Oh, dear. Loose bricks are falling from the side of the house, pieces of cracked slate are hanging from the roof, and it looks like the building is about to come tumbling down. It’s a cruel summer in this old baseball town.
The St. Louis Cardinals ended a nine-game home stay in the worst possible way, staggering out of the sun and into the cool of the clubhouse with a five-game losing streak to the Rockies and Yankees.
After defiantly rising to two games above .500 (61-59) on Aug. 11, the Redbirds flattened out to drop three games below the 500 line at 61-64. The fellers are off to Florida for three games at Miami and three more at Tampa Bay.
Before departing, the Cardinals had some time to leave two or three narratives with a grateful media.
This poor little team is playing short-handed because of injuries.
The team is young, and young teams make youthful mistakes.
Something something something about a thin margin of error.
Or maybe we, the outsiders, can just call it for what it is: bad baseball and losing baseball, and a season that’s decomposing.
I am not without empathy. Seriously, I know it’s a difficult time for manager Oli Marmol, the staff, and the players.
That said, I must reject these simple narratives and put them in the “sorry, no excuses” rejection box or place it “it’s a long season, and every big-league team goes through this” file.
Before I jump in, there’s some fresh news: the Cardinals FINALLY placed second baseman Brendan Donovan on the IL with his latest injury (foot.) It’s about damn time. But they had to play short-handed against the Yankees over the weekend, and it made no sense.
Let’s take a look.
1. Yes, the Cardinals were short-handed because of injuries – but that’s on them. Let’s focus on Donovan as the prime example. I don’t have much to fuss about with first baseman Willson Contreras (foot) missing a few days but Donovan should have been shut down right away and placed on the 10-day IL to have proper time to heal. Instead, the Cards kept Donovan on the roster (as an inactive) still hoping he could make it back to the lineup today or tomorrow or whenever. And now he’s on the IL, which is where he should have been several days ago.
Donovan has been trying to play hurt for weeks, dealing with a sequence of related injuries: toe, groin and foot. By choosing to grind through this in such nonsensical fashion instead of doing what’s right for the player and the team, the Cardinals went with the hero-ball treatment of Donny instead of actually putting everything into treating his injury.
The results are absolutely predictable; since the All-Star break Donovan has a .203 average, .264 on-base percentage and .278 slugging percentage. And yet … they kept running him out there! When a good hitter suddenly can’t hit because he’s playing with lower-body pain and discomfort, the injury is an obvious factor in the extreme downturn in hitting performance.
A third injury occurred in Saturday’s loss to the Yankees when center fielder Victor Scott II sprained an ankle and headed to the IL. So that’s three injuries in a short time, but at least the Cardinals addressed the latest injury by promoting Triple A outfield prospect Nathan Church to the big club. He started Sunday’s loss to New York. And finally – alas, and overdue – the Cardinals took a smart pill or something and realized Donovan needed to shut it down and get well.
Jose Fermin was summoned to take Donovan’s roster spot. The Redbirds easily could have called up Fermin from Memphis for the weekend series vs. NY at Busch Stadium to do this the right way: give Donovan a chance to recover and put the lingering injuries behind him.
Why the hell were they so reluctant to bring Fermin up? When Fermin was called up in late June to fill an injury void, he batted .350 with a 1.009 OPS in 12 games and played five different positions: third base, second base, left field, right field, and DH. This time – until Monday – the perfectly healthy and productive Fermin was parked in Memphis as the Cardinals chose to play short-handed with Donovan down.
Sorry, but when you make that decision, you’re not allowed to point out that you’re playing short-handed to cover for some bad baseball. No one forced the Cardinals to go compete with a 24-man roster instead of 26.
They opted to do this for three consecutive days. I don’t know what this season was supposed to be about – these people are constantly contradicting their own message – whatever that message actually is. But if this was a so-called “runway” season – then go with a full 26-man roster and give others a chance to play instead of being so dang stubborn you think you can take the Yankees down with a stripped-down bench. Unreal.
2. It’s true, the Cardinals injury list expanding. But hey, breaking news: that’s baseball. Even with the current injury hits, the Cardinals have been one of the most fortunate teams in the majors at escaping serious injury issues.
According to the injury-tracking ledger at Baseball Prospectus, only one team (Phillies) has been damaged less by injuries than the Cardinals.
Through Sunday, Philadelphia players have missed a combined 239 games to injuries this season. The Cardinals are next, with 280 games missed by players.
Another way to measure impact is to gauge the percentage of a team’s total Wins Above Replacement that was lost to injury. The Cardinals’ 4.4 percentage of value lost is the lowest of any team in the majors.
For example, Milwaukee’s injured players have resulted in a cumulative 19 percent loss of roster value during the season. With the Cubs, that percentage is 12.6 percent.
Most major-league teams have more depth than the Cardinals. The Brewers have used 29 pitchers and 24 position players this season in sculpting MLB’s best record in 2025. For Sunday’s game at Cincinnati, only nine of the players that were on Milwaukee’s active 26-man roster were on the Brewers’ opening day roster this season.
3. The other narrative: the kids are young, and young players make mistakes because they’re learning. This one bugs me. Sure the Cardinals have some young players. But most of these guys aren’t as “young” now as they were at the beginning of the season. They’ve been gaining experience since the start of spring training. OK, so center fielder Nathan Church missed a cutoff man on a throw in Sunday’s setback. Rookie second baseman Thomas Saggese made a costly throwing error in the game. But Saggese is a natural second baseman. Combining his minor-league and major-league games played at second base, Saggese has played just under 2,300 innings of pro ball at second base. Other defenders on this team should be getting better by now – through experience – and the results are mixed.
