I love Yadier Molina. You love Yadier Molina. We love Yadier Molina. So maybe that's why, in a season where Matt Holliday has been villified, Albert Pujols has been worried over, and Brendan Ryan—a player with similar defensive value—has mentioned jumping off a building as a possible slump-buster, Yadier Molina's own offensive problems have been whispered with all the hushed tones of unconfirmed bad news.
↵After his 0-4 performance last night, during which he left five runners on base, Our Man Yadi is hitting just .238/.308/.307, his worst performance since 2006. June was his worst month yet; he hit just .183, and his power seems to have disappeared entirely. On a team filled with slumping hitters, only Ryan's OPS is lower.
↵I'm not about to suggest the Cardinals go in a different direction, because there isn't any; LaRue is so far gone that La Russa has been inclined to overplay Molina in the first place, and while Memphis line drive-hitter Bryan Anderson is interesting, he's also incredibly rough behind the plate. But the Cardinals need to do what they can to spot Molina some time off while his bat is so poor anyway, and if Tony La Russa can't bear to keep LaRue out there often enough to get Molina's piano-legs back under him, Mozeliak should consider replacing him with Anderson, who'd make a useful bat off the bench as well.