On Friday, the Cardinals return home after a seven-game road trip. Surely, they'd love to forget just about every moment of that trip, because they went 0-7 against two division rivals. Friday afternoon, general manager John Mozeliak called a press conference to discuss changes in the organization.
The first thing that should be mentioned is that manager Mike Matheny wasn't fired. One could say he was put on alert, however, because Mozeliak said that while he feels confident in trusting Matheny to do his job, the team needs to be better. He also said he wants to take four to six weeks to see if the offense makes the adjustments it needs to make.
The press conference wasn't about putting Matheny on notice, though. Changes were made. The Cardinals re-assigned third base coach Chris Maloney to another role in the organization and moved Mike Shildt to third base coach and outfield coach. Assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller is taking a leave of absence with Mark Budaska being promoted into that role from Triple-A Memphis. Ron "Pop" Warner will also join the big-league team as an assistant coach.
The big news on the player front is that second baseman Kolten Wong was activated from the DL with the corresponding move being Jhonny Peralta designated for assignment.
Peralta, 35, is on the last year of a four-year, $53 million deal and hitting .204/.259/.204 this year. He had a very good 2014 season and was an All-Star in 2015, but he was banged up and not very good last year. This year he's barely played, but has been dreadful. There was just no justifying his presence in the lineup.
Another team could pick up Peralta for the pro-rated league minimum for the remainder of the season with the Cardinals still paying his full salary, so he might not be forced into retirement just yet. Still, he's on his last legs, it appears.
The Cardinals open their home series against the Phillies Friday night at 7:15 p.m. local time. The best way to to snap out of a funk could simply be playing a bad team at home.
