Winn or Lose

 

It is exceedingly difficult to write about the Cardinals. One week they'll be looking like a genuinely great baseball team, the next week they'll be completely ineffective in all facets of the game. 'Noncommittal' is the perfect way to describe these Cardinals, because we're like 3 weeks from the deadline and I have literally no idea what they're trying to do.

I think what keeps confusing me is that their starting nine is actually a pretty decent collection of people doing basically what's expected of them. Brendan Donovan, Masyn Wynn, Victor Scott and Alec Burleson are all having pivotal, strong peak seasons. Winn, for the second year in a row, has been an undeniable standout in multiple categories, being handy as a contact bat, a baserunner and a defensive shortstop. Winn and Donovan together in that infield is a trusted, proven combo that could lead this team for a while. Donovan's flirting with .300, leads the team in hits and got a well-deserved ASG nod. Heck, Lars Nootbaar leads the team in homers, and regardless of the fact that his lead is with 12 rather than, like, 33, it's still a very good thing.

The other thing about this team is that as much as it feels easy to dunk on the contracted players like Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras, they're both actually doing pretty damn well. Arenado has 10 homers and 41 RBIs, and even if it's not peak Arenado, it's still pretty helpful. You're still hearing that the Cardinals might, or might not, trade Arenado, which we've been hearing for a year, or honestly since he was still with the Rockies. Contreras has 11 homers and 51 RBIs, and actually isn't too bad at 1st. Not Harper good or anything, but he's been helpful there since Goldschmidt's departure. 

And yet even with all that's working for this Cardinals team, there's still a lot of mediocrity around as well. There's no surefire ace in this pitching staff right now. Sonny Gray has 113 Ks, but a 4.50 ERA. You'd think Liberatore would be the young guy to rally around, but his ERA is 3.70, which is good but not terrific. Ryan Helsley, still on a lot of people's trade radars, has a 3.19 ERA, despite his 18 saves. People have figured out how to hit this team. Either that or they're really not capable of surprising people anymore, at least as far as the pitching is concerned.

I dunno, the Cards have been 2-5 since July started but they have this habit of springing back up the second you count them out. So I'm not gonna make any assumptions of their next move. I'm just gonna let them make the decisions themselves and we'll see how well it goes for them.

Coming Tomorrow- In a season where the rest of his lineup has sprung to life, he figured he'd get in on the fun as well.