The Cardinals announced on Thursday that they’ve activated left-handed reliever Kevin Siegrist from the 10-day disabled list and designated him for assignment. The 28-year-old had been on the disabled list due to a bout of left forearm tendinitis.
The 28-year-old Siegrist was one of the Cardinals’ top setup options in 2015-16 and appeared in a league-leading 81 games out of the St. Louis ’pen back in 2015. Over the 2015-16 seasons, he worked to a combined 2.44 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 over the life of 136 1/3 innings.
The 2017 campaign, though, has been another story entirely. Siegrist has been bothered by some health issues this year, and he’s posted a generally unappealing 4.98 ERA with a deteriorated (but still strong) 9.4 K/9 against 5.2 BB/9. Siegrist averaged 94 mph on his heater in that excellent 2015 season, but that average dipped down to 92 mph this season as he’s struggled to stay healthy.
That said, there’s a possibility that Siegrist could draw some quick trade interest if he’s deemed healthy. He’s earning a reasonable $1.635MM in 2017 and is controlled for another two years beyond the current campaign via arbitration. His sub-par results this year should act to suppress any raise he’d earn via that arbitration process, so he could be a perfectly affordable bullpen piece for a team next season, if not for the final month of the 2017 campaign.
No team cares today.
Should be plenty of interest in him. I’d be surprised if the Cards can’t get something back in a trade, even if it is a minor piece. I’ve seen much worse players get traded after being DFA’d before.
Dude used to be a stud lefty reliever no?
No
4.3 career WAR. Which is pretty d****d good. Especially for a third day choice.
Yes
Yes. Will be again. Not overly impressed with this move.
Quality pitching is of value. The question is, is Siegrist done-done?
I doubt anyone is totally sure on that.
perhaps making room for JV?
Umm doubtful
I BELIEVE YOUR CORRECT
Definently not
Makes room for verlander and wilson
cardinals are getting rid of some dead wood. i’d expect greg garcia and jose martinez to follow.
Jose Martinez has been good?
I doubt either will go until after the season ends.
I DOUBT IF MARTINEZ OR GARCIA WILL BE NEXT
Dead wood? Jose Martinez has been better than piscotty and grichuk. The dead wood, when it comes to martinez, is matheny. It’s like the idiot forgets he is on the team. Guess mo needs to step in and trade, or demote piscotty so matheny actually plays him. Garcia does need to go though.
Both Grichuk and Piscotty are excellent on defense. Martinez is not. Grichuk and Piscotty are both weaker on offense than Martinez. The biggest thing that is keeping the Cards out of the post season has been sloppy defense.
Garcia has been a solid backup infielder with an average bat. He’s been a good utility guy without a big pay check. He plays anywhere on the infield except behind the plate. I’d keep him. If Piscotty and Grichuk can’t start hitting though both may end up on the trading block.
Martinez has been the best pinch hitter on the team. However I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets the Jeremy hazelbaker treatment sometime this offseason.
I don’t really get this move, his stats are largely a result of early struggles. After his forever DL stint he looked good, but immediately went back to the DL. I’d think he’d still be valuable if healthy. Also why do people want JV? Why would you trade a younger eh pitcher for a more expensive and older slightly less eh pitcher?
Cardinals dont have a starting 5 going into 2018. Verlander for 3 yrs/$70 mil seems much more appealing than, say, Arriete for 7yrs/$200 mil.
No starting 5?
Martinez
Lynn (Hopefully)
Reyes
Weaver
Wacha or Wainwright
Then Lyons or Flaherty
Are you sure?
Not sure why Cardinals fans are banking on Reyes being part of the rotation? At best he gives you 120-140 innings if everything goes great coming back from TJ. He’s never surpassed 116 innings in any season of his career. They will need Flaherty or Lyons or another swingman more than you think.
Plenty of young pitchers exceed their minor league innings total. He can go 160 next year mybe more. You forget he also pitched in developmental leagues on top of his 116 innings so he already has gone 160 before. This isn’t the early days of tj surgery. The procedure is almost always effective now days, and he has already been rehabbing so will be ready at the beginning of next year. Aka his arm has been getting some work.
If you think he pitchers more than 150 innings next year you’re crazy. They moved leake for a reason. That’s so flaherty and weaver can be starters next year after Lynn leaves. Reyes will be the 6th starter and pitch out of the pen. A lot like Carlos did when he was a rookie
DONT NEED VERLANDER. RIGHT NOW GOING INTO 2018 THEY HAVE C MART WACHA WAINO WEAVER FLAHERTY AND REYES. THATS SIX
Need Verlander for the playoff push, and to fill rotation next yr
I LIKE CAPS LOCK TOO
Why so aggressive?
