St. Louis Cardinals: Willson Contreras saga a glaring sign of disarray

The Cardinals' plan to move Willson Contreras out of his catching duties is another sign of organizational dysfunction

It has been a dreadful 35 games for the St. Louis Cardinals, and the fault of the team’s poor start belongs to the pitching staff. The Cardinals sport a 4.59 team ERA, tied for 21st in MLB. We were told that this team has six capable starting pitchers, but only one starting pitcher, Jordan Montgomery, holds an ERA+ over 100.

When the Cardinals signed Willson Contreras to a five-year $87-million contract, he was considered to take over for Yadier Molina. While Conteras has not disappointed from an offensive perspective, the pitch calling and sequencing so far between pitcher and catcher has been less than sub-standard. Now that, of course, is not Contreras’ fault that the pitchers’ failed to execute their pitches, but this weekend’s news almost points the finger at the Cardinals’ new catcher.

There's this doozy of a quote from Oliver Marmol:

As if this situation wasn’t already a tire fire, John Mozeliak came out and reversed course, saying Willson Contreras was NOT going to the outfield. All of this is just bizarre from an organization that, quite honestly, should know better. So what do we make out of all of this?

It appears that both the manager and the President of Baseball Operations are both in panic mode after realizing that Willson Contreras is not Yadier Molina. It also appears that this team is looking for someone to blame for the team's horrific start to the season. Both of which are completely unfair to Contreras.

Not only was the move to the outfield preposterous because of the log jam currently present but moving to DH does two things that are counterproductive:

1. It takes away at-bats from Nolan Gorman at the DH spot

2. Gives more time to 0.0 WAR Andrew Knizner and newly-called-up Tres Barrera.

The way the St. Louis Cardinals have handled this situation has been nothing short of embarrassing, and some around the baseball media are taking notes. To his credit, Contreras has handled this like a consummate professional. Let's hope he hits a few homers at Wrigley Field this series, as the Cardinals try to rid themselves of having the worst record in the National League.