The Cardinals had enough talent to dominate lesser teams last season. They didn’t, so they missed the playoffs.
Why did they lose so many games they should have won?
Pitching injuries forced the team to get by with three quality starters for much of the season. The offensive table setters – Skip Schumaker, Felipe Lopez, Brendan Ryan – didn’t get on base enough. The batting order lacked consistent clout behind Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday.
But a more insidious issue derailed the team, too: Its startling lack of focus, which was unusual for a Tony La Russa-managed team.
The Cards played hard for most of last season, but they played sloppily. The mental side of their game went bad.
They ran into outs on the basepaths. They yielded extra outs in the field. They gave away at-bat after at-bat against no-name pitching.
Some of the Cards’ 2010 failure could be explained through statistical analysis. But a big part of the flop fell into the broad category of “bad baseball” – doing many little things wrong, for reasons nobody could really explain.
This led to the acquisition of Ryan Theriot, a gritty La Russa-type player in the David Eckstein mold.
“We look at him as a winning player, somebody who will bring more offense to the position than we’ve had in the past,” general manager John Mozeliak said.
Yes, St. Louis, the man is scrappy.
“I just go out there and play hard every day,” Theriot said Tuesday after learning of the trade. “That’s kind of what I’ve done traditionally in my career. I’m going to give you guys as much as I’ve got. Hopefully it’ll be good enough.”
The arrival of Theriot will likely ensure the departure of Ryan, the poster boy for this team’s 2010 underachievement. Efforts to make Ryan a consistent everyday player here failed.
Ryan possesses remarkable fielding range. Does any shortstop cover more ground? He has lots of energy (perhaps too much) and competes very hard.
At his best, Ryan also offers decent offense. He hit .292 with 14 stolen bases in 2009 after taking over for troubled veteran Khalil Greene. He was a classic “second leadoff hitter” for the No. 9 hole, with the pitcher hitting eighth.
But Ryan also has issues, most notably his attention deficit. As his 2010 slump worsened, he became spastic at the plate – flailing helplessly at pitches. His hitting problems carried over to the field, where he made uncharacteristic throwing errors.
Maybe he could come back next spring and be just fine. After missing the playoffs three out of four years, though, the Cards can’t take that chance.
Ryan could blossom into a fine player elsewhere, but it appears he has run his course here.
(The Cards could also address the team focus issue by dealing Colby Ramsus, who has concentration problems of his own. But this team needs more offense, not less, so improving the team via a Rasmus deal would be very difficult.)
The Cards need to refocus. If he plays as he did for the Cubs, Theriot should help that cause. He is a solid .280-type singles hitter, likely to steal 20-plus bases if he stays healthy.
This team will sacrifice fielding range if it uses Theriot as the everyday shortstop. But the team sacrificed fielding range by replacing Edgar Renteria with Eckstein and won a World Series.
“I won two divisions playing at shortstop,” Theriot said. “We won the Central twice when I played for the Cubs. It’s the position I played my whole life.
“Just catch every ball that is hit to you. Don’t try to make SportsCenter plays. Catch the ball and throw the batter out. I loved the way David Eckstein played shortstop because he caught every ball hit at him.”
More changes are forthcoming for the Cardinals. Mozeliak has retained No. 4 starting pitcher Jake Westbrook, addressed the left side of his bullpen and added a tenacious infielder without subtracting any real assets.
Now the team needs to add more offense. The team needs more pop on the bench, starting with a No. 2 catcher who can actually hit. A proven third baseman is needed to protect against David Freese’s chronic ankle injuries.
Another outfielder with power could help, in case minor league star Allen Craig doesn’t achieve a Ryan Ludwick-like breakout. Perhaps the Cards will upgrade at second base, since Schumaker isn’t a mortal lock to start there. Mozeliak wouldn’t rule out adding another shortstop, but that market appeared to be moving away from this team in a hurry.
“We have to make sure the complementary players we have around our core can make sure we score runs,” Mozeliak said. “That is what we’re going to work on between now and opening day. The key thing for us is, whatever our next moves look like, we have to make sure it helps our offense.
“We have to find ways to get guys on base and allow Albert and Matt and Colby to hit them in.”
Theriot sounds ready to help.
“If you can steal bases and get into scoring position, that equates into runs and that equates into winning ballgames,” he said. “Get into scoring position as much as you can. Scoring runs is probably the most important thing in my game.”
Cards fans are going to like this guy.
