3 former Cardinals that are failing with their new teams

There has been plenty of ex-Cardinals that are thriving with their new clubs, but not all of them have had that same fortune.

With the Cardinals contending for division titles and championships in the last couple of decades, it has led to the Cardinals having to let go of certain players to help the team fill immediate needs. Also, with the Cardinals' successful development of prospects, it has forced them to either trade or let guys go to give those younger players the opportunity to get playing time in the big leagues.

Some of the players the Cardinals have let go of over the years have blossomed into perennial All-Stars, guys like Randy Arozarena, Sandy Alcantara, and Zac Gallen. What makes these three stand out is not just their great play but the fact that the Cardinals did not get the same level of success in return. But not every single player has turned out that way.

Often times, the players that the Cardinals let go of tend to be the right calls. Sometimes they let prospects go who end up not becoming contributors for other organzations as well. Sometimes they let go of a peaking player and their down years of their careers are spent somewhere else. And sometimes, we may think in the moment the Cardinals are giving up on a player who will be really good, and they just prove us wrong. Call it good discernment or luck, but it happens more often than you'd think.

Here are three examples of Cardinals who have not found success with their new clubs.

Kolten Wong

Wong was a very likable and productive player in his 8 seasons in St. Louis, it was hard to see him go. After being selected by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2011 draft he made a quick jump up to the major leagues and in his time in St. Louis he was a rookie of the year finalist and a 2-time Gold Glove winner. His most notable moment was his walk-off home run in Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS against the Giants.

It felt like Wong wanted to return to the Cardinals when he became a free agent after the 2020 season, but the front office didn't seem as interested in bringing him back. Likely due to the fact that Tommy Edman was next in line to become the second baseman, so Wong became the odd man out. He stayed in the division playing two seasons with the Brewers, and he got a lengthy ovation from the St.Louis faithful in the first game at Busch with fans in the stands post-COVID.

Wong was traded to the Mariners this past offseason for Abraham Toro and Jesse Winker and it has not gotten off to a good start. In his first 32 games with Seattle, he only hitting .177 with a minuscule .208 SLG. In every full season he has played Wong has never hit lower than .240 so you could expect him to heat up as the season goes on, but he is not the only offensive player to see their numbers slip when they head to Seattle. We saw it happen to all-star hitters Adrian Beltre and Robinson Cano, with Wong he is coming from a hitters-friendly ballpark in Milwaukee to one of the hardest places to hit in Seattle. Time will tell if Wong improves at all this season, but I'm sure Cardinal Nation will be rooting him on.

Austin Gomber

This one honestly does not surprise me as much. Like I was saying about hitting in Seattle, it is very difficult to pitch in Colorado, only a handful of pitchers have ever really tamed the beast of Coors Field. Gomber was the Cardinals 4th round pick in the 2014 MLB draft and made his MLB debut in 2018 pitching in the rotation and bullpen. He was the only major league player that went back to Colorado in the Nolan Arenado trade after having a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings with St.Louis in 2020.

Gomber joined the Rockies rotation in 2021 and had a 4.53 ERA in 23 starts which isn't terrible for a Rockies pitcher. In fact that season he pitched better in Coors as he had a 2.09 ERA. That success however did not carry on with him, he struggled in 2022 and was ultimately removed from the rotation in the middle of the season. And so far in 2023, those struggles continue to mount, as he has a 6.70 ERA after 9 starts. And back to his splits at Coors Field, Gomber has an 8.75 ERA at home, it has been a difficult stretch for him.

Whether or not Gomber can turn things around is unknown, but looking at the other players the Rockies acquired for Arenado doesn't look promising for them. Elehuris Montero might turn out to be a quality hitter for them, but so far the other prospects have not done anything for them. Even if Gomber starts to pitch better it may not matter all that much when you're referring to who benefited the most from this trade. With Nolan Arenado now officially under contract and staying in St. Louis for a long time, this was a disaster for the Rockies, and Gomber struggling just adds insult to injury.