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Comparing the current Opening Day roster to one filled with ex-Cardinals

What will the fans say if Hicks, Flaherty, and Montgomery, when he signs, are doing better than Lynn, Gibson and Matz?

By Cliff Williams

Baltimore Orioles v Oakland Athletics
Baltimore Orioles v Oakland Athletics / Michael Zagaris/GettyImages
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So, St. Louis Cardinals fans, how are you feeling about the season that is about to start?

The Cardinals this offseason said they had to get pitching. They did. They needed to upgrade their bullpen. The Cardinals did that. We are all set to win the division. Right?

The Cardinals are off to a bad start. Two-thirds of the outfield is now hurt, and we just saw Dylan Carlson leave the game. After spring training started, the Cardinals realized they didn’t have a backup at short with Edman hurt and had to fill a roster spot with Brandon Crawford. Their number one pitcher, Sonny Gray, cannot pitch when the season starts. The other two free-agent starters that we signed to eat innings have a combined average ERA of 9.35 and only lasted 23 innings between the two. Miles Mikolas has pitched 21 innings by himself this spring. The two biggest bats look a bit off. Arenado has a .244 average, but no home runs. Goldschmidt has one home run but is hitting .109. 

Is the front office worried? No, and they shouldn’t be, yet. If things don’t improve once the season starts, then there will be a lot of fingers pointing. You only need to compare a roster of ex-Cardinals to see how bad this spring has gone. 

POS

NAME

AVG

R+RBI

OBP

1B

GOLDSCHMIDT

.109

6

.208

YEPEZ

.382

17

.405

2B

GORMAN

.220

13

.385

K. WONG

.200

8

.294

3B

ARENADO

.244

11

.320

P. WISDOM

.375

9

.375

SS

WINN

.233

7

.327

P. DEJONG

.296

23

.365

OF

BURLESON

.356

10

.434

O. MERCADO

.320

12

.433

OF

CARLSON

.271

18

.340

R. PALACIOS

.308

16

.362

OF

WALKER

.265

17

.362

L. THOMAS

.306

18

.426

When comparing the hitters that once played here with the expected opening-day roster you can see things look a bit off. The combined batting averages for the Cardinals is .243 to .312 for the Ex-Cardinals. The OBP is .339 to .388 for the Ex-Cards. The big number is adding the runs driven in and the runs scored the current roster totals 82. The Ex-Cards have scored or driven in 103.

NAME

ERA

INNINGS PITCHED

STRIKE OUTS

MIKOLAS

2.140

21

15

JORDAN HICKS

2.65

17

28

THOMPSON

2.81

16

14

J. FLAHERTY

2.95

18

26

LYNN

7.90

13

15

D. HUDSON

4.20

15

13

GIBSON

10.80

10

7

QUINTANA

6.19

16

18

MATZ

8.16

14

14

WEAVER

3.37

10

10

The ERA almost doubles. Cards have a 6.36 and the Ex-Cards are 3.82. With almost the same number of innings pitched the Ex-Cards have fifty percent more strikeouts.

Spring training stats don’t really mean a lot. Players are testing out new swings, pitchers are serving up pitches that they have never thrown. That is the excuse, anyway. The troubling thing is other teams are doing the same thing. So logic dictates that if we give our pitchers some slack for not being at their best, then the other teams get that too. If other teams' pitchers are not throwing their best stuff, then how does Arenado have zero home runs and Goldschmidt hit .109? After the awful 2023 season, you can’t blame the fans for not wanting to see improvement even if it is spring training. 

What will matter is if this trend continues, what will the fans say if Hicks, Flaherty, and Montgomery when he signs are doing better than Lynn, Gibson and Matz?

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