Open Letter to the St. Louis Cardinals – It’s Time to Start Over

Let's face it. St. Louis Cardinals fans have been spoiled. We're used to winning, but it's time to face a hard truth. It's time for this most-storied franchise to start over.

As of the date of this writing, the St. Louis Cardinals still have (barely) a chance to make the playoffs. Realistically, there's not a chance on Earth. While the team hasn't been mathematically eliminated (yet), you can tell that even the players know there's no October baseball for us this year.

I won't assume you know me, so a little backstory to understand where I'm coming from. I was a child of the 70's and went to my first Cardinals game with my dad when I was around 8 years old. I saw Lou Brock play, but was born a little too late to see Bob Gibson. My first favorite player was Joe Torre (when he was a Cardinal). My point is that I've been through the great and the awful with the Cardinals for five decades.

The present day St. Louis Cardinals and especially the 2023 and 2024 teams remind me of the mid-1970's and early 1990's teams. They were sometimes competitive, but had no realistic chance to compete in the playoffs. Both of those losing eras ended when the organization made big changes. The first was when Whitey Herzog took over the St. Louis Cardinals in 1980. Whitey became not just the on-field manager, but also the general manager. He built the team that could play the way he knew would win. Two years later, the St. Louis Cardinals were World Series champions again.

Fast forward to the mid-1990's. The St. Louis Cardinals had slid to obscurity again by 1994. `The organization once again blew up the structure and brought in general manager Walt Jocketty in late 1994 and Tony La Russa who's first season as manager was 1996. By the fall of 96, the Cardinals were back in the playoffs and should have gone to the World Series if not for the game 6 and 7 NLCS collapse against the Braves. The Cardinals would remain a constant playoff threat for nearly two decades.

Here we are facing the reality of what the St. Louis Cardinals have become again. While I don't agree with some fans who have been wearing bags over their heads to games to display their displeasure with the direction of the team, I do agree it's time for the Cardinals ownership to make a drastic change like it did in the 70's and 90's. It's time to start over.

While I'm not a fan of "fire the manager" whenever a team takes a downturn, it's time to move on from Oli Marmol, but that's just the beginning. President of Operations John Mozeliak needs to fulfill the last year of his contract in a non-controlling transitional or advisory role and move on also. In my opinion, the St. Louis Cardinals need a new front office with a fresh perspective that isn't content just barely competing for the playoffs and instead build a monster designed to be a threat for world championships every year.

The batting and pitching coaches that lean too heavily on analytics need to hitch a ride out of town also. Let Ryan Ludwick who's fixed many in the minor leagues join the big league bench and guide the batters or maybe Matt Holliday will reconsider joining the team.

Yes, I'd love to see the Cardinals bring in Skip Schumacher (who's a free agent after this season) as the next manager, but that decision needs to be made by the next president of baseball operations so they're both on the same page. Who wouldn't love a combination of Skip Schumacher with Yadi Molina as a bench coach? Yes, please. Oh, and why haven't we seen Yadi Molina at all this year after he was given a part-time role during the offseason? Perhaps he knew something then the rest of us know now.

Blame whoever you want for the Cardinals slide into obscurity the last two years. I'm not interested in blame, but I am interested in change for the better. It's time.