Cardinals manager Oli Marmol announced yesterday that left-hander Matthew Liberatore will be taking the ball for tomorrow’s game against the Red Sox, adding to reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) that Liberatore will remain in the rotation “for now” as the team continues to deal with the absence of left-hander Steven Matz, who is on the injured list due to a strained lower back.
The news comes on the heels of a difficult start for Liberatore earlier this week where he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings of work against the Angels while striking out just one. The lefty threw a season-high 60 pitches during the outing and appears likely to be similarly limited against Boston tomorrow, given the fact that he was moved from short relief in the bullpen to a starting role with minimal time to stretch out. Before moving to the rotation, Liberatore had been among the club’s more valuable relief arms this season, pitching to a 2.76 ERA despite a lackluster 16.4% strikeout rate in 16 1/3 innings of work.
The combination of Liberatore’s limited pitch count, struggles in the rotation, and success out of the bullpen this year make the decision to stick with him as the fifth member of the rotation a somewhat puzzling one. The club has plenty of potential alternatives to take the ball on the 40-man roster at Triple-A, as well: Left-hander Zack Thompson filled in for Sonny Gray in the rotation to open the season, albeit with shaky results of his own, while righty Andre Pallante has plenty of experience swinging between the rotation and the bullpen and has impressed in the minors so far this season. Also off to an impressive start at Triple-A is right-handed prospect Sem Robberse, who the club acquired in the Jordan Hicks trade last summer and sports a 2.64 ERA and 4.05 FIP through eight starts. Should Liberatore’s struggles in the rotation continue, it’s possible that any of those options could replace him as a member of the starting five in St. Louis.
While Liberatore’s move to the rotation has taken a solid relief option out of the equation for the Cardinals, it appears likely that reinforcements are on the way as veteran right-handers Giovanny Gallegos and Keynan Middleton both appear to be making progress toward returns from the injured list. Middleton appears to be further along between the two veterans as Jones relays that he’s scheduled to make three more rehab appearances in the coming days, including back-to-back outings on Tuesday and Wednesday, before the club makes a decision on whether or not he’s ready to return to the big league bullpen.
That timeline could see Middleton make his Cardinals debut by the end of the week after he missed the start of the season due to a forearm strain. The right-hander pitched to a 3.38 ERA and 4.20 FIP in 50 2/3 innings of work between the White Sox and the Yankees last year, including a dominant 14 1/3 inning stretch run in New York that saw him allow just three runs while striking out 30.4% of batters faced. Upon his return, Middleton figures to be in the mix for late inning opportunities alongside the likes of JoJo Romero, Ryan Helsley, and Andrew Kittredge.
Gallegos, on the other hand, was shelved earlier this month due to a shoulder impingement but appears to be on track to return in fairly short order. MLB.com’s John Denton relayed this afternoon that Gallegos is feeling better and threw a bullpen yesterday but, according to Marmol, is still building up his arm strength ahead of a return to big league action. It appears he’ll continue to do that while on a rehab assignment to the minor leagues, as Denton indicates that Gallegos is expected to head out for one in the coming days.
After many years as one of St. Louis’s most reliable set-up men, Gallegos suffered a down season in 2023 as he struggled to a roughly league average 4.42 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 55 innings of work. While even a repeat of that disappointing performance would still make him an adequate middle relief arm, Gallegos’s 2024 season got off to an awful start as he was blown up for 12 runs in just nine innings of work across 14 appearances before he was placed on the IL. While he was striking out a respectable 27.1% of batters faced, Gallegos’s walk rate ballooned to 14.6% and he allowed an whopping five home runs in those nine innings of work. Now that the righty appears to be getting healthier, he’ll look to get his season back on track as he rehabs in hopes of contributing more positively to the Cardinals bullpen upon his return.
Liberatore has a 4.06 FIP for the season which is about what he had as a reliever. His results have been inconsistent but FIP always tells a better story.
And I don’t really think it’s all that puzzling that they would go with Liberatore in the rotation. Truly him and Thompson should have been fighting for the 5th spot in the rotation in spring training he and Thompson earned that right with their performances last year. At this point it’s either Liberatore or Robberse and we can wait until July for Robberse. Both Graceffo and Mcgreevy should have had an opportunity last year but the team refuses to give young pitchers a chance and let them learn and grow in the big leagues.
