St. Louis Cardinals: 5 takeaways going into the summer

5 takeaways from the Cardinals season heading into the summer

Spring is almost over! The Cardinals 2023 season is already two months over and it has been one of the more dramatic seasons in team history. This is the point in the season where the landscape of the league is shown. We know who are the contenders, we know who will be sellers, and we know who will be in the draft lottery. As it currently stands, the Cardinals don’t even know their position in the league. Here are five takeaways the team needs to consider going into the summer. 

The front office and the coaching staff need to be on the same page.

The biggest bruise on the season so far has been the lack of confidence in decision-making. Many moves have been conducted by the FO and passed down to Oli Marmol to enforce. Almost every decision has backfired in all of their faces. The public feud of Tyler O’Neill has ended with a long stint on the IL for “back discomfort”. If anyone believes in the Ghost IL, here is a prime example. It seems inevitable that O’Neill is number one in trade deadline discussions.

Willson Conteras being moved to DH only created a national windstorm of content that only shed more light on the disarray of the Cardinals' FO. It only got worse when the FO redacted their decision and Conteras is back to catching again. Having your pitchers complain about game planning is fine. They have a new catcher and they should be getting high quality from the only investment the team made in the offseason. But after the dominant outing Flaherty had in Contreras’ first game back behind the dish, it goes to show confidence and accountability are forgone in this clubhouse.

This topic can go on and on (Jordan Walker's demotion backfiring, Liberatore usage, “outfield depth” with infielders starting in the outfield, etc.) All that matters is there is no clarity in decision-making. Stop reacting to first instinct and spend more time making decisions.