TODAY: The Cardinals announced Wainwright’s activation, and righty Jake Woodford was optioned to Triple-A to create roster space.
MAY 14: The Cardinals announced that right-hander Drew VerHagen has been reinstated from the injured list, with lefty Packy Naughton being optioned in a corresponding move.
VerHagen was surprisingly the first player signed after the lockout ended in March, with the Cards inking him to a two-year deal with a $5.5MM guarantee. He had spent the previous two seasons in Japan and fared well enough to return to the big leagues. Unfortunately, after throwing just 4 2/3 innings over three appearances, he landed on the injured list due to a right hip impingement. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat adds that VerHagen had his return delayed by a bout with COVID. VerHagen is capable of either starting or relieving and started in his two rehab appearances but threw only 1 2/3 innings and 2 innings in them, respectively.
Manager Oliver Marmol announced today that Adam Wainwright will come off the COVID IL and start Sunday’s game, as relayed by John Denton of MLB.com, but his last start was May 4. Since he didn’t go on a rehab assignment, it’s possible he won’t have as much length as usual due to that layoff, making a multi-inning option like VerHagen a valuable safety net. The club has a vacancy on its 40-man roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move for Waino, though he will need a slot on the active roster.
As for Naughton, this is already his second time being optioned in recent weeks. As part of the new CBA that was implemented in March, players with options can no longer be sent to the minors with total abandon. Each player can only be optioned five times per season, whereas there was no limit at all under the prior CBA. Due to the shortened Spring Training caused by the lockout, MLB and the MLBPA agreed that options prior to May 2 wouldn’t count against this limit, helping teams navigate the unusual ramp up period. The southpaw came up to make a spot start to cover for Wainwright’s absence and can now only be recalled and optioned three more times on the year.
Oh no!
Not Packy….:(
Packy, it was all for naught.
Packy has to pack it in yet again. He might be the first pitcher/player to reach the 5 option maximum in MLB. It’s too bad because he has good stuff; he just needs to limit the long ball.
Someone forgot to tell Wainwright that you need to throw 100 mph to be successful. Dude keeps chugging along.
maddox never threw 100
Threw is the operable word. If you “pitch”, you get results.
It’s crazy, you can throw 105 mph, but if you can’t control where you place it, what good is it? Batters are figuring out how to hit 100 mph throws, but a lot of them can’t figure how to hit an 85 mph curve ball “pitch”
Garry Maddox was an outfielder, so they probably never measured his throwing speed.
Greg Maddux threw in the low-to-mid ’90s when he was young. He also had pinpoint control, which he maintained throughout his career.
Of course, comparing just about any pitcher to a HOFer is unfair.
So Wainwright hasn’t been successful? You got jokes.
Drew VerHagen was not only a surprise signing, but also a disappointing signing. Mo often shops at the discount rack in the back of the store.
Personally, I would have kept Packy instead.
Both are small sample sizes, but Packy’s small is better.
As you said they both have small sample sizes, so the fact Packy can be optioned while VerHagen can’t makes the difference.
True that, but keeping Packy makes more sense than keeping VerHagen. My point of view is to send VerHagen packing. Eating VerHagen’s contract is peanuts to St. Louis. For some reason, Mo has a hard time cutting ties with his multiple year contracts that fail, like Carpenter and DeJong.
There’s no reason to send VerHagen packing yet when he can still easily turn it around.
There’s also no reason to give up on DeJong yet while he can still be optioned safely to AAA.
As for Carpenter, yes that last extension was a huge mistake, but he was still (sadly) one of our better bench players last year, so there was no need to cut him as long as he still provided value.
What kind of backup career could you have instead of baseball with a name like Packy Naughton?
Boxing. Maybe book making. Sausage maker?
Bare knuckle boxing or legit? Bartender for sure, I bet he would make the best Manhattan I’ve ever had in my life.
adam and eve shipping department
What about Grant Balfour?
Baseball written all over that
I’d figure Grant Balfour could be a count or a Duke as well
Packet Naughton sounds like a good name for a professional golfer.
Packy *
Wainwright is still in MLB? Amazing! Maybe he can pull a Jamie Moyer and give it another decade.
It seems a shame to option Woodford.
Can’t wait to see him and that thug Molina retire. That’s 27.5 million dollars of payroll waste off the books. They should have even more when Arenado opts out after this year. Maybe then they can get serious about building a team serious about winning more than just a lucky wildcard
Yeah, it’s horrible to have HOF’ers on your roster that are STILL productive.
Wainwright is not even close to a HOFer, and while Molina will eventually be enshrined, it won’t be on the first ballot.
Woodford didn’t deserve this fate but someone had to go I guess. Would have rather DFA VerHagen honestly.
You can’t just activate Adam wainwright
Things MLB should change.
Extra inning runners on 2B need to go away.
Position players on the mound need to be banned, teams carry 13 pitchers; use them. Pitchers no longer hit, batters should not be allowed to pitch. It’s a joke when they do.
Out of position infielders for the shift. Shift is okay, but 3B and 1B need to stay on their side of the infield.
Now they are letting Albert pitch. Ridiculous.
It used to happen a few times in all of baseball throughout the year. It was when a pitching staff was absolutely gassed, usually something weird happening with rainouts and such, and when the game was already like 15-0.
It was 15-2 when Pujols took the mound. San Fran had a position player pitch, too.