The St. Louis Cardinals, seemingly out of nowhere, are hamstrung by at least a couple of bad contracts. The sad thing about many of these contracts is that the majority of them looked good at the time of signing. The current chief of these contracts is the two year, $39M deal the team gave to Matt Carpenter before a disaster of a 2019 season.
With a .226 batting average, a .726 OPS, and just a .392 slugging percentage, Carpenter was bad all year except for a boost in the final month of the season. Losing his starting job to rookie Tommy Edman, Carpenter spent most of the second half on the bench and after being a staple at the top of the lineup, his future with the team seems like it should be in question.