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Early on in the 2023 MLB season, there have been quite a few disappointments, but there may not be one that's bigger than the St. Louis Cardinals. After expecting to be the frontrunner to win the National League Central division this season, the Cardinals have crawled out to a 10-23 record, which is the third worst mark in the majors.
The Cardinals are desperate to try to turn things around, and that has led them to make a relatively surprising roster move ahead over their upcoming contest against the Detroit Tigers. St. Louis has called up catcher Tres Barrera from the minors, despite the fact that they already have Willson Contreras in position as their starting catcher for the time being.
Via Katie Woo:
“Significant news: The Cardinals are calling up catcher Tres Barrera.”
Barrera has been playing OK in the minors so far this season (.255 BA, 4 HR, 15 RBI, .846 OPS) but it's a bit of a confusing move to make given that he likely won't be playing much. Contreras has been one of the better hitters at the Cardinals disposal early on this season (.280 BA, 2 HR, 14 RBI, .781 OPS) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to bench him in favor of Barrera. Heck, even Contreras was surprised to see Barrera in the majors.
Via Katie Woo:
“Contreras was happy to see Barrera up, but the move did catch him by surprise. The Cardinals are restructuring how they use Contreras for the time being. Sounds like he’ll DH more than he’ll catch.(Yes, this creates another positional longjam with Nolan Gorman).”
Unless there's some sort of unknown injury that Contreras is dealing with, this seems to be a fairly confusing move by the Cardinals. But at this point, any sort of spark they can find will be helpful, and maybe Barrera is the guy who can provide that spark. However, it doesn't seem very likely that will be the case, making this a bit of a head-scratcher from a team that has had plenty of them so far this season.
