The St. Louis Cardinals are shifting Willson Contreras off catcher for the "next couple of weeks," according to a report.

Andrew Knizner will serve as the primary backstop along with recently promoted minor league catcher Tres Barrera.

Contreras signed a five-year, $87.5 million deal with the Cardinals this past offseason. John Mozeliak reiterated said Contreras wasn't being singled out as a cause of the team's struggles.

"What I don't want to have happen is a finger-point, this is all Willson's fault. It's not. There are many parts of our team right now that are not performing to what we expected," the president of baseball operations said.

It's expected that Contreras will serve as designated hitter instead of playing in the outfield unless there's a roster emergency.