9:51am: The Cardinals have now formally announced the moves, specifying that Romero is hitting the injured list due to patellar tendinitis in his left knee.
9:25am: The Cardinals have designated infielder Taylor Motter for assignment, clearing an active roster spot for the recall of José Fermín from Triple-A Memphis. St. Louis also reinstated Matthew Liberatore from the 15-day injured list while placing JoJo Romero on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 2. The team has yet to formally announce the moves via press release, but each is reflected on their transaction log at MLB.com. The Cards’ 40-man count drops to 39.
Motter has had three separate stints on the St. Louis roster. The 33-year-old has played in 29 games, his biggest MLB workload since 2017. Motter hasn’t produced much offensively, hitting .171/.232/.211 through 82 trips to the plate. As has been the case throughout his career, the bigger appeal has been in his defensive flexibility. Motter has gotten multiple starts at each of second base, third base and shortstop.
The Cards have waived him twice before. He’s gone unclaimed both times. If that’s the case yet again, he’d have the right to elect free agency. Motter would qualify for minor league free agency at the start of the offseason if he’s not on St. Louis’ major league roster in either case, so he could look to explore other opportunities a few weeks early.
Liberatore was only sidelined for a couple weeks by back tightness. The former first-round pick and top prospect is getting consistent rotation run as the Cards evaluate potential depth options for next year’s starting staff. Despite a slight velocity uptick and decent numbers in Triple-A, Liberatore has gotten hit hard in 50 MLB innings this season. He’s allowing 6.12 earned runs per nine with a well below-average 15.1% strikeout rate.
Romero has pitched his way into key innings for a St. Louis bullpen that subtracted a couple veterans at the deadline. While the 26-year-old has a solid but unspectacular 3.68 ERA over 36 2/3 frames, that run prevention mark belies excellent underlying numbers. Romero has fanned 28.6% of batters faced while generating grounders on nearly three-fifths of batted balls he allows. In the process, he has likely staked a claim to a high-leverage role in the 2024 relief corps.
As for the open spot on the 40-man roster, it could be ticketed for Rule 5 pick Wilking Rodriguez, who has missed the entire season thus far after undergoing shoulder surgery in early May. Rodriguez was given a timetable of four to six weeks to recover from that operation, and Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports that the Cards are hopeful of taking a look at him down the stretch in 2023. He’s currently on the 60-day injured list but is on a minor league rehab stint in Triple-A Memphis, where he’s pitched 1 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, no walks and just one unearned run allowed.
Even if Rodriguez is activated and spends the final few weeks of the season on the Major League roster, he won’t meet the requirements to shed his Rule 5 status. A player needs to spend at least 90 days on the active roster during his Rule 5 season to fulfill those requirements, so Rodriguez’s Rule 5 designation would carry over into the 2024 season until he reaches that mark. As it stands, he’s hardly a sure bet to remain on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason, but a strong showing in the final three to four weeks could go a long way in changing that perception.
Hello Motter, hello Fotter, life is good here at Camp Grenada
He had really long hair when he was a Mariner. I’ll always remember Motter on second base and Jose Altuve going up to talk to him and reaching out and fingering his hair. At the same time, we also had Ben Gamel with equally long hair. I don’t know why guys want that kind of upkeep.
What’s the record for most DFA’s in a season by one player in one organization? We’ve got to be there by now.
The Marlins DFA Deven Marrero like 8 times or something in 21.
You would think he would get the hint… Maybe she’s just into you?
@RayKingsThickThighs
Yep, Deven Marrero was the one I was thinking. I personally think that MLBTR could’ve just copied and pasted the same articles over and over again for Marrero that year with the Marlins.
It was a good life to live. Paid vacation to hang out and take some ABs in Miami for a couple of days, Then go back to your regular club before having to jump on another free plane ride and vacation.
Motter is to STL as Culberson is to ATL.
At least motter actually played games
well in 2013 Adam Rosales in a 10 day span was wavied 3 times between two teams A’s and Rangers, then resigned with rangers again after that year — then signed by A’s again after a few years
Say it ain’t so! Sad day for Cardinal Nation. Again. Mo must feel like he has tanked this season enough already if he doesn’t want Motter so dopey Marmol can play him over Gorman or pretty much any other warm body.
“Hey George, it’s your favorite neighbor! Say George, someone left a Motter in the bushes”
“What’s a Motter, Larry?”
“Nothing! What’s a Motter with you?”
if anyone on that team deserves a DFA, it’s Adam Wainwright.
Nah, let Waino try a few more times in this lost season for his search for wins 199 and 200. But if he falls short this year he needs to leave with at least partial dignity remaining and not try further after this month.
He’s already announced this is his last season, there are no more months after this one.
It’s a pity he has to go out this way though.
Murph
Absolutely correct, though when he said it, he probably thought hitting 200 this year was a lock. Now 199 seems more likely.
I’m sure catching the great Tim Wakefield in W’s is all it’s cracked up to be,
At least 2 of his last 3 starts have been pretty good, so he might still end on a high note.
It’s not like Liberatore’s ERA is much better, anyway.
My anger when I see his name in the lineup has been taken care of.
Thank you, powers that be.
I would like to know if there are any Cardinal fans who think that our POBO will make the right decisions in the off season on who to keep on the roster, who to trade from the roster,and what free agents to negotiate with. I am worried. Look at the forty man he has assembled.
Redbirds fan here – No.
Other than the free agents. Mo will certainly negotiate with them, but he won’t sign them.
Well, the offensive options are spectacular, and keep in mind that there were some decent or better pitchers that were on the roster before they were traded away before the deadline, while some others pitched much better just last year.
Anyway, Mo and Girsch have their work cut out for them rebuilding most of the pitching staff in a single offseason, but their excellent track record suggests that they’re up for the challenge.
i have little confidence that mo and company will do much, this was something that needed work last 2 seasons. with jack’s yo-yo health and was going to be gone after this year, wanio’s retirement, a solid innings eater for number 4 spot. they had 3 years at least to start fixing things. plus is there enough arm’s available to rebuild a whole pitching staff unfortunately i think our birds are going to be playing some rough bb for a few years. we have to many holes to fix in 1 offseason
That’s why they extended Mikolas. It was just bad luck that they were going to wind up losing Mikolas, Montgomery, Flaherty, and Wainwright all at once, but at least they managed to extend one of them.
It was also completely unexpected that so many of the team’s pitchers would underperform so badly. Had Wainwright, Matz, Woodford, Liberatore, Hudson, Thompson, Cabrera, Gallegos, Pallante, Naile, etc. actually pitched as expected, the Cardinals would be in first place right now and not need anywhere near as much pitching help for next year, either. Even Mikolas has had a terrible April and an up-and-down second half. As far as was expected at the beginning of the season, an initial rotation of Mikolas, Montgomery, Flaherty, Matz, and Woodford, with Wainwright working his way back from the IL and further excellent depth with Hudson, Thompson, and Liberatore shouldn’t have needed fixing.
Although, at least Matz turned it around after initially getting demoted from the rotation (until he got hurt), and Hudson and Thompson are somehow pitching much better in the Majors now than when they were stinking it up in AAA during the first half of the season.
Thankfully, the Cardinals do have extra capital on the position player side of things that will help give them a decent opportunity to fix at least most of the pitching problems this offseason. There are enough arms available as long as they use both free agency AND trade to acquire them.
Let’s hope they don’t sign him to a major league contract a few hours after he’s released.
I’m very bored of this.
Now maybe Motter will get a haircut.