Cubs post game bringing up the Contreras situation given the Cardinals series starting tomorrow.

Showed the catchers ERA of him vs Knizner. Contreras - 5.27, Knizner - 3.84.

Mo should have already knew this issue. It's not new

He'll be back behind the plate in a few weeks.

Yes, but he's a waste at DH and a liability behind the plate

Good thing we didn’t trade Carlson in a package for Sean Murphy.

Don't remind me...

Was he really that bad as a catcher there?

Leaking out or BS rumors that pitchers were complaining to management about Conteras to management. If so, thats BS. You talk to the player first, man to man.

then Mo has to backtrack after deciding to put him in the outfield. God, this team is a mess.

"We won't have him (Contreras) in the outfield," John Mozeliak told Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo. "I know that came out yesterday, but after talking with him, it's basically going to be more in the DH role right now. And there's light at the end of the tunnel to get back behind the plate."

****in freak show starting at the top
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MLB Power Rankings: Putting Cardinals' putrid start in historic context...

So far in the 2023 season, we've mostly just celebrated the best teams up here in the Official Power Rankings introduction area. Let's shift matters, at least for one week, and talk disappointment. In fact, we'll focus in on one team, as the disappointment has been so extreme.

There are disappointing teams, and then there's what has happened so far in the 2023 MLB season to the St. Louis Cardinals. In looking to examine any historic implications here, I wanted to avoid hyperbole but also actually dig in. The feeling I got was that most disappointing teams that were expected contenders are hovering around .500 or are simply just sub-par. The depths to which the Cardinals have sank this season, to this point, had me wondering if this was one of the worst teams in recent memory -- if not ever -- so long as we framed it as an expected contender.

Now, on the latter point, it's tough to nail down the subjectivity. Lots of people would disagree on what teams might be "expected contenders" in any given season, but I think we could all agree the 2023 Cardinals qualify. They were easily the NL Central favorites (though I'll point out I had the Brewers taking the division), overwhelmingly so in some places.

And they enter Monday with a pathetic 11-24 record. That's a .314 winning percentage which is a 162-game pace of 51-111. In terms of framing just how extreme this is, it would be the worst Cardinals record since 1903 (43-94) and would tie the 1898 St. Louis Browns for the franchise record in losses. The Cardinals haven't lost 100 games since 1908 and haven't even hit 90 losses since 1990.

Still, I'm gonna zero in on the worst starts in relatively recent seasons among contenders. With so many more playoff teams now, it's different than comparing to bad starts back in the '60s or '70s, for example. Plus, the teams that were expected to contend should be more fresh in our memory.

In the Wild Card Era (1995-present), 39 teams have been as bad as the Cardinals or worse through 35 games (list here). I did the legwork for you, though. Among those teams, I come up empty in looking to list the teams that were considered contenders before the season. The closest I found were the 2004 Royals, 2006 Marlins, 2016 Twins and last year's Reds. Each of those teams was coming off an 83-win season. Not one of the 39 teams previously on that list made the playoffs in the previous season. The Cardinals won 93 games and the NL Central last year and were the betting favorites to take the division again.

Through this lens, the 2023 Cardinals are the most disappointing team we've seen in Major League Baseball going back to at least the 1994 strike and maybe a decent bit further back than that.

Even worse news? That list of 39 teams? None of them came even close to the playoffs. None even had a winning record at the end of the season. The 2006 Marlins ended up the best of the bunch at 78-84. Sixteen of them finished with at least 100 losses.

It's getting late early in St. Louis. I'm also 99.999 percent sure this is easily the lowest I've ever ranked them.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/m...orioles-surge/

We KNEW he was that bad. We laughed about it.

WE played them for, what, 7 years with Contreras as their catcher? And in the unbalanced schedule era when we were playing them, what, 16 times/season?

We've probably played 100 games against Contreras over his career. And now we're going to claim ignorance?

Nobody in baseball - apart from the team that made no effort to retain his services - should have had a better understanding of Contreras than the Cardinals. And they had the best set of eyes on the planet behind the dish for them over that period to provide a basis of comparison and specific insights.

This is one of those times that the excuses just make it WORSE. Tell me you thought you could make it work and focus on offense over game-calling in an era where pitch trax and possible robo-umps could lessen some the concerns.

Don't dare tell me you didn't know he was a bad catcher. Everyone knew that and you should've known it better than about all of them.

Mo and his Faberge eggs.:mad:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wonder what the Athletics’ asking price for Sean Murphy was? In December, <a href="https://twitter.com/stltoday?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stltoday</a> reported on those talks in real time for readers and months later still stands by it.<br><br>A refresher on how the Cardinals pivoted to Contreras, as it was happening … <a href="https://t.co/FLulNjZOsM">https://t.co/FLulNjZOsM</a> <a href="https://t.co/02wjIjClxd">pic.twitter.com/02wjIjClxd</a></p>&mdash; Derrick Goold (@dgoold) <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/1655597691567570947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And now it looks like Contreras is pissed off at management


Willson Contreras has removed his Cardinals profile picture, and Cardinals from his bio.

Turned off comments on IG as well.

Careful here boys. Highlights like that are apt to make Mo run out and trade for Cueto.

What are the odds that the guy who's track record was clear for anyone to see has taken exception to being blamed for everything that's gone wrong in St. Louis?!?!

And that's despite the fact that he's actually made some strides in pitch framing. He's probably a slightly BETTER defensive catcher than he's been in the past and he's still getting barbecued for things the front office absolutely had to have known about.

Seriously - **** you, Mozeliak, for making Contreras the hero in this story. You're making me support this preening clown. Hated the guy for years and in large part due to precisely the things you're excoriating him for and now because of your little lost lamb routine, I'm forced to back the guy up.

Hell, you should probably just go trade for Javier Baez while you're at it then feign surprise when he strikes out a lot.