Cardinals Rumors

Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

By Steve Adams | May 23, 2022 at 11:00pm CDT

Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes is staring down yet another injury-related setback, as he’s scheduled for surgery on his shoulder late this month, tweets Katie Woo of The Athletic. MLB.com’s John Denton first reported that Reyes would require surgery to repair his right shoulder (Twitter link).

Reyes met with renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday, and he confirmed a team recommendation that surgery will be required. The exact nature of the procedure has not yet been announced by the Cardinals. Woo adds that while the surgery is likely to end his season, there’s at least a small chance Reyes will be able to return late in the year.

It’ll be the third major surgery for Reyes in the past five years. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery back in Spring Training of 2019 and has since gone under the knife to repair a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi muscle. Reyes also missed time with shoulder trouble back in 2020, though he didn’t require surgery at the time.

The expected shoulder procedure, then, is just the latest in a long line of physical ailments that have combined to derail what looked to be one of the sport’s most promising young talents. Reyes, for years, was heralded as a potential ace, frequenting top prospect rankings throughout his minor league tenure. Heading into the 2017 season, Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, while Baseball America ranked him fourth and MLB.com ranked him sixth.

At that time, Reyes had barely retained his rookie and prospect status after an electrifying MLB debut in 2016, when he pitched 46 innings of 1.57 ERA ball. However, Reyes had Tommy John surgery before he had the chance to follow up on that debut. That surgery, paired with the previously mentioned lat and shoulder troubles, combined to limit Reyes to just 87 total innings from 2017-20 (big leagues and minors combined). He pitched a career-high 72 1/3 innings for the Cardinals in 2021, all coming as a reliever, leading the team with 29 saves. Reyes punched out more than 30% of his opponents but also issued walks at an untenable 16.4% clip.

The hope heading into the 2022 season was that Reyes, like Jordan Hicks, could potentially be stretched out to either again work as a starter or to provide a multi-inning option in high-leverage spots. This latest bout of shoulder trouble, however, nixed that possibility before it ever even truly began. Now, Reyes’ very future in the organization could be in question.

At 27 years of age (28 in August), Reyes has just 145 Major League innings under his belt. Despite that paltry total, he’ll reach five years of Major League service this season, due largely to the significant amount of time he’s spent on the Major League injured list. He’ll likely add another full season of IL time to that ledger. The Cards will be able to retain him via arbitration this winter, and given that he’s unlikely to pitch at all, he’d likely be in line for a repeat of this year’s $2.9MM salary. It’s a modest sum, but the Cards will still need to determine whether they’ll make that commitment to a player who has averaged 29 innings per year over his first five MLB campaigns.

Cardinals Place Dylan Carlson, Steven Matz On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | May 23, 2022 at 12:44pm CDT

The Cardinals announced they’ve placed outfielder Dylan Carlson on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 22, due to a left hamstring strain. Starter Steven Matz is headed to the 15-day IL (the minimum length for pitchers) because of a shoulder impingement. St. Louis also optioned righty Angel Rondón to Triple-A Memphis. In corresponding moves, pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore, reliever Junior Fernández and outfielder Lars Nootbaar have been recalled from Memphis.

Carlson exited Saturday’s game against the Pirates early after experiencing some hamstring tightness. He remained on the active roster but didn’t play the following day, and the team has now determined he’ll need at least another week before he’s ready to return to action. St. Louis hasn’t provided a timetable on the return for Carlson, who has served as the club’s primary right fielder during his sophomore season.

The switch-hitting outfielder is off to a slow start, hitting .247/.291/.363 with a pair of home runs through 158 plate appearances. Carlson, a former top prospect, hit a solid .266/.343/.437 last season. He’s gotten more aggressive this year, swinging quite a bit more at pitches both inside and outside the strike zone. That’s allowed Carlson to cut into his strikeouts by putting the ball in play earlier in counts, but he’s also seen a dramatic dip in his walk rate. Paired with a surprisingly low 20.8% hard contact rate and 84.2 MPH average exit velocity, Carlson hasn’t made much of an impact from either an on-base or slugging perspective.

At just 23 years old, Carlson’s certainly capable of righting the ship and building off last year’s promising showing. He’ll first need some time to recover from the weekend injury, leaving manager Oliver Marmol with a handful of options to mix and match in the corners. Veteran Corey Dickerson is on hand, while a younger group of Nootbaar, Juan Yepez and hot-hitting rookie utilityman Brendan Donovan will also see some action. St. Louis placed starting left fielder Tyler O’Neill on the IL last week, so Marmol will have to piece things together for the time being.

