John Mozeliak’s explanation for Jordan Walker move only makes him look worse

The St. Louis Cardinals lost again on Tuesday, falling 3-2 in excruciating fashion. That loss dropped them to 61-64 on the year, 7-12 since the trade deadline, and they are now 6.0 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the NL. Barring a 2021 type of run, their season is almost certainly over.

While Tuesday's loss was obviously frustrating, the main headline to come from that day didn't even involve the game at all. Before the game, the Cardinals made a slew of roster moves, one of which saw the team demote Jordan Walker back down to the minors. That's right - they sent him down a total of eight days after his recall.

The explanation for it from John Mozeliak made some sense. It came down to playing time.

“My philosophy is has always been if you’re a young player, you need to play. I always cringe at the idea of someone who’s 22 years old sitting on the bench,” Mozeliak said.

Walker was brought up only to receive a total of 11 at-bats in eight days, all in a platoon role against his weaker side. Despite what appeared as a clear disconnect between Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol regarding Walker's playing time, there was no communication issue here. Both Mozeliak and Marmol were on board with playing Walker in a platoon role for a brief period before he'd get sent back down. That makes Mozeliak's explanation for this whole situation look even worse.

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Even in desperate times, John Mozeliak is struggling to field a winner

Here's the situation. The Cardinals placed Matt Carpenter onto the IL with what the team knew was a minor injury. He'd be back from the IL after the minimum of 10 days. Since they were slated to face three left-handed pitchers over the next week of games, the Cardinals wanted a right-handed bat that they could insert into their left-handed heavy lineup. Katie Woo of The Athletic said that their options were Walker, Luken Baker, and Jose Fermin.

The Cardinals chose Walker for a couple of reasons. First, he's an outfielder, and Woo noted that the team preferred to promote an outfielder to add more lineup flexibility. Second, he was swinging a hot bat at Triple-A, performing as well as he has all year. Perhaps he could have kept that going at the MLB level for a week and given a struggling Cardinals team the spark it desperately needed.

Obviously, this plan failed spectacularly, and it never made much sense to begin with. Walker has always been a better hitter against right-handed pitching, yet the team promoted him to play only against lefties in a part-time role. Walker had a total of one hit in his 11 at-bats before getting sent back down. St. Louis could've (and eventually did) promote Luken Baker, a player who has torn up left-handed pitching in the minors this year, but chose the hot hand out of desperation.

The Cardinals prioritized winning over everything. They're a desperate team falling further out of the postseason race with each passing day. The issue with this, though, is that the move they made out of desperation never made sense, the team is further out of it than they were before as a result, and they did exactly what Mozeliak said makes him "cringe" in the process by promoting a 21-year-old former top prospect to mostly sit on the bench as if the front office did not have complete control over the entire situation.

To sum up, the Cardinals lost ground, saw Walker look overmatched yet again in a role that never made sense for him, likely ruined his confidence even further, and proved that even in desperate times they can't find a way to win. Tuesday's loss was frustrating, but their handling of Walker, once one of the top prospects in the game, is even more so. Even in desperate times, the Cardinals can't get out of their own way, and Mozeliak is the main culprit.