The St. Louis Cardinals desperately needed a series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates to turn around their season. Instead, they suffered a three-game sweep.
What could have been a phenomenal turnaround story instead became the latest chapter in a wasted season, as far as the St. Louis Cardinals are concerned. The Cards entered the season with World Series aspirations, and as the clear favorites in the NL Central.
After Sunday's game — which resulted in a sweep to the Pittsburgh Pirates — the Cards are firmly entrenched at the bottom of the division. Frankly, the way they've been playing through 60 games, this team does not deserve much more.
Rather than writing about who St. Louis could trade for at the deadline, I'm instead greeted with trade rumors regarding who they should sell. Is Paul Goldschmidt for sale? What about Jack Flaherty, or even Jordan Montgomery?
Something has to change for the Cards, but at least for a day, fans can aim their rage in the right direction.
Cardinals to blame: Giovanny Gallegos
There's plenty of blame to go around for the Cards, but the bullpen deserves a decent portion. St. Louis should have won Friday night's game in Pittsburgh, but instead a late rally set PNC Park ablaze. That was all thanks to the work of primarily Gallegos who, despite being steady for most of the season, gave up four runs. The Bucs scored six runs in the decisive seventh inning and never looked back.
Gallegos gave up three hits, two home runs and four runs in what was his second BS of the season. The Cardinals need every win they can get, and they were robbed of that opportunity thanks to Gallegos, as well as Andre Pallante, who gave up two runs of his own.
Cardinals to blame: Oli Marmol
How much more obvious can it get that Oli Marmol is not the right fit for this Cardinals team?
Marmol has been disastrous all season long, and hasn't established a clear identity in his clubhouse. That shows in the on-field product, where Marmol routinely makes stunning decisions which backfire in his face. One of those choices was to remove Jack Flaherty from an outing in which he was absolutely dealing. After taking out Flaherty, the bullpen imploded, leading to the first of three straight losses in Pittsburgh.
Add in blaming Tyler O'Neill for lackluster baserunning early in the season and thus losing the clubhouse, as well as playing with Willson Contreras's emotions, and this season has been a disaster for Marmol.
Every choice Marmol makes seems to be the wrong one. If St. Louis were to let Marmol go, there are several suitable replacements they could hire right now. Bench coach Joe McEwing would likely get the first shot at managing this team back to relevancy, which may be the exact kick in the butt they need right now. Sometimes, change in leadership can be a good thing. FanSided's Kevin Henry outlined McEwing's resume earlier this season:
"As the St. Louis bench coach, McEwing is seen by many as the right-hand man to Marmol. He also has ties to the organization as a player, spending two seasons in St. Louis in 1998 and 1999.
McEwing has experience navigating through difficult times while in Chicago and he has plenty of big league experience as a coach and as a manager. Making the move to McEwing would make sense on a number of levels from an organizational standpoint if the Cardinals were to make a switch."
Doesn't that sound like a breath of fresh air? Frankly, it can't get much worse than Marmol.
Cardinals to blame: John Mozeliak
It may seem like a stretch to blame a baseball executive for one lost series, but Cards fans should point the finger squarely at John Mozeliak for the situation they currently find themselves in.
St. Louis lacks a true ace, in part because Mozeliak traded them all away. While the farm system does possess some intriguing prospects, the front office failed to address the team's most pressing need this offseason, and it shows.
Mozeliak routinely makes all the wrong moves, and it shows in the everyday product. A lack of clutch hitting with runners on base? Blame the guy in charge. A bullpen that implodes at the worst possible moment? Blame the guy in charge. A rotation without a true ace to end a losing skid? Blame the guy in charge!
Do you sense a theme here? St. Louis's front office has let their fanbase down, and despite suggesting they will add at the trade deadline, recent rumblings from rival front office executives suggest the opposite, with one exec going as far as to wonder if they will trade Paul Freaking Goldschmidt.
Someone has to answer for this mess, and the buck doesn't stop with Marmol.
Cardinals to stay patient with: Jordan Walker
Despite his hot start to the season, St. Louis did the unthinkable and sent Jordan Walker down to Memphis to work on his swing. Now that he's back with the team after making said changes, the Cards need to let him gain his footing in the major leagues.
Walker is the best prospect in baseball for a reason. He's an outfielder — where the Cardinals have stockpiled quite a bit of talent — and he deserves to start there for the foreseeable future without fear of retribution on a daily basis. Redbird Rants Josh Jacobs addressed this in a recent article:
"Now that he's back in St. Louis, the Cardinals must let him go through his struggles as they come. Every single player has slumps, just look at this year's roster. I can't name one player who has not had at least a week-long slump during this season alone. All baseball players go through that. Walker needs the freedom to fail now, and with how talented he is, I'm sure he'll find great success most of the time."
Walker addressed whatever kinks in his swing made the Cardinals uncomfortable. He is back in the bigs, where he can help St. Louis turn things around, or at least aid them in finding some sort of future direction.