Matz left yesterday’s start after just four pitches because of shoulder discomfort. That led to an impromptu extended relief outing for Rondón, who threw 86 pitches over five scoreless innings to get the win. That obviously takes him out of commission for a few days, and the Cards will replace him with Fernández, who hasn’t pitched for Memphis since Friday. The hard-throwing Fernández posted a 5.66 ERA over 20 2/3 MLB frames last season and is up for the first time this year.

The injury that necessitated Rondón’s lengthy outing will cost Matz at least two weeks. The southpaw signed a surprising four-year deal over the winter, and the early results have been mixed. Matz’s 6.03 ERA through 37 1/3 innings is obviously undesirable, but he’s punched out 26.8% of opposing hitters against a minuscule 4.9% walk rate. He’s been tagged for eight home runs and opponents are hitting .350 on balls in play against him, however, contributing to the disappointing results.

With Matz out of action for at least a few starts, Liberatore looks poised to step into the rotation. The top prospect was called up to make his MLB debut on Saturday. He allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Bucs and was quickly optioned out, but the Cardinals could recall him immediately to replace the IL-bound Matz. The 22-year-old has a 3.83 ERA with a 28.4% strikeout rate over seven starts with Memphis this season. He’s likely to join Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Jordan Hicks while Matz and Jack Flaherty recover from injury.

Injury Notes: Matz, Chisholm, Cruz, Watkins

By Mark Polishuk | May 22, 2022 at 6:50pm CDT

The latest on some prominent players who had to make early exits from today’s games…

Steven Matz lasted only four pitches into today’s start against the Pirates, as Matz was suffering from stiffness in his left shoulder. Cardinals manager Olli Marmol told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) that Matz will undergo an MRI later tonight. It has been a tough start overall to Matz’s tenure in St. Louis, as the southpaw has allowed a lot of hard contact en route to a 6.03 ERA over his first 37 1/3 innings in Cards red.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was replaced at second base prior to the third inning of the Marlins’ 4-3 win over the Braves, and the Miami side announced that Chisholm was dealing with left hamstring tightness. Chisholm walked and later scored during his only plate appearance, and MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola noted that Chisholm was running the bases much slower than usual, hinting at his hamstring issue. In Saturday’s game, Chisholm was spiked in that same left leg by Ozzie Albies when Albies was trying to steal second base, though tests didn’t reveal anything that kept Chisholm from today’s lineup. The Marlins infielder has been great thus far in 2022, hitting .290/.341/.581 with seven homers over 139 PA.
Designated hitter Nelson Cruz sprained his right ankle during an awkward slide into second base during the fourth inning of the Nationals’ 8-2 win over the Brewers today. Cruz was replaced by a pinch-hitter in his next at-bat, with Nats manager Davey Martinez telling reporters (including The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty) that Cruz continued to feel discomfort while taking some warm-up swings in the batting cage between innings. It isn’t yet clear if Cruz will require a trip to the injured list, as Martinez just described the veteran slugger as day-to-day. Though Cruz collected two hits against Milwaukee today, he is hitting only .204/.283/.296 with four homers through 161 PA.
On the 13th pitch of his start against the Rays today, Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins was hit in the forearm by a line drive off the bat of Ji-Man Choi. Watkins had to leave the game without recording an out (and allowing singles to his three batters faced), but he may have avoided serious injury — x-rays were negative and Watkins was diagnosed with only a bruised forearm. Sunday marked Watkins’ eighth start of the season, and the second-year player had a 6.00 ERA over 30 innings thus far in 2022.

NL Central Notes: Carlson, Brewers, Cousins, Pirates, Kuhl

By Mark Polishuk | May 21, 2022 at 10:06pm CDT

Brewers right-hander Jake Cousins has been shut down for the next 4-6 weeks after receiving a PRP injection, Cousins told Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters. Cousins has been on the IL since May 1, though an issue with his UCL was detected two weeks ago and the reliever was known to be seeking out a second opinion before deciding on his next treatment. Both of the consulting doctors recommended the injection, and Cousins will now embark on what will still be a pretty lengthy absence, even if he has been able to avoid surgery. If Cousins’ arm problems weren’t enough, he also told the media that he recently recovered from a case of COVID-19.

