St. Louis Cardinals: Not enough, Mr. Mozeliak, but a start

The St. Louis Cardinals made a splash today making changes to the MLB roster. These changes are nice, are overdue, but aren’t enough.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been lackluster this season. And that is putting it nicely. All promise, all hope has been squandered from names who should be instilling hope and promise.

Greg Holland was the first name to fall today and this was far overdue. I was one of the writers who had urged and begged for the St. Louis Cardinals to snatch up Holland but never could I have predicted that he would have fizzled as he did.

I kept thinking that Holland’s issues were due to his lack of spring training but we see now that he may simply have lost that spark he once had. Many are saying that he will become a great pitcher once again with a contending team (actually Holland says this is what HE wants) but I just don’t see it happening. Don’t ask me to bet for or against that prediction however.

Mr. Tyler Lyons, of the “I really look like a baseball player” fame, found himself being shipped elsewhere as well. Lyons had every promise but I blame Mike Matheny and company for the mistreatment and overuse of Lyons.

During the Matheny days, Lyons was never consistently used and was instead switched between a long relief guy and a lefty specialist. He was also never used as a starter appropriately. In other words, Matheny never slotted him against teams that could build his stamina and allow him success.

Sam Tuivailala with all his closer promise and success in Memphis just never seemed able to get a foothold in the majors. He is one who I am not sad to see go but I can tell you that his days with the Memphis club were great and he was a very good closer candidate for them.

When all the waves settle on these pieces of news tomorrow, the St. Louis Cardinals will still be left with a sub-par team. Names like Brett Cecil and Dexter Fowler will still be on the team. In fact, these two names (and others) are on the hook for a few seasons to come.

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Let me make a few suggestions, Mr. Mozeliak. First, let’s use Matt Carpenter while his getting is good. The time has finally come to trade him for a long-term solution to some of our problems.

Second, Jose Martinez would look really good in pinstripes and those Yanks need his services right now. While the Yankees are very likely to go all-in on Mike Moustakas, Martinez would provide them a less expensive way to get almost the same thing (just with weaker defensive abilities).

Third, the time has come to get Tommy Pham clicking again and then use him as bait too.

Fourth, the guys in Memphis need to come up and go out. Names like Patrick Wisdom ought to either play in the majors for the St. Louis Cardinals or play in the majors for another MLB team. Rangel Ravelo should be shopped to whomever might have interest, and Luke Voit should either come on up and spell playing time for the Cardinals or find out what he has for 2019.

Lastly, the Matheny change was a shakeup and the news today was more shaking but the fundamental crackdown hasn’t yet occurred and is desperately needed. So, while I was happy with the news today, I’m not convinced the Cardinals are aware of their identity just yet. Not just yet.

Time to make REAL waves, Mr. Mozeliak. Time to make fundamental change and- honestly- time to focus on 2019 and beyond.