St. Louis Cardinals fans should be happy Jon Jay made the Diamondbacks’ roster

Congratulations to Jon Jay, a key member of the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, who will play a 11th season in the big leagues after being retained by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Despite the fact that he is a career .285 hitter with a .350 on-base percentage, Jay is the player that a large portion of Cardinals fans love to hate. I’ve never really understood that. Is he perennial All-Star Jim Edmonds who he had the misfortune to follow up in center field at Busch Stadium? In a word, no. But not a lot of players reach the heights that Edmonds did. It’s pretty ridiculous for anyone to expect him to do so.

The thing is, the Cardinals never expected Jay to be Edmonds. They didn’t need him to be because their lineup had plenty of thump in the form of Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday and David Freese to do that. The real disappointment in center field was Colby Rasmus. Rasmus had become a distraction with his lazy play, disconcerting statements that indicated his lack of desire in becoming the best he could be and odd relationship with his father who loved to throw bombs at the Cardinals through the media.

When the pitching thin Cardinals were able to make a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays to add several key hurlers to the roster, Rasmus was the centerpiece that St. Louis sent north of the border. The team turned to Jay not to be an offensive force or team leade, but to be a steady center fielder the team could count on to cover his ground. Anything he could provide at the plate was a cherry on top of the offensive sundae. Jay did exactly what was asked of him, and at an affordable price that allowed the Cardinals to invest so much in the hitters surrounding him.

To listen to some Cardinals fans, one would think that Jay was a boat anchor in the lineup. But he hit .297 in 2011 with 10 home runs and 24 doubles in 455 trips to the plate. Although he hit only .111 in the World Series with two hits in 18 at-bats, one of them was absolutely key to the eleventh St. Louis World Series championship. After singling to load the bases only to be stranded in the eighth of the legendary sixth game of the 2011 Fall Classic, Jay came up in the bottom of the 10th inning with his team down 9-7 and Daniel Descalso at first base following a walk. Jay fought off a pitch which dropped along the left field line just past the third baseman to put the tying run on base. He scored with two outs —and two strikes — on a Berkman single to prolong the game to the 11th inning when Freese made history with a winning home run to the center field hitting backdrop.

Without Jay’s hit and effective baserunning, the Cardinals would have lost the 2011 World Series. Instead, they won it the following night. You’d think that would be enough to cement the outfielder’s place in the hearts of St. Louis fans. But, despite hitting .300 or better in three of his first five seasons with the Cardinals, and .295 overall, Jay was a whipping boy for a large portion of the sports talk radio public.

While Jay was going to make no one forget about Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays, he was a ballplayer’s ballplayer. A guy who came through when games were on the line. He made all the plays he could reasonably be expected to make and some that he wasn’t. After six years calling Busch Stadium home, Jay was traded for Jedd Gyorko. He added the uniforms of the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and Diamondbacks to his closet, proving that major league general managers seem to find him to be pretty useful.

It’s a shame that fans won’t be in the stands in 2020 — and that the Diamondbacks won’t be visiting St. Louis this year, for that matter — because, at 35, Jay is probably nearing the end of his career. It would be nice to see him get a nice hand from Cardinals fans and a chance to tip his cap as one of the truly overlooked players of the past 20 years to play for the home team.

Jay wasn’t spectacular. But he was a vital piece of a team, playing the role he was asked to handle perfectly. The Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Yankees might be able to field a roster filled with all-star players. But the Cardinals have to pick their payroll splurges wisely and save money in other places to build a championship caliber roster.

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.