St. Louis Cardinals: Plan-B for the 2018 Cardinals

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Spring Training always brings hope and excitement for the upcoming St. Louis Cardinals season… until an inevitable injury tosses Plan-A out the window.

In recent years, February and March for the St. Louis Cardinals has lent as much of an air of predictability as it has anticipation for “game that matter.” The front office claims that everyone’s jobs — except for stalwart catcher Yadier Molina — are up for grabs.

Yet, as Pitchers and Catchers leads to Green Hats and Adam Wainwright’s 5th Start, it becomes clear that the only true competition has been for the last spots on the bench and in the bullpen.

The only wrench that ever gets thrown into the spokes of John “Steinbeck” Mozeliak’s “best laid plans” is when the unpredictable, but infinitely unsurprising major injury occurs. In 2017, it was Alex Reyes’ elbow. In 2016, it was Jhonny Peralta’s thumb that thrust Aledmys Diaz into the spotlight as the Shortstop of the Future…at least for a year.

Still, just because Plan-A goes awry doesn’t mean all is lost. In late February of 2011, staff ace Wainwright went down for the year, but that season ended up okay. In fact, the last two World Series campaigns for the St. Louis Cardinals were, in many ways, blueprints for poisoned seasons.

However, the 2018 Cards don’t have the antidote of an “MV3” or an “Albert Pujols/Chris Carpenter Beastfest.”

Let’s take a look at what this year’s club does have…if the predictably unthinkable happens.

ST. LOUIS, MO – MAY 16: Reliever Brett Cecil /

How would the St. Louis Cardinals adjust their plans should a catastrophe strike the bullpen?

St. Louis Cardinals’ Plan-B: If it ain’t one of the kids, pray that Addison Reed, Wade Davis, Brandon Morrow, Bryan Shaw, Alex Colome, Greg Holland, and Juan Nicasio all have terrible seasons while waiting for the St. Louis Cardinals’ own Henry Rowengartner to show up in the bleachers one day and say “I told you so!”

Bullpens and their inherent volatility mean they’re always going to be heavily scrutinized. Yet, in 2018, that could prove to be doubly true for Mozeliak, manager Mike Matheny, and new pitching coach Mike Maddux after the front office has doubled down on their bevy of young arms. When someone gets hurt or underperforms this year, Mo and Co. will rely on safety in numbers to fix the problem.

Y’know, the thing they said they weren’t gonna do when the offseason began…

If anointed-closer Luke Gregerson, late inning revelation Tyler Lyons, or newly-acquired Dominic Leone go down, the Cardinals will be hoping that a late-inning monster will emerge from the likes of Jordan Hicks, Ryan Helsley, or Dakota Hudson.

If not, they’re putting a lot of stock in a Brett Cecil bounce-back, a Sam Tuivailala ascension, or a graduation from John Brebbia, Matthew Bowman, or Ryan Sherriff.

The answer for a bullpen crisis, though, could be the same as that of the starting rotation: Alex Reyes. Ideally, Reyes would prepare for the workload of a starter by popping triple digits in the late innings for a few months, but what if he’s needed sooner than that? He can’t be the savior of both the rotation and the bullpen, can he? Wait, can he? No. Sometimes I write crazy things…

PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 22: Carson Kelly /

How would the St. Louis Cardinals adjust their plans should a catastrophe strike the catching position?

St. Louis Cardinals’ Plan-B: Despite both arms being in casts — the only thing that would prevent Yadi Molina from playing 130+ games — he lifts Carson Kelly up on the Budweiser Terrace like Simba at Pride Rock.

Interestingly, 2018 feels like the first year in a long while that Molina isn’t the Cards’ biggest injury concern. He’s a couple of years into his improved conditioning regimen, and — most importantly — he’s now backed up by baseball’s number-2 catching prospect, Kelly, who is himself backed up by rising prospect Andrew Knizner.

Kelly struggled with the bat in limited duty in 2017, but his history suggests he would improve as an everyday player.

Of course, Yadi is the heart and soul of the team, and losing him would be a significant blow to the lineup — and the pitching staff, for that matter. However, Kelly’s high “floor” and Knizner’s emergence suggest that Plan B is A-okay for catchers.

ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 13: Paul DeJong /

How would the St. Louis Cardinals adjust their plans should a catastrophe strike the infield?

St. Louis Cardinals’ Plan-B: Greg Garcia accepts the shortstop sword, kneels, and summons the combined powers of Bo Hart and Joe McEwing to become the very temporary savior until Mo is able to heal Paul Dejong by providing access to his own personal “blood boy.”

With the once-promising Aledmys Diaz shipped off and a best-in-small-doses Greg Garcia serving as the alternative, Dejong has become the infield’s linchpin. If Paul were to miss any significant period of time, the Cards would be in a pickle as neither Garcia nor Memphis utilityman Breyvic Valera seem like everyday answers.

It will be interesting to see how Yairo Munoz — of the Stephen Piscotty trade — performs in his first full season at Triple-A. Until then, it’s Dejong every day of D’week.

As for the rest of the infield, the corner spots and second base all have built-in, proven backups who are capable of filling in if Plan-A fails.

At third, Jedd Gyorko can be spelled by Matt Carpenter and probably will be as part of Plan-A, if only to get Jose Martinez more ABs at first. Of course, Kolten Wong has Gyorko (and Carpenter) at second, and Carp has Martinez at first. If all else fails, Patrick Wisdom, Max Schrock (re: Piscotty), and Luke Voit wait in the wings.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 01: Harrison Bader /

How would the St. Louis Cardinals adjust their plans should a catastrophe strike the outfield?

St. Louis Cardinals’ Plan-B: Hope that the next Wave Of The Future is actually that and not merely a collection of guys we’ll be waving “bye” to a la Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk, and Magneuris Sierra.

More from Redbird Rants

Following the acquisition of Probably-Our-Best-Player-Now, Marcell Ozuna, the St. Louis Cardinals outfield is one of the top outfields in baseball. After Ozuna, Tommy Pham, and Dexter Fowler, the organization’s embarrassment of riches in outfield depth has been thinned a tad after trading away Piscotty, Grichuk, and Sierra. However, it still remains a strength, but a couple of candidates seem “more ready” than the others if any of the Big Three go down.

The first option would most likely be a timeshare between Jose Martinez for his bat and Harrison Bader for his ability to play all three outfield positions. Bader has nothing left to prove at Triple-A Memphis, and it would be interesting to see how he would handle an everyday role in the bigs… although he is a “Tweety Bird candidate” (def: someone who might run straight through a wall at full speed and knock themselves out on any given play).

After Harry Bay-Bay, Tyler O’Neill is the next Grichuk who the Cardinals hope to be the Guy-Who-They-Hoped-Randal-Grichuk-Would-Become. Make sense? In other words, O’Neill can hit the ball a mile, play strong corner outfield defense, and strike out a ton. If he can get on base a little more often than Randal did, he could be a middle-of-the-order thumper.

If not, Adolis Garcia, Randy Arozarena, and Oscar Mercado might leapfrog him.

Next: Cardinals continue adding pitching depth

For most teams, Plan-B would be a disaster (unless they are a good team). Does Plan-B for the St. Louis Cardinals make them a “good team?” Time will definitely tell!

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