The Cardinals announced that they’ve optioned shortstop Aledmys Diaz to Triple-A Memphis and selected the contract of infielder Alex Mejia in a corresponding roster move. (Jen Langosch of MLB.com first reported the news, on Twitter). The move to option Diaz, who sandwiched a productive month of May between an ugly June and an uglier April, comes just about a month after St. Louis also optioned the struggling Randal Grichuk.
St. Louis has also released veteran infielder Jhonny Peralta over the past month, a move that was accompanied by a “no one is safe” message from general manager John Mozeliak, whose front office is clearly tired of the team’s lackluster play as of late. Diaz is hitting .260/.293/.396 on the season as a whole, but he’s collected just six hits in his past 30 plate appearances and hasn’t graded out well at shortstop, from a defensive standpoint (-9 Defensive Runs Saved, 0 Ultimate Zone Rating). More troubling, perhaps, is the fact that Diaz’s walk rate has been cut in half, while his chase rate on pitches outside the zone has soared by 10 percent (from 28.2 percent in ’16 to 38.6 percent in ’17).
The 26-year-old Diaz was a surprise breakout star last season — just months after being designated for assignment and being passed over by every other team in the league when he was on waivers. Injuries created an opportunity for Diaz last year, and he responded with a .300/.369/.510 batting line with 17 homers. The optional assignment for Grichuk earlier this year was similar to a surprising option of Kolten Wong a year prior in that both were relatively brief in nature.
Mejia, also 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Cardinals (2012) that hasn’t hit much in the minors, but Baseball America rated him as the best defensive shortstop in the Double-A Texas League back in 2014. He’s batting .253/.309/.355 with three homers, 18 doubles and a steal through 293 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this year.
piscotty should join him soon. should have sent diaz to low A where grichuk went. same with piscotty. can’t have these guys languishing in the majors.
The coach they sent Grichuk to is in Memphis now after the coaching shakeup.
they sent him to george greer, who was not one of the coaches who changed spots.
You are wrong. Greer was promoted to Memphis right about the same time Grichuk was.
i see no evidence he was promoted in any article
i can’t find george greer either. he isn’t listed at memhis.
Duh, they don’t Mabry as a hitting coach in the minors.
What happened to all these guys this year?
O V E R A CH I E V E D! There ultimate performance results may be in between past seasons and this, but these are players that outgrew their proformas. Their regression was assumed.
Wrong
Correctomundo!
Maybe they should actually help these players rather than punish them. I’m really irritated with the Cards FO.
They are helping them. Real coaching doesn’t happen in the majors, it happens in the minors where wins and losses are secondary to player development. The major league team can’t afford to keep playing struggling players while they are trying to figure things out, but a minor league team can.
Did you see who they brought up? They’ve added someone who’s doing about the same *while currently at AAA. Clearly the coaching staff has a problem when the majority of the team seems to have some sort of issue.
They were supposed to “help” Grichuk by sending him to the minors, but all he managed to do is cone back and strike out just as much, if not more. There needs to be real improvement, not these temporary “fixes”.
They brought up a guy who actually plays defense, which is important at the shortstop position. And if he’s hitting the same he’d be an upgrade lol. Look at this objectively rather than emotionally
9 errors at springfield is defense?
I’m not looking at it emotionally. I would like them to get a proper coaching staff. I didn’t think his defense numbers were all that spectacular either.
you can’t just “fix” a guy’s swing and miss issues. You make it sound like helping a player who’s had this clear flaw fix it is just super easy. Grichuck had strike out issues from the time he was in rookie ball.
Grichuk has a .556 slugging since being recalled in his limited 19 PA and basically has the same strike out rate
Because we use errors to measure defense :rolls eyes:
roll eyes? why not spin head a vomit green vomit?
5 RBI’s today too
Low minors is where it happens
The last time a player is developed like that is double a
Triple a is about fine tuning for your call up
Fine tuning is still developing in a way. For example, Mike Zunino improved his plate discipline and batting stance in AAA which allowed him to shorten up his swing and become the MLB RBI leader for the month of June (at least as of 3 days ago).
That’s fine tuning
No stress
No worries
And how do you do that, genius?
Get a real coaching staff.
you make it sound like this is so easy. Do you understand how player development works?
If all it took to make players better was to just “get a real coaching staff” you’d see a lot less players fail.
All of our fundamentals have fallen in nearly all of our players since the beginning of the season. There’s more than just a developmental problem with one or two players.
Sounds like those guys either outperformed their true talent or are lazy. Take your guess.
