Cardinals place Willson Contreras on 15-day IL due to broken finger

TODAY: The Cardinals have officially announced the IL placement for Contreras and Herrera’s promotion to the active roster.

24 AUGUST: Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras suffered a fracture to his right middle finger and will be placed on the injured list, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Per Goold, Catcher Ivan Herrera is scheduled to replace Contreras on the active roster tomorrow. Contreras sustained the injury when he was hit by a pitch during the club’s loss to the Twins tonight, and a specific timetable for his return has not yet been determined. According to Goold, Contreras is scheduled to receive a scan of his injured finger on Monday, which could help determine the length of his absence.

While it’s not yet clear how long Contreras will be out due to the injury, the news is still an incredibly frustrating development for the Cardinals. The 32-year-old has been one of the club’s most reliable hitters this season, with an excellent .263/.379/.470 slash line (141 wRC+). However, he’s struggled to stay on the field between his most recent injury and a broken arm suffered in May when he was hit by a backswing after St. Louis coaches advised him to move closer to the plate to improve his pitch formation. With just over a month left in the regular season, an extended absence for Contreras could spell the end of his 2024 campaign.

Even if Contreras manages to return before the end of the year, it’s a troubling omen for the Cardinals’ dwindling playoff ambitions. The club fell to a 64-65 record today, putting them below .500 and third in the NL Central behind the Brewers and Cubs. However, with Milwaukee’s nearly insurmountable 10.5-game lead in the division, the club’s playoff hopes have been more focused on the Wild Card in recent weeks. Unfortunately, the Cardinals are now six games behind the Braves for the final NL Wild Card spot and would need to not only make up that deficit, but also overtake the Cubs, Giants and Mets in the standings to secure a postseason berth.

Much of the club’s struggles this year have been due to an offense that has been rather lackluster this season. The club’s collective wRC+ of 97 is 18th in the majors, compared to 13th with a wRC+ of 103 versus last year’s 91-loss team. Improvements in the club’s rotation have helped make the club more competitive than last year, but the improvement in the starting staff’s collective ERA from 5.08 last year to 4.46 this season has not been enough to offset the struggles of key offensive players from last year’s club, such as Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan ArenadoAnd Nolan Gorman.

For an offence that only Alec Burleson, Masyn WinnAnd Brendan Donovan Contreras’ performance among qualified hitters is more than 5% above the league average according to wRC+. The importance of Contreras as a power hitter for the Cardinals can hardly be overstated. With the experienced backstop now out for the foreseeable future, the club must now rely on improvements from players like Arenado and Lars Nootbaar to keep the club’s few playoff hopes alive.

They will also need young catchers Herrera and Pedro Pages to step in and produce in Contreras’ absence. The 25-year-old Pages has been a suitable replacement for Contreras this year, with a .250/.299/.364 slash line good for an 86 wRC+, and his .326/.356/.442 slash line since the All-Star break is encouraging, though it’s based on a limited sample size of just 14 games. That may make Herrera the better choice for regular starts behind the plate. The 24-year-old youngster has been in parts of three major league seasons, but got his first extended stint earlier this year and put up a solid performance with a .279/.340/.378 slash line (105 wRC+) and excellent peripheral stats like a 9.0% barrel rate that suggest potential positive regression in his future. Herrera has continued to hit fairly well since returning to Triple-A early last month, with a slash line of .280/.402/.473 in 112 plate appearances since being sent back.