4 reasons why the Cardinals should regret letting pitching coach Mike Maddux go

The St. Louis Cardinals' pitching staff as a whole has struggled tremendously this year. The stats show very clearly how bad the rotation has been and how shaky the bullpen is. Many fans were unhappy with Mike Maddux while he was in St. Louis; however, the Texas Rangers are currently in first place in their division and are playing strong baseball.

Maddux's coaching career in the majors dates back to 2003 when he coached for the Milwaukee Brewers until 2008. He then moved to the Rangers from 2009-2015. A brief stint in Washington lasted until 2018, and he was then hired by the Cardinals in 2018. He coached for the Cardinals until the end of the 2022 season when his contract was not renewed. The Rangers once again picked him up to be their pitching coach for at least the 2023 season.

In Maddux's four seasons in St. Louis, he led the staff to a cumulative 3.87 ERA (top-8 during these years) and kept teams to 4.03 runs per game. Excluding 2020, the staff was in the top-5 in shutouts each year in addition to being in the top-3 each of those years in home runs allowed per nine (possibly attributable to the 98 park factor in Busch Stadium III).

Suffice it to say, Maddux led a top-10 staff in his four years in St. Louis. While the strikeouts weren't high, his pitchers did a strong job limiting runs. That's the name of the game in the end, isn't it?

Let's look at four ways in which Maddux's absence from the coaching staff has hurt the Cardinals this year. Keep in mind, coaches can only do so much to help players. The majority of the burden of performance is and should be on the starters and relievers who are playing the game.

4 reasons why letting Mike Maddux go was a mistake