For Gorman, it’s his first optional assignment in almost two years, as his last one came in September of 2022. Last year, he seemed to cement himself as a key piece of the club’s future, getting into 119 games and hitting 27 home runs. His 31.9% strikeout rate was quite high but he also walked at an 11.4% clip and provided that aforementioned power. His .236/.328/.478 batting line translated to a 118 wRC+, indicating he was 18% better than league average on the year.

Things have fallen off here in 2024, however. The power is still there, as evidenced by his 19 home runs, but his strikeout rate has climbed to 37.6%. Among qualified hitters in the league, that’s the highest in the league by a decent margin. Zack Gelof is at 35.2% and everyone else in the majors is below 32%. With Gorman’s walk rate also ticking down a bit to 8.5%, he has a .203/.271/.400 batting line and 87 wRC+ this year. He’s not considered an especially strong defender at second, so the declining offense is a real hit to his value.

The Cardinals were close enough to contention that they bought at the deadline, acquiring Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham and Shawn Armstrong. But they’ve had a rough August, going 5-12 on the month, including a 2-8 stretch in the past 10 contests. They have fallen to six games back of a Wild Card spot and have been shaking up their roster in recent days. Yesterday, infielder Brandon Crawford was released and outfielder Jordan Walker optioned down to the minors, with Gorman now following him down.

Utility player Brendan Donovan has seen a decent amount of second base this year and could perhaps take over at the keystone more regularly. With Pham’s addition to the outfield mix, Donovan won’t need to be on the grass as much, with Victor Scott II, Alec Burleson and Lars Nootbaar out there alongside Pham. Fermín can effectively replace Crawford and Gorman, as he can play both middle infield spots, as well as third base and the outfield corners a bit. He’s hitting .311/.424/.500 in Triple-A this year.

For Gorman personally, this optional assignment won’t impact his path to free agency but could cost him a chance at Super Two status. He came into this season with one year and 139 days of service time. He has already blown way past the two-year mark and would have finished 2024 at 2.139 if he stayed up all year. Based on past cutoffs, he would have had a strong chance at qualifying for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player. That could still be the case if he is quickly recalled, though every day that he spends in the minors will lower his chances.

The Cardinals used the 19th overall pick on Gorman back in 2018 and he was one of their top prospects on his way up the minor league ladder. They likely still view him as a key part of their future but he will have to earn it. “Obviously, it’s a game of production up here and at some point, you’ve got to consistently produce, or we have to find someone who can,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said yesterday, per John Denton of MLB.com. “I mean, that’s what it ultimately comes down to, and these are hard messages to hear. It can be frustrating, but this is what ends up defining you. With our offensive struggles this year, I think you can strictly look at the inability for consistent performance, day in and day out.”

Gorman will still have two option years even if he uses one here in 2024. That means the Cardinals could potentially keep him as a depth guy for quite a while if he doesn’t force their hand. Pham, Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter are all slated for free agency this winter, which could open up some playing time. They likely have some degree of interest in bringing all of them back, certainly with Goldschmidt, but Burleson or Luken Baker could theoretically take over at first base or designated hitter. That could then see Donovan slide back to more of an outfield role if Gorman can push his way into the picture, though the club’s offseason could also completely change the picture by next year and prospect Thomas Saggese is lurking in Triple-A.

Nootbaar, 26, missed the first two weeks of the season with a rib injury and will now head back to the injured list. He’s out to a .234/.337/.404 start to the season, with plenty of underlying indicators that improved performance could be on the horizon once healthy. Nootbaar’s 13.4% walk rate remains characteristically excellent, as does his 20.6% chase rate on pitches off the plate. He’s been slightly more aggressive on pitches within the strike zone this season, and Nootbaar’s 92.1 mph average exit velocity, 21.7% line-drive rate and massive 52.8% hard-hit rate are all career-high marks. Given the plate discipline and quality of contact, an uptick in his offensive output seems quite likely — provided this oblique injury doesn’t hinder him upon his return.

