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Matthew Liberatore

Cardinals Notes: Liberatore, Gallegos, Middleton

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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.

Cardinals Notes: Matz, Liberatore, Marmol

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The Cardinals have been without Steven Matz all month, as the veteran lefty has been on the shelf due to a lower back strain. He’d been slated to throw a bullpen session today, but that’s now been scrapped due to ongoing discomfort, tweets Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Instead, Matz will receive an injection and be shut down from throwing for “at least” the next week — possibly longer, depending on how he responds to the latest treatment.

Matz, 33 at the end of the month, is in the third season of a four-year, $44MM contract signed in free agency. The former Mets and Blue Jays hurler rebounded from a dreadful first season of that agreement in 2022 to give the Cards 105 innings of 3.86 ERA ball last season. He did so with diminished strikeout and walk rates relative to his ’22 levels but also with a resurgent 44.8% grounder rate that helped in mitigating some of the home run troubles he’d experienced in his first year with St. Louis.

The 2024 season has seen Matz make six starts and struggle to a low tally of 27 1/3 innings as well as a grim 6.18 ERA. Matz’s 13.4% strikeout rate would easily be a career-low and stands as the eighth-lowest mark among any of the 182 MLB pitchers to toss at least 20 innings this season. His 8.7% walk rate is average, but this year’s 33.7% ground-ball rate is the lowest of his career other than a 30-inning sample from the shortened 2020 season.

With Matz now sidelined even longer than expected, a window will further open for fellow southpaw Matthew Liberatore. Manager Oli Marmol told the Cardinals beat that plugging Liberatore into Matz’s rotation spot for now “gives us the best chance to win” (X link via Jones), so it seems he’ll remain the preferred option to start in Matz’s absence. Liberatore, acquired from the Rays in the trade sending Randy Arozarena to Tampa Bay, hasn’t topped 50 pitches in an outing this year and thus figures to be limited when he takes the ball today in a road matchup with the Angels. His longest outing of the season has been 3 2/3 innings, but if he can work efficiently, it’s feasible he could get through four or five innings before the Cards go to the bullpen.

Speaking of Marmol, he’s come under quite a bit of fire as the Cardinals have followed up 2023’s surprising last-place finish with an ugly start that once again has them residing in the NL Central’s cellar. Fans have voiced plenty of criticism for the third-year skipper, and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak — who surprisingly fired former manager Mike Shildt and installed Marmol as the new skipper — seemed to choose his words carefully when asked by KMOX’s Tom Ackerman how he currently views his manager (X link with audio).

“These are times that are difficult,” said Mozeliak. “I still think he understands the job. I think he knows how to manage. I think he’s trying to put the right combination of players in, but at some level you’ve got to have some performance. I understand fans are not happy with myself. They’re not happy with Oli. I don’t think anything I say here today is going to change that, so I think we have to just keep trying to go back and try to get this to work. And look, we understand if it doesn’t, then people are going to be held accountable — and ultimately that starts with me.”

Marmol was entering the final season of his original three-year deal to manage the Cardinals this year, but the front office extended him through the 2026 season back in mid-March. That contract seemed a clear vote of confidence at the time, but less than two months later, Mozeliak is publicly noting that his skipper has “got to have some level of performance” and speaking about accountability both on the field level and in the front office.

The 16-24 Cardinals are eight games back of the division-leading Brewers and have the fourth-worst run differential in MLB (-51), leading only the Rockies, Marlins and White Sox. Cardinals hitters rank 28th in the majors in batting average (.220), 27th in on-base percentage (.298) and 29th in slugging percentage (.341). Their 136 runs are the second-fewest in MLB, and St. Louis is tied with the White Sox for the game’s fewest home runs (29).

The revamped rotation hasn’t been much better. Cardinals starters are 24th in the big leagues with a combined 4.49 ERA and rank 22nd with a 20.5% strikeout rate. The bullpen, led by closer Ryan Helsley and setup men JoJo Romero, Ryan Fernandez and Andrew Kittredge, has been better, but it’s a top-heavy group. The struggles of those in the final few spots of the ’pen have Cardinals relievers sitting at a flat 4.00 ERA on the season, ranking 15th in the big leagues.