Depending on when Cousins is cleared to begin throwing or if a 40-man roster spot is required, it is quite possibly that the Brewers could shift him to the 60-day IL at some point. The righty made his MLB debut last season and made an immediate impact in Milwaukee’s bullpen, and Cousins has a 3.08 ERA over 38 total innings of big league action, with hefty strikeout (35%) and walk (14.7%) rates.

Cardinals To Promote Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore; Tyler O’Neill To IL

By Anthony Franco | May 19, 2022 at 11:01pm CDT

There’s a momentous roster shakeup in St. Louis, as the Cardinals are set to welcome two of the game’s top prospects to the big leagues in the coming days. As first reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter links), the team has promoted both Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore for this weekend’s series against the Pirates. Katie Woo of the Athletic tweets that outfielder Tyler O’Neill is headed to the 10-day injured list because of a right shoulder impingement in one corresponding roster move.

According to Goold, Gorman will be in tomorrow’s starting lineup at second base. That figures to be his primary role moving forward, with Gold Glove second baseman Tommy Edman kicked to the other side of the bag. Edman has been excellent this season, but the Cards haven’t gotten much production out of their shortstops. Paul DeJong struggled enough the team optioned him to Triple-A Memphis last week, seemingly setting the stage for a forthcoming Gorman promotion.

That’s not to say the Cardinals hastily promoted Gorman to compensate for struggles at the major league level — far from it. The left-handed hitter has forced his way to the majors with an incredible showing in Memphis. Over 147 plate appearances, he’s hitting .308/.367/.677 with an astounding 15 home runs. No other Triple-A batter has more than 13 round-trippers, and only the Cubs’ Robel García has a higher slugging percentage in the International League.

Gorman’s production hasn’t been completely without issue, as he’s gone down on strikes 50 times. That’s a 34% clip, an alarming rate for any minor leaguer considering the higher quality of pitching he’ll face in the majors. Ultimately, however, Gorman’s power production became too much for the St. Louis front office to ignore.

It has been a long-awaited debut for Cardinals fans, who have anticipated Gorman’s arrival since he was selected with the 19th pick in the 2018 draft out of an Arizona high school. Regarded as a power-hitting third baseman as an amateur, he has more or less met those expectations while in the minors. Gorman has consistently posted huge extra-base numbers while running elevated strikeout totals. Prospect evaluators have raised some concerns about the amount of swing-and-miss in his game, but they’ve been unanimously effusive in their praise of his power upside.

Each of FanGraphs, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, Keith Law of the Athletic and Baseball America slotted Gorman among the game’s top 60 prospects this past offseason. (Law and McDaniel both placed him among their top 20). That was before this season’s home run barrage, which only figures to have raised the 22-year-old’s profile even further. Gorman has kicked over to the keystone in the minors with Nolan Arenado entrenched at third base. He’s not regarded as an elite defender and will certainly be a downgrade from Edman there, but the hope is that his offensive capabilities will more than compensate for any issues on the other side of the ball.

Not to be outshined, Gorman’s draft mate will make his major league debut one day later. Liberatore is lined up to start Saturday’s game against the Bucs, manager Oliver Marmol confirmed to reporters (Woo link). The skipper said it’s still to be determined whether there’ll be more than one spot start for the 22-year-old southpaw. Regardless, that Liberatore is now lined up to pitch in the majors suggests he’s firmly on the organizational rotation depth chart.

Liberatore was coincidentally also a first-round draftee out of a Phoenix-area high school the same year as Gorman, and the two have been friends since childhood. Seen as one of the top prep arms in that year’s class, he fell to the Rays at 16th overall because of concerns about his signing bonus — which ultimately checked in just shy of $3.5MM. While Liberatore’s fastball sat in the low-90s, he drew praise for his secondary offerings, particularly a curveball that evaluators consider his best pitch. He pitched well for his first season-plus in the lower levels of the Tampa Bay farm system, then was involved in a January 2020 blockbuster that sent Randy Arozarena back to Tampa Bay.

The cancelation of the 2020 minor league season kept Liberatore from making his official Cardinals debut until last year. The organization pushed him straight to Memphis for his age-21 campaign and he held his own, tossing 124 2/3 innings of 4.04 ERA ball with a solid 23.7% strikeout rate and an excellent 6.3% walk percentage. St. Louis assigned him back there to open this season, and he’s made strides from a swing-and-miss perspective. Liberatore’s ERA and walk rate are right in line with his 2021 marks, but he’s improved his strikeout rate by almost five points through his first seven starts.

