardinals doesn’t know this team.
And they’ve won five of the last six. Here come the Cardinals!
I agree they have some incredible talent on this team. Alot of things are out of wack. That falls on the manager.
Yeah, Turns out that rotation just sucks.
Man the GM and manager should get the ax. This almost sounds like high school drama playing out behind the scenes. The pitchers must have mutinied against him. If I was Contreras I would ask for a trade. What a clown show.
If the GM and manager can’t shut the high school drama down immediately, they don’t deserve their jobs.
You don’t let the lunatics run the asylum, or the players tell you how to run the team.
Cards theme song should be Clowning Around by Shane Ivers.
@old yank.you sure it shouldn’t be the Benny hill theme?
Yakety Sax
Boots Randolph.
Boot Marmol.
But, but… I thought him being at catcher was the reason the staff sucks?
Who gets thrown under the bus next?
Really embarrassing.
Rules for being thrown under the bus:
1) cant be a Cards legend (Waino)
2) cant be a HOF candidate (Arenado and Goldy)
3) cant be the 3B coach regardless of how many idiotic mistakes he makes
4) cant be FO (but hitting and pitching coaches hell yeah)
Guess anyone else is fair game. Im thinking Edman may be next?
(Kudos for Contreras for stepping up to the plate not sulking.)
I’ve watched that O’Neill play numerous times. The Cards were down by three. It was a wet track. Acuña charged the ball hard and got off a good throw. The most O’Neill could be ‘guilty’ off is getting a poor break on a somewhat slow, wet track. As hard as he routinely plays, I still think the decision, and Marbol’s reaction, are still patently ridiculous.
And O’Neil was dead to rights, so he had to pull up after having to run a little slower while it was raining.
He shouldn’t have been sent from third and Ollie should have kept quiet.
Now if O’Neil could just stay on the field and start hitting.
He’s probably going to get traded, which is unfortunate since he’s so talented.
Sigh.
Who’s on First?
The Cardinals played against Contreras 19 times a year for 6+ years when he was a Cub and they just NOW learn that Contreras is not the prototypical defensive catcher?
He needs to be the starting catcher period. Our pitchers need to SUCK IT UP and call for a different pitch if they don’t like what he asked for. Grown men, professional pitchers. SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUPS!
They can call their own pitches now with the new tech
They don’t know how to. In the past Yadi called the pitches. Our pitchers are a bunch of crybabies. I WANT MY YADI!
Lol maybe they should have him around instead of Matt Holliday
I would have thought, that when Yadi gave Contreras his blessing, that he’d be there tutoring him all off-season and spring training, to make sure he got off on the right foot.
Yadi busy with his Puerto Rico baseball endeavors. He doesn’t have time to babysit a grown man.
@quonset..Right. Yadi has no allegiance or obligation to the Cardinals or to St Louis; all they did was worship him and make him a MULTI MILIONARE many time over.
Yeah…he earned it. It wasn’t a favor.
He retired. Guys do that.
You should try it. Now.
I think that was the implied message when they made the initial move: ok, we are listening to you, now pitch better or else… They didn’t pitch better, the offense has a black hole in the #9 spot and a younger position player on the bench, and we have reached “or else…”
Yadi will be the manager next year.
No he won’t. But we will get idiotic calls for him to be the next manager for the next 30 years like we have with Oquendo. You will never see Yadier Molina on the bench in a Cardinal uniform again.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say never. He might wear sweats or something, but there’s a chance the FO could sign him to a $500m contract to tudor defensively challenged catchers like Contreras.
Not a single mention of the change in pitching coach. Again.
Maybe Uncle Touchy had magic in those touchy-feely fingers
I have to ask I’m a Jays fan and really wanted a framework deal of Lars Nootbar for Moreno/kirk trade. I believe the Jays wanted this to as after the cards signed him the Jays made there trade. Would you cards fans rather have kirk or Moreno and be minus Contreras and Nootbar right now.
Id take Moreno in a heartbeat but Noot was an overpay. Carlson or TON, sure.
