Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak criticizes Dexter Fowler a day after the outfielder goes on paternity leave.

It’s been a frustrating year for everybody involved. Here’s a guy who wants to go out and play well. I think he would tell you it’s hard to do that when you’re not playing on a consistent basis. But I’ve also had a lot of people come up to me and question his effort and his energy level. You know, those are things that I can’t defend.

Fowler played very consistently during his career, usually with an excellent OBP, and sometimes, like his first season with the Cardinals, adding power. Maybe with a child at home and a pregnant wife in her last trimester, Fowler isn’t getting much sleep. An even more likely explanation would be that he’s low level hurt.

Maybe the Cardinals should hack his home computer and find out what’s going on.