It was a wild weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. While this NL Central rivalry always offers some juicy headlines, first baseman Willson Contreras ensured he got the last word in as the Cards lost three out of four games and fell into third place in the division. Contreras was involved in a bizarre collision at first base, and was then hit with a pitch by former Cubs teammate Jose Quintana. However, Contreras aimed much of his vitriol at Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins.
"One of their players, he liked to talk from far away, but then when he got in my face, didn't say s**t. I was looking for more than that. He seems to be tougher. He's a f*****g p***y. I'm not gonna name no names. He knows who he is," Contreras said postgame.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Willson Contreras tried to fire up his Cardinals teammates in a private text
Contreras sent a message to the Brewers with his comment, but also made sure his Cardinals teammates were in the loop. Per David Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Contreras opened a team-wide group chat and sent a video. He would not tell Goold or reporters what the video was, but his hope was to right the ship.
“Hopefully everybody watched it,” Contreras told Goold. “That stays in the group."
While Cardinals fans will surely love to see Contreras trying his best to turn St. Louis' recent rough stretch around, the opposite can be said from the Brewers perspective. Contreras essentially started this conflict on his lonesome, and then called out some prominent members of the Milwaukee clubhouse for no good reason whatsoever.
Willson Contreras forgave Jose Quintana, but Brewers are still perplexed
Willson went on to say he forgave Quintana for his transgressions, of which we don't even fully understand.
“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it from Quintana,” Contreras said. “I caught him for [four] years, I know him very well, he’s a great guy, a great person and a great teammate. That’s probably why he stood up for his teammates. I have nothing but respect for Quintana. We’re nice. I got the ball to him, and I said, ‘We’re fine.’ We’re not going to have any beef about it, and it’s done.”
As angry as Contreras was that the Brewers called his bluff and spoke ill of him behind his back (from his perspective, see comment about Hoskins above), the Cardinals first baseman isn't in a position to call anyone on the Milwaukee roster a coward. Heck, he's been doing most of his talking to the media and from the comfort of his own locker room.
The Brewers and Cardinals do not like each other – this much is clear. At the very least, Contreras owes them an explanation on the diamond, rather than through a beat reporter.