St. Louis Cardinals: Bringing Jeff Albert back Highlights Complacency

The St. Louis Cardinals will be bringing their hitting coach, Jeff Albert, back next season. This highlights a bigger issue for the organization.

The St. Louis Cardinals offense was not good in 2020. They were 28th in runs scored, 28th in slugging, and 22nd in batting average. The players, a large number of them, didn’t get it done. There needs to be some accountability. The front office should spend the next several months working on how to improve.

Some blame has to fall on the hitting coach. Jeff Albert has not been the Cardinals hitting coach long but the results just aren’t there. I’m not the kind of person who happily advocates for someone to lose their job. That said, there seemed to be a real sense that Albert was on the hot seat.

How many teams would have fired their hitting coach after a season like the Cardinals offense had in 2020? My guess would be a few, maybe several. But not this team. Not the St. Louis Cardinals.

This highlights a bigger issue. The Cardinals are complacent.

The Cardinals are always competitive and always in the playoff race. They deserve credit for that, and I’m not questioning their methods. But imagine if instead of aiming for good enough to get to October and rolling the dice once you get there, the Cardinals set their standards higher. Look at the Los Angeles Dodgers. After making it to the World Series several times in the last half-decade they trade for Mookie Betts and sign him to a long-term deal. That’s the kind of energy and urgency the Cardinals lack.

Before you say it, I know. The Cardinals don’t have the financial firepower the Dodgers do. It’s not about spending the most money, it’s about wanting more. While the Cardinals are content with 85 wins and division titles, the Dodgers weren’t content with losing in the World Series.

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How is this related to Jeff Albert? It signifies the Cardinals’ complacency. Albert might not be the biggest problem the Cardinals have. He certainly isn’t the only one. There is also something to the thought process of keeping him around for a (hopefully) full season in 2021. But the leash should be short.

I don’t expect the St. Louis Cardinals to improve this offseason in a meaningful way. They made the postseason and that’s enough for them. Even with a struggling offense and a starting rotation that now has a fair share of questions, they’ll probably rely on their eternal strategy of “hope”.

Keeping Jeff Albert only supports that theory. If they had let him leave and found a replacement, that would show that they understood and recognized the need for change. Instead, it’s another year of the status quo. As St. Louis Cardinals fans, we shouldn’t be surprised.

Keeping this same offense (from a player standpoint) and keeping the same hitting coach doesn’t give me much confidence that things will change next season. Sure, the Cardinals could make some moves and bring in a much-needed power bat to support Paul Goldschmidt. But if retaining Jeff Albert is any indication, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.