5 players the St. Louis Cardinals did dirty during the 2023 season

It's been a long and miserable year for the Cardinals, but it's finally over. With yesterday's 4-3 comeback win over the Reds, the Cardinals finished the season at 71-91, in last place in the NL Central.

Adam Wainwright is now retired, and it's time to focus on 2024. But now is still a good time to look back on 2023 and assess what went wrong and what the Cardinals can do better next year.

There are several players that got the short end of the stick this year for various reasons. This season was in many ways, a PR disaster. There was a ton of controversy at various points in the season, either stirred by comments from manager Oli Marmol or comments and actions from the front office.

Fortunately, the worst Cardinals season since 1995 has finally come to an end, but it's been a roller coaster of a season for sure, and a lot of things went wrong.

The Cards were widely expected to win the NL Central at the start of the season, but the pitching fell apart and the season went off the rails.

The controversy off the field also added to the disappointment of the 2023 season. The Cardinals' treatment of certain players was unwarranted and unfair and it cast a shadow over what they had hoped would be another successful season.

In this piece, we will take a look at three players the Cardinals did dirty this season and how it ultimately soured the 2023 season.

Willson Contreras

Willson Contreras ended up having a pretty good first season in St. Louis. But that doesn't mean that things were always bright and sunny. In fact, he is one of a few players that the Cardinals didn't treat all that well this season.

It all started in May when the Cardinals decided to remove him from the starting catcher spot. Oli Marmol vehemently stated that the Cardinals weren't losing games because of Contreras, but the comments that followed contradicted that statement and made it seem as if the Cards were trying to use Contreras as a scapegoat.

In reality, it was preposterous to ever think that Contreras would be what Yadier Molina was, but when the Cardinals realized that wasn't the case, they chose to throw him under the bus and essentially use him as a human shield.

The Cardinals eventually gave Contreras his spot back, but the damage was already done.

Nolan Arenado

Nolan Arenado missed the final week of the season as he recovered from a back injury. He was pretty much the best out of a bad situation for the Cardinals this year, but he still performed quite well.

However, he too found himself in a tough position when trade rumors began to circulate. Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reported that the Cardinals and Dodgers had discussed a trade for Arenado, and it took John Mozeliak several days to come out and finally say that the Cards weren't going to trade him.

Arenado also revealed that Mozeliak and the front office hadn't said anything to him about a potential trade.

It's also worth noting that the Cardinals were able to convince him not to opt out of his contract. However, they did not build a contending team around him, essentially breaking their promise to the star third baseman.

Jordan Walker

One of the more frustrating developments of the 2023 season had to do with prized rookie Jordan Walker. He got off to a hot start, hitting safely in each of his first 12 games. Out of all the Cardinals outfielders, he was performing the best, hitting .274 with two homers.

But in a stunning move, the Cardinals sent him down to Triple-A Memphis because they wanted to see him hit the ball in the air more than on the ground. That resulted in him struggling in Memphis until he picked things up at the end of May.

Walker was called back up on June 1 and ended up finishing the season strong, while also improving defensively in right field, but the Cardinals made a mistake by sending him to the minors, and things might have improved offensively if they hadn't sent him down in the first place.

Tyler O'Neill

Tyler O'Neill had yet another injury-plagued season and was on the IL twice. How could the Cardinals do him dirty in a season where he didn't produce, you ask?

Well, we've discussed this ad nauseam, but it didn't take long to see that something was truly off about the 2023 Cardinals. After he was thrown out at the plate on April 4 in a game against the Braves, Oli Marmol publicly criticized him for a supposed lack of effort.

While O'Neill certainly should have been running harder on that play, it wasn't right for Marmol to call him out publicly, when a private conversation would have resolved the matter without all the drama.