After I wrote a piece last week about how the Cardinals were fun to watch despite not being a true contender, they were anything but fun to watch on their last road trip.
The Cardinals had lost the first game of their series with the Mets when I posted that, but they went on to get swept in Queens and lose an excruciating series in Atlanta. A lot of the games that were lost were games that should have been won.
In this piece, we will evaluate the Cardinals after their 10-15 start, what’s working and what is holding this team back.
Starting pitching
We’ll start with starting pitching. I was quite worried about the rotation entering the season. However, I must say I’ve been impressed thus far. Save for the series in Boston, they’ve been quite good.
Sonny Gray is undefeated, and Matthew Liberatore and Steven Matz have both good. Erick Fedde is boosting his trade stock and had another solid start against the Braves on Monday. Even Miles Mikolas looks better. He went six scoreless on Wednesday in Atlanta.
Andre Pallante is struggling a little bit. He didn’t go deep in his Boston start and also has struggled in his last two starts, but I’m really not too concerned. Even though he gave up four runs against the Mets, he still made it through six innings and gave the Cardinals a chance to come back.
Offense
I have mixed feelings about the offense right now. They’ve been a lot better than 2024 thus far, and it’s clear that Brant Brown’s approach has had a positive effect on a lot of hitters.
However, the Cardinals have lost some games because of their lack of offense. They’ve stranded some runners in key spots and have missed chances to add on. Even though they ended up showing some fight Monday against the Braves, there were chances to add on to their lead before it vanished, and they missed those chances.
Then of course, it’s tough to win when you only score once in a ballgame. The Cardinals only mustered one run yesterday and just couldn’t get anything going.
However, unlike the next area of the roster we’ll discuss, I believe that the offense can turn things around. Brown will have the hitters make the necessary adjustments and they’ll formulate a new plan. They just need to be a little more consistent.
Bullpen
I thought for sure that the bullpen would be the ultimate strength of this team. Those feelings were amplified when Phil Maton was signed. But right now, the bullpen is what’s holding this team back.
Oli Marmol doesn’t have a lot of options right now, and while I don’t fully understand his usage of Ryan Fernandez, it’s not all his fault.
It turns out the loss of Andrew Kittredge hurts even worse than we all could have imagined. He was a key part of last year’s success with the bullpen, and not having that high-leverage presence is hurting. That’s on John Mozeliak and ownership.
But Fernandez has an 11.42 ERA and has not pitched like he did in the first half last year. Maton, Kyle Leahy, and Ryan Helsley have all been good, but another key piece of the puzzle last year, JoJo Romero is struggling. He owns a 7.27 ERA after 11 appearances.
And finally, John King has a 6.43 ERA and hasn’t really proven to be trustworthy in high-leverage spots.
I know the options at the minor league level are a little thin at the moment, but the Cardinals have to do something different. Romero and Fernandez could stand to go down for a little bit and allow the Cardinals to get some fresh arms on their roster.
Meanwhile, David Robertson remains unsigned, and if the Cardinals really want to improve their bullpen, they might be wise to dive into the market and give him a one-year deal. He won’t be that expensive, and he can pitch late in games.
Sticking with the same approach isn’t going to work for Mozeliak. That won’t fix the bullpen. Something needs to change, and I don’t think it would hurt for Romero and Fernandez to go down for a little bit to figure some things out.
The bullpen is the reason the Cardinals are five games under .500, and nothing will change if it can’t improve.