St. Louis Cardinals: A Diamondbacks series might ignite Goldschmidt

PHOENIX, AZ - JULY 22: Paul Goldschmidt #44 of the Arizona Diamondbacks bats against the Colorado Rockies during the MLB game at Chase Field on July 22, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - JULY 22: Paul Goldschmidt #44 of the Arizona Diamondbacks bats against the Colorado Rockies during the MLB game at Chase Field on July 22, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Cardinals newest superstar is going to try and get back to career norms in the second half. A series against his former team might help.

The St. Louis Cardinals haven’t gotten what they expected out of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

When they traded and then signed the superstar to a 5yr/$130M deal this offseason, the team expected to get the six-time All-Star they were used to seeing two series a year, and so far he hasn’t lived up to that.

Sure, he has had hot stretches where he looks like he’s “close” to turning the corner and being the MVP he was in the desert, but then he reverts to the league average player he has been all year.

The line I want to focus on is the second row. It’s just 7 days, but against the Mariners and the Giants, Goldschmidt looked like the dangerous threat we have been waiting for. Selfishly, I wish the All-Star break wouldn’t have happened because if Goldy was beginning to get hot, the break could ruin any momentum.

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Conversely, it could help. If he found a good swing last week, he could work on it more and more in the vacuum of the All-Star break. You know it has to hurt him to not participate in the festivities for the first time in six years…

While that is a super small sample size of good production, Goldy has another thing coming that could jump-start him: playing against his former team. This could be nothing, but for a guy who has clearly been lost at the plate during the majority of the season, seeing familiar faces could light a fire under his butt. Sometimes all it takes is a little more of a friendly rivalry.

It will also be telling for Cardinals fans to see the faces that were traded away to get Goldy back in St. Louis. Carson Kelly will likely be the starting catcher and while the starters for the DBacks haven’t been announced, Luke Weaver very well may be starting against the Birds in one of the games.

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