Uncustomed Heroes of 2024: Cardinals

 

It's kind of wild to me that, despite the numerous elements of this Cardinals team that continued to disappoint this year, and despite this being the second year in a row where they didn't make the playoffs despite having, fundamentally, the team to do so, the Cardinals finished in 2nd place, and over .500. In a division where the Reds went in competitive and the Pirates sparked fire midyear, the Cardinals still finished ahead of them. 

Granted, the Cardinals and Cubs tied for second, but the Cardinals will take the formality. It's enough to say it was at least an improvement, and that means management can keep Oli Marmol and continue the current path of mediocrity.

And I have to stress, this is good for me. I'm enjoying the Cardinals not being competitive. This, the Patriots and the Cowboys at the same time? This is great! But you get the sense that this could be avoided if everyone, including ownership, was on the same page. And they're not. So we got this Cardinals team that is simultaneously too past their prime to make an impact and too inexperienced to factor into anything. Having a rotation of guys over 35 and an outfield of guys under 25 is really pulling things in two different directions, and hopefully this team picks a side going forward.

It's been clear that since winning the MVP, Paul Goldschmidt has backed off of his prime offensive material, and 2024 was the biggest taste of mediocrity yet for the future Hall of Fame corner infield. For the first time since his rookie year, the 36-year-old had a bWAR figure below ten, just a measly 3. This year he hit .245 with 22 homers and 65 RBIs, and ended with a 1.3 WAR, a new career low for a full season. In fairness, he has been at this for a while, and he did have ten or so years where he was one of the best pure hitters in baseball, including the majority of his 30s to this point. So after everything he's given the Cardinals, he didn't owe them much else in the final year of his contract. But it does feel like a disappointment still.

2025 Prediction: Gee, Paul Goldschmidt is a couple years away from retirement and his old team might have an opening at 1st base. I wonder what's gonna happen!

I think I'm mostly impressed that the Cardinals' Miles Mikolas experiment, which began with a signing out of Japan in 2018, has lasted this long. True, there was an injury break in the middle, but Mikolas has persisted as a staple of the team's rotations even stretching into 2024. Now, granted, Mikolas is now 36 and is very much the product of multiple surgeries, but he still started 32 games this season. Granted, he went 10-11 with a 5.35 ERA, plus a -0.2 WAR, but he still ate innings and struck out 122. I think they just needed reliable arms this year, and for one of the guys in their 30s to be that must have helped considering how many weren't.

2025 Prediction: He's got one more year left on the contract, but does he have anything left in the tank for it? Maybe a little?

For the second consecutive season, despite the idea that he might finally do so, Jordan Walker just didn't happen. The Cardinals' hopes are high for this guy, he has all the potential, but it's just not happening at an MLB level yet. In 51 games he hit .201 with 33 hits, 5 homers, 20 RBIs and 50 strikeouts. Bringing up Victor Scott II was just as problematic, as Scott is doing the same high-strikeout/no-payoff stuff as Walker right now.

2025 Prediction: Walker will be 23. I say something finally happens this year, though not at full power yet. 

Thanks to a midyear injury to Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera went from backup to everyday backstop, and it went alright for him. The 24-year-old hit .301 with 69 hits, 27 RBIs and 5 homers in 72 games, making him one of the most important contact hitters on the team. Unfortunately his defense isn't great. And with Contreras moving to 1st base next year, Herrera being the primary backstop might mean the years of exemplary defense behind the plate in St. Louis may be coming to an end.

2025 Prediction: Maybe not AS useful as a contact hitter, but still a key part of this team. I don't think he'll be the primary catcher all year though. They're gonna get somebody at this rate.

So. You start the season with an outfield arrangement of Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker and Victor Scott. You've got to send two of them down, and Nootbaar will be back at some point, plus Brendan Donovan can play left. So you're missing a piece that can stay in place. So...it's wild that the Cardinals not only went with former Reds castoff Michael Siani, but that he actually worked out for them. Siani made the CF spot his own, and in 124 games provided some of the best defense of the OF unit [yes, even better than Noot], despite some middling offensive results. Siani got hurt with 2 months to go, and thus the team had to call on Walker again, but it's nice to know he'll be an option for the Cards going forward.

