Cardinals latest risky roster move reeks of desperation, and could cost them

The St. Louis Cardinals are a team trying to hang on for dear life in the NL Wild Card race. Recent mini-slumps from the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets have helped them, but the Cardinals sit at just two games over .500 and are being given a 13.8 percent chance to make the postseason by FanGraphs.

We've seen the Cardinals play well at times this season, but with a tough upcoming schedule, there's reason to be very pessimistic about their postseason chances.

They hope to improve those odds with their latest roster move involving Jordan Walker, but promoting him back to the majors reeks of desperation more than anything.

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Promoting Jordan Walker reeks of Cardinals' desperation and could cost them

Walker is set to replace Matt Carpenter who landed on the 10-day IL. Losing Carpenter isn't a major deal, but promoting Walker, a player who struggled so mightily at the MLB level to begin this season right now doesn't make too much sense, especially in the role that the Cardinals are apparently planning on using him in.

Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that the Cardinals are planning on using the right-handed hitting Walker in a platoon role. On the surface, this makes sense. The Cardinals are extremely left-handed heavy and could use another right-handed bat to help them against southpaws. When digging deeper, though, it doesn't work.

Walker hasn't been in the majors for too long, but when he has been at this level, his OPS against righties (.789) is far better than his mark against lefties (.648). Even this season in the minors his OPS against righties (.719) is over 30 points higher than his mark against lefties (.682).

Essentially, the Cardinals are promoting a young player who already failed at this level earlier this season, to play less than half the time against the hand he's less comfortable facing. That's their big plan? Using Walker in this role is not only unlikely to help the team much, but it can be detrimental to Walker, a player whose confidence might not be fully there, especially in a role he's unaccustomed to playing.

If the Cardinals wanted a true platoon bat, why not consider Luken Baker, a big power bat with a 1.113 OPS against lefties in the minors this season? That would result in Alec Burleson having to play the field, but let's not act as if Walker is a good defender either. Baker is a better bat against lefties right now.

Walker has played better of late in the minors and calling him back up could make some sense in an everyday role if that option was open, but making that move in this fashion could end up costing St. Louis from the team and player perspective.