HAVE THE CARDINALS BECOME THE BROWNS?

The Cardinals are suffering through a last place finish for the first time since 1990 when they finished 6^th in 6 team division. It’s a real stretch to think that the current roster can elevate its play high enough to be competitive.  Soooo…how can it be improved?  The only 3 ways are: 1) through trades 2) bringing up minor league players  3) Free Agent signing or that the current players will upgrade their play to a much higher degree. It’s amazing similar to the St Louis Browns history.

…..Browns history time…. Bill DeWitt Sr, who grew up in St Louis, bought the ST Louis Browns in 1936. Coming off a horrible 1935 season when the Browns drew 80,922 fans for the entire SEASON!  DeWitt Sr had St Louis roots. He earned a law degree from Washington U and sold soda pop in 1916 @ Sportsmans Park. He scheduled more night games than most teams and it elevated their attendance (and cash). Despite their efforts in the Lou, DeWitt was ready to move the team to Los Angeles after the ’41 season. However, the American League decided to postpone its vote on the transfer to the Week of Dec 8. The Attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7 postponed the meeting, moved the USA into War and saved the Browns in the Lou (temporarily).

…The highlight for the Browns was winning the 1944 AL Championship. For the only time in the Lou, the Cards also won the pennant in ’44 and faced each other in the World Series. The Cards won it! It was the only year since 1925 that the Browns (508,644) outdrew the Cardinals (461,968). The Browns faded quickly by 1946 they were again way down in the standings. In 1947, the Browns, who had signed better players in the off season, had high hopes to be a contender. Attendance fell drastically so the Browns used other ways to draw people—Dizzy Dean  came out of retirement from the announcing booth to pitch a game. In 1947, the Browns were the 3rd team to integrate their roster. The plans to move to Los Angeles became more complex and not affordable. Tthe Browns never contended. Bill DeWitt (and his brother Charlie) bought the team in 1949 from Richard Muckerman (owned Browns for just 3 years). The DeWitts sold the team to Bill Veeck in 1951. When the Cardinals were sold to Anheuser-Busch in 1953, Veeck moved the team to Baltimore in 1954. He publicly announced that he couldn’t compete against the deep pockets of Gussie Busch.  ….Well…history class is over 😊

…Now back to the future…Let’s look @ the Current Roster. In the pitching side of things…the Cards are 25^th in runs/allowed per game; 24th highest ERA in the entire MLB (30 teams).   St Louis is 28th in the MLB in HITS per /9 innings. The Cards staff is 20th in the MLB in walks allowed! The Cards are 27^th in WHIP across the MLB. Offensively, the Cards are some better but not much—they are 17^th in runs scored; 11^th in OPS; 9^th in Strikeouts; shockingly StL is 7^th in Home Runs in the MLB. In the WAR (wins above Average) statistic by position(30 teams)– the Cardinals are 22^nd as a team (across all positions). StL is 26^th in Pitching WAR; 23^rd in starting pitcher; 20^th in Relief pitching; 16^th in catching spot; 3^rd @ 1B!!; 14^th @2b; 15^th in 3b; @ SS the Cards are 16^th. In LF position the Cards are #28; CF spot is #22; RF is #24 in WAR.  This is an average to below average team in practically all of the positions. Hence, the record should not be surprising.  Sooo.. the Roster has to be modified.

….There are 3 ways to improve the team—Trades, Bringing up Players from MiLB, Sign Free Agents.  There are different “types” of trades. Some are “Selling off” trades – i.e. assets(usually to reduce payrolls) moved for less expensive players. Trade Deadline Restructuring—this type of trade is used to fill a “ immediate need, looking to the “future” treades. Trades with multiple players that teams fill needs, dump salary, get experienced players/younger players. Mo hasn’t don’t any of this type of deal since 2017. The really “blockbuster” trades occur in the off-season. Some of these deals proved out to be “very good”, some “not so much” and some “poorly”.

…Stealing Arenado from Colorado for several no-name players is the BEST (by far) for Mo over the years. Obtaining Paul Goldschmidt for Carson Kelly & Luke Weaver  was another excellent Cardinal trade. Currently, that duo are the only REAL stars on the roster. Goldy is 1^st in the National League in Offensive WAR, Slugging %, OPS. Arenado is 1^st in WAR position players. Clearly, those are two TERRIFIC trades by the Cards.

