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Cardinals Dismiss Manager Mike Shildt

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The Cardinals have fired manager Mike Shildt, as first reported by Rob Rains of StLSportsPage (Twitter link). At a press conference announcing the news, St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including Jeff Passan of ESPN) the organization made the decision based on “philosophical differences” between Shildt and the front office about the direction of the franchise.

It’s a shocking development, since there was no prior indication Shildt’s job was in jeopardy. Indeed, the broader expectation as recently as last week had been that Shildt and the team would try to work out a contract extension, with his current deal running only through the 2022 season. Instead, the Cardinals will go in another direction in spite of the club’s strong run of play during Shildt’s tenure.

Today’s announcement concludes Shildt’s nearly two decades in the Cardinal organization. The 53-year-old began his career as a scout and minor league coach in the St. Louis system in the early 2000’s, steadily working his way up the organizational ladder. By 2017, he’d earned a spot on the big league coaching staff, and he took over as the major league manager on an interim basis in July 2018 when the club fired Mike Matheny. The team removed the interim tag a month later.

St. Louis won the NL Central and advanced to the NLCS in 2019, Shildt’s first full season at the helm. They finished in second place and lost in the Wild Card round during last year’s shortened season. This year, the Cardinals hovered right around .500 for the first few months before rattling off a miraculous 17-game win streak in September to coast to a Wild Card spot. St. Louis lost to the Dodgers in last week’s Wild Card game and ultimately won just one playoff series during Shildt’s tenure, but the club advanced to the playoffs all three years in which he was at the helm.

While there’s little to quibble with from a results perspective, the front office clearly determined a new voice was needed behind the scenes. While announcing the news, Mozeliak noted that the Cardinals believe they have “quality internal candidates” who could be options to step into the manager’s office, although he declined additional comment when asked whether the team planned to stay internal or look outside the organization for Shildt’s replacement (via Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post). Mozeliak added that he hoped the rest of the coaching staff would return in 2022, although that’s yet to be determined.

Given the Cardinals’ success under Shildt, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him land another coaching or managerial position elsewhere in the near future. He was named the National League’s manager of the year in 2019 and his teams posted a 252-199 record (55.9% winning percentage) over the past three-plus seasons.

The Cardinals become the third team looking for a new manager this offseason. The Padres fired Jayce Tingler a few days after the end of the regular season, while the Mets announced they would not pick up their 2022 option on skipper Luis Rojas.

Latest On Cardinals’ Managerial Opening

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9:56 PM: The Cardinals plan to have their next manager in place by mid-November, per The Athletic’s Katie Woo. With the rest of the coaching staff remaining intact, it makes sense that the Cards could be relatively quick with their manager hire.

7:06 PM: The speculation has already begun on who might replace Mike Shildt as the next manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. The popular internal candidates appear to be Oliver Marmol and Stubby Clapp, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter).

St. Louis usually likes to promote from within, and both Marmol and Clapp have surfaced before as candidates for managerial openings. Neither, then, would be a shocking choice, though given the surprising nature of Shildt’s release, anything could be on the table. Without knowing the real nature of the disconnect between Shildt and Cardinals’ president of baseball ops John Mozeliak, it’s tough to speculate on potential targets.

Players in San Diego, however, are hearing that former Cardinal fan favorite Skip Schumaker might be a candidate for the role, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). There would be support from Padres’ players were Schumaker considered as the Padres’ next manager, notes Acee, though it’s not clear yet what direction President of Baseball Ops A.J. Preller will lean.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/10/21

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Catching up on minor league moves from around baseball….

  • The Cardinals outrighted Seth Elledge to Triple-A Memphis after the righty cleared waivers.  Elledge was designated for assignment prior to the Cards’ appearance in the NL wild card game.  The right-hander has pitched exactly 11 2/3 innings for St. Louis in each of the last two seasons, and also posted identical 4.63 ERAs in both campaigns.  Originally acquired by the Mariners for Sam Tuivailala in July 2018, Elledge has some solid numbers at the lower levels of the minors but has struggled in two seasons at Triple-A, with a 5.66 ERA over 70 innings for Memphis.

