5 things to watch for the rest of the season for the St. Louis Cardinals

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The St. Louis Cardinals still have a lot of games left to play in the 2023 season. While the games themselves have lost meaning in terms of a playoff berth, they still mean a ton for the future of this organization.

In some ways, the Cardinals are finding themselves in a trial period. The front office and coaching staff will be keeping a close eye on players, both at the Major League level and in the minors, to see who can help this club win in 2024, and who may be better off used as trade bait come the winter.

Sure, the Cardinals have missed the playoffs during John Mozeliak's tenure leading the club, but they've never been in a position like this, where they truly get to care more about player development and future performance than they do their record at the end of the year.

While that may sound like the most boring way to end a season, I actually think there are a lot of things worth watching with this Cardinals' team between now and the end of the season. There are exciting prospects on the way, position battles that will be resolved, and subplots that will rear their head later this year.

We all wish the Cardinals were on their way to another postseason berth right now, but they aren't. While that may be frustrating in the moment, this little reset may be exactly what the club needed to compete at a higher level in 2024 and beyond.

Here are 5 reasons to keep watching the Cardinals for the rest of the season

Masyn Winn's debut

Masyn Winn began 2023 by looking like one of the Cardinals' best players in Spring Training, but with so many infield options already, the club decided to send him to Triple-A. He began the season off slow, proving the Cardinals right that his bat was not quite ready yet for the big leagues.

Something has clicked for Winn since that slow start. Not just in the way of "slight improvements", but legit strides in his ability at the plate that has him swinging the hottest bat in all of Triple-A. During the month of July, Winn slashed .359/.427/.750 with 8 HR and 26 RBI.

MiLB's July Player of the Month: Masyn Winn. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Rxo4d7HCfV
— Memphis Redbirds (@memphisredbirds) August 3, 2023

Winn will likely be called up this month during the Cardinals' series against the New York Mets (August 18th or 19th) as that still allows Winn to be rookie eligible for the 2024 season, potentially netting the Cardinals a draft pick if he finishes top-two in Rookie of the Year voting.

This also still allows Winn to get over a month of big league baseball under his belt, and debut at a time when there is less pressure on him to perform. Sure, the hype will still be there, but it's not as daunting as Opening Day 2024 when the club is trying to rebound from this terrible season.

The position battles in the Cardinals' outfield

The Cardinals' outfield logjam has been a concern since last offseason and continues to be a question mark for the team going into 2024. Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Alec Burleson all have chances to lock in roster spots, and the likes of Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan will likely get reps out there as well.

The Cardinals are going to be using the remainder of this season to evaluate their outfield mix, determining which guys they want to role with in 2024, and which guys should be used as trade bait.

On 101 ESPN this past week, GM Michael Girsch gave a glimpse into how the front office currently sees the Cardinals' center field situation. He indicated that Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson were the two main options for the club in center field at the moment, with Tyler O'Neill officially being a left field option. Tommy Edman was not a name he put into that conversation, but did say that when Masyn Winn takes over, Edman could see more outfield reps (likely in a true utility player kind of role).

Interestingly, Victor Scott II, a rising prospect within the Cardinals' organization that has been making headlines with his base-stealing ability, was a name that Girsch said is in the "medium-term" future for St. Louis. I recently interviewed him on my podcast "Redbird Rundown" (link to the audio and video versions of the podcast here).

If Tyler O'Neill excels down the stretch, does he play himself into the Cardinals' 2024 plans? Or become a valuable trade piece for them? Does the winner of the Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson position battle make the other expendable? Will the club trust Jordan Walker defensively in the outfield next season?

How those competitions shake out will have a dramatic impact on the Cardinals' offseason plans and their 2024 roster.

How do the Cardinals' young arms fare with their MLB and Triple-A opportunities?

Here are all of the names that will be getting starts for the Cardinals between St. Louis and Memphis for the remainder of this season who could factor in as the Cardinals' number five starter next season.

Matthew Liberatore, Dakota Hudson, Michael McGreevy, Gordon Graceffo, Sem Robberse, Drew Rom, and Adam Kloffenstein.

Those are a lot of mouths to feed, and on top of Liberatore and Hudson, I bet we see at least one of, if not more, of Graceffo, Kloffenstein, McGreevy, Rom, or Robberse get some run in St. Louis as well.

If one of these names can rise above the rest, they may have the inside track toward a starting rotation spot next season. The Cardinals have repeatedly said they need to add three starters, but I think they'd ideally like to see that number five spot filled with one of these options if possible. If none prove themselves, then yes, they will be for sure adding three guys for 2024.

The Cardinals' catching situation

One of the most interesting conversations that is going to be happening amongst the Cardinals front office and coaching staff is the future of Willson Contreras as the club's primary catcher. I highly doubt it gets to the point that they would consider trading Contreras since they would likely have to eat a lot of his money in a deal, but it does seem like they are trending toward having him catch less in 2024 than they hoped he would when they signed him.

John Mozeliak has already indicated that they will be deciding in the offseason what Contreras' role with the club will be long-term, meaning that Contreras needs to really buckle down behind the plate these last few months in order to potentially save his job as the everyday catcher.

If he fails to do so, the Cardinals will need to DH him even more than they have to this point, and likely will phase Andrew Knizner or Ivan Herrera into more of a primary role with the club.

The bullpen performance

During that same interview with 101 ESPN, Michael Girsch said that their biggest concern with the bullpen the rest of this season is figuring out if Ryan Helsley can get back to the player he was last season.

And he's right.

Sure, the performance of Giovanny Gallegos, JoJo Romero, Zack Thompson, and others matters a lot, but if Helsley is not that "stopper" that he was before, the Cardinals have even bigger issues to fix in their bullpen. Having a talent like Helsley helps stabilize the bullpen tremendously. It is much easier, and cheaper, to fill out the 6th and 7th inning roles than it is to find another closer for your bullpen.

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The Cardinals will likely need to bring 1-2 external arms into their bullpen next season and then will be able to ride the first half of the season with those additions and their internal options until reshuffling the bullpen at the deadline (like all contenders need to do). But if Helsley is not the guy they need him to be, that's even more resources going toward the bullpen that I'm not sure St. Louis can afford to do while revamping their rotation.

Check out my weekly podcast "Redbird Rundown" on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts as well as follow me on Twitter @joshjacoMLB for more Cardinals content

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