The Cardinals have placed outfielder Jose Martinez on the 10-day injured list with a right AC joint sprain, selected the contract of outfielder Randy Arozarena from Triple-A Memphis, activated catcher Yadier Molina from the IL and optioned backstop Andrew Knizner, Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets.
This has been a surprisingly underwhelming season for the 31-year-old Martinez, who has slashed just .266/.336/.401 (96 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 348 plate appearances. Martinez was far better over the previous two seasons, during which he hit .306/.369/.478 (129 wRC+) with 31 long balls across 897 PA.
The Cardinals will replace Martinez with Arozarena, a Cuba native who signed with the club for $1.25MM in 2016. Now 24 years old, Arozarena has hit a spectacular .368/.442/.562 (147 wRC+) with seven home runs and eight steals at the Triple-A level this season.
Not to be forgotten, Molina – one of the greatest Cardinals ever – is back after spending a month on the IL with a right thumb tendon strain. The 37-year-old’s thumb has bothered him since May, which is likely among the reasons he has batted a woeful .261/.286/.368 (70 wRC+) in 276 trips to the plate this season. Backup Matt Wieters has been a fine offensive substitute in Molina’s stead, though it has been a while since the former was an especially well-regarded defender.
Here we go might get to see the outfield of the future!
Is Arozarena legit? Or just another AAA guy that hits well in the minors.
I’d say there’s probably something there. So long as you keep your expectations out of Mike Trout territory, you probably won’t be disappointed
he was pretty well regarded for some time. had some issues in the transition from AA to AAA before, so id be a bit skeptical. that being said, he could have truely found something.
Well it makes one wonder because his numbers are great in AAA and they don’t want to bring him up to keep him under control.
So who was taken off the 40 man to make room for Arozarena?
They had an open slot on the 40 already, no need for a corresponding move.
Interesting, because that was the reason they used earlier. I guess the Mike Mayers move was what opened the spot? I don’t see him on it any longer.
I think the pitcher they traded Gyorko for was on the 60-day IL while Gyorko was on the 10-day. So that spot naturally opened up a few days ago but after the Lane Thomas promotion.
It could also have been Mayers/Mejia and their moves that did it.
Gyorko was also on the 60.
Good news for Cardinals and Arozarena. The minor league schedule continues for a while.
Thank god. About time.
martinez got that extension. no need to perform now.
same with carpenter and the other martinez
Should have traded him when they had the chance. Problem was Mo thought JM was worth more than what 15 AL GMs thought. After all, he is the great wheeler and dealer.
That big 1 year extension at 2.125 million. Crushing…
There was no extension. He was still arb eligible.
troll all that did was kept him from making league minimum because he had offers to play over seas. He is still under club control it didn’t extend his service time beyond what they already controlled him for. And a couple million bucks isn’t crap.
I’d take Knizner over Molina for the rest of the year.
For what possible reason?
And that’s because????
That might be a bit much for this season, but coming soon everyone will be saying that. He is a tremendous athlete and a great hitter. I hope he can survive the “most nostalgic fans in baseball” and stake a claim to that catcher’s spot once Molina moves on.
He is not a great hitter. Does he show promise? Yes. But more importantly he is not a great catcher. Saying he is a good catcher is a stretch. He is athletic, so that could indicate that he can improve. But now is not the time to hand over the reins to him. See you in September Knizner. Work on your deficiencies the rest of the month in Memphis, please. We will probably need your help down the stretch.
It will be fun to see what this guys got, he’s got nothing to prove in the minors at this point. Maybe he’s the guy to give this offense a spark and get them rolling for the last month and a half
He needs more AAA seasoning and things to work on
Everyone has things to work on. A 147 WRC+ over three quarters of a AAA season means the pitchers aren’t challenging him anymore, he deserves a spot on a major league team until he starts to struggle
He makes the big club next year takes the reins in 2021.
Hopefully Jose makes it back to action soon. He is one of the most interesting players in the mlb. We all get an insight to what it would be like if the MLB brought in homeless people.
Mozeliak’s desire to put rookies in the starting line ups and expecting impact bats is hitting the team and the kids self confidence when they aren’t successful at hitting the major league breaking ball. (Bader & O’Neil). I’ll be so glad to see Mozeliak gone!!! Reality says he’ll be a Cardinal next year too.
If they make the playoffs he will be back. If the club tanks in sept he is gone.