The Cardinals announced on Tuesday that right-hander Seth Maness has been placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to Aug. 14) due to a strain in his right elbow. Fellow righty Sam Tuivailala has been recalled from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster.
The loss of Maness is yet another blow to a Cardinals team that has seen displaced closer Trevor Rosenthal, right-hander Michael Wacha, left-hander Tyler Lyons, left fielder Matt Holliday, first baseman Matt Adams and shortstop Aledmys Diaz all land on the disabled list within the past three weeks. Beyond that group, the Cards have been without righties Lance Lynn and Jordan Walden all season. The injury to Maness is doubly concerning, as the 27-year-old has already missed roughly five weeks this season due to a separate injury in the same elbow.
[Related: Updated St. Louis Cardinals Depth Chart]
When healthy, Maness has been an important part of manager Mike Matheny’s bullpen, logging a 3.41 ERA in 31 2/3 innings of work. However, his strikeout rate has also wilted in 2016 (4.5 K/9), as has his velocity (average fastball down from 89.5 mph to 87.9 mph), and he’s averaging nearly a half a walk more per nine innings pitched than he did in 2015 (2.27 BB/9 in 2016, 1.85 in 2015). Those trends wouldn’t be encouraging in any season but are especially concerning in a year that has included two elbow-related trips to the disabled list.
With Maness, Rosenthal and Lyons all on the disabled list, the Cardinals are suddenly lacking in proven right-handed options in the bullpen. Seung Hwan Oh has been a revelation in his rookie season, but Jonathan Broxton has struggled in the first season of a two-year deal. Beyond that, the Cards are leaning on journeyman Jerome Williams as a long reliever and rookies Matt Bowman and Alex Reyes as other right-handed options. Bowman, though, has begun to fade in the second half. And while Reyes is widely regarded as one of the five or 10 best prospects in all of baseball, he has just four Major League innings under his belt. And on top of all that, lefty Kevin Siegrist said yesterday that he’s been dealing with a “deadish feeling” in his arm. Tuivailala will hope to help patch things up, but he’s limped to a 5.44 ERA out of the Triple-A bullpen in spite of a gaudy 13.8 K/9 rate through 43 innings.
Certainly, it’s logical to expect the Cardinals, who are currently tied with the Marlins for the second NL Wild Card slot, to examine the August trade market for potential bullpen upgrades. Then again, their current place in the standings (one game ahead of the Pirates in the Wild Card race, two ahead of the Mets) allows a pair of teams, including a division rival, to place claims for the purpose of blocking St. Louis from obtaining help. Recently released Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon could potentially be had for nothing more than $130K through season’s end (the pro-rated portion of the league minimum), though that’s purely speculation on my behalf, as there’s been no indication that the Cardinals are in the mix for his services.
This is considered a blow?
Let Papelbon go to the Cubs and stay far away from St. Louis. He can implode them.
Funny we thought the same possible implosion when we signed A.J Pierzynski.
He ended up being a hoot.
If he’d be willing to set up Pap could be a good fit.
Losing Maness is not really a blow to the Cardinals, as much as a blow to whomever they are playing. He was great at getting ground ball double plays the past couple of years but this year his magic carpet ride may be over….. Still like him better than Broxton.
Sounds like much ado about nothing – on no the Cardinals have to see more Moss and Pham and Oh instead of Adams and Holliday and Rosenthal…uhhh those are all upgrades???
You don’t get to replace injured guys with guys that are already playing.
Huh? What do you mean – “You don’t get to replace injured guys with guys that are already playing.”?
Actually Maness had been very good the past month and a half if anyone would bother to check the numbers:
Since he came back from the injury that sidelined him May 12th actually – these have been his numbers:
16 Gs, 19.0 IP, 13 H’s, 4 R’s (2 of which were in his last outing), 3 ER’s (again 1 of which was in his last outing), 4 BB”s & 10 K’s
Leads to a 1.42 ERA & 0.89 WHIP…..those are beyond EXCELLENT numbers!!!!!
Where’s all this negativity coming from with regards to Maness….must just be his first month and a half and a pretty subpar latter part of last season.
They then ALSO screwed up in who they called up.
Why the heck call up Tuivailala who continues to suk down at AAA w/ a mid to upper 5’s ERA & has a hiccup every 2nd or 3rd game vs. Socolovich who’s consistent in the low to mid 3’s ERA & yet Socolovich is actually far more on fire SO’s-wise over the past month or so as well!!!!
Hopefully St. Louis can give Holliday a proper and well deserved goodbye at Busch. I always felt that he worked hard for us behind the shadows of Pujols, Beltran and Heyward. He was never the superstar but always the professional.
If the NL had the DH he would of been back, but his decline in O.B.P. this year would of even made that a difficult move for Moz even if you want to bring back the integrity.
I’d bet real money they pick up his option for next season. I think it’s a forgone conclusion.
Me too! He’s been an huge part of getting to the playoffs through his career with the Cards. I believe they will pick up his option for that reason only.
Why all of the muscle injuries on the Cardinals?? This has been a huge problem for the past few years!!!! They changed trainers, so it has to be the workouts, or non-workouts designated by the coaching staff. That’s the only thing they haven’t changed.
They can’t do anything about broken bones, but there are running and stretching exercises for legs, backs, shoulders and arms. Too muck emphasis on weights?????
I agree. To take it even further, how about mandatory video watching and tests in regards to base running and defense?
It’s been a cardinal killer all year.