St. Louis Cardinals: 2018 Review, Yadier Molina Era Over?
The St. Louis Cardinals started and ended the 2018 MLB season on a down, but the year was not a complete failure. Moving forward, can the Cards make one last run during the aging Yadier Molina era before that window closes?
Yadier Molina plays with a competitive fire that draws hatred from opposing teams almost as grand as draws love from his hometown St. Louis Cardinals.
The native Puerto Rican, affectionately known by Yadi to fans, led his homeland’s team all the way to the finals of the 2017 WBC.
The WBC Tournament showcases Yadi’s love and respect for baseball combined for his loyalty and compassion for his people.
“It means everything to me, everything,” Yadi explained to reporters during the WBC. “It would mean just as much, if not more [than a World Series Championship]. This is for our country. You get emotional when you play for your country.”
The United States beat Puerto Rico in the finals of the 2017 WBC, and it is questionable whether Yadier Molina’s body will hold up by the time another tournament occurs in 2021.
It is questionable whether he will even have another chance at the World Series title with the St. Louis Cardinals let alone a WBC title with Puerto Rico.
The Cards had a marginal 2018. Depending on the perspective, a fan could see it very positively or negatively.
The team endured several injuries, especially to the pitching staff. It also made some trades that could look bad in the future and fired its manager, Mike Matheny, half-way through the season.
Even Molina went on the DL for a considerable amount of time. Perhaps the next time Molina wins a title with the St. Louis Cardinals or his Puerto Rico team, he will be a manager and not a player. He did not appear to pick up his 2018 Roberto Clemente Award because he was managing Puerto Rico’s U-23 team.
Even though Molina got nominated for yet another Gold Glove in 2018, he only threw out 31 percent of base-stealers. His career average is 41 percent.
Yadier Molina has mentioned that he plans to retire at the end of his contract in 2020.
Only a very close look at the offense and pitching during the 2018 season can do a St. Louis Cardinals review any justice.
St. Louis Cardinals 2018 Offense Review
Yadier Molina played catcher for all three of Albert Pujols’ MVP seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. He competed for the Cards after Pujols left and Matt Holiday became the premier hitter, and he is still there now that Matt Carpenter anchors the lineup.
Although Yadi has never been the St. Louis Cardinals best hitter, this became his team somewhere along the line.
But the Cards’ offense needs a big bat too. During the “Molina Era,” St. Louis has maintained a relatively good lineup to play with its fine pitching.
In 2018, the offense failed to find an identity.
Along with Manager Mike Matheny, the St. Louis Cardinals fired hitting coaches John Mabry and Bill Mueller on July 14 of the season.
During the offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals tried to acquire young power-hitter Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins, according to reports and rumors. Stanton would have been a franchise-changing addition and a leader for the lineup.
After losing out in the Stanton bidding, the Cards turned its focus to Stanton’s Marlins teammate, Marcell Ozuna.
St. Louis Cardinals 2018 Review Offense – Marcell Ozuna, Dexter Fowler, Matt Carpenter, Tommy Pham Lead the Story
Ozuna looked like the next best on a long list of available Marlins. Ozuna made the 2017 All-Star team and finished last season with a .924 OPS and a 5.8 WAR.
In 2018, however, Ozuna hit just .758 OPS and saw his WAR drop to 2.9. A nagging sore shoulder throughout the year might have had something to do with Ozuna’s significantly lower stats.
Other Cardinals hitters suffered bad offensive years as well.
The Cards paid Dexter Fowler $16M to put up a negative WAR and end a streak of seven straight years with a 100 or higher OPS+ when he could not rate higher than 59. For those not in on the sabermetrics movement, these are huge collapse is statistics.
Meanwhile, the third Marlins outfielder went to Milwaukee where he blossomed into an MVP-caliber player for the division-rival Brewers.
Despite an off-year in 2018, Ozuna is young and talented enough to contribute as a premier performer for the St. Louis Cardinals going forward and could help boost the Cards back into the MLB playoffs soon. Fowler’s future is less clear.
Along with Fowler, the Cards thought they could rely on young star Tommy Pham. Pham had a breakout 2017 campaign and played well enough to open 2018. Pham, however, would slip into a deep slump.
Pham’s OPS went from .931 in 2017 with the St. Louis Cardinals to .730 OPS in 2018. The Cardinals decided to trade him to the Tampa Bay Rays to make room for prospects late in July. Pham finished the season by hitting 1,071 OPS for the Rays during the rest of the season.
That trade could come back to haunt the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cards also might regret trading Luke Voit to the New York Yankees on July 29. Voit became a catalyst for the Yankees lineup that the St. Louis Cardinals could have used down the stretch.
After Matt Carpenter hit below .200 in April, he caught fire and led the NL in home runs most of the season. But he ran out of gas like the rest of the team and could not get the Cards into the 2018 playoffs.
A review of the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals shows that they are not as deep as some of their previous teams. However, despite some poor trades, the team could still win in Yadi’s two-year window.
Carpenter will hit for power, and Ozuna will heal his elbow and play much better in the future,
Losing Pham’s dynamic speed and power skills leaves a hole in the lineup.
But, the Cards could add a major hitter to the team during the 2018-19 offseason such as Manny Machado or Daniel Murphy.
Or, they could rely on a bundle of very good prospects maturing such as Ardolis Garcia. Like always, the St. Louis Cardinals will figure out a way to compete.
St. Louis Cardinals 2018 Review: Injuries To Pitchers Keep Team Out Of MLB Playoffs
Injuries ravaged the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff in 2018.
Veteran Adam Wainwright missed most of the season. The St. Louis Cardinals re-signed Wainwright for 2019, but the team has to question what the former ace has left.
Carlos Martinez, the pitcher expected to lead the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals battled injuries most of the season and finished the season in the bullpen.
Entertaining and talented young starter Alex Reyes got off to a great start for St. Louis before succumbing to a season-ending injury. Furthermore, the Cards lost Michael Wacha for the rest of 2018 in June.
The Cardinals signed former closer Greg Holland to a $15M contract only to watch him give up way too many runs without getting his groove back.
All of these pitching injuries affected the St. Louis Cardinals’ unacceptable 2018 results as much as anything.
Reasons for St. Louis Cardinals to Keep Optimistic about Future
Although the Greg Holland experiment did not work out, the Cards debuted Jordan Hicks in 2018. He threw over 100 mph out of the bullpen and looked overpowering at times. He could be a future closer for St. Louis.
Furthermore, Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas proved their worth over the course of a full season for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018. Mikolas made the 2018 All-Star Team and Flaherty showed the type of stuff that could make him a co-ace of the team with Carlos Martinez in the near-future.
Next year’s St. Louis Cardinals rotation eventually looks something like this:
- Jack Flaherty
- Carlos Martinez
- Miles Mikolas
- Adam Wainwright
- Michael Wacha/Luke Weaver
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This being the case, the St. Louis Cardinals could use Alex Reyes as a kind of secret weapon out of the bullpen similar to what the Milwaukee Brewers did with Josh Hader.
Combining Hicks with Reyes and a quality left-handed free agent such as Zach Britton or Andrew Miller would look great on paper. That, and they have one of the better pitching coaches in the league with Mike Maddux.
A deep review of the St. Louis Cardinals 2018 team shows that injuries held them back.
They missed the MLB Playoffs for the third straight season, but they won five more games than the previous season despite numerous injuries.
dark. Next. St. Louis Cardinals
And fans have not given up. The St. Louis Cardinals accumulated baseball’s second-highest local television rating, averaging 7.18.
The NL Central will be beastly in 2019.