Yadier Molina left Friday night’s game due to right foot soreness, after appearing to hurt his foot on a swing during a fifth-inning at-bat. Molina struck out on the wayward swing, and was replaced by Andrew Knizner at catcher in the top of the sixth. Molina will undergo testing to determine the extent of the injury, and any sort of absence would represent a big loss to the St. Louis lineup. Over his first 68 plate appearances, Molina is hitting a scorching .339/.382/.661 with five home runs, with a 180 OPS+ that ranks tied for 14th among all qualified batters in the majors. While this level of offensive production wasn’t expected to continue, it was at least a good sign that Molina was bouncing back from a pair of subpar years at the plate.
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- In other Cardinals injury news, Tyler O’Neill was activated off the 10-day IL yesterday. O’Neill saw some action in the 5-4 victory over the Reds, entering the game as the new left fielder during a double-switch in the sixth inning, though he didn’t start due to a minor foot injury. Manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) that O’Neill fouled a ball off his foot during a simulated game on Thursday, though obviously the issue wasn’t serious enough to either prevent O’Neill’s IL activation, or to keep the outfielder from taking the field. O’Neill hit the injured list due to a groin strain back on April 11, and is looking to get on track after hitting only .138/.167/.276 in his first 30 PA of this young season.
- With O’Neill back and Harrison Bader also approaching a return from his forearm injury, Matt Carpenter looks like the odd man out of the Cardinals lineup. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) that “those at-bats are going to be more difficult to find if production isn’t there” for Carpenter, who has an .077/.213/.154 slash line in 47 plate appearances. Despite some outstanding hard-contact numbers, Carpenter is striking out and swinging-and-missing at a high volume, Frederickson notes, while also posting a career-worst walk rate. It represents the low point of over two seasons of struggles for Carpenter, who has been a below-average hitter since the start of the 2019 campaign. The Cardinals had already addressed this decline by relegating Carpenter to a part-time role at best heading into the season, and Mozeliak’s comments suggest that Carpenter could be hard-pressed to receive any significant playing time going forward. Carpenter is in the final guaranteed year of a two-year, $39MM extension, and though Frederickson said that there wasn’t any indication that the Cardinals might simply eat the remaining salary by releasing Carpenter, it doesn’t make much sense to use a roster spot on a scuffling player who isn’t part of the team’s future plans.
The salsa must’ve turned rancid.
Man seeing carpenter struggling like this is hard. He was one of my favorite players for the last decade. Such an underrated player and a huge part of the cardinals success. That being said, he’s really hurting this team and it’s been over 2 years since he was anywhere close to a productive player. You’ve almost got to cut him at this point
Pretty much agree. Perhaps Carpenter could do everyone a favor and just retire.
Dream on, he’s not going to retire.
I rather see him traded then out right released they might be able to net 1 or 2 minor leaguers for him not any top prospects but maybe a Dimond in the rough situation on both ends
No way a team gives up anything for him at this point. No way he retires either. The union would be none to pleased if a member walked away from that coin when it’s guaranteed.
Right. And nor should he, anymore than Chris Davis will walk away from his contract. Teams get bargains in the early years, they pay in the later years. They simply hope the player remains productive in the latter years and his production doesn’t collapse. Unfortunately, for Carpenter, he seemingly has collapsed. Unless he has a resurgence (and he hasn’t been good since 2018), he’s in his final season with the Cards. The question is how best to use him, or is there even a point where they cut him.
Who would trade for him?
The housing industry needs carpenters.
You win the internet today! Good one!
The Cardinals would have to eat 100% of his contract plus throw in a prospect before anyone would take him. NO team in baseball other than the Cardinals, because of his past, would give him a roster spot.
Lol not in the most outlandish of dreams is he bringing back anything at all with that contract lol
only place he hits i leading off. give it a shot if he’s in the lineup. it’s a mental thing
good article mark, buy we don’t expect this literary exceptionalism to continue
He’s far and away the best they have.