Coaching Notes: Cardinals, Pirates, Diamondbacks

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Cardinals manager Mike Shildt won the Manager of the Year award in his first full season at the helm, and he’s taken the club to three consecutive postseason appearances, including a division title in 2019. He’s under contract for just one more season, though St. Louis is likely to explore a contract extension for their skipper, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak considered making some personnel changes on the coaching staff, but they held firm and eventually turned the season around. Now it appears that most of the coaching staff will return, though decisions are still being made about 2022 and beyond.

  • The Pirates will not bring back third base coach Joey Cora, the team announced today, per Jason Mackey of PGSportsNow (via Twitter). The 56-year-old Cora began his Major League coaching career in 2003 on Ozzie Guillen’s staff with the White Sox, where he eventually rose to the level of bench coach. He was the third base coach for the World Series winning team in 2005. His time in Chicago ended after in September of the 2011 season, corresponding with Guillen’s own departure. Cora would joined Guillen’s staff in Miami for 2012. He had been the Pirates’ third base coach since the 2017 season.
  • Pirates’ manager Derek Shelton will need to fill out a couple of positions on his staff for next season, including hiring a new hitting coach following the mid-season firing of Rick Eckstein. The Pirates are likely to hire from outside the organization to fill Eckstein’s spot, per Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (via Twitter).
  • The Diamondbacks are rethinking the way manager Torey Lovullo builds out his coaching staff, writes The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan. Primarily, Lovullo is looking to better bridge the gap between the Majors and Triple-A, allowing for a more cohesive promotion process for young players. They’ll do so by hiring a number of assistant hitting and pitching coaches, some of whom will themselves split their time between the Majors and Triple-A.

MLBTR Poll: NL Wild Card Matchup

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Unlike the American League, where the Wild Card matchup was not known until the final day of the season, the picture in the National League has been clear for some time. The Los Angeles Dodgers are hosting the St. Louis Cardinals.

In one corner, we have the defending World Series champions and the club with 2021’s highest payroll, by a wide margin. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a stacked team that notched 106 victories this season but still couldn’t manage to outflank the Giants in the NL West. Now they find themselves one loss away from an early winter.

In the other corner, we have baseball hottest team. On July 31st, the Cardinals were 52-52, seven games behind the Padres for the second Wild Card spot. But they stormed through the end of the season, going 38-20, including a remarkable 17-game winning streak, and finished seven games ahead of their nearest competitors, the Reds.

On the mound will be two veterans who each already have World Series rings. 37-year-old Max Scherzer will toe the slab for the Dodgers, just over two years after starting 2019’s National League Wild Card game for the Nationals. In that start, Scherzer tossed five innings, allowing four hits, three walks and three earned runs. Although he left the game with his club down 3-1, the Nationals pulled off an incredible comeback and continued on their way to the 2019 World Series crown. Between Washington and Los Angeles this year, Scherzer threw 179 1/3 innings with 236 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.46.

Representing the opposing dugout will be Adam Wainwright, who continues to make mockery of aging curves. The 40-year-old logged 206 1/3 innings this year with 174 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.05. Incredibly, this will be the ninth season of his career where he has made at least one postseason appearance.

Who do you think will emerge victorious? (Poll link for app users.)

Who Will Win The 2021 NL Wild Card Game?
Los Angeles Dodgers 53.19% (2,166 votes)
St. Louis Cardinals 46.81% (1,906 votes)
Total Votes: 4,072

Cardinals Announce Wild Card Roster

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The Cardinals have announced their roster for tonight’s showdown with the Dodgers in the NL wild card game.  Adam Wainwright has already been announced as the starting pitcher, one of 12 pitchers the Cards will carry along with 14 position players.