Amen! Matheny and his Mafia needs to go that way. ✌
l
The demotions and designations will continue until morale improves. That seems to be the philosophy. Maybe just a coincidence that Matt Adams has done nothing but rake for ATL since his trade, but at best the Cards organization is having a very off year.
Adams is an ok player. But Sun Trust is a launching pad. Went to a few games there already.. My grandma could hit well there. Adams will come back to career norms. 35 games is SSS theater.
As far as Cards go imo it all leads back to the coaching. MM has been a detriment to this team since 2014.. They have been able to win despite him for several years. Not the case anymore. With no player really having a good to great season ESP everyday variety MM stupid moves & lack of accountability for vets has hurt this team. won’t change until they fire him.
Adams has hit 13 homers. 6 of which were away from Suntrust. So you don’t really have a point in that regard.
launch angle, velocity, and plate discipline level off quickly. he’s not this good, but he’s better than he looked in STL getting inconsistent ABs.
Since Coach Oquendo left defensive went away as well and not as aggressive on the bases either. They all seems lost.
unless your last name is DeWitt, you should be on the block. The only exceptions should be Molina and maybe Waino if they want to keep them lifetime cardinals. players, coaches, front office alike. shape up.
On top of that, I’d keep Gyorko, Fowler (by technicality), and Martinez. Actually, keep Tommy Pham too. After that, not one Cardinal should be safe. Diaz fit that bill because his offense hasn’t been good enough to mask his less than stellar defense. Frankly though, one move isn’t going to salvage this team. It’ll be best for him and the team right now.
I’m starting to really believe that Mozeliak’s ridiculous devotion to almost only promoting players within has been a huge part of the problems.
Obviously don’t want to gut the farm system, but small trades and seemingly only signing a 31 year old Fowler has left them with a mediocre team I feel.
no, losing Lunhow is what hurt them. very rarely does a free agent signing work out. Lunhow kept the farm churning. now he’s in Houston (and look at that monster) while cards are drying up.
It is looking desperate. In all of what is or has happened I haven’t seen the organization doing anything motivating for player development. Looks more like a military camp concerning motivation. I believe these guys want to play better. I too agree that developing within has shown signs of not developing!
I hope they send Greg Garcia down next. He is batting like .210. The only reason he is in the lineup is because he is a left handed bat. Who cares if he is left handed. If he is not producing, he shouldn’t be in the lineup imo.
garcia needs to be dfa’ed
The only “off limits” players should be Alex Reyes, Carlos Martinez and Delvin Perez.
It is long past time to quit pinching pennies !We spend real good money supporting this team and management won’t open their dusty wallet !One of the premier teams in baseball should treat their fans better than this !Boycott the ballpark !
You do realize that they just spent over $100mil on just 2 free agents this past winter right?
Yeah the Cards spent the 3rd most in free agency this year to fill 2 huge needs and people are still crying saying they don’t spend money. Some people don’t know how good we’ve had it for the past 10 years. Boycott the ballpark if you want, but don’t blame the teams lack of spending
I totally agree!! Dad look up the payrolls and stats before you speak!! It is and has not been a lack of spending that created this problem
spend on who? it’s 2017. everyone knows that free agents are a crapshoot. without roids, 30 is when guys start to decline
Remember when Cards fans thought he was was the best thing since sliced bread last season
Actually he was better than sliced bread LAST season. But we are now playing this season.
It’s a shame that the big league hitting coach can’t get these guys on track. They go down then return a better hitter. As much as I liked Mabry as a player he is not the hitting coach we need.
I’ve been saying that since day one
or maybe they just arent that good? the league adjusts
Ozuna, Wittgren, Nicolino and Aviles for Diaz, Weaver, Bader, Gallen, and Arozorena? 2 years on Ozuna and 5 on Wittgren, Nicolino as depth if they can figure him out, same with Aviles if they move Diaz. Weaver Bader, Gallen for Ozuna. Diaz and Arozorena for Wittgren, Nicolino, and Aviles
I’ll pass!
Not going to lie, I was trying to steal Diaz lol. But I do think a move back to Miami could help him, considering. And it would be nice for the community to have another Cuban player to relate to, as we all still try to recover from what happened with Jose Fernandez. Plus, we could afford to use him as a SS, since we don’t have one, or if we can finally get someone to take Dee Gordon, he would play 2b
Diaz is a dead pull hitter in a league that has adjusted to him.
I never thought that Diaz was the long term solution at SS. Always felt that he would be better off at 2nd or 3rd base
Trade Matt Harvey for Grichuk and Diaz