2024 Prediction: Siani's gonna chase a gold glove next year, and perhaps be the OF anchor the team's always needed. He'll hit .250 in addition.

The Phillies, it's clear, won their side of the trade that brought Edmundo Sosa to their bench, but it's important to note that the Cardinals' return, reliever JoJo Romero, has also been pretty nice for them. Romero peaked midyear, but still finished with a 3.36 ERA and a 7-3 record in 65 appearances. Generally, the Cardinals' bullpen was pretty strong this year, and if Romero sticks around they could build something.

2025 Prediction: Not quite as consistent but will be on call for the whole season.

You'd probably have needed ample knowledge of baseball reference dot com to know that up until 2023, the longest tenured Tampa Bay Ray was not Brandon Lowe but, rather, reliever Andrew Kittredge, who capped off seven seasons with the club last year. In Tampa, that's the equivalent of a 20-year career. Kittredge had been hurt since his ASG season in 2021, and was traded due to those diminishing returns. But the Cardinals put Kittredge to good use, as he had his fullest season to date, and clearly his best since 2021. In 75 appearances, Kittredge had a 2.80 ERA with 67 Ks. With the exception of Matthew Liberatore, who started a few games, Kittredge got the most use of any Cardinals reliever this year.

2025 Prediction: It'd be really nice if Kittredge got 2 straight consistent, healthy seasons...but this is the 2020s, and he's 35. So probably a step or so down.

Andre Pallante has been an integral swingman for the last few years of Cardinals baseball, going from an impressive fifth starter in 2022 to a strong longman reliever last year. This year, Pallante, like in 2022, started in the pen and got to start 20 games as the options lessened. Despite an 8-8 record he had a 3.68 ERA and 94 Ks, and kept at it as the workload increased in the final months of the year,

2025 Prediction: Gets to start from the jump and provides consistency throughout, even if he's not the flashiest pitcher out there.

2024 marked Matt Carpenter's return to the Cardinals, after a wild couple years DHing for New York and San Diego. I have no idea what happened to bring on Carpenter's June 2022, but it may not happen again, as Carpenter's back to low average stuff as a depth bat. In 59 games, he hit .234 with 4 homers and 15 RBIs. 

2025 Prediction: I assume he hangs it up but he could still be convinced he has something left and sign somewhere he can play regularly.

Speaking of low risk veteran pickups, Brandon Crawford played for the Cardinals this year, in a tenure that will really only be good to freak out Giants fans by reminding them of its existence. Not only was Crawford battling an exceptional Masyn Winn performance for SS starts, but he's 37 and doesn't really have his strongest stuff anymore. In 28 games he hit .169 and was below average in the infield, meaning he was let go mid year.

2025 Prediction: Retirement.

And because there was a definite chance of creeping into the wild card race, the Cardinals made deals at the deadline, including being a part of the blockbuster that brought Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech, ultimately, their rings. But for a while it looked like the Cardinals got the better end of the deal, getting Erick Fedde, one of the biggest assets the White Sox had in the first half. Ultimately, once he got to St. Louis, the magic wore off for Fedde, as he went 2-5 with a 3.72 ERA in 10 starts. Not that this was a bad run, but compared to his 4.7 WAR first half with Chicago it was ultimately forgettable.

2025 Prediction: Fedde will be the Cardinals' best starter next year. He may not get the whole season to savor it, but he'll find whatever he had in Chicago again.

And though he ended the season with Kansas City, Tommy Pham did return to St. Louis for a month as part of the blockbuster deal. The idea was to bring back an old favorite and get him back to the playoffs, and while Pham had been strong with the White Sox, he only hit .206 with 12 RBIs and 2 homers in 23 games for the Cardinals. His big highlight was hitting a grand slam in his first at-bat of the season for St. Louis. He never got back to that feeling on that side of Missouri, and had a much better fall for the Royals.

2025 Prediction: A new, unique team will be added to Pham's bingo card to join the other nine he's already played for. My pick: Pittsburgh. 

Coming Tomorrow- As close as the Cardinals got this year, the Cubs got closer. But, for the second year in a row, the postseason was too far.