The St. Louis Cardinals made the odd decision on Saturday to move Willson Contreras to a DH and outfield role moving forward instead of having him catch. As a result, they called up Tres Barrera, who will split time with Andrew Knizner behind the plate.
After announcing that Contreras won't be catching for the time being, manager Oli Marmol addressed why the ball club did so. Via MLB.com:
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about it, and it allows for some familiarity behind the plate with our [pitching] guys, which I think will help, especially with the state that we’re in, because at the end of the day, we need to start winning ballgames,” Marmol said. “Some familiarity with our pitchers and our bullpen [with Knizner catching] allows for that.”
“There are certain things in ways we operate that Willson is still taking to and learning — and it’s a difficult thing coming from a different organization and learning all of it.” Marmol, who chose not to be specific about the areas that need improvement, added, “So, we have an internal strategy to help with all that and we’ll start moving in that direction over the next several weeks.”
The Cardinals' pitching staff is downright brutal with an ERA sitting at a 4.71 ERA as a staff. The rotation is even worse as their ERA is over five. Catchers obviously play a huge part in calling games for arms so perhaps, St. Louis believes a change could help ignite a spark on the mound.
The organization signed Contreras to a big deal last December to be Yadier Molina's replacement. Now, he won't even catch. With time though, the Cards may revert back to the Venezuelan. We'll see.
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