Cardinals' confusing usage of Ivan Herrera is latest in long line of roster mistakes

All year long, the St. Louis Cardinals have made some baffling roster decisions. From keeping Brandon Crawford on the roster for four months to calling up former top prospect Jordan Walker to be just a platoon bat, Oliver Marmol and John Mozeliak's handling of the roster -- both the 26-man and 40-man -- has been questionable this year.

The latest peculiarity came after catcher Willson Contreras fractured his finger on Saturday. In a corresponding move, Ivan Herrera was recalled from Memphis. Herrera's promotion wasn't strange; in fact, he's been deserving of a promotion for weeks now. Instead, how the team intends to use him is questionable.

"(Ivan Herrera) will serve as the team's backup catcher behind Pedro Pages, who will take most of the reps behind the plate in Contreras' absence. The team has lauded Pages' defensive ability all season."

Katie Woo

All season, the Cardinals have opted to play their best defensive lineup. For a time, it was possible to have Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, and Alec Burleson in the outfield together. Clearly, this isn't a strong collection of defenders. Instead, Michael Siani and Victor Scott II have roamed center to have a stronger defensive profile. The same has been done behind the plate, as Pedro Pages has been seeing an increased amount of usage at catcher with Willson Contreras getting into the lineup as the designated hitter.

The issue is that Pedro Pages isn't as strong offensively as either Willson Contreras or Ivan Herrera. The gap defensively between Michael Siani and Lars Nootbaar was great enough to offset the potential offensive differences. The same cannot be said behind the plate between Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages.

At this point, the Cardinals are in need of offense. They rank near the bottom of the league in virtually every major offensive category, and strong outings from starters and relievers have been wasted due to a lackluster offense. If the team is intent on making the playoffs this year, then the best offensive lineup should be employed each day. The gap between Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages on the offensive side is huge, and their Baseball Savant pages show this.

Just last week, John Mozeliak himself stated that if a high-end prospect is promoted to the majors, he should play as often as possible to continue development. A similar issue arose with Jordan Walker recently as well. The former #3 prospect in all of baseball was promoted to help the offense as a platoon batter. Good organizations don't do that to their best prospects.

Ivan Herrera deserves to play every day, and if the organization is intent on him being the catcher of the future, Oliver Marmol needs to employ him over Pedro Pages. This isn't a knock on Pages, as he's had his moments of glory this year, and the pitchers seem to work well with him. Rather, this is an issue of urgency. The clock is ticking on the 2024 season for the Cardinals. The team needs all the help it can get.