Liberatore is also regarded by most evaluators as one of the top 100 minor league talents. He’s not seen as a future ace, but between his excellent control and well-rounded arsenal, he’s unanimously viewed as a possible rotation stalwart. Whether the Cardinals plug him into that role immediately isn’t clear, but it seems likely he’ll be taking the ball every fifth day in St. Louis before long.

Neither Gorman nor Liberatore will accrue enough major league service time this year to reach the one-year threshold. Even if both players are in the majors for good, neither will be eligible for free agency until after the 2028 campaign at the earliest. Both players are in good position to reach early arbitration as Super Two qualifiers after the 2024 season, although that’s contingent on sticking in the big leagues from here on out. In Liberatore’s case, in particular, it seems future optional assignments are still a possibility.

The Cards have Adam Wainwright, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas and Jordan Hicks as their primary starting five at the moment. Wainwright and Mikolas have been excellent. Matz has struggled but isn’t going to be bumped from the rotation two months into a four-year contract. Hudson doesn’t have great strikeout and walk marks, but he’s riding his typically elite ground-ball production to decent results. That’s more or less also true of Hicks, who has lengthened out into the rotation after a few years as a high-leverage bullpen arm.

Of course, St. Louis has been without arguably their best pitcher for the entire season. Jack Flaherty hasn’t thrown a pitch because of a shoulder issue that required a platelet-rich plasma injection. He’s been on the 10-day injured list all year, and the club announced that he’s been transferred to the 60-day IL to clear space for Gorman on the 40-man roster.

That’s merely a procedural move that keeps Flaherty out for two months from Opening Day. The 26-year-old has yet to embark on a minor league rehab assignment and surely wouldn’t have been ready to make an MLB return before the first week of June anyhow. Flaherty has recently progressed to throwing bullpen sessions, so it seems reasonable he could head out into minor league games within a few weeks.

The club will also need to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Liberatore, with that transaction set to occur before Saturday’s contest. Aside from Flaherty, St. Louis doesn’t have any obvious candidates for a 60-day IL transfer, so it seems likely someone will be designated for assignment within the next two days.

The only disappointing aspect of today’s news is that O’Neill is headed to the IL. He’s missed the past couple days battling the shoulder discomfort that will now cost him at least a week and a half. The team hasn’t provided an indication whether he’s facing an absence longer than the minimal stint.

So continues a rough start to the year for O’Neill, who is just a season removed from an eighth-place finish in NL MVP voting. The 26-year-old has hit just .195/.256/.297 with a pair of home runs across 133 plate appearances, nowhere near the 34-homer output he put forth last season. O’Neill, who also lost his arbitration hearing last week, will try to get back on track whenever he’s healthy enough to make his return.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Alex Reyes Shut Down Due To Shoulder Soreness

By Mark Polishuk | May 15, 2022 at 4:45pm CDT

Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes has yet to pitch this season due to shoulder problems, and it now looks like Reyes could be missing significantly more time. Manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat) that Reyes was shut down after he experienced some continued soreness in his right shoulder after a throwing session this week.

Reyes had already undergone an MRI, and perhaps ominously, is now looking for a second opinion before deciding on his next course of action. Marmol described the news as “very” discouraging, and noted that Reyes has “been through a lot…you hope he can make it back.”

Considered one of baseball’s very best prospects during his time in the St. Louis farm system, Reyes’ career has been a series of stops and starts due to injuries. A Tommy John surgery in 2017 cost Reyes the most time on the injured list, but his shoulder has also been a consistent source of concern for the last few years.

After tossing only 72 2/3 innings from 2016-20, the Cardinals opted to make Reyes a full-time reliever in 2021, and the result was both a healthy and impressive season. The righty posted a 2.48 ERA and a 30% strikeout rate over 72 1/3 frames as the Cards’ primary closer for much of the year, though Reyes was hampered by walks and home runs. This included the homer that ended the Cardinals’ season, as Reyes allowed Chris Taylor’s walkoff home run in last year’s NL wild card game.

Reyes received a stem cell injection in March, and after being moved to the 60-day injured list, wasn’t eligible to pitch until after June 8. It now seems unlikely that he’ll make that target date, and there would seem to be plenty of doubt that Reyes will be able to pitch at all in 2022.

