The St. Louis Cardinals are continuing to let the show go on despite the fact that another important member of their core group of position players has been dealing with a long-term illness that appears to be affecting his effectiveness. This is becoming a frustrating pattern for the team.
Ironically, they’ve been extremely cautious with their rotation this season to prevent injuries or more harm to a player, but they don’t exercise the same prudence with position players like Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Arenado, and now Masyn Winn.
Winn’s knee problem, which has been ailing him since before the All-Star break, forced him out of the starting lineup on Sunday. You would think that the team would be more cautious with probably the most important position player on their major league roster given that he has previously dealt with back troubles in his career and labeled his knee “jacked up” earlier in July.
The Cardinals have to start protecting Masyn Win from himself, for the sake of him and the team
Winn is a gamer, and I completely get why she wants to play. That’s fantastic, and it’s what makes him a person you want to work with, but as a team, you have to know when to intervene and shield the player from himself. To be honest, in a losing season like 2025, which has lasted for over two months, you would think the team would want to put Winn’s long-term prospects first.
As amazing as those honors would be, Winn’s long-term trajectory is far more important. I am also aware that he is competing for his first career Gold Glove and possibly the Platinum Glove award.
Although the precise date of Winn’s knee problem is unknown, he recorded a 123 wRC+ and.788 OPS in 194 plate appearances during the month of May. However, Winn’s performance at the plate has drastically declined since the start of June, as he has only managed 78 wRC+ and.630 OPS in 292 plate appearances.
With a 156 wRC+ and.906 OPS on a.405/.405/.500 slash line in 11 games, Winn had a fantastic start to the second half following some time off during the All-Star break and a knee injection. However, Winn’s performance at the plate has declined once again after that brief hot streak. He is currently batting.192/.259/.308, which translates to a.567 OPS and 61 wRC+.
Yes, this squad relies heavily on Winn’s defense. He is undoubtedly the finest defender in baseball at any position at the moment and the best defensive shortstop in the league. That in and of itself is quite valuable, but given Winn’s already drastically reduced effectiveness at the bat, one must question what an IL stay may have done—and still might do—for his play. It’s much more difficult to accept when a guy falls down this much at the plate, even when they are playing as well defensively as Winn.
Priority one should be to ensure that Winn doesn’t “jack up” his knee any more than it currently is. Secondly, JJ Wetherholt is now vying for a call-up and could easily fill Winn’s slot in the latter stretch of his absence. Third, it saves mileage off of Winn’s knee, and even if they didn’t move to Wetherholt, Thomas Saggese may benefit from the extra time at shortstop for his own growth.
Other than keeping Winn in the running for the Gold Glove, I’m not sure how much he’s getting done by going out there every day. Putting Winn on the IL for as long it takes for his knee to heal seems like the appropriate course of action, unless I’m mistaken.
