The St. Louis Cardinals have underperformed. Plain and simple. Yet, they find themselves only 2.5 games back in the NL Central and only 0.5 games back in the Wild Card.
And that’s a dangerous position to be in. They need to make a stand. Unfortunately in just the last couple days the Cardinals were dealt a couple of rather bad hands. The closer Jordan Hicks will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL. The recovery time is set to be anywhere from 12-15 months. Also, pitcher Alex Reyes was taken out of his last start sure to pectoral discomfort.
Paul Goldschmidt was one of the biggest off-season acquisitions in all of baseball. And to this point he’s been a bit of a disappointment. Unfortunately it’s getting to the point where we can’t just call this a slump. It’s been nearly three months. What’s worse is that the entire lineup has been cold since the beginning of May. The other main acquisition for the Cardinals was reliever Andrew Miller. He had himself a pretty solid May but has since cooled back off himself.
This team is full of veterans who have played this game for a long time. They need to win games. They cannot afford to get comfortable with the idea of a Wild Card Berth.
No More Excuses
Like I mentioned above, this team is still in the mix. But they can’t feel comfortable in this position. They need to make moves. The players need to step up in order make a push down the stretch.
With the news of Hicks, where do the Cardinals look for relief help? Trevor Rosenthal was recently made available but is he a legitimate answer? Will Smith from SF remains a solid target, but how much will he cost to acquire from SF? It doesn’t matter. Something needs to happen.
Aaron Mullins on Twitter
Hicks is out with a torn UCL Trevor Rosenthal just got released What’s the huge issue with signing Rosenthal to a minor league deal? Could have a lot of good baseball left in him. #STLCards #TimeToFly
The Cardinals probably aren’t just one move away, but they need to address as much as they can. They said they’re goal was to win this season. They cannot bank on Alex Reyes, and now they don’t have Jordan Hicks. No more excuses. Get it done.
What are your thoughts?
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Thanks for reading!
Aaron M
