St. Louis Cardinals: 2018 Review, Yadier Molina Era Over?
By Max Neibaur
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.