The Cardinals are going to place catcher Willson Contreras on the injured list, with manager Oli Marmol relaying the news to reporters, including Katie Woo of The Athletic. The issue is tendonitis in his left wrist, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.
Contreras left yesterday’s game with discomfort in that wrist and didn’t play in today’s contest. It’s unclear how significant this wrist issue is, but it will end his season strictly based on timing since there’s just over a week left on the schedule.
After spending his entire career with the Cubs, Contreras reached free agency after last season. The Cards had a vacancy behind the plate for the first time in years after the retirement of Yadier Molina and eventually moved Contreras across the division by signing him to a five-year, $87.5MM deal with a club option for 2028.
The results of his first year in St. Louis were mixed, to say the least. He has long been considered a bat-first catcher and that continued this year. He hit 20 home runs and walked in 10.3% of his plate appearances, leading to a batting line of .264/.358/.467 and wRC+ of 128. But he was given a grade of -9 Defensive Runs Saved, the worst such mark of his career. Both FanGraphs and Statcast gave him negative grades for his framing, though Statcast did like his blocking and throwing.
Concerns about his defense were seemingly the issue as he was moved off his position in May, serving exclusively as the designated hitter for a time. The club’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak described the issue as a “lack of confidence” from the pitching staff, but Contreras was put back behind the plate a week later.
That ended up being one strange blip in a disappointing season for the Cards, who are currently 67-86 and in last place in the National League Central, guaranteed to finish with a losing record for just the second time in this century. It’s hard to know how much of those results are part of the transition from Molina to Contreras, but pitching was clearly a problem area for the club. They have a collective 4.81 earned run average at the moment, which places them 25th in the league in that category.
Going forward, it’s possible that the Cards could look to trade a catcher this winter, with Contreras still under contract for four more years. They are looking to add three starting pitchers in the offseason and could do some of that via free agency, but trading from their position player mix will likely have to be a consideration as well. Iván Herrera has always hit well in the minors and that continued to be the case this year, as he slashed .297/.451/.500 in 83 Triple-A games. Andrew Knizner had a serviceable season as well, hitting .241/.284/.433 in his 64 major league games. His 94 wRC+ indicates he was a bit below average in a vacuum but that’s quite good by backup catcher standards.
Herrera doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors and will be out of options next year anyway, meaning he’ll need to hang onto an active roster spot. Knizner still has an option year remaining, which could allow the club to hang onto all three, but gauging league interest could be one path to finding the pitching upgrades they seek.
The Cardinals should deal Kizner or Herrera based on whoever brings the best return.
Herrera would bring a better return than Contreras let alone Knizner.
I do see Herrera having a higher ceiling than Knizner. Contreras is not tradable without eating a lot of salary.
Contreras put up a 125 OPS+ and 3.4 WAR at the catcher position. He will not be hard to trade. Especially to a team that plans to DH him 40 or so games a season when he is not catching.
Trading Herrera will be a mistake
John Mozeliak is a star at blocking prospects with former Cubs players? Randy Arozarena, Adolis Garcia, Ivan Herrera…. wow
I never understood the Contreras singing? Based on the results of whom ever is traded vs his performance moving forward its gonna leave me scratching my head for years, much like the dexter fowler signing
Randy Arozarena and Adolis Garcia have combined for like 20 WAR almost and Dexter was shipped to the Angels? Wow…
Are the Cardinals sure, or is it possible they may turn around in another day or two and say he doesn’t need to sit after all?
The Cardinals have been getting so much criticism for signing a 125 OPS+ catcher/part-time DH to a 5/87.5 deal. He came off a 126 OPS+ season and has had back to back 3.4+ WAR seasons if you count this one. He has thrown out more than the league average % of runners and has been decenr defensively over his career according to Bref. Is most of the criticism due to the pitching staff being bad? He is making about 5 MM per WAR vs about a 9 MM rate on the market. The offense makes up for the defense, apparently, so why the hate?
Because he is being compared defensively to Yadi. Fans can be real emotional.
I find it interesting how subjective MLBTR can be. To make Herrera look better, Contreras’ stats are bad. In another article, if the Cards trade Herrera and keep Contreras as their No. 1, suddenly Contreras’ stats are not that bad. That’s why I just look at the numbers and ignore the adjectives.
