Cheers, boos, and a demotion. Contreras helps Cardinals to win over his former team

Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, as a wave of relief swept over the Cardinals clubhouse and the team prepared to depart for a road trip, Willson Contreras sat quietly at his locker, thumbing through his phone.

As a reporter attempted to ask about his at bat which turned that game — a 12-pitch marathon which nonetheless ended in a strikeout — he politely waved off the suggestion that it might have been a net positive.

“I’m not in that place mentally right now,” he said.

What a difference a day makes.

Contreras drove in two runs and scored the third in a 3-1 St. Louis victory Monday at Wrigley field on a day which started with his answering countless questions about an apparent demotion and ended with starter Miles Mikolas musing that, “you’re not a Cardinal until you get booed and yelled at at Wrigley. Now he’s one of us.”

The process to make him feel that belonging started months ago, but got a big boost from his teammates and coaches in a series of conversations that began Sunday morning, carried through Sunday’s postgame, and eventuated in Contreras egging on the Chicago faithful as he rounded the bases Monday, demanding louder jeers like a perfect pro wrestling heel, a bright smile hiding just behind an affected scowl that no one believed.

Contreras huddled up with manager Oliver Marmol, pitchers Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright, and at times pitching coach Dusty Blake both before and after Sunday’s game. Their message was simple — whatever edicts have been passed down about his playing time behind the plate, whatever process he’s being asked to work through in the midst of a season, the clubhouse is there for support.

“We sat him down yesterday and just poured into him,” Wainwright said. “We love this guy, we’re glad he’s here, we want him to be our guy. No one’s given up hope on Willy.”

At times since Saturday’s pronouncement that Contreras would be eased back from catching for the time being, it’s seemed almost as though the Cardinals were taken off guard by the confusion in the reaction to their decision, which has been fed almost entirely by the bizarre way it’s been delivered.

Marmol has been left to carry the water, finally acknowledging Monday the team — and primarily, the manager — would simply have to “wear it” for the time being, with some parts of the decision making purposefully kept out of public view.

“That’s the part that, unfortunately, I won’t disclose,” Marmol said when asked what’s preventing that reintroduction process from happening faster. “That’s the part that will stay in house, and at the end of the day will make zero sense to everybody else. But we do feel confident in that product.”

“When you hear what’s being said compared to what’s happening? There is no other way around it,” he added. “You only know what you know, right? And unfortunately, we’re not going to disclose what we know. That’s the part that there is going to be a gap there of understanding.”

More about Contreras

The Cardinals say they haven’t altered their pregame methods at all in deference to Contreras. With seven years and more than 5,000 innings of experience behind the plate before arriving in St. Louis, the edict to the largest outside free agent signing in franchise history has been, for now at least, that he needs to adapt to how things are done with the Cardinals rather than the Cardinals choosing to adapt to him.

That’s a system which helped shape perhaps the greatest defensive catcher of all time for the better part of two decades, but it’s also a system shaped by and for that catcher. Those allowances were made for Yadier Molina; for Contreras they aren’t, yet.

In the short term, Contreras is left to work that process. He’ll catch bullpens from starters between outings and be a part of planning meetings. Wainwright offered to have Contreras catch his starts and defer some of his own typical pitch calling duties so the two can learn from each other.

Stll, Wainwright is retiring at season’s end. Flaherty is in his last year of team control before free agency. Inside the clubhouse, those messengers are meaningful, but the reality of the business is that they’re temporary. Neither is likely to be a Cardinal as Contreras enters year two of his contract, let alone years three through five.

‘There’s love, there’s boos’

By Marmol’s measure, the message was still essential.

“The love part? He had to hear that,” the manager said. “This is not gonna feel good. The timing of it sucks where we’re at, right? But it’s a small blip in the story over the next five years.

“He needs to hear from some meaningful guys, that you’re our guy. We love you, we trust you, and the only way we get to where we want to get to is with you helping behind the plate.”

Monday, he helped at the plate, and on his cue, the boos rained down. Call it tough love.

“There’s love, there’s boos,” Contreras said Monday after the victory. “I feel like this day was mine. Like, mine. And I’m going to be remembering it for a long time.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 9:45 AM.