Cardinals' continue to misuse young players in transitional season

The 2024 season for the St. Louis Cardinals will likely end without a postseason berth. Despite improving their record by 10 wins compared to September 1st last year, the team still has just a 1.4% chance to make the playoffs per FanGraphs. They sit six games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card spot with three teams between the Braves and Cardinals prior to games on September 1st, and they're 11.5 games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

For all intents and purposes, the season will end in the month of September for the Birds on the Bat.

Despite their meager postseason prospects, the organization is still intent on not letting their kids, the players of the future, play. Jordan Walker needed time at Triple-A Memphis; his swing wasn't where it needed to be, and he clearly needed some fine-tuning in a low-stress environment. Memphis was just the place to do so.

However, manager Oliver Marmol was intent on playing Walker simply as a platoon bat by the time he was recalled in the middle of August. Clearly, this set his development back. He was showing progress in Memphis, and if the organization wanted to see him continue developing, he needed to see consistent time in the field. Instead, Marmol played veteran Tommy Pham, who by that point was showing signs of serious decline anyway.

After Willson Conteras went down with another injury a couple of weeks ago, the organization recalled catcher Ivan Herrera. Right away, John Mozeliak made it clear that Herrera would be used as a right-handed bat off the bench rather than a regular starter; Pedro Pages would get the bulk of starts behind the plate.

I wrote about this issue once it broke, so read my thoughts about that situation here. If Ivan Herrera is the organization's preferred catcher of the future, he needs to see consistent starts now regardless of his defensive shortcomings, the handedness of the pitcher, or Pages's hot streaks. Playing a guy who projects to be simply a solid backup over the presumptive catcher of the future is preposterous.

This mismanagement of young players came to a head once more on Sunday when it was announced that Michael Siani would start the majority of games down the stretch once he's added as the team's 28th man in September.

This situation isn't as black and white as the ones involving Jordan Walker and Ivan Herrera. Michael Siani has played magnificent defense in center, and he was beginning to have some good luck prior to his oblique injury. He has been the team's starting center fielder all year, and by and large, he hasn't done anything to show he isn't deserving of the role anymore.

The issue with playing Siani over Victor Scott II for the remainder of the year is that Michael Siani wasn't a part of the team's plans to start the year. In fact, the team's President of Baseball Operations couldn't even pronounce Siani's name correctly in spring training. Victor Scott, however, was supposed to be the organization's center fielder of the future. If that remains the case, he should see the bulk of the innings down the stretch similar to Masyn Winn last year at shortstop.

There's also an argument to be had that playing Herrera over Pages and Scott over Siani gives the team its greatest chance to win this year. Sure, giving them playing time now will prepare them for the future, but the possibility of these players outperforming their counterparts feels probable.

If the organization wants to set itself up for the future, young players whom the team is expecting to produce in the future should see the most playing time down the stretch.