Because neither Mcgreevy nor Graceffo have thrown well in AAA. Mcgreevy would get tattooed in the big leagues specifically. I’d be surprised if he’s anything more than a mop up man.
Memphis is a tough place to pitch. Both guys should have been given an opportunity to pitch in the bigs last year instead of Suarez and Barnes and that other bum I can’t remember his name that got playing time after Montgomery and Flaherty were dealt.
Mcgreevy isn’t too impressive but if he can get outs he can provide innings. I really don’t think he would do much worse than Lynn if given a chance.
Those other guys they used last year actually had decent results in AAA. Even during the second half of a lost season, you don’t bring guys up who are clearly not ready, as they’re much more likely to hurt their overall development than they are to learn anything from being crushed by Major League hitters.
Lynn has been doing a decent job, so of course McGreevy would be worse!
McGreevy’s given up 217 hits in less than 170 AAA innings. He’d be torched by major leaguers. The only thing he has is great control but that’s canceled out since he has no put away pitch. There’s a reason Lynn is up there. McGreevy is a nothing prospect at this point.
A ball to high A
High A to AA
AA to AAA
AAA to the bigs
That’s how it works. Both Graceffo and Mcgreevy were ready to pitch in the big leagues last year.
Look at Thompson and Liberatore. Both guys earned a shot at the rotation last year. Did they get one in 2024? Nope sure didn’t because the team signed Gibson and Lynn instead.
You have to give young pitchers a chance. You have to support them by giving them an opportunity.
Lynn has been lucky. Both Lynn and Gibson are back end pitchers at the end of their careers. And because we signed them all the young guys don’t get a chance to show what they can do.
Lynn had an FIP of about 6 last year. This year he has been lucky he really hasn’t looked good at all. And most importantly him and Gibson are making 22 million combined. That money could have been used to buy a real pitcher.
They refused to pull the trigger on Dylan Cease. We see how that’s worked, so far.
I don’t think the Cardinals had the prospects to go get Cease. I would have been with a 1 for 1 for Walker but the organization wouldn’t have done that. I really don’t know who else could have been dealt. Chase Davis maybe? Need more than just him.
That’s how it works ONLY if they provide good enough results at their current level to deserve a promotion. Graceffo and McGreevey have not yet done so, neither last year nor so far this year. That could eventually change, but there are plenty of former prospects who never make it past AA or AAA.
Thompson and Liberatore DID get a chance to fight it out as the 6th starter in Spring Training, but neither had yet been consistent enough as a Major League starter to be guaranteed a spot over Lynn or Gibson.
They both HAVE received another opportunity in the Major League rotation this season, and nothing has changed in that regard so far, as Thompson wasn’t very good while filling in for Gray, and Liberatore hasn’t been very good while filling in for Matz.
Even accounting for Lynn’s luck, both he and Gibson have both easily outperformed the youngsters in the Major League rotation so far this season, and the results are ultimately what matter while you’re still trying to win. It doesn’t matter how old the veterans are when they’re simply significantly better pitchers than a couple of AAAA youngsters.
What did Barnes or Suarez do to earn their spots last year? At least with Graceffo and Mcgreevy they have potential to get better.
Thompson and Liberatore should have been fighting it out for the 5th starter role. 6th starter isn’t an actual role unless there is a 6 man rotation and there was bot.
Yes neither has been very good this year but neither has been Givenchy of a shot up until this point. What are we talking 3 starts each?
Again 6 starts total. That’s not enough to say who’s outperforming who. And both Liberatore and Thompson are making league minimum. We spent 22 million combined on Lynn and Gibson.
Bomber got a shot with the Rockies and he’s performing. Nunez went to the Pirates and was looking really good before he got hurt. Young guys need a chance not a couple random starts with the B team defense behind them and then jumping to conclusions.
Gomber’s been extremely lucky through 9 starts and he’s now 30 years old. 3+ years since the trade. Not really much of an example to cite.
& we’re not even halfway through the season. Any Cardinals pitcher who looks ready ought to get a chance. This team sucks and needs to be blown up. I’d imagine that Gibson and others will be pitching elsewhere in about 6 weeks.
& Liberatore, Mcgreevey, nor Graceffo showed me anything to believe they’ll be big league starters. I think Graceffo could be a useful reliever when they finally convert him there.
Gomber is as good as Lynn or Gibson are. And he doesn’t make any money. No regrets on the deal just pointing out how teams can fill the back end of their rotation with cheap players that perform like Gibson and Lynn.
