St. Louis Cardinals: Yadier Molina and his waterlogged offense

As the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation — which has kept the team from drowning to date, but barely — continues its descent toward the mean, management will have to find other ways to tread water.

One of those water-treading ways is to take a hard look at the current lineup predicament the St. Louis Cardinals face with potential Hall of Famer Yadier Molina.

It’s not likely that the St. Louis Cardinals’ solutions for improvement will come from either base running (gulp) or the bullpen (gasp), certainly not if the season to date is any indication.

There seems to be a tad more success recently with the defense, with five National League teams miraculously lower than the Redbirds in overall defense, according to Fangraphs. But that incremental improvement is hardly the stuff of which smooth sailing is made.

No doubt General Manager John Mozeliak is assessing whether this year’s incarnation is a buyer or seller at the trade deadline. In the absence of a roster shakeup, however, the question becomes, is there a way to jump-start the engine on this tugboat?

Well, one way that Manager Mike Matheny has attempted to generate offense is via lineup manipulation. Apparently the reversion of Matt Carpenter to leadoff has helped, and the magnificent Dexter Fowler is more than happy to follow Carp as long as he has a consistent 2-hole spot.

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Other than those two, the most productive hitters on the team, in some order, comprise Jedd Gyorko, Tommy Pham, Kolten Wong and Stephen Piscotty. And with Wong assigned to the 8-hole when healthy, it would seem that the other names mentioned would take up the 3 through 5 holes in some combination.

And yet, the most common name penciled into the fifth spot continues to be Molina.

Other than respect for the overall contribution of the all-time Cardinal, is there any reason at all to believe the catcher’s offensive production justifies this spot?

At first glance, the answer is no. At all other glances, the answer remains the same.

We love Yadi to pieces, but it’s not hard to see how he has become a brutal drag on a lineup that is starved for runs. His isolated power is way down to .152, he’s not getting on base regularly, and overall, he’s just not contributing to the run-creation machine in any meaningful way.

Some defenders might point to the pretty low .271 BABIP that Yadi is paddling around this season. Perhaps that’s a fair argument in predicting he might turn it around, but my question back is, can we afford to wait to find out?

Certainly the offensive stragglers this year are Molina and sophomore Aledmys Diaz, both of whom have sunk to a disappointing 82 wRC+. Do we truly want to be depending on them to bring Carp and Fowler home when runs are as scarce as a treasure island?

Yes, one can absolutely debate Matheny’s choice to leave Wong in the 8-hole when he’s healthy and producing, Yet, that next-to-last lineup position does give Carp and Dex the chance to bring the fleet Wong around when the inning survives the pitcher’s at bat.

Next: St. Louis Cardinals: Dexter Fowler continues power surge

No such alternate justification is available for Yadi in the 5-hole, alas. He is, at least right now, an anchor, and to keep the run production buoyed, he must move down until the proverbial flotation device pumps him up.

As the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation — which has kept the team from drowning to date, but barely — continues its descent toward the mean, management will have to find other ways to tread water.

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