Cardinals Activate Dylan Carlson From Injured List

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TODAY: The Cardinals have officially announced Carlson’s activation. Pages was optioned to make room for the center fielder on the club’s active roster.

May 4: The Cardinals are set to activate outfielder Dylan Carlson from the 10-day injured list tomorrow, according to The Athletic’s Katie Woo. Catcher Pedro Pages is expected to be optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Woo also relays that left-hander Matthew Liberatore is expected to move from the bullpen to the rotation to take the ball in tomorrow afternoon’s game against the White Sox.

Carlson, 25, appeared poised to enter the season as the everyday center fielder in St. Louis until a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder sidelined him just before Opening Day. In his absence, the Cardinals have scuffled to a 15-18 start that leaves them just half a game out of last place in the NL Central. Much of those struggles can be attributed to a lack of offense from the club’s lineup, which has posted a collective 86 wRC+ that ranks sixth from the bottom in the majors. That figure has been dragged down by brutal offensive production from the club’s outfield mix, which to this point in the season has consisted of a combination of Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani. With Donovan’s 92 wRC+ leading the pack, Cardinals outfielders have combined for a paltry slash line of .188/.268/.294 with an NL-worst wRC+ of 66.

Given those significant struggles, Carlson’s return to action is welcome news for fans in St. Louis even as he himself is far from a sure thing offensively. The club’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft, Carlson was a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport when he reached the majors during the shortened 2020 season and earned a third-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting during his first full campaign the following year. While he hit a solid .266/.343/.437 in 149 games that year, he’s struggled to repeat that production over the past two seasons. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Carlson has slashed just .230/.316/.364 with a below-average 94 wRC+ in 204 combined games. Still, those numbers are at least decent for a center fielder and would represent a major upgrade over the club’s current production at the position, where is hitting .182/.280/.227 with a wRC+ of 56.

As for Liberatore, the 24-year-old has performed admirably in 12 appearances out of the bullpen this season with a 2.76 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, but a lackluster 16.4% strikeout rate and a much higher 4.18 FIP suggest that the lefty’s solid results have benefited from good fortune. While those questionable peripherals aren’t necessarily a reason for the Cardinals to avoid using him in the rotation, starting Liberatore is nonetheless a confusing choice given the lefty hasn’t thrown more than 38 pitches in a game since March and has struggled badly in the role throughout his major league career with a 5.72 ERA through 18 starts.

It’s not yet clear if Liberatore’s move to the rotation is a sign that he’s the club’s long-term replacement for veteran lefty Steven Matz, who is reportedly expected to miss at least “a couple of weeks” with a lower back strain, or if Liberatore’s start tomorrow will merely be a spot start before he passes the baton to one of the club’s other options, such as southpaw Zack Thompson or prospect Sem Robberse. Thompson made two starts for the club earlier this season but was optioned to Triple-A after allowing ten runs in 3 1/3 innings of work following a move to the bullpen, while Robberse has dominated Triple-A to the tune of a 1.77 ERA in six starts but has yet to make his major league debut.

Sonny Gray, Lars Nootbaar To Begin Season On Injured List

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Cardinals manager Oli Marmol informed the club’s beat today, including Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that right-hander Sonny Gray will start the season on the 15-day injured list. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar will start the year on the 10-day IL. Left-hander Zack Thompson will get a rotation job to start the season with fellow lefty Matthew Liberatore will be in the bullpen.

Gray was diagnosed with a right hamstring strain a couple of weeks ago and has been working his way back to health since then. Gray says he’s been healthy for about 10 to 12 days, per John Denton of MLB.com, but hasn’t had enough game action to be ready for the start of the season. Gray tells Denton that he thinks he’ll be able to return about 10 or 11 games into the season, since Opening Day IL stints can be backdated by three days. The Cards have a scheduled off-day after their eighth game on the docket.

