Buy? Sell? Fire? Cardinals looking for answers

Last fall as the Tampa Bay Rays were making a postseason run and Randy Arozarena was becoming a star, it was easy for St. Louis Cardinals fans to lament about one that got away.

Arozarena, and Jose Martinez, were sent to Tampa Bay for a pair of minor leaguers and a draft pick. The Cardinals had too many outfielders and not enough left-handed pitching so they traded for Matthew Liberatore. The prized prospect now pitches at Triple-A Memphis.

That offseason trade took care of both short-term and long-term problems for the Cardinals, who now face many questions heading into the All-Star break with a trade deadline looming at the end of the month.

Entering the game Friday, the Cardinals were tied with the Chicago Cubs for third place in the NL Central, 9 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee. St. Louis has a 2.2% chance of making the playoffs, according to baseball-reference.com, with the two wild-card spots likely going to NL West teams, which the Cardinals trail by 8 games.

After taking 2 of 3 against the NL-best Giants, the Cardinals took another hit to the rotation with another injury.

Carlos Martinez may be lost for the season if he chooses to have surgery on his thumb. He joined Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas on the 60-day injury list this week with those two expected to be back later this season.

Also on the 60-day IL, pitchers Jordan Hicks and Dakota Hudson while pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon is on the 10-day IL.

Just nine days into July and the Cardinals have made 14 roster moves already. It’s a trend that started before Opening Day with just about everybody in the organization hurt at some point.

The question moving forward is how to move forward.

Clearly the starting rotation needs a bandage and the bullpen has been stretched thin, but the offense has struggled.

St. Louis ranks third-worst in the league in runs per game, above only the Mets, who lead the NL East, and Pirates while ahead of only Cleveland and Seattle in on-base percentage prior to Friday.

It’s easy to blame hitting coach Jeff Albert and assistant Jobel Jimenez for the offensive performance, or lack thereof, but players have to hit. Same for pitchers making pitches.

Cardinals pitchers lead the MLB in walks and batters hit by pitches, but also runners left on base and rank second-best in fewest home runs allowed. They’re about league average for total runs allowed but they have the second-fewest strikeouts of any pitching staff and are below the league average in WHIP, walks and hits per innings.

Should pitching coach Mike Maddux or manager Mike Shildt get fired? Is it time to shake up the front office?

Typically, organizations quick to place blame on people instead of addressing problems are going to go through a lot of people before any problems get solved. The Cardinals tend to not overreact during rough times, unless the problem is a person.

The last time the Cardinals made big moves at the trade deadline was 2018 after firing manager Mike Matheny on July 14.

In a three-day span later that month, the Cardinals sent Luke Volt and Tommy Pham to the American League for pitching. St. Louis finished in third place, 88-74. Volt led the majors in home runs last season for the Yankees while Pham is helping the Padres.

Patrick Wisdom, who the Cardinals sent to Texas for Drew Robinson after the 2018 season, has emerged as a slugger for the Cubs while Sandy Alcantara, who the Cardinals sent to Miami for Marcell Ozuna, and Seattle’s Marco Gonzales could be filling in the rotation nicely.

Then again, the Cardinals got Tyler O’Neill in the Gonzales trade prior to the 2017 trade deadline. When healthy, O’Neill has been the best hitter this season for St. Louis second to Nolan Arenado, who joined the club this offseason by trade.

“Bad trades are part of baseball,” it was once noted.

At the time in June 1964, sending an 18-game winner and two others to the Cubs for a 25-year-old outfielder didn’t seem like a good idea, but Broglio for Brock turned the tide that season for the Cardinals and the rest of the decade.

At the start of the season it looked like, on paper, the Cardinals were in good shape.

Too bad you can’t trade away injuries.