The St. Louis Cardinals are having a pitching crisis this season. The team is currently 8-12 for the season, and their pitching is a big reason for this collapse. From the starters to the bullpen, it seems like the slingers of St. Louis keeps serving up meatballs for their opponents. Amid this tumultuous period, catcher Willson Contreras had a stern message for his pitchers, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“I just feel like we’re (Cardinals) pitching too nice,” Contreras told the Post-Dispatch late Friday night in the team’s clubhouse. “I feel like they feel comfortable hitting against us. That’s the way I see the game. That means, I think we need to be mean – a little mean.”

Contreras has the best view to diagnose the problems of the Cardinals' pitchers this season. As the catcher, he's the player that works closely with the pitchers. One could even argue that a catcher has a profound impact on a pitcher's performance. Perhaps the St. Louis pitchers are still adjusting to Contreras as their battery-mate after years of the legendary Yadier Molina behind the plate.

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The Cardinals have a lot of talented hitters on their lineup. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are the headliners, but there are plenty of solid bats all around. All the hitting doesn't matter, though, if your pitchers keep on giving up hits and runs to your opponents. Baseball is cruel that way: you can have the best game of your life, and it won't matter if the pitching staff doesn't show up.

The return of Adam Wainwright will eventually bolster this unit. Still, Willson Contreras and the Cardinals pitching staff needs to figure out something, anything to get them out of their funk. If they don't, this season will go down the drain quicker than you can say “strike”.