On the surface, the Cardinals’ decision to call catchers in the minor league Tres Barrera doesn’t seem like a deal to make headlines around baseball, but its ramifications are significant. It’s not Barrera’s call, but the fact that his arrival means St Louis will change Contrast Wilson catch-up in the “next few weeks”, as Katie Woo of The Athletic reportwith Andrew Knizner to take on the role of the main stop.
It’s a big move to move your off-season recruit star from his primary position just a month after his first season, but the Cards clearly feel this is the best move to help them. turn the tide at the start of the 10-23 season. Contreras, signed to a five-year, $87.5 million deal in the winter, will now act as DH/midfielder for the team, further further destabilizing the already crowded St Louis outfield picture. .
At disc, Contreras was still his normal self, taking down 0.280/.361/.421 with a home run, good for wRC+ of 119. His numbers are down slightly from last year but pretty consistent match your career numbers. However, his offensive work never seems to be the source of any concern, with the focus here certainly on his work behind the plate.
Catcher is a challenging position to assess statistically, but overall there are still some question marks over Contreras’ work behind the plate. Concerns about his ability to handle pitching and game calling staff arose around last year’s trading deadline while he was with the Cubs, and Chicago tried to hold him back until he is free at the end of the season. That’s obviously a difficult concern to really quantify, but it’s definitely worth considering following this news.
Fangraphs give him a -1 on their framing, while Statcast gives him average in that regard. As of now, Contreras is tenth among MLB catchers and has taken down five of the 17 potential bases stolen so far this season. While he doesn’t rank as elite in either respect, that’s not bad either and certainly suggests that there’s more to it than just capturing the stats that are driving this move. While there will certainly be some explanation for this move from the Cardinals’ main office, it’s very likely their pitching staff that started the season has played a part here.
St Louis ranked 24th in the ERA starting pitcher majors, a ranking that would have been much lower had it not been for the stellar start of the year. Jordan Montgomery. Behind the left-hander, Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas And Jack Flaherty all are sports ERAs north of 5. While the report suggests the move is only for the next couple of weeks, it will be interesting to see if Contreras can get back to handling hitting missions. catch or whether this is a long-term move.
Currently, however, it created even more instability in the Cardinals’ exterior picture. In today’s match, the team ran out of Lars Nootbar, Dylan Carlson And Alec Burleson outside, with Contreras handling DH, and that seems to be the most popular group we’ll see over the next few weeks. However, the team will welcome back Tyler O’Neill at some stage, and still top prospects jordan pedestrians at Triple-A, while Contreras is also expected to feature in the off-court mix.
It is possible that Contreras will return to the hot picture at some point, but the Cardinals are often speculated as a team that could look to trade a midfielder. before this move today and with another key bat currently in the mix, a trade certainly looks like a possibility at some point in the summer.
