Must-see TV: St. Louis is fine, but still a work in progress

Jun. 1—One month ago I said the St. Louis Cardinals didn't look good.

Now, heading into June, things look better. Things are looking much better, really. But there's still a lot that has to improve if this team wants to live up to the expectations it had entering 2023.

You could argue that expectations were never all that high for a team with a starting rotation like the one the Cardinals entered the season with — and that argument would be fair. But, I'd say most MLB fans believed the birds were the team to beat in the NL Central.

On June 2, 25-32 and fourth place in the division will not cut it. On the bright side, there are only two teams playing above .500 in the Central and they're barely north of that mark. The Milwaukee Brewers are now 29-27 after losing to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday and the Pittsburgh Pirates sit at 28-27.

Those teams have been treading water to hang on to a winning record. I believe both of those teams will remain competitive the rest of 2023, but they are easily catchable. The Brewers' offense is not good and the Pirates are awfully streaky and really rely upon good starting pitching and their speed so far.

In the one-month update, I asked to see Jordan Walker return to the major-league roster before the end of May. I didn't get that but he is headed back to join the squad for this series in Pittsburgh beginning on Friday. I think this is about a week or so late, but I still believe it's necessary to get this team to its highest potential.

Walker must remain at the MLB level, too. He was good enough to be a Rookie of the Year candidate. He belongs with the pros.

The other necessity I mentioned was getting some help from veteran Adam Wainwright, who debuted that first weekend of May. That did not happen. In one month and 26-plus innings of work, the veteran has turned in a 6.15 earned run average and an abysmal 1.71 WHIP. I added that getting a young arm into the starting rotation would be nice. Whether they brought Zack Thompson up — who was rumored to be sent down to the minors in April to be worked up as a starter — or Matthew Liberatore, I wanted to see a young arm crack the rotation.

There was no move of Thompson, but Liberatore got some innings and a start. He was sharp and needs to continue to get innings. As for the rest of the starting staff, things have only improved for one guy.

The pitching has been bad in terms of starters. But Miles Mikolas seems to have figured it out. Last time I wrote about St. Louis he held a 5.97 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP. Today, he's down to 3.75 and 1.29 to lead the team in both.

The only other qualified starters have regressed in ERA. Those are Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty with 4.48 and 4.81 averages, respectively. Montgomery is up from a team-best 3.34 while Flaherty was at 3.94.

In other words, Montgomery was a good pitcher in April and Mikolas was a good pitcher in May. That won't work at the pro level. You have to have more than one starter. If St. Louis wants to back up a good offense and take pressure off of a good bullpen, it has to get three starters to be consistently productive. That means working six-plus innings and limiting offenses to three runs or less. A quality start has only happened 13 times for the Redbirds in 57 games.

Nolan Arenado had some struggles early but his average jumped nearly 30 points from .235 to .263 in the last month. I'd like to see that jump another 30 points or so throughout June.

The biggest slump offensively is currently Willson Contreras. He dealt with some drama early on about not managing the staff well as the catcher, but there's no excuse. Contreras is a good catcher, I'm not saying he isn't, but he didn't get brought over to slash .219/.304/.359. Those aren't good numbers. He's drawn some walks, but he strikes out too much and has to start hitting better to help Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.

One reason the Cardinals are producing so much offense this year is the boost Nolan Gorman has given the lineup. Some predicted this for Gorman while others were not so optimistic — me being one of them. Gorman has a team-leading 13 home runs and 41 runs batted in.

That production has allowed the Cardinals to climb the ranks in three offensive categories. In early May, they were outside the top 15 in home runs, walks and RBIs. Today, they are sixth in homers, tied for fifth in walks and 10th in RBIs while staying in the top 15 in every other major offensive stat. Except triples, they are still 22nd there.

The addition of Walker can only help that. The only thing left to add on offense is better production from Contreras for when Goldy, Nado or Gorman are slumping.

Pitching still needs a lot of answers. Stats look a lot of the same one month later. The only top-15 categories are ERA, strikeouts and now home runs. The team is ninth in home runs allowed and 14th in ERA and Ks. The staff ranks 27th in WHIP and opponent batting average and comes in 22nd in walks. They walk a lot of batters and give up a lot of hits. Luckily for them, not many of those hits are over the fence so they are able to limit the damage.

That won't last all year long, though. The Cardinals have to get a good group of pitchers who can keep batters off base and last longer in each start. Steven Matz has been pulled from the rotation and I don't expect to see him return. Matz was struggling with a 5.60 ERA and Liberatore will hopefully take over and keep his spot in the rotation.

If Wainwright continues his struggles in the month of June, I wouldn't mind seeing Thompson back in St. Louis. No matter how much you like and respect the veteran, those numbers won't cut it as a starter. He may have to take his turn in the bullpen as well.

The last thing the Cardinals will need to do is make a move for a starter before the trade deadline. There are plenty of guys on struggling teams that could benefit from moving to St. Louis.