With Nootbaar headed to the injured list, the Cardinals will likely give more playing time in right field to Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson. The switch-hitting Carlson is the vastly superior defender but has also posted a woeful .139/.244/.139 slash in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. Burleson is a poor defender but sports a far more impactful .289/.321/.428 slash with five homers in 160 turns at the plate.

Fermin was up with the big league club earlier this season but went just 3-for-18 with a trio of singles in that brief look. The 25-year-old has decimated Triple-A pitching this season, raking at a .346/.461/.615 pace with six homers and 10 doubles to along with a 10-for-10 showing in attempted stolen bases. He’s walked 19 times — a hearty 14.8% rate — against a minuscule five punchouts in Memphis this year (3.9%).

Gallegos, 32, allowed a dozen runs in nine innings this season before landing on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement. It was a wildly out-of-character showing for the typically solid Gallegos — one that included a career-low 92.5 mph average fastball. From 2019-23, Gallegos was one of the Cardinals’ steadiest bullpen arms, logging a combined 3.14 ERA with a very strong 30.7% strikeout rate against just a 6.4% walk rate in 238 1/3 innings.

Gallegos is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract that includes a $6.5MM club option. If he looks like his typical self in his return from the IL, that’ll be an easy call for the Cardinals to pick up, but the right-hander’s disastrous start to the 2024 season has rendered what looked like a straightforward call something of an open question.

It’s been a brutal start to the season for the 21-year-old Walker, who entered the 2023 season widely considered one of the game’s top 10 prospects and debuted with a .276/.342/.445 showing as a rookie. He’s looked lost at the plate in his sophomore season, hitting just .155/.239/.259 with a 26.9% strikeout rate and no home runs in his first 67 trips to the plate. Given the magnitude of those struggles and the Cardinals’ 10-14 start to the season — fifth in the NL Central — they’ll send Walker down to try to get the promising young slugger back on track.

This isn’t the first time the Cards have sent Walker to Memphis amid some struggles at the plate. Though he made the Opening Day roster in St. Louis last season and began his career with a 12-game hitting streak, Walker slumped in the aftermath and was optioned to Triple-A in late April — both to get his bat back on track and to afford the converted third baseman some additional reps in right field. His defense remains a work in progress, but Walker returned to the big leagues on June 2 and turned in a stout .277/.346/.455 batting line with 16 home runs, an 8.8% walk rate and a 21.7% strikeout rate in his final 387 plate appearances on the season.

With Walker down in Memphis, the Cardinals will go with Alec Burleson in left field, Michael Siani in center and Lars Nootbaar in right field. It’s not the alignment the team envisioned heading into the season, but they’re still without Dylan Carlson (shoulder sprain) and Tommy Edman (recovering from wrist surgery) and have also optioned prospect Victor Scott II to Memphis in the wake of his own struggles (.085/.138/.136 in 65 plate appearances).

From a service time vantage point, Walker’s optional assignment doesn’t figure to change his free agent timeline but could potentially alter his path to arbitration. He accrued 149 days of service in 2023, setting him up to reach Super Two status following the 2025 season and reach arbitration four times rather than three. If Walker is only down for a few weeks, he’ll very likely remain on that path. If his optional assignment extends a month or more, as it did in ’23, it’s possible he could wind up falling shy of Super Two status and be on a more standard arbitration path. Either way, he’s already picked up enough service this season to reach the one-year mark, so he remains on track for free agency following the 2029 season.

Fermin’s recall to the big leagues is of some note for the Cards, given his early performance in Memphis. The 25-year-old hit just .235/.339/.255 in 61 plate appearances during last year’s MLB debut and was generally credited with bottom-of-the-scale power on scouting reports. He’s torn the cover off the ball in his first 72 plate appearances this year, however, belting four homers and hitting .350/.458/.650 with 11 walks (15.3%) against just three strikeouts (4.2%). He’s chipped in six doubles and also gone 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts. It’s unlikely he can sustain that level of production against major league pitching, of course, but he’s earned the opportunity to carve out a role on the big league roster.

