3 St. Louis Cardinals questions that won’t be answered if MLB cancels baseball season

I’ve prepared myself for the likely development that there will no no major league baseball season in 2020 — and the even more likely development that if there is a season that I won’t be able to watch the St. Louis Cardinals play any games at Busch Stadium.

It’s something I’ve come to terms with because, if there were a season, it will probably be ridiculously short, feature an absurd playoff format with too many teams involved to be legitimate and involve the final straw: the dreaded designated hitter infecting and forever tainting the National League. So, if it’s that kind of baseball season, I’d rather see it canceled.

Still, there are a few things I would be disappointed not to see if the Cardinals don’t take the field for a meaningful game this year.

First, I’m dying to know what’s going on with Jordan Hicks. He was the hardest thrower in baseball before going under the knife mid-season in 2019 to have Tommy John surgery. Is he still the hardest thrower in baseball? Will he have any control? Conventional wisdom is that most players these days who have to undergo the once radical surgery end up as good or better than they were before being injured. Of course, usually doesn’t mean always. For example, Trevor Rosenthal. Like Hicks, Rosenthal was a fireballing young closer who looked as if he had a long, star-studded career in front of him. Since his operation, Rosenthal has bounced around baseball and wherever he’s landed, the results have been ugly. Even if it was a short look, I’d like to see what Hicks has left and have him get a few innings under his belt to regain his feel for pitching.

The second thing I would like to see is what the new normal is for Paul Goldschmidt. It’s not unusual for a player to struggle after a change of scenery. Especially when it involves a big contract being signed. Goldschmidt wasn’t terrible in 2019. But he was far more ordinary than we’ve grown to expect from a guy with a long track history as one of the most consistent sluggers in baseball. Did Goldschmidt just have a bad season last year? Or has age caught up with him? The Cardinals don’t like to pay players for their decline years and the have to figure their star first baseman was going to slow down at some point of his extension. But they were probably hoping it wasn’t at the beginning. It’s not anywhere as bad as the Albert Pujols situation. But that’s the gold standard of betting that you’ll get so much at the front of a deal that you’re willing to accept the train wreck at the end.

Third, the Cardinals let Marcell Ozuna walk away as a free agent when they could have kept him on a modest, one-year deal. Why? Because the think the future is so bright in the outfield. I would have liked so see Dylan Carlson get a chance to prove that he’s ready to be an impact player in the big leagues. I would like to see if Tyler O’Neill is the real deal, too. Can Harrison Bader, a whiz with his glove and his legs, figure out how to more consistently get on base?

What about the top Cardinals prospects?

Finally, I would have liked to see there be some sort of baseball season in the so the Cardinals didn’t see their best prospects cooling their heels for a year. It doesn’t do Nolan Gorman any good to take a year off at this point of his career. With expanded rosters, the Redbirds might be wise to add him to the big league club for the 2020 season. The usual reason to keep players in the minors is so they can play every day instead of riding the bench behind a veteran on the big league club. But what if there is no alternative? Isn’t it better to have him collect four or five plate appearances a week instead of sitting at home playing video games?

I guess it depends how far away the front office thinks Gorman is from the big leagues. But, at least before the pandemic hit, I have to imagine the odds were pretty good that he would have been ticketed for arrival in 2021. We might have even seen him late in 2020 if he had a good year in the high minors.

With all the revenue that the team is going to lose one way or another, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cardinals expect to have something of a youth movement when things get back to normal. Easy payroll cuts would come from letting expiring contracts go and not signing players to replace the dearly departed. That could include Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright and even Kolten Wong, should the team not pick up his 2021 option.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.