It’s hard to say what we will do with Gibson and Lynn. Both have team options for 2025 so the plan was obviously to keep them. Mikolas and Matz both suck and make a lot of money so I don’t imagine they will be dealt.
Young pitchers need time to develop. The Cardinals and their fan base both have no patience at all when it comes to this. You have to support them and give them a chance to succeed. Not put the B team out there like they did yesterday to Liberatore.
The guy’s pitching to a 4.96 FRA. His control is a joke with a 10% BB rate and only a 17% K rate. Seriously, that’s not getting the job done. Looks like the Cards are headed for yet another loss. Team needs to sell at the deadline and rebuild properly.
Not sure what game you are watching but looks like a win which would be 5 out of 6. Unfortunately thst followed a 7 game losing streak but the team is looking good lately.
Liberatore has potential. Not ace potential but he can be a number 4 starter if given a chance.
I’m talking about Liberatore’s start tomorrow.
Old – You probably said the exact same thing about Mikolas before last night’s game. He went into the game with a 6.19 ERA but against the crappy Red Sox lineup he gave up just 2 hits and 1 ER.
Cardinals are smart enough to know facing the Sox lineup is a great way to turn around a SP and give him confidence going forward. It’s a great move to have Liberatore start against them today.
@Fever Pitch Guy
True, the Sox are ranked 22nd in offense so it does make sense that weak pitchers are going to have a decent game against a very weak offense
Boston’s pitching is significantly better than STL this year, ranked #2 overall and it was on show last night through 6 and 2/3rds,
I expect Boston to come out swinging today.
Old – Even that 22nd ranking is misleading, as it includes early games in which Casas & Yoshida were healthy, O’Neill was on fire pre-concussion, and the opponents were mostly weak teams with bad pitching.
Now the Sox are without Casas & Yoshida, O’Neill has absolutely sucked the past 3 weeks with a possible concussion, and 15 of their next 26 games are against the Top Six pitching staffs in MLB. .
Yes the Sox starting rotation has been excellent, but give some credit to the Cards …. they have the BEST ERA in MLB after the 7th inning at 1.96
Red Sox always swing at everything, that’s the problem. LOL!
O’Neill switched to 3rd in the lineup today, not a good decision by Cora. Hopefully he’ll manage to have a rare good game.
@Fever Pitch Guy
What just happened today? Pitcher got lit up by the struggling Sox offense. What did I say?
York – Part of it was O’Neill having that rare good game that I mentioned.
Part of it was bringing in Roycroft who had 5 career IP prior to today.
Part of it was Devers continuing his torrid pace, homeruns in 5 consecutive games.
The rest? I cannot explain it, I guess it’s just one of those rare games where everything went right for the Sox offense …. similar to when they scored 17 against the Cubs.
Yet another example of why Run Differential can be misleading.
A proper rebuild will need to start with management top to bottom.
Don’t like the cards insistence that Libertore be a starter when he finally seemed like he found his role in relief. He is not a good starter.
Well, they would prefer to keep Liberatore in the bullpen, but they don’t have any clearly better options while Matz is out (or arguably when Matz was healthy, either).
At least the bullpen can survive without Liberatore with Romero and King as good lefties and Middleton back soon to increase the overall depth.
Call up Sem Robberse.
Robberse is earning a call up.
Liberatore has a starters arsenal of pitches. He’s a starter he’s not gonna win the Cy Young but he’s a starter.
His Major League results to date say otherwise. It doesn’t matter what his arsenal of pitches is if he simply pitches much better out of the bullpen.
Did you watch the game yesterday? No he wasn’t great but Marmol puts Crawford and Pages out there on defense and both guys hurt him. Also Arenado choked on that fly ball which somehow was ruled a triple. That was an error I have no idea why it was ruled otherwise. The team has a responsibility to put him in a situation to succeed and it didn’t do that yesterday.
Can Masyn Winn pitch?
Actually, he was a 2 way player when drafted. The Cards gave him a few innings on the bump in the minors before having him concentrate strictly on SS.
The best option for the cardinals is to try to trade their most valuable pieces to get pitching prospects that are major league or close in return. Trade Goldie and Arenado. They are in their 30’s and aren’t part of the future and would also trim payroll so they could acquire some help in the future.
This is a called a rebuild. Cards ownership nor fanbase will allow it.