Verlander is also going to be 35 and the tigers are doing a phillies, amaro jr phillies, and asking too much for their veterans and allowing them to decline while their farm continues to be empty.
Given his past, I’d much rather have him as a primary reliever than Aaron Loup.
Agreed. Jays should scoop him up.
What starting 5, they have 2.5 to lean on. Only givens are Martinez and Weaver (Wacha is the half point given his unpredictability). Wainwright’s career is over, Reyes is coming off TJ, and Lynn hasn’t been approached about a new contract.
Lyons has found his niche as a reliever and could possibly find himself as the closer next year. Hopefully Flaherty is given a chance to be the #5 for the rest of the season now that they traded Leake.
They are in desperate need of starting pitchers and depth, but Verlander is not the answer.
And Garcia could go but his versatility and left handed bat are valued by the team. And Jose Martinez has been quite good this year, especially off the bench.
Jose is a real asset on offense (especially as a pinch hitter) – but shaky on defense every place they have played him. I don’t see him being a regular unless he can improve in this area. The team is also already loaded with good outfielders. The Cards don’t need any extra holes in their defense. Carp is shaky no matter where they play him and Fowler has only had one year in his 9 years in the majors where he played average on defense. Every other year he was below average. With the Cards sloppy play the past 2 years they need to offload both Fowler and Carp if they can get another team to cover they salaries and possibly offer a prospect or two. If they don’t, they will have a real hard time returning to their former glory days of tight defense, hit and run and fine pitching. They had very good success with this formula without needing big sluggers.
Agree 100%, love J Mart as a pinch hitter/spot starter. Probably not a full time guy, but excellent when you need him. And to add to that, they don’t need to off load either Carp or Dex. Carp is not a good defender, the team has known that from the beginning. But he does the least amount of damage to this team at first base. An occasional start at 2nd or 3rd won’t hurt anyone. Fowler has always been around league average or just below. Personally he just seems lazy to me… doesn’t hustle very much or give max effort when getting to balls in the gap or over his head. But infield defense is a problem when you don’t have pitchers who rack up strikeouts. And outside of Martinez, Cards don’t have those guys now. Also, having a formidable middle of the order bat (Ie Pujols) helps alleviate some of those defensive gaffes, another thing the Cardinals lack.
It’s a shame he went downhill like that, he was an awesome bullpen piece years ago
Siegrist was likely overworked and overexposed in ’15-’16. Many teams will consider taking a flier on him figuring rest over the winter may enable him to return to a similar form in ’18.
Amen to that!!! He and Manas were burned out.
Add Bowman, Mohica, Motte and Oh to that list of recent burnouts. It’s tough for a manager to not use an effective arm when he has been successful. I would include Rosenthal as well but he’s a FA and will probably be gone after his TJ regardless.
As we see fewer and fewer innings out of starters its inevitable unless MLB embraces the idea of only using starters for 4 innings, using 2 starters each game to rack up 7 or 8 IP and then go with a smaller pen. This would reduce the wear and tear on both the starters and the pen. Several minor league teams have already had success with it. Cards announcer Rick Horton was recently talking it up..
I highly doubt we will ever see that, each team would need 8-10 starters on their respective roster which will never happen. Matheny is a terrible manager and cannot manage a bullpen to save his life. The starters not going long into games hasn’t helped, but he has no idea how to handle his bullpen. Everybody out there is burned out and just wants the season to be over (and I don’t blame them). If anything is going to change for this team, Mathemy has to go first and foremost
So you are stating that it’s Matheny’s fault that his starters can’t last more than 6 innings and having to use them more often is burning them out? I don’t disagree with your premise but blaming the manager for ineffective starters and using the bullpen more is not on him.
I like and respect Matheny as a good guy, and a moral guy. I agree he’s been a lousy manager. He’s tolerates far too much sloppy play, (Schoendienst, LaRussa, Herzog must be shaking their heads).He inherited a solid winning franchise and it’s gone to the dogs under him. This team doesn’t need a mama to coddle them – they need a demanding leader willing to bench guys who aren’t producing or are sloppy on the bases or on defense. We have a fine farm system and should be sending guys down who aren’t getting the job done and bring up the kids to show the regulars how to play.
He does burn out his bullpen but I don’t know what else he can do about the pitching situation when our starters give us such erratic and brief starts.