….But, the door swings both ways. A trade that has impacted the Cards for several years was acquiring Marcel Ozuna for Alcantara/Gallen/Sierra in Dec 2017. It was a critical mistake for the Cardinals and the Cards are STILL are paying the price.  In his 2 Cardinal years, Ozuna in 2018 &2019  batted .280 & 241. He did hit 23 & 29 HR. Shockingly, to the fans (and I’m sure the brass), Ozuna was a severe liability in the outfield. From my own eyes, he was the worst Cardinal OF that I’ve ever seen (even worse than Joe Cunningham). Meanwhile on the other end, the Cards pitching staff was damaged badly by this trade.  Sandy Alcantara, currently 6th season with Miami, has won the Cy Young Award (best pitcher of the year) in 2022. In that year, he was 2^nd in the NL in ERA and 4^th in Strikeouts. He was the 2022 Cy Young winner!!!! In  2022, he was #2 ERA 2.28 and 4th in strikeouts—207. And….it wasn’t a 1 time shot…he was 1st in NL Shutouts in 2019, 2020, and leads in 2023. Further, Alacantara was 1st in Complete games in the NL in 2019, 2020, 2023 (Currently). In addition, the 2^nd pitcher in that trade was Zac Gallen. Gallen was moved to Arizona where he’s bloomed. His lifetime record is 32-24, in 2023 he’s 10-2. He’s still just 27 years old. The been voted in the Cy Young top 10 twice! This year, he leads the leage in Hits/9 inn @ 5.918 hits/game. This year he leads the MLB in starts with 17 and he’s only 27 years old. It’s easy to say that with those 2 pitchers still in their prime and would be the #1, #2 starting pitchers on the Cards staff in ’23. The Cards would NOT be in last place in weakest division in the NL. This one-sided deal has hobbled the Cardinals pitching staff for years now.

….Currently (2000-present), the common way that the Cardinals employ is “bringing up” their own minor league players. Many are “good” (some versatile) ,but not great, with limited careers (2-5 years) in the MLB. Currently (now that Yadi & Albert are gone), the Cardinals home-grown roster shows us MLB players who aren’t making All-Star games, aren’t leading the league in anything, usually possess sound fundamentals skills but rarely become “stars” in the league. It often seems that the Cards players, who played minor leagues in the Cardinal system, play 4-5 years with the Cards than they are moved.  Most seem to level-off at a “good” level but rarely do we see Cardinals prospects become stars with the exception of Yadi & Albert.  Clearly Albert & Yadi are HOME RUNS in their play over many, many years with the Cards. Outside of that dynamic duo that the Cards the only home grown All-Stars Players  are very limited…Matt Carpenter (2013,14, 16) and (shockingly to me)–Aledmys Diaz (2016). It’s good to see the Cards developing Jordan Walker. He’s in the very early stage of his career..time will tell for him.

…From my view, the Cardinals DO need to make trades. But…unlike most years, trade our current players…not the “prospects”. It seems to me that the Cards, who ARE in last place in the weakest NL division, need to deal some of the “regulars”. I wouldn’t take anyone’s name off the table.STRONG starting pitching and a real CLOSER are necessary to win & go beyond this weakest division. First of all, a strong starting staff is required. (Look @ Pittsburgh- they don’t out hit people, they shut them down). Cards should consider trading every-day players for 2-3 starters. Even our 2 “best”  players should be considered! Goldschmidt is 35 years old (36 in Dec)years old and he only has 1 year left on his contract. Arenado didn’t want to be part of a “rebuild” in Colorado so why would he want to do it here? His 4 year $94m contract (after the$5m/year from Colorado) for the next 4 years doesn’t seem to fit into a restructure phase. I would also consider packaging some of your best “prospects” to acquire more reliable bats in the lineup. You saw the current 2023 batting stats above. Which of these “regulars” is going to “break out” and become a star? 

…Rarely do the Cards sign the highest level of free agents. The top-rated players demand long term, huge money. That combo doesn’t fit the Cardinals appetite to balance the budget. One can never forget that the Cardinals are a Business for the DeWitts.

…Now, the Cardinals management has to take their time & “hit” on their signings & trades. The Willson Contreras fiasco is an example of signing a player who they recognized had defensive faults and, apparently, gambled on his batting. The early signs (3 months) is that the Cards missed on Contreras & his multi year $89 million dollar contract for multiple years. And….the Cards KNEW for months that Yadi was retiring. They couldn’t afford to miss on his replacement…but they did.

…The team really isn’t fun to watch right now. They are trending towards the “lovable” Browns type support. However, Cardinal fans haven’t sat through this type of “action” for many decades. And….we really don’t want that to last for any length of time.

…The Browns kept reducing prices to draw fans. The Cards have taken a different approach. They’ve resorted to giving out trinkets, hats, shirts of all sorts at practically every home game as part of their “draw” to the game. How long can that last?

…Come on Cards look in the mirror….YOU must modify this roster using the trade market to improve this team with short term & long term implications. Or…you’ll be the Browns of the past!

…What are YOUR thoughts? I expect that there will be some strong feelings about some parts of this Buzz. Thanks for the read!! Bob