The eye test tells you a lot more than the numbers. A lot of times just looking at stats don’t give you the whole story.
No one can replace Yadier Molina but somehow Contreras was made the scapegoat for whatever little games Mo and Marmol were playing when they did their theatrics early in the season. Even with his “subpar” defense, his bat alone was a bright spot on an otherwise losing season.
Contreras is the MVP of that team. Time st louis fans wake up and realize that. That clubhouse is filled with bums that just don’t care. All they want to do is make up excuses and get paid. Willison plays hard every inning of every game. The cardinals don’t deserve him
Slider_with cheese: The Cardinals and cubs are in the same division. Mozeliak has seen Contreras play several times. If he didn’t like what he saw, he wouldn’t have signed him to a five year contract. There aren’t a lot of catchers who are both glove and bat first. Rutschman is one. Realmuto is another. Contreras walked into a very difficult role, filling the role Molina – who was glove-first – had for so many years. He’s been out under the microscope all year. If it’s true that the pitching staff had no confidence in him, that might have something to do with the pitchers expecting him to be Molina, who seemed to be more outgoing than Contreras. Hopefully this can be worked out before next season.
Well said, but it really is a complex situation. Contreras had a great season while almost no one else on the team did. He should feel very proud about that. Hope he returns and Mo doesn’t panic and try to get rid of him. He can share time with Herrera. Kniz is a great dude but he needs to be traded. He just had his best season so he has some value now. Will be interesting which two return.
Fixed the title: Cardinals To Place Willson Contreras On Released List.
Contreras had another great year with the bat. I wonder where he will play next season?
Contreras will be the Cardinals primary catcher with either Knizner or Herrera as the backup. I predict Knizner. Herrera is a better headliner for a package to get a decent starter.
With Contreras behind the plate the Cardinals had a 5.09 ERA. With Knizer behind the plate the Cardinals had a 4.46 ERA. When you limit that to only the pitchers that both catchers caught, the difference increases to a full point higher for Contreras.
I think the Cardinals have a greater need for pitching and that Contreras and his 125 OPS+ and 3.4 WAR is worth more in trade, especially for a team that plans to play him at catcher 80-85 starts and another 40-45 at DH.
And there it is. The public metrics say Knizner isn’t very good defensively either, but the bottom line is he does a MUCH better job handling the staff. Throw out the metrics. The entire pitching staff regressed. I’m not being emotional or pining for Yadi. Contreras is NOT a good catcher. He’s barely playable. His bat does not make up for his glove no matter what WAR says. Sometimes you actually have to watch a game.
The Cardinals #1 priority should be moving on from Contreras. That isn’t hate. He plays very hard. He had a GREAT second half at the plate. But he destroyed the pitching staff. He’s on the wrong side of 30. He’s not going to get where we need him to be defensively. They need to make a bold decision, admit a mistake, and move on.
I hope the best for Contreras wherever he goes. He played his heart out for St. Louis. But he’s the wrong guy on the wrong team. Period.
Heard a lot over this last week or so of the season, “who the heck is that guy?”
Up the middle players are not traditionally good with the bat and are expected to be good glove and live with whatever they hit. As with everything, there are exceptions.
In Conteras’ case, everyone knew he was bat first, what I call a DH waiting to happen. The Cardinals decided he wouldn’t kill them on defense and signed him for some heavy coin as Molina had ridden off into the sunset.
Now if the pitchers weren’t with that program, that’s a problem they should have headed off at the pass and not let fester. It looks like they did the opposite. To me, that’s a leadership problem.
Just an outside looking in view.
Most people in St Louis think it’s a leadership problem. That entire episode was extremely embarrassing. Contreras was the only one who handled it well and like an adult.
I’m waiting for the famous words from Team President: we will win the World Series!
If Mo signed a player who can’t actually play his position well to the largest contract in the history of the club for a free agent then he should be fired.
But im sure it will be spun otherwise…
Wasn’t Matt Holliday a free agent signing? Also, they did commit more $ to Pujols via extension, and I’m not sure the wording “free agent” is too important here.
They mean the largest contract for a player not already on the team. I’ve always thought it’s a silly distinction. Holliday was no longer on the team when he signed after becoming a free agent.