One week ago today, the Chicago Cubs hosted the St. Louis Cardinals for three straight at Wrigley Field. Fortunately, the Cubs took all three of those games and kicked off a five-game winning streak that only just recently ended.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, went onto lose their next four straight after that series, which has left them with a seven-game losing streak heading into their series with the Phillies tonight.
At 26-32 and in fourth place of the NL Central, the Cardinals are scuffling massively and, thus, are looking to make some changes at the big league level.
Let’s start with the changes to the roster:
Activating Kolten Wong from DL. Peralta DFA.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) June 9, 2017
Back on May 28, the Cardinals placed second baseman Kolton Wong on the 10-Day disabled list with a left elbow strain. After a brief rehab assignment, he has officially been returned to the active roster. Wong is slashing .278/.378/.414 through 41 games this season.
The slightly bigger announcement, obviously, is that the Cardinals are designating Jhonny Peralta for assignment. Apparently, he was simply not getting enough time on the field:
Peralta simply wasn't getting playing time so no room for him on #Stlcards roster
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 9, 2017
Peralta was slashing .204/.259/.204 this season. The Cardinals now have seven days to waive, trade, or release Peralta, who’s been with the team since 2014.
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The Cardinals are also making some changes to the coaching staff:
John Mozeliak announces that #Stlcards have reassigned 3B coach Chris Maloney and assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller on leave of absence
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 9, 2017
According to Nightengale (and many others on Twitter), the Cardinals have reassigned 3B coach Chris Maloney, while assistant hitting coach Bill Mueller is going on an undefined leave of absence. These are apparently the first in-season changes to the coaching staff during John Mozeliak’s tenure as GM.
Mozeliak went onto explain that the recent losing streak did have an impact on their decisions and that no one’s job is safe:
John Mozeliak said no one's job is safe if #Stlcards continue to struggle. 'No one should feel comfortable, including myself.'
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 9, 2017
Things are not going well in St. Louis and the roster/coaching staff is clearly feeling the heat. We’ll likely have some more on this for you later on. For now, here’s the news.