Reyes turns 28 in August, and is earning $2.85MM this season in the second of three arbitration-eligible years. Should Reyes miss most or all of the 2022 campaign, he would receive only a minuscule raise or his salary would just remain at $2.85MM, which wouldn’t represent a huge financial outlay for St. Louis. A non-tender can’t be ruled out until we know more about Reyes’ injury status, but given how well Reyes has pitched when healthy, the Cardinals would probably lean towards retaining him to see if he can avoid the IL in 2023.

Cardinals Activate Adam Wainwright, Drew VerHagen

By Darragh McDonald | May 15, 2022 at 3:15pm CDT

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.

COVID IL Notes: Wheeler, Arauz, Sosa, Wainwright

By James Hicks and Darragh McDonald | May 12, 2022 at 8:36pm CDT

Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who’d been on the COVID IL since Sunday, has been cleared to rejoin the team and will start tonight’s game against the Dodgers, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Enquirer. To make room for Wheeler on the active roster, the Phillies optioned left-hander Bailey Falter to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. It’s a timely return for the Phillies, who’ll avoid a crunch in rotation following a pair of rainouts and a Sunday doubleheader against the Mets last weekend. Even with Wheeler’s return, the rotation is still down a man with Zach Eflin still on the COVID list. However, the club has an off-day on Monday, meaning they can survive with four starters for a couple of turns through the rotation. After five starts this year, Wheeler’s ERA is sitting at 4.10, with a 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.

Rounding up the latest virus-related transactions…

The Red Sox announced that they have reinstated Jonathan Arauz from the COVID-related IL. To make room on the 40-man roster, left-hander Josh Taylor has been transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Taylor has somewhat quietly become an important part of the Red Sox bullpen. Over the previous three seasons, he’s thrown 102 1/3 innings with a 3.69 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. He’s gradually earned himself some higher-leverage outings, notching 15 holds and a save last year. However, he began this year on the injured list due to back soreness. He began a rehab assignment last month, though that was paused after the issue lingered. The Red Sox evidently don’t think he’s close to a return, based on today’s transaction. Taylor will be eligible to return 60 days from his original placement on the IL, meaning he could be back in early June, though the club hasn’t provided any timetable for his next steps.
The Cardinals announced that Edmundo Sosa was activated from the COVID IL today. Kramer Robertson was optioned in a corresponding move. With the recent demotion of Paul DeJong, there’s an opening for Sosa to take over as the everyday shortstop in St. Louis. Last year, he broke out with a .271/.346/.389 showing for a 104 wRC+. However, he got off to a slow start this year, hitting just .160/.250/.160 in a small ten-game sample before landing on the injured list. He’ll be jockeying with Brendan Donovan, who is off to a hot start to his MLB career. Over his first 12 games in the big leagues, Donovan is hitting .278/.381/.556, 169 wRC+. Another path the team could eventually take would be to slide Tommy Edman over to shortstop and call up second base prospect Nolan Gorman, who is hitting .287/.350/.658 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 157.
There’s one Cardinal that is still on the COVID IL, right-hander Adam Wainwright. It seems that he is back with the club and could be taking the ball for Sunday’s game, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Packy Naughton recently made a spot start to cover for Wainwright and would likely be bumped to the bullpen or optioned to the minors if Waino can indeed return this weekend. The 40-man roster currently has a vacancy, meaning a corresponding move won’t be necessary in that regard. Through six starts this year, Wainwright has a 3.18 ERA, 20% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 57.6% ground ball rate.

Cardinals Defeat Tyler O’Neill In Arbitration

By Anthony Franco | May 11, 2022 at 12:18pm CDT

The Cardinals have won their arbitration hearing with outfielder Tyler O’Neill, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (on Twitter). He’ll take home a $3.4MM salary in 2022; O’Neill had filed at $4.15MM.

This was O’Neill’s first of three trips trough the arbitration process. He’s on track to reach free agency after the 2024 campaign. Future arbitration salaries are based on the platforms established in previous years, so the slugger will be working from a lower baseline than if he’d won the hearing. The Cards and his representatives at the Boras Corporation had been discussing a potential long-term deal that could’ve avoided the process entirely, but the sides obviously didn’t come to an agreement. With the hearing now in the rearview mirror, it seems talks about a multi-year pact will be put on hold — at least until next offseason.