While it’s not ideal for a club’s ace and key offseason signee to begin the year on the shelf, it seems Gray is planning on a minimal stay that will only involve missing a couple of turns through the rotation. Gray posted a 2.79 earned run average for the Twins last year, finishing second to Gerrit Cole in American League Cy Young voting.

As the Cards were looking to remake their rotation on the heels of a disaster season, Gray was the centerpiece of their offseason. While Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson were signed to serve as veteran innings eaters, Gray was given a three-year, $75MM deal to be at the front of the rotation for the foreseeable future.

Gray’s temporary absence will open a rotation spot for a little while behind Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Lynn and Gibson, with Thompson stepping into it. He has a 3.65 ERA in 101 career innings to this point in his career. His 23.4% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate are all fairly close to league average. This spring, he has a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings.

He has an option year remaining and could perhaps be sent to Triple-A when Gray is healthy, but Liberatore has an option as well. That could perhaps leave Thompson in a long relief role while Liberatore is the one to go to Triple-A, depending on how the Cards want to play it.

As for Nootbaar, he injured himself making a catch a couple of weeks back and was diagnosed with two nondisplaced fractures in his ribs. Since Tommy Edman is also going to start the season on the shelf, the Cards will be without two thirds of their planned starting outfield. Edman has still been experiencing pain in his surgically repaired right wrist.

Until Nootbaar and/or Edman are able to return, the Cards will likely roll with an outfield of Dylan Carlson in center while Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson take the corners. Utility player Brendan Donovan will be rotating through multiple infield and outfield positions. Prospect Victor Scott is still in camp but the club could prefer for him to have regular playing time in the minors as opposed to a big league bench job, which could lead to Michael Siani making the roster. There are also plenty of guys shaking loose from other clubs as roster cuts are made and veterans opt out of minor league deals.

NL Central Notes: Happ, Pirates, Liberatore

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Cubs left fielder Ian Happ won’t be appearing in games for the time being after he suffered a mild hamstring strain during a game earlier this week, club manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Counsell added that the club remains “optimistic” that Happ will be ready for Opening Day, though he added that the 29-year-old will need to get additional reps in before Spring Training comes to a close in order to be ready for the start of the season.

The ninth-overall pick in the 2015 draft, Happ is entering the first year of the three-year, $61MM extension he inked with the Cubs early last season. The switch-hitter has settled in to become one of the club’s most reliable regulars in recent seasons, slashing a solid .259/.351/.435 (119 wRC+) across the past two seasons while earning his first career All Star appearance during the 2022 season and back-to-back Gold Glove awards in left field. In 2023, Happ posted a career-best 22.1% strikeout rate while walking at an impressive 14.3% clip. That strong plate discipline has left Happ as a key piece of the club’s core entering the 2023 season alongside the likes of Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson, and Nico Hoerner.

Losing Happ for any amount of time entering the regular season would surely be a blow to the Cubs, though Chicago has plenty of other options for its outfield mix available should their longest-tenured hitter start the season on the shelf. With top outfield prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong expected to begin the season at the Triple-A level, the likes of Mike Tauchman and Alexander Canario figure to be the most likely options for a reserve outfield spot with the big league club to open the season currently on the 40-man roster. Veteran left fielder David Peralta is also in camp with the club after signing on a minor league deal last month, with slugging prospect Owen Caissie also among the club’s non-roster invitees.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Pirates outfielders Andrew McCutchen and Joshua Palacios have yet to appear this spring after being slowed by injuries entering camp, though manager Derek Shelton recently told reporters (including those at MLB.com) that each figures to see the field at some point in the next week. McCutchen, 37, has been working on defensive drills and taking swings this spring while rehabbing the partially torn achilles that ended his 2023 campaign in early September. The veteran figures to enter the 2024 season penciled in as the club’s regular DH, though he did make occasional appearances in right field last season. Palacios, meanwhile, figures to battle with the likes of Edward Olivares and Connor Joe for playing time in the outfield alongside regulars Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski. The 28-year-old slashed .239/.279/.413 in 91 games with Pittsburgh last year but has been slowed this spring by a lower leg injury.
  • Cardinals southpaw Matthew Liberatore spoke to reporters (including Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) recently about his goals for the coming season, and while he indicated that he still hopes to have a future with the club as a starting pitcher at some point, right now his priority is contributing in the majors regardless of his role. Liberatore struggled to a 5.88 ERA in 11 starts for the Cardinals last year but was dominant out of the bullpen, posting a 2.84 ERA in 12 2/3 innings of work with a 24.5% strikeout rate. The club’s starting five appears set with Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn all poised to take spots in the rotation, though Liberatore has stretched out as a starter alongside the likes of Zack Thompson with Worthy noting that manager Oli Marmol hasn’t ruled out the possibility of opening the season with a six-man rotation.

