The St. Louis Cardinals have a Willson Contreras problem. Now, they are tasked with figuring out if he's their long-term answer at catcher.
The St. Louis Cardinals' decision to remove Willson Contreras as the team's catcher only 32 games after signing him to a five-year, $87.5 million contract was flat-out stunning. And it makes their decision to sign the longtime catcher look even worse.
In the days leading up to the 2022 trade deadline, interest in Contreras was tepid. Teams had concerns about Contreras pertaining to his defense, among other things, and while the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros were among the teams to check in, neither was willing to part with much to acquire an All-Star caliber catcher.
So the Chicago Cubs elected to keep him and net a draft pick when he departed in free agency.
Cardinals ignored warning signs with Willson Contreras
Despite these warning signs, the Cardinals identified Contreras as their top target in free agency. They sat down with him for a few hours in Florida and were convinced he was the right player to replace future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina.
While the Cardinals have not ruled out Contreras being their long-term catcher, his demotion to designated hitter this early into the season underscores the team made a miscalculation — and it's paying the price with an 11-24 start.
Here are three potential replacements for Contreras behind the plate in St. Louis.
Cardinals No. 3 option to replace Willson Contreras: Andrew Knizner
With Contreras relegated to designated hitter duties, longtime Cardinals backup catcher Andrew Knizner will now take over as their primary catcher.
Knizner, 28, received extensive playing time last season with Yadier Molina dealing with injuries, but struggled to the tune of .215/.301/.300 with four home runs and 25 RBI. In his five-year career, he's hitting .204/.288/.291 with eight home runs and 48 RBI.
What Knizner does, however, is provide the Cardinals' rotation with the best chance of bouncing back. He has extensive experience with each pitcher and could provide some trust and stability to the pitching staff. It just remains to be seen if he can be the primary option, both in the short- and long term.
For that to happen, he would certainly need to start showing more with the bat. In 13 games this season, he's slashing just .205/.244/.333. Given more consistent opportunities, the hope would be that he would be able to better that production at the plate.
Cardinals No. 2 option to replace Willson Contreras: Tres Barrera
The Cardinals signing Tres Barrera in the offseason caught me by surprise, mainly because they had Contreras and Knizner, and Barrera had no clear path to playing time.
Two months later, here we are.
Offensively, Barrera's numbers are better than Knizner's. In four seasons, he's hitting .231/.317/.315 with two home runs and 14 RBI with a .631 OPS. But where Knizner has the upper hand is with experience — Barrera has only played in 52 career major-league games — and it's likely that Barrera will be relegated to a late-inning, spot-start role in St. Louis.
Barrera was selected for the Cardinals roster this week in the wake of the decision to remove Contreras from the catcher spot. Over 12 games this year with Triple-A Memphis, he's slashed .255/.314/.532 with four home runs and 15 RBI.
Again, his role in St. Louis will likely be limited, but he has shown in the minors the ability to offer more at the plate than Knizner has.
Cardinals No. 1 option to replace Willson Contreras: A trade…but it's complicated.
Hindsight is always 20-20. But surely the St. Louis Cardinals really wish that they had traded for Sean Murphy instead of signing Contreras.
Murphy, of course, was traded to the Atlanta Braves and in 31 games, he's hitting .282/.426/.621 with nine home runs, 28 RBI and a 1.048 OPS while being lauded for his defense. William Contreras, who is Willson's brother and was also traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in that same deal, has been praised both privately and publicly by team officials for the work that he's put in to improve defensively.
With both catchers firmly in new homes, it makes addressing the catcher position difficult. Could the Cardinals look to the Padres for Austin Nola or Pedro Severino? It's unlikely that the Brewers would help a division rival by dealing with their catching surplus.
One thing to watch, though: the Cardinals have a surplus of high-end outfielders. So if there is a big bat or pitcher available at the deadline, they can deal from that strength to improve a different area of the roster — and it's something that the front office needs to give serious consideration to before this season falls through their fingers.
