St Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a few roster moves Tuesday, including the unconditional release of shortstop Brandon Crawford and the activation of infielder Matt Carpenter from the 10-day injured list (lower back strain).

The 37-year-old Crawford is a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover and two-time World Series winner with the San Francisco Giants. This year has been a struggle for him at the dish, hitting .169 (.544 OPS) with one home run and four RBI in 80 plate appearances.

Carpenter, 38, is a three-time All-Star in his second go-around with the Cardinals. He's hitting .258 (.712 OPS) with three home runs and 11 RBI in 125 plate appearances.

The 61-63 Cardinals are sputtering at a bad time, losing six of their last seven. St. Louis is now five games back of the Atlanta Braves for the third and final wild-card spot.

A brutal schedule also awaits the team, with the Cardinals scheduled to play each of the next 16 days against two first-place teams (the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees) and two squads currently in the wild-card picture (the San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins).

Getting Carpenter back can certainly help. He's not in the lineup Tuesday against Milwaukee, but he's still got a good bat and can assist a team that's bottom five in the OPS in the National League.

For now, the Cardinals begin their potentially treacherous stretch starting at home versus the Brewers.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt isn't having his best season, but he was able to bask in the moment after reaching his 2,000th career hit.

"This hasn't been my best year—it's probably been my worst year in the big leagues performance-wise—but hopefully I can change that going forward," said Goldschmidt,. "That's the goal. At some point -- maybe after the season or when my career is over—that's when I can say, 'Oh, that's pretty cool to have accomplished that.'"

Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning for his 2,000th hit, but the Cardinals still fell to the Nationals 10-8 on Friday. He is one of five active players with 2,000 hits, joining Freddie Freeman, Jose Altuve, Joey Votto and Andrew McCutchen.

In his 13th MLB season, Goldschmidt is in the midst of the worst hitting stretch of his career. He's hitting .227/.286/.379 with 15 home runs and 40 runs batted in through 100 games.

Largely healthy throughout his career, he has played in at least 145 games in eight of the last nine full seasons.

Reaching the 2,000-hit mark may be the thing needed to turn Goldschmidt's season around. He's not only struggled to put the ball in play, striking out 125 times this season, but he's also been walking at a significantly lower rate than previous seasons.

As he approaches his 37th birthday, it's fair to wonder if Goldschmidt is simply losing the battle to father time. That said, he still has plenty of milestones remaining in his career if he chooses to keep playing.

Having made a dramatic turnaround after a rough start to the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are shaping up to be buyers at the July 30 trade deadline.

Per MLB.com's John Denton, the Cardinals will "likely target" starting pitchers Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers and Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Eovaldi is an interesting trade candidate because it would mean the reigning World Series champions are selling. They are only five games behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West, but their 46-51 record entering Saturday is the fifth-worst in the American League.

The Rangers are getting reinforcements in their rotation that could make it viable to potentially trade someone from that group. Max Scherzer has made five starts since returning from a back injury on June 23.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Jacob deGrom "felt great" after a bullpen session on Friday as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery.

Eovaldi does have a $20 million vesting option for next season that kicks in if he pitches a total of 300 innings between 2023 and 2024. He's currently at 243 innings with 65 games remaining in the regular season.

Eflin is owed $18 million in 2025, the final season of his three-year, $40 million contract signed in December 2022. The Rays are always open to trading anyone, especially a player whose salary is about to increase by $7 million next year.

Both players would be huge upgrades for a Cardinals rotation that is largely being held together by Sonny Gray. Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson have been effective, but may not be pitchers you want to rely on in a potential playoff series.

Eovaldi has a career-low 3.36 ERA with 94 strikeouts in 99 innings so far this season. Eflin owns a 4.18 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 104.1 innings across 18 starts for the Rays.

The Cardinals are 32-21 in their last 53 games after an 18-25 start, but they still have the third-worst run differential in the NL (minus-38). They are currently the No. 2 NL wild card team and trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 4.5 games in the NL Central.

There are rain delays, and there there was Busch Stadium on Sunday.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs had their game delayed for several hours, and it isn't hard to see why:

The two teams had their Friday game postponed due to weather, so it's been that sort of weekend in St. Louis. Sunday's game eventually was able to start around 9:40 p.m. ET.

It wasn't the only major sporting event to see a delay, as the Indianapolis 500 started about four hours later than scheduled due to inclement weather. Josef Newgarden ultimately won the race for the second straight year.

The St. Louis Cardinals rolled out their new Nike City Connect jerseys Monday and enlisted the services of Nelly to help hype up the reveal.

The red tops read "The Lou" with the "STL" abbreviation for the city emblazoned on the caps.

Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III said the organization went through "a bunch of iterations" before landing on a final design, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Benjamin Hochman. DeWitt added he and team officials wanted to maintain tradition to some degree.

"Nike was pushing us to think outside the box, which is partly what this is all about, but not entirely. And so, (that was) including the birds off. And all sorts of crazy things," DeWitt said. "I think they would probably admit to pushing teams further outside their comfort zone than perhaps many wanted to go. And we see that in certain franchises, where they let (the uniforms) be a complete departure. I just didn't feel like this franchise, given its special place and kind of the hierarchy of uniforms, needed to do that. …

"At the end of the day, I just held firm, saying: 'It's got to have the birds on the bat.'"

St. Louis' City Connects are fairly tame compared to some of the others around MLB.

That's not necessarily a bad thing because there's a reason the Cardinals logo has become so iconic.

Nelly provided an inspiration for the jerseys as well with his 2000 song "Country Grammar." He raps at one point, "I'm from The Lou and I'm proud."

DeWitt told Hochman the line "kind of says it all."

The Cardinals will don their City Connects for the first time Saturday against the Chicago Cubs. They're scheduled to wear the uniforms for 11 games after that.

St. Louis Cardinals fans are surely frustrated with how the 2024 season is unfolding, but they may have the opportunity to cheer for a franchise legend in a managerial role if the National League Central team decides to make some changes.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Thursday that manager Oli Marmol "might pay the price" of his job if the struggles continue.

Heyman then suggested the Cardinals could turn toward either Yadier Molina or Albert Pujols for a managing job since both are interested in taking that step in their careers.

That doesn't mean either of the Cardinals legends are the frontrunners.

In fact, Heyman called Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker "the most obvious candidate" for the Cardinals should they make a change. Miami already agreed to drop the 2025 club option on his contract, so Schumaker will be free to go to St. Louis or somewhere else as soon as next season.

He won the Manager of the Year award last season while leading the Marlins to an 84-78 record and playoff berth. He also has a Cardinals connection considering he played the first eight years of his career in St. Louis from 2005 to 2012.

Schumaker helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series crown in 2011.

So did Pujols and Molina, who are two of the best players in franchise history. Molina spent his entire 19-year career with the franchise as a two-time World Series champion, 10-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glover and Silver Slugger winner.

Pujols played the first 12 years of his career with the Cardinals and was a two-time World Series champion, three-time National League MVP, NL Rookie of the Year, six-time Silver Slugger, two-time Gold Glover and nine-time All-Star.

While neither have managerial experience in the major leagues, Molina managed the Puerto Rico team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and leads the Navegantes del Magallanes in Venezuela. Pujols is slated to manage the Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Republic.

It would be quite the jump to the Cardinals for either of them, but they are beloved members in the history of the franchise and would surely be welcomed by the team's fans. That is especially true if the 18-25 Cardinals continue to struggle this year.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced that catcher Willson Contreras suffered a left arm fracture after being struck by New York Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez's bat on a swing.

Contreras is set to undergo surgery on his fractured arm, according to The Athletic's Katie Woo. He was given an initial six-to-eight week recovery timeline.

The ailment occurred in the top of the second inning with the Cardinals up 3-0. Martinez swung and missed on a Miles Mikolas slider but accidentally hit Contreras, who was called for catcher's interference.

John Denton of MLB.com offered more insight.

"In an attempt to help catcher Willson Contreras get more low strikes, the Cardinals have him moved up closer to the plate," Denton wrote.

"However, JD Martinez's bat hit Contreras on the left forearm during his swing. Contreras is out of the game. He was in obvious pain, yelling out right away."

Iván Herrera replaced Contreras in the lineup.

The 31-year-old Contreras has been the Cardinals' best hitter this season, entering Tuesday with a .280 average, .949 OPS, six home runs and 12 RBI.

The Cardinals have hit rock bottom over the last year-and-change. In 2023, St. Louis went 71-91 en route to its first last place finish since 1990, with a struggling pitching staff largely being the culprit. Now the Cardinals are back in last again with a 15-20 record entering Tuesday. This time around, the offense has been in shambles, with the team sitting last in the National League in runs.

Contreras has been one of the team's few bright lights this year and arguably the only one at all in the batting lineup. Now a dire season gets even bleaker in St. Louis, which is spiraling toward another lost campaign.

Without Contreras for the foreseeable future, Herrera is the next backstop on the depth chart. The 23-year-old entered Tuesday with a .215 average (.633 OPS), three home runs and 11 RBI.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced Tuesday that former manager Whitey Herzog died.