Cardinals Designate Taylor Motter For Assignment

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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.

Cardinals Select Jacob Barnes, Place Matthew Liberatore On IL

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The Cardinals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jacob Barnes. In a corresponding move, left-hander Matthew Liberatore lands on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 19, due to lower back tightness. There was already a vacancy on the 40-man roster.

Barnes, 33, has bounced around the league quite a bit, both this year and in his career overall. Things started out fairly steady, as he was drafted by the Brewers, debuted with them in 2016 and stayed until partway through the 2019 season. But from 2019 to the present, he’s become a valuable Immaculate Grid choice, suiting up in the big leagues for the Royals, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Tigers and Yankees.

This year, he’s yet to pitch in the majors, jumping to the Rangers, Phillies and Cardinals on minor league deals. Between those three organizations, he’s thrown 51 Triple-A innings, allowing 2.47 earned runs per nine frames. His 20.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both subpar, but he’s kept the ball on the ground more than 40% of the time at each of his three stops. In his major league career, he has a 4.70 ERA over 252 appearances but with his best results farthest in the past. He had a 3.54 ERA from 2016 to 2018 but a 5.39 mark since then.

The Cardinals made a number of subtractions from their pitching staff at the deadline, sending out Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton and Jordan Hicks as part of their selloff. That’s led to some innings going to younger pitchers like Liberatore, Drew Rom and Zach Thompson, but they’ve also brought aboard some older guys like Casey Lawrence and now Barnes to supplement the staff. Barnes is out of minor league options but could be retained for 2024 via arbitration if the Cards like what they see out of him in the next few weeks.

As mentioned, Liberatore has been getting a chance to seize a job in the rotation but hasn’t quite succeeded thus far. He has a 6.06 ERA in 84 2/3 career innings to this point. The Cards are hoping to add three starters to their rotation this winter, though they could always alter those plans if they felt Liberatore or one of the other internal options took a step forward. Unfortunately, his audition will now be put on pause for at least two weeks as he deals with this back issue. The rotation now figures to consist of Rom, Thompson, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright.

Cardinals Looking To Add Three Starting Pitchers This Offseason

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The Cardinals have made no secret of their need to add starting pitching. It’s self-evident, as a rotation that ranks 23rd with a 4.73 ERA has been a key factor in the Cards’ disappointing season. Deadline deals shipped out impending free agents Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty, while Adam Wainwright is retiring at year’s end.

With three members of their anticipated starting five either already or soon to be out the door, St. Louis is gearing up to add multiple replacements. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said yesterday the club anticipated bringing in three starting pitchers next winter (relayed by John Denton of MLB.com).

It’s not the first time Mozeliak has expressed that goal. The baseball ops leader indicated a desire for a trio of starters last month. At the time, he left open the possibility of accomplishing some of that at the trade deadline.

The Cards indeed followed through on their goal of adding upper minors pitching. Lefty Drew Rom, who has spent the entire season in Triple-A, came back from Baltimore in the Flaherty deal. Double-A righty Tekoah Roby was arguably the most talented prospect the Cards received in the swap that sent Montgomery and Chris Stratton to Texas. Righties Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse — each of whom was acquired from the Blue Jays for Jordan Hicks — were assigned to Triple-A.

Since none of those hurlers have yet made their MLB debuts, it seems the Cards aren’t penciling any of them into next year’s starting five. Mozeliak conceded the front office overestimated their rotation depth coming into this season and it has clearly since been a priority to bolster the upper levels of the minors.