Based on the sloppy defense alone, if the team doesn’t replace Mikey I don’t see them improving much. I’ve been following the Cards since 1951 and this year has been one of the most disappointing ones in all that time. We have official scorers who are paid by the team and are ‘homers’ who seldom slap a player with an error even when they are obvious to everyone watching the game. Nor do baserunning miscues or throws from the outfield that miss the cutoff guys ever catch an “E”. This isn’t the way the Cards used to play and they were far more successful when they played tight defense, ran the bases using their heads and had decent pitching. The owners know how successful it used to be – why they don’t return to that tried and proven formula defies explanation.
Hard pass on Verlander, age and contract should make that obvious, and honestly I’m not sold on signing Lynn long term sadly also. I don’t see the value in signing a 31 y/o pitcher to a 5 year deal who only has one good pitch, fastball, and will slowly lose velocity on it, especially considering what is waiting in the minor league system. Signing a good number 3 starter for maybe a 1-2 year contract as a bridge to the younger pitchers makes more sense. Having a rotation of Martinez, Weaver, unnamed 3rd starter, either Wacha or Waino and Flaherty for 2018 while maybe not a fearsome 5 could get you through the season. With possible spot starts by Reyes, who will be in the bullpen, and/or Hudson/Gomer to keep things afloat. Then 2019-2020 the possible rotation could be Martinez, Reyes, Weaver. Flaherty and either Hudson, Gomer or Alcantara. Obviously any trades for a big bat in the offseason or injury could drastically change that but there are 7 names there so even if they dealt 1 or maybe even 2 or there is an injury that can and will be a force to be reckoned with when it happens
Forgot to add that Alcantara will also probably be in the bullpen next year too along with Reyes. He will be brought up when rosters expand this season and be put to use in the bullpen, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t want to have that electric arm there next year too. It doesn’t hurt his chances that he has to be added to the 40 man roster after this season anyways.
Hard to shell out the huge $$$ needed to cover Verlanders salary – especially at his age and with his arm problems in recent years. I can’t see the Tigers letting him go and having to cover a big share of that salary. After the Cards recent bad experience with Leake why in the world would they take that chance again …especially with a farm system loaded with good arms. I don’t see Verlander or Stanton going anywhere even if their teams want to offload their huge salaries. Both the Tigers and Marlins are stuck with them unless they are willing to eat a good part of their pay..
It’s not that his career is over or he’s terrible, he’s just redundant in St Louis
Other than the last month of 2016 Reyes has been a reliever. Sure wouldn’t expect him to accumulate starters innings pitched. He was quite effective as a starter that month and was expected to be a regular in the rotation until the TJ surgery. If he can come back like Lynn did after his TJ surgery …and he should at his age, then there is every reason to expect him to nail down a spot in the rotation.
I’m sorry but that is not taking into context experience when it comes to injuries and knowing when to push and when to hold back. Reyes is a young guy, like you said, but they will not allow him to push it that hard. He will be in the bullpen for the majority, if not all, of next season. They will not take that big of a chance on that kind of talent to extend him that much period.
Can we all stop mentioning Waino as a possibility for this team in 2018. I have a greater chance of being president than he does being a starter for the Cards. His ERA is through the roof and he is in his mid 30’s. For everyone that said they don’t want Verlander, Waino should be treated the same way. His time has come to hang it up and he should go out while his pride is still in tact, not when after he continues to get shelled
Waino is a legend and legends like Willie Mays often don’t know when it’s their time to hang up their cleats. He also doesn’t want to walk away from another 2 years of 20MM per year. Waino hasn’t been the same since that terrible achilles tendon injury and I agree – at his age, he most likely won’t.
As far as I’m concerned the entire rotation has been shaky since about the start of June, Leake was terrible – possibly weak from that bout with shingles, Carlos has been on and off. The team should consider sending him back to the minors to learn to harness his talent and keep his head in the game. He’s the worst fielder of any of our pitchers – Leake was the best. Wacha seems to need too much rest to be a reliable starter. They need to put him back in the bullpen. He’s had some fine games when he’s been given an extra day off or following one when he got blown out in the first 2 innings. Lynn has been probably the best but all indications are that he’s leaving. Weaver looks to be a good up and comer. I think we should make better use of the farm starters like Weaver. Flaherty has looked fine in AAA. In 2018 I have every expectation of seeing a lineup like this:
Martinez
Lynn (or another guy from Memphis)
Reyes
Weaver
Flaherty
DeWitt might spend to pick up a starter from outside to replace Lynn if he leaves but I doubt it will be a huge name like Verlander. Can’t see anyone picking up his huge salary for another 3 years at his age and with his recent arm problems.