St. Louis Cardinals: Five bold predictions for the 2019 season

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MILWAUKEE, WI – JUNE 21: Pitching coach Mike Maddux meets with Carlos Martinez #18 in the fourth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on June 21, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

The 2019 season is upon us for the St. Louis Cardinals. What bold predictions can be made for how this season is going to go?

Spring Training is upon us and your St. Louis Cardinals. While many argue that they have not done enough to improve the club from 2018, the truth is that nobody really knows how the team will perform in 2019.

2018 was a very up and down year that saw Dexter Fowler and Brett Cecil take huge steps back while Harrison Bader and Jack Flaherty emerged as the next wave of young stars for the hometown team. Matt Carpenter went from the worst hitter in the league to an MVP candidate and back. I don’t know about you, but I am ready to leave the 2018 season and offseason in the mirror.

The best thing for everyone’s mental health is for a new season to start. Now that spring has started we can all freak out over a video of Marcell Ozuna throwing, Paul Goldschmidt hitting batting practice bombs, and Rob Manfred sweeping an existential issue under the rug.

With all these fun things in mind, and the warm spring air all around, I am going to make five bold predictions about what is going to happen to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. They will not all be good, they definitely won’t be right, and will probably be about as inventive as any one of our readers could come up with. Without further delay, lets dig in to the list.

ST. LOUIS, MO – AUGUST 28: Tyler O’Neill #41 of the St. Louis Cardinals crosses home plate after hitting a two-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth inning at Busch Stadium on August 28, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

#1 Marcell Ozuna does not finish the year on the Cardinals

This prediction was a last minute edition, but one that makes some of the following predictions to occur. Marcell Ozuna’s relationship with management of the St. Louis Cardinals seems to be fractured. As happy and smiley as everyone was when Ozuna was acquired, the lack of performance last year tarnished the fanbase’s view of him. Well- it wasn’t as much the lack of performance that hurt his reputation but the reason for it.

Ozuna came to the Cardinals with shoulder issues that he said were going to be fixed, and that shoulder issue can be pointed to as the main reason why he underperformed in 2018. Now, coming into the 2019 offseason, John Mozeliak urged strongly that Ozuna fix his shoulder issues this winter, and now it appears Ozuna may not be ready for opening day.

The more I hear comments from Mozeliak in reference to Ozuna, who is in a walk year, the more I feel like it’s a disappointed dad talking about his son. Mo just seems frustrated by Ozuna’s lack of respect for his own game or fixing the issue. For this reason, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Ozuna flipped to another team at the trade deadline this year, much like the Cardinals did with the fiery Tommy Pham last July.

I want Ozuna to be the player he was in 2016, I want him to be able to throw, to anchor the cleanup spot and take us to a championship. I’m sure Mo wants that too. But all too often in situations like this where the player is at odds with management, they usually aren’t around long. It should be interesting to see how it unfolds.

#2 Tyler O’Neill leads the team in homers

This prediction hinges mainly on the prediction above. By this I mean that if Tyler O’Neill has enough playing time to lead the team in homers, either Dexter Fowler or Ozuna is hurt, benched or gone. I want both of those players to perform, but if they don’t, O’Neill should be able to take hold of a job and run with it.

Specifically with Ozuna out of the picture, O’Neill would become the prime left fielder and be able to show off his power on a daily basis. This may be the plan the Cardinals have for 2020 anyway as they have shown next to zero interest in resigning Ozuna, but they may have to go to this plan early.

When I say that O’Neill will lead the team, I’m sure most of you instantly think that it’s wrong and that new Cardinal, Paul Goldschmidt, will lead the team in dingers. What I mean is more of a 35 homer prediction for O’Neill and a 32 homer prediction for Goldy. O’Neill can do it too. Why do I say 35? O’Neill hit 35 homers combined last year between AAA Memphis and the Cardinals, even with limited playing time while he was with the big league club. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

#3 Jack Flaherty finishes top 5 in Cy Young voting

This prediction is not really going out on too much of a limb as MLB’s social media team put out a graphic earlier in the offseason that hinted that Cardinals’ sophomore stud, Jack Flaherty, is a dark horse Cy Young candidate. Coming off a rookie year where he made 28 starts with just a 3.34 ERA and 1.106 WHIP, Flaherty needs to step up and settle a shaky rotation for the St. Louis Cardinals.