Murphy should be the catcher if the Athletics werent morons.
Maybe that’s y it didn’t happen, cards maybe said O’Neil and Jays may have said Jansen and that’s what happened. I still believe Nootbar and kirk/Moreno was a good framework with the odd peice being added here or there.
If the ask for Murphy really was a pitching prospect and either Nootbaar or Donovan. I really wanted Murphy.
Rumour was both. Agree id have traded either of them alone
There have been reports for both and for one or the other. We’ll never know which one was true
I may be wrong, but I don’t get all of the love for some of these Cards OF/utility guys. How many .250 – 15hr guys do you need, and why hang on to them so tightly?
Willson, you’re off timeout. Now go behind the plate and behave!
“We felt really good about the progress that we’ve made and it lines up really well for him to catch on Monday with Jack (Flaherty) on the mound,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters.
Oli doesn’t realize he’s the punchline in his own joke.
The players are going to burn out on him, if they haven’t already started to.
The plan they were working on behind the scenes obviously came together faster than they anticipated. Contreras is a quick learner/quick study and now that he’s re-educated he will start doing things the Cardinal way from now on. Like preparing & communicating. Sounds legit to me, not sure why all the doubting Thomases in here.
Bring back Yadier Molina to teach Contreras on how to basically call a baseball game. And to also teach Marmol how to handle a clubhouse and take accountability instead of blaming the catcher for the pitching staff’s shortcomings, and that extends to the front office as well.
I’ve read runs per game are 5.1 runs WITH Contreras…
…and 5.4 runs without Contreras.
Why was this even attempted?
All it will have accomplished is jeopardizing the pitcher’s faith in Contreras’ game-calling… and have Contreras internally questioning every sign he puts down.
I’m in the minority here when i supported Marmol’s handling of O’Neill looking for himself instead of relying on the 3B coach. He needed a little shot across the bow for not following a fundamental we’ve all known since tee-ball age… to get his attention and know it was serious.
But this is different, this is how clubhouse cancers are born. this is how players get the ‘yips’.
Wholly unnecessary.
If the runs per game are up regardless of catcher, maybe address it with the pitchers?
…or more appropriately, the pitching COACH, since all pitchers are having some sort of struggle.
Marmol couldn’t have screwed up the O’Neill situation any worse.
That’s why you’re in the minority.
…or maybe i’m just not a soft, ‘everyone-gets-a-trophy’, my feelings are more important than the team’s outcome GenZero?
A week of games isn’t nearly enough data to make any judgements.
The front office made a very bad decision. They became a laughing stock across the industry because of it. Now they are trying to walk it back while pretending it worked.
I’m not expert. But the Bosox have 4 WS championships since 2001. And they’ve changed FO’s and skippers frequently. No one was allowed to rest on their laurels.
Maybe there’s something to that. Entrenched executives that believe they are irreplaceable may be a bad idea.
gbs42…
No,you’re right, it isn’t really.
But, I’m not sure if where saw it was collecting the “without Contreras” numbers from just the past week… or from that week plus everyday he’s had off this year.
I assumed it was the latter. It may not have been though.
That must be the shortest “controversy” ever. Either that or the Cardinals are tired of every broadcast reminding them how much they are paying for Contreras ti Catch, not DH
I’m going to say Mr Contreras is probably second guessing himself about where he signed. My question is why did this need to be announced to the public.
The same reason O’Neill was tossed under the bus in public. An abject lack of clues by the ‘leadership’.
Mo got ratioed.
I wonder if having him back just in time for Flaherty is a way for them to tell Jack put up or shut up. He got nasty with the media in a local interview after his last start when they asked about dip in velocity and has seemed to be a catalyst in the Willson not behind plate idea
Or they just expect Flaherty to get shelled. This way, if he gets shelled with Contreras catching, Mo gets to go on being right about everything.
There is really nothing productive to say about this situation. The facts speak for themselves. The people in charge are the problem. Period.
Matz is getting cuffed around right now. No Contreras to be found.
