Hello, sports gods. It's me again.
The last time I talked to you through my column, I asked you to deliver the Kansas City Chiefs an AFC Championship Game victory, and you did. Two weeks later, I asked you for a Super Bowl victory, and you came through for me again.
I know the NFL playoffs are right around the corner, but actually, I wanted to talk to you about a different team: the St. Louis Cardinals.
I have already seen them win a World Series title - twice - so I'm not going to beg you for another one. In fact, my request is pretty simple.
Can you please tell me what the St. Louis Cardinals are doing?
I know, it sounds like a simple question, but I imagine the answer is quite complicated.
The Cardinals were a playoff team in 2020, even if it had been a normal, non-COVID year. They would have played the wild-card game against the San Diego Padres, but if they had won that game, there was no way they were going to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-5 series.
But through its bout of COVID-19, through its high volume of 7-inning doubleheaders, St. Louis managed an above-.500 record, playing just 58 regular-season games. The season ended with a winner-take-all Game 3 defeat against the Padres in the Wild Card Series.
I didn't think there would be much noise created by the Cardinals this offseason, but guess what? I was wrong.
Problem is, it was the kind of noise I wish they would have avoided.
On the day after the World Series ended, the Cardinals declined their $12.5 million option on second baseman Kolten Wong, effectively making him a free agent.
Wong would go on to win his second straight Gold Glove Award later in the offseason, and his offense has been average for a second baseman. I understand $12.5 million is a large salary for a middle infielder, but keep in mind, the Cardinals paid Mike Leake $17 million across the final three years of his five-year contract NOT to pitch for them.
Free agency has been lackluster, at best, through the first two months of the offseason for St. Louis. I don't think anyone was expecting a Paul Goldschmidt-sized trade this winter, but I imagine most Cardinals fans were expecting more than the signing of Tyler Heineman to a minor-league deal.
It's worth noting Heineman is a catcher. I know Festivus was last week, but I would like to air a few grievances toward the Cardinals' front office.
This offseason, St. Louis is letting Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright become free agents. For Molina, this is his first time testing the open market since he was drafted in 2000.
President of baseball operations John Mozeliak has a tough decision ahead of him, but it shouldn't be a tough one.
Molina is seeking a two-year deal to cap his career. Honestly, for what he has done for St. Louis, $20 million for two years would be agreeable.
Meanwhile, Wainwright would likely come back to St. Louis for a one-year deal full of incentives, much like the one he signed ahead of the 2020 season.
These are two players who began their careers in the mid-2000s with St. Louis, and honestly, the front office should do everything to ensure they don't end their careers anywhere but in St. Louis.
I remember the 1996 season for two reasons: the Cardinals made the playoffs for the first time in nine years, and the tumultuous relationship between Ozzie Smith and Tony La Russa.
Smith retired a Cardinal, but that last season was rocky, to say the least. Neither side handled it well, they were both at fault, but it was a dark cloud that loomed over the team's success.
When it comes to Molina and Wainwright, these are two players nearing their 40s who still have gas left in the tank. St. Louis badly needed both in 2020. Can they do better than them in 2021?
I doubt it.
It's time for St. Louis to stop stalling and re-sign both Molina and Wainwright. Otherwise, it's time for the organization to retire the phrase "The Cardinal Way."
C'mon, sports gods, I'm counting on you. Make it happen.