O’Neill told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week the process was “definitely something that I am ready to have completed” but denied that its lingering into the season was having any effect on his performance. The 26-year-old is off to a rough start, hitting .198/.267/.317 with just a pair of home runs in his first 116 plate appearances.

Arbitration hearings are typically conducted over the offseason, but the unresolved cases were pushed into the season after the lockout halted winter dealings for more than three months. Arbitrators’ decisions are to be based solely off a player’s body of work up through 2021, so O’Neill’s slow start should not have been a factor in the result.

Cardinals Option Paul DeJong To Triple-A, Select Kramer Robertson

By Mark Polishuk | May 10, 2022 at 3:05pm CDT

3:05 PM: The Cardinals have selected the contract of infielder Kramer Robertson to fill DeJong’s spot on the 26-man roster, the team announced. It’ll be the first taste of the bigs for the versatile 27-year-old.

Drafted out of LSU by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2017 amateur draft, Robertson has steadily worked his way through the St. Louis system, posting consistently solid numbers at each level. While he’s never had a ton of power, he has shown the ability to get on base, compiling a .248/.357/.369 triple-slash across five minor-league seasons. Across 100 plate appearances for Triple-A Memphis this year, he’s posted a .225/.380/.400 line.

With Edmundo Sosa likely returning from the COVID IL sooner than later, it could be a relatively short stay in the bigs for Robertson, but the fact he’s been added to the Cardinals 40-man roster could indicate a longer stay. For the time being at least, he’ll serve as the Cards’ primary backup at second, third, and shortstop — potentially sharing time with Brendan Donovan in that role when Sosa returns.

2:21 PM: The Cardinals have optioned shortstop Paul DeJong to Triple-A Memphis, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reports (Twitter link). This clears the path for Tommy Edman to likely take over as the Cards’ regular shortstop.

With only a .130/.209/.208 slash line over his first 86 plate appearances of the season, DeJong’s offensive struggles have become too large for the Cardinals to overlook, even though his typically excellent glovework is still strong. For a team that prizes defense as heavily as the Cards, DeJong’s ability in the field has given him a lot of leeway as a lineup regular, even as his offense has been in decline.

DeJong’s best offensive year is still his 2017 rookie season, as he finished second in NL Rookie Of The Year voting, and the Cards locked him up with a six-year, $26MM contract extension. This was the largest (at the time) contract ever given to a player with under a year of MLB service time, and it isn’t like the extension was a real miscalculation, as per Fangraphs’ calculations, DeJong’s career $8.9 fWAR has been worth $70.9MM over his career.

However, DeJong’s power (74 homers in 2017-19) papered over his lack of average and OBP, but his slugging numbers have dramatically tailed off over the last three years. The result is a 79 wRC+ over 662 PA since the start of the 2020 season.

Edmundo Sosa is currently on the COVID-related injured list, but has started a minor league rehab assignment and appears to be close to a return to St. Louis. That will provide some additional depth at shortstop, plus Brendan Donovan can also play second base, giving the Cardinals some flexibility up the middle.

Edman and Sosa have also both looked good defensively at shortstop, albeit in smaller sample sizes at the big league level. It is possible that moving DeJong wouldn’t lead to that much of a dropoff in glovework at shortstop, though since Edman is himself a reigning Gold Glove winner at second base, the Cardinals undoubtedly have some concern over whether they’d be weakening themselves at several positions. Sosa essentially came out of nowhere to be a solid contributor to the 2021 team, but his limited track record in the majors or minors perhaps makes him something of a risk as a true everyday player.

Of course, the real x-factor here is Nolan Gorman, as the star second-base prospect is crushing Triple-A pitching. It has become apparent that Gorman doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, and St. Louis hasn’t traditionally been hesitant about calling up star prospects for important roles. Having Edman, Sosa, and Donovan all on hand takes some of the pressure off Gorman to contribute right away, and it also isn’t out of the question that DeJong could return to the mix if he gets on track in the minors.

St. Louis still owes DeJong the remainder of his $6MM salary for the 2022 season, plus $9MM for 2023. The Cardinals have a $12.5MM club option for 2024 that looks like a sure thing to be declined, with DeJong receiving a $2MM buyout. While not a huge sum, if the Cards are really ready to move on from DeJong entirely, they could explore trying to move him before the trade deadline, possibly for another team’s undesirable contract.

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