7 areas of investments the Cardinals must make this winter

Catching

The role of back-up catcher has been very important for the Cardinals since the retirement of Yadier Molina. While Willson Contreras is a boost to the Cardinals line-up, he is injury-prone. It is important to have a backup for him. The Cardinals must decide if Ivan Herrera or Pedro Pages will be that guy moving forward.

Herrera and Pages are each used in Marmol's lineups. Each has their level of offense and defense they bring with Marmol choosing his catcher of the day based on matchups. Having three catchers on the roster is not ideal. This is a concern the team must address this offseason with a time commitment to finding the right person.

While Dusty Blake, the pitching staff, and Contreras will play a huge role in determining who gets the job, it would be excellent to see the organization make use of its agreement with Molina to help out the team. While he didn't show up during the season as anticipated, it would be great if he were to work with Contreras, Pages, and Herrera for some time to get his input and instruction.

Herrera was expected to be Molina's heir apparent, but for various reasons, the Cardinals decided to go a different direction by signing Contreras and allowing Andrew Knizer and Herrera to back up. Knizner was released after the 2023 season and signed elsewhere allowing Herrera to be the backup. The injury bug struck again allowing the Cardinals to take a chance on Pages which has proved beneficial.

The three catchers should have a busy offseason to get together, work on their areas of improvement, and get serious on the job.