The St. Louis Cardinals are in a position that's rather new to them, as the team currently sits 61-78 on the season, last in the NL Central. The Cardinals will miss the postseason for the first time since 2018 and will finish under .500 for the first time since 2007. Just a disastrous year from start to finish.
A lousy year like this one means there will be some changes within the organization. Will those changes go back to guys like Oli Marmol or John Mozeliak? That remains to be seen. There will undoubtedly be changes within the current active roster.
These are five players who are suffering through this miserable year right now who will not be back next season.
1) Adam Wainwright will not be on the Cardinals roster next season
The first one is also the most obvious one, as Adam Wainwright not only won't be on the Cardinals roster, he won't be playing anywhere. The legendary right-hander is retiring after 18 brilliant seasons all with St. Louis.
After completing another solid year in 2022, it felt like the 42-year-old had a couple more years in him. Turns out he made the right choice to announce that this season would be his last, as Wainwright clearly has nothing left.
The former ace of the staff is a shell of himself, going 3-10 with an ERA of 8.18 in 18 starts and 83.1 innings pitched. He's averaging a career-low 4.9 K/9 while allowing a career-high 1.7 HR/9 and a whopping 14.3 H/9. The Cardinals were relying on Wainwright to be the reliable innings eater he had always been, but that plan along with many others they had fell flat.
The only question about Wainwright now is will he appear in Cooperstown someday?
2) Tyler O'Neill will not be on the Cardinals roster next season
Eventually the Cardinals have to trade from their glut of outfielders and improve their woeful starting pitching situation. The starting pitching is what got them into this mess, and unless they plan on spending hundreds of millions of dollars in free agency, there isn't a quick fix that doesn't involve a trade. Since Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt aren't getting any younger, they'll be looking for that quick fix.
Out of the plethora of outfielders the Cardinals have, the one I'd guess they move on from is Tyler O'Neill. They could very easily move someone like Dylan Carlson or even Tommy Edman who's been playing some center field this season, but O'Neill feels likely for a couple of reasons.
First, the 28-year-old has had trouble staying healthy. He's played over 100 games just once in his career, and the Cardinals will likely refuse to sign him to any long-term deal with that being the case.
Second, O'Neill is set to hit his final year of arbitration after this season. Players like Carlson and Edman have more team control, making them more valuable to the Cardinals and less-likely to be included in trades.
Third, and perhaps most damning, O'Neill has had some issues with manager Oli Marmol centered around his lack of effort. If Marmol remains with the team, it feels like O'Neill could be the chip they use to get a pitcher.
3) Taylor Motter will not be on the Cardinals roster next season
It's been a rollercoaster of a year for Taylor Motter. The journeyman joined his seventh team in St. Louis this past offseason, inking a minor league deal with the club. Thanks to an injury to Paul DeJong, Motter made the Opening Day roster and was set to be the team's backup infielder.
Motter wound up remaining on the roster for almost a full month before DeJong returned from his IL stint and got his spot. Motter was DFA'd and wound up electing free agency, but wound up re-signing with the Cardinals just three days later when Jordan Walker was optioned to the minors.
His second stint with the Cardinals lasted all of 11 days before being DFA'd for the second time and sent down to the minors after clearing waivers. Motter was brought back up in July and DFA'd for a third time just this past week making it three times the veteran was DFA'd by the same team in the same year.
The reason the Cardinals kept doing this was because Motter just couldn't stick. He slashed .171/.232/.211 in 76 at-bats. It's possible St. Louis brings him back on a minor league deal, but they can and likely will do much better when finding a reserve infielder.
4) Drew VerHagen will not be on the Cardinals roster next season
Drew VerHagen is a pitcher the Cardinals were excited to sign to a two-year deal after a really successful stint in Japan. VerHagen, a pitcher known to induce a ton of groundballs, seemed like a good fit to pitch in front of what was a very good Cardinals infield defensively. Unfortunately, the deal hasn't been quite the steal as they had hoped.
The right-hander really struggled in 2022, posting a 6.65 ERA in 19 appearances and 21.2 innings pitched. They stuck with him despite his struggles last season and it did pay off as he had a better year this time around.
VerHagen has a 4.22 ERA in 53 appearances and 53.1 innings of work. He's done a much better job limiting baserunners and the longball, although a 1.350 WHIP for a reliever is higher than the Cardinals would want. VerHagen has had a pretty decent year serving as a middle reliever who often works in lower-leverage spots, but they can look to upgrade.
VerHagen is a free agent after this season and there's no need for the Cardinals to prioritize him. They'll presumably look for a better arm to work at the back end alongside their big arms of Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos.
5) Alec Burleson will not be on the Cardinals roster next season
Another member of the Cardinals outfield logjam is Alec Burleson who figures to not have much of a role with the team unless they free up multiple outfield slots which appears unlikely. Burleson is a corner outfielder who can also play first base, but first base of course is occupied by reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt.
The 24-year-old is a player the Cardinals are excited about and it's easy to see why. Last season with AAA Memphis he had a .905 OPS and hit 20 home runs with 87 RBI. The season prior he hit 22 home runs. There's a chance he can be a really solid hitter if he can get consistent playing time but in the 97 games and 314 plate appearances he's compiled this season in the majors, things haven't been as great.
Burleson is slashing .245/.297/.399 with eight home runs and 33 RBI. He does have 18 doubles which is a decent mark for a guy who has played fewer than 100 games, but he has a below-average WRC+ of 90, and has been worth -0.9 fWAR thanks to some subpar defense in the outfield.
If the Cardinals want to win in 2024, it's hard to envision Burleson playing a huge role considering he hasn't swung a great bat in a fairly large sample this season and is bad defensively. With Burleson being so young with a ton of team control, a team could look to acquire him in a deal that gives St. Louis a starting pitcher to help them win now.