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Of the Cardinals’ regular starting pitchers, Jon Lester, J.A. Happ and Jake Woodford weren’t included on the roster — none surprising omissions due to the one-game nature of the playoff.  Mikolas, Hudson, and Flaherty are there to provide some level of depth if Wainwright has to make an early exit from the game.  Of the position players, Yepez is the most intriguing name, as the 23-year-old has posted big numbers in Triple-A this season but has never appeared in a Major League game.

Cardinals Designate Seth Elledge, Select Juan Yepez

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The Cardinals have made a roster move in advance of tonight’s wild card game with the Dodgers, designating right-hander Seth Elledge for assignment.  The transaction opens up a 40-man space for the Cards to select the contract of first baseman Juan Yepez from Triple-A.

It is quite the opportunity for the 23-year-old Yepez, who has never played in a MLB game but could now get his first taste of the big leagues in the October spotlight.  While it’s safe to assume Yepez might be the proverbial last man on the 26-man depth chart for tonight’s game, the fact that the Cards are giving this spot is a sign of confidence in what Yepez could provide as a potential x-factor.

Acquired from the Braves in the Matt Adams trade in 2017, Yepez’s bat didn’t really start to heat up until 2019, when he jumped from A-ball to Double-A in his age-21 season.  After not playing in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, Yepez suddenly exploded this year, batting a combined .286/.383/.586 with 27 home runs over 434 combined plate appearances for Double-A Springfield (77 PA) and Triple-A Memphis (357 PA).  Yepez’s slash lines were almost identical at each level.

This breakout was enough to merit a #27 ranking on MLB Pipeline’s list of Cardinals prospects.  Pipeline’s scouting report cites Yepez’s “high exit velocities” and gap power, plus an increased maturity at the plate and an ability to make swing changes.  Yepez has mostly played first base in his career, but could also fill in at third base or a corner outfield slot in a pinch.

Elledge made his MLB debut in 2020, and pitching in each of the last two seasons, the righty has a 4.63 ERA over 23 1/3 career innings out of the St. Louis bullpen.  A high 13.5% walk rate has been Elledge’s biggest issue, and he has shown similar control issues over 70 innings at the Triple-A level.

Cardinals, Adam Wainwright Agree To Extension

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Adam Wainwright is staying in St. Louis. The Cardinals announced an agreement to bring the right-hander back for the 2022 season. Wainwright’s deal comes with a $17.5MM salary. The deal also includes a full no-trade clause, although Wainwright has long had guaranteed no-trade rights as a player with more than ten years of big league service, the last five of which have come with his current team. Wainwright is represented by Aegis Sports Management.

Adam Wainwright | Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Wainwright, who turned 40 at the end of August, has turned back the clock to deliver one of the best seasons of his career in 2021. He’s second among all Major League pitchers with 206 1/3 innings pitched and has turned in a 3.05 ERA that stands as the fifth-best mark he’s ever notched over a full season.

Though he’s averaging just 89.3 mph on his heater this season, Wainwright has avoided hard contact, displayed strong command (six percent walk rate) and kept the ball on the ground at an above-average clip. That pairs nicely with the all-world infield defense in St. Louis and has helped Wainwright thrive even in spite of a below-average 21 percent strikeout rate. He’s also kept the ball in the yard at his lowest rate since 2014 (0.92 HR/9, 11.7 percent homer-to-flyball rate).

That excellent season will likely get Wainwright some votes in Cy Young balloting, even if he’s not favored to win it. (Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer, Zack Wheeler and Walker Buehler are among the other top contenders.) It also positioned Wainwright to handily top this season’s $8MM salary, which has turned into a bargain for a scorching-hot Cardinals team that won 17 straight games to clinch a Wild Card berth — a sudden-death showdown for which they’ve already announced Wainwright as the starting pitcher.

