7 former St. Louis Cardinals who have recently called out the organization

The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the most professional, buttoned-up organizations in baseball over the last few decades. The organization preaches continuity, tight lips, and a connection to its storied history that few other franchises can mirror.

It's rare for former players, coaches, executives, or staff members to openly speak negatively about the organization, so when it does happen, it can be quite jarring.

More often than not, you'll hear glowing comments about the St. Louis Cardinals. From Stephen Piscotty thanking the organization for trading him to be closer to family to Matt Holliday speaking graciously about the Cardinals during his Hall of Fame speech, the list of alumni who loved their time in St. Louis is quite lengthy.

However, in recent years, the population of alumni who have grown tired with the franchise is lengthening. Several former players, coaches, and staff members have been outwardly frustrated with the way the organization has changed. No longer is "The Cardinal Way" prevalent. The Cardinals are now a calculating, analytical, hard-nosed organization that wants to do things their own way, something that can rub former players the wrong way.

There are several former players who have now spoken without the benefit of anonymity against the St. Louis Cardinals for one reason or another. For some alumni, they got tired of how they were bounced up and down as a prospect, for others it's how dated the organization was in its player development, and still for others, it's about how the franchise has lost its connection to the past.

Here are seven former Cardinals who have spoken out against the organization in recent memory.

RHP Paul Schwendel

Paul Schwendel may not be a name you're familiar with, but the former Cardinal spoke out against the organization's pitching development back in 2023.

This saga started with Eno Sarris of The Athletic posting on Twitter/X that the Cardinals rank near the bottom of most advanced pitching metrics, particularly Stuff+, a stat devised by Sarris himself. Schwendel added credence to Sarris's findings in a response he posted on the site, too.

"Our director of player development for the Cardinals came to town when I was playing in their system in Peoria 2 years ago and told us to stop trying to strike people out," said Schwendel. "Throw fastballs down the middle and have the hitters on base or out in 3 pitches. A coach pulled us aside afterwards and told us that the analysts didn't see it that way and we should be trying to punch people out. Incoherent strategy in that org on the pitching front. They had pitching coaches with no idea how to use Trackman."

Schwendel was with the organization for just one year in 2021, and the rest of his career was spent in independent ball. His comments support what many believed about the Cardinals' dated and unsuccessful pitching development system at the time. Though Paul never found success in professional baseball, he still worked within the organization and saw first-hand how archaic the system was at the time.