Chicago Cubs: With Cardinals in free-fall, what lies ahead for the NL Central?

The beginning of the end?

Rule number one when you’re managing a big-league club: you don’t hang your veteran leaders out to dry in front of the media. That rings especially true when your veteran leader is a future Hall of Fame and the face of the franchise.

In late July, Matheny sat his veteran backstop. After the game, he had this to say:

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“Yadi’s caught a lot. Yesterday, just kind of watching him go around the bases, too, you could tell that he’s, you know …”

Tired. The word he didn’t have the backbone to say is tired. As a Cubs fan, I hate watching Yadier Molina step in at Wrigley Field. But that’s because of the tremendous respect I have for him and his skills as a baseball fan.

And that respect only grew when Yadi fired right back at his skipper – who was clearly out of line in his comments.

“I train to play 174 games because that’s what it takes to be Champion,” Molina wrote on Instagram. “I’m not tired and the day I feel tired I’ll express it myself. #misinforming”

If St. Louis misses out on the postseason again in 2017, I suspect it will be the end of the line for Matheny at the helm of the Cardinals. The club inked Molina to an extension earlier this year – so he’s not going anywhere.

But if I were Matheny, I wouldn’t get too comfortable.

With no reinforcements, where do the Cards turn?

Stephen Piscotty, Aledmys Diaz and Randal Grichuk are supposedly the future of the St. Louis franchise.

If I were a Cardinals fan, I’d be more than a little worried. That would be the equivalent of the Cubs banking on the likes of Addison Russell. Sure, there’s a good deal of talent there – but he’s an unproven asset who is incredibly sporadic in his performance.

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Let’s start with Piscotty. He burst onto the scene in 2015, finishing sixth in NL RoY voting,. But since then, his OPS has plummeted from .853 his rookie season down to .702 in 2017, prompting the Cards to demote him to Memphis.

He has the tools to lead the league in doubles. He hits the ball hard on a line – as he has since he was drafted in the first round. But he continues to fail in making adjustments and big-league pitchers are having their way with him.

Diaz, who earned an All-Star selection in 2016, has been arguably the biggest disappointment to the Cardinals this year. With an OBP south of .300, the shortstop isn’t building on his breakout season. Instead, like the Cubs’ Russell, he’s allowed bad habits to derail him at the plate.

OBP woes plaguing the youngsters

Meanwhile, Grichuk, another of the team’s bright rising stars not so long ago, has been back-and-forth between Memphis and St. Louis.

The outfielder belted 24 home runs last year for the Cardinals. Paired with Piscotty and Diaz, Grichuk represented a potential controllable core in St. Louis. But, like the other two, he’s struggled. Between 2016 and 2017, he owns a disappointing .285 OBP. Of course, he’s been a Cubs killer – but that’s not going to get you a starting gig.

Disappointment mounts – can Matheny hold his temper with his young core struggling?

All about capitalizing on your window

The Cubs have a window – it lasts through 2020, maybe 2021. Their young core remains intact through then and with the staff shored up in at least the near future with Jose Quintana joining Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks, things look good.

Throw in two perennial MVP candidates in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo? Seems like a recipe for success. If Willson Contreras maintains his recent level of play to any degree and the Cubs are heavy favorites in the Central for at least the next couple years.

Here’s the thing, though. Windows do not remain open forever. The Cubs have a short window – well, an average one, in fact. Most big-league teams have around five years before they have to retool. And, if you think about it, it’s been far longer than that since the Cardinals took it back to scratch.

But, if they can’t squeak into the postseason in 2017, we may see St. Louis retool ahead of the 2018 campaign. Right now, things aren’t going well for the Redbirds. But given the front office and the baseball IQ in that organization, it won’t last long.

In the meantime, let’s just enjoy it.

Next: Cubs have an issue on their hands in Edwards