Four mistakes the Cardinals have made this season that stand out above the rest

For years, the Cardinals have had a reputation for doing things the right way. They've built some solid ballclubs and had some truly memorable moments.

In 2011, the pieces all came together at the right time and the team got hot, erasing a 10.5-game Wild Card deficit on their way to their 11th World Series title. Not to mention, they were down to their last strike twice in Game 6.

Two years later, the Cards were back in the Fall Classic, falling just two games short against the Red Sox.

Since then, however, the Cardinals seem to have grown complacent. Their mistakes have come back to haunt them this year, especially as it pertains to the way they've built their pitching staff.

Pitching, or lack thereof, has been what's killed the Cardinals' playoff hopes this year and caused the organization to shift its focus to 2024 and beyond. But pitching isn't the only issue the Cardinals have faced in 2023.

The team has made some questionable decisions on and off the field, which led to some bad press. To make matters worse, it was pretty much an issue from the start, whether it was front-office decisions, managerial decisions, or other mistakes.

Either way, all of these mistakes have made them look bad throughout the season. Granted, the team hasn't played well, but the Cardinals also could have handled a lot of situations much better than they ultimately did.

Here are three mistakes the Cardinals have made during the season this year.

Oli Marmol and Tyler O'Neill's Public Spat

The season began on a low note for the Cardinals. But just five games in, there was a bad omen, that being the public disagreement between Oli Marmol and Tyler O'Neill.

I'm not going to take sides on this one, as I think both O'Neill and Marmol made several mistakes here.

Firstly, while I'm sure O'Neill's intent was not to be lazy, he was noticeably running slower on that play than he has typically, and I understand Marmol not being too pleased to hear that O'Neill was doing it to try and stay healthy. It's also a manager's job to hold his players accountable, even when they make mistakes.

At the same time, calling him out publicly was a bad look, and there may be some merit to the fact that O'Neill was trying to be careful. The field was wet due to rain, and O'Neill does have a long history of injuries.

But the whole situation was a mess and a bad look for the organization.

Sending Jordan Walker Down

Not too long after O'Neill and Marmol's public disagreement, the Cardinals found themselves at the center of controversy again.

On April 26, they sent Jordan Walker down to Triple-A Memphis despite a hot start to the season that included a 12-game hitting streak. The team's defense for it was to give other outfielders a chance to get some at-bats and clear up the logjam.

However, Walker was hitting .274 and was by far producing better than any of the team's other outfielders. The Cardinals sent him down to try and adjust his swing and hit the ball in the air more frequently.

Sure enough, Walker struggled at Triple-A at first. He later got hot and mentioned afterward that he had to simply go back to his original approach at the plate, which he said helped him heat up.

This situation was ultimately an embarrassment for the organization and exposed the many flaws with player development and over-reliance on analytics.

The Willson Contreras Drama

It was one thing after another early on this season. Not long after the Cardinals demoted Walker, Willson Contreras found himself taking a lot of heat.

In early May, the veteran catcher was pulled from the starting catcher spot in favor of Andrew Knizner, moving Contreras to the designated hitter position. They also called up Tres Barrera, who was rarely used and became a waste of roster space.

But the organization handled this situation very poorly, essentially throwing Contreras under the bus and making him the scapegoat. Fortunately, they did away with the idea of using him in the outfield, but everything that John Mozeliak and Oli Marmol said made the situation even worse and continued to stoke the fire, making it clear that they held Contreras responsible for the team's poor pitching.

The puzzling experiment ended relatively quickly, but the organization's decision to move Contreras out of the catcher spot was more reactive than proactive, despite them saying the complete opposite.