How the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup should look if they want to make a playoff push

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The St. Louis Cardinals are locked and loaded for their playoff push in August and September after going out and acquiring Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham, and Shawn Armstrong at the trade deadline. Interestingly enough, hardly anything was subtracted from their Major League roster in the process, so when it comes to their starting lineups, there are a lot of similarities.

The club has had its fair share of highs and lows over the course of the season, and with a crowded NL Playoff Picture as things currently stand, the club needs to find ways to maximize its roster whenever possible and put its best foot forward every time they touch the field from here on out. For much of the season, they've given struggling players ample opportunity to get past their woes, but there is no longer time for that.

Now that August is here, it's fair to say we know a lot more about this team than we did coming into the season. Even if the club is hoping for resurgences from Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman, at this point in the season, they need to be treated like what their performances on the field have shown.

For a significant stretch of this summer, the Cardinals had to navigate players like Arenado, Goldschmidt, and Nolan Gorman slumping while bats like Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, and Tommy Edman were on the injured list as well. While fans were rightfully frustrated with those slumps, there just weren't clear answers to move higher in the order or replace those struggling players. Should have have given more playing time to Dylan Carlson or Jose Fermin? Called up prospects like Jordan Walker or Thomas Sageese, who were struggling in Memphis? Probably not.

But stay tuned, as I do have them making a roster move in my preferred lineup that would definitely shake things up. Now that the club is a lot healthier and has added an impact bat in Pham, the club can get a lot more creative with its lineups.

*Note, I completed this story before news broke of Michael Siani's potential injury. That could reshape a lot of this. But I'll assume that Victor Scott II takes his place for now if needed.

Here is how I would structure the Cardinals lineup against right-handed and left-handed pitching now that the trade deadline has passed

Lineup vs. right-handed pitching

SS Masyn Winn
DH Alec Burleson
C Willson Contreras
2B Brendan Donovan
1B Paul Goldschmidt
RF Lars Nootbaar
3B Nolan Arenado
LF Tommy Pham
CF Michael Siani

Bench: C Ivan Herrera, DH Matt Carpenter, SS Brandon Crawford, C Pedro Pages

At the time of writing this, the Cardinals are actually hovering around a top-10 offense in all of baseball facing right-handed pitching. Eight of their active position players have posted above-league-average numbers against righties, and the trio of Alec Burleson, Willson Contreras, and Brendan Donovan have all been 20% above-league-average or better on the season.

With Paul Goldschmidt heating up as of late, you could make a real argument that he should slot in higher in the near future if he's truly refound his stroke. But for now, I would put him in the five-hole, slotted right in between Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar.

One through seven, the lineup is actually a lot stronger than it would feel at times, but the club will have to make a hard decision on Nolan Gorman soon, one that I already kind of feel like they've been making. Right now, Gorman is slumping again and he is seeing less and less playing time as a result of it. If Gorman cannot be trusted to start every day vs. right-handed pitching, then the club needs to send him down to Triple-A and recall Ivan Herrera for their bench.

Since the beginning of June, Gorman has a slash line of .178/.196/.222 while striking out 45.7% of the time and walking just 2.2% of this 183 plate appearances. It's beyond bad right now, and the Cardinals need to get him out of the lineup and put in bats who they know will perform.

Part of the appeal of Tommy Pham was the ability they'd have to use him off the bench in big spots when left-handed pitching is on the mound. If he starts over Gorman frequently and they move Donovan to second base, then the Cardinals bench has three different lefties on it that they do not really trust, and Pedro Pages is not the dynamic right-handed bat that they can go to later in a game.

If I'm making the lineups and roster decisions, I'd either run Gorman out there a bit longer to see if he turns it around, or I would go ahead and recall Herrera and cross my fingers that Gorman figures things out in Memphis, which I've done here.

Back to Pham though. It's hard to have a lineup right now that he is not in, and if they swap Gorman for Herrera, then they can start Pham daily and use Herrera as that weapon off the bench when needed. I really like how the Cardinals' lineup looks with him in it, and their woes against left-handed pitching could be lessened significantly with Pham, Herrera, and Goldschmidt's turnaround. Let's take a peek at that lineup.

*If Michael Siani is out, replace with Victor Scott II OR move Nootbaar to CF, Burleson to RF, and Herrera or Carp to DH.

Lineup vs. left-handed pitching

SS Masyn Winn
LF Tommy Pham
C Willson Contreras
1B Paul Goldschmidt
3B Nolan Arenado
2B Brendan Donovan
DH Ivan Herrera
RF Lars Nootbaar
CF Michael Siani

Bench: OF Alec Burleson, C Pedro Pages, DH Matt Carpenter, SS Brandon Crawford

I know what you're probably thinking - how on earth is Alec Burleson not in the lineup? Well, something that I just never hear people talk about is how Burleson has been the worst Cardinal hitter against left-handed pitching this year, and it's a pretty large sample size.

In 109 plate appearances (fifth most on the team) entering Wednesday's contest against the Rangers, Burleson ranks last among all Cardinal hitters with a 45 wRC+ against southpaws. The only player on the roster who is anywhere close to as bad as Burleson has been is Michael Siani, who at least plays elite defense in center field. If you're more of a traditional stats person, he is slashing .196/.224/.294 against lefties.

Before I put this into writing, I decided to look deeper and see if the numbers are just skewed by a bad stretch, since Burleson has been incredible since the summer began. Alas, that did not help things either. In July, he has a 37 wRC+ vs. LHP. In June, it was a 36 wRC+. In May, it was a 21 wRC+. The only "great" stretch he had this year was in the 15 plate appearances he had in March/April where that wRC+ was 127.

Like Pham off the bench against left-handed pitching, Burleson could provide the same spark in big spots with a righty on the mound. With how this lineup is constructed, Burleson could pinch-hit for Pham, Herrera, Siani, and then Marmol can rearrange the defense as needed based on who he comes in for.

Now, for his career, Burleson is a notoriously bad pinch hitter, hitting just .069 in 35 plate appearances. He's only had six pinch-hit opportunities in 2024 though, producing one hit, so I do wonder now that he is playing every day if he'll be in more of a groove in pinch-hit spots moving forward.

Contreras (170 wRC+), Goldschmidt (135 wRC+), and Pham (161 wRC+) have been elite against left-handed pitching this year, creating a dynamic middle of their lineup vs. southpaws. Winn, Arenado, and Herrera act as solid complimentary pieces in this lineup, creating a much different look for opposing pitchers moving forward. Mediocre left-handed pitching has taken advantage of the Cardinals' lineup far too often in 2024, and while I don't see them magically being a top unit against lefties going forward, I don't see it being as glaring of a weakness the rest of the way.

*If Michael Siani is out, move Nootbaar to CF, Donovan to LF, Pham to RF, and either Thomas Saggese or Jose Fermin to 2B.

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