4. Here’s the deal, OK? Let’s cut through the beeswax. The young-team stuff only goes so far. On June 29, the Cardinals completed a series sweep of the Guardians to move to a season-best nine games over .500 at 47-38.
Since that peak point of their season, the Cardinals have a 14-26 record for a .350 winning percentage that’s the worst in the National League and 29th overall to Tampa Bay. Again, wouldn’t we expect a young team to display gradual improvement as the season rolls on and deepens?
5. Sustainability is a factor, sure. I realize that a big challenge for many young players is to sustain performance after a positive beginning to the season. And the younger hitters have taken a wrong turn since June 30. Per wRC+, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, and Thomas Saggese have tapered off. Two others, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker, have improved. Especially Gorman. Walker’s wRC+ was so poor that he had only one way to go – up. But it’s nothing dramatic. Pedro Pages is about the same offensively.
In case you’re wondering, I didn’t include Donovan and Lars Nootbaar in this grouping because they aren’t “kids.” Donovan is 28, and Nootbaar will turn 28 next month. Catcher Yohel Pozo is also 28. But in case you’re curious, all three hitters have declined offensively since the Cards reached their high point back on June 29.
Maybe this is more of a talent thing than an age thing? Maybe the roster is inadequate and lacking in talent and quality depth?
Maybe at some point this team would break down? Ya think?
6. What about the pitching side? Of their younger starters, Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante have gotten worse. Much worse. Michael McGreevy has improved. Several of the less experienced relievers have improved including Matt Svanson, Riley O’Brien and Gordon Graceffo. Others haven’t gotten better including Andre Granillo and Kyle Leahy. But though his performance hasn’t been as good since June 30, Leahy is still 13% above average (based on ERA+) since the last day of June.
7. I’ve gone through this a bunch of times, but I’ll update because of the five-game losing streak.
Since June 30 the Cardinals have scored the fewest runs in the majors, have a minus 75 run differential, and rank 25th or worse in MLB for on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, Isolated Power and wRC+. Over this time the Redbirds ranked 28th in batting average, slugging and OPS when hitting with runners in scoring position.
The pitching department: since June 30 St. Louis ranks 26th in overall ERA (4.98) and is 28th in starting pitching ERA (6.15.) The bullpen, however, remains a plus – with a 3.44 ERA (7th best) since June 30.
When you look at these dismal numbers on offense and in starting pitching, is it any surprise to see the Cardinals stuck with the NL’s worst record, and the second-poorest MLB record, since June 30?
HOW ABOUT SOME BIRD BYTES?
– More on this absurd Donovan situation. Since the start of June, a banged-up Donovan ranks 119th in OPS (.640) among 124 MLB hitters that have at least 230 plate appearances over that time.
– Donovan, per wRC+, is 19% below league average offensively which ranks 114th among the 124 hitters.
– Donny is also 119th among 124 in slugging percentage (.333), 108th in batting average (.229) and 91st in onbase percentage (.307.)
— And evidently the Cardinals saw no correlation between injuries and a declining performance.
– I hope Chaim Bloom takes some time to examine how the Cardinals handle player injuries. I understand that Donovan wants to play and I respect him for it … but it’s OK to say no to a player. Nothing is achieved when injuries impact his performance in a way that’s bad for him and bad for the team.
– Sonny Gray: The right-hander has made six starts since the All Star break. And his 6.96 ERA in the six outings ranks 47th among 48 MLB starting pitchers that have thrown at least 30 innings since the break. Over the six assignments, Gray allowed an average of 2.51 home runs per nine innings, which also ranks 47th among the 48 starters.
– Gray II: In nine starts since the beginning of July, Gray has a 6.17 ERA that’s fourth-worst among MLB starters.
– Gray III: Just a reminder that Gray has a guaranteed salary of $35 million in 2026. That hasn’t aged well. And Gray will be pitching at 36 years old in ‘26.
– Read it and weep: Since July 1, among the STL pitchers that have made at least six starts over that time, here are the earned-run averages from best to worst:
Miles Mikolas, 5.44
Matthew Liberatore, 5.47
Sonny Gray, 6.17
Andre Pallante, 6.31
Good grief.
(McGreevy has a 4.55 ERA in five starts since the outset of July.
– JoJo Romero: From April 27 through the end of July, the lefty reliever had an 0.34 ERA and a 28 percent strikeout rate. In 26 and ⅔ innings, Romero allowed a .191 average and .524 OPS.
– Since the trade deadline, Romero has a 3.68 ERA and 6.12 fielding independent ERA with a collapsed strikeout rate of 15.3 percent. And in 7 and ⅓ innings Romero has been roughed up for a .281 average, .410 on-base percentage and .375 slug. His walk rate is soaring – 15.4% – in August. From April 27 through the end of July, JoJo’s walk rate was 8.4%.
– I’m among the many folks – along with many of you – who thought it would be a smart play to deal Romero at the trade deadline. But I don’t know if the Cardinals received any good offers for Romero. He’s under contract through 2026.
– Ivan Herrera: since returning from his second stay on the IL this season (July 13), Herrera has a .243 average, .328 on-base percentage and a poor .318 slug for a .646 OPS. Over that time he has just four extra-base hits, including two homers, in 107 at-bats.
This column wasn’t exactly Happy Talk, but I can only work with the material that the Cardinals give me.
Thanks for reading …
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX, and Bernie does a weekly “Seeing Red” podcast on the Cardinals with his longtime pal Will Leitch. You can also catch Bernie every Friday morning (10:30 a.m.) as a guest on the Randy Karraker Show here on our site.