With the uncertainty with Carlos Martinez and an old Adam Wainwright, Flaherty can take a hold on the ace position in the staff if he puts it all together. That being said, I am going to predict that Flaherty not only takes control of the staff but the entire National League. Flaherty was stellar last year and it’s not out of the realm of possibility to predict that he keeps making steps forward.

The best sign, for me, that Flaherty is going to keep growing was that Flaherty has no injury history and pitched 151 innings last year. If he is healthy, he will perform. It’s as simple as that.

ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 10: Adam Wainwright #50 of the St. Louis Cardinals tips his cap after recording his 1,600th career strikeout while playing against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second inning at Busch Stadium on September 10, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

#4 Adam Wainwright’s career has a rough ending

Listen, I am just as big of an Adam Wainwright fan as anyone else that loves the Cardinals and everything good in the world. He is my favorite Cardinals player personality and leader that I have seen in my lifetime on the team. That being said, I don’t have high hopes for his performance this year. Due to past issues, he is already not a great fan of this blog, so I figure this prediction won’t hurt our relationship with him at all, so why not.

Last year, I thought at one point that Waino had given up. After one of his rougher starts, he finally admitted that it might be time for Jack Flaherty to take his place in the rotation. Fast forward to August, and he was back on his feet pitching surprisingly well. After the season he restructured his deal to come back for at least one more season on a contract full of incentives.

Fast forward to this spring and Mike Shildt has already named him (somewhat prematurely) a member of the starting rotation. While Waino threw two scoreless innings in his first start, that doesn’t mean that he will be back to how he used to be. In fact, I am going to predict that by about mid-June, he is no longer in the rotation. Waino has thrown a lot of innings in his career and the last few years have shown us that his body may not be able to take it anymore.

Whether he would go from the rotation to a bullpen spot is something that will just have to play itself out, but I don’t think it would be out of the question to see Waino’s age catch up with him this year and end his career. I hope he ends up coaching for your St. Louis Cardinals one day.

#5 Lane Thomas is this year’s breakout contributor

Every year there seems to be a minor league player who comes out of nowhere and finds a way to produce in a big way for the team. This is why other teams say that the Cardinals have “devil magic.” In the past, players like Matt Bowman, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Daniel Descalso and others have seemingly came out of nowhere and became a big part of the team when they weren’t viewed as high prospects.

Lane Thomas is slightly out of this category as he is gaining some notoriety as a prospect after a very strong 2018 season. After he was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017 for international cap space, Thomas hit 24 homers last year between AA and AAA. To go along with his .823 OPS last year, he was stellar in center field and even has shown some of his talent with the glove earlier this spring.

In an outfield that has question marks with Ozuna’s arm in left field and a questionable amount of production in right field, Thomas could step into a role as a fourth outfielder that provides some pop should injuries or a move by the team give him the chance. Be sure to watch him this year.

Finally

There are my five bold predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. I would not be surprised to see none of these come true, but either way, this year should be fun to watch. Should O’Neill get enough playing time, he has the pop to lead the team. Flaherty has the stuff and the bulldog mentality to make him a Cy Young pitcher. Lane Thomas has about as good of power as anyone in the upper levels of the Cardinals systems.

Once again, I am a huge Adam Wainwright fan, but I just couldn’t let myself predict that everything this year was going to be sunshine and rainbows for the St. Louis Cardinals. As we have all seen in every year since baseball began, someone will get hurt, someone will step back, and players will breakout.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot of potential in a potential-packed NL Central in 2019. With the additions of Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller, they are in a good spot for progress this year. Hopefully their Harper-less offseason had the right moves to help this team make the Postseason.

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