"The entire Cardinals family is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Hall of Famer and World Series champion manager Whitey Herzog at the age of 92," the announcement read.

In addition to his managerial career, Herzog played in the major leagues for eight seasons for the Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers from 1956 to 1963.

Herzog slashed .257/.354/.365 with 25 home runs, 172 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 634 games during his career as a first baseman and outfielder.

Yet he was better known as a manager in the coming seasons.

His first managerial job came in 1973 when he led the Texas Rangers, and he ended up managing the California Angels in 1974 before leading the Kansas City Royals for five seasons from 1975 to 1979 prior to his 11-year stint with the Cardinals.

"Whitey Herzog was one of the most accomplished managers of his generation and a consistent winner with both 'I-70' franchises," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "He made a significant impact on the St. Louis Cardinals as both a manager and a general manager, with the Kansas City Royals as a manager and with the New York Mets in player development. Whitey's Cardinals teams reached the World Series three times in the 1980s, winning the championship in 1982, by leaning on an identity of speed and defense that resonated with baseball fans across the world.

"On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Whitey's family, his friends across the game and the fans of the Cardinals and the Royals."

Herzog found his most success leading the Cardinals.

He managed the National League team from 1980 through 1990 and went 822-728 overall with three National League pennants. He took home the National League Manager of the Year in 1985 during one of those pennant-winning seasons, although the Cardinals lost the World Series to the Royals in seven games.

While they also lost the 1987 Fall Classic to the Minnesota Twins in seven games, they prevailed in the 1982 World Series with a seven-game victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

It was one of the most memorable moments of Herzog's Hall of Fame managerial career. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2010.

The St. Louis Cardinals have stabilized the managerial position for the next several seasons.

The franchise announced Friday that it had signed manager Oliver Marmol to a two-year extension. This will keep him with the organization through the 2026 season.

His contract was originally set to end following the 2024 season.

"It means a lot," Marmol said, per John Denton of MLB.com. "The fact that they were willing to make the commitment to allow me to continue to do this means a lot. Having their support and believing the way that I lead will be meaningful for years to come is special to me."

Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said that Marmol's respect within the organization made it an easy decision to extend and commit to him for the foreseeable future.

"Oli is a well-respected member of the Cardinals organization, who came up through the ranks of our player development system, and has made a nice transition to managing at the Major League level," DeWitt said in a statement, per Denton. "We are pleased to have Oli under contract for the next three seasons."

Marmol has been a coach for the franchise since 2017 and has been its manager since 2022. He has a 164-160 career record as the manager and led the team to a division title in 2022.

The 2023 season was a forgettable one for the Cardinals, as it went 71-91 and finished in last place in the NL Central. This was the franchise's first season under-.500 since 2007 and the lowest win total in a 162-game season since 1990.

Still, extending Marmol shows the confidence the organization has in him to steer the ship correctly, and the NL Central should be up for grabs in 2024.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn was ejected during the team's spring training matchup with the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

Lynn explained what happened before he got tossed by umpire Angel Hernandez (via John Denton of MLB.com).

"[Hernandez] started chirping at the [Cardinals] dugout and I told him, 'They know it was a strike.' He told me, 'Let's go!' And I told him, 'I have five seconds on the pitch clock and I'll start whenever I feel like it.'"

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was also ejected. Lynn was reportedly throwing in the bullpen before he was instructed to leave the game by umpires, per Denton.

"I threw the next pitch and I was like, 'There's a strike!' And then it was 'see you later.' ... I went and got another 20 pitches in the bullpen, so I'm in a good spot," he said. "I guess I got ejected out of play, too, technically."

Prior to his exit, Lynn allowed four earned runs in two innings pitched. He was able to record two strikeouts, although he walked three batters as well.

Lynn signed with the Cardinals on Nov. 21, inking a one-year deal with the team that includes a club option for the 2025 season. It represented a return to the franchise that the 36-year-old started his career with back in 2011. Lynn was a member of the Cardinals for a few more seasons before his departure in 2017.

He developed into an All-Star in St. Louis, while his postseason heroics in 2011 helped the organization secure its 11th World Series victory. Lynn expressed his desire to recapture his former glory and help the Cardinals return to the postseason after a last-place finish in the NL Central in 2023.

"I think we can kill two birds with one stone," he said on Feb. 22, via Denton. "I know I still have the ability to pitch as well as I have over my whole career, and I also can help the Cardinals get back in the playoffs. That's all it's about for me."

While Lynn compiled an ugly 5.73 ERA in 32 starts with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, he's not far removed from his last All-Star season in 2021. With his Cardinals return getting cut short due to the ejection, he'll hope for a less eventful outing the next time he takes the mound.