Can Carlos Martinez save the St. Louis Cardinals from left-handed batters?

The St. Louis Cardinals are asking Mike Shildt to manager with one hand behind his back.

During the offseason, there was a lot of talk about the Cardinals being “all in” for the 2019 season. They made a big splash by trading for Paul Goldschmidt. But the team failed to address a glaring team need: Left-handed pitching.

To be sure, having a healthy Carlos Martinez was part of the plan. Martinez’s health and the organization’s handling of it is a discussion for another time. Regardless of Martinez’s health, the Cardinals clearly structured their roster so that Michael Wacha would be in the rotation and Adam Wainwright would have every opportunity to be in it. The organization also plainly assessed Dakota Hudson as the sixth-best rotation option. When Martinez was unable to start the season in the rotation, Hudson won a competition in name only by staying healthy throughout spring training.

While Hudson has been the focus of justified criticism, the problem is much larger than just him. Let’s look at how opposing left-handed batsmen have hit against each of the Cardinals’ five starters so far this young season. You may want to keep children from viewing the tables, because they’re graphic in nature.

Miles Mikolas vs. LHB

TBF	K%	BB%	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	wOBA	FIP
99	17.2	8.1	.247	.323	.472	.225	.339	5.73

Jack Flaherty vs. LHB

TBF	K%	BB%	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	wOBA	FIP
88	21.6	6.8	.284	.330	.494	.210	.347	4.77

Wainwright vs. LHB

TBF	K%	BB%	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	wOBA	FIP
84	14.3	8.3	.320	.373	.627	.307	.406	6.62

Wacha vs. LHB

TBF	K%	BB%	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	wOBA	FIP
71	22.5	14.1	.246	.352	.459	.213	.339	5.04

Hudson vs. LHB

TBF	K%	BB%	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	wOBA	FIP
101	16.8	14.9	.388	.475	.729	.341	.493	5.84

Wainwright and Hudson have been so bad against left-handed batters this year that their stats are cartoonish. Their eye-popping horribleness serves to deaden the senses against how bad the other three starters have been. One starter has a FIP against opposing portside hitters that is below 5.00 and that’s Flahert at 4.77. Every starter is allow an Isolated Power (ISO, which is Slugging Percentage minus the singles) over .200.

Making matters worse is the bullpen.

An organization that prioritizes pitching depth had but one major-league ready southpaw reliever on opening day: Andrew Miller, who they signed during the offseason. The problem is that the once-great Miller isn’t great anymore. With each appearance, he seems more like fellow portsider Brett Cecil, a failed free-agent signing. It’s gotten so bad that Shildt now turns to Tyler Webb, a perfectly meh lefthander who should never be a manager’s first option against the opposing team’s best left-handed hitter in the middle or late innings. But here we are.

The St. Louis front office has failed. The organization’s failure to develop lefty relievers or identify quality southpaws in free agency has left the club with a significant weakness. And it’s Shildt who is left holding the bag, unable to bridge the gap between three replacement-level righty starters who can’t left-handed hitters out and Jordan Hicks. Too often the choice boils down to which reliever is the least bad option to face one or two opposing left-handed bats in the middle or late innings. It’s unacceptable in May, to say nothing of October for this “all in” Cardinals of 2019.

The front office’s incompetence in this area means that the Cardinals must have Martinez healthy and effective. The best pitcher in the organization must reinforce a bullpen with too many ineffective arms. With the bad pitching against lefties from start to end, it’s no wonder that Shildt is daydreaming about using Martinez — who the organization says can’t pitch in the rotation due to shoulder weakness — at a 100-IP pace in relief. With competence hard to come by, Shildt is salivating at the idea of excellence. After managing without much in the way of left-handed pitching options for the first quarter of the season, who can blame him?