Cardinals reverse course, remove Contreras from outfield plans
The St. Louis Cardinals won't use Willson Contreras in the outfield and plan to stick with him as a designated hitter while his catching duties are revoked.
"We won't have him in the outfield," president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo. "I know that came out yesterday, but after talking with him, it's basically going to be more in the DH role right now. And there's light at the end of the tunnel to get back behind the plate."
The news comes one day after Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol announced Andrew Knizner would spend the majority of the time at catcher, with Tres Barrera backing up. Woo then reported Contreras would be used primarily as a DH and corner outfielder.
"I don't anticipate (Contreras in the outfield) unless there's some sort of emergency reason," Mozeliak said. "Everything was moving quickly yesterday. A lot of things were getting out there. His hope is he gets a chance to get behind the plate. That's what we're going to work toward."
Contreras has not met the Cardinals' expectations since signing a five-year, $87.5-million contract in December. St. Louis' rotation entered Sunday ranked 20th in FIP (4.80) and 24th in ERA (5.77).
Mozeliak cited "a lack of confidence" and some "puzzling trends" as reasons why the change behind the plate was made, but he wanted to make clear the Cardinals' struggles this season were not entirely because of Contreras.
"What I don't want to have happen is a finger-point, this is all Willson’s fault. It's not," Mozeliak said. "There are many parts of our team right now that are not performing to what we expected."
The Cardinals are off to a terrible start, entering Sunday's game against the Detroit Tigers with the worst record in the National League at 10-24.