The 2014 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 133rd season for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball franchise in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the 123rd season for the Cardinals in the National League and their 9th at Busch Stadium III. The Cardinals entered 2014 as the defending NL champions.
Ballpark Village opened on March 27, with a first phase completion of , and was considered a smashing success. Located inside Ballpark Village, the franchise announced the opening of the Hall of Fame Museum, with an inaugural induction class of 22 members. Ownership purchased the club's top minor league affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds on March 28. Forbes listed the Cardinals as the eighth-most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball at $820 million, and their $65.2 million operating income was the highest of all 30 MLB franchises.
They finished the season with a record of 90–72 and finished first in the National League Central for the second straight year. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, 3 games to 1 to advance to their fourth consecutive NLCS, where they played San Francisco Giants for the second time in three seasons. They lost in five games to the Giants and were eliminated.
Acquisitions, departures and roster moves The day after the 2013 World Series ended, October 31, a total of five Cardinals players became free agents: outfielder Carlos Beltrán, starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, shortstop Rafael Furcal, relief pitcher Edward Mujica, and starting pitcher Jake Westbrook.
Ownership and club officials December 30, 2013: Promoted Gary LaRocque to franchise farm director. December 30: Promoted Chris Correa to director of baseball development. December 30: Appointed Tony Ferreira to assist LaRocque. December 30: Appointed John Vuch as director of baseball administration. December 30: Promoted Linda Brauer to senior administrative assistant to the general manager. December 30: Expanded Matt Slater's role as the team's director of player personal to oversee the Cardinals' "new initiative of emerging markets". January 8, 2014: Received clearance to purchase their AAA Minor League Baseball franchise affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, from the Memphis Redbirds Foundation (MRF). March 28, 2014: The deal to purchase the Memphis Redbirds was finalized. April 12: Extended general manager (GM) and senior vice president (SVP) John Mozeliak for two additional years through the 2018 season. It was the second extension in two years. He had served in this position since October 2007. If he will have served the length of the extension, he would have become the third-longest tenured GM in franchise history, surpassed only by Bing Devine (18 years, two stints), and Walt Jocketty (14 years).
Management and coaches November 7, 2013: Promoted Tim Leveque to minor league pitching coordinator, Dann Bilardello to manage the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League, and Joe Kruzel to manage the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. Reassigned Johnny Rodríguez to manage the Johnson City Cardinals of the Appalachian League. November 12: Assistant hitting coach Bengie Molina accepted a position as a first base coach and catching instructor with the Texas Rangers. November 20: Extended manager Mike Matheny's contract by three years through 2017. December 17: Hired David Bell to be the assistant hitting coach.
Broadcasters December 8, 2013: Agreed to terms with Tim McCarver to comment for telecasts in 30 select games in 2014. January 13, 2014: Agreed to terms with Mike Shannon for a minimum extension of two years, exact length not specified.
Hitters October 31, 2013: Right fielder Carlos Beltrán and shortstop Rafael Furcal filed for free agency. November 5: Outrighted outfielders Adron Chambers, Brock Peterson, and catcher Rob Johnson from the 40-man roster to the minor leagues, making them free agents. November 5: Extended a qualifying offer (QO) of $14.1 million and one year to Beltrán. November 9: Beltrán officially declined the QO. November 18: Signed free agent infielder Scott Moore and catcher Ed Easley and assigned them to the AAA Memphis Redbirds, and invited them as non-roster players to the major league spring training camp. November 22: Traded third baseman David Freese and relief pitcher Fernando Salas to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielders Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk. November 24: Signed free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a four-year deal through 2017 worth $53 million total. It started with $15.5 million in 2014, $15 million, $12.5 million and finally $10 million in 2017. Without a qualifying offer from the Detroit Tigers, the Cardinals were not required to return a first-round draft pick. December 16: Signed second baseman Mark Ellis to a one-year contract on December 15 for $5.25 million, plus an additional $1 million in incentives. January 6, 2014: Claimed outfielder Rafael Ortega off waivers from the Texas Rangers. March 7: Signed infielder Aledmys Díaz to a four-year contract worth $8 million.
Pitchers October 31, 2013: Right-handed starting pitcher (RHP) Chris Carpenter and right-handed relief pitcher Edward Mujica filed for free agency. October 31: Declined team option on RHP Jake Westbrook for $9.5 million and bought it out for $1 million, making him a free agent. November 20: Chris Carpenter announced his retirement as a player. November 22: Traded reliever Fernando Salas and third baseman David Freese to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielders Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk. December 2: Declined to tender relief pitcher John Axford, making him a free agent. December 11: Signed free agent minor league reliever Ángel Castro to a one-year contract and added him to the 40-man roster. February 6, 2014: Signed free agent reliever Pat Neshek to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. March 26: Signed free agent reliever David Aardsma to a minor league contract and an invite to spring training.
