If you’ve been around covering a Major League Baseball team for 40-plus years, you realize early on that airing dirty laundry is anathema for general managers and managers.
I bring this up because one of the game’s most respected teams — the St. Louis Cardinals — has not once, but twice gone public about issues with players during manager Oliver Marmol’s second season in charge.
This week, I am spotlighting the Cardinals, clearly one of the more perplexing teams in all of Major League Baseball. If you recall, I had them higher than most preseason rankings at No. 6. They have been one of the most disappointing teams in the game and fell in my rankings to as low as No. 28, ahead of only the lowly Royals and Athletics, who have combined to win just 24 games to this point.
In his April 5 postgame news conference, Marmol said that outfielder Tyler O’Neill’s effort rounding third base to try to score was unacceptable. When one watches the replay, one can understand why Marmol was upset with the lack of urgency in O’Neill’s effort. But Marmol also said he talked to O’Neill in the dugout right after the player was thrown out at the plate. The Cardinals were 2-4 after that game.
From that game on, they went 8-20 to drop to 10-24 for the season. It was before a game, a second consecutive loss to the Tigers, that Marmol chose to publicly discuss why the team was taking recently signed free-agent catcher Willson Contreras (five years, $87.5 million) out from behind home plate. The club was very unhappy with how he called games, and the implication was that Marmol and his bosses were blaming a lot of the Cardinals’ struggles on Contreras.
That was on May 6, when the club said he’d be a right fielder and DH from that point forward.
A couple days later, Marmol was asked by a reporter, “What does Contreras have to show you to prove he can play right field for you?” Marmol’s answer was incredibly awkward, saying that the question the reporter should be asking was what Contreras would have to do to prove he could catch for the team.
That led to the writer talking to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, who explained in painstaking detail what the club thought of Contreras’ preparation with the staff. To many observers, it looked like Marmol might not survive much longer, that he was losing his club.
Since May 6, and that low point of being 10-24, all the Cardinals have done is go 11-3 and right the ship just in the nick of time to save their season and possibly get back into the playoff picture. Contreras returned to catching duties on May 15.
Seeing that sports is an arena that lends itself to cries of “copycat” in terms of how teams go about their business, one has to wonder how much longer it takes for the next team to go public in great detail about problems it is having with a player on its roster.
Without further ado, here are my power rankings. You’ll note the Cards moved from No. 26 to No. 20 this week.
1. Tampa Bay Rays (34-14, No. 1 last week): It’s not surprising that the Rays, who are just 6-7 in the past two weeks, have come back down to earth a bit. They very much need Taj Bradley to step up and claim his spot in the rotation, or better yet, for Tyler Glasnow to come back in top form. Glasnow had a great six-inning start in Durham on May 21.
2. Baltimore Orioles (31-16, No. 3): In 2017, the Orioles got off to a 22-10 start and rose to as high as No. 3 in my power rankings … only to go 0-6 and drop to No. 10. There’s no point in counting the exact number of weeks since they have been in this rarefied air. They deserve it. The competition this week — three against the Yankees in the Bronx and three against the Rangers back home — just keeps on keeping on.
3. New York Yankees (29-20, No. 6): Three or four weeks ago, I thought this team might fold up. But instead, they have gone 11-3 the past two weeks. Coincidentally, that matches up with when Captain Judge got back. Their resolve marks them as dangerous — especially if they can ever get Carlos Rodón on a mound … but that’ll be a while yet.
4. Atlanta Braves (29-17, No. 5): The Braves have been fortunate to date, as neither the Mets nor the Phillies have been able to round into form. Both teams seem to be getting healthier now, though. Atlanta’s inexperienced group of starters (Kyle Wright, Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster) hasn’t been able to gain any traction. With Max Fried down for a good while, this deficiency has kept the Braves from running away with the division. The Marlins are also getting better.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (29-19, No. 4): I was very hard on Dodgers throughout spring training. I have done a mea culpa, but the Dodgers are having all kinds of pitching issues with their starting staff. It looks like Dustin May could be shelved 4-6 weeks with a forearm strain. Then on top of that, Julio Urías is on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. And so far, they haven’t had the Clayton Kershaw injury. They are turning to two of their top pitching prospects — Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller — to take those two rotation spots. Ask the Braves how that’s working out. While there is still time for the Padres to turn things around in San Diego, don’t be surprised if the Diamondbacks turn out to be a bigger problem down the road.
6. Texas Rangers (29-17, No. 7): It’s early yet, but the Rangers truly are the most serious threat the Astros have had in the AL West in many moons. And they have this 29-17 record with Corey Seager playing in only 15 of 46 games. Adolis García is on a pace to knock in more than 170 runs. Manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux appear to have the staff in good shape … save for Jacob deGrom, who is idle yet again.
7. Houston Astros (27-19, No. 10): Two weeks ago, I was feeling that the Astros had really slipped to the point where a top-10 spot was no longer automatic. But they ran into a soft spot in their schedule and pounded the Angels, White Sox, Cubs and Athletics to the tune of a 10-2 record. The Astros head to Milwaukee for three games before heading to Oakland. They should have an automatic week of 4-2, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them go 5-1.
8. Boston Red Sox (26-21, No. 12): The Sox appear to have fixed their lineup. They are quite potent offensively. They seem to have gotten Chris Sale fixed, but I’m not sure they can really do much with two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber (2-6, 6.26 ERA). However, they recently got back veteran lefty James Paxton and his first couple appearances have been very positive. They hope to get Garrett Whitlock back next weekend. They cut bait with Ryan Brasier, the bullpen hero from the 2018 championship run.
9. New York Mets (25-23, No. 11): This spot might seem a bit optimistic, but not a second too late the Mets appear to have aging aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander both pitching as if the aging isn’t such a big deal. They need stars Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo to show more. Six games on the road — three at Wrigley and three at Coors — give them a chance to build on a 7-3 mark in their past 10 games when it appeared the sky was falling.
10. Minnesota Twins (25-22, No. 8): The good news is nobody in the AL Central appears likely to threaten them, as they are only team above .500. The bullpen has been very solid, and the starting staff has been more than OK. However, the offense has sputtered even though Byron Buxton has been able to stay in the lineup as the designated hitter. The Twins are coming home after a dismal 2-4 trip to Los Angeles. Carlos Correa must do better. It would help if they could get José Miranda straightened out at Triple-A. Alex Kirilloff is healthy and looks like the real deal.
11. Toronto Blue Jays (25-22, No. 2)
12. Milwaukee Brewers (25-21, No. 9)
13. Arizona Diamondbacks (27-20, No. 18)
14. San Diego Padres (21-26, No. 13)
15. Los Angeles Angels (25-23, No. 14)
16. Pittsburgh Pirates (24-22, No. 15)
17. Philadelphia Phillies (22-24, No. 16)
18. Seattle Mariners (22-24, No. 17)
19. Cleveland Guardians (20-26, No. 19)
20. St. Louis Cardinals (21-27, No. 26)
21. Miami Marlins (24-23, No. 21)
22. Chicago White Sox (19-29, No. 27)
23. San Francisco Giants (22-24, No. 24)
24. Chicago Cubs (20-26, No. 20)
25. Detroit Tigers (20-24, No. 22)
26. Washington Nationals (20-27, No. 25)
27. Cincinnati Reds (19-27, No. 23)
28. Colorado Rockies (19-28, No. 28)
29. Kansas City Royals (14-34, No. 29)
30. Oakland Athletics (10-38, No. 30)