NEWSLETTER
At 50-52, a year after finishing 17.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs, which was itself a year after being knocked out in the opening round of the playoffs by the Cubs, it’s fair to say the St. Louis Cardinals are probably feeling some collective frustration.
The Cardinals spent a great deal in the offseason to bring in Dexter Fowler and Brett Cecil, neither of which have really worked out as hoped. The Cardinals also inked up manager Mike Matheny to a long-term extension just after last season, and then inked catcher Yadier Molina to a new long-term extension at the start of this season.
So, as I said, there’s probably a lot of frustration at how the season has played out, and apparently it is bubbling over in the clubhouse between the very two guys you’d least want to see it if you were a Cardinals fan:
Soooo … this is from Yadi's verified Instagram account. pic.twitter.com/6PO0OBJbuM
— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) July 28, 2017
Resting your 35-year-old franchise catcher, who has always been among the most heavily-worked backstops in the game, is not a bad thing. But the fact that Matheny can’t say that without this very public reaction from a clubhouse leader like Molina is definitely not a good sign for the state of things.
Here’s the article that Molina’s quote comes from, and it was within the context of getting young back-up Carson Kelly more playing time, so you can perhaps see how Molina might take it more personally than usual (but, again, that’s not a good sign).
I doubt this is the last we’ve heard about this.
