5 horrible moves that doomed the Cardinals from playoffs in 2023

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After an offseason full of hope, the season ends with more questions than answers after a disastrous-filled season that ended in a 71-91 record. St. Louis Cardinals fans may be spoiled, but this season had problems that should have been addressed before the season even started.

A jolt of stubbornness from the front office to those on the field played a significant role in the terrible season that stunned a fan base used to a winning team that always found a way. While there were some glimpses of success, the 2023 Cardinals could not find a way to put together a winning product consistently.

With the playoffs in full swing, and even the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers out of it, the Cardinals are left to review what happened this year. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak seems set on getting pitching. Hopefully, he's realized other areas need to be addressed.

Manager Oli Marmol said in his final press conference of the season that he's hoping to see the team "weed out" the non-team-focused players. While he didn't name names, he has done so several times during the season, and one could probably look over the list of players he's criticized to see who he may be referring to.

Let's' discuss some of the horrible decisions the Cardinals made and must rectify to improve for 2024.

Cardinals Horrible Moves: Not adding pitching prior to 2023 season

The Cardinals went into the offseason in 2022 and concentrated on getting a top-tier catcher to replace legendary Yadier Molina. They were able to sign Willson Contreras to a five-year deal worth $87.5 million.

The Cardinals had other needs. But Mozeliak was done. He had Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Steven Matz, and maybe a minor leaguer in Jake Woodford and Matthew Liberatore. Dakota Hudson even got in the mix. Except for Montgomery, Mozeliak ignored that none of these pitchers have been healthy or coming off good years. There was always something.

Mozeliak insisted that he would have a successful gamble in betting on these pitchers to come up clutch for them. He has some other talent in the minor leagues if he needs more. They will be ok.

The Cardinals, however, were not ok. Every pitcher the Cardinals gambled with to start the year failed miserably to prove they were proven pitchers to count on.

It took Mozeliak about two weeks before the trade deadline to admit he was wrong about the pitching staff. Even then, he only made moves geared toward the future.

Cardinals Horrible Moves: Insisting on trusting the outfield

Another poor decision by the Cardinals was trusting the outfield they had going into the 2023 season. Dylan Carlson and Tyler O'Neill suffered injuries throughout the season. Even with efforts to stay healthy, Carlson and O'Neill spent significant time on the injured list.

Lars Nootbaar was another returning starter. While he was very successful in centerfield during the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan, he had his share of time on the injured list. Rookie phenom Jordan Walker was named the Opening Day right fielder after only a few months of learning the position. He struggled and was even demoted to Triple-A Memphis to retool his swing. But, he ended the season on a solid note.

The Cardinals had to turn to uber utility man Tommy Edman to take up some of the slack and play a brilliant center field for the Cardinals down the stretch. They also got help from Richie Palacios, who was traded to the Cardinals from the Guardians. Alec Burleson spent some time in the outfield as well.

The Cardinals knew what they had in the outfield going into this season. It's telling that there was a momentary thought of putting Conteras in left field at one point. This was quickly dismissed, though.

One or both of Carlson and O'Neill will be moved this offseason. Burleson may be a good trade piece as well. Nootbaar and Walker are definite untouchables. Edman will play wherever, but you also want him in the middle infield. Palacios is a fun bench option.

The Cardinals could use a good veteran outfielder with a power bat to pair with Walker and Nootbaar.

Cardinals Horrible Moves: Hiring Dusty Blake as pitching coach

When Mike Maddux announced he would not return to be closer to family in the Dallas - Fort Worth area, it was assumed the Cardinals would get a pitching coach to help a struggling staff.

Before working in the analytics department for the Cardinals, Dusty Blake was a college-level coach. While in the analytics department, he gained insight on best explaining to pitchers how the analytical information they gather can best apply to them.

Sounds excellent and precisely what Mozeliak probably wanted for the pitching staff. But having someone with some actual big-league experience for insight is also a great idea. When it came to those big league, high-stress moments early in the season - and remember, there were quite a few - Blake looked overwhelmed, which led to some unnecessary drama. It's easy to see that part of the blame Willson Contreras received at the first of the year for not being precisely like Yadier Molina could be attributed to Blake being new to the job. Neither Blake nor Contreras were put in an extraordinary situation.

While Blake had considerable positive growth as the season went along, it's easy to see he wasn't the right pick for the job. He's a great analyst and would do well as an assistant coach. It will not be shocking to see him reassigned within the club. If he wants the job, it would be awesome to see the team hire someone like Chris Carpenter as the pitching coach.

Cardinals Horrible Moves: Not getting immediate help at the trade deadline

It's well-documented that before the trade deadline this season, Mozeliak would go after pitching, pitching, and more pitching. He did acknowledge that the trades he would make would be geared toward 2024 and beyond, but it would have been great to have seen him get a piece or two that could have helped immediately.

At the trade deadline, it didn't seem the team was too far gone to have made a little run to make things at least a little more exciting. But they didn't. And you could tell by the end of the season when the team was crawling to the end, that it could have been good for the team's morale to have gotten immediate help at the deadline.

Yes, Adam Wainwright getting his 200th win was beautiful. Wainwright's farewell weekend was fantastic. But. He and the entire squad deserved more. The team floundered and looked burned out by the end of the season. Their morale was abysmal. And it was all avoidable had Mozeliak constructed a better roster and not waited until the last second to acknowledge that fact.

Cardinals Horrible Moves: Allowing Oli Marmol to continue publicly criticizing players

It came off as petty, entitled, and just childish behavior. It's not the behavior of someone who is a leader of men. It's not the behavior of anyone you'd want to work with in your day-to-day life. You would probably look for another workplace and be ready to move on.

Cardinals fans saw a side of Marmol that wasn't pleasant this season. Every time he sat before the media, answering questions, you never knew what would happen.

It started with his public criticism of Tyler O'Neill for a perceived lack of hustle. The matter should have been kept between the player and the manager. Instead, Marmol went to the media and criticized the player, who fans were told made a special effort that offseason to maintain health to stay on the field more. He changed his whole routine. And then, he's criticized for not hustling?

And weeks later, Willson Contreras is publicly criticized for not being Yadier Molina. The team had plenty of time to tap into Molina's head and get him to discuss how he prepares so the method could be passed along. It was as if they thought he would never leave. Contreras lasted a week into the demotion to designated hitter and was quickly returned to being the Cardinals starter. He worked with the pitching staff on what they needed. It was simple and didn't need the pearl-clutching that ensued.

It's frustrating that Mozeliak and company are going into this offseason, with Contreras being the everyday catcher still in question. They signed him to a five-year contract worth $87.5 million. Mozeliak and Marmol were highly involved in recruiting him to the Cardinals.

There were other incidents with more players as the season carried on. Fans hoped the end of the criticisms tapered off. But then Marmol's final press conference of the season happened. He was asked about next season. As if he could not help himself, Marmol responded that he wanted to "weed out" the players who were not all about the team. Surprisingly, he did not name names. It's pretty easy to assume who could be on Marmol's weeding-out list, but time will tell as the offseason rolls on.

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It would be nice if this new way of communication were just an experiment. Marmol did seem to patch things up with the players, but the talk makes you wonder what's happening behind closed doors. That is not something fans should be concerned about. I can not foresee it continuing and players being okay with it.

While Adam Wainwright came forward with Jack Flaherty to take the pressure off Contreras, it was surprising not to see someone like Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado take up for Tyler O'Neill or others.

There were real communication issues this season; hopefully, this gets addressed as well. These are unacceptable actions for grown men.

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