St. Louis Cardinals: Seth Maness Marred

St. Louis Cardinals’ king of groundballs, Seth Maness, had a down year in 2015 and is seemingly struggling this spring.  Is it time to cut ties?

Noted for his abilities to induce groundball outs, Seth Maness was the go-to guy for the St. Louis Cardinals late in games when runners were threatening.  Then, last season happened and fans witnessed Maness face challenges.  Fast forward to this spring- and renewed hope- where expectations were for Maness to return to form.

Now, after appearing in five games, it seems as though the marring struggles continue.

Looking back, in 2013, at 24 years old Maness earned a respectable 2.32 ERA over 66 games.  In these games, Maness appeared across 62 innings allowing 65 hits but only allowing 16 earned runs.  All of this while also amassing a WHIP of 1.258.  This was the season that Maness’ abilities for groundball double-play-outs were on great display.

In 2014, Maness stayed relatively consistent, earning an ERA of 2.91 over 73 games.  In these games, he appeared in 80.1 innings (an increase of 18.1 innings over 2013).  In these appearances, Maness allowed 77 hits which equate to fewer than one additional hit per additional inning over his stats of 2013: certainly impressive and begged for his place among the pen.

Advanced stats of 2014 include a WHIP of 1.095 which was a decrease from 2013.  Fans- at this point- loved Maness and rightfully so.  2013 and 2014 seemed to show a force from the pen that Maness embodied through his ability to shut down an offense from the pen and one that Matheny used often.

Then came 2015 and with it came struggles.  In 2015, Matheny used Maness in three additional games above his 2014 count (76 games) but in far fewer innings across these games (used in only 63.1 innings).  The decrease in innings was a direct result of Maness’ struggles.

In 2013 and 2014, Maness was used to shut down an inning and would be brought in to do that without the need for an additional pitcher used.  This was not the case often in 2015 wherein Matheny would reluctantly need to replace Maness in the middle of innings.

Maness earned an ERA of 4.26 in 2015, allowed 77 hits (same as 2014), and allowed 30 earned runs.  These were his worst stats of his career.  Also, his WHIP this season posted at 1.421– another worst for his career.

As is noted in Josh Brown’s Maness closer look, a major red flag was his ability to produce only 55 percent groundballs (his usual strength) in 2015.  Without his groundball ability, Maness showed that his remaining repertoire might not have been strong enough to maintain his place in the pen.

2015 was certainly a danger-Will-Robinson season, but should we all be concerned for 2016?  Maness’ projections for 2016 look like this:

Will these statistics assuage any worry?  While not terrible, these aren’t the Maness of old and do account for increases over his historic statistics.  This season’s spring training shows these increases as well.  In spring this year, Maness’ struggles have seemingly continued.  He seems incredibly marred in mediocre material.  These are his spring numbers so far:

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Again, do these indicate a reason for worry?  To me, these certainly do indicate reason for worry and should likely indicate that something dramatic needs to occur in relation to Maness.  I find myself thinking of solutions such as time spent with Memphis, a trip to the disabled list, or even ultimately a DFA.  I’d love to say that Maness could bring value through trade but cannot with the current statistics.

So what happens now?  What should the St. Louis Cardinals do with Seth Maness?  If GM Mozeliak were to call me today, I would recommend that the team find some mysterious illness that could be contributing to Maness’ struggles, give him seven or fifteen days of rest and then three or four rehab starts with Memphis.

Should he show his old stuff again (noting immediately that the opponents Maness has faced this spring were AAA-equivalent players) then call him back up.  If he continues to struggle, let’s cut our losses.

Next: Worries for Waino?

The 2016 pen seems loaded as it is and including a mediocre player doesn’t seem to be the wisest decision for a team slated by many to be in contention only for the wild card play-in game.  I think the birds need stronger arms in the pen than we have witnessed from Maness.  That’s just me though and certainly stands in contrast to the bromance that Matheny seems to have for Seth.  Time will tell, I guess.