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The St. Louis Cardinals have been… fine this season. They are at 7-8 for the year, which is not ideal obviously. Considering how their season started last year, though, this is an improvement (even though it feels like it isn’t). However, one trend that has frustratingly crossed over to this season is the slow starts of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.
Just two years ago, these two Cardinals were in contention for NL MVP at the same time, with Goldschmidt winning MVP. Now, both Goldy and Arenado are struggling mightily. Goldschimdt is hitting just .188 for the season: awful numbers even by non-star standards. Arenado is faring better in terms of BA (.276), but he’s been unable to generate extra-base hits, let alone home runs.
On Friday, Arenado finally broke his no-home run streak. He sent a ball flying into the stands for a three-run home run in the Cardinals’ win over the Diamondbacks. After the game, Arenado spoke out against the “age” narrative lobbed at him and Goldschimdt, per Bob Nightengale.
“It pisses me off when everyone talks about the age part,” Arenado said, “because we know physically we don’t feel that way. We’re really hard on ourselves and expect to do great things. And when you struggle, age is always talked about.”
Arenado also said that he’s been through cold starts before. The Cardinals star is confident that he’ll be able to bounce back, but he does acknowledge that he’s found it harder to get going.
“Listen, I’ve gotten off to slow starts the last two years, and it’s frustrating. I don’t know what it is. When I was younger, I had a few years when I really got off to really good starts. And as I’ve gotten older, it’s always been a little harder to get going. Who knows why, but I I feel just fine.”
Cardinals’ struggles
After the highs of 2022, Cardinals fans were hoping to see this team finally have a good team. The magic of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols’ final season (and Pujols’ chase for 700) gave the team a lot of hope. Ever since that year, though… it’s only been downhill.
The problem is that the Cardinals’ pitching was truly, truly dismal. Last year, their pitching staff was truly terrible, one of the worst in the league. Their starting rotation, in particular, was dreadful. On the hitting side, Goldy and Arenado struggled to start the year, but were able to bounce back somehow. They were one of the better hitting groups last season, ranking in the top half of the NL teams in batting metrics.
The concerns around Arenado and Goldschmidt are mostly due to their age. Goldy is in his age-36 season, while Arenado is 33. That’s pretty old in terms of baseball age, with players typically falling off in their 30s. That is why most Cardinals fans are worried that one day, one of these poor starts will continue for the season.
The Cardinals are hoping that this is just yet another slow start for both stars, and not a sign of things to come. The stats are not kind to both stars: both men’s exit velocities have significantly dwindled, explaining Arenado’s lack of extra base hits. Still, there’s still time for them to right the ship.
More must-reads:
- Three MLB teams that should push the panic button
- Mets dealing with unique uniform issue this spring
- The 'Active MLB strikeout leaders' quiz
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