Perfect example. Matz isn’t getting on top of his pitches. Consequently, his fastball is almost always located at the top of the zone. He can’t get ground balls when he needs them because he can’t get his off speed stuff over the plate, and his fastball is always up.
Am I the only one who can see this? No way. Where are the coaches? It doesn’t matter who is catching.
Where are the coaches?
Dave Duncan – retired.
Mike Maddux – run off.
Present staff – probably looking over their shoulders.
Work fast. Change speeds. Throw strikes.
I don’t always see the last two these days.
An old pitching coach said that 30-40 years ago and it is still true today.
If you notice, the more successful teams practice it still today. There are several disciples of that theory even before the pitch clock came around.
Is the Cardinals problem standing atop the steps of the dugout? I’m asking Cardinal fans since they know their team better than anyone and there’s definitely something out of rhythm. This has not has been the “Cardinal” way this season with several questionable moves or comments.
The guy at the top step of the dugout doesn’t make any of his own decisions. The bow-tie wearing megalomaniac in the luxury box is the problem.
What a clown show this St. Louis organization is! All overreaction and no critical thinking process involved at all here. So-called Best Fans have the Worst front office. I’m embarrassed for y’all.
They’re all embarrassed for you too. Troll.
So called best fans are second in MLB attendance, despite supporting a .375 team.
Believe it or not, ripley.
They almost always draw well. You have to envy that.
Van Gogh drew well and died broke.
Maybe the Cardinals pitching AND coaching just sucks, and Contreras was chosen to be the scapegoat for all of their incompetence by their moron of a manager. Contreras has always been known to be a bat first catcher with somewhat mediocre defense, so if the Cardinals were looking for a defensive wizard to replace Yadi, they should have just signed Austin Hedges (along with some better pitching!). Seems like that would have been a better overall investment for them.
I feel bad for Contreras, he’s probably wishing he had taken a few million dollars less to sign elsewhere at this point.
Translation: We saw no concernable difference between our two current catchers and Contreas. So therefore after our failed experience we are reinstating him behind the plate. Thank you, from the FO.
Nolie-Nolie-Nolie!
Picked by “experts” to be a contender, Cards are struggling and their fans moaning. Conventional wisdom holds Cards fans are most loyal in MLB. Lol! Biggest front runners in sports. When Cards win, fans brag. When they lose, no one mentions team outside the ball park. Dare I say it? “Busch” league.
Dare you say it? The suspense is killing me.
Lol! Cards fans are biggest front runners in sports. Brag on team when it wins, but don’t mention them outside the ballpark when they lose. Gotta say it: St. Louis “Busch” league.
Gotta say it? Then live your dreams! We believe in you
Cards fans are biggest from runners in sports. Only support team when they are winning. St. Louis = “Busch” league.
The team’s winning percentage is .375. Yet the Cardinals are 2nd in attendance only to the Dodgers among MLB teams.
Nobody wishes they were you.
Go down to 7-Eleven and buy a clue.
Hooray you said it! Very proud of you, what a great day
You said the Cards fans are the biggest front-runners in sports. Not once. Not twice. Three times. You’re either a parrot, or one of those dolls that you pull a string on the back and it talks. Didn’t know they still made those!
Yawn.
Clown organization showing it’s true colors. Garbage from the top down. Perhaps they should get back to stealing data from other teams too.
C’mon Nolie!
C’mon other Nolie!
After suing for divorce, hey lets get back together again, all is forgiven. Wow ! Is anyone running that team ? A 5 year investment, and they do this to the player ? Pitcher’s throw a tantrum, and management does that to a player ? Wow ! Good luck with your investment.
Pitchers*
Not Pitcher’s.
All the nest!
That relationship is now broken two months in.
Nolie!
Way to go Alec!
Thanks for the help, Ki Ki!
What a savvy move by Marbol.
What a genius!
Uh oh! Better crawl under that bus now, Alec.
It’s gonna be a long season smh
I can’t believe how quickly this team has gone from model organization to #LOLCards.
