Three ridiculous decisions the Cardinals have made over the last 10 years

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Over the past 10 years, the Cardinals have fallen on hard times. While they have mostly remained competitive, as well as a perennial postseason team, their once proud status as World Series contenders has vanished.

All of this began during the 2014-15 offseason, and since then, the Cardinals have made several more questionable decisions, from standing pat at trade deadlines and offseasons to making several deals that shouldn't have been made.

The Cardinals have not reached the World Series since 2013, much less won since 2011. For a team that prides itself on consistently winning, that is quite a long time.

Now, the Cardinals find themselves on the outside looking in for the first time since 2018, having fallen well short of the postseason this year. Their complacency and poor decision-making have led them to where they are now. It's been a gradual cycle over the past several years that finally came to a culmination.

In this piece, we will be discussing three foolish mistakes the Cardinals have made that led them here.

1. Not signing Max Scherzer

Earlier this month, Randy Karraker of 101 ESPN revealed that when St. Louis native Max Scherzer was a free agent in 2014, he wanted to sign in St. Louis, and even told Adam Wainwright that he'd sign regardless of the amount of money.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals didn't budge. To be fair, Wainwright was still an ace at the time, but the Cardinals missed a golden opportunity to build a super-team with Scherzer and Wainwright heading up the rotation.

2. Firing Mike Shildt

Back in September of 2021, the Cardinals were mired in third place in the NL Central and were 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race. But on September 10, a comeback against the Reds sparked a historic surge.

St. Louis won a franchise-record 17 consecutive games and ultimately cruised into the second Wild Card spot. They lost to the Dodgers in a hard-fought Wild Card game, but the 17-game win streak brought joy to the City of St. Louis.

The following week, they made one of their biggest mistakes in recent history, and fired then-manager Mike Shildt over what was described as a "philosophical difference." Oli Marmol was promoted to replace Shildt.

However, Marmol is a very analytically driven manager, which isn't a bad thing, but analytics appear to play a key role in his managerial decisions, and an over-reliance on them can lead to trouble, as it did in 2023.

Shildt later revealed that he was fired after sharing his opinion on a few things and how he thought the Cardinals could improve, which made it clear that the front office wanted a manager who didn't question anything, which Marmol doesn't seem to do.

This year, the Cardinals' bullpen and defense, which were strengths in 2022 fell apart and contributed heavily to their downfall.

Shildt's primary focus as manager of the Cardinals and a disciple of George Kissel himself was sound fundamentals. The Cardinals were severely lacking in that regard during the turbulent 2023 season.

3. Trading Randy Arozarena

This decision sticks out above the rest. For years, the Cardinals have had a severe logjam in their outfield that has led them to trade players who became stars or hold onto players who didn't quite take off.

The most famous example is the Randy Arozarena trade back in January 2020. St. Louis sent him and Jose Martinez to the Rays in exchange for Matthew Liberatore.

The deal did not work out in the Cardinals' favor, as Liberatore has not performed well in the Major Leagues. Meanwhile, Arozarena broke the record for the most home runs in a single postseason and earned Rookie of the Year honors in the American League the following season.

This deal is talked about ad nauseam, probably more than it should be at this point, especially considering that Yordan Alvarez was once a prospect in the Dodgers system before being traded to Houston.

Still, it's a trade that negatively impacted the Cardinals, who are now stuck with several underachieving outfielders, namely Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, Juan Yepez, and Alec Burleson.

Had the Cardinals kept Arozarena, their 2020 season, while shortened might have gone a little bit better and they could have made a deeper October run with the young star on their side.

Plus, having Arozarena in the outfield with Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker would certainly help, as Arozarena is an elite defender and has a cannon for an arm.

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But this trade still haunts the Cardinals almost four years later.

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In this piece, we will be discussing three foolish mistakes the Cardinals have made that led them here.

1. Not signing Max Scherzer

2. Firing Mike Shildt

3. Trading Randy Arozarena

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