Other offseason events
Purchase of the Memphis Redbirds Having already purchased three of their minor league affiliates, Cardinals ownership reached an agreement in principle to purchase the Memphis Redbirds AAA Minor League Baseball franchise from the Memphis Redbirds Foundation (MRF) on November 16. The city of Memphis purchased AutoZone Park, the Redbirds' home stadium, from MRF and agreed to lease it to the Cardinals and perform upgrades. The Memphis City Council (MCC) initially set December 3 as the date to vote on the move. They also intended to finalize it by the end of the year.
After debating for almost four hours on the proposal on December 9, the vote was delayed for eight additional days because of concerns of certain financial aspects of the deal. The original proposal stated the Cardinals would cover at least $15 million in stadium improvements to AutoZone Park and pay $300,000 annually in rent to the city. Operating costs of the franchise and the stadium were to become the responsibility of the Cardinals. The lease was to assure the Redbirds of remaining in Memphis through the 2030 season. Two five-year renewal options were included with the principal 17-year lease.
The Cardinals were officially cleared to acquire the Memphis Redbirds on January 7, 2014, after MCC approved the plan by an 8-4 vote. The deals included the city purchasing AutoZone Park by issuing $24 million in city-backed bonds. The deal was finalized on March 28; the Cardinals acquired the Redbirds franchise and Memphis acquired the ballpark and began leasing it to the Cardinals. In addition to the Redbirds, the team already owned its Double-A affiliate in Springfield, high Class A affiliate, and rookie level clubs in Jupiter, Florida.
Chris Carpenter's retirement Chris Carpenter, winner of the franchise's only Cy Young Award besides two won by Bob Gibson, announced his retirement on November 20 after posting a 95-44 () over nine seasons as a Cardinal. He lost nearly three entire seasons to injuries, but garnered a reputation for coming back from them to play. He won the Cy Young in 2005, when he was 21–5. In each of his full seasons, he won at least 11 games. He finished his major league career with a 144–94 () record; and a 3.76 earned run average (ERA). In 18 post-season starts, he was 10–4 with a 3.00 ERA.
Mozeliak, who announced Carpenter's decision during a news conference, said the club offered him the opportunity to remain with the franchise in an off-field capacity, although it was unclear at the time what that role would be.
Tickets In December, the Cardinals announced they were raising season ticket prices an average of 4.1%. They also added new sections of seats and carved up the area of seats behind home plate and between first and third base and split the tiers in the outfield bleachers. The 330 seats in the overlook deck at Ballpark Village also opened for 2014, but were not yet for sale before the start of the season and were not made available in 2014 to season-ticket holders.
Season-ticket holders, who purchased half of the seats in Busch Stadium, constituted 83% of season tickets. Annually, season-ticket holders renewed at a percentage in the low 90s. 57% of season tickets prices increased by $1 per game. Individual game tickets go on sale February 28, 2014.
Other personnel changes David Bell, hired as the assistant hitting coach to replace Bengie Molina, was previously an infielder with the Cardinals from 1995 to 1998. He was the fourth assistant hitting coach in the past four years. All other members of the coaching staff returned in 2014.
The Cardinals broadcast team retained the services of Mike Shannon for a minimum of two more years. Shannon has broadcast since 1972, making 2014 his 42nd year. It was also his 56th year as part of the organization, including nine years as a player from 1962 to 1970. He was again paired with John Rooney on KMOX, who will work with Rick Horton and Al Hrabosky when Shannon is absent. Hrabosky and Horton are members of the Cardinals' FOX Sports Midwest television team.
Reopening of the Cardinals Hall of Fame and inaugural induction class On January 18, chairman William DeWitt, Jr., announced the reopening of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum with a formal annual selection process. A "Red Ribbon" committee of Cardinals baseball experts plus an annual fan vote will decide three inductees per year. For the inaugural class of 2014, the Cardinals announced the following 22 members to be inducted in a ceremony on August 16:
Jim Bottomley Ken Boyer Lou Brock Jack Buck August A. "Gussie" Busch, Jr. Dizzy Dean Frank Frisch Bob Gibson Chick Hafey Jesse Haines Whitey Herzog Rogers Hornsby Tony La Russa Joe Medwick Johnny Mize Stan Musial Branch Rickey Red Schoendienst Enos Slaughter Ozzie Smith Billy Southworth Bruce Sutter
Four more Cardinals were voted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame on an eight-player fan ballot announced on April 30. Those eight nominees had to be with the team for at least three years and retired from baseball for at least three years. Those not voted in by the fans in an online March vote that received almost 80,000 votes over seven-weeks were: Bob Forsch, Keith Hernandez, Mark McGwire, Matt Morris, Ted Simmons and Joe Torre. To be inducted on August 16 along with the 22 above are: player-broadcaster Mike Shannon, outfielders Jim Edmonds and Willie McGee, and shortstop Marty Marion.
In addition, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced the inductions of former Cardinals managers La Russa and Joe Torre.
Spring training
Schedule and media