Retaining Wainwright gives the Cardinals some additional certainty in the rotation next year. He’ll slot in alongside fellow righties Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson, the latter of whom just returned from Tommy John surgery. Top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore could be ready for his debut early in 2022, and the Cards have a handful of other in-house options, including Jake Woodford, Johan Oviedo and, if they want to move him from the bullpen to a starting role, Alex Reyes.

The Cards could of course dip their toes into the offseason market for starting pitching. They’re currently set to lose Kwang Hyun Kim, J.A. Happ and Jon Lester to free agency, and a lack of depth nearly sank their season earlier this summer when the majority of their rotation hit the injured list. St. Louis had under $90MM in guaranteed contracts on the books in 2022 before re-signing Wainwright — Matt Carpenter and Carlos Martinez will be off the books once their 2022 options are declined — so there’s certainly room to add to the payroll.

From a broader perspective, Wainwright’s return also sets the stage for an emotional season at Busch Stadium. He’s not yet made a declaration that the 2022 campaign will be his final season in the Majors, but given his age, that’s of course a possibility. Even if Wainwright sets his sights on pitching beyond next season, the 2022 campaign will be a farewell tour for Yadier Molina, who has announced his intention to retire following what will be his 19th season in St. Louis.

Wainwright and Molina are an iconic duo in St. Louis — a battery pairing emblematic of the repeated contenders put forth during this generation of Cardinals baseball. They’ve won a pair of World Series rings together, in 2006 and 2011, and there are few more memorable moments in recent Cardinals history than Wainwright buckling Carlos Beltran to close out the ’06 NLCS and then fanning Brandon Inge to clinch the organization’s first World Series in (at the time) more than two decades. Molina, naturally, was on the receiving end of both pitches.

Regardless of Wainwright’s future status, it’ll be the last season that Cardinals fans can root on a pair that seems destined to have their numbers retired and head into the team’s Hall of Fame. At 184 career wins, Wainwright will have a chance to cross the 200 mark next year as well — a milestone reached only by 119 players in big league history.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported that Wainwright and the Cardinals had agreed to an extension. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported the contract was worth more than $15MM. The Associated Press reported the $17.5MM figure and the presence of the no-trade clause.

Poll: Who’s Going To Win The World Series?

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It took 162 games to decide things, but given all of the uncertainty heading into the final day of the regular season, it is perhaps an upset that a 163rd game (or even a 164th) wasn’t required.  However, the field for the 2021 postseason has now been decided.

The Giants outpaced the Dodgers in a stunning NL West pennant race.  San Francisco shocked the baseball world by winning 107 games, the most victories in the franchise’s 139 seasons.  As a reward, the Giants will get a few days to rest and prepare for the NL Division Series opener on Friday, while Los Angeles (with a whopping 106 wins) will now have to sweat out a single-game eliminator against the hottest team in the sport.

The Cardinals roared into the NL wild card game thanks to a 35-16 record over their last 51 games, including a franchise-record 17-game winning streak.  The Dodgers will host the Cards on Wednesday, and while the two clubs are postseason regulars, this will be their first meeting in the playoffs since 2014.

After a season of tributes to the late Henry Aaron, perhaps it was destiny that Milwaukee and Atlanta would do battle in the postseason for the very first time.  The 95-67 Brewers will host the 88-73 Braves in Game One of their NLDS meeting, which begins on Friday.

The Brewers caught fire in midseason and ran away with the NL Central, topping St. Louis by five games even despite the Cards’ late surge.  Despite a few shaky moments along the way, the Braves nonetheless overcame the loss of injured superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. to capture their fourth straight NL East title.

“Champa Bay” has already collected two Stanley Cups and a Super Bowl within the last two years, and the 100-62 Rays will look to add a World Series title to the local trophy case.  The Rays will start their journey in the AL Division Series on Thursday, and they’ll be facing off against a familiar AL East opponent, no matter who wins the AL wild card game.

