Help is on the way for the Cardinals.
Kyle Lohse is coming soon. After struggling with forearm problems for the better part of two years, he can’t wait to get back into the rotation and prove he is finally healthy.
General manager John Mozeliak is likely to add another veteran starting pitcher at some point before or after Saturday’s waivers-free trade deadline. Maybe it will be Jake Westbrook, maybe Aaron Cook, maybe somebody else. Plenty of hurlers are available and most of them would offer an upgrade.
Third baseman David Freese ought to return some time in August, assuming he doesn’t suffered another foot-related injury while rehabbing his earlier foot-related injuries. (This kid has some Wile E. Coyote in him. Was that an ACME weight he dropped on his “good” foot?)
These expected developments are heartening for the Cards, but they can’t count on new or returning players to prod them back on track.
What they have to do is start playing crisp, sound and smart baseball in EVERY SINGLE GAME.
There is no need to break out a lot of charts and graphs here. The problems are painfully obvious and the solutions are simple:
Swing at strikes. Remember when Albert Pujols (.295) was the most devastating hitter in the game? Now he routinely takes fastballs down the middle early in the count and flails at breaking pitches off the plate late in the count. This debilitating disease has afflicted several hitters.
Sure, even the best batters make lots of outs – but how the outs are made really matters. Plate discipline is essential. Too many hitters are getting themselves out night after night. Jon Jay can’t carry the team all by himself. He needs some help.
Throws strikes, work fast. Long-time pitching coach Ray Miller made quite a career by uttering the mantra “work fast, throw strikes” to everybody within earshot. Blake Hawksworth and Jeff Suppan have failed in these areas, which is why both need to exit the rotation ASAP. Dennys Reyes struggles with this, too, and that compromises the bullpen.
Make the routine plays. The Cards give away outs almost every game. They have an outfielder playing second base most games and a second baseman playing third. Some messiness is expected. But the sloppiness has been contagious, spreading to normally reliable fielders at inopportune times. Too often, a routine double-play ball does not result in a double play. For a pitching staff that strives to induce grounders, this failure to convert is devastating.
If you have ever coached a youth team, you’ve probably called time out, summoned the fielders to the mound and urged them to pull their heads out. Perhaps Tony La Russa needs to do this from time to time, just to make sure everybody is paying attention.
Remain alert on the bases. Playing station-to-station baseball is a bad idea unless your team has eight consistent run producers in the batting order. Teams with massive firepower can play like slow-pitch softball teams and win. Most cannot.
An aggressive team will run into some outs while sustaining pressure on opposing defenses. That is a cost of doing business. But there is no excuse for running around willy-nilly, killing one rally after another with basepath brain freezes. It’s not like the Cards have the sort of blazing team speed that allows them to outrun mental mistakes.
Opponents are going to beat the Cards from time to time. Other teams are trying to win. Even the weakest teams have good days during the 162-game haul.
But when the Cards beat themselves . . . well, that’s when you wonder how a team with veteran leaders and a Hall of Fame-bound manager can zone out for hours at a time.
If the Cards clean up these four areas, they will roll into postseason play. This season will be won (or lost) by key players bearing down (or not).
The GM can adjust the roster and the manager can tinker with the lineup, but it’s up to the players to make these critical changes.