Thompson, 26, made two starts early in the season but was rocked for eight runs in 10 1/3 innings. He moved back to the bullpen and has been working in a long relief role. The results haven’t been any better. Though he fired 3 1/3 shutout innings with six strikeouts against the Phillies on April 10, he’s followed that up with 10 runs over his next two appearances. He’ll give way to King, who allowed a run in 2 1/3 innings earlier this season and has yielded two runs in 5 1/3 Triple-A frames thus far.

A 17th-round selection by the Rays in the 2011 draft, the 33 year old Motter has played for seven MLB clubs since making his debut with Tampa back in 2016. Motter has never hit well at the big league level, with a career .191/.263/.309 slash line in 468 career plate appearances. That being said, the veteran journeyman does offer a great deal of versatility. Across his six seasons in the big leagues, Motter has appeared at every position on the diamond except for center field and catcher. He’s even taken the mound previously in his career, with 1 1/3 innings of work to his name as a pitcher.

With Motter seemingly poised to take over as the club’s big league utility option in the infield, Fermin is headed back to Triple-A. The 24-year-old rookie made his big league debut with the Cardinals earlier this month, though it hasn’t gone well to this point. In five games with the big league club, Fermin has slashed just .091/.167/.091 while chipping in at both second and third base. Fermin, who came to St. Louis in a cash deal with the Guardians last November, has an uninspiring career slash line of .216/.337/.338 at the Triple-A level, though he’s still a potentially valuable utility option given his solid glove all around the infield.

Making room for Motter on the 40-man roster is Walsh, a 16th-round pick by the Cardinals in the 2017 draft. Walsh, 28, made his MLB debut for the Cardinals last year, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks while striking out five in 2 2/3 innings of work. That difficult start to his big league career seems to have carried over into his performance at the Triple-A level, where he’s posted a 5.28 ERA in 30 2/3 innings of work this season.

In addition to Walsh’s struggles at the big league level, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat indicates that health may have been a factor in the club’s decision to release Walsh, as the right-hander had just been placed on the minor league injured list with a nerve issue in his arm. Now on the open market, Walsh figures to look for a new club with whom he can rehab his current injury and attempt to work his way back to the majors.

9:13am: Infielder José Fermín is expected to join the Cardinals in Chicago ahead of their series against the White Sox this weekend, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Fermín is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Now 24, Fermín was an international signing of the Guardians but came over to the Cardinals in November. The Guards had a roster crunch prior to the Rule 5 draft last year and made a few trades that month, sending Nolan Jones to the Rockies, Carlos Vargas to the Diamondbacks and Fermín to the Cards.

Fermín’s reputation as a prospect is generally one of a high-contact, low-power infielder. He’s only struck out in 10.7% of his minor league plate appearances, a rate less than half of the 22.7% major league average here in 2023. But he’s also only hit 24 home runs in his 1,758 trips to the plate. He’s generally considered a strong enough defender to play shortstop while also spending some time at second and third base.

Coming into this season, Fermin would have competed for a bench spot for the Cards but he suffered a strained quadriceps during Spring Training and was shut down, eliminating his chances of cracking the Opening Day roster. He didn’t get into a minor league game until early June and has only suited up for 17 contests so far this year, hitting .180/.296/.328 in that small sample.

The Cardinals are known to value versatility in their players and are likely attracted to his ability to provide quality defense at multiple infield positions, especially since the club has been dealing with a few injuries related to their infield depth of late. Tommy Edman has been dealing with wrist soreness lately and though an MRI showed no structural damage, per Goold, Edman didn’t start the past two games. Brendan Donovan also missed some time recently with arm soreness and has been serving as the designated hitter since then. Both of those players have been bumped to the outfield as Paul DeJong and Nolan Gorman handle the middle infield most days, but their nagging injuries could be enough to compel the Cards to add another bench player with some infield capabilities. The corresponding move will perhaps shed some more light on the situation later today.

On a surely related note, Arenado talks with Denton about the intensity with which he prepares for and plays the game, acknowledging that it can take a toll on him. Arenado wonders whether that intensity can be “too much” for both his own psyche and, at times, his teammates, adding: “I actually need to relax more.” It’s an interesting look at Arenado’s personality, mentality and place within the organization. Cards fans — and, more broadly, fans of Arenado in general — will want to check it out in full.