The only pitcher who looks assured of an Opening Day rotation job is Miles Mikolas. The right-hander is having another solid season, pitching to a 4.27 ERA over 26 starts. He’s not overpowering, but he’s an elite strike-thrower and has been a source of mid-rotation innings for five seasons in St. Louis.

Steven Matz looked to have turned a corner after a brief bullpen demotion. Since returning to the rotation, the southpaw worked to a 1.86 ERA while fanning over a quarter of opponents with an excellent 4.6% walk rate over seven starts. It had been Matz’s best stretch as a Cardinal — until he was diagnosed with a lat strain that could end his season. The recent strong run probably gives Matz an inside track on a rotation spot next spring, though it’s a small enough sample his hold on a job could be tenuous.

Since the deadline, St. Louis has given rotation looks to Matthew Liberatore and Dakota Hudson. Liberatore, a former top prospect, had a strong season in Triple-A but hasn’t carried it over against big league hitters. Over 45 2/3 MLB frames this year, he carries a 5.72 ERA with a well below-average 14.4% strikeout rate. Still just 23 with another minor league option remaining, Liberatore isn’t in danger of losing his roster spot. He’ll get another eight or nine starts down the stretch but hasn’t solidified his hold on a ’24 rotation job.

Hudson isn’t a lock to be on next year’s roster. The sinkerballer is playing this season on a $2.65MM arbitration salary. He’d be due a modest raise on that amount if St. Louis tenders him a contract. Hudson has a 4.31 ERA in 31 1/3 MLB innings, starting three of nine appearances. He worked out of the rotation with Triple-A Memphis, posting a 6.00 ERA with a modest 17.3% strikeout percentage.

Matz’s injury cleared a rotation job for former first-round selection Zack Thompson. The 25-year-old lefty has worked almost exclusively in relief at the big league level. His numbers in that capacity — a 2.59 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate, 51.3% grounder percentage through 59 2/3 career innings — are impressive. Yet Thompson struggled mightily when the Cards optioned him to work out of the Triple-A rotation. Over 34 1/3 frames with Memphis, he was tagged for an 8.65 ERA while struggling to find the strike zone.

Between Liberatore, Thompson and a few upper minors arms — Rom and Connor Thomas could have the upper hand, since they’re already on the 40-man roster — St. Louis has a number of controllable pitchers they can evaluate over the next seven weeks. It’s hard to envision anyone in that group staking a firm claim to a season-opening rotation spot, though they can at least put themselves in line for depth work that’ll inevitably arise throughout the course of the year.

Once the offseason arrives, Mozeliak and his staff will set about identifying external targets. The upcoming free agent class is pitching-heavy. Beyond Shohei Ohtani, some names on the market include Blake Snell, NPB star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Montgomery, Aaron Nola, Julio Urías, Lucas Giolito, likely Eduardo Rodriguez and Seth Lugo (who each seem set to decline player options on their deals), and Michael Lorenzen. Veterans like Marcus Stroman (who also has a player option), James Paxton and Kenta Maeda could be limited to shorter-term contracts based on their age/injury histories but are pitching well this season.

St. Louis has never topped $80MM on a free agent deal for a pitcher. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Cards set a new high-water mark in that regard next winter. Roster Resource calculates their 2024 payroll commitments around $112MM, well below this year’s Opening Day figure that landed in the $177MM range. Arbitration raises for Tyler O’Neill, Tommy Edman, Ryan Helsley and Dylan Carlson would add another $15-20MM to that projected ledger, but that leaves a fair bit of flexibility for attacking free agency.

That’s before considering the possibility of trades to potentially clear some payroll room while bringing back rotation help. Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos and Carlson were all floated in rumors this summer. St. Louis ended up holding virtually everyone who was controllable beyond this season but could certainly reopen trade talks on those players over the winter. The outfield surplus that fueled speculation about a Carlson deal still hasn’t been resolved. He seems likely to be a popular subject of trade attention yet again.