What a mess. It’s like the team is looking for reasons to put ONeill and Bader on the bench and play Carpenter. Just like last year and years prior with Fowler. Mozeliak can’t admit he messed up. He refuses to admit it until it’s too late. Nobody is perfect overall he’s a good gm. But you have to admit your mistakes and move on sometimes. And doing it but waiting a year or 2 too long doesn’t help much.
The crazy thing is Carpenter has a vesting option. ONeill and Bader are probably the 2 most physically talented guys on the roster. And this is the kind of nonsense Cardinal fans have to deal with.
You didn’t bother to read the article did you? Mo was rather critical of Carpenter and said its hard to see him getting playing time as everyone gets healthy. Mo specifically criticized Carpenter for his approach to trying to beat the shift. Called it insanity doing the same things over and over again and expecting things to change. You should take the time to read the article before you continue to spew your Mo hatred
Actions > Words
Exactly 34679. ONeill is coming off a 10 day DL stint where the team admitted it wasn’t a 10 day injury. Someone thought this would be a good time to give Carpenter regular playing time. It wasn’t but someone thought that as recently as 24 hours ago. So Mo can say blah blah blah but it’s just words.
Actions can’t happen til people start getting healthy. We’ve got O’Neill back now so let’s see what happens and then when Bader comes back too
If ONeill and Bader bat 500 their first week back they will play. But the team is looking for reasons to bench them. Both of them. You will see. Again ONeill was barely hurt and the team couldn’t get Carpenter back into the starting lineup fast enough.
Show me where they admitted it wasnt a 10 day injury. The union would flip if that was true.
They said it point blank. Schildt said it wasn’t a 10 day injury but they didn’t want to play short handed so he went on the dl. Which again was code for let’s get Carpenters bat into the lineup.
And to the guy saying Carlson is more physically talented then Bader or ONeill thats total nonsense. Carlson is smart. If ONeill had Carlson brains he would be Mike Trout no joke. But Carlson is not exactly a physical specimen.
Definitely more talented don’t make yourself a fool.
It’s going to a bit difficult to achieve the vesting option from the bench.
WHAT? O’Neil and bader are no where near the two most physically talented. Let’s just look at corners and catcher. Then look at Carlson who has way more tools than those to and is lot more athletically talented. Then look at the pitching staff and there are guys way my physically talented at baseball than those two. O’Neil is strong and can run. Bader can run. Both are good in the field.
They have given bader every opportunity last 2+ years and he has not come through consistently at all. O’Neil is what he is…. he has way too many holes in his swing to be a starter in the MLB. They are forced to give bader and O’Neil playing time b/c there is no one else.
in the battle of attrition, oneill is leading
Bader has had soooo many chances. He cannot hit period. He’s just a late inning glove. He’s had his chances and he has failed. O’Neil is almost in the same boat. The only reason I won’t write him off right now is he had a solid spring hitting to all fields. We shall see if he can do that now when it counts. His gold glove was a result of metrics. He’s a god fielder but not a gold glover
Bader hitting 8th or 9th when the DH comes back isn’t that much of a hindrance to the lineup if everyone else is doing their job. This is especially true when you factor in that Bader is easily one of the best defensive CFers in all of baseball.
No one else is hitting except arenado, molina, and occasionally goldy and dejong. Going into the season the Cardinals knew their outfield and bench were trash but were hoping at least 1 of them would be passable. That hasn’t happened yet. Defense only centerfielder will not help the club if 4 other starters are also not hitting.
You’ve left out Carlson. Hes hitting pretty well
Edman is hitting also
Look at Baders career numbers. He’s a starter in MLB. He was yesterday he will be tomorrow. Hitting is important but it’s not the only way a baseball player provides value to his team.