A few more items pertaining to the Cards…

• Infielder Jose Fermin has a strained quadriceps and will be shut down for at least the next two weeks, manager Oli Marmol announced to reporters this morning (Twitter link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Acquired in a November trade with the Guardians, the 23-year-old Fermin (24 late this month) has been competing for a bench spot, but this injury all but eliminates the possibility of him landing on the Opening Day roster. He’s out to a 1-for-8 start thus far in Grapefruit League play and is coming off a shaky .215/.336/.322 showing in 330 Triple-A plate appearances a year ago. Even while struggling in Triple-A, however, Fermin fanned at a tiny 13.9% clip against a hearty 12.7% walk rate. He’s long drawn praise for his bat-to-ball skills, above-average speed and above-average defensive potential. He has very little power, but a healthy Fermin could seemingly make the Cardinals as a versatile utility player with a knack for putting the ball in play. He’s in the first of three minor league option seasons and is already on the 40-man roster, so he could potentially impact the team’s bench mix for several years.
• Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat takes a thorough look at the Cardinals’ pitching depth, noting that this is the deepest staff of arms the Cards have carried in some time. A few items of particular note include that righty Drew VerHagen and lefty Zack Thompson, both of whom have been rotation options in the past, have been brought along on reliever schedules this spring. Sophomore righty Andre Pallante started 10 games for the Cards in 2022, but it seems the team is monitoring his workload even as he preps to pitch for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic; the Cards have asked that Team Italy not push him beyond 45 pitches in any outing. Pallante is likely ticketed for a relief role in 2023, given the presence of Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty in the rotation (with Matthew Liberatore, Dakota Hudson, Jake Woodford and top prospect Gordon Graceffo all on hand as depth options). It should be noted that Matz is the only member of that rotation signed/controlled beyond 2023, however, so the Cards will surely be hoping for some in-house arms to step up and prove they can be relied upon in 2024 and beyond (even if the addition of an arm or two next winter feels inevitable).

Fermin, 24 in March, spent the 2022 season with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate and batted .215/.336/.322 with just a 13.9% strikeout rate against a 12.7% walk rate. He’s hit just 22 home runs in 415 minor league games and 1687 plate appearances, which underscores the lack of power that scouting reports on Fermin have emphasized. He stole 28 bases in just 105 games as recently as 2019, but Fermin only swiped nine bags in 90 games and 330 plate appearances in Triple-A this year.

While Fermin played plenty of shortstop early in his minor league run with Cleveland, he was deployed exclusively at second base and third base in 2022. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote prior to the 2022 season that Fermin rarely swings and misses but “lacks passable big league physicality and is a better fit at second base than shortstop.”

For the Cardinals, Fermin will give them a right-handed hitter with experience at three infield positions and solid bat-to-ball skills. Fermin would’ve been eligible to be selected in this year’s Rule 5 Draft, but St. Louis obviously saw enough in him that they preemptively made a move to acquire him and add him to the 40-man roster. This is the first time Fermin has been selected to a 40-man, so he’ll have a full slate of three minor league option years — assuming he sticks on their roster for that long, anyhow.

The moves to reinstate Reyes and VerHagen were a formality. Reyes missed the entire 2022 season due to shoulder surgery and has now managed just 145 innings in the Majors since making his debut back in 2016. He’ll be in line to earn a projected $2.8MM in arbitration this winter, and the Cardinals will likely have to weigh non-tendering the once-vaunted prospect.

VerHagen, meanwhile, missed time with shoulder and hip impingements in 2022 and didn’t pitch after being placed on the injured list on July 17. Signed to a two-year, $5.5MM deal in March — the first post-lockout, Major League free-agent signing for fans of random MLB trivia — the 32-year-old VerHagen was unable to replicate the success he’d found pitching overseas in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. In 21 2/3 innings with the Cardinals, he logged a 6.65 ERA with a 17% strikeout rate against a bloated 13.2% walk rate. He’s owed $3MM next season.