To me, that was on Shildt playing it safe and rolling with the lineup that performed well in the first two games. Maybe it does reflect on the way the organization views him.
I can say this…in no way would I prioritize Dexter Fowler next year over Tyler O’Neill. If Fowler isn’t starting the year hitting as well as he did before his DL stint this season, I wouldn’t hesitate to bench him and ride with O’Neill the rest of the season. I wouldn’t really prioritize Bader over O’Neill either. We know exactly what Bader is, which is fine but not a likely answer to “who’s a starting OFer on a championship Cardinals team?” But I’m not Shildt and we’ve seen in the past that Mo has had to trade players away to get the manager to stop starting them, so perhaps Dexter will really get 500 PA of 95 wRC+ hitting in RF.