When guys like Bader and ONeill don’t play and in place of them you have Edman in the outfield and Carpenter at 2b your defense just got worse. A LOT worse. That matters but the people making lineup decisions in St Louis don’t get it. Guys like Jose Martinez and now John Nogowski get playing time but it’s nonsense.
It defense was the only thing that mattered then Billy Hamilton would still be a starter.
I liked the Cardinals and liked Bader. I love solid defense.
The 2 most important defensive positions are Catcher (because he calls the game) and SS. CF is the 3rd most important.
But a some point the CF must produce some offense – unless it’s a team with overwhelming pitching and plans on winning low scoring games playing small ball. The Cards had their 3 CF’s in Busch Stadium under Whitey, but all those players could hit some, and most could steal bases.
Bader is turning out the same as Roman Quinn, Brett Phillips, Billy Hamilton, Manuel Margot and others. We’ve seen it in the recent past with guys like Peter Bourjos – guys that stay on their team for years as the hitting coach’s try to work with them. Finely the team gives up and those guys bounce around MLB as 5th OF’s till they disappear.
Bader and O’Neill as well cannot hang around indefinitely producing as they do. Cards need to fix the OF and the pitching as well. The 2 big bats they got are nice – but the Cards cannot be a W,K, HR team. They have to play strong fundamental baseball. That’s the tradition.
I’m glad you mentioned the hitting coach. Maybe it’s time to direct some ire at Jeff Albert. Either the Cards have vastly overestimated the hitting talent of several players, or this guy is just bad at his job. Far more players have declined than thrived under his tutelage. Shildt has mentioned that he is more concerned about the hitters having a plan at the plate than their early season results. This is a fair approach, but it is also fair to ask why any of these guys are going to the plate without a plan. Unfortunately several of them appear to have no plan. What is Jeff Albert’s plan? What kind of line up is he trying to mold? Mostly the results show the plan is to close your eyes real tight and swing real hard.
bader started? when?
Bader was actually really good offensively last year, 113 wrc+ .779 ops.
Enough with bashing Carp…what about that HOF Yadi Molina….would love to see him make the All-star team this year
Carpenter’s drop reminds me of Allan Craig. Not productive as long as Carpenter, but disappeared equally fast. Some players slowly fade and some drop off dramatically.
Craig’s career was over the day he hurt himself playing outfield. Carpenters issue isn’t completely physical it’s mental he can’t hit to the opposite field. Craig got hurt playing a position he shouldn’t have been playing.
Hitting to the opposite field is a physical adjustment as well as mental. Trying to change the swing you’ve developed and refined your entire life can’t be easy.
I agree on the different pathways for Craig and Carpenter.
carpenter can hit to the opposite field, but his mental problem is not leading off.
I think it’s easier to go from an opposite field hitter to a pull hitter than in the other direction.
It’s too bad that Grichuk didn’t get the same chances that Carpenter is getting. While Grichuk was an under performer they have showed more patience with O’Neill and Bader. Same with Voit. Never got a chance before trading for Goldy.
Grichuk got chances. And he’s was worth keeping not worth the contract Toronto gave him but a decent player for sure. Now Voit had no opportunity that is true. He’s from St Louis too.
I went to a 3 game series in Milwaukee in August 2019 and Carpenter played horrible in every possible way that week. He struck out almost every at-bat, played crappy defense, missed 1st base on what should have been an easy double and therefore only got a single after he went back to touch it, then made a baserunning mistake for a dumb out. The guy looked like he was completely lost with his expressions and body language. I swore they would DFA before the next series started. I was wrong, and here we are 18+ months later and he still looks lost and overmatched. Peak Carpenter was an extremely good hitter, but those days are gone, gone, gone.
They are going to have to pay him no matter whether he plays, they release him, or even if they traded him by some miracle they would have to pay his whole salary to get any team to give up anything at all. They got out from under Fowler’s contract, but they are stuck with Carpenter.
cardinals have eaten carpenter’s extension, so far, by his performance. eating another $18.5 million shouldn’t matter. do it