Nightengale: 'Boring' Cardinals know how to win
JUPITER, Fla. -- The St. Louis Cardinals are the team the tabloids and shock-jock shows love to hate.
You looking for a juicy quote? Maybe stir up a little controversy? Sorry, wrong camp.
You looking for pizzazz, a little flair, or at least someone to brag about themselves? Keep on steppin'.
You expect these guys to all drive a Ford Taurus to work, buy flannel shirts and jeans off the rack at Walmart, and eat spaghetti and meatballs every night at Olive Garden.
"We are boring,'' Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak says.
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"Vanilla are our colored sprinkles.''
They are dull, dreary and monotonous.
All they know how to do is win.
"People say we're boring,'' Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright says. "That's fine.
"But it's kind of like the San Antonio Spurs, right? They just show up every year, play well, and act professionally.
"That's who we are.
"We want to make news because we're winning, not because we're the loudest or act a certain way.''
The Cardinals have been the most consistent team in baseball since 2011. They've reached the National League Championship Series four consecutive years, winning one World Series and two pennants. Since the turn of the century, they've had just one losing season and 11 playoff appearances.
Yet, they may be the most anonymous team in baseball, with not a single player featured in a national endorsement, let alone selling sandwiches or hair products on the air.
Come on, go ahead and bang your head against the wall to shake those brain cells, can you remember a single controversial quote by any Cardinals player in recent time?
Anything that trended on Twitter, lit up Facebook, or created national headlines?
Anyone? Anyone?
"Even if I could think of one,'' Wainwright says, "I wouldn't bring it back up. That would go against the curve, right?''
Sure, there was last year's All-Star Game when Wainwright said he grooved a fastball to Derek Jeter, but that was cleared up in a matter of minutes, when Wainwright clarified that he simply wanted to challenge him without trying to be tricky.
The last time anyone in Cardinals camp can recall anything inflammatory was back in 1996. The Cardinals swept the San Diego Padres to advance to the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves. Veteran pitcher Rick Honeycutt, perhaps feeling a little giddy when he got off the plane, told the 200 fans at Lambert Airport about his plans for Atlanta.
"I'm tired of seeing that chop every year,'' Honeycutt said. "Let's show Atlanta where they can stick that tomahawk.''
The Cardinals have never uttered anything remotely close to being that controversial since that day. They haven't even bothered to come up with a gimmick, or slogan for a T-shirt they can all wear in spring training.
"The expectations of these players are very high,'' Mozeliak says. "Everybody will tell you the same, talk is cheap. What we've done last year, the year before that, and the year before that, means nothing at this point.
"Fortunately, we have a lot of players here that get it. Besides, I don't need any more T-shirts.''
Well, unless it happens to read 2015 World Series champs.
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"That's been our M.O. since I've been here,'' says Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter. "We just go about our business, and let the work speak for itself. That's just the way the culture has been established here.
"That's not a knock on other teams, it's just the way this organization is run.''
Boring?
"Yep,'' Carpenter says, "just the way we like it.''
While the Cardinals don't get the headlines, and aren't splashed on your nightly sports shows, their way of life has become a utopia in baseball.
Says Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta: "Who wouldn't want to play here? Once you're here, you never want to leave.''
It's no wonder when John Lackey was traded last summer to St. Louis, he let the Red Sox know that if traded to the Cardinals, he would abide by his contract that pays him the minimum salary this year.
"It's just such a class organization, and they make it such as easy place to play,'' Lackey says. "There's not so many people trying to stir the pot like other places.''
"There's such a great fan base and passion for the team, but it's more of a laidback vibe. You feel like family.''
It's become a tradition that when you're traded to the Cardinals, or sign as a free agent, you can expect at least three text messages welcoming you to the organization. There will be texts from veterans Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina and Carpenter. No matter who you are.
"I didn't even know those guys,'' says veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal, "and I'm getting messages from these guys. Right away, I knew this would be the place to play.
"Instead of trying to fit in, you feel like you're accepted. There's not a lot of rules. Guys just take of their own business. It's a breath of fresh air.''
It's called trust. Manager Mike Matheny leans on his veterans to police the clubhouse. If someone doesn't fit in, Matheny will hear about it.
"What's so important around here is that our pillars, our veterans, our accomplished guys,'' Matheny says, "are the ones who come out here and just push so hard. There's positive peer pressure where you're figuring how to keep up with them.''
That guidance was present last year with rookie Oscar Taveras, in whom veteran players saw abundant talent, and wanted him to realize it. But Taveras, just 22, was killed in an October car accident in the Dominican Republic.
His death stunned the organization, and also created a legitimate void in right field. The Cardinals traded for 25-year-old Braves outfielder Jason Heyward to replace Taveras, a deal, Mozeliak says he never would have considered if Taveras hadn't passed.
"Honestly, our model has been to give young players that opportunity if it presents itself,'' Mozeliak says. "We felt Oscar deserved that.''
It's the same reason, Mozeliak says, that he didn't strongly pursue free-agent pitchers Max Scherzer, Jon Lester or James Shields this off-season. He believes that prized young pitchers Carlos Martinez and Marco Gonzales have earned the right to compete for the starting rotation.
"As a GM, we made exploratory calls,'' Mozeliak says, "but ultimately, we didn't feel like making that type of splash. But yeah, you still make the calls.
"If you don't fish, you don't catch, bro.''
The Cardinals, ever so quietly, believe they'll be even better than a year ago. Their offense should be improved. They'll have a full year out of Michael Wacha and Lackey. And, if a need comes up, they've got the prospects and a bundle of cash to do whatever is warranted.
"There's a whole lot of tradition here,'' Heyward says. "They expect excellence. It's just a great mix of veteran guys and young and polished players. Everybody is hungry to win.''
The man is fitting right in.'
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