That opponent will be decided on Tuesday, as the Yankees and Red Sox will add another chapter to their rivalry by meeting in the wild card game for the first time.  Both New York and Boston won today to clinch their postseason berths, finishing with identical 92-70 records (and holding off the 91-win Blue Jays and the 90-win Mariners).  Because the Sox won the season series by a 10-9 margin, Tuesday’s game will take place at Fenway Park.

The Astros and White Sox will square off in the other ALDS matchups, meeting for the first time in the postseason since Chicago defeated Houston in the 2005 World Series.  The 95-67 Astros have the homefield advantage over the 93-69 White Sox, and this series will mark the first-ever postseason meeting between veteran managers Dusty Baker and Tony La Russa.

Now that we know which 10 teams will be continuing into October, the question remains….who do you think will be the last team standing at the end of October? (Link to poll for app users)

Who will win the 2021 World Series?
Giants 18.31% (6,375 votes)
Dodgers 16.69% (5,811 votes)
Rays 13.92% (4,847 votes)
Cardinals 10.28% (3,581 votes)
Braves 9.63% (3,354 votes)
White Sox 9.17% (3,195 votes)
Brewers 7.00% (2,439 votes)
Astros 5.79% (2,016 votes)
Yankees 5.25% (1,827 votes)
Red Sox 3.96% (1,379 votes)
Total Votes: 34,824

Nolan Arenado Won’t Exercise Opt-Out Clause This Offseason

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Nolan Arenado had previously suggested on a few occasions that he was unlikely to opt out of his current contract with the Cardinals. This afternoon, he officially put any notion about exercising the opt-out to bed.

“I’m not opting out,” Arenado told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We can put that out there. I will not be opting out. I will be coming back. That was always the plan. I’m absolutely coming back. I feel like this year has been special in a lot of senses.”

Arenado will return to St. Louis on a $35MM salary ($6MM of which will be deferred) next season. He’ll have another opportunity to opt out and test the open market over the 2022-23 offseason. His initial extension with the Rockies contained only the post-2021 opt-out provision which Arenado is electing to forgo. However, the Cardinals added the second opt-out as part of a restructuring to convince Arenado to waive his no-trade clause and facilitate St. Louis’ deal with Colorado last winter.

As part of that trade-off, the Cards also added an additional year and $15MM in guaranteed money to Arenado’s contract. Were he to forgo next year’s opt-out as well, he’d be guaranteed another $144MM between 2023-27. All told, his deal contains another six years and $179MM beyond this season.

The Cardinals’ acquisition of Arenado was one of the most important moves of last offseason. St. Louis surrendered a five-player package — Austin Gomber, Elehuris Montero, Tony Locey, Mateo Gil and Jake Sommers — to bring in the eight-time Gold Glover. He’s continued to perform well, albeit not quite at his peak level, over his first season in Cardinal red. Through 642 plate appearances, Arenado is hitting .256/.313/.499 with 34 home runs. That’s solidly above-average offensive production, and Arenado has again rated as one of the game’s preeminent defenders at the hot corner.

Arenado’s work is a key reason the Cards are playoff-bound for the third straight season. St. Louis entered the month a bit behind the pack in the postseason picture, but they’re currently amidst an incredible 17-game win streak that has officially clinched them a berth in next week’s NL Wild Card game.

As part of last offseason’s trade, Colorado agreed to cover $51MM of Arenado’s contract (assuming he doesn’t trigger either opt-out) — including his entire $35MM salary for 2021. $15MM of that was paid this year, with the rest of those payments deferred over the next few seasons. Arenado has suggested in the past he’s not anxious to exercise next season’s opt-out, either, but he’ll have another year to gauge the organization’s progress and determine whether he wants to explore his options. Free agents next offseason will have the added bonus of a little more certainty about the market structure, since this winter’s free agency is clouded by the impending expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement on December 1.

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