⁸Why don’t Cardinals pitchers just pitch better instead of blaming other players?
I remember Lefty Carlton once questioned Tim McCarver’s pitch-calling. Tim jacked Carlton up, and told him in no uncertain terms never to question him ever again.
McCarver became Lefty’s personal catcher, in both StL and Philly.
Crash Davis had the best solution to that!
What a piss poor job of leading an organization, is he Ur C or not, shoulda been handled internally like u got Ur act together not to be hashed out in the press
So does that mean they will option Berrera? However, It would make total sense for Mo to decide to carry three catchers, you know “for the matchups”.
Wainwright and Flaherty cry to the manager about Contreras and get him scapegoated. Then that get leaked to the press and they back track their comments and offer to have Contreras catch their next games. So that affectively reverses the DH only decision. They initially said they would have Contreras play the outfield until they realized how stupid that would be and it contradicts the reason they sent down Walker which was too many outfielders and who they had needed more consistency. The GM and manager explain the same situation in very different ways on the same day and never seem to be reading the same script. Does Mozaliak have any clue how incompetent he is showing to be this year?
Nobody wants to throw to this dingbat. The Cubs didn’t value defense but the Cards apparently do. What’s the saying? You can’t teach an old dingbat new tricks?
There’s an interesting story going o here, but will we ever hear it?
….And Tayler Motter returns Tuesday.
I think they were just sending him a message by removing him from catching duties. He has apparently done something they liked. Many teams have been sending players messages this year.
He was in time-out. Grounded from catching for a whole week.
Now he can catch again. He’s learned how to apply Gorilla Glue to his chest protector and to ground into inning ending double plays like his predecessor. He’s scheduled for a neck tattoo later this week.
He should send them a message.
“Kiss my backstop.”
The Cards are a mess. Marmol and the GM have to go.
Fire Marmol
That was quick
They had Steve Cishek on one of the radio shows on the SXM MLB channel this week, and he offered some insight as to what may have created this mess. He said that every team communicates information about hitters to the pitchers and catchers prior to each series differently. He said that when he pitched for the Cubs, the amount of information provided was massive, much more than he ever got from any other team. He offered that this mess in St. Louis may be just a matter of Contreras being accustomed to a different system, and he hasn’t been able to adjust yet to how the Cardinals do things.
Whatever is going on, Cardinals management is looking awfully amateurish right now.
Contreras won’t be returning to catching duties anytime soon, after a RedSox pitcher cleans his clock this afternoon. 95 mph in the noggin ought to keep him from f-ing around in the batters box!
In the noggin seems a bit harsh, but there definitely is a good chance he gets plunked for his little league antics yesterday.
Those were some pretty mild antics. I’m sure Contreras is happy to take credit for Boston gifting St. Louis the game.
It was unsportsmanlike conduct. I guess that’s what it takes for the Cardinals to win lol
What did he do that got you so upset? He still had time to get in the box. He has no requirement to get set ahead of his alloted time. Upsetting the timing of the pitcher has always been a part of the game. I’d be more upset that Jansen did the same thing twice in the same at bat if I were you.
I feel for Cards fans. This is such a promising team on paper. Its being run as if by a 13 year old girl.
Javier Baez would fit in perfectly with all this childishness. So, Baez for Paul DeJong since you dislike him so much.
Can Marmol please get fired already? By far the worst manager in the league.
Could it just be because they have the Brewers coming to town with another Contreras?
Sounds weird, This is his 7th year, and it only took one week to coach him back into catching?
And you do so after the team wins 5-6?
Something is Fishy here.
But with their President of Baseball Operations——- all things he currently has been doing
Seems fishy.
May 7: “St Louis will shift Willson Contreras off catcher for the ‘next couple of weeks.’ as Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.”
Why are people here losing their minds?
Contreras returning to catcher was always the plan. It even happened a week early!
“The Cardinals have won four of the five matches they’ve played since shifting Contreras off catching duties, ”
Matches, eh?