It is a whole lotta Nolan in St. Louis right now! No, it is not for a good reason, but here we are! Despite trying to avoid it, Nolan Arenado will be going on the Injured List with a shoulder injury. Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote that he had been dealing with this nagging ailment since early July. He took a few days off and tried to give it some rest over the All-Star Break, but none of it seemed to matter.
Over his last 12 games, Arenado is hitting a disastrous .159/.213/.205 at the plate. While his sensational glove has been steady throughout, the St. Louis Cardinals could not afford to keep this offensive liability in the lineup any longer, so they made the following corresponding move. Coming off the IL will be Nolan Gorman, who had been on it with back spasms prior to being recalled.
Gorman may share the same given name as Arenado, but he been nothing short of a disaster at the plate for the Cardinals. Over his four-year big-league career so far, Gorman only boasts a .222/.302/.431 slash line. He may have been a former first-round pick out of high school back in 2018, but he has not even come close to living up to the hype. This might be his last best chance to stick.
Although Gorman has years worth of arbitration left, what is to say he will have any staying power?
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Norman Gorman has to take advantage of Nolan Arenado's IL stint
Even if Gorman's career average marks are nothing to write home about, they are still better than what an injured Arenado is currently putting forth at the plate. While I highly doubt the Cardinals will even come close to catching either Chicago or Milwaukee in the division, they have to find a way to finish the year on somewhat of a strong note to stop being yesterday's news. These are the Cardinals!
Not since before I could read have the Cardinals been this anonymous. The John Mozeliak era of their front office has run its course. If, and when, Chaim Bloom takes over, will it be any different? Arenado is probably a Hall of Fame player, but he has not aged as gracefully as many of us would have liked. At least he hit the ground running when he came into MLB with Colorado and then later joining St. Louis.
As far as what this may mean for Gorman, the Cardinals are simply running out of opportunities to keep giving this guy. Blue-chip prospects and high draft picks will always get the benefit of the doubt. This is because the talent was at some point there, as well as the front office executives having stuck their neck out for them previously. Either way, St. Louis really needs Gorman to step up.
Unfortunately, Gorman stepping up means St. Louis will be below replacement level value with him.