Finally, the Cardinals are doing something that supporters can support.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ decision to designate veteran outfield Tommy Pham for assignment roughly a month after acquiring him at the trade deadline is understandably difficult for supporters to accept. After all, this club is effectively waving the white flag on the 2024 season, which is the last thing supporters wanted to see after purchasing at the deadline and, more importantly, coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history a year ago.
It’s not what the Cardinals or their fans expected from this veteran-laden squad, and moving away from Pham reflects that. However, that move, in particular, may provide some relief to supporters and better news for the future of St. Louis.
According to Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Cardinals recalled former top prospect Jordan Walker from Triple-A in conjunction with Pham’s DFA. However, this will not be another case of Walker being absolutely misused, as we witnessed when he was on the major league roster earlier in August. Instead, Walker will be a regular contributor for the Redbirds down the stretch.
This is really significant for the Cardinals in a variety of ways, all of which should be positive.
Cardinals moving on from Tommy Pham gives Jordan Walker much-needed opportunity
When Walker returned in early August, Oli Marmol chose to platoon the right-handed hitter and only use him in the order against lefties. That didn’t make much sense, given the outfielder’s reverse RHP/LHP splits in Triple-A Memphis this season, as well as in the majors.
As a result, having him as an everyday player will provide him the reps he needs to continue developing into a big-league bat. Furthermore, he and the Cards may benefit more from it down the stretch because he has been more effective versus right-handers this season to this point.
Zooming out even farther, Walker’s development and future are critical to what the Cardinals may accomplish in the coming years. This lineup is largely made up of veterans. This offseason, Paul Goldschmidt becomes a free agency, Nolan Arenado struggles, and much of the roster is poised to change. This final stretch of the 2024 season may be primarily concerned with identifying future cornerstones on which this organization might build. Walker could perhaps be one of them.
To be clear, St. Louis will have much more to do than simply provide Walker with more opportunity to right the ship moving ahead. The pitching staff needs reinforcements from anywhere, and Walker needs other young players to rise up alongside him. Overall, Marmol’s decision to finally give Walker the opportunities he deserves and that this team requires is a bright spot in an otherwise terrible Cardinals season.
