To the Victor..

 

I will give the Cardinals credit for this: instead of completely buying into the controversy and giving us a season where they're at odds with Arenado and nothing's working, the Cardinals are a team of younger, scrappier contact players that also has Nolan Arenado contributing. This is a team that can work with or without Arenado, and as the trade rumors continue, it's no longer a truly horrifying thought. Because god forbid if Arenado goes, they can just plug Thomas Saggese or Nolan Gorman into third and keep on going. Everyone will be on the same page, there won't be a gaping hole. They'll just keep on rolling. 

The biggest stars of the season so far, besides Arenado, have been the guys you weren't thinking about. I mean, maybe you were thinking about Brendan Donovan, but he's not your textbook MLB star, at least not yet. People like Matthew Liberatore, Ivan Herrera, Kyle Leahy and Lars Nootbaar have been the most important factors into this season. Victor Scott, after some really unpleasant MLB tries, finally feels at home in the majors, leads the team in steals with 11 and is hitting .292. I think they were banking on Jordan Walker getting to that point but that really hasn't happened yet, so Scott's a very nice alternative. All of Scott, Masyn Winn and Thomas Saggese putting it together at once does make me very intrigued for the future of the team. It's no longer a messy assembly line of outfield prospects that have to be culled every year, it's finally blooming in a way that makes the most sense. 

Granted, it does make the other contracts stand out more. Willson Contreras is hitting .248 with 22 RBIs and 5 homers. It's not terrible, but we've seen him hit way better, and his 1st base skills aren't quite Goldschmidt-levels. Sonny Gray is 4-1 with a 3.50 ERA, and, again, we've seen better from this guy, even if he does have 47 strikeouts thus far. But you get the sense that most of the contracted guys, like Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, even Ryan Helsley, will be gone next year anyhow and the team will progress naturally to replace them. Not that many of these guys are playing badly [Fedde just had a beautiful start against the Nats], I just know the Cardinals have guys that fit better with the current MO, and they'll lead to a more uniform, unified group. It may be another year away, but it's definitely in sight.

The one issue is that without Arenado, I'm not sure who's going to be responsible for most of the home runs. This is a very contact-heavy team, and hopefully someone, like Burleson or Gorman, will go on a tear naturally, but right now you're not really seeing much. It's not too much of an issue, but it could be if the nearest competition [the Cubs and Reds] is great with the long ball. 

The Cardinals have, for the moment, made it through the mid-division scrum and are in a decent position for now. It's uncertain whether or not the Reds or Brewers will find the leverage to flip things, but as of now the Cardinals are doing a lot right, and they're seeing what's possible if they tune out the noise and just do what they're supposed to.

Coming Tonight: I sometimes worry that when a flukey starter gets a multi-year deal, it won't come to fruition for whoever signs him, but the Angels have been pretty lucky with this one.