Cardinals Select Kyle Leahy

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The Cardinals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Kyle Leahy, with left-hander Matthew Liberatore optioned in a corresponding move. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster after outfielder Óscar Mercado was designated for assignment earlier in the week.

Leahy, 26, cracks a big league roster for the first time and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The righty was selected in the 17th round of the 2018 draft and worked primarily as a starter in the earlier portions of his professional career but has transitioned into more of a relief role of late.

He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A, tossing 51 innings over 28 outings, three of those being starts. He has a 4.06 ERA in that time, striking out 22.1% of batters faced against a 10% walk rate. He’ll now get to try his hand at getting outs at the major league level.

The option of Liberatore seems to open the door for lefty Steven Matz to return to the rotation, a possibility that was recently covered by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Matz had a rotation spot to begin the year but posted a 5.72 ERA through 10 starts and got moved to the bullpen. Since making the switch, he has a 2.81 ERA while Liberatore has posted a 6.75 for the year.

The Cards signed Matz to a four-year, $44MM deal going into 2022 but haven’t received much return on that investment yet. A shoulder impingement and a torn left MCL limited him to just 48 innings last year with a 5.25 ERA, which was followed by the aforementioned rough start here in 2023. But his recent work has been encouraging enough to get him back into the rotation.

The Cards have very little rotation certainty going forward as Adam Wainwright is set to retire after this year while each of Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty are impending free agents. That leaves Miles Mikolas and Matz as the core of next year’s rotation, with depth options like Liberatore and Dakota Hudson potentially in the mix. The club will undoubtedly pursue pitching at this year’s trade deadline and in the upcoming offseason but it would be a big help to them if Matz could get back on track in the second half of this year, with two seasons still remaining on that deal.

Cardinals Keeping Matthew Liberatore In Rotation, Steven Matz Working From Bullpen

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The Cardinals are keeping left-hander Matthew Liberatore in their rotation, manager Oli Marmol informed the team’s beat this afternoon (relayed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). St. Louis is officially moving Steven Matz to the bullpen for the time being as the club is returning to a five-man starting staff after briefly using a six-man rotation.

Liberatore has started two of three appearances since being recalled in the middle of May. He’s had middling results, allowing six runs with a 9:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 11 innings. The 23-year-old had pitched very well in Triple-A Memphis earlier in the year. Over eight outings, he had a 3.13 ERA. Liberatore fanned over 30% of batters faced in the minors and induced grounders on exactly half the batted balls he allowed.

In addition to those solid minor league results, the former first round draftee is working with improved raw stuff. He’s averaging 95.2 MPH on his fastball and 77.2 MPH on his curveball this season, each of which is up 2-3 ticks from last year. That hasn’t yet translated to more whiffs at the major league level but he’d gotten swinging strikes on an excellent 14% of his offerings in Triple-A.

Liberatore has impressed the organization enough to stick alongside Jordan Montgomery, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas and Jack Flaherty in the rotation. That’s paired with a second straight down year for Matz, who heads to relief not even halfway through a four-year, $44MM free agent contract.

Matz logged only 48 innings in his first season as a Cardinal. A shoulder impingement and an MCL tear in his left knee combined to keep him to 15 outings. He posted a 5.25 ERA in that stretch thanks largely to an elevated home run rate but posted more encouraging strikeout and walk numbers. Matz had punched out 26.1% of opponents against a 4.8% walk rate. The Cards hoped those peripherals and better health would result in a bounceback 2023 showing.

That hasn’t materialized thus far. Matz’s homer rate has dropped but he hasn’t found better results. He’s posted a 5.72 ERA as a starter with his strikeout rate dropping to 19.4%. Opponents are hitting .324/.384/.505 in 232 plate appearances. The Cards turned to Matz for multi-inning relief for the first time on Monday. He tossed 2 2/3 frames of one-run ball with four punchouts and added an extra mile per hour to his fastball.

Marmol noted the club is hopeful Matz can pitch his way back into the rotation down the line. Injuries and/or struggles from Liberatore could open that door before too long. For now, though, the veteran southpaw will be available out of the bullpen. Matz is making $10MM this season and